Why Do Golden Retrievers Dig All The Time
There are lots of reasons why dogs dig, and thinking about why they might be doing it is a big step towards getting them to stop. Here are a few of the more common reasons Golden Retrievers dig: Instinct: Golden Retrievers were originally bred to help their owners during gaming season by retrieving small animals for them.
Improper Training Causes Golden Retrievers To Attack Their Owners
Training plays a vital role in teaching the Retrievers manner and commands to make them obedient towards their owner. However, harsh training, scolding, and beating them when they fail to follow the orders degrade the bond between the Golden Retriever and owner rather than strengthening it.
As a result, when the dog thinks his life is in danger, it will attack the owner.
What I Can Do To Redirect Digging Behavior
Engage with your dog. Some of the best ways to redirect your dog when they are digging out of boredom is to engage them in other indoor activities. Golden retrievers are energetic dogs that love to be occupied with activities. Your dog loves spending time with you, engage them with training, games, and doggy sports to help redirect their instincts to something that is appropriate for indoors.
Get a Licki Mat: A good boredom buster that will keep your dog’s attention and give them something to do is a LickiMat. A LickiMat is a mat where you can spread liquid treats onto the surface of the mat. Your dog will enjoy licking the mat to get every morsel of your liquid treat out. This is a fun way to give your dog a treat and keep them busy and occupied at the same time.
The LickiMat is a fun and enjoyable activity where you can treat your dog to something that taste really good while giving them a challenge of licking the mat.
- Made of Silicone
Also Check: Golden Retriever Puppy Fluffy
What Kind Of Coat Do Golden Retrievers Normally Have
Golden retrievers are a double-coated breed it means that their coat is made up of two parts.
The first is the outer coat, the one which has the long and the smooth fur and the undercoat, its the fuzzy and soft one, both coats work together to protect the skin from moisture, sun, cold, and heat. The coat has an important role as an insulator against any weather condition.
How To Stop Your Golden Retriever From Digging
Has your Golden Retriever been digging up the yard and destroying your grass?
One of the biggest problems that first-time Golden Retriever owners face is that their gardens which were once gorgeous have been dug up by their furry companions. The vegetable patches are ruined, the flowerbeds half eaten.
Golden Retrievers love their digging time.
In this blog post, we will help you and your distressed plants out by sharing a few ways in which you can stop your Golden Retriever from wreaking havoc in your garden so that you can restore it to its previous glory.
Lets begin.
Don’t Miss: How Often Should You Wash A Golden Retriever
How To Prevent Aggression In Your Golden Retriever
One of the best ways to prevent aggression in your golden retriever is to properly socialize them.
Show them that other people and other dogs are ok by giving them positive experiences with them.
Now, if your golden is being aggressive, go get professional help.
A professional trainer will help you understand why your dog is being aggressive, what triggers their aggression, and how to fix it.
Give Them Their Own Area
If you can avoid it, try not to leave a digging dog outside when youre not at home to watch them, but if they need to be outside on their own, you might want to consider giving up an area of the garden where they are allowed to dig.
Create an area in your garden that you dont mind being destroyedyou could make an area filled with loose soil, or even play sand for them to dig in and bury their toys. You will need to train them to only dig in the area you have set up, but it will allow them to indulge their instincts safely if you chose to go down this route.
Recommended Reading: How Often Should A Golden Retriever Be Groomed
Your Golden Wants Your Attention
Golden retrievers like human companionship and attention. Overtime your dog may have realized that digging at the carpet is getting them attention and may use digging at the carpet as a way of getting your attention and interaction.
Your dog will start digging at the carpet, and then you’ll stop what you are doing and walk over to him, and then when he stops digging you go back to doing what you were doing. They will learn cause and effect and realize that digging is a way to communicate to you that they want attention.
What To Do About Your Golden Retriever Scratching The Floor
Below are some options you have when getting your Golden Retriever to stop doing it. You will likely find that using a combination of them will work best.
Prevent it from doing it before it starts
One option you have is to learn to recognize when it is likely to start doing it and then to redirect its attention on to something else like coming to you. By doing this you might be able to break it out of the habit of scratching the floor.
I have written more about how you can train your Golden Retriever to come to you on command here.
Avoid encouraging the behavior
As mentioned above, it could be the case that you have been encouraging it to do it by giving it things it wants when it does it. Instead, it would help to reward it when it is well behaved and to try to redirect its focus on to something else when it is about to do it.
Take it to a vet
If you cannot figure out why your Golden Retriever has been doing it or it has been doing it excessively it would help to take it to a vet. By doing so you will be able to get expert advice tailored towards your particular Golden Retriever and to rule out the possibility of it being due to a medical issue.
This post may contain affiliate links. Petdogowner may be paid a commission from the companies mentioned in this post. This has no effect on the price that you pay and we are very grateful for any support.
Recommended Reading: Golden Retriever Haircut Styles
How To Stop Dogs Digging
Golden Retriever dogs by their nature love digging. So, How to stop dogs digging?
If you do not want your Golden Retriever dog digging and destroying your backyard by digging here and there, then simply create a digging area for him. Reward you dog for digging in the assigned area. You can also bury something that your Golden retriever loves and encourage it to dig until he finds buried treasure. It is important to understand that digging is part of their nature and will take time to get out of this habit. Consistence training, however, can help them get out of their digging habits. Like all other dogs, Golden retrievers are also guided by a set of responses and if the trainer disapproves the habit of digging, Goldens will soon learn that the action is unacceptable and will restrain itself from digging.
Lack of exercise, boredom,, and things like that could be the reasons for Golden Retriever digging habit. Solutions to these problems for example, if digging is due to lack of exercise then you may take your dog for a walk, engage it in other work, or play with the dog to help it come out of this feeling. . If the dog is digging because of boredom or separation anxiety, then you can buy some toys for the dog and can even spend some time with your Golden Retriever entertaining it.
Separation Anxiety Is One Of The Reasons
Psychological problems are the leading causes of this digging trouble. When the Dog gets anxious, they want to distract themselves from getting diverted from that anxiety. This makes them dig the ground. Usually, digging the ground in adult dogs are looked at as separation anxiety. If they get bored or anxious, they dig the ground and create a lot of mess.
Read Also: Can Shih Tzu Eat Ice Cream
Spend Quality Time With Your Dog
This is one of the psychological factors that make the Dog restless. In such a situation, the dogs tend to dig the ground out of anxiousness. Spend a good time with your Dog daily. Play with them. Interact with them by playing games and assure them you are always available for them. This shall solve most of your Dogs digging troubles. A simple hangout in the garden also must do. But, do it consistently.
Typical Characteristics Of Golden Retrievers
Goldens are one of the most popular domestic pets in the world. Loyal, friendly, and kind-hearted, they make excellent companions and family dogs. Theyre happy, easy going and very intelligent.
All of these traits are the reason theyre often trained to be service dogs. Being gentle and eager to please, they quickly pick up on training and love to make their owners happy. Knowing all of this, here are the primary traits of a Golden retriever.
A Goldens traits include:
- Good with kids
Read Also: How Much To Feed A Golden Retriever Dog
Some Of The Main Reasons Why A Golden Retriever Could Be Barking A Lot Include:
- Excitement Golden Retrievers, especially youthful puppies, love to play a lot and are quite excitable. They express their excitement by barking. For instance, when a Golden meets a strange dog, it will almost invariably always express its excitement by barking.
- Distress boredom, physical pain or an urgent call of nature are a few examples of distressing situations to which a Golden Retriever will respond by barking. Distress barking tends to be protracted and continues until the problem causing the distress is sorted out.
- Aggression although Golden Retrievers are generally peaceful most of the time, they can show signs of aggression once in awhile, especially when they feel threatened and may bark at strangers. This aggression will express through slow barking and growling.
Like human beings, each Golden Retriever is different from the next one. While one Golden may seem to bark a lot, another Golden might be completely mute even when in the same environment as the first. There are a number of factors that influence and determine how much a Golden Retriever will bark, the most significant of which is the upbringing and training of the dog. Golden Retrievers that receive very little or no training and are brought up in hostile or aggressive environments generally bark more and show more aggression.
Over to Charlie the Golden Retriever who holds the Guinness world record for the loudest bark by a dog:
They Cannot Be Left Alone
If youre thinking of getting a dog that you can leave at home alone during the day, dont even think about getting a golden. Golden Retrievers crave and need human attention.
If you dont plan on making a golden an important member of your family, you shouldnt get this breed. Golden Retrievers are very social, and love to be around their family. They need to be included in family activities, in order to be happy.
If you work all day, it is a good idea to take your golden to doggie daycare or hire a dog walker to walk your dog. This way your golden will not become bored, or depressed from being alone all day.
You May Like: Are There Black Golden Retrievers
Why Do Golden Retrievers Pant So Much
Is your Golden Retriever panting a lot more than usual?
I had this same problem too!
In this Digdoggy.com guide, youll learn:
- Why Golden Retrievers pant so much
- What causes panting in this breed
- How to reduce excessive panting
- Actions to take if your dogs panting becomes worrying
- And much more!
During my discovery of this question I found that Golden Retrievers do indeed pant a lot more than other breeds, let me explain
| What’s In This Guide? |
|---|
The Root Of The Behavior
Regardless if your yard is big or small, your Golden Retriever will still love a good dig. But instead of completely giving up and surrendering your entire yard to him, you will be happy to know that there are various things you can do to put a stop to this mess and salvage your beloved garden. Instinct is one of the primary reasons why your dog digs. Golden Retrievers were bred to help people during gaming season. They are so-called because they helped retrieve small animals. They have also been known to dig near small nests even if they have not been trained to do so. Golden Retrievers need plenty of exercise because they are a very active breed. They need to be taken out daily for walks and they need to be entertained at home or else they will start ransacking your yard. Digging is a stress reliever for dogs so if they are anxious because of a certain change in their environment or their routine, they may start doing it.
Don’t Miss: How Often Should Golden Retrievers Be Groomed
Solutions To Fix The Digging
The good news is there are a few different methods you can use to help train your dog to stop digging in the yard. Taking some time to train them and help teach them the right behavior can make all the difference in how nice your yard will work.
Something as simple as finding some new toys, like the SMART DOG Suction Cup Dog Toy can help. Some other options out there include:
What Can I Do For My Golden Retriever In The Summer
Teaching your Golden Retriever to swim would be another good way to give it a lot of exercise. When dogs swim they need to move their legs around a lot which can wear them out quickly. It will also help to keep it cool in the summer. When you havent got the time to walk your Golden Retriever yourself you could get a dog walker to do it for you.
Read Also: Golden Retriever Pedigree
Whats Working For Other Owners
Believe it or not, one of the most common solutions we found owners talking about was putting dog poop in the holes they dig! Yep, you read it right. See for yourself:
The only thing thats actually deterred my pup is to put his poop in the holes he makes. I know confinement and keeping an eye on him is also helpful as well as EXERCISE because it could just be pent up energy.
Heres another option that was recommended
You could try building a designated digging area and train them accordingly. Think of this as the dogs sandbox. It can be constructed with a few landscaping timbers and some sandbox sand .
Bury some toys or treats, and praise him when he digs in his special area. A kiddie pool could also be transformed into a digging playground.
Just know that if you go this route, youll be brushing sand out of their fur instead of dirt and mud.
The Truth About Golden Retriever Behavior Issues
No golden retriever is perfect and if yours is misbehaving, thats totally normal.
But heres the good news: all goldens have the potential to change their behavior and you can have a well-behaved golden with just a little bit of work.
Even if youve tried in the past to train them or stop a certain behavior and failed, its not a permanent problem.
And yes, golden retrievers are wonderful dogs with really good reputations, but that doesnt mean theyre all perfect angels.
They can definitely be tough to handle and in this article, youll learn how to do that.
Also Check: How To Draw A Golden Retriever Face
How To Cool Down A Dog Quickly:
Knowing how to cool a dog down quickly during those hot summer days can be a life saver. Here are the steps from the above video by veterinarian Dr. Alex that can help your dog cool down indoors or out: