Train A Golden Retriever – 3 Big Mistakes People Make

If you’re wanting to know how to train a golden retriever, then its worth taking a few minutes to understand 3 big mistakes people make when trying to train their beloved retrievers.

Mistake Number 1: Rubbing Their Noses In It

This probably has to be the biggest mistake I see people making all the time when trying to train their dogs.

By rubbing their noses in it, I mean you psychically taking your furry friend by the neck/collar, and rubbing their noses in their own mess if they happen to accidentally go to the toilet in the home.

Let me ask you a quick question…When your child was first learning to go to the toilet, did you rub their noses in their own mess when they had an accident???

Heck No!!!

You wouldn’t even consider doing such a cruel, barbaric thing… So why would it be any different with your best friend??

I know it can be frustrating to clean up their mess, but just like when your child made a mistake, you just need to take a deep breath, and clean it up.

Golden Retrievers respond better to positive reinforcement. So if it looks like your dog needs to go to the toilet, take him/her outside quickly to the spot where you would like them to go, and after they have gone, give them plenty of praise and rewards.

Remember, just like humans, accidents happen, and the best way to avoid these accidents is to link up in the dogs mind that going to the toilet outside equals lots of pleasure.

Mistake Number 2: Yelling & Scolding

So anyways, sorry about the rant before, but that mistake is the one that annoys me most.

So onto mistake number 2, Yelling & Scolding. Watch any dog training show on TV like ‘It’s me or the dog’, or “The dog whisperer” and you will see that they all are against using yelling and scolding as a way to change your dogs behavior.

Yelling and scolding just doesn’t work, in fact, it actually makes things worse, especially when trying to train a golden retriever to stop barking. This is because your dog will take your yelling as an attempt to join them in warning everyone that there is an intruder, or that there is a problem. When you are yelling at them to “shut up”, you unintentionally telling them to “keep it up, and to keep barking louder too”

Side Note:Golden retriever training can be fairly counter intuitive.

Mistake Number 3: Forgetting About Their Memory Span

For the last mistake, its about forgetting how short their memory span really is.

The golden rule I go by is this, ‘If you didn’t catch you retriever in the act of doing something wrong, then you have no right in punishing them over it’.

I hear you saying “What!! Are you telling me that I should let my dog get away with murder?”, Murder NO….Peeing on the floor, digging up the lawn etc… YES.

As hard as this can be, the reason why I say “if you didn’t catch them in the act, then you have no right in punishing them” is because when you do notice what has happened, and then punish him/her, the poor dog will have no clue why they are being reprimanded. They just don’t understand and comprehend it.

The only way to correct their mistakes it by catching in the act.

Conclusion

Are you making any of these mistakes?? If you are don’t sweat, at least you now know 3 common mistakes people make, and therefore you can begin changing the way you do things when trying to train a golden retriever.

Tags: Dog Training Tips, Golden Retriever Training, Train A Golden Retriever