Golden Retrievers?

[sandbender]

The most important thing is to find the right breeder. I have known three Golden Retrievers that have attacked, to varying degrees, their owners. This has been due to a combination of bad breeding and bad habits in raising them ( ie treating them as a child and not a dog).
Have you set your heart on a Golden Retriever or are you open to change ?

Shaun

Yes I have definitely gotten the message re my use of the word 'punished', I have ordered copies of all the recommended books and hope to be read them through the winter.

The Golden Retriever choice was mostly due to having lived on an estate where the landowner had used them and because a friend was about to get himself a pup and had quizzed me for some advice and yes I would look at other breeds.

I will need to give up my itinerant existence and get myself a plot of land before I end up owning a dog and that won't happen till late next year I'd think.

Thanks for everyones advice.

 

[mjk123]

We got a labrador retriever, first dog, no previous experience. I'm absolutely no expert but here are my observations:

Previous poster about always rewarding a return: it's true. The problem is labradors get interested in things and hence distracted. My best tip is to clap your hands loudly, or slap one rock against another to get the attention, then call, then turn round and run. Brings our dog every time. When he arrives and sits, give him the high pitched excited "let's eat" phrase, even though you give him nothing to eat.

We got our dog from a guide dog training school, he dropped out because he was too distracted by food. Perfect family dog though, very kind spirited, 100% house trained, can wait at home 4 hours without wrecking anything. Despite castration he's very energetic, pulls on lead, requires 2-3 hours exercise per day. Socialises with other dogs well. And steals food off the floor, but not off tables. Overnight in the woods he tends to get frightened and barks a bit (nearly silent at home), and if you use wooden tent pegs he digs them up. Godd at finding a path though.

Before we got the dog I noticed how obedient a friends Rottweiler was. Like a robot. But it takes time and patience to trian a dog. Or as my friend put it, "it takes time and patience to train the owner".

>>One thing I mean to do is see if I can train it to find chanterelles, similar to truffle dogs.

I had exactly the same idea. I'm sure the dog has the nose, I'm just not sure he has the concentration.

One more point, you say it wouldn't be a family dog but a working dog. What kind of work?

 

[woodstock]

I thought this was going to be a recipe for dog stew is it in the right section lovely grub

 

[fishy1]

>>One thing I mean to do is see if I can train it to find chanterelles, similar to truffle dogs.

I had exactly the same idea. I'm sure the dog has the nose, I'm just not sure he has the concentration.

Greediness makes a dog easier to train.
My dog will concentrate vigourously and for hours on doing anything that will get him food. At the park he runs to strangers and sits near them, as in the past he's been rewarded for sitting and not jumping up. He will also try just sitting, sticking out a paw, then going down etc to see if he can get food for it.

I'm reckoning on putting chanterelles in the kitchen floor, and giving him food anytime he approaches them. Then, food when he sits near them and howls. Then, I will move out into the garden where thier are more smells and distractions, before introducing him to the woods.

Mostly the treat I give my dog is just normal dry food, but sometimes it is small pieces of cheese or bacon fat which makes him even more responsive than usual.

 

[Scots_Charles_River]

Good at finding a path though.

Funny a my parents lab is good at that too, even the feintest
hillpath up a mountain.

Nick

 

[mjk123]

>>Funny a my parents lab is good at that too, even the feintest
hillpath up a mountain.

It's aboth the only thing he excels at. We went for a longish walk the other week. Most of it marked by painted boulders. In one 3 km stretch there was nothing but beech trees. The slightest breeze buries the marker stones in beech leaves, and also covered the trodden path. Dog finds the path no problem.