A puppy update and training report!!

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abb123

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A bit overdue but about 6 months ago I posted asking for advice about buying a puppy. Well I have had Poppy for 5 months now and what a little poppet she is :)

She is a Golden Retriever with a mix of working and show lines with several field trial champions in her breeding. She is completely different to my other Golden, who is all show lines. From the start she was naturally retrieving for us - socks mainly - and seemed to really enjoy it.

So I decided to try gun dog training with the aim to have a go at some field tests and scurries rather than the obedience style training groups that we have used before. This is a bit tricky for me as I am a life long vegetarian who has never eaten meat. I'm quite practical though and as long as I don't have to kill anything and I don't see any cruelty then I can muddle along.

So far we have only done the puppy and beginner level but what a star she is. Top of the class!

Our recall to the whistle is pretty rock solid. Her stay is amazing being able to stay in place while all the other naughty pups are running around causing chaos! Her heel work is about 80% there and improving all the time. She has started on being sent out to retrieve dummies showing really good hunting style and coming back and presenting. Not bad for a 7 month old pup :)

Next we start on beginning to get in some directing, introducing new whistle commands, retrieving from water and some little obstacles.

I never thought I would get into something like this but so far I'm loving it!

Here's is the little monkey:

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Lovely post! Our golden retriever puppy arrived yesterday, 10 weeks old from working lines. I'm comfortable with gun dog training having previously had working springers, but I'm already wondering how different she will be to train - she seems to be no trouble, did you find yours picked things up quickly?
 
No she isn't a veggie dog!

I have been recommended this veggie dog food: http://www.veggiepets.com/shop/v-dog-traditional-flake-vegetarian-dog-food.html but I don't have the heart to put her on veggie food yet. She is quite food orientated and will eat anything - including oranges!

RTE - I've found that Golden Retrievers are somewhere between Labs and Springers. They are quite easy to switch off so have the steadiness of the labs but are quite playful and can be quite independent with very much a mind of their own. My brother complains that his black working lab is boring in comparison! Both of mine have been very clever and have picked up the training with no problem at all. They are not quite as food orientated as labs and not as toy orientated as springers so the trick is finding something that does ring their bell.

Both of mine have amazingly lovely personalities and are are as trustworthy with kids as you can get. My vet does call them golden deceivers though as they can be quite vocal in saying when they don't like something.

One thing I can guarantee is that yours will be a mud magnet and will be obsessed with swimming :)
 
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