It's A GIRL!!

[NHSparky]

I miss Rocky (my golden).

[asdf2231]

Beautiful Goldie Asdf! I was told that when a Retreiver has that point on it's head you've gotten a good one{My black lab George has that same point} I would put some stuffed animals in her crate with her{I know it helped George adjust from being away from his litter mates}

We shoved a big fluffy stuffed animal dog in with her last night. I have heard the pointy head thing before too, lol.
She also has two very visible "Angel Wings" of white hair coming off of either shoulder.

She is learning that Outside is the toilet pretty quickly too.  When she woke us up at 1 and 3am I took her outside immediately and she did her business.  Had to lay next to her wire crate for about an hour at 3 to get her back to sleep.  She is handing the crate a lot better today. I keep telling the kids that everyday will get a little better as she learns.

She has a wicked cute yodel/bay when she is sad though, lol. Sounds like a hound dog almost.

[asdf2231]

I miss Rocky (my golden).

Have you got any pictures Sparky?

[Wineslob]

Cute pup! You need to LOLCAT that last pic.

[Eupher]

Yeah, great looking pup!

Considering the weather, it's not surprising to hear that she's never been outdoors. Still, I'd think it's a good idea to take her outside, especially for housebreaking.    (Mom ain't around any more to clean up the mess!)

Socializing, socializing, socializing. Within the limitations of vaccinations (you won't be able to get the rabies vaccine for a few weeks yet, for example), you gotta take Pepper and get her around people, kids, and other dogs.

They told me 100 different people/kids/dogs in the first couple of months!

The puppy thing fascinates me because I'd never been around that whole process until we got Belle. In fact, I'd not lived with a dog at all since I was a kid, and I'm 52 now.

Major, major life adjustment. 

[asdf2231]

I have NEVER raised a puppy before.  Our old dog Maggie was 3 months old when we got her, so she had some baggage and since the POS Koreans that had her tied up outside the snack shop beat and abused her daily it was LIKE training a puppy since we had to start from scratch, but with major issues.

This little girl is settling in pretty good.

She absolutely HATES the leash though. She turns into Civil Disobedience Dog everytime you try to lead her on it and flattens out and digs in.

What has been an absolute riot today is watching her discover the snow. She has decided that the snowbanks are her mortal enemy and need to be vanquished at all costs. Whenever I taker her out she is prancing at them and knocking pieces off with her big feets and eating them.

She climbed up on a drift today and did this little happy dance when she made it to the top and then fell through the crust and started yelping.  All you could see was the little black nose sticking up from the hole. 

Herself, Herself in her new digs in the living room:

[asdf2231]

You're lucky you don't have a swimming pool.

Golden Retrievers and swimming pools are a match made in heaven.

I am constantly having to "de-fur" my vacuums, skimmers and filters.

We have a pretty good man-made pond right across the main street at the foot of our property and she will be hitting the beach with us a lot this summer. Luckily I don't have to worry about filters on those.

[Eupher]

We have a pretty good man-made pond right across the main street at the foot of our property and she will be hitting the beach with us a lot this summer. Luckily I don't have to worry about filters on those.

Yeah, but if your man-made pond generates pond scum like mine does and if Pepper is anything like Belle, she'll want to eat that stuff.

Ever see a puppy puke pond scum? Not pleasant.

And some of that bacteria are toxic.....

On the leash thing, Belle wasn't a great fan of being on the leash and certainly wasn't fond of a collar, but we were firm and she came around pretty quickly.

Man, they grow up so fast. Take lotsa pics!

[Eupher]

You're lucky you don't have a swimming pool.

Golden Retrievers and swimming pools are a match made in heaven.

I am constantly having to "de-fur" my vacuums, skimmers and filters.

It took Belle about 4 trips to the lake before she even wanted to do anything with the water other than drink it. 

She's more inclined to get in the water now (well, okay, when the weather permits), but she still isn't swimming yet.

Maybe next summer...

[asdf2231]

Yep, a green-winged macaw.  We've had her since she was an egg, literally (after the eggs were laid, we removed them and placed them in an incubator until they hatched.  Also, she had a sibling named Chili (hence, Chili Pepper ), but he died of some strange illness that almost took Pepper's life too.  )

I know it's silly but they scare the crap out of me. I watched one bite a 1/4" metal rod in two without really trying and have been neurotically afraid to pet one after that.

[Eupher]

Great pics, asdf. There is nothing more expressive than a GR's eyebrows! 

[Chris_]

I know it's silly but they scare the crap out of me. I watched one bite a 1/4" metal rod in two without really trying and have been neurotically afraid to pet one after that.

I've been bitten numerous times, yet I still love macaws.  At the time of the bites, I hated them, but then they start being all sweet to me, trying to kiss up to me in apology.    Some macaws just tend to stick to one or two people, but I've known some that loved everyone (getting a good head scratch is what they were after, followed by a peanut or walnut.)


Now, back to the cute puppy. 

[Eupher]

asdf, got any plans for a puppy kindergarten class?

They learn so quickly in the first few months, it would be good if you can.

All the usual stuff:

Sit
Down
Stay

and the biggie:

Recall

From my readings (and I've done a lot over the past 10 months), it's great you're crate-training. It's tough to be tough when they cry at night; letting them cry is the best thing. They'll quickly learn that Mom and Dad won't run to them when the lights go out and it's time to just lay down and go to sleep.

Ditto when it's potty training at night. Without speaking a word, get the pup out of the crate, snap on the collar and the leash (don't leave the collar on when the pup's in the crate - it's a safety issue), go outside and say only one thing just at the point when the pup pees. Ours was:

"Get busy!"

She associates that phrase with the activity.

Immediately after she pees/poops, lots and lots and lots of praise, without overdoing it. It ain't playtime, it ain't feeding time, it ain't time to do anything else other than back in the crate and lights out.

Again, Mom and Dad have to be tough. Let the pup cry - don't give in to the temptation of "being with her" or otherwise catering to her crying.

Before you know it, Pepper will be going through the night without having to pee and poop and you can actually get your rest!

[asdf2231]

asdf, got any plans for a puppy kindergarten class?

They learn so quickly in the first few months, it would be good if you can.

All the usual stuff:

Sit
Down
Stay

and the biggie:

Recall

From my readings (and I've done a lot over the past 10 months), it's great you're crate-training. It's tough to be tough when they cry at night; letting them cry is the best thing. They'll quickly learn that Mom and Dad won't run to them when the lights go out and it's time to just lay down and go to sleep.

Ditto when it's potty training at night. Without speaking a word, get the pup out of the crate, snap on the collar and the leash (don't leave the collar on when the pup's in the crate - it's a safety issue), go outside and say only one thing just at the point when the pup pees. Ours was:

"Get busy!"

She associates that phrase with the activity.

Immediately after she pees/poops, lots and lots and lots of praise, without overdoing it. It ain't playtime, it ain't feeding time, it ain't time to do anything else other than back in the crate and lights out.

Again, Mom and Dad have to be tough. Let the pup cry - don't give in to the temptation of "being with her" or otherwise catering to her crying.

Before you know it, Pepper will be going through the night without having to pee and poop and you can actually get your rest!

She already has "Down NOW" and is getting "NO BITE". (I gotsa bandaid on my arm from when I was laying with her earlier and she decided I looked like a snausage.) She is also farther along with the potty thing at one day then our last one was at one week. SMART dog. 

She is also getting on top of the crate concept most ricky tik. A few whines and a half hearted bark today and then she settled down.  Last night she needed someone near her crate for a bit before she settled in, but we did not in fact take her out. Life is hard, lol.

[asdf2231]

[Eupher]

Belle was the runt of her litter and she had to get tough pretty quick or have her ass handed to her by her 3 brothers and one sister.

For that reason (and also because of the breeder's daughters), Belle learned that biting was a cool thing to do.

Despite lots of training, she still resorts to that practice - never hard enough to break the skin, but still.....

She does it only when I'm down on the floor with her. At that point, she thinks I'm a litter mate and it's okay to bite.

It ain't okay to bite - especially when I've got my hands wrapped around her throat and she's surrendering. So she stops at that point.

Stubborn pup. 

[Eupher]

Story goes, Pepper will be the color of her ears when her second coat comes in at about 10-11 months or so. She'll darken up a little bit between now and then, too.

[asdf2231]

Belle was the runt of her litter and she had to get tough pretty quick or have her ass handed to her by her 3 brothers and one sister.

For that reason (and also because of the breeder's daughters), Belle learned that biting was a cool thing to do.

Despite lots of training, she still resorts to that practice - never hard enough to break the skin, but still.....

She does it only when I'm down on the floor with her. At that point, she thinks I'm a litter mate and it's okay to bite.

It ain't okay to bite - especially when I've got my hands wrapped around her throat and she's surrendering. So she stops at that point.

Stubborn pup. 

We had a real effective behaivior modification technique with our last dog.  When she tried to bite or did something else completely out of line we would flip he over and bite her neck fur and hold her like that for a minute or so.

Bad behaivior stopped REALLY quick. It also helps reinforce pack status with them.

They really are not that far removed from wolves socially.

[Eupher]

We had a real effective behaivior modification technique with our last dog.  When she tried to bite or did something else completely out of line we would flip he over and bite her neck fur and hold her like that for a minute or so.

Bad behaivior stopped REALLY quick. It also helps reinforce pack status with them.

They really are not that far removed from wolves socially.

I had considered doing something like that, but discarded the idea. She knows she's not to bite, but does it because she "forgets."

I'll try that tonight and let you know how it goes.   

[Flame]

Congrats, asdf....knew you would come home with one!  She's a cutie!

As for the leash, attach one wheile in the house, and just let her drag it with her for a while...pretty soon she won't  mind it so much any more.  Worked for us, anyway.

[Miss Mia]

awwwww. 

[DixieBelle]

Awww is right!!! Dang, she's stealing my heart!

[debk]

The story with the drift cracked me up! Take the camera with you next time you're going to let her play outside a bit.

I had Westies.....two were crate trained and two weren't. The first two weren't and they slept in the bed with me. They got a dog "cookie" when they came in from being outside and would go straight to into their crates.

I solved the biting problem by clenching their mouth shut and biting them on the nose. Only took a couple of times and the problem was solved, except for the first one. We had to have her live with someone else after she attacked my daughter right after my son was born. She was not thrilled to have a new child in the house (she was before babies)....and I wouldn't let her stay after she went after my daughter. The ex thought I was unreasonable. 

[SaintLouieWoman]

She's adorable. Love the pics.

[The Village Idiot]

Now thats a good looking puppy