New dog

The wife and kids have finely talked me into getting a dog. Tomorrow we are picking up a 8 month old golden retriever. He is neutered, had shots and some training. Boomer is going to be more of family pet than a hunting dog. Was wondering if you guys have any hints on introducing a new older dog into our house. Thanks in advance.

Here is a photo of Boomer.

Here is a photo of Boomer.

Hope he didn’t get his name by booming into things in the house! Handsome looking fella!

Hope he didn’t get his name by booming into things in the house! Handsome looking fella!

Congrats, that is a fine looking dog. The first thing I would do when you get him home, is take him for a walk. Besides the exercise, this will give him time to bond with the master. After that give him time to check out his new surroundings both in and outside. also this is a good time to let him meet and get used to everybody in the household.
Set up your rules right away, is he limited to only certain areas in the house ect.
Set up a routine (dogs love routines) take him for walks twice daily. try to do this at the same time each day. He will adjust to his new family quickly.
Even though he will be more of a pet than a hunter, I would still use a hunting training method, even bird training. It keeps the dog motivated and makes other training easier.

Congrats, that is a fine looking dog. The first thing I would do when you get him home, is take him for a walk. Besides the exercise, this will give him time to bond with the master. After that give him time to check out his new surroundings both in and outside. also this is a good time to let him meet and get used to everybody in the household.
Set up your rules right away, is he limited to only certain areas in the house ect.
Set up a routine (dogs love routines) take him for walks twice daily. try to do this at the same time each day. He will adjust to his new family quickly.
Even though he will be more of a pet than a hunter, I would still use a hunting training method, even bird training. It keeps the dog motivated and makes other training easier.

8 months isn’t terribly old, Mike. My two recommendations:

1) Don’t change anythinig in the house for the first couple of weeks after you get him there. Let him get settled.

2) Bring him in the boat so he can meet Leo at the landing this fall. I bet they’ll be fast friends. Probably a little too squirrly to be in the boat together, though…

John

8 months isn’t terribly old, Mike. My two recommendations:

1) Don’t change anythinig in the house for the first couple of weeks after you get him there. Let him get settled.

2) Bring him in the boat so he can meet Leo at the landing this fall. I bet they’ll be fast friends. Probably a little too squirrly to be in the boat together, though…

John

I agree w/ Don…. lots of excersise… It has always made my pooches better behaved.

I agree w/ Don…. lots of excersise… It has always made my pooches better behaved.

that dog will hunt.

that dog will hunt.

Good looking dog, Mike! Now you will never fish alone.

-J.

Good looking dog, Mike! Now you will never fish alone.

-J.

Congrats Mike, Nice looking dog!

Congrats Mike, Nice looking dog!

I don’t know if never plan on hunting him, but, in the book Gun Dog by Sam Walters, he states that inside dogs make some of the best hunters. The more attention they get during the day and at night the better behaved they are outside the house. Like Don said, get him into a routine and exercise him and he will be a great dog for you. I do know that if you want Boomer to be your dog, you have to do most of the work with him. Dogs, in my opinion, need a go to person. So whom ever does the most work with him will be the dogs best buddy. Congrats to you and your family. Dogs add 5 years to your life.

I don’t know if never plan on hunting him, but, in the book Gun Dog by Sam Walters, he states that inside dogs make some of the best hunters. The more attention they get during the day and at night the better behaved they are outside the house. Like Don said, get him into a routine and exercise him and he will be a great dog for you. I do know that if you want Boomer to be your dog, you have to do most of the work with him. Dogs, in my opinion, need a go to person. So whom ever does the most work with him will be the dogs best buddy. Congrats to you and your family. Dogs add 5 years to your life.

Graet looking Dog. Don is right on with what he said. I got a 1 1/2 year old german shorthair this winter. I let him snif around the house and set up rules right away as to where he could and could not be. I all so got him in to a routine right from the get go. Make sure you give you self and family alot of time to bond right away. There are a lot of tips that you can pick up here at IDA. Good luck and have fun.

Graet looking Dog. Don is right on with what he said. I got a 1 1/2 year old german shorthair this winter. I let him snif around the house and set up rules right away as to where he could and could not be. I all so got him in to a routine right from the get go. Make sure you give you self and family alot of time to bond right away. There are a lot of tips that you can pick up here at IDA. Good luck and have fun.

Thanks guys. Im sure Boomer will have his fair share of boat time. Hes just most likely going to be spending most of it chasing walleyes. What are some good resources for learning how to train the dog. Books or web sites. Thinking that we want to tackle the training our selves rather than going to classes some where. Also wondering about letting my son Jonathan doing most of the training. He is ten and pretty excited about this. I know he would need to be supervised while doing this to make sure he sticks with the routines but do you guys think there may be any other issues with letting him tackle the training?

Thanks guys. Im sure Boomer will have his fair share of boat time. Hes just most likely going to be spending most of it chasing walleyes. What are some good resources for learning how to train the dog. Books or web sites. Thinking that we want to tackle the training our selves rather than going to classes some where. Also wondering about letting my son Jonathan doing most of the training. He is ten and pretty excited about this. I know he would need to be supervised while doing this to make sure he sticks with the routines but do you guys think there may be any other issues with letting him tackle the training?

Congrats on the new dog Mike.
When we used to take our dog to terrier trials there were a lot of kids that had their own dogs and did all the training themselves. It will take a lot of work from both of you at first but it can be done.

Congrats on the new dog Mike.
When we used to take our dog to terrier trials there were a lot of kids that had their own dogs and did all the training themselves. It will take a lot of work from both of you at first but it can be done.

There are probably millions of books, articles, and websites about dog training. Obidience, retrieving, hunting, the list goes on. It can seem pretty confusing but if you are prepared and positive it is not that hard. Keep it fun and set your dog up to be successful.
Richard Wolters, in Gun Dog said- if you can teach your dog to sit, stay and come you can teach him anything within the realm of his learning capibilites. Is it that easy? I think so, if you keep one thing in mind. Don’t expect the dog to do something he has not been trained to do. Example- when I get a dog in for training and take them for a walk, I don’t expect the dog to walk on a loose leash or come back to me when called. I certainly would not reprimand or scold the dog for not doing it because he doesn’t know what is expected.
Ok, so where do we start? I use what I call Phase 3 Training. All this is, is a simple way to keep your training on track. First we are going to have the dog trying a new command. We are going to show him what the command means. Next we will apply what the dog has learned (practice). And third, we are going to make sure the dog complies to our command.
When your dog succeeds you want to reward him. Either with praise or treats, I use both.
Here is an easy way to get started, I call it the ice breaker. It sets up both the trainer and dog for immedaite success. Take a treat, a piece of hot dog or doggie treat ect. Without the dog seeing it, rub the treat in the palm of your hand. While holding the treat in the other hand, place the rubbed palm in front of your dog. As the dog leans forward to sniff your palm, give the command “touch”. When his nose touches your palm, praise him and give him the treat. In a few minutes time, when you put your palm out and say touch, your dog will respond. Both dog and trainer are successful on their first command . Thats an easy one but would be a good way to get your son started with training.
Next, and this could be the following day- lets teach the sit command. With the dog standing, show him the treat. As he comes to get it, hold it above his head and slowly move you hand holding the treat towards his tail. His head will follow the treat back and naturally cause him to sit. As soon as his butt hits the floor, say “sit” and give him the treat. I will cover more on the stay and come commands later but this should get you off to a good start .

There are probably millions of books, articles, and websites about dog training. Obidience, retrieving, hunting, the list goes on. It can seem pretty confusing but if you are prepared and positive it is not that hard. Keep it fun and set your dog up to be successful.
Richard Wolters, in Gun Dog said- if you can teach your dog to sit, stay and come you can teach him anything within the realm of his learning capibilites. Is it that easy? I think so, if you keep one thing in mind. Don’t expect the dog to do something he has not been trained to do. Example- when I get a dog in for training and take them for a walk, I don’t expect the dog to walk on a loose leash or come back to me when called. I certainly would not reprimand or scold the dog for not doing it because he doesn’t know what is expected.
Ok, so where do we start? I use what I call Phase 3 Training. All this is, is a simple way to keep your training on track. First we are going to have the dog trying a new command. We are going to show him what the command means. Next we will apply what the dog has learned (practice). And third, we are going to make sure the dog complies to our command.
When your dog succeeds you want to reward him. Either with praise or treats, I use both.
Here is an easy way to get started, I call it the ice breaker. It sets up both the trainer and dog for immedaite success. Take a treat, a piece of hot dog or doggie treat ect. Without the dog seeing it, rub the treat in the palm of your hand. While holding the treat in the other hand, place the rubbed palm in front of your dog. As the dog leans forward to sniff your palm, give the command “touch”. When his nose touches your palm, praise him and give him the treat. In a few minutes time, when you put your palm out and say touch, your dog will respond. Both dog and trainer are successful on their first command . Thats an easy one but would be a good way to get your son started with training.
Next, and this could be the following day- lets teach the sit command. With the dog standing, show him the treat. As he comes to get it, hold it above his head and slowly move you hand holding the treat towards his tail. His head will follow the treat back and naturally cause him to sit. As soon as his butt hits the floor, say “sit” and give him the treat. I will cover more on the stay and come commands later but this should get you off to a good start .

Richard Wolters is right, I was calling him Sam. Good stuff Don.

Richard Wolters is right, I was calling him Sam. Good stuff Don.

I agree Don, Im not a trainer but this is what I found out about both my brittneys, especially Zach the hardest hunting of the two and he was a male. I found out the most important thing was to be able to give a command and that he understood it and listened to what I said and that was done in the field. Number two thing on my list was hunt your dog regularly, if three times a week with atleast two full days from sunrise to sunset is possible do it if you can. Its amazing with enough practice hunting in the field what a dog does hunting, not only for the owner but for himself too and they do it naturally. They learn everything they can on scents and what to do and Zach learned it by himself. The more you hunt the dog the better he will become and he’ll do it naturally, its all in thier blood. Zach was amazing, he would act a certain way if it was a dry day that didn’t hold scent well or the birds and rabbits werent moving much. On a day when they were moving good and the humidity was high enough to hold the scent to the ground it was amazing what he would do and do that in the stationwagon when we pulled up along side the road befor he got out. If it was slow he wouldn’t do much but still wanted out. If it was going to b good he’d be going nuts whining and barking wanting to get out. He was my barometer telling me when we pulled up to a spot weather it was going to be good hunting in that area or not and he was always right. It developed only by hunting him alot, sometimes 3 days in a row and 4 to 5 times a week. The more you hunt him the more you’ll be able to read him and whats going on with the birds and whatever your going for. Hunt him alot and he’ll always listen to you and do what hes supposed to do, hunting dogs are amazing, especially good ones that hunt hard. I remember areas as we walked that looked good and Id yell to Zach and he’d automatically turn around and look for hand signels and go where I told him to go. The more you hunt him the more he’ll listen and pretty soon you will depend on him and he will depend on you for the right spots and the nice thing is they do it all naturally. Good hunting dogs are like your shooting hand and gun. Good luck with him and he does look like a good dog.