I am one week into owning my very first dog – a golden retriever puppy. She is now 9 weeks and is adorable. She is taking to training pretty well – we have "sit" nailed without needing treats and decent recall if she isn't overtired. Crate training is going very well.
But since this is my first puppy, I think I am putting so much pressure on myself for her to be perfectly well behaved, especially because she is a golden. She has had a total of 3 pee and 3 poop accidents inside in the last week – which I think is pretty good considering how many times a day she poops and pees! One time she was halfway through eating breakfast after just having pooped 10 minutes earlier outside, and ran over to our rug and pooped – that one really threw me for a loop!
She gets overtired and crazy girl energy after about 45 minutes of being awake typically, so we have to put her in her crate to nap since she doesn't usually self-settle into naps outside of the crate. She likes biting clothes and we haven't learned "drop it" yet, just wants to run to spots outside that aren't snow covered so she can find rocks and sticks to chew on (I intervene for her safety), and will jump around and not potty if she's too overstimulated. She's also been digging at her puppy bed and ripping up some of the fabric cover.
I was describing the anxiety of being a first time puppy owner to my new therapist (it was only our second session) and she kinda dismissed it as "well you have a golden so you'll be fine." And I have two coworkers with goldens and they have said things like "she just slept at my feet all day while I worked" or "he didn't have any potty accidents inside when I got him".
I think I'm just looking for solidarity with golden puppy owners who don't have perfectly behaved angel puppies?? Is this all normal puppy behavior within week 1 of owning her?
submitted by /u/AbjectAd8888
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