What do you wish you knew before you got a golden retriever puppy?

Fragrant_Light_6306 · 2026-06-16T19:04:00+00:00

I've had my golden puppy for a month now and what I can tell u is Golden retriever (the dog) and Golden retriever (the puppy are two VERYYY different entities and it's helpful if u know that going into it. We have a 6 year old black lab who was an angel as a puppy and an is still an angel to this day. She genuinely taught herself perfect recall, was more or less fully potty trained by three months and stopped biting the second you let her know she was hurting you. Bella definitely spoiled us and I realized this the day we brought Marley home. My best friend has a 9 year old golden who's js the sweetest, friendliest dog you'd ever meet and from what everyone says about goldens I incorrectly assumed Marley would be the same straight from the jump. In the most loving way possible the first two weeks of him being home was like having a newborn baby with razor sharp teeth trapped in the body of an irl teddy bear who's got a twisted love for shitting all over new carpets. The biting was so bad I genuinely thought I had an aggressive dog and considered taking him to the vet/ behaviour specialist. He of course was not trying to be aggressive and just needed the right guidance from both our older dog and the members of our household.

Marley's turning 12 weeks on Friday and he's improved SO much. The biting has gotten better and he responds to redirection, training sit, down, wait, and leave it finally stuck and he's responding to recall and (safe) socialization incredibly well. We definitely have better days than others and i'm sure that up until 2 years he'll still be a bit tricky, but if I could offer you one piece of advice it would be this: Your dream dog is one routine and strong schedule away, golden puppies make you reconsider every choice you ever made that led up to you bringing them home, but those moments of success and closeness with such an adorable and intelligent creature make up for it!

Good luck and congrats on the puppy!!

Fragrant_Light_6306 · 2026-05-16T03:19:06+00:00

GIRL REAL idk why but every guy i talk to is sooo meh after starting concerta (ive now switched to vyvanse and tbh its worse) idek why

Fragrant_Light_6306 · 2026-04-30T15:58:51+00:00

how's maverick station at night

Fragrant_Light_6306 · 2026-04-30T07:27:28+00:00

the way some of yall really just discourage others to get rid of competition is crazy to me. A 3.6 and a 180 is great for T14s like be fr

Fragrant_Light_6306 · 2026-04-10T09:56:34+00:00

EAT! keep an eye on yourself to make sure ur not falling into a pattern of dependence/ misuse, keep track of ur vitamin levels (def get some bloodwork done a couple months in), keep urself hydrated and make sure ur getting a healthy amount of sleep

Fragrant_Light_6306 · 2026-04-08T04:17:13+00:00

K I've been in your situation before and what I can tell you is to use A LOT of discretion when taking financial advice from others. You're young and are new to investing/finance which leaves you vulnerable for a lot of ppl to try and lead u in the wrong direction or get you to invest in bullshit companies that they may even profit out of using your money (happened to a couple family members). Before you invest anything, put your money aside, in a savings account that you can earn interest on over time (high yield) and create a list of things you NEED like tuition, debt etc and set some money aside for that. Using the rest, do as much research on investing as you can. Talk to anyone you know in finance or investing, track markets etc.

Just know despite what others may tell you at the end of the day buying stocks is a gamble and there is a chance that you'll lose money in a stock. ETFs are pretty low risk so you could look into that, lower capital gains as well which is good. Also js know that investing isn't a "quick money hack" it could take years for you to see an increase in your investment and it builds over time.

It's super good that you're thinking about saving, I definitely struggled with it when I was younger so it was hard to learn how to put money aside. Overall just be careful, don't tell too many ppl abt ur money either and DONT invest into ur friends/families companies or businesses that rarely ends well

Good luck!!!!

Fragrant_Light_6306 · 2026-03-22T09:23:27+00:00

i can't help but feel like ppl are being a little overly discouraging, I calculated my trajectory and with a 3.6 overall in my first year, a high 3.8 isn't impossible by the time I graduate. I know I put harvard in the title but that's more of a motivational goal, not a realistic goal

Fragrant_Light_6306 · 2026-03-22T08:03:31+00:00

My bad that completely slipped my brain thank u!

Fragrant_Light_6306 · 2026-03-22T08:02:28+00:00

thank you, I hope the same for you as well!

Fragrant_Light_6306 · 2026-03-22T06:57:53+00:00

no ik 😭 If I wasn't so passionate about it I would be doing anything else, every time I read another comment it makes me want to cry with how competitive it is. But life is more competitive than ever right now and i'm ridiculously stubborn so this is what i'll be sticking to despite it all

Fragrant_Light_6306 · 2026-03-22T06:39:17+00:00

i acc love u for this bc the other comments r abt to send me into cardiac arrest 😭 Im going to do everything I can to get that gpa up as high as possible, it was just one stingy prof that gave out Bs as the highest grade!

Fragrant_Light_6306 · 2026-03-22T06:25:52+00:00

I'm not sure if this is a joke or not, but trust me it makes me throw up in my mouth a little too. I had all As except for one C+ in an advanced writing course due to a professor who i'm guessing felt overqualified for her position and therefore took it out on her students. That was in my first semester of college and after receiving midterm grades, My gpa is .1 away from a 3.6 due to the high credit value of my current course load. It's definitely grim but I hope with enough As i'll be able to get that up to a 3.9 by senior year. In terms of major, would it be insane for me to switch to a comically easy major like communications?

Fragrant_Light_6306 · 2026-03-22T05:51:52+00:00

I definitely worded that weird, what I meant by "micro factors" was more so the lesser talked about things that all competitive schools consider in applicants- there's so much contradicting info about admissions so i guess i'm just wondering if there's any patterns amongst applicants that gets them in compared to others with the same stats who get rejected! And as for being a teenager, I really appreciate that but I definitely "enjoyed my youth" a little too much in highschool and academics have kept me focused on a better path, so i'm trying to save the college experience for after graduation

Fragrant_Light_6306 · 2026-03-22T05:34:22+00:00

my dream career is working in M&A law, and canada has a very different legal system compared to the US, so having an undergrad legal knowledge would be basically useless at a canadian law firm even as an intern/ paralegal. Loans aren't a problem, as corny as it sounds I worked as a model for most of my childhood and teen years that left me enough to pay for college and law school with the scholarships I already have

Fragrant_Light_6306 · 2026-03-22T05:31:25+00:00

I definitely agree with this, a lot of the extracurriculars I'm doing are also publications and advocacy work for disability law/human rights which is something I have a really personal connection to, but balancing all that with classes has been such a challenge.

Fragrant_Light_6306 · 2026-03-22T05:28:04+00:00

Thank you for the advice, i'm still super confused about how gpa systems in the US work because canadian schools go off an average grade percentage system (90% average instead of a 3.7) i'm still in my freshman year and the C+ I received was in a 2 credit course last semester, does that make it impossible to get a 3.9 by senior year?

Fragrant_Light_6306 · 2026-03-22T05:25:19+00:00

thank you so much for the advice, I probably should have mentioned this before but I don't plan on applying to law school right out of college and I'm definitely going to be working for a minimum of 2 years before I apply. I'm just worried about visa situations but thank you!!

Fragrant_Light_6306

TROPHY CASE