Did anyone see this over the festive period - a true story about how parents who were struggling to communicate with their severely autistic son bought a golden retriver and eventually found out that they could communicate through the dog (by giving the dog a voice) - the little boy grew up to study 7 GSCE's and went on to study child care -  I wept my heart out, and made me love the breed even more...

However when I look at other steady, calm and lovely agoldens they bare little resemblence to the hooligan I currently have (14 months)..someone warned me that goldens got through a difficult patch at about 18 months - could it be that this stage has come early? General offences include - being selectively deaf on recalls outside, being great at other commands one minute and ignoring me the next, ripping socks to shreds - she's not really a chewer - and so on. How long does it last?

I loved it! Such a heartwarming story and at times so very tearful.  (But as usual I shouted at the TV when it was blatantly obvious it was DIFFERENT dogs in different scenes LOL.)

As for your own dog -well in my personal experience the teenage stage don't usually hold true as much for Golden bitches as for dogs. How long does it last? Well most Goldens calm down a BIT by the time they are say 8..... ;) The answer is simply training and more training. Don't give her the opportunity to ignore you when called -only call when you are certain she will come and practice with a long line if needs be -the more times she learns she CAN get away with NOT coming, the more she will do it. Same thing as with general commands, don't let her ignore you. Set her up to succeed with little chance of failing.You may have to make yourself and what you do more interesting. Training and commands should be the most fun ting on earth! Socks you put away in a drawer. :) I would not even trust my 11 year old Golden NOT to chew socks up. :D

I noticed that Thomas went from puppy to middle aged dog, in a remarkably short period of time, and with no comparable aging in the child either! :)

Re the recall thing - we take scrumptious treats (salmon, luke warm sausages, roast chicken) and at home she'll do ANYTHING for food, but this doesn't always translate to the park - we also make sure we take her when we know she'll be hungry and I play hide and seek with her where it's safe to do so.

I also do things like sit down on the floor, leave by different areas of the park, mix it up with clicker training, walk in opposite directions, pretend to eat something (which is currently proving to be about 100% successful) but she seems to learn my tricks and after a very short while ignores them.

My god, I'm being outwitted by a dog.

My god, I'm being outwitted by a dog.

lol

I use a whistle for recall with Ollie (my golden), available here http://www.smithscountrypursuits.co.uk/acatalog/Gundog_Whistles.html (probably cheaper on eBay - it's a 210 1/2.

Before he gets his meals I make him sit and blow the whistle three times, to indicate he can have his food.  Then out on walks I take little tit-bits of his biscuits (he loves cheese and will do anything for it but sadly he's on a low protein diet (struvite - another story..)) and whistle for him to return - he then merrily comes back for a bit of food.  It's important to continue the three toots on the whistle when you give him the treat - it's like Pavlov's dogs, but it works a treat. (Our Greyhound/Collie X comes back to the whistle too - but she's so keen to get going again she doesn't hang around for a treat just a quick pat and acknowledgement that she can run off again!

Using the whistle/treat method is used by Guide Dogs for the Blind, clearly they cannot have a visually impaired person attempting to chase a dog around a field...

Other key thing, and probably teaching my granny to suck eggs, is to make sure that you don't just recall him/her to put him back on the lead...!  Hmm whistle outside means end of fun and going back home; or I could go and leap in that HUGE muddy puddle...

Enjoy!
Tim

However when I look at other steady, calm and lovely agoldens they bare little resemblence to the hooligan I currently have

lol... yes..I think the actor was a bit more mature than the average teen pup!

Beautiful powerful drama. I do hope no one runs out and buys a pup though without careful thought. I'd have liked a short follow up about responsible dog ownership and about autism because there was not enough information to explain what was gong on and what types of Autism exist in the drama.   There is no magic cure for Autism..but for some high functioning kids there is the possibility of finding a key to the back door and training them to use their intelligence to compensate for their disability.

I got my first dog a BC for helping with mt autistic daughter.. the BC is very good because they are smart and rather like an autistic child in their nature and obsessive drive! My child is only mild asperger type autism but I strongly identified with so many issues in the film... going in a shoe shop, the dentist, the hospital, GP, finding a place had moved the furniture around..oh the screaming fits! The rude comments! Bcause you have to deal with the child in a rather uniqe way and do with them what works rather than what seems right for the average child.. and of course you get so stressed out at times you don't know what is right anymore!  .   In the hairdresser when my daughter was 8 and screaming and we were having to hold her down the hairdresser said kindly don't worry we are used to this..so I said really? and she said..well only in much younger kids. But they were kind and I appreciated it. Many people even teachers and nurses in hospital they do not undestand autism and expect the child to be like an average child...  they expect a happy smile and a sad face to mean a child is sad.. but do not understand these things are not natural for autistic kids and they can feel happy even if they do not smile and they can be pleased to see you they just don't know they need to let you know these things.  

The great thing is a dog will not make allowances..so if a kid wants a response from a dog they must communicate in some shape or form ...because the dog gives willingly but makes no painful social demands from the child it gives them the comfort to learn and develop a relationship at their own pace... or something like that. and because people will focus on the dog the autisti child becomes more comfortable with people because they do better in alongside comunication rather than face to face...

Fortunately my kid is like the one in the movie she communicated with our dog and showed love for the first time and would hug him and he made no demands of her . He died three years later and when William was sick in the movie I thought they were going to suffer the same thing and loose the one bond this child had so it hit a nerve. When out dog died the Autism too over again for a year and I though we'd lost our daughter but now our new pups are two and over the past two years they have brought healing.  Together the three dogs have taught to love, communicate but also to cope with loss and grow the strength to love again. We have a very normal child now. No one would ever guess things had ever been any different.

>However when I look at other steady, calm and lovely agoldens they bare little resemblence to the hooligan I currently have (14 months)..someone warned me that goldens got through a difficult patch at about 18 months - could it be that this stage has come early? General offences include - being selectively deaf on recalls outside, being great at other commands one minute and ignoring me the next, ripping socks to shreds - she's not really a chewer - and so on. How long does it last?

Ours is now 22 months and beginning to calm down a little, the recall is improving although she is still selectively deaf if she sees another dog she wants to play with.  She still rips plastic toys to shreds :rolleyes: We have been working hard with a long lead and in the garden on recall which may account for the improvement, we also practice in the local woods when there are no other distractions and are currently at the point where if she sees another dog and starts towards it she will stop and look round if we call although she won't always come back.

I've been told she should be almost perfect by the time she reaches 13 or 14 :D.

It was a fab movie!!!  , does anyone know who the dog was??? or what agency he came from.  I know that the dog handler was Vivien Deakin but thats all the info that was given in the credits!  A great film and very cute puppies at the beginning.  I bet the slaes of Golden Retrievers has gone up since though!!!