From: terry@eece.ksu.edu (Terry Hull)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.dogs
Subject: Re: Calling all puppy experts! Trouble in Golden City! (long)
Date: 6 Apr 1992 21:58:56 GMT
Organization: Kansas State University
NNTP-Posting-Host: ralph.eece.ksu.edu
Keywords: please

marc@malone.austin.ibm.com (Marc Stephenson) writes:

[history deleted]

Before I even start, I would recommend, "The Art of Raising a Puppy"
by the Monks of New Skete.  It will teach you a lot more than I will
in this one short reply.  

>   Janet and I have put Augie on a three meal a day schedule, and are trying
>to housetrain him.  We are apparently doing it incorrectly, or else we've just 
>drawn a very aggressive puppy, something which I didn't expect in a golden.
>>He even growls in his sleep sometimes.  

Puppies frequently dream when they sleep.  I've seen lots of running,
jumping, growling when a puppy sleeps.  You are likely seeing the
physical manifestations of his playing in his sleep.

>We want the pup for a companion; we're
>not planning to show him.  Trouble is, we're having trouble getting him to
>want to be our companion, which is pretty heartbreaking.
>Problems:
>   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
>      him mad.  Attempting to redirect the biting to a chew toy is sometimes
>      successful, but he's still not happy with us.  He prefers to lie down
>      away from me instead of next to me, which isn't especially
>      gratifying. 

Puppies bite.  They bite all the time.  If you watch puppies interact
with each other, they bite each other, they jump on each other, they
growl, snarl, and pounce on each other in play.  Now they come home
to their new pack and they need new ways to play because most people
don't like to play with their dogs this way.   If your puppy tries to
bite, I suggest a verbal correction of "EHHHH" (it is hard to sound
mad and say "EHHHH") and then give the puppy a chew toy to chew on
instead.  I suggest forgetting the scruff shake for a while.  Make
this fun.  If he does not want to just chew on the toy, toss it and
let him chase it.  You should be a fun person to be around, not one
who is no fun and does not know how to play.  

>   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?
>      This is making it very difficult for us to relate to Augie that he is
>      doing a good thing.

Some dogs (and puppies too) are not in tune with verbal praise.
Give them a food treat and verbally praise at the same time.  That
should help get the "good dog" message across.  This sounds stupid,
but don't be fake with your puppy.  You should be genuinely pleased
with the pup when you praise him.  

>   2) He resents confinement.  The breeder said that he was used to sleeping in
>      a box from the whelping days.  All we needed was a box with some
>      newspapers and he'd be happy.  Like hell!	 You'd have thought that there
>      were electric shocks in that box.  We eventually had some success
>      tethering him to a dresser next to the bed for sleeping.  That has gone
>      okay, I guess.  How long till he sleeps through the night?

I would introduce the crate slowly.  Introduce the create by putting
treats inside for the puppy to go get.  Feed him in the crate.  Pet
him in the crate.  Put all kinds of chew toys in the crate for his
pleasure when he is inside.  I also recommend getting the puppy "dog
tired" in the evening before putting him in his crate for the night.
It will also help to put the crate in your bedroom so he will be with
you when he sleeps.

All our puppies have been sleeping through the night by the age of 12
- 16 weeks.  Getting them tired before bed time really helps, just as
it does with children. 

>      We pen Augie into a kitchen area when we are at work; it's probably 
>      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.

Go slower. Put him in and shut the door with a toy for a minute but
don't leave.  Feed him a treat while he is in there.  Gradually, very
gradually work up to leaving him alone in the crate for a while.  

>      My wife and I both work about 11 miles from home Monday-Friday.  We're
>      taking turns driving back home to feed him, take him out, and play with
>      him, and he certainly gets full attention when we're at home.  In the
>      case of a mouthing puppy, what is the best way to play?  

Play retrieve or play chase the toy.  Also going exploring the big
world is lots of fun for a puppy.  Take him lots of places like the
beach or the park.  Get involved in a puppy kindergarten so he can
meet dog people that will not mind his puppy biting so much and then
let him meet them.  

>      Everything 
>      quickly degenerates into Augie biting and us disciplining him, which
>      not too surprisingly doesn't thrill us or him.  The book says to avoid
>      tug-of-war, so we do.  He pounces on balls as if they were prey usually.
>      It's more like attack instead of play, or is it?

Puppy play normally equals puppy attacking things.  Dogs are related to
wolves and in the wild, puppy play is preparatory to hunting.  This
"attack" is quite normal.  

>      I was up until 4:00am last night trying to figure out what to do, how
>      to make things easier for Augie coming into our family, how to get him
>      to be friendly, how to get him to have fun.  

>      Before I call for ideas on what to do, I need to confess to some mistakes
>      per the book.  

What book?  

>      I gave him an old pillow to sleep on during the day, and
>      some towels to sleep on at night.  He chewed on the towels, which we 
>      basically let him do, since we didn't care anything about the
>      towels.

Anything you give a puppy becomes a chew toy just like anything you
give a baby becomes a teething toy.  I gave my Rottweiler a cat
scratcher to play with, and he reduced it to splinters over the next
few weeks.  

>      Unfortunately, we didn't consider that the cotton on the towels would
>      be indistinguishable from clothes to him.  

Chewing on clothes is normal for puppies.  Just treat chewing on
clothes the same way you treat chewing on the hands.  You could also
spray Bitter Apple on your clothes to discourage chewing on them if it
becomes a real problem.  

>      We took away the towels
>      yesterday.  We also had given him a knotted up old sock, which is also
>      supposed to be a no-no.  

Lots of dogs know that socks with knots are chew toys, but normal
socks are not.  As long as the puppy is not going to choke on the
sock, I would not have any problems with it.  Of course, that does
mean that you should not leave your socks on the floor where the
puppy can get to them.  

>      Finally, we gave him several alternatives
>      for chew toys - a Kong hard rubber toy, a nylabone, a squeaky toy, a 
>      tennis ball, and a BBQ choo hoove (the breeder said that they loved
>      hooves already so we got him one).  He likes to chew on all of those
>      things, but it may be toohard for him to distinguish what he can chew
>      on with that many "okay" chew victims.  

I would give him just a few at a time, and rotate them, so he gets
something new every day.  


>      We are now down to the hoove 
>      (hoof?) and the squeaky toy (it's not the best toy for him, but it
>      is relatively easy to get his attention with it.)

>      His favorite thing is to eat weeds, bugs, and dog manure in the
back yard.

Sounds normal to me.  Grass is better than expensive premium dog food
any day.  ;-)  

>      Are we disciplining the fun out of this dog?  

Not really, you probably just need to be more positive and get him
into a puppy kindergarten immediately. 

>      Is he just too independent to be a companion dog?

A Golden?  Not likely, and especially not likely a puppy.  

>      How do we know?
Get the Monks book and start reading.  

--
Terry Hull  -  terry@eece.ksu.edu
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Kansas State University