New York Golden Retriever Puppies

1. Please arrive at the airport before your Golden Retriever puppy is scheduled to arrive, and go to the live cargo pick-up area for the traveling airline. This spot is different in many airports and it is good practice to call the regional airport ahead of time to find out this location.

2. Bring with you the shipping information and two forms of identification.

3. You may also want to bring a bottle of water, a blanket or towel, and something super tasty like boiled chicken pieces, cheese, or other meat pieces. Your Golden Retriever puppy may be very hungry and thirsty or not hungry or thirsty at all. Do not be alarmed if either happens. Once your Golden Retriever puppy gets home and adjusted into its own new bed (you may want to continue to use the crate) with new toys and the same food and familiar blanket, your Golden Retriever puppy should start eating and playing normally. If the puppy is not eating much, mix rice or chicken and add it to the dry food your Golden Retriever puppy came with. Do not over-feed your Golden Retriever puppy human foods which may lead to digestive discomfort.

4. The first thing you do when you take the puppy out is to take it to the closest grassy spot ASAP. THEN give your Golden Retriever much love and tender care. Contact LittleLindas to let us know that your puppy has arrived safely.

Checklist:
- Bring paper towels, a blanket or towel
- Bring newspaper
- Trash bag
- Bring a leash and collar
- Bottled water and a bowl
- Boiled chicken pieces, cheese, or other meat pieces
- Wetwipes for self cleanup

Vaccinating your puppy is the basis of good puppy care. Vaccines help reduce the risk of your Golden Retriever Puppy acquiring diseases like parvovirus, distemper, kennel cough, and rabies. Vaccines are usually given when puppies reach 6-8 weeks of age and are given every 3-4 weeks until the puppy reaches 16-20 weeks of age. Boosters are then needed every one to three years. There are many different vaccine schedules your veterinarian might use. For example you puppy might receive shots at the following ages: 6, 9, 12, and a rabies vaccination at 15-16 weeks of age.

Puppies are usually vaccinated against: Distemper, Adenovirus (hepatitis), Parvovirus, and Parainfluenza. All of these vaccines are usually combined in one vaccine typically referred to as “the distemper shot.” Also depending on where you live, you may also need vaccines against Coronavirus, Lyme disease, Leptospirosis, and Bordetella. Rabies vaccination is needed as well and is required by law. Rabies vaccine is usually given at sixteen weeks of age, and then boostered a year later, and then boostered one to three years later depending on the local laws and regulations. Rabies vaccine is the only vaccine that you must absolutely get for your Golden Retriever Puppy. Only a licensed veterinarian can administer a rabies vaccine. However, we recommend vaccinating with distemper shots as well as rabies.

CONSULT YOUR LOCAL VETERINARIAN FOR VACCINATION SCHEDULE

Puppy nails have tiny sharp points that can easily scratch you, your children, or your furniture. It is important to keep your puppy’s nails trim. Untrimmed nails can also lead to broken nails that are painful and bleed. To trim your Golden Retriever Puppy’s nails, you can use a pet nail clipper. You may want to hold your puppy in your lap or have someone hold your Golden Retriever Puppy on a table. Hold your puppy’s paw firmly and push on his pads to extend the nail. Start cutting off only the very tip of the nail and make several small nips with the clippers instead of one larger one. Be careful not to cut too much as you may cut the vein (quick). If you accidentally cut the quick, wipe off the blood and apply Kwik-Stop or styptic powder to stop the bleeding. It is not serious and will heal quickly.

Housebreaking Your Golden Retriever Puppy

WHAT YOU MAY NOT KNOW

Bringing your Golden Retriever Puppy puppy home is one of the most exciting moments. There is a new bundle of furry joy that enters your family and settles in for a long and nurturing bond between dog and human. However, this joy can quickly disperse as the role of housebreaking comes along and you start to become frustrated.

First, the new Golden Retriever Puppy owner must realize that not all dogs are the same. One puppy may be easily trained by the time it is 12 weeks old, while another puppy could be 5 months old before being fully housebroken. Each puppy is different and must be trained according to what fits for that particular puppy.

What is housebreaking?

Housebreaking is the act of getting your puppy to soil where you want. Usually this is outside of the home but some owners of smaller breed dogs choose to litter train their puppies instead. For Golden Retriever Puppies, litter training is not an option so we must assume that the Golden Retriever Puppy will be trained to pee and poop outside of the home.
Importance of Schedules

Schedules are one of the most important aspects of housebreaking your puppy. The first thing any new or expecting family should do is create a bathroom schedule for their new puppy.

Puppies around 8-16 weeks old will usually need to go to the bathroom every 3 hours. Therefore, you should schedule bathroom breaks every couple of hours, even if your puppy does not show signs of having to go to the bathroom. If you keep to a 3-hour schedule, your puppy will catch on quickly and start to begin to hold from going to the bathroom indoors until that scheduled potty break. As your puppy gets older, this 3-hour schedule can be extended an hour at a time, until your puppy can finally wait up to 8 hours or more. Please note that this is a gradual process and will take several weeks to months before being able to wait that long as a puppy’s bladder is underdeveloped when young and cannot physically wait that long without having the urge.

Training to go Potty
So now that you know what housebreaking is and the importance of scheduling, how do you get your puppy to go outside? It is a simple process of awarding your puppy for good behavior.

Most Golden Retriever Puppy owners follow a very simple routine when they take their puppy outside: take your puppy out on a leash directly to the spot you want your puppy to eliminate, use a command to tell your puppy to do its business such as Go Potty, do not play with your puppy while outside for bathroom time, as your puppy goes potty repeat the command over (this helps train your puppy to go on command), treat and praise when your puppy goes potty, do not return your puppy to the house until 10 minutes have passed even if your puppy has already eliminated (it may go potty again), and praise your puppy when it comes back into the house.

Beyond the 3-hour schedule, your puppy will need to go to the bathroom:

• When they wake up in the morning or after a nap
• Before they go to sleep
• After they play
• Before and after they go on a car ride
• When they get overly excited

Using a Crate

We strongly urge crate training for housebreaking puppies. By using a crate, you provide your puppy with its own den and capitalize on its innate tendency to keep this area clean. A puppy kept in its crate for a reasonable period of time – no more than three to four hours at a time during the day – will refrain from soiling and will learn to hold itself until you let it out. Consistently doing this will help your puppy establish a regular schedule for elimination. Crates also prevent young puppies from getting into mischief when you cannot watch them and confines their chewing to objects you have provided. Like children, puppies need lots of rest but they also require pleasant physical contact and socialization. Use common sense about how much time your puppy should spend in its crate.

Introducing the Crate

It is important to introduce your puppy to the crate gradually. It may be helpful to use treats to provide a positive association with entering the crate. As your puppy becomes comfortable with the crate, you can increase the time that it spends there, realizing that it is important not to overuse it. Your puppy should not live in its crate — he or she should live with you. However, use the crate for the periods of time when it cannot be watched, when it is resting or eating and while it is being housebroken. This time staying in the crate will teach your puppy to hold itself. Used this way, a crate is an important aid in your puppy’s adjustment to its new life.

Housebreaking is not always an easy task but it doesn’t have to result in frustration and hair loss. With Golden Retriever Puppies, owners need to remain consistent and persistent in their training. Most owners become frustrated because they try something for a week or two and when it doesn’t work, they either give up or try something new. Unfortunately, this ends up confusing the Golden Retriever Puppy and your puppy will be deemed un-trainable. When training fails, it is usually that the owner does not remain consistent with the training or gives up all together. This leads to an 80-pound dog that rules the roost and a very important bond between owner and Golden Retriever Puppy that is lost.

Remember that each Golden Retriever Puppy is distinctly different. However, as long as you remain consistent and persistent in their training, it will be well worth your effort and will be highly rewarding. Your Golden Retriever Puppy would never give up on you so never give up on your Golden Retriever Puppy!

It is very important to keep your Golden Retriever Puppy free of any fleas or ticks. He or she can become severely ill due to fleas and ticks.

Most flea products these days are effective against ticks as well as fleas. We recommend Frontline flea and tick preventative. It is a medication that is applied once a month to help prevent fleas and ticks. It is a liquid product applied topically to the skin between the shoulder blades.

Keeping your Golden Retriever Puppies ears clean is very important. Maintaining clean ears will prevent ear disease. Check your Golden Retriever Puppies ears weekly and clean routinely. To clean the ears, use an ear cleaner. Apply the ear cleaner into your Golden Retriever Puppies ear canal. Gently massage the base of the ear for 15-20 seconds to soften any dirt. Wipe out the loose dirt using a cotton ball. Repeat until the ears are completely clean.

There are many methods of dog training and many objectives, from basic obedience training to specialized areas including law enforcement, military, search and rescue, hunting, working with livestock, assistance to people with disabilities, entertainment, dog sports and protecting people or property.

As pack animals, wild dogs have natural instincts that favor cooperation with their fellow dogs. Many domestic dogs, either through instinct or breeding, can correctly interpret and respond to signals given by a human handler.

Most dogs live with people who want them to behave in ways that make them pleasant to be around, keep them safe, and provides for the safety of other humans and pets. Dogs do not figure out basic obedience on their own. The fundamental rule that must be remembered is that one should never apply human standards of society onto the dog with the assumption that the dog will understand. Never assume a dog is trying to insult, injure or deceive you on a personal level. Understand that it is acting as a dog naturally, innocently does, and should be met with patience and thoughtfulness, rather than forcefulness or retaliation. Many trainers treat their dogs with cruelty and irrational punishment, leading to measurably increased stress, illness, and tendency towards violence.

The hardest part of training is communicating with the dog in a humane way that the dog understands. However, the underlying principle of all communication is simple: reward desired behavior while ignoring or correcting undesired behavior. “Corrections” should never include harmful physical force or violence.

Basic pet obedience training usually consists of six behaviors:

• Sit
• Down
• Stay
• Recall (“come”, “here” or “in”)
• Close (or loose-leash walking)
• Heel

Reward and punishment

1. Positive reinforcement adds something to the situation to increase the chance of the behaviour being exhibited again.
2. Negative reinforcement removes something from the situation to increase the chance of the behaviour being exhibited again.

When training your dog, use positive training methods. This requires positively reinforcing good behavior rather than punishing to decrease bad behavior.

IMPORTANT: Dogs should not be punished by being placed within a cage, crate or carrier, especially one similar to where they eat or sleep. While this may confine the dog from further disruptive behaviour, and also may seem similar to “sending a child to their room” as a form of punishment, the dog’s mind will unfortunately begin to associate the cage with punishment, and will experience anxiety if put into the container, as a result of the negative feelings associated with it. Punishment involving confinement is an unusual and confusing type of situation for a dog, and should not be used for proper punishment

Rewards

Positive reinforcers can be anything that your dog finds rewarding – special food treats, the chance to play with a tug toy, social interaction with other dogs, or the owner’s attention.

Punishment

Punishments should only be administered as appropriate for the dog’s personality, age, experience and physical and emotional condition. Some dogs may show signs of fear or anxiety with harsh verbal corrections. Other dogs may ignore a verbal reprimand. Some dogs develop an aversion or fear of water, when water is sprayed at them as an aversive.

Keep in mind that each dog is distinctly different. Training methods should be administered only as appropriate. As long as you remain consistent and persistent in their training, it will be well worth your effort and will be highly rewarding. Your dog will never give up on you so never give up on your dog!

**COMING SOON**

Golden Retriever

The Golden Retriever is a medium-sized breed of dog. They were historically developed as gundogs to retrieve shot waterfowl such as ducks and upland game birds during hunting and shooting parties. As such, they were bred to have a soft mouth to retrieve game undamaged and have an instinctive love of water. The golden retriever has a dense inner coat that provides it with adequate warmth. The outer coat is sleek and water repellent, and lies flat against the body. The official colour of the breed is the varying shades of gold.

The breed’s intelligence and versatility suit the dogs well for a variety of roles including guide dog for the blind, hearing dog for deaf people, hunting dog, illegal drug detector, and search and rescue participant. Because of their loyal and gentle temperament, golden retrievers are also popular family pets.

Golden Retrievers possess a friendly, eager-to-please demeanour, and are the fourth most popular family dog breeds (by registration) in the United States, the fifth most popular in Australia, and the eighth most popular in the United Kingdom.

History

The Golden Retriever was first developed in Scotland at “Guisachan” near Glen Affric, the highland estate of Sir Dudley Marjoribanks later Baron Tweedmouth. For many years, there was controversy over which breeds were originally crossed. In 1952, the publication of Marjoribanks’ breeding records from 1835 to 1890 dispelled the myth concerning the purchase of a whole troupe of Russian sheepdogs from a visiting circus.

Improvements in guns during the 1800s resulted in more fowl being downed during hunts at greater distances and over increasingly difficult terrain. This led to more birds being lost in the field. Because of this improvement in firearms, a need for a specialist retriever arose as training setter and pointer breeds in retrieval was found to be ineffective. Thus work began on the breeding of the dog to fill this much needed role.

The original cross was of a yellow-coloured Retriever, Nous, with a Tweed Water Spaniel female dog, Belle. The Tweed Water Spaniel is now extinct but was then common in the border country. Marjoribanks had purchased Nous in 1865 from an unregistered litter of otherwise black wavy-coated retriever pups. In 1868, this cross produced a litter that included four pups; these four became the basis of a breeding program which included the Irish Setter, the sandy-coloured Bloodhound, the St. John’s Water Dog of Newfoundland, and two more wavy-coated black Retrievers. The bloodline was also inbred and selected for trueness to Marjoribanks’ idea of the ultimate hunting dog. His vision included a more vigorous and powerful dog than previous retrievers, one that would still be gentle and trainable. Russian sheepdogs are not mentioned in these records, nor are any other working dog breeds. The ancestry of the Golden Retriever is all sporting dogs, in line with Marjoribanks’ goals.

Golden Retrievers were first accepted for registration by The Kennel Club of England in 1903, as Flat Coats – Golden. They were first exhibited in 1908, and in 1911 were recognised as a breed described as Retriever (Golden and Yellow). In 1913, the Golden Retriever Club was founded. The breed name was officially changed to Golden Retriever in 1920.

The Honourable Archie Marjoribanks took a Golden Retriever to Canada in 1881, and registered Lady with the American Kennel Club (AKC) in 1894. These are the first records of the breed in these two countries. The breed was first registered in Canada in 1927, and the Golden Retriever Club of Ontario, now the Golden Retriever Club of Canada, was formed in 1958. The co-founders of the GRCC were Cliff Drysdale, an Englishman who had brought over an English Golden and Jutta Baker, daughter in law of Louis Baker who owned Northland Kennels, possibly Canada’s first kennel dedicated to Goldens. AKC recognised the breed in 1925, and in 1938 the Golden Retriever Club of America was formed.

In July 2006, The Golden Retriever Club of Scotland organised a gathering of Golden Retriever enthusiasts at the ancestral home of Guisachan House. A photograph was taken by photographer Lynn Kipps to commemorate the occasion. It captures 188 Golden Retrievers and therefore holds the record for most Golden Retrievers captured in one image.

Appearance

British type

Some variations do exist between the British type Golden Retrievers prevalent throughout Europe and Australia, and those of American lines and these differences are reflected in the breed standard. The muzzle of the British type of dog is wider and shorter, and its forehead is blockier. It has shorter legs, with a slightly deeper chest, and shorter tail. Its features make
it generally heavier than the American type. Males should be between 56–61 cm (22–24 inches) at the withers and females slightly shorter at between 51–56 cm (20–22 inches). Their weight, however, is not specified in the UK standard. The KC standard calls for a level topline and straight hindquarters without the slight rear angulation found in American lines. The eyes of the European type are noted for their roundness and darkness as contrasted with the triangular or slanted composition of their American counterparts. A Golden Retriever of British breeding can have a coat colour of any shade of gold or cream; however, red or mahogany are not permissible colours. Originally cream was not an acceptable colour in the UK standard; however, by 1936 the standard was revised to include cream. It was felt this exclusion was a mistake as the original “yellow” retrievers of the 19th century were lighter in colour than the then current standard permitted. As with American lines, white is an unacceptable colour in the show ring. The British KC standard is used in all countries with the exceptions of the USA and Canada.

American type

An American Golden is lankier and less stocky than a British Type. A male should stand 22–24 inches (56–61 cm) in height at the shoulders, and females should be 20–22 inches (51–56 cm). The coat is dense and water repellent, in various shades of lustrous gold, with moderate feathering. The gait should be free, smooth, powerful, and well-coordinated.

Canadian type

The Canadian Golden Retriever’s appearance are similar to the American type in height and weight, and have a thinner coat than their conformation line counterparts, and they are usually darker in colour.

Coat and colour

Golden Retrievers vary widely in colour. As indicated by their name, their coat comes in light golden colours to dark golden colours. The coat and undercoat are dense and waterproof, and may be straight or moderately wavy. It usually lies flat against the belly. The American Kennel Club (AKC) standard states that the coat is a “rich, lustrous golden of various shades”, disallowing coats that are extremely light or extremely dark. This leaves the outer ranges of coat colour up to a judge’s discretion when competing in conformation shows. Therefore, “pure white” and “red” are unacceptable colours like black . The Kennel Club (UK) also permits cream as an acceptable coat colour. Judges may also disallow Goldens with pink noses, or those lacking pigment. The Golden’s coat can also be of a mahogany colour, referred to as “redheads”, although this is not accepted in the British show ring. As a Golden grows older, its coat can become darker or lighter, along with a noticeable whitening of the fur on and around the muzzle. Puppy coats are usually much lighter than their adult coats, but a puppy with a darker colouration at the tips of the ears may indicate a darker adult colour. A golden’s coat should never be too long, as this may prove to be a disservice to them in the field, especially when retrieving game.

Temperament

Golden Retrievers were bred to retrieve from the water. The temperament of the Golden Retriever is a hallmark of the breed and is described in the standard as “kindly, friendly and confident”. They make excellent family pets. They are not “one man dogs” and are generally equally amiable with both strangers and those familiar to them. Their trusting, gentle disposition therefore makes them a poor guard dog. The typical Golden Retriever is calm, naturally intelligent and biddable, with an exceptional eagerness to please.

Most Goldens are high energy and need plenty of exercise, such as dog agility. Golden Retrievers are also noted for their intelligence, being one of the brightest dogs ranked by obedience command trainability. These dogs are also renowned for their patience with children.

By the time they reach maturity however, Goldens will have become active and fun-loving animals with the exceptionally patient demeanour befitting a dog bred to sit quietly for hours in a hunting blind. Adult Golden Retrievers love to work, and have a keen ability to focus on a given task. They will seemingly work until they collapse, so care should be taken to avoid overworking them.

Other characteristics related to their hunting heritage are a size suited for scrambling in and out of boats and an inordinate love for water. Golden Retrievers are exceptionally trainable—due to their intelligence, athleticism and desire to please their handlers—and generally excel in obedience trials. They are also very competitive in agility and other performance events.

Golden Retrievers are compatible with children and adults and are good with other dogs, cats and most livestock. Golden Retrievers are particularly valued for their high level of sociability towards people, calmness, and willingness to learn. Because of this, they are commonly used as guide dogs, mobility assistance dogs, and search and rescue dogs. They are friendly and tend to learn tricks easily.

They are also known to become excellent surrogate mothers to different species. Kittens and even tiger cubs from zoos are well taken care of by golden retrievers. In some cases, a retriever may produce milk for its adopted even though it may not have been pregnant or nursing recently.