Puppy Training or Lack Thereof
As you may know, we have a golden retriever puppy. He’s 8 months old. We decided to bring him home when we were still reeling from the unexpected loss of our last dog Sadie. And now, as we are in the thick of it, we realize that puppy training is so hard! Many of you are probably thinking, “uh, duh?”
This was a rushed decision. I’ll admit it. A decision we did not think through. I’m all about honesty here in this space. Now, Sadie came home with us before Bryan and I were even married. No kids were in the picture yet. We had all the time in the world to train a dog! And at that time we picked a breed (cockapoo) that didn’t get very big and had a pretty laid back personality.
Feeling like we did a complete 180 by bringing home a golden retriever puppy. Our conversations when we were deciding to do this, “a big dog will be fun” “the boys will get to grow up with him” “he will be so different from Sadie, it won’t make us as sad” (ok, the last thought was really just mine). So we brought him home at the end of February.
I would say for the first 24 hours we thought “oh he’s so great, he’s so cute” and then our mindset shifted, the potty training was hard. And it was the middle of winter so that involved taking him outside on a leash in the snow every 30 minutes. I am slightly embarrassed to admit the amount of times we both said “what’s the return policy on this dog?”
We made it through potty training / kennel training. Then the biggest struggle was the jumping, the nonstop excitement with people at our house. And of course, he keeps growing – a 15 pound puppy jumping on you is one thing, but a 60 pound puppy? Totally different story! This summer before we moved out of our house, we started working with a local dog trainer.
I figured if we just had some guidance we could work with him on our own. Well, we have had 2 sessions with her now. Don’t get me wrong, I do think it’s helping us. But we have two boys, we are currently pseudo-homeless, and are moving across the country in 8 weeks. We love you Murphy (I think), but training is way, way, way on the back burner for us.
Oh, and in our current pseudo-homeless situation, we no longer have a fenced in backyard for him. My husband had a moment this week, not his finest, he will admit that, but he was convinced we needed to just rehome him. Puppies are hard.
We lived in this nice, naïve world when we brought our first puppy home! No kids, no other responsibilities – it was no problem. Now, in this current phase of life, he’s just a lot, a lot of work on top of all our other responsibilities. I truly would not recommend getting a dog if you have children as young as ours. Wait, I promise you won’t regret it. Wait until your life chaos feels manageable. I can guarantee you will just be adding to the chaos if you get a puppy!
Now, I feel like I can type all this out and complain because we have a new plan with Murphy. We are sending him away. Not forever I promise! But for four weeks, he’s going to live with a trainer and other dogs and get the training and attention he deserves. He will get dropped off this weekend and we will pick him up at the end of October. I’m feeling really good about this decision. I found this particular place through a friend who used them for their dog. She had nothing but good things to say about their experience.
So, for the next 4 weeks there will be no Murphy news. I’ll be sure to give you an update once we pick him up in a month!
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2 Comments
Vedya/Joan Boikess · October 5, 2022 at 2:10 pm
We had a hard time with our first dog- a golden retriever. We had no experience with getting the training we needed to train and take good care of a dog. He’d drag me around our neighborhood during walks. Jump up and eat whole loaves of bread on the counter! We did manage Him in our home with a fenced in yard and doggy door so he could go in and out. Then we moved to the beach. No doggy door. No grass. Sand and fleas in small fenced in yard. We had to leave him in the back yard when we went to work and he’d bark all day and try to get out of the chain link fence. My father in law convinced us to find him a better and safer home. He had a radio show and announced that we had a beautiful golden who needed a new home. He said we’d cry for a few days and then we’d get over it! We reluctantly agreed to it after our dog clawed his way out of the fenced in yard, clawed the door open to what he thought was the door of the house. It was the door to the outdoor gas heater which he broke and the neighbors called the gas co to keep us from blowing up! We were at work when all this happened! We found a retired cop in LA who was blind and his wife to adopt our beloved dog. He said our dog would jump into the bathtub and take a bath with his wife! They had a big fenced on their property and knew how to train and take care of dogs. They all lived happily ever after. We didn’t get another dog until 15 years later when my son was leaving for college. I needed a companion. I got dog training even before we brought the puppy home. Regular training continued for the next couple of years. We had the best dog ever. Hope you find the best solution for your family and your dog.
MB · October 5, 2022 at 7:26 pm
That had to have been such a hard decision but it sounds like it was the best for your family. Thanks for sharing your experience. Fingers crossed this dog training is successful for us.
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