fiwisyd

Thanks Showdog for your thoughts. The kids are involved, especially my daughter who has been blogging and presenting her experiences to her class. She's moved on to the tricks rather than the sit and stay but she started there and both she and the dog are loving the trick training. My son is just a bit excitable himself - it's a problem because he doesn't care that much when she gets excited and we need him to understand that it's not fair to expect the pup to understand the difference between playing with him and the behaviour the rest of us expect. In fact, the water spray has worked surprisingly well. One of the issues we had was the the dishwasher (GRs and their food!!) - clean or dirty she would try and climb in to lick everything. Just twice with the spray and a 'No' and now she only needs the No. Before she would keep coming back no matter what we said or did (like shutting the door while she was desperately licking whatever she could!). I guess the spray feels very different to a swim or putting her head in the water. But I have made sure the children don't use the spray for a game. thanks for suggestions everyone

Thanks everyone. I'm actually relieved to hear everyone think that it's more like manners than her trying to be dominant. We are going to obedience classes already, and completed 5 weeks of puppy class before that, so the message will hopefully sink in and I need to persist. I'm arming the kids with spray water bottles so at least they can get her to let go when she's biting or hanging off them. The lead is a good idea too. She needs to learn to be part of the family (not banished outside, don't worry!). Our last GR was sooo well-mannered and good natured, and we didn't have kids when she was a pup so she probably didn't have the same compulsion to bite. She had a good play in the park today with an older lab and they balanced the play well. She is good with most dog body language, only the excited play is concerning. She was from a big litter but didn't leave till 8 weeks so I don't think it's that. Very interesting about the desexing - vet told me that desexing before 6 months helps prevent breast cancer later but it seems there's more to it. Thanks for the links, I'll do more research into health and behavioural effects.

Hi everyone, Our GR puppy is doing pretty well with her training, but still a way to go! The issue I don't really know how to deal with is the 'dominant' behaviour. At home this means 'cornering' the children ie the game stops when she mouths or nips them, but when they try to walk away she jumps on them to grab clothes with her teeth and often gets skin too, which really hurts! She has done it with me a couple of times but much more with the children. Never with my husband. Or she tries to jump on them when they are on the sofa, and they can't get away because she tries to bite them - just a game to her, but painful. I often have to step in, and mostly she stops straight away and goes to her bed. In the park she is actually pretty good. She has learned not to charge up to a group of dogs but to sit and wait for them to come and see her or to go up and then lie down. She gets the message pretty quickly when dogs don't want to play with her, but isn't scared - she just leaves them. If a dog snaps at her during a game she will wait then try again but give up if they are not interested. BUT if a dog does want a game, she quickly starts to dominate the 'rumbling' - not to the point where the other dog snaps, but they sometimes run back to their owner or try and get between human legs. I constantly stop her playing, hold her till she's calm (which she doesn't mind) and then let her try again but we end up in the same place very quickly. The other dog can be any size - other goldens or labs twice her size - and she is still often the one on top. Other owners don't seem to mind - so far - and when I say something they generally say 'don't worry, they are enjoying the game' but I know a dog hiding between owner's legs is needing time out. How do I 'educate' her to manage herself - to disengage and let the other dog take control or have a break? And generally it is only a break they want - often once I have her sitting with me for 'time out' the other dogs approach her ready to play again. Same if I put her on the lead and walk away. Maybe I worry too much, but I don't want it to go too far one day if I should be doing something different now, and I wonder whether it's the same dominance that is causing the problems at home. Will she grow out of it? Will it improve when we get her de-sexed (probably when she's 5 months)? How can I get her to see that the children (11 and 9) shouldn't be considered easy targets?! any suggestions v welcome.

Thanks for the advice everyone. We just had a v nice walk (on the lead, around the streets!) , lots of energy and no pooing! Plus she's back to her old tricks of trying to pin the kids down on the sofa! I'll see how she goes tonight and head in to vet tomorrow if she's not back to normal. I've been using Milbemax for worming, and no treats today, just cooked chicken yesterday too ... think we will have to skip dog training class tomorrow but you are absolutely right Persephone, we don't want to pass it around and there is multiple exchanges of bodily fluids when the dogs play! And Powerlegs, I never thought of her eating SOMEONE ELSE'S poo! Her own is bad enough, YUK thanks everyone

Hi everyone, this is my first post here - i tried searching for answers in case someone else has asked this but I can't see anything so sorry if I am repeating ... Our 4 mth old golden retriever puppy hasn't been too well for a couple of days. She's not very sick, but a bit quiet and what is coming out her rear end is unmentionable, gas and poo both reek ... so why does she want to eat it?!! The last 2 nights we've had to let her out to poo two or three times in the night, and even so last night we didn't wake up in time for one episode to let her out ... and the cleaning up gave me the opportunity to check closely for worms, which i couldn't see. I've swapped her onto boiled chicken and rice today, and wormed her just in case since a friend of mine told me their puppy has been growing so fast they need to worm more often. Hope I've done the right thing. My questions are ... how long do I leave it before taking her to the vet? She's quite lean but I'm hoping the chicken and rice will keep the weight on. How long till the poo is back to normal if this is something she's eaten? Not only is it very sloppy, but this morning she seemed to be straining which seems odd. Unless the rice is taking effect? I can't think what would do this - she's a typical GR and eats everything but the only weird things I've actually witnessed her eat recently is a bucket of hundreds and thousands and some chair upholstery ... Also, should i restrict exercise? She hasn't looked remotely interested in a walk today, but it is wet and cold and she's not a fan of the rain! She had a great run around at the park yesterday. AND - why do dogs eat their poo?! Even when she isn't unwell we've seen her do it. And our old GR used to do it occasionally. It's gross! and makes her breath stink of course! Any answers or suggestions gratefully received!