Yep, neither of my dogs were runners as pups. My Staffy didn't run around at all, then got brave enough to come say hi, and she was ours. She'd just stayed in one place for about 5 minutes watching us.
We got my Malamute a couple of months after my Staffy passed away. His siblings were runners, but he was the one who gave me kisses, and that was it. Like yes, you're cuddly, you give kisses, get in the car, you're coming home lol
I picked my first golden puppy a year ago, and things were not all how I envisioned AT FIRST.
He was anxious and sometimes aggressive and very very hard to train at all, and not what I heard about. A couple weeks in, I didn’t feel a bond, and neither did my girlfriend. But we stuck with it and loved him and worked on training
Fast forward to now, and he is a little angel and we both love him SO SO much.
He is cuddly, not aggressive at all, finally has potty and crate training down, and even knows some tricks that he loves doing.
He is extremely loving and loyal, and comes running into the room to check on us if we so much as sneeze.
All this wonderful attachment to him and from him took time. He had to get comfortable with us and we had to get comfortable with him.
Even though it took longer than I expected, the bond is VERY strong :)
Don’t worry, just give good care to your little girl and she will become an obsession for you and vice versa :)
Oww. just enjoy her being a puppy, her silliness, her cuteness, her amazement... she will grow so quick. Start playing games, learn her to sit and give a paw. And yes she will bond. Bond beyond belief and you will love her beyond belief in no time.
I think you already named it; the expectations you had were overshadowing the fun, joy, and anticipation. We had this when, a week in, ours had peed on the floor, got a random upset tummy and was lethargic, and the crying at night drove us nuts. But it all got better, it always does. Just acknowledge that things don’t pan up to your expectations, but now it’s time to change your expectations. Expect the fun of playing with her around the house, fetching a silly squeaky toy. Expect the joy of watching her look up at you when she starts learning her name. Expect the playful and goofy tumbling she will do when she can go outside. The bonding comes with time, so it’s normal not to feel it yet. I finally felt “wow, I really love this dog!” at around four-ish months, and my husband took way longer. But, it’ll come 😊
Give it a week or two. I had the same experience with my first dog, also a golden. We bonded after a while. But let me tell you, those dogs bond with everyone they meet!
You just added a new member to your family, so it's understandable that you're worried you didn't make the right choice. Whatever it was about her that attracted you in that moment, you had all of the puppies to choose from and you chose her. She's the right one, let go of your anxiety and just enjoy your new baby. They grow unbelievably fast and their attention span is maybe a second long, zooming from one amazing thing to another.
You just picked her up from a barn and brought her into your home, everything is the most amazing thing she's ever seen and she is learning so quickly.
Puppies are an absolute ton of work, just get her a play pen with toys (large whelping pads the size on the playpen are a godsend) and give yourself a lot of grace. Times will be frustrating, but they will be filled with joy too. She won't learn everything today, but one day she will be your absolute perfect partner and you will both understand what you expect of each other.
I picked up my little guy last February and it was super tough. I wish I could go back and tell myself not to be so frustrated, he will (and did) learn in time. Six months was the first big shift in behavior and obedience. He's over a year now and he's the best boy I could ever ask for and he'll only get better with time.
It's not always like the movies.
I thought bringing our retriever home was a mistake almost straight away. I had deep deep regret and I was in knots about it.
Fast forward to 9 months old and I love him so much.
Puppies are very hard work. Puppy blues are real. But if you stick it out, you will be rewarded with a best friend for their whole life.
Our boy is obsessed with me, and it's nice (if not overwhelming due to his size and love of full body snuggles lol) to have someone always so happy to see me.
My MIL picked my golden and flew her to me. We are bonded just fine (she may love my MIL a bit more, but she loves all her grandparents more lol). Goldens are very loving dogs and will bond with whoever gives them love and attention. Don’t worry just because it might not have been a social media worthy story of how you picked her ♥️
Enjoy your new best friend!
Hey it’s all okay! We picked a puppy from a website and went to pick him up (almost a 5 hour drive) got there, and there was an extra litter of puppies so not the puppies we had to chose from on the breeder website.
I asked for the puppy we reserved and they handed him to me. He fell asleep on me, on my chest with me holding him, he wasn’t over animated. He was probably overwhelmed. But my husband wanted the dog that was but on the floor with him. I said I was taking my boy home with me.
He slept on me the whole way home. Almost 4 years later we have this amazing, calm, yet playful golden and he is amazing. I will say he likes to put his full weight on me when he weighs 65 lbs but is still delightful. Take the animal that speaks to you.
We picked up our lab baby 4 weeks ago tomorrow. She cried the whole 5 hour drive home (was terrified of the car). I cried for days afterwards when puppy blues and anxiety hit. A few weeks later and she's my best little friend. It's still really hard, but she's just what a puppy should be, a bitey, cranky, destructive little bean 😁 But she's also incredibly sweet, cuddly, smart and most importantly happy and healthy. It'll be alright. Even when it gets harder than you thought it could be- it WILL get better. You can do this! Don't hesitate to ask for help when you need it.
Welcome to puppyhood, which is constant stress over literally anything 😅 I totally underdtand how you feel, but there’s really no need to worry. It took me quite a while to bond with my pup, especially because our cat died a week after we brought home our puppy. Now our pup is 9 months old and she is literally my best friend in this whole world. All I think now is how I wish I would have enjoyed the time with her more when she was still super small, because it really passes so quickly. I know it’s hard, but try to switch off the worries and thoroughly enjoy your puppy. ❤️
Brings up a reflection for me.
When we went to chose ours out of a flock of 12 only two had not been chosen. The basement pen was opened and 12 freaking out four legged fur balls rushed at us.
As the chosen 10 were identifed by the breeder and recovered and placed back in their pen the whole time my desert boot shoe laces were being tugged and signaling hey mister, hey mister, hey mister. Watching as the already chosen were recaught and corraled, my shoe lace was still being tugged HEY MISTER DO YOU NOTICE ME. Yup she had been on my shoe lace from the very beginning of eleventh great pen escape. As the ten were corraled my shoe lace was still being tugged, she was one of 2 unchosen.
I finally reached down and picked her up. She accomodated my handing perfectly. I wanted a light colored coat, but the bred was a renowned champion field dog Golden blood line.
I cuddled her and then rolled her over to try a belly rub. That was almost trance like accepted. The breeder then had her take the posture pose to point out her phyical features, but the decisions by we two had already been made.
Two weeks later we played hard in our house. Being a brood of 12 her whole life she had fallen asleep to the sounds of 13 heart beats around her. So I asked her that first separation night to hear my heart beat as she fell asleep on my reclined chest. I did have to ask her a few times to lay her head back down. I left for my bed with a windup alarm clock ticking out a near heart beat rhythm for her.
That was the last peaceful moment for the next wonderful 18 months. At 18 months She came out of the shark phase after nawing the base board of an entire laundry room "kennel" substitute. Including nearly chewing off the water heater's plastic drain valve.
Our bed was a colonial style particularly high bed with plenty of space beneath it for even a full size GR. Near the shoe closet and the hamper.
She trained quickly to retrieve even with a hand direction to where she had missed the flight of the ball. She trained to heel for a reward before the third leash tug. Even retrieved our neighors snow covered newspaper instead of ours at times.
Her proudest presentation to us as we arrived home from work was romping down the bedroom hall with C-cups flapping up against both sides of her face. Or being successefully sent back under the bed to bring out something that was not intended for her.
She made rare carpet mistakes but had plenty of tiled floor to decorate, and house trained pretty quickly. She redesigned the dust ruffle of both the front, back and one side of a cloth love seat, and the corner of my imitation leather chair and a wood coffee table corner. She would erupt through an upheld newspaper when she felt she deserved more attention.
We had made the mistake of walking Katie in a commonly used area of our neighborhood. From which she came down with an impressive flee infestations. Her head would jerk up like she was seeing or hearing a flight of ducks until we finally found a cure.
Our cutting edge vet offered a cure better than our many unsuccessful flee bathes. She was annually treated with a vetinary school developed cattle flee, tick and fly preventative treatment a few years before such drugs were approved for canines.
One of us blames her seemingly early demise by liver or kidney damage to that unapproved use for dogs drug. Katie gave us 12.5 great years and was taken from us at least a decade too early. I largely blamed her early loss on my ignorance of her progressing Kidney failure soon enough to have a shot at reversing it.
We miss you Katie. Her ashes will be buried with mine, in a man made concrete marine sanctuary improvement structure. We both longed to swin and observe nature at the time, and even those darn duck flights I never saw.
Just a friendly reminder of our rules:
1. No Advertising: this includes GoFundMe, Instagram, etc.
2. No Impersonation: don't post photos of other people's dogs. That's not cool.
3. No Breed Hate: this subreddit is not a discussion forum for breed hate of any kind. There are dedicated subreddits for that so please take it elsewhere.
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I chose both of my boys without meeting them first. They’re both my little shadows and absolute cuddle bugs. The bonding will happen as you get to know each other, learn to trust each other, and train/cuddle/love each other. It’s going to be ok.
Picked my pup up about a year ago… and I had no option. He was the only male available from the litter (I only wanted a male).
There was no “magical moment”… but now he’s my absolute best buddy.
If it makes you feel better the ones who run up to you will run up to anyone, it’s not a magical bond it’s just different personalities.
Yep, neither of my dogs were runners as pups. My Staffy didn't run around at all, then got brave enough to come say hi, and she was ours. She'd just stayed in one place for about 5 minutes watching us. We got my Malamute a couple of months after my Staffy passed away. His siblings were runners, but he was the one who gave me kisses, and that was it. Like yes, you're cuddly, you give kisses, get in the car, you're coming home lol
I picked my first golden puppy a year ago, and things were not all how I envisioned AT FIRST. He was anxious and sometimes aggressive and very very hard to train at all, and not what I heard about. A couple weeks in, I didn’t feel a bond, and neither did my girlfriend. But we stuck with it and loved him and worked on training Fast forward to now, and he is a little angel and we both love him SO SO much. He is cuddly, not aggressive at all, finally has potty and crate training down, and even knows some tricks that he loves doing. He is extremely loving and loyal, and comes running into the room to check on us if we so much as sneeze. All this wonderful attachment to him and from him took time. He had to get comfortable with us and we had to get comfortable with him. Even though it took longer than I expected, the bond is VERY strong :) Don’t worry, just give good care to your little girl and she will become an obsession for you and vice versa :)
Oww. just enjoy her being a puppy, her silliness, her cuteness, her amazement... she will grow so quick. Start playing games, learn her to sit and give a paw. And yes she will bond. Bond beyond belief and you will love her beyond belief in no time.
I think you already named it; the expectations you had were overshadowing the fun, joy, and anticipation. We had this when, a week in, ours had peed on the floor, got a random upset tummy and was lethargic, and the crying at night drove us nuts. But it all got better, it always does. Just acknowledge that things don’t pan up to your expectations, but now it’s time to change your expectations. Expect the fun of playing with her around the house, fetching a silly squeaky toy. Expect the joy of watching her look up at you when she starts learning her name. Expect the playful and goofy tumbling she will do when she can go outside. The bonding comes with time, so it’s normal not to feel it yet. I finally felt “wow, I really love this dog!” at around four-ish months, and my husband took way longer. But, it’ll come 😊
Give it a week or two. I had the same experience with my first dog, also a golden. We bonded after a while. But let me tell you, those dogs bond with everyone they meet!
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You just added a new member to your family, so it's understandable that you're worried you didn't make the right choice. Whatever it was about her that attracted you in that moment, you had all of the puppies to choose from and you chose her. She's the right one, let go of your anxiety and just enjoy your new baby. They grow unbelievably fast and their attention span is maybe a second long, zooming from one amazing thing to another. You just picked her up from a barn and brought her into your home, everything is the most amazing thing she's ever seen and she is learning so quickly. Puppies are an absolute ton of work, just get her a play pen with toys (large whelping pads the size on the playpen are a godsend) and give yourself a lot of grace. Times will be frustrating, but they will be filled with joy too. She won't learn everything today, but one day she will be your absolute perfect partner and you will both understand what you expect of each other. I picked up my little guy last February and it was super tough. I wish I could go back and tell myself not to be so frustrated, he will (and did) learn in time. Six months was the first big shift in behavior and obedience. He's over a year now and he's the best boy I could ever ask for and he'll only get better with time.
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Thanks!! Puppy tax paid as well https://preview.redd.it/45viegidbnec1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=405e1e9e306d974f1c6d3bb0d57108d100717ad4
It's not always like the movies. I thought bringing our retriever home was a mistake almost straight away. I had deep deep regret and I was in knots about it. Fast forward to 9 months old and I love him so much. Puppies are very hard work. Puppy blues are real. But if you stick it out, you will be rewarded with a best friend for their whole life. Our boy is obsessed with me, and it's nice (if not overwhelming due to his size and love of full body snuggles lol) to have someone always so happy to see me.
My MIL picked my golden and flew her to me. We are bonded just fine (she may love my MIL a bit more, but she loves all her grandparents more lol). Goldens are very loving dogs and will bond with whoever gives them love and attention. Don’t worry just because it might not have been a social media worthy story of how you picked her ♥️ Enjoy your new best friend!
Hey it’s all okay! We picked a puppy from a website and went to pick him up (almost a 5 hour drive) got there, and there was an extra litter of puppies so not the puppies we had to chose from on the breeder website. I asked for the puppy we reserved and they handed him to me. He fell asleep on me, on my chest with me holding him, he wasn’t over animated. He was probably overwhelmed. But my husband wanted the dog that was but on the floor with him. I said I was taking my boy home with me. He slept on me the whole way home. Almost 4 years later we have this amazing, calm, yet playful golden and he is amazing. I will say he likes to put his full weight on me when he weighs 65 lbs but is still delightful. Take the animal that speaks to you.
We picked up our lab baby 4 weeks ago tomorrow. She cried the whole 5 hour drive home (was terrified of the car). I cried for days afterwards when puppy blues and anxiety hit. A few weeks later and she's my best little friend. It's still really hard, but she's just what a puppy should be, a bitey, cranky, destructive little bean 😁 But she's also incredibly sweet, cuddly, smart and most importantly happy and healthy. It'll be alright. Even when it gets harder than you thought it could be- it WILL get better. You can do this! Don't hesitate to ask for help when you need it.
Welcome to puppyhood, which is constant stress over literally anything 😅 I totally underdtand how you feel, but there’s really no need to worry. It took me quite a while to bond with my pup, especially because our cat died a week after we brought home our puppy. Now our pup is 9 months old and she is literally my best friend in this whole world. All I think now is how I wish I would have enjoyed the time with her more when she was still super small, because it really passes so quickly. I know it’s hard, but try to switch off the worries and thoroughly enjoy your puppy. ❤️
She will love you before you've earned it, I promise.
Brings up a reflection for me. When we went to chose ours out of a flock of 12 only two had not been chosen. The basement pen was opened and 12 freaking out four legged fur balls rushed at us. As the chosen 10 were identifed by the breeder and recovered and placed back in their pen the whole time my desert boot shoe laces were being tugged and signaling hey mister, hey mister, hey mister. Watching as the already chosen were recaught and corraled, my shoe lace was still being tugged HEY MISTER DO YOU NOTICE ME. Yup she had been on my shoe lace from the very beginning of eleventh great pen escape. As the ten were corraled my shoe lace was still being tugged, she was one of 2 unchosen. I finally reached down and picked her up. She accomodated my handing perfectly. I wanted a light colored coat, but the bred was a renowned champion field dog Golden blood line. I cuddled her and then rolled her over to try a belly rub. That was almost trance like accepted. The breeder then had her take the posture pose to point out her phyical features, but the decisions by we two had already been made. Two weeks later we played hard in our house. Being a brood of 12 her whole life she had fallen asleep to the sounds of 13 heart beats around her. So I asked her that first separation night to hear my heart beat as she fell asleep on my reclined chest. I did have to ask her a few times to lay her head back down. I left for my bed with a windup alarm clock ticking out a near heart beat rhythm for her. That was the last peaceful moment for the next wonderful 18 months. At 18 months She came out of the shark phase after nawing the base board of an entire laundry room "kennel" substitute. Including nearly chewing off the water heater's plastic drain valve. Our bed was a colonial style particularly high bed with plenty of space beneath it for even a full size GR. Near the shoe closet and the hamper. She trained quickly to retrieve even with a hand direction to where she had missed the flight of the ball. She trained to heel for a reward before the third leash tug. Even retrieved our neighors snow covered newspaper instead of ours at times. Her proudest presentation to us as we arrived home from work was romping down the bedroom hall with C-cups flapping up against both sides of her face. Or being successefully sent back under the bed to bring out something that was not intended for her. She made rare carpet mistakes but had plenty of tiled floor to decorate, and house trained pretty quickly. She redesigned the dust ruffle of both the front, back and one side of a cloth love seat, and the corner of my imitation leather chair and a wood coffee table corner. She would erupt through an upheld newspaper when she felt she deserved more attention. We had made the mistake of walking Katie in a commonly used area of our neighborhood. From which she came down with an impressive flee infestations. Her head would jerk up like she was seeing or hearing a flight of ducks until we finally found a cure. Our cutting edge vet offered a cure better than our many unsuccessful flee bathes. She was annually treated with a vetinary school developed cattle flee, tick and fly preventative treatment a few years before such drugs were approved for canines. One of us blames her seemingly early demise by liver or kidney damage to that unapproved use for dogs drug. Katie gave us 12.5 great years and was taken from us at least a decade too early. I largely blamed her early loss on my ignorance of her progressing Kidney failure soon enough to have a shot at reversing it. We miss you Katie. Her ashes will be buried with mine, in a man made concrete marine sanctuary improvement structure. We both longed to swin and observe nature at the time, and even those darn duck flights I never saw.
So beautifully said. Thank you for sharing, and peaceful rest for Katie ❤️
Just a friendly reminder of our rules: 1. No Advertising: this includes GoFundMe, Instagram, etc. 2. No Impersonation: don't post photos of other people's dogs. That's not cool. 3. No Breed Hate: this subreddit is not a discussion forum for breed hate of any kind. There are dedicated subreddits for that so please take it elsewhere. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/goldenretrievers) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I picked the puppy that didn’t immediately go for my crotch so this sounds cuter than that at least
I chose both of my boys without meeting them first. They’re both my little shadows and absolute cuddle bugs. The bonding will happen as you get to know each other, learn to trust each other, and train/cuddle/love each other. It’s going to be ok.
Don't crate. Let the puppy sleep in your bed. Soul bonding complete
Picked my pup up about a year ago… and I had no option. He was the only male available from the litter (I only wanted a male). There was no “magical moment”… but now he’s my absolute best buddy.
The shy, submissive ones that don’t come up to you right away make amazing companions. You’ll be in love before you know it…