Puppies

Golden Retriever puppies are adorable and fun. However, they also require a great deal of time, effort, and patience to grow into well-behaved and confident family members.

Potential adopters of puppies need to consider the following before they apply:

Obedience Training

Many puppies are surrendered to RAGOM due to a lack of training. For puppies, training is not limited to sit, lay down, stay, and come. Puppy training requires great patience and persistence.

Socialization

Puppies need exposure to wide variety of sights, sounds, smells, and sensations. The goal of socialization is for your puppy to encounter new people, dogs, places, and situations without fear or stress.

Exercise

Puppies are energetic. They need a great deal of play and exercise. Mental stimulation also helps take the edge off a puppy’s energy and applies to adult dogs as well. Boredom and lack of physical exercise can lead to aggression and other behavioral problems.

Housetraining

Puppies have a small, immature bladder that cannot hold its contents for a full workday. If everyone in your household is gone for the typical work or school day, you will need to make arrangements for someone to let your puppy out to relieve itself. (Example: a 4-month-old puppy can “hold it” for about four (4) hours)

Crate Training

Crate training your puppy is a worthwhile exercise. When crate trained, a dog views the crate as a safe or quiet spot—somewhere he or she can go to get away from commotion or to rest. A crate should never be used as punishment.

Separation Anxiety

Many people think that a puppy needs to be with someone every waking minute. However, it can lead to separation anxiety down the road. Puppies must learn how to be comfortable by themselves and develop coping skills when their humans are away.

Children & Dogs

Children and dogs can coexist peacefully and develop a special bond. However, to ensure a child’s safety and a dog’s happiness, children must be taught how to behave around dogs.

Review more information about children and dogs.

Health & Wellness

Puppies require veterinary care to ensure a healthy start. Prevention is far less expensive than treatment of serious health conditions. When you adopt a RAGOM dog, our Adoption Agreement requires the following: wellness exams, vet care for any acute needs, core vaccinations be kept up to date as recommended by your veterinarian or required by law, and heartworm testing and preventative medicine.

Safe Home Environment

Puppies get into everything and will chew anything! Adopters of puppies will need to plan on keeping the puppy out of harmful substances and situations. If you have children, they will need to help keep the puppy from chewing or swallowing small items, such as pieces of toys.

Fences & Tie-Outs

A fenced yard or tie-out helps keep your puppy safe, but supervision is still needed. Puppies can not be left unattended because they can easily find harm or a tie-out can become entangled and be injured or choke to death.

Questions & Support

When you adopt a RAGOM dog, our post adoption team is available to answer questions and provide help. As we are fond of saying: “Once a RAGOM dog, always a RAGOM dog!”

For more information on many of the topics above, visit our Resources pages.

Max

8 years

male