Are Golden Retrievers Easy To Train
Golden Retrievers are one of the worlds most beloved breeds of dog, and it is easy to see why. They have warm, loving temperaments, are loyal to the whole family, and are especially good with children.
Golden Retrievers are smart. Golden Retrievers high intelligence means that they learn quickly. Compared with other breeds, Golden Retrievers are considered one of the most intelligent breeds and trainable dogs. Golden Retrievers are eager to please and enthusiastically respond to training.
Brush Up On Your Listening Skills
It is important to listen to what your dog is trying to tell you. If he seems uncomfortable meeting new people, new dogs or in an unfamiliar environment, then do not push it. There is a reason the dog does not feel comfortable, and while you may never know exactly why, it is important to respect that.
Safety First Starting With A Collar And Leash
Before we jump into some of the more hands-on tips, we want to spend some time on safety. Safety always needs to come first, and its not just about your safety. Before training your golden, its important to spend some time on things that will make both of you feel safe, like a leash and collar.
To begin, make sure your golden has a comfortable collar. There are many options to choose from but it needs to fit comfortably around its neck. The collar acts as an anchor for other training techniques, so starting with a collar is a great way to start with safety.
Another safety concern is taking your golden out for walks. If you want your golden to walk without a leash, youre still going to need a leash to get started. So, make sure the leash is comfortable for you and your dog you dont want to strangle them while theyre walking but it should be tight enough to keep them close. Youll know its time to get rid of the leash when your golden no longer tugs at it or decides to run in random directions whenever they see something.
Don’t Miss: Royal Canin Golden Retriever Amazon
Be Consistent With Your Commands And Rewards
If you want your Golden Retriever to learn how to obey your commands, it is important that you are consistent with them. Reward your dog for good behavior, and dont hesitate to discipline him when he does something wrong. This will help him develop a clear understanding of what is expected of him. Be patient and keep practicing until he gets it right.
I Was Encouraging My Retriever’s Bad Behaviorwithout Even Knowing It
Most mainstream dog trainers base their philosophy on archaic principles that areoutdated and ineffective. These so-called professionals are playing broken telephone: spreading misinformation and encouraging ignorant pet owners to use force, domination tactics, and painful tools such as choke/prong collars to control their innocent dogs. This teaches your puppy to avoid pain and discomfort, rather than learning how to communicate effectively.
Sadly, many Golden Retriever owners just like you are blindsided by inaccurate information compromising your integrity, as well as the respect and trust of your puppy. This will exert immense stress and anxiety on to your pet drastically slowing down training progress and causing him to exhibit countless behavioral problems.
Pet owners that entertainold-school training methods end up with dogs who live in a state of perpetual fearleaving owners feeling exasperated. What baffled me the most is that it took memonths of extensive research to distinguish the right way to train your Golden Retriever, from the wrong.
How many pet owners have the time or patience to read and study a mountain educational material? Suddenly, I wished that I had known the truth when I first adopted Goldy to prevent behavioral problems from developing in the first place. To my own surprise, these key training principles were so powerful and effective, I was able toreverse behavioral issues within weeks.
Also Check: How To House Train A Golden Retriever
Be Consistent With Commands
When giving commands to your Golden Retriever, its important to be consistent. This means using the same word or phrase for each command. For example, if you want your dog to sit, you should always say sit and never use a different word like down. This will help your dog understand what you want him to do.
Know The Breeds Behaviors And Channel Them Nondestructively
While many love the gentle, sweet side of the golden retriever, its easy to overlook the higher-energy, active side thats just as characteristic of the breed. Traditionally, golden retrievers were bred to carry waterfowl in their mouths. Although most goldens arent hunting nowadays, they still need a lot of activity and have a tendency to get quite mouthy, especially as puppies.
To discourage your golden retriever from biting, chewing, or being otherwise destructive, encourage her to channel her energy toward an item thats supposed to be chewed . Let her burn energy frisking with her four-legged friends or bring her on your run to keep her active.
You May Like: Golden Retriever Puppy Price In Usa
Difficulty Walking On Leash
Some Goldens either never really got the hang of leash training, werent ever trained, or have regressed due to poor reinforcement. Either way, its important to correct this behavior as soon as possible. While on a walk, if your pup goes wild, stop.
Wait until your pup calms down. Once they do, continue the walk. You will literally repeat this repeatedly. Granted, youll need ample amounts of time to make this successful. Try walking three times a day this way for a few weeks to see if the behavior improves.
Be Consistent And Develop A Routine
Golden Retriever puppies need structure in their lives. They thrive when theyre on a routine. You should establish a schedule as soon as possible to help your puppy succeed.
This applies not only to training but every other activity they do.
Provide them with their meals at the same times every single day. If you take walks around the block, try to do so at a predetermined time.
This structure gives them something to look forward to and helps to establish what is expected of them.
Once theyre house trained, theyll have a good idea of when they get to go out. This can ultimately reduce behavioral problems in the long run.
When it comes to consistency, you need to do things the same way each and every time. While slight discrepancies wont have a drastic effect on their overall progress, big changes will.
For example, if you started out with voice commands and suddenly decided to adopt whistle training techniques, your puppy will have no idea of what you want from them.
Be consistent in your training and everyday lives to ensure that your pup can be successful.
Don’t Miss: Golden Retrievers For Sale In New Hampshire
Make It A Lifetime Commitment
Even when your dog has very good manners and is a treasured member of the family, there are always new things to learn. Dog training provides excellent brain stimulation, which helps use your Goldens high energy level. It also strengthens the human-animal bond, which enriches the entire household. Explore new sports and activities, like nosework, agility, rally and therapy visits.
Whether you begin with an 8-week-old puppy, an adolescent rescue or a senior dog, these tips can help your new Golden Retriever understand what to do in his new home. It also enables you to help him burn energy, provide stimulation and build a strong bond between you and your dog.
Are Golden Retrievers Good Family Dogs
Yes, Golden Retrievers make wonderful family dogs because when bred healthily they have very few behavior problems, love all people, are very tolerant of children, and unfamiliar people. They are also very docile and friendly towards other dogs and cats.
Golden Retrievers make great city dogs or country dogs as long as their needs are met. Most dogs are time intensive and not space-intensive. If your schedule permits or you have resources to hire a dog walker, pet sitter, or dog boarding facility, please do. Golden Retrievers love to be out and about and walk and exercise.
Do not get a golden retriever if you are looking for a guard dog or a dog that has a presence to intimidate or keep people away from your home or while out on the street. Your dog will likely look to lick a burglars face and get pets from them than scare them away.
Recommended Reading: Small Golden Retrievers For Adoption
Assert Yourself As The Alpha Leader
In dog training, your Golden Retriever must know that you are the boss from the start. Set rules and boundaries, and be consistent and fair. If you do this correctly, your puppy wont behave without first looking up to you and seeking your approval. He will respect you as being top of the hierarchy.
Never mistake being the alpha with punishment. A good leader is fair and doesnt use fear or physical chastisement. It will only cause resentment. An alpha leader is calm and assertive, teaches his dog to be happily submissive, and approves of the behavior.
How Much Should An 8
Eight-week-old Golden Retriever puppies eat about a half cup of food three times per day.
However, this can vary depending on the type of food and your puppys activity, so let your breeder and vet help guide you.
There is no one-size-fits-all rule when it comes to feeding your two-month-old Golden.
Puppies at this age need more frequent meals than adult Goldens, so three meals a day is recommended.
Because two-month-old Goldens are undergoing so much growth at this stage, feed them high-quality food that can support them as they mature.
Most Goldens have big appetites and will happily gobble down their meals when you serve them.
Using slow feeder bowls , or other food dispensing toys, such as the Planet Dog Snoop, can help slow down their eating and provide them some mental stimulation while they eat.
Recommended Reading: When Are Golden Retrievers Adults
Crate Training A Golden Retriever
Crate training is a hugely beneficial skill to teach your puppy. It will ensure your puppy cannot do any damage if left unsupervised and creates a safe place for them to retreat to if they are tired.
Golden Retrievers are wired to need to spend time with people. We need to help prepare them for separation at some point.
Crate training will help to prepare them but you need to understand that leaving your puppy alone for too long when young can be problematic in the long term!
Its a good idea to have some rules when crate training golden retriever puppies:
- Dont disturb or interact with your dog when he is in his crate.
- Never force him into or out of his crate.
- Provide nice things for him in his crate .
- Leave the door open and have the crate accessible all the time!
- Feed him his meals in there.
- Only shut the door for short periods of time to start with.
Sticking to the rules will help to create positive associations with the crate. It will teach your Golden their crate is a place he can retreat to and rest .
You should not start crate training with the door closed.
Increasing the time they spend in their crate with the door closed can take two or three weeks. You can use the following tips to gradually increase the time your golden retriever puppy spends in their crate:
What Is The First Thing You Should Train Your Golden Retriever
1. To acclimate your Golden Retriever puppy at home, potty training is vital.2. Crate Training is helpful with your at-home training. Your Golden Retriever puppy must seek the crate as a safe comfortable place.3. Teaching your puppy basic dog commands: Sit, Stay, Down, Come are essential in helping your dog to adapt his/her behavior to any social situation and make your dog live happily.
To acclimate your Golden Retriever puppy at home, potty training is vital.
a) Learn The Puppy Potty SignsBe prepared to let your puppy out when you notice: a sudden change of behavior scratching or pawing or barking at the door sniffing around
b) Create A Regular Routine To Take Your Puppy OutTake your young puppy out often to avoid accidents at home.
c) Establish A Potty SpotUse a verbal potty command such as go potty which means lets go to your potty area.
d) Praise Your Puppy: Praising your Golden Retriever puppy will encourage more good behaviors and help strengthen your bond.
You May Like: Why Get A Golden Retriever
What Products And Dog Training Equipment Should I Buy For A Golden Retriever Dog
Golden Retrievers are a medium-large dog breed that needs to be trained well with gentle, positive reinforcement dog training to achieve the best dog training results. Regardless of the age of your Golden Retriever, whether they are a puppy, adolescent or senior Golden Retriever, all of the following will help a parent throughout the life of your Retriever.
Start With Basic Skills And Commands
If you intend to make your Golden Retriever the smart dog who hears AHH AHH! or NO! and stop the unwanted behavior, you need to start with baby steps by teaching basic commands and skills.
Teach your puppy first to obey simple commands such as no,sit,come,stay, and down. Advanced training should only begin at six months old. Some examples of advanced commands are leave it,fetch,quiet, find it, and heel.
Don’t Miss: Heart Of Gold Golden Retrievers
Learn To Correct And Prevent Some Ofthe Worst Golden Retriever Problems Today
My precious little pup Goldy would climb up on our furniture and perform a series of systemic barks and howls as if he was giving a speech to a sea of pups! Feeling frustrated, I took him to dog training classes. Although his behaviour slightly improved, it wasn’t even a week later when Goldy was back to his old routine ofignoring my commands and chewing on my antique French Rug a not-so-stylish gift from my grandmother. On top of it all, he only seemed to obey commands when the dog trainer was around.
I decided to take matters into my own hands. I was on a mission to figure out why traditional dog training didn’t work for my dog. I spent countless hours after work studying dog behavior and essential dog training principles. Months into my research, my hope, as well as my coffee, was running out.
One morning after a long night of research I looked at my books and notes, andstumbled upon a startling realization: They were all dog training books.. Not Golden Retriever training books!
In the moment of clarity, I was also astonished by the sheer amount of inaccurate and outdated information that dog trainers and ordinary pet owners blindly accept and follow. I was beginning to understand why so many Retriever owners grew tired and confusedeventually giving up altogether.
Only Give A Command Once
When it comes to training, you reap what you sow! If you train your Golden Retriever puppy to listen to commands three or four times before responding, thats exactly what he will learn!
This is known as command nagging and is when your puppy doesnt respond to a cue, so you keep repeating it! By repeating the command, youve unintentionally taught your Golden that he doesnt have to react immediately.
Teach your pup to heed a command the first time you say it. First, you need to get your dogs attention by calling out his name. Then make lots of eye contact. If your Golden Retriever doesnt perform the command, show him what you want him to do and make the command again. Repeat until he learns to obey the first time you give the cue.
Recommended Reading: Best Grooming Scissors For Golden Retrievers
Training To Do This Week
- Teach your puppy their name: :Lets be honest kind of awks if they dont know their name.
- Teach your puppy to sit Good doggos know how to sit. Your Golden Retriever puppy is certainly a good doggo.
- Recall training Of course youll want your Golden Retriever puppy back from all the people that are fawning over them you want to keep a little piece of them for yourself, right?
- Retrieve/fetch: If Golden Retrievers were born to do anything, its to fetch. Literally. Youll find that they have a natural talent for them.
What Are Some Common Obstacles In Training
One of the biggest obstacles in dog training is not being consistent. It can be most confusing, even for an intelligent dog like the Golden Retriever, to receive mixed messages.
Also, dont make the mistake of making your training sessions too long. Any dog will lose interest. Rather have several short impactful training sessions than one long boring one that turns out to be an obstacle in training.
Also Check: Best Training Tips For Golden Retriever Puppies
Tips For Golden Retriever Training
Golden retrievers are great dogs and make great companions. This breed is full of energy, love, and excitement. Plus, many people love the way golden retrievers look with their golden coats of fur and floppy ears. That said, golden retrievers are also known for being rowdy and rambunctious. For this reason, its important to train your golden retriever property.
While training a golden retriever isnt always easy, its something that every pet owner can do. With a golden, you dont need to bring them to a trainer for any fancy routinesunless you want to, of course. When it comes to training a golden, you just need a little bit of patience and a commanding tone. Oh, and tons of treats.
If youre getting ready to train your golden retriever but dont know where to start, were here to help. Read on to see our top 10 tips to help you train your golden retriever.