Golden Retriever Training

Golden Retrievers are some of the most easily trained dogs. As long as people know how, Golden Retrievers can learn almost anything. If you want some basic training tips, then this page will provide you with that.

Positive Reinforcement Training

All dogs love to please their masters, especially when you’re talking about a Golden Retriever. Your Golden basically wants you to be happy so that he can be happy also. By fulfilling his obligations to you, he realizes that he only needs to keep doing what he’s doing in order for him to feel secure and loved. The best way to reinforce your relationship with your Golden Retriever is through positive reinforcement training. This type of training is all about rewarding your dog every time he obeys your commands and praising him for good behavior. When your dog is disobeying you, you ignore him completely. Your Golden Retriever will then begin to understand that there is more benefit to obeying your rules than breaking them.

Positive Training Tips

It’s better if you keep your training sessions under 5 minutes if your Golden Retriever is still a puppy. If he’s an adult, keep it between 5 to 10 minutes. Do training sessions every day, and keep it focused on particular behaviors you want to reinforce and not random stuff so that your dog won’t get confused. Here’s some more training tips laid out for you:

• Every time he obeys a command, say YES in a cheerful tone and pat or praise him. This is a marker that he’ll remember every time he obeys.

• Sporadically reward him with different treats for every command. Don’t be predictable with your rewards so as to keep your Golden Retriever on his toes. Try to buy different flavors of dog biscuits or other food. They’ll love the mystery and will always wonder what kind of reward comes next.

• Never, ever skimp with the treats, but don’t overdo it either. Balance everything out so your dog won’t be spoiled or bored.

Crate Training

You can choose to Crate Train your Golden Retriever through positive reinforcement. Letting your dog know that it’s ok to be in a crate has advantages for you especially when you’re traveling together. Here are some tips on how to go about it:

• Lure your dog in there with treats but don’t close the door. Tell him to stay and then reward him with a treat again. Remember to always say the YES marker.

• When he comes out of the crate, ignore him.

• Lure him back inside and then treat him again.

• Close the door. If he gets upset, let him out but don’t interact with him when he’s outside. Remember: no treats outside of the crate.

• Repeat luring and praising until he gets the idea that you like it when he’s inside the crate.

• Make sure he’s comfortable in there and reward him every time he obeys your command to get in the crate. Also, remember that he also needs to pee and you have to let him out every couple of hours or so.

Fetching Objects

The best exercises that you can do with your Golden Retriever are the ones that require his retrieval skills. They’ve been bred for that purpose, you know. Read the method below.

• Toss an object, like a stick or a ball, and your Golden Retriever will usually run after it.

• Call him back if he picks it up.

• When he comes back with the object, give him a treat while telling him to drop it.

• Repeat until your dog gets the idea. Just make sure you always say the YES marker.

The Most Important Commands

The most basic commands happen to be the most important ones. Without them, you’ll probably have a hard time achieving crate training or even fetch. Your Golden Retriever needs to understand the basics in order for him to understand what you’re trying to say. Commands such as STAY and COME should both be at the top of the list and you need to reinforce these with an everyday repeated exercise through positive training. Other commands can follow suit according to what you need your Golden Retriever to do.

So that concludes this article on Golden Retriever Training. But here’s some closing advice before you go: Never, ever punish your dog by hurting him. It takes time, patience, determination, and love on your part to turn your dog into a well behaved bet. Once you have these values, you’ll realize that it was all worth it.

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