Training An Unintelligent Golden Retriever Part 2

Posted on April 9, 2012 by Edie MacKenzie

You should start teaching your less bright Golden Retriever the basic commands (come, sit, down, heel, stand, and stay) as early as possible in its life – that is, as soon as you bring it home and certainly before it is six months old. A Golden Retriever a year or more has already lost its flexibility and become set in its ways. However, even breeds (such as beagles or boxers) that can be quite intractable as adults respond well to early training and can be easily civilized as puppies.

Another reason to train young, even for brighter breeds, is that it is easy to correct a Golden Retriever puppy without resorting to harsh measures. One can gently force a puppy into a sit or down position by physically manipulating its legs and body, whereas the same action can take considerable force when dealing with an adult Akita or bull mastiff that weighs over a hundred pounds.

Moreover, harsh force is interpreted by many breeds as aggressiveness; some breeds of dog may respond to it with an aggressive response of their own. Early training, with firmness but no harshness, can avoid the problem. The larger the Golden Retriever will be as an adult, the earlier you should start to train it to obey the basic commands of come, down, and stay.

Be consistent: You should be as consistent as possible, using exactly the same words and signals all of the time. Even using the same tone of voice is helpful. It also helps to train the dog in the same place at about the same time of day until the commands are well set and reliable.

Dogs love predictability. If you have a household where things occur with regularity, where schedules are relatively fixed, you have an environment where most dogs will thrive. Regularity and consistency are particularly helpful to the Golden Retriever who is somewhat less bright and also benefit the dog that is a bit more submissive and timid.

Be explicit: Whenever you are talking to the Golden Retriever, before you give it any command, always start with the dog’s name. This trains the dog to pay attention to you and lets it know that the information coming next will be of relevance to it. Using a voice command and a hand signal together is especially helpful, because it gives the Golden Retriever two chances to pick up the command and to respond.

Begin quietly: Start all training in a quiet setting where there are few distractions. This will help to concentrate the dog’s attention on you. Later on, when the dog has learned the basics, training can be moved to noisier and busier settings.

Begin close: Always stay close enough to your dog so that you can correct it directly. Even after the dog begins to learn the basics, leave it on the leash during training so that you are still in physical contact and can exert direct control. Later on, you can extend your distance from the Golden Retriever and eventually remove the leash.

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Training An Unintelligent Golden Retriever Part 1

Posted on April 7, 2012 by Edie MacKenzie

Sometimes a less-than-intelligent Golden Retriever can cause problems but their difficulties often arise from the fact that they don’t have a clue as to what is expected of them. For these slower breeds, often a basic dog obedience class is enough to give the Golden Retriever the idea that those funny sounds its master makes have a meaning and to teach it that responding appropriately to that meaning can lead to rewards.

To live and work well with the not-so-smart Golden Retriever, there are several important things to keep in mind:

Keep training sessions short: For your sake as well as that of the dog, it is best to keep training sessions short. Your Golden Retriever will respond much better to several shorter sessions, with breaks in between them, than to one long session. Some of the more active breeds, such as the hounds, will also benefit from a good run or some other exercise before the actual training session.

Be patient: Patience is extremely important in training a slower dog. Just keep in mind that repetition, practice, and patience do pay off and that in the end you can have a Golden Retriever that is just as reliable and dependable as one of the easier-to-train breeds.

Do not get frustrated if your Golden Retriever does not immediately respond. There is a saying among dog trainers: “The easiest way to make a dog tense is to make its owner tense.” When a trainer gets tense, the dog will start worrying about what is happening to upset its master rather than focusing on what it is trying to learn.

Practice: Practice in the form of refresher lessons may be needed throughout the life of the not-so-smart dog. These do not need to be formal training sessions but reminders when the dog has failed to respond to a command in an everyday situation.

Slip the leash back on the Golden Retriever, give it one or two lessons with lots of praise for good performance and firm but good-tempered corrections if performance is poor, and then slip the leash off, and go about your usual activities. In this way, the basic control commands will become part of the dog’s life and, regardless of its native intellectual capacity, it will respond in a predictable and trustworthy fashion. Refresher lessons with plenty of rewards for good performance also reinforce the notion in the dog’s mind that it has something to gain from complying with your commands.

Be flexible: Take your dog’s conformation into account. A Golden Retriever will never respond as quickly and precisely as a border collie, not because it does not know what it is supposed to do or because it is unwilling to respond, but simply because its particular shape does not allow it to respond more rapidly.

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Golden Retriever Tail Chasing

Posted on April 5, 2012 by Edie MacKenzie

A Golden Retriever who chase their tail isn’t necessarily as happy as they appear. When they don’t know how to deal with a situation, such as meeting a strange dog, chasing their tails acts as a distraction. It buys them time while they think about what they’re going to do next.

This sounds like a silly way to cope with confusion, but people do similar things. It’s called displacement behavior. Suppose you’re having an internal debate about whether to complain about the service in a restaurant or just to keep the peace and keep eating. While you’re making up your mind, you may rap your fingers on the table or fiddle with the napkin.

The physical activity is a stalling tactic, and it helps dispel some energy at the same time. A Golden Retriever who chases their tail may be doing something similar. Any stressful situation can lead to tail chasing. Dogs aren’t able to say, “Hey, take a break; it’s stressful”. Instead, they turn to a behavior they know, as a way of calming themselves.

A Golden Retriever who chases their tail all the time may have a compulsive personality disorder. One clue is whether they do other odd things as well. For example, dogs who chase their tails also may chase shadows or the moving sunlight on the carpet. Or they’ll groom themselves constantly. Compulsive behaviors can be quite serious, and often need medical treatment.

Your Golden Retriever Is Chasing Their Pain

Dogs do a lot of things that are utterly mystifying to people, but sometimes the underlying reason is the simplest one imaginable. Some dogs chase their tails because they hurt, and they want to give them a lick and bite for relief. Sometimes, a dog gets her tail caught in a door, stepped on, or injured in a fight, and no one even knows it’s wounded until they call their vet because they’re worried about the tail chasing. Once the problem is taken care of, the tail chasing will stop as well.

It’s good entertainment to watch dogs chase their tails, but you don’t want to encourage it. There’s no way to predict if a Golden Retriever will do it for fun and which will become truly obsessed. It can be like turning something on and then not being able to turn it off.

It’s best for your Golden Retriever if you totally ignore her when she starts chasing her tail. Don’t tease dogs with laser light toys or anything similar. These toys can lead to the same type of compulsive activity that tails can. In fact, some dogs have been known to go nearly crazy chasing sunbeams or even moving shadows.

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Golden Retriever Puppy Street Walking Tips

Posted on April 3, 2012 by Edie MacKenzie

When you walk your Golden Retriever puppy, the street noises are endless. A construction crew breaking up asphalt with the reverberating sound of a jackhammer; trucks rumbling by; ambulances and fire trucks with sirens wailing; the hiss of bus doors opening and closing; street sweepers making a furious buzz along the streets – on and on, different noises come and go at any given time and on any given street.

Be observant as to how the different sounds of the city affect your Golden Retriever puppy. If he becomes scared on a loud, busy street, then do him a favor and turn down the nearest corner to get to a quieter street. There is no useful purpose in subjecting your puppy to a bad experience. If you wish to acquaint your puppy with a busy street, walk him late at night or early in the morning when that street is less congested and noisy.
Walking-Golden-Retriever

Some owners try to reassure their puppies verbally when they become frightened by different noises. I don’t believe verbal reassurance is successful. Sounds in the city come and go within a second and your puppy is not going to connect your soothing words with the sound that frightened him a few seconds earlier.

If there is a long, sustained noise like a jackhammer on the street and your Golden Retriever puppy is frightened by it, the best action you can take is to walk with a calm controlled movement. Give your Golden Retriever puppy reassurance that you are controlling the environment. While the noise continues, go ahead and coax him along in an upbeat voice by saying, “Come on, boy, let’s go,” in order to get out of the noisy area as calmly as possible.

Street Tip: Watch What Your Golden Retriever Puppy Picks Up!

In the city, it’s common to see discarded food on the street. Alleys are filled with old food around dumpsters and garbage cans. Prevent your puppy from picking up food. He can catch a multitude of diseases. But don’t get too panicky if your puppy does put an object from the street into his mouth. As long as he didn’t ingest something, your puppy will be all right.

Gross as it may seem, your Golden Retriever puppy will also be quickly attracted to other animal’s excrement and it will be in his mouth in no time. Make it a point to navigate your Golden Retriever puppy around such temptations and use the “Leave It” command, or “Drop It” if he happens to pick it up.

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Aging Golden Retriever Tips

Posted on April 1, 2012 by Edie MacKenzie

Your Golden Retriever may live between ten and fifteen years depending in part on the breed, with an average of twelve years longevity. Aging is a natural process and results in changes in your dog’s metabolism, hormone balance, and sensory perception.

A dog is considered to be a senior at the age of seven or eight. Your aging Golden Retriever will sleep more and experience degeneration of his body systems and internal organs. Expect him, as he gets older, to have less tolerance of extremes in heat or cold, decreased immunity to disease and infection, and a decline in his metabolism. Older dogs may lose their vision and hearing.

So as you can clearly see, it takes a lot of attention and care when your family pet reaches his golden years. Below are 9 tips that will help you and your dog adjust to old age:

1. Because the older Golden Retriever is generally less active, he requires fewer calories. If you have children in the house, make certain that they understand that your family dog is elderly and requires more careful and sensitive handling.

2. As your Golden Retriever grows older, have your veterinarian run appropriate tests to detect any illness or degenerative condition early so he can be treated. Pay attention to any changes in your dog’s habits, behavior, or appearance and report them to your veterinarian.

3. Learn the symptoms of some of the more common problems that afflict the older dog, such as diabetes, kidney and thyroid problems, and heart conditions. If you notice any symptoms, contact your veterinarian right away.

4. Discuss with your veterinarian feeding your geriatric dog a diet formulated specifically for the needs of older animals.

5. As your dog ages, look for signs of dental problems. Clean your dog’s teeth regularly and have your veterinarian professionally clean them when necessary.

6. Pets become more creatures of habit as they age. If you are planning any environmental changes, do so gradually and pay special attention to your dog’s needs to minimize any stress he experiences.

7. When you groom your geriatric dog, look for lumps and bumps under the skin and report them to your veterinarian.

8. Engage your older Golden Retriever in moderate play to promote muscle tone, increase circulation, and aid digestion.

9. Have your Golden Retriever leashed when he is outside to keep him safe and help him live longer.

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