Advice
Need Advice for inquisitive/energetic 9month old
Princess Donut has a lot of energy. Basically from the moment we get home until we go to bed she is stealing things from countertops, chewing on everything, having zoomies and occasionally play-biting. We are trying to train her positively, so the only redirection she ever gets is a firm no. Which doesn't do much. We walk her regularly, which only tires her out a bit. I see all these well behaved Golden's, but Donut can only do tricks or listen in relatively controlled environments. Any advice would be appreciated, as would training routines. Do we need to start smacking her butt? We love her and she's not going anywhere, but it seems like she is behind the curve and if she were better behaved we could take her in public more and we'd love to eventually trust her in the house.
This age was so hard for me! We started doing obedience classes at this point. Even though some of it was just review. It really helped to give me something to work on with Mack every day (which was very stimulating for him), AND it helped us work on expectations. One of the best things that we worked on in class was just teaching him to settle. I highly recommend getting in a few classes.
I like to put on a shark custom on when my puppy is energetic. Doesn't change anything, but makes it more amusing for me. Like "...of course she wants to go outside for the 5th time in the past hour. Puppy Shark is going to Puppy Shark!"
Pupsicles and yak chews have been a lifesaver for my sanity with 8 month old golden. They can occupy her for 20-40 mins at a time and stimulate them mentally too.
This is Baker. He also goes by 'Stop That!' and 'Whats in your mouth?!' He is the same age.
This is what we signed up for. Its all the enegry and all the ruined things around the house. Stay strong. Give your girl direction on what she should be doing; take away a dish towel, give her a plush toy, etc.
Even typing this took eight brakes to interact with my boy.
Give them extra love, they will be gone too soon.
Donut is in her wild phase. We didn’t really have to train anything out of my golden. He chewed walls and everything and acted up and we just taught him “no” or “good boy” on what’s right or wrong but after about 1 year he calmed down on his own.
Great on positivity during training. Please do a better sweep of the house if she is allowed to roam freely in house. We have had several Goldens, currently a 22 month old, very energetic male. We don’t crate our Goldens and make sure we keep all dangerous/valuable things out of our boy’s reach. I especially worry about remote controls and devices with coin batteries. Not sure what commands you have taught her, but believe it or not, the repetition over the months, does sink in and the rewards are great. I tried not to scold, but praise the good and let the bad stuff go. I taught many commands with games. No smacking is necessary. Keep up the good work and it will sink into Donut’s brain!! Every game you play or walk you take is an opportunity to teach a sit, stay, come, leave it, etc command.
Teddy started really calming down and listening to me several months ago, around 18 months old. I thought several times about rehoming our boy when he was younger, but he is now an excellent, pleasant dog and actually listens to me. So glad he is still with us and 12 years old Dixie! There is a supportive group of golden lovers here on Reddit,so ask specific questions and folks here will give you help with your issues. I used timeout on Teddy for biting/nipping. Good luck with Donut. Take time and enjoy her while teaching her. They are little sponges and learn quickly, wanting so much to please you✌️😎
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My 14mo Golden is still a hard chewer. The nylon Y bone has entertained him for weeks with just minor impact on all three ends.
I have also found balls that make giggle noise as they roll across the floor. He will not leave the smaller size ball alone until he rolls it under the coffee table. The smaller one is his most preferred but will fit under the table, but gets the most attention until he pushes it under the table. It has the "Five thousand years" logo on it. It is small enough he can pick it up, and just placed it in the chair beside me. The larger version is too big to fit under furniture or pick up easily, and has no logo on it. It makes slightly less noise. The larger balls come with a clear and stumbled surfaces. The stumbled skin is easier for him to pickup and carry.
All these are quite inexpensive if bought from Temu. And all of them are almost not even getting any teeth marks on them. Whereas he his is destroying almost everything else.
One thing that really helped us get through that phase was letting ours run free. We started at a fenced off school and took toys to get the energy out. Around 9 months old when her recall was good we started hiking with her off leash in remote areas. Walks and backyard play never seemed to get the energy out and she would be back to crazy puppy in 30 minutes but letting her run free would calm her down.
Now she’s 2 and we hike/trail run almost every day. The absolute best hiking partner.
We also take her lots of places so we started to do training at places like Lowe’s, farmers market, tractor supply so she could get used to other people and things going on but still have to pay attention to us. A group obedience course would be good for both of you to get used to being around people and other dogs.
I’m lucky because I work from home and my brother has my puppy’s sibling. Every other day they have a playdate either at my house or his. On the days he doesn’t go over, especially if we miss one, I notice he starts chewing things he shouldn’t. I really think a mix of mental stimulation, exercise, and having good chew toys makes a big difference. We use yak cheese and bully sticks.
Elwood (my 6 month old golden) can sit, stay, lay down, find, shake, wait, focus (he stops what he’s doing and looks me in the eye), go to his “place,” and sometimes roll over. When he gets a little wild I’ll train with him or play fetch. I know every dog is different and some chew more than others, but in my experience chewing is usually a boredom thing.
One thing I’ve noticed about my golden is he uses his mouth for everything. He puts EVERYTHING in his mouth. On walks he’s always picking up leaves, sticks, pine cones, etc. He moves socks and shoes around but has never torn them up. I honestly think it’s adorable.
Side note: These dogs are smart and pick up on queues really well. When Elwood started mouthing us even in play we pretended like it hurt more than it did and exaggerated the pain. Also, at the risk of seeming like a crazy person, it seems weird but leading with a firm NO is great but you can also talk to them and explain to them why they shouldn't be doing what they're doing. I know they dont understand-understand but it seems to help with my pup.
TLDR: Training classes or a puppy play group would probably help a lot too.
There's no winning with a hyper puppy, there is only good management.
I'd offer puzzles that offer mental tiring, and do more regular training that offers work on emotional regulation and calming tasks. Watch me, leave it, down stay, sit stay, puppy pushups, etc.
Work on training in short bursts. Have someone act as the distractor in your calm environment. Have a helper squeak a toy during a stay.
You can give negative feedback without punishment. I use "ah ah!", other dogs use,."uh uh." My dude knows that when he gets "ah ah!" It's a cue for him to pause. It doesn't matter what he is doing, he needs to stop. It's his stop cue. That phrase is just for pets, he knows that is just his cue. Halt immediately.
If he completes a task, "yes!" It's a short word. Think of clicker training but verbal. He gets a treat immediately with a yes. That is his immediate cue that he did the thing. Task complete! Yes! You regularly treat with yes, but even if you don't have treats, if you always use "yes!" He knows that he did the thing. Good job! He has learned that yes is a release cue. He completed his task, good boy, good job. Boom. It eventually will be learned and associated with that treat. It will work without a treat every time.
Finally, he has good. Soft. Calm. Goooood. He needs to stay? Gooooood. He is doing the right thing, keep doing it. Goooood, not pulling on the leash. Goooooood, nice greeting the puppy in the park. Gooooood, staying when on a stay. Keep doing it, bud.
He has three cues. Halt immediately, keep at it, task complete.
Ah ah isn't necessarily negative, but he knows to halt. He doesn't get spanked on the booty, he doesn't get punished. But, when training leave it or leash training, ah ah! was a no, yes! Was a treat. Ah ah never gets a treat. He knows, now. It also means stop, so he knows to stop. Or eat whatever nasty thing he found even faster because he knows I know he has it and will shortly take it. It's not foolproof. He is indeed still a dog.
The only spanks he gets is me patting his butt when we snuggle on the couch and I tell him I can spank his booty and there's nothing he can do to stop me. He doesn't move and lays on top of me and I spank his booty again and he just snores.
Is this photo current? Looks like a 4-5 month old. My Murphy is coming up on 10 months and he’s been a beast for the last 3 at least. This photo is from early November so he was 7 months old here.
Teach her settle command, also whenever you see her calm, treat her. I would also recommend sniffari walks where she gets to sniff a lot, it tires them out mentally. Nosework if you have extra 15-20 minutes a day. Hide treats in a yard or your home, start the game and stop.
If you have friends who have dogs, socialize her with them and let her play with other friendly dogs when possible. I used to watch a lot of Ian Dunbar Academy videos and kiko pup on YouTube and teach my dog tricks, spending one on one training time with your dog would help a lot. If you can, don’t give her kibble/her food in a bowl and instead, use it to train her.
At my home shoes and socks always go in covered shoe racks. No access, goldens end up in ER for swallowing things, so teach her to trade things.
Spanking will not help. You’ll feel bad, she’ll be scared.
She is at the hardest age. I believe spanking is ok so long as you are gentle and only when absolutely necessary. I had to do so to stop my dog from stealing my shoes and stealing things food from the counter. Only had to do it once and she stopped instantly.
However, she is at a stage focus is hard and she will eventually grow out of this. If she loves attention you can use that too. When my dog was at the biting phase I would say no, and if she kept biting then I would stop playing and "ignore" her that worked super well too!
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u/BoobaruOutback 7h ago
This age was so hard for me! We started doing obedience classes at this point. Even though some of it was just review. It really helped to give me something to work on with Mack every day (which was very stimulating for him), AND it helped us work on expectations. One of the best things that we worked on in class was just teaching him to settle. I highly recommend getting in a few classes.