Looking for Help/Advice

Agreed. The pup has not been socialized or introduced to anything. Give him time. When he stops, just stop with him and calmly wait. Don't praise or reward for him being timid or stopping This will only reinforce the behavior. Let him work the situation in his head. When he moves forward, then give the reward or praise.


My pup would not cross any change in flooring color. White floor tile with a band of colored floor tile. He would stop, freeze, sniff, look at me, sniff some more....one day he stepped across....treat.
The next floor obstacle was the gap between the floor and the elevator floor. I held the elevator many times while he figured out it was ok to cross the gap.....treat.

My point, like BluePaw, let the dog work it out. Treat, praise when he moves forward. Do not say anything or touch or treat when he is frozen. Just remain calm, quiet and patient. Treat, praise, touch when he moves forward.

That's totally a puppy mill. It might be a relatively well-kept puppy mill, but it's a puppy mill.

Imagine if you kept a kid locked in a bedroom until he was 10 years old, then suddenly let him out and put him on a normal routine. That's what your pup is experiencing right now. You're going to have to take things slowly and patiently with him. He's missed crucial socialization periods.

For what it's worth, I adopted a 1 year old dog that hadn't been previous handled by people and she ended up being a great pet. It just took a couple of years to get her there. (She passed away last year at age 17.) But she was some kind of terrier mix - I wouldn't be surprised if a Golden, being genetically predisposed to be more mild-tempered and friendly, made progress faster than that, especially since your dog is younger.

I agree that the people you got him from are a not great breeders. Looks like the only thing they do with their dogs is breed them. :/

It sounds like he was probably just stuck in a kennel and never exposed to the wider world. Working with a positive reinforcement trainer who has experience with shy, nervous, and/or under socialized dogs might be a good idea, once you've given him a few weeks to adjust to living in a house.

In the meanwhile, don't try forcing him to interact with people. If he doesn't need to be walked to go potty, I'd quit with walks until he is more comfortable with you. If he absolutely has to be walked to potty (no yard) and is showing signs of being uncomfortable being close to people, respect his feelings, and move further away from them. If he want to stay in one room, let him stay there. Don't force him to come out and interact. Let him come out on his own terms.

With due respect, I am going to be blunt.

Your dog came from a breeder who failed to expose the dog to normal, everyday stimuli and situations. During the 6 months he was in this breeder's possession, unfortunately, he learned nothing more than how to use a doggie door. Which, by the way, is one of many clear indications of the breeder's neglect. Your dog should have been, but was not exposed to common events such as ... people, vacuum cleaners, cars, kitchen noises, doorbells, doorways, varying floor surfaces, puppy / human play etc .... and the list goes on and on. I can pretty much guarantee you that your dog subsisted in a pea-gravel outdoor kennel 24 / 7, entirely alone, with minimal if any human contact aside from daily feedings, until you came along and purchased him last Friday. Sad, very VERY sad but it is what it is.


My suggestion would be to do as much research as possible on the subject of under-socialized dogs. More specifically, topics such as CRITICAL socialization periods and what can be done whenever these periods are missed during a dog's development.. Which incidentally, your dog has obviously missed.

Armed with this information, I would then seek out the assistance of a reputable, positive reinforcement trainer to help you fill in the blanks. Your situation is certainly not hopeless but it's going to take some consideration and extra effort to bring your dog back up to speed.

I sincerely wish you and your pup the best possible outcome. Good luck.

Guys I appreciate ALL of the responses and feedback. Like you I was quite surprised with the lack of social skills.

My daughter worked with him quite a bit yesterday. He's doing better and adjusting to life in the house. He goes in and out of our back door (treat each way) and is very playful in the back yard.....chases balls, ropes etc. He has not gone potty in the house and only goes outside which is good. He is calm in the house and is getting more and more used to our family and the house but is still timid. He will walk 1/2 into the kitchen then back to his room then back a little more and back to his room and back a little more, etc.

What do you all recommend for introducing to more social situations? I.e. park with other people and dogs? Good idea yet or not? I can see both sides but wondering if small introductions to these places would be a good idea yet or not?

We also have his first vet appmnt scheduled for this weekend.

I.e. park with other people and dogs?

Click to expand...

Definitely not. Give him lots of time to become comfortable with his home and his new owners. You have to earn his trust. After a while, if he is doing well, see if you can arrange a play date with a calm, stable, and friendly dog. One dog. If after several meetings, arrange a play date with a small group of trustworthy dogs. If he's doing really well you could find a reputable doggy daycare and see how he does with that (do your research - no all places are good).

There is no need to take him to dog parks. Some people love them, but imo they are not a great place to take a dog, especially one with socialization issues. Dogs there tend to be uncontrolled with their owners not paying attention. Or worse, people take their poorly behaved dogs there thinking it will help them. It's a risk I personally am not willing to take with my dogs.

Several trainers that I know of say that what we typically call "socialization" should really be called "exposure". Puppies and dogs don't need people hanging all over them, and being forced to interact with them whether they want to be or not. Instead, they need to be exposed to things, see that they are no big deal, and allowed to understand that they can (and should) ignore them.

This is a good blog post that contains the link to a Facebook video about exposing puppies to the world. Maybe more precisely, about exposing the world to puppies. https://denisefenzi.com/2018/03/facebook-live-blog-on-socialization/

This is another blog post on the topic. https://denisefenzi.com/2018/08/socialization-and-early-training/

And another one. https://denisefenzi.com/2019/03/more-on-socialization/

This is a good blog post by another trainer about exposure vs socialization. http://playwaydogs.com/we-need-to-stop-calling-it-socialization/

That's a training issue in and of itself, since he's probably only been in the car the two times you had him in yours.

Grab a handful of treats. Get as close to the car as he is comfortable. Give him a some treats. Move away. Repeat coming as close as he's comfortable. Repeat the treats. When the treats are gone, the session is over. Repeat this several times a day. The more comfortable he gets, the closer you can get.

Eventually, when he is okay with walking all the way up to the car, you can ask him to get in. It would be okay to use a trat to see if you can lure him in, but don't force the issue. Let getting in be his idea. Give lots of treats for that, then hop him out. Move away from the car, come back, and ask him to get in again. giving several treats.

Once he is comfortable doing that, then you can shut the door (ideally, you will have a crate for him, but if not, then a seatbelt harness is better than nothing). Again, treat, let him out, move away from the car. and repeat until he's comfortable with that.

Then, move on to hoping him in the car, closing the door, start the engine, treat, cut the engine, hop him out, and move away. Repeat as needed.

Once he is okay with getting in and the engine starting, back out of the driveway and pull back in. You probably know where this is going by now, right? Yep, lots of treats and repeats. The more comfortable he gets, the longer you can drive.

Obviously, some things are non-optional. If he needs to go to the vet, then he needs to go to the vet. In cases like that, just calmly pick him up and put him in the car, secure him in his crate or seatbelt, and go. After you get done, go back to training the next day. If it was upsetting, to him (and it probably will be) you might need to back up a step or four.

Again thanks for all the positive feedback and suggestions. He is slowly getting better day by day. he pretty much goes in and out of the back sliding door into the back yard with no hesitation. Sometimes coming back in it takes a little more effort.

We did try to get him to go out the front door with a leash and he was having none of it. So I got him out in the back yard with the leash (not holding onto it) and he ran a bit but was also distracted. Any time I would pick up the end of the leash and put any sort of pressure on his collar he would stop and go into defensive mode....stand there with head down and tail tucked. I'm thinking he might of had some sort of trauma or bad experience with collar? Anytime there is pressure he would freeze.

Any suggestions for that? I was thinking maybe a harness instead so it's not pulling on his neck? Good idea or bad idea?