Golden Doodle..training

Question
I have a male chocolate Golden Doodle (b. Aug 12/08) that I received on Nov. 12/08 from a breeder in Ontario Canada.  He had a rough time in shipping...he was driven to Air Canada cargo in Toronto on Nov 10 where the shipper was told that they couldn't ship the dog because of the Nov 11 holiday in Newfoundland and there was no cargo on that day (he was told this in error).  The shipper (who is a friend of the breeder) had to take "Jack" back to his place for the night and return to Air Canada Cargo the next day to try to ship him out again.  He flew from Toronto to Montreal on Nov 11, where he had to overnight and the next day was shipped from Montreal to Wabush, where we picked him up at the airport.

He is a good dog, hardly barks, except when the cat struts around him, or sometimes when he needs to go outside.  My problem is that when you walk somewhere...to the bathroom...he follows, when you are cooking supper he lies tight to the back of your feet.  We can't move without Jack following us around.  He does know the word "sit" and is getting used to the word "down".  The word "stay" however is only good for a few seconds til you walk out of his sight line...then he gets up and comes looking for you.

He sits almost every time we tell him except when there is a distraction (kids, other dogs).  Then he is just too excited to listen.  We want to teach him to be a good bird dog but we were wondering how we can get him to listen to the basic commands.

As for fetching..he fetch for about 4 or 5 times, then he runs over to the fetcher  picks it up, drops it and then comes back to you without it.  We've used positive reinforcement ("good boy", or when he does retrieve we give him a treat).  What else can we do.

I think that Jack is suffering from separation anxiety as we work shift work and I still think that he is still not over the shipping.

Jack does love it outdoors and we have a big back yard and in this winter we made it a practice of bringing him to the frozen lake behind our house for play time (and fetching training).

There are no dog training facilities any where near where we live (we are isolated) and are wondering what we can do to help train Jack better ourselves.

Thank you
Angela

Answer
Hi, Angela,

I will try to answer your concerns individually, to the best of my ability.

You:  My problem is that when you walk somewhere...to the bathroom...he follows, when you are cooking supper he lies tight to the back of your feet.  We can't move without Jack following us around.  

Me:  Although he IS still a puppy at 8 months old, he could just want to be near you, as is the nature of the golden retriever, or he could have separation anxiety.  This would be hard for me to tell just through email conversation.

Here is some information on separation anxiety:
http://www.ddfl.org/behavior/sep-anxiety.pdf

You:  The word "stay" however is only good for a few seconds til you walk out of his sight line...then he gets up and comes looking for you.

Me:  A long stay, and especially one where you are out of sight, is something that must be trained over a period of time, in steps of graduated distances. In AKC obedience trials, the Utility stay is where the owner leaves the ring and goes out of sight for 5 minutes.  It takes trainers months and months to train this, sometimes even years, for the dog to do it reliably.

As far as teaching him to retrieve and be a bird dog, if there is nowhere to get training of that nature, I can only suggest getting books from the library or book store.  

You:  He sits almost every time we tell him except when there is a distraction (kids, other dogs).

Me:  Teaching Sit, Down, Fetch, Stay.....It is always best to teach new skills WITHOUT distractions, only adding them in or allowing them to occur AFTER the behavior/skill has been learned.  Even for many humans, it is hard to concentrate in noisy or disruptive situations.  Working close to the dog is usually better, until they learn what you want, and add distance gradually.  Some dogs like to retrieve, some don't.  Keep an open mind about Jack in that what you want him to do (be a bird dog) may not be something he is genetically programmed to do; has his breeder produced many bird dogs, is that what they breed their dogs for, or are they primarily companion animals?

You:  bringing him to the frozen lake
Me:  Just a personal comment, I would be hesitant to have my dog on ice; there are many cases of dogs going through into the freezing water and coming close to drowning.

I hope this is of some help.