Learn How To Obedience Train Your Golden Retriever
Teaching
If
you are going to begin training your golden retriever, you should know that there
is more than one way to teach a dog tricks. Puppies, for instance, should begin
to learn the basics to start out with. Then, simply graduate to more advanced
training as their abilities change. Teaching should be fun for you and for your
golden retriever; obedience training your golden retriever should never seem like
a chore to either of you. Good behavior should always be rewarded, no matter how
small, but poor behavior should never be punished.
Sit
Use a small
piece of a favorite treat to gain your golden retriever’s interest; move your
hand with the food in it around to the back of their head, this should cause them
to sit, as soon as their rump hits the ground give them the treat and praise them.
Once they consistently sit when you move the food to the back of their head, add
the word “sit” when their rump is on the ground and before you give the treat
and praise.
Now, when your golden has mastered sitting when you command
“sit”, wait longer and longer in between giving treats and praise, and begin to
use a release word such as ‘’release’’ or “let’s go” before giving the treat and
praise. Next, gradually stop giving treats but continue to give praise each time
your golden retriever sits and stays sitting until it hears the release word.
Once this skill is mastered, take them to a public place to test your golden’s
skills; true mastery of your golden retriever’s obedience training is that it
will obey you wherever you give the command.
Come
The process for
the command “come” is very similar, as will be the rest of the obedience training
for your golden retriever, only the introduction of the command will change; the
process of mastery should stay the same.
Use a long lead or leash to keep
a ‘tether’ on your golden retriever; when your golden is a short distance away,
call their name and, when they come to you, give them a treat and praise. Once
your golden consistently comes to its name, without the use of the leash to urge
them to you, add the word “come” to their name, continue to give treats and praise
until they have mastered that skill.
As your golden retriever becomes more
accustomed to hearing the command, slowly eliminate treats but continue giving
praise until treats are no longer necessary. The test of mastery, once again,
is to test how well they obey the command in public (you may want to use the leash
again at first) until your golden retriever’s obedience training shows complete
mastery.
Down
The command “down” is an intermediate level skill;
and the other obedience skills you taught your golden retriever will likely aid
in the learning process. Begin again with the small amount of a favorite treat;
get your golden’s attention and bring the treat to the ground, do not relinquish
the treat until your golden lays completely flat on the ground. Make sure you
accompany the treat with lots of praise.
From this point, continue as you
have previously, adding a new part to the skill set as another part is mastered,
always lavishing your golden retriever with praise and slowly reducing the snack
until you no longer need one. When you think your golden retriever’s obedience
training is strong enough, bring them to a busy place with lots of distractions.
If your golden can still perform the command with all the distractions, you know
they have mastered it.
Stay
“Stay” is an advanced, and probably
the most important, skill your golden retriever’s obedience training will offer;
being able to trust your golden to stay while you walk away is sure to be a value
to you at some point. For this command, start with a skill which they already
possess, like sit; tell your golden retriever to sit, and then say “stay”. Take
one step back; if your golden retriever tries to follow, start over. If your golden
stays for that one step, really give it praise. Continue to add a step after each
session until you are confident enough in their skill to try the public place
mastery test.
This is not by any means a complete list of golden retriever
obedience training; however, this is a place to start. Along with some training
classes, your golden retriever should be a well mannered, pleasant part of your
family. Other areas of training to consider are obstacle, endurance, athletic,
and golden
retriever potty training.
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