Obedience training is very important, it teaches golden retrievers how to act properly to a number of situations, and provides the means from which you as a owner are able to command your dog to do certain things at any given time, giving you more control over you dog, this is one of the first things taught in obedience training and the first topic approached when giving golden retriever obedience tips to anyone.
This is useful to have your dog react to a number of orders, either being for walking, sitting, stopping, laying down, playing fetch, and so on. Another useful aspect about commands, is their usefulness to prevent your dog from doing things he shouldn’t do, and in the event it already did such things, see him comply with your order to stop with little effort on your part.
You should initiate your dog in obedience training since he’s a puppy, this is the golden age of learning, what he learns and experiences in these times, will be remembered through all his life and the experiences will stand out as landmarks that will effect his personality and behavior forever.
What is taught in obedience training
When starting obedience training, the owner is taught to:
- Become the leader of the pack on the eyes of your golden retriever;
- Deliver voice commands correctly. Consistent and clear words for each action to be taken, and avoiding using similar words to perform other actions.
- Exercise your dog properly, which handles with issues like how to prevent your dog from pulling when on a leash;
- Anticipate problems and prevent them from becoming habits. Detecting problems early like biting and preventing it from becoming an habit for example.
On the other hand, your puppy is taught a few basic voice commands at first, advancing further after he has understood them well enough. These basic commands are: come, sit, stay, heel and down. The more advanced commands are: stop, with me, stand, place, fetch, drop, leave it, take, back up, shake hands, roll over and to bed, these make up the bulk of commands you can teach your golden retriever.
Golden Retriever Obedience Tips
Here I will list a few simple golden retriever obedience tips you should take advantage of when training your golden retriever in obedience to follow your commands and generally have a more balanced behavior.
- Every house has rules, decide beforehand what rules and boundaries apply to your dog and plan ahead for when your puppy grows up. Remember these rules will stand through your golden retriever’s life, so it is important to remember that when you allow your golden puppy to stay in the couch, when he grows up it will be hard for him to break the habit.
- Training is easier when started young, therefore it is advisable to start training your puppy since he’s still a puppy.
- Keep consistent through your training. Whatever words or gestures you use to command your golden to perform something should be kept and not confused with other commands in order to avoid confusing your dog.
- Do not mistreat your golden.
- Talk to your dog like you would talk to children. This may seem like an odd advice, but it has been demonstrated that dogs have an intelligence and understanding of the world similar to little children.
- When your dog does something wrong, a simple “no” and showing him what is right to do instead is the best way to go.
- Reward your dog when it does the right thing, specially when confronted with a situation where usually your dog did something wrong or that he shouldn’t do. For example, reward and/or praise your dog for lying down and playing with his toys instead of chewing on your shoes, specially when usually he preferred to chew your shoes instead of playing with his toys. The rewards should be some favorite treat, toy or something else he’s fond of.
- Remember that reprehension should be balanced with praise and reward.
- Golden retrievers love playing and it also works as a rewarding moment for whenever you finish a training session with your dog and it improves a dog’s socialization abilities, however it should not be an excuse to let him do something he isn’t supposed to.
- Exercising is a good way to keep your golden retriever in shape and to supplement his training, while socializing with other people and pets, to more accurately test the training provided and if required correct some unwanted behaviors or supplement with more training.