I think you are asking alot for such a young pup. He probably is very tired and therefore grumpy! I would have him in his crate in a place where he can sleep when you are training. Since he is a young herding pup, he is probably on alert the whole time you are instructing the class. Put him away somewhere he can not see what is going on and bring him out fresh for play time. He may also be feeling a bit possessive about the space since he spends so much time there. My Duffy, who is half sheltie,

In Ian Dunbar's Before You Get Your Puppy, he states that most puppies will be at the shelter before their second birthday. I was wondering where he got that figure or where I could find these kind of statistics? Thanks in advance.

Trievers do really well together, but they also do really well with more bossy dogs like herding dogs or more guardy dogs like GSD's or Rotties. It is funny to see a flock of trievers together with one dog who has herder or guarder in them. The non-triever will see something suspicious and start barking and all the trievers who have been playing, will look up like "what's the problem."

Coton's are a foundation stock breed for the AKC and the AKC has links for the three Coton clubs that they are working with. I think those websites might be a place to look if you haven't already been there.

This is a hard situation. It can be solved, but it will take a major commitment of time which I don't know if you have. The puppy is just being a crazy Golden puppy and he will become an even crazier puppy in the next few months. The only way to get the situation under control is to give him TONS of exercise every day and to get cracking on training so that he learns that he cannot treat you daughter the way he is treating her. By exercise, I mean at least two hours of hard aerobic exercise

[quote user="BJW40"]Hi All, and thank you for your replies! This pup that I am considering is 3 months old. The breeder was keeping him for himself to show but the pups front paws go alittle east/west instead of north/south; as what the judges look for. Is the paw thing a worry; I didn't even notice it until the breeder pointed it out after he put the dog in a show stance to show me. He's crate trained, mostly potty trained, comes by his name. We are having our 2nd visit with him

[quote user="BJW40"]I think we're set on getting a male. Now - dealing with the right breeder. The breeders I have talked to declare that their Goldens are the best. As I said, we just want a good sweet family dog but breeders get into the characteristics of theirs and why we should get our puppy from them, etc. I never knew until a breeder mentioned that there's a difference between a field Golden and a show Golden. Honestly, I'm not trying to sound stupid (I'm a 40 year

[quote user="Pwca"] Yeah - I would say Goldens DO have a more of a doggy odor (which I find very offputting) which is, in fairness, probably at least partially related to how much time they spend in water. :P I also don't like the 'only one color' thing, and I think while both really want nothing more than to work WITH a handler, the collies are a little more creative about it, the goldens probably a little more consistant. [/quote] I guess I am too used to the smell of a Golden

I agree totally. Out of interest, is kangaro meat comparable to chicken in Australia?

Both males and females are great. Females tend to be a bit less into people and into themselves, but heck they are Goldens so they are really into people anyways. But Golden people will say, a male Golden says "I love you, I love you, I love you," while a female Golden says "love me, love me, love me!"