Golden Retriever Puppy Kindergarten
Welcome to the Golden Retriever Puppy Kindergarten recordings page!
Below are all the recordings, slides, and bonus information:
Week 1: Puppy Development & Meeting Your Puppy’s Needs
Recording
Slides
Recommended Enrichment Toys
DIY Enrichment Toy Ideas
- Spread out a towel and sprinkle on some kibble or treats. Roll or fold up the towel, then let your puppy forage the treats out.
- Remove the cap from an empty plastic water bottle. Put in some kibble or treats and let your puppy bat it around to knock the food out.
- Put one treat in each cup of a muffin tin. Cover each treat with a tennis ball or other toy.
- Scatter some kibble or treats into the backyard and let the puppy sniff them out.
- Fill a larger cardboard box with empty water bottles, packaging, butcher paper, etc. Toss in some treats and let your pup forage for them. (So long as puppy isn’t ingesting lots of paper/carboard, some chewing/shredding is also okay.)
Training Games
The training games below are for teaching your puppy to pay attention to you:
Up/Down
Find Me
Treat Toss
Week 2: Potty Training & Crate Training
Recording
Slides
Recommended pee cleaner:
Training Game
This week’s training game is the name game to help your puppy reliably come to you when you call them.
Name Game
Week 3: Socialization, Biting & Chewing
Recording
Slides
Mentioned Toys & Links
- LickiMat Wobble
- A list of crash-tested dog seatbealts & crates
- What to do if your dog is scared of the vacuum
Training Game
This week’s training video is a hand touch. There are so many uses for this skill:
- Recall
- Redirection
- A way to get them to drop things
- Gives jumpy greeters a polite way to meet people
- Move your puppy out of your way cooperatively
- Helps with leash walking
- And more!
Here is 10-week-old Oakley’s first time with this skill:
And here’s an example of how to introduce your puppy to new objects:
Week 4: Jumping, Barking & Handling Your Puppy
Recording
Slides
Recommended toy:
Bonus videos:
How to teach your puppy to sit:
How to brush your puppy:
How to put your puppy’s collar on:
How to grab your puppy’s collar:
Week 5: Calm Greetings & Being Home Alone
Recording
Slides
Recommended products:
- Head halters: Perfect Pace and Gentle Leader
- Best leashes for Golden Retrievers
- Best harnesses for Golden Retrievers
- Best collars for Golden Retrievers