Training your Golden Retriever can be a great time investment after welcoming your new family member. While Golden’s are naturally affectionate and friendly, an untrained Golden Retriever — especially a young one — can be a handful. Remember: A full grown Golden Retriever can be upwards of 70-80 pounds of frolicking, bounding energy, and can easily knock a person to the ground. (Just ask my kids.) They’re naturally given to jumping up to greeting people “face-to-face” when meeting someone for the first time. Fortunately, Golden’s are very receptive and obedient when it comes to being trained. But owners should plan on dedicating the time and effort (with patience) to make training truly effective and long-lasting. Golden Retriever training can be fun and will pay off in the long run. And your dog wants to please you, so it could be a great experience for trainer and trainee alike.
More resources to follow soon, but here’s a quick tip for puppies that want to chew on everything. (Golden’s are retrievers, after all, and spend lots of time “mouthing” everything from the sweater your just bought to your hands.) Set aside some designated chew toys for your Golden early on — and make sure that you dispose of toys that have become damaged from play. You don’t want your pet swallowing the “squeekies” that come out of those things. A stern “No!” will usually stop inappropriate chewing, and then be sure to replace the inappropriate item with a toy. Be consistent with this and always praise good behavior when training golden retrievers.
