My current Golden Retriever is 13 years old. So I decided to look around at getting another to help wheb my ole girl passes. A couple in the town I live in had a registered, shots up to date 10 month old puppy they wanted to give away. Me and the family went to look at him and the kids loved him. He is great with the kids. Once home we realized he was skiddish of adults more so men. We've now had him for about 6-7 weeks. We don't have a cushion or pillow left on our patio set. He's shredded everyone we had. Who would've known that wicker furniture has a dual purpose has a chew bone? We live on 5 acres with 100's of acres around us for him to run free and chew on things. Unfortunately, he had rather chew on my freshly painted ($1300.00) wood rails! On top of that, when I would go out to call him he always ran from me at any point.
I had enough!! I decided to invest in a shock collar and borrow a 10x10 dog kennel. At first I didn't like shocking him with the collar, but I have now become twisted and when he doesn't come to me when I call, I buzz it and then shock the piss out of him. It only took a handful of times of me holding that button down long enough that he couldn't move before he figured out he had better come when I call. I then decided to start locking him up in the kennel. Remember when I said "I borrowed" it, well now I have purchased it b/c the dog has destroyed it. I've never seen a dog chew through chain-link like this one. I figured that electricity worked so good with him the first time, I decided to use it again. this time I got an electric fence box,, one of those that has a range of a few miles. Yep, I hooked it up to to a 10x10 pen and electrified the entire thing. It hasn't taken him too many times of grabbing that fence to realize he doesn't want any of that,, though he did grab it more than once.
This has been by far the worse experience with a dog that I've ever had. Damages so far are a little over a $1000.00. I wanted to just get rid of him, but my oldest (6) went nuts when I told her. Slowly but surely he's coming around. Hopefully this tough love will set him straight. He retrieves great, bad part is he is gun shy. I gotta work on that next.

got 3 labs, 2 of them were great, minimal chewing, both listen well and obey commands never had to put a shock collar on either on. They are great hunting buddies that have been that way for 7 years. The 3rd one has chewed through drywall, $150 boots, totally demolished a 6 x 6 kennel, ate my neighbors ducks, ate my other neighbors chickens all while 1/4 inch steel 30ft leash tied to her. She could escape from a maximum security prison. Would've gotten rid of her a long time ago if my wife wasn't attached to that stupid dog.

No offense but you have made some major mistakes already with a shock collar. Dogs have to be taught through collar conditioning how to respond to that type of pressure. I use them with all of mine but they know how to turn it off. You are supposed to teach the dog before you go pushing buttons. Get some help from someone that knows what they are doing before you completely ruin your dog, if youre not willing to do that then give him away because you are being irresponsible with what you are doing.

And buy a freaking crate so he can be controlled when no one is around. That will go a long way to keeping him from getting into trouble. A rope works wonders for getting a puppy back to you as well, go figure.

Juice, that SOB is already ruined. I'm getting him where he needs to be. Also, I did read the instructions and I was trying to bring a little humor to my troubles. I hate you missed that part of the post! Lighten up,, this isn't the first dog I've ever owned. I'm pretty sure my oldest Golden would impress you on a dove field,, if she wasn't deaf now.

Did you miss the part about collar conditioning and formalizing OB? Its not being fair to the dog if they don't know how to turn off the pressure. You teach before you apply pressure. There is not much that can be done on a dove field that is all that impressive. Sit steady, mark the birds, maybe some basic handling, all within 100 yds. Very basic.

I got your humor highcountry, don't forget who owns the dog no matter what some folks try to interject.

A friend of mine had a "trouble dog" that he put a shock collar on. He swears that by the time he was able to remove the collar that dog could practically deal cards. (that's humor for those that don't recognize it )

If you really want to see how to use a collar youtube Duck Blind Antics!

You may not want to hear it but juice is totally correct in his advice to you. Dogs need to be collar conditioned before you use it. You don't teach with a collar you enforce what the dog has already been taught.The dog has to know how to turn off the pressure. I train with a collar everyday and very rarely use it above a medium 2 setting. If my dog shows lack of effort then I use a correction. If the dog is trying but makes a mistake then no correction is used. It is obvious this dog has never been through any formal obedience.Once this has been accomplished then you will see a totally different and happy dog and owner.I'm sure your other Golden is very good not only in the field but around the house.

I wuv pupplies

All I can say, is when I first got the pup he would hardly come to me and didn't listen to a word I said. Now when I'm outside he's right by my side. When I tell him to kennel he's reluctant, but goes into the kennel with hardly any effort on my part and I also notice his tail is wagging a lot more. So I must be doing something right. If I need advice on how to do something,, I'll ask.

Um, you did. You started the thread and now you're getting defensive.

Fatty, I don't recall asking for anything. The thread is just informative, comical and more less venting. I am getting a little defensive when people call me out and judging me. Nothing was meant to be taken personal or serious. Some people see that,, some don't. God Bless,, have a great day.

Get on the ground and play around with him daily, it will help him with trusting you. With my lab, the collar has a warning tone. He gets 3 beeps to obey command, if not, I pop him. He only wears the collar now at the beach. There's so much room to roam I can give him 100yds or so but, when I say heal, he knows he better. I also have him heal when I blow the whistle 3x's.