newgoldie

Just to put the record straight : Pup will be crated for 3-4 hours max a couple of times a week but not that long until he's at least 6 months. And yes, we did do lots of 'getting comfortable' with the crate with short periods of play, praise & treats before he was left for the hour. He loves his 'den' and is very happy to go in if we need to pop out and will often go in there if he wants a nap while we are in. Ta-ra

We were told exactly the same by our vet although our breeder said we could take our pup out 10 days after the 2nd vacc. The vet has said there has been some parvo in the area so we've gone with the more cautious option. If you have a new house (as we do too), watch out for debris under the lawn if your pup is a digger. Our goldie has found all sorts of rubble including bits of brick & a rusty nail that was obviously turfed over. We therefore only let him out when we are there watching him like a hawk and are considering ripping up the lawn over the autumn/winter to make sure he's safe out there. While we're all waiting to take him out, he's been going to puppy pre-school at our local vet - he loves the treats and socialising and we get more hints & tips on training etc. (I know what your saying about the wriggling - wrangling a 10kg goldie is great exercise!) :D

Newgoldie when you say you'll crate train your pup during the day do you mean you're going to "crate" your pup (crate closed) all day or just have it available (open) while your out? We will be crating him (door closed). I don't want him to be able to have access to the room while we are out in case he gets into mischief, has a little 'accident' or hurts himself. Don't worry, he won't be on his own for more than 2 - 3 hours initially - we have a willing puppy visitor who will be coming to give him lunch and a toilet break every day I'm out at work. :) I've been practising by crating him with a Kong toy stuffed with treats, then going into another part of the house for a while - I started with an hour, then increased by half an hour each time until I got to 2 hours. The first time he barked solidly for half an hour, 2nd time about 10 mins, since then he is usually so interested in his treats that he goes for that and don't hear much at all. It has given me a bit of peace of mind for when I go back to work. :( So this pup will be crated at night ...then crated during the day while you are at work? You don't have a backyard ? There are so many different types of pen/enclosure available to keep pups safe , while allowing them room to move, and room to allow them to learn about toileting outdoors etc.:) Sorry, I can not imagine a puppy's needs being met while it is spending so long being confined in a crate That is not what 'crate training' is .... Ideally ,pups NEED to run and explore and play for muscle/brain development .They need to be able to have a discrete toilet area , and it is good for them to become accustomed to being under the sky ..to experience space and weather changes , to be constantly exposed to textures under their feet , and all sorts of outdoor noises/smells etc so they grow up confident and relaxed with their environment. I agree, I've heard of a few people keeping their puppies in crates all day and night only letting them out for toilet breaks! I don't use crates at all but have no issue with them being used properly. Unfortunately it seems they've become the easy go to fix for puppy mischief. No dog of any age should be locked up in a small cage for hours on end unless it's overnight. How can they get to know their environment? Develop their muscles etc? This is just my opinion but I think it's lazy and detrimental to the puppies development. Woah, Woah! While everyone is jumping on their high horses, he will only be crated for 1 - 2 days per week and this will only be for around 3 hours at a time max. Once he is house trained we probably won't need to use it, and we are considering outside pens once he's a little older (we certainly won't be doing this while he is so little and the temperature in WA is an average of about 37 degrees). Our pup will have plenty of time socialising and getting used to spending time outside and we got sound advice from experienced trainers and breeders before we considered crate training. We wouldn't have bought a puppy in the first place if we were intending to crate him for 23 hours a day, and we had a thorough vetting from our breeder before we were allowed to buy. Lazy we are not. Calm down people - don't be too critical until you know the facts.

Just wanted to let everyone know that we're doing much better on the house-training front! We've opted for the bribery method (on the basis that this is a Goldie and he is driven by his tummy! :laugh: ) We've invested in some fake grass in an area off the patio which isn't so sunny - when it's time we take him to this area and give him one of his usual biscuits, say 'Go wee-wee's' and I would say around 8 out of 10 times he does his business within a few minutes. He then gets lots of praise & another biscuit for doing such a great job Not saying we haven't had the odd accident, but have stopped banking our heads against the wall! Thanks everyone for your tips :D

Newgoldie when you say you'll crate train your pup during the day do you mean you're going to "crate" your pup (crate closed) all day or just have it available (open) while your out? We will be crating him (door closed). I don't want him to be able to have access to the room while we are out in case he gets into mischief, has a little 'accident' or hurts himself. Don't worry, he won't be on his own for more than 2 - 3 hours initially - we have a willing puppy visitor who will be coming to give him lunch and a toilet break every day I'm out at work. :) I've been practising by crating him with a Kong toy stuffed with treats, then going into another part of the house for a while - I started with an hour, then increased by half an hour each time until I got to 2 hours. The first time he barked solidly for half an hour, 2nd time about 10 mins, since then he is usually so interested in his treats that he goes for that and don't hear much at all. It has given me a bit of peace of mind for when I go back to work.

She's beautiful. Looks very much like my new Goldie who's 11 weeks now. Good girl for sleeping all through the night!

Our new Goldie is being crate trained. Like your Mum, I was initially a bit wary, just because of the look of the crate and feeling it may be a bit cruel. Our breeder was really keen on this method of training and put my mind at rest so it might be a good idea to see what your trainer thinks. For us it seems to work really well. Bentley slept in his crate from the first night we had him. We move his crate to outside our bedroom door at the moment so he can see us to help soothe him if he wakes. The first couple of nights I sat next to his crate for 10-15 mins while he whined and barked a bit before he settled. Since night 4 he knows that it's bedtime and will go in without a problem. (We usually give him a treat - a Kong stuffed with a little soft cheese which has been frozen for an hour or two - which keeps him occupied while we get ready for bed). We sometimes get woken in the early hours if he needs to relieve himself, but most nights he sleeps through from about 10pm to 5pm-ish which is brilliant. At the moment someone is home all the time over the school holidays, but once my son goes back and I'm back working we will be crate training during the day too. I'll let you know how that goes! :D

Remi is a great name! When we picked our Goldie up 3 weeks ago, hubby drove while I sat in the back with our new pup. As we had over half an hour's journey, we took a laundry basket with a towel in case of any accidents, but wanted to be able to make a fuss of him in case he got too distressed so didn't want to use a crate. Pup ended up asleep in the laundry basket - very stress free homecoming experience!

I have the same problem with rain, sun and wind with my pup Lollipup! By the way, love the names Lola and Chester - same names as my two cats!

Thanks everyone for your tips! We are taking him out about every hour, but I think it looks like we're not being patient enough when we are outside. It makes sense that this means he is learning that he can go inside if we aren't giving him time whiles he's out there. Much as the chair and the book idea is appealling, our pup tends to spend any time not playing outside looking for stones to chew on. We are contantly following him around while he's out there in case he swallows one - this then seems to be counter-productive as he is then getting our attention. He is also not keen on the midday sun (we're in WA so he's gonna have to get used to this at some point!) or the wind (we're on the coast, so ditto!), or the rain! In case you haven't guessed, this is the first dog we've had from a pup and it's exhausting, although we love him to bits which makes up for the frustrating bits!

Hi - I'm hoping someone has some ideas for us regarding our puppy's backward track on house training. We have had our gorgeous 11 week old Golden Retriever (Bentley) since he was just over 8 weeks old. We seem to be getting nowhere fast with house training, despite taking him out as soon as he wakes, shortly after he has eaten and if it's been a couple of hours since the last wee/poo. Some days we think we've got it covered, then others (like today) I'll take him outside to his toilet area, he sniffs around and starts to play so I bring him in with the idea of taking him out again in a few minutes. Virtually as soon as I brought him in he pooed inside. He did something similar to my husband last night - was out in the garden for about 10 minutes - nothing - then within a minute of being indoors he wee'd on the doormat! If we catch him in the act we do tell him 'No' and take him back outside, then clear the mess immediately. Our breeder recommended a mixture of white wine vinegar and water to get rid of the smell of ammonia - and to be honest he doesn't seem to go back to the same place all the time so I assume that's not the problem (other than our house smells a bit like a chip shop! :) ). What are we doing wrong.... Or am I just being impatient? Can someone give us any ideas on how we can crack this problem, before my house starts smelling like a lavatory! Thanks in anticipation