Duke is an 8 month old neutered purebred Golden Retriever that was surrendered to RAGOM because he grew from an adorable and irresistible puppy into a wild 65 pound puppy that his family couldn’t control and felt they couldn’t train. Duke has been with us for about a week and he has made improvements in his training and behavior, but he still needs a lot of work to get him to the great dog I know he can be! Duke didn’t know how to sit when he came to us, and now he sits to go outside, before eating, and any time that I give him the “sit” signal. He has also quickly learned that it’s not okay to jump up on people. This boy is SMART and is very food motivated! We are working on teaching Duke not to counter surf and not to mouth our hands, clothes, feet, legs, etc when he is excited. Golden Retrievers can be very mouthy when they are puppies, so it’s not abnormal that he does this! We are keeping a trailing leash on him so we can catch him if needed, as he sometimes likes to grab something he’s not supposed to have and tries to play keep away. With the leash on, I can control him easier and trade a treat for whatever he decides to grab instead of trying to catch him as he runs away from me.
Duke does great with my 8 year old daughter and he grew up around kids, though he does knock them down sometimes. He also does well with our 2 cats. Duke LOVES to play with my dog, Finn. They wrestle and chase each other in the yard and play fight in the house for hours until they are so tired that they fall asleep. So far, Duke has not had any accidents in the house and he is crate trained. I do crate him during the day when I’m at work and at night so he doesn’t get into anything he shouldn’t. He will chew on inappropriate objects (shoes are his favorite), so we are keeping everything picked up and lots of dog toys out for him to chew on and play with. Duke went to the vet and received his vaccines, exam, and had a negative fecal and heartworm test, and is microchipped.
Duke is a wonderfully sweet and loving boy. He really enjoys spending time with us and giving kisses! He really just wants attention, even if it is negative attention when he does something wrong. We are working on ignoring him when he’s jumping and mouthing or doing anything else naughty. If he tries to do it, we turn away, and if he continues he gets put in his kennel for a few minutes until he calms down. He is quickly learning that bad behavior results in no attention, and he doesn’t like it! Duke loves belly rubs, having his back scratched, and being brushed.
Duke will need the following in his forever home:
-A family that is dedicated to training and working with him. We are working on “Nothing in life is free” with Duke and he’s definitely learning what we expect of him. He would not be an ideal dog for a family that had never had a dog before. Someone with a calm, positive, authoritive personality would be ideal for Duke so he can learn that he is not in charge.
-A family dedicated to exercising him daily. Simply running around in the back yard or a short walk is not enough for Duke.
-If there are kids in the family, they should be at least 6-8 years old. He’s big and knocks into everyone occasionally, but my 8 year old daughter is definitely used to that. Duke is still in the mouthy puppy stage, so I wouldn’t recommend younger kids for him.
-A fenced in yard or invisible fence – Duke LOVES to run and play in our yard.
-He would do best with another playful dog to help burn off his puppy energy, but it’s not an absolute requirement. Duke would not do well with an older dog as he would just annoy them to play constantly.
If you are interested in Duke, please contact your placement advisor!
| Golden Retriever | Born: August 2012 |
| Male | 65 lbs |
Status: Adopted
Duke is an 8 month old neutered purebred Golden Retriever that was surrendered to RAGOM because he grew from an adorable and irresistible puppy into a wild 65 pound puppy that his family couldn’t control and felt they couldn’t train. Duke has been with us for about a week and he has made improvements in his training and behavior, but he still needs a lot of work to get him to the great dog I know he can be! Duke didn’t know how to sit when he came to us, and now he sits to go outside, before eating, and any time that I give him the “sit” signal. He has also quickly learned that it’s not okay to jump up on people. This boy is SMART and is very food motivated! We are working on teaching Duke not to counter surf and not to mouth our hands, clothes, feet, legs, etc when he is excited. Golden Retrievers can be very mouthy when they are puppies, so it’s not abnormal that he does this! We are keeping a trailing leash on him so we can catch him if needed, as he sometimes likes to grab something he’s not supposed to have and tries to play keep away. With the leash on, I can control him easier and trade a treat for whatever he decides to grab instead of trying to catch him as he runs away from me.
Duke does great with my 8 year old daughter and he grew up around kids, though he does knock them down sometimes. He also does well with our 2 cats. Duke LOVES to play with my dog, Finn. They wrestle and chase each other in the yard and play fight in the house for hours until they are so tired that they fall asleep. So far, Duke has not had any accidents in the house and he is crate trained. I do crate him during the day when I’m at work and at night so he doesn’t get into anything he shouldn’t. He will chew on inappropriate objects (shoes are his favorite), so we are keeping everything picked up and lots of dog toys out for him to chew on and play with. Duke went to the vet and received his vaccines, exam, and had a negative fecal and heartworm test, and is microchipped.
Duke is a wonderfully sweet and loving boy. He really enjoys spending time with us and giving kisses! He really just wants attention, even if it is negative attention when he does something wrong. We are working on ignoring him when he’s jumping and mouthing or doing anything else naughty. If he tries to do it, we turn away, and if he continues he gets put in his kennel for a few minutes until he calms down. He is quickly learning that bad behavior results in no attention, and he doesn’t like it! Duke loves belly rubs, having his back scratched, and being brushed.
Duke will need the following in his forever home:
-A family that is dedicated to training and working with him. We are working on “Nothing in life is free” with Duke and he’s definitely learning what we expect of him. He would not be an ideal dog for a family that had never had a dog before. Someone with a calm, positive, authoritive personality would be ideal for Duke so he can learn that he is not in charge.
-A family dedicated to exercising him daily. Simply running around in the back yard or a short walk is not enough for Duke.
-If there are kids in the family, they should be at least 6-8 years old. He’s big and knocks into everyone occasionally, but my 8 year old daughter is definitely used to that. Duke is still in the mouthy puppy stage, so I wouldn’t recommend younger kids for him.
-A fenced in yard or invisible fence – Duke LOVES to run and play in our yard.
-He would do best with another playful dog to help burn off his puppy energy, but it’s not an absolute requirement. Duke would not do well with an older dog as he would just annoy them to play constantly.
If you are interested in Duke, please contact your placement advisor!
Duke has been adopted by a wonderful family from Minnesota! He is a really lucky boy! We miss him so much already, but we know that he found his perfect forever home. Duke is already enjoying playing fetch with his new Mom and Dad! Here are a few pictures of Duke in his new home.
Duke is such a wonderful pup and we just love having him here! On Saturday, I took Duke, Vinnie, and Finn to the RAGOM Iowa volunteer annual picnic. Duke loved running around, playing with the other dogs, and wrestling with Finn. I was worried that Duke would be tempted by the tables of food, but he was a good boy and didn't try to steal any food! Duke also did a great job of not jumping up on anyone and found lots of people to throw the ball for him. I was able to get a lot of great pictures of our handsome boy! Duke slept the entire 80 minute ride home.
Duke is doing very well with his training! He is smart and very willing to learn new things! His recall still isn't great, as he has selective hearing if he is doing something fun, but we are working on it every day. In the last 6 weeks, Duke has really come a long way! He's still in that naughty teenage puppy stage, but training has made it much more manageable. My own dog, Finn, was terrible during this stage, but with a lot of training he is now a really wonderful dog. I know that Duke will be a great dog for some lucky family!
Duke continues to do well with his training! Like most puppies, it’s hard for him to remain focused when there are a lot of distractions (such as people at the house, kids playing, or multiple dogs around). I work with him every day and every day he improves! He is a very smart boy! The training possibilities are endless for Duke and we would absolutely recommend that his forever family take him to obedience classes.
We had guests this week that wanted to meet Duke. One adult gave Duke a treat filled Kong (high value item) and then tried to take it away. Duke responded with a growl, using good dog language to tell that person that he didn’t want his high value item taken. I explained that we trade with another high value treat or toy if we want to get something from dogs, instead of just taking it. I then showed how well Duke willingly takes a treat for a trade and he allowed me to have his high value Kong. Shortly after this, this person tried to take the Kong away without trading for it and Duke growled and snapped. Duke was a great communicator (by growling when he felt that his high value item was threatened), but this person didn’t listen to what he was saying. Think about if you gave a teenager a $100 bill, then tried to take it away. You can bet that their response would be worse than a growl and snap! While we can take toys from Duke, we have always traded for high value items (bones, treat filled toys) and we have never had an issue with him before this incident. He stole an opened can of cat food this weekend (VERY high value!) and he happily traded the cat food can for a small training treat! We have not noticed any food guarding when Duke is eating.
Duke was raised in a family with young children. He currently lives with my 8 year old daughter, 2 cats, and 2 other dogs here without any problems. I trust him 100% with my daughter, as she is very dog savvy and knows not to take things from the dogs. At this point we aren’t saying he can’t go to a home with kids, but the kids should have experience with dogs and know that they cannot take things from Duke or bother him while he has these high value items. Duke’s needs for a forever family haven’t changed. He would do fine with almost any family, as long as they are dedicated to training and exercise, they understand that he’s a big, goofy puppy that is still learning how to be a good boy, and one that understands and respects dog language.
Duke loves to play with other dogs and is very respectful to them. He knows who he can be rough with (our resident dog, Finn) and who isn’t interested in playing with him (our other foster, Vinnie). He also loves to play with toys with people. He enjoys playing fetch and though he doesn’t always drop the ball, he’ll let us take the ball out of his mouth so we can throw it again. We are still crating Duke when we are gone. He goes in the crate willingly and is used to being in the crate for a whole work day. Duke doesn’t whine and we have only heard him bark a few times when he was playing with Finn.
This sweet boy LOVES to cuddle with us and really enjoys getting pets and massages. He will sprawl out on the floor next to me as long as I don’t stop petting him. In the evening, after he’s had his exercise and a chance to play, Duke will spread out on the floor and chew on a nylabone or curl up at my feet until it’s time for everyone to go to bed. Duke is not afraid of loud noises, vacuums, or thunderstorms. Duke has quickly learned our routine and our house rules. He does not get on the furniture and sleeps on a dog bed in my bedroom at night.
If you are interested in this awesome, sweet, playful and adorable Golden boy, please contact your placement advisor!
Duke has quickly learned our routine and he does great being left during the day (crated) while I am at work. Duke loves to chew and his favorite toys right now are nylabones. He’s done really well at only chewing on dog toys, but we still keep an eye on him to make sure he’s staying out of trouble. Now that we can trust him more and he’s not trying to counter surf, Duke no longer wears a leash in the house. We kept the leash on him so we could re-direct him easier or catch him if he stole something and wanted to play “catch me if you can.” He’s been so good that we no longer think it’s necessary.
This past week I put Duke on a tie-out to see how he would do. We didn’t have any problems and I think he would do fine not having a fence in his forever home. He can’t be trusted to be off leash yet. Duke would, however, really enjoy going to an off leash dog park or other fenced in area where he could run if his forever home doesn’t have a fence. We have had a few thunderstorms and Duke was not scared. In fact, he wanted to go outside to go potty during the worst part of it. Duke also rides well in the car and settles in after a minute or two. Every car ride we’ve taken he’s either sat quietly looking out the window or he curls up on the back seat to take a nap.
Duke really loves playing with other dogs, and he does a great job of reading dog language. Duke knows which dogs want to play and how much he can play with them. Duke and my resident dog, Finn, wrestle, play bite, play tug, and chase each other every day for at least a few hours. Duke knows that my other foster, Vinnie 12-382, is not as interested in playing, so he’ll play tug or run with him, but he does not get too rough with him. We had 8 year old Rocky 13-129 here for a few days, and Duke knew he didn’t want to play so he ignored him. I think this is great for an 8 month old puppy! Sometimes they are so wild that they want to play rough with everyone, but Duke understands that not all dogs want to play with him. He has been introduced to a Gentle Leader and it has made walks much more enjoyable for everyone! He did fight it at first, but now he knows that when he wears it we get to go for walks, and Duke loves walks! He gets at least 1 walk per day, sometimes 2, but still needs playtime in the back yard to burn off all of his energy. Duke likes to play fetch, though we are working on him bringing it back! I think Duke would make a great running partner once he’s a little older and his body is fully grown and matured. Duke can be full of energy, but he’s also a great at cuddling and he loves to give kisses. He really enjoys belly rubs and ear scratches.
He is not perfect (yet), but I don’t know if I’ve ever met an 8 month old Golden that was! I have noticed significant changes in Duke in just the two weeks he’s been with us. He is quickly learning the house rules and what we expect of him. I work with him on training every day and he’s such a smart pup! With more training, he’ll be an even more wonderful member of some lucky family. If you think that family is yours, please contact your placement advisor today!