From: feldman@cs.tulane.edu (Damon Feldman)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.dogs
Subject: Re: Calling all puppy experts! Trouble in Golden City! (long)
Keywords: please
Date: 6 Apr 92 17:26:16 GMT
Article-I.D.: cs.10804
Organization: Computer Science Dept., Tulane University, New Orleans, LA

In <17786@awdprime.UUCP> marc@malone.austin.ibm.com (Marc Stephenson) writes:

>Help,
>   My wife and I just this past Saturday adopted our golden retriever pup Augie
>(born 2/4/92 - making him 6 weeks, 4 days old at the time).  We had gone to

This is a little young.  Don't expect anything like a 12 week pups 
behavior in a 7-8 week pup.

>   1) THE BIG PROBLEM: He doesn't seem to like us very much.  Maybe we've 
>      tried disciplining him too much, but he bites at everything, including us.
>      We bark "No!" at him, which sometimes works, but usually doesn't.  In
>      escalation, I'll shake the scruff of his neck, which usually just gets

He's too young to bond to you a lot.  My neighbors recently went
through this stage with their more dominant of two littermates.  After
a couple months the standoffish, stubborn pup was freindlier.  The pup
that was originally more "freindly" is still somewhat *dependant*, but
no freindlier.

>   1a) I'm confused by "praise".  If Augie does something that we want him to
>      do, then we try to "praise" him.  To me, this would just seem to be 
>      enthusiastic petting, and lots of friendly "good boy!" panter.  He's
>      not very impressed by this sort of thing.  Are we praising him badly?

As you pointed out, he doesn't like you too much, so he doesn't value
your praise.  A good game of tug-o-war will be a better reward than
verbal praise and petting.
BE NICE TO THE PUPPY!  Don't worry about biting, etc. unutil 12 weeks
of age (I'd wait until 14, but I prefer headstrong dogs).  If you are
very nice to him, play his little biting games or whatever else he 
wants to do, and only correct very mildly if at all when housetraining;
he will grow very attatched to you.  He is in the phase of
development right now when he forms both positive and negative
attatchments, so be sure you are a positive element of his environment.

>      about 120 square feet.  We are trying to introduce him to a crate, but
>      it is not going well.  He will eat food in there, but if we close the 
>      door and leave him in there for a little while, he gets very upset.
>      He'll go back in with encouragement, but he's very tense when he does it

Too bad.  Put him in the crate and let him whine.  Puppies whine.  That's
about all they're good at.  It is their response to any kind of stress.
Letting him out when he's "very upset" (he's not - he's just very loud)
teaches him to get his way by whining MORE. 

In time he'll be used to the crate, and you'll be able to enjoy him
more.  In the mean time, don't let yourself get frustrated by his
standoffish behavior.  He will grow to like you in time.  Faster and
better if you are not always frustrated with him.  I find that frustration
is the most common cause of people doing stupid things with their dogs.

Damon

-- 
Damon Feldman                  feldman@rex.cs.tulane.edu
Computer Science Dept.         Tulane University, New Orleans LA, USA
Newsgroups: rec.pets.dogs