Goldens are intelligent dogs. If you do not keep their minds as well as their bodies active they will find their own things to do (usually described as misbehaviour). I recommend obedience training for all dogs. I train my dogs and trial in obedience. Goldens are good at these and enjoy it.
All training of my dogs is done without force or check chains. They are trained in their plain collars, using food treats and the principles of positive reinforcement, ie reward the correct behaviour. Goldens are not a breed you can continually punish or correct. They will give up on the bad behaviour but also give up on any relationship with you.
Encourage your puppy to develop good habits right from the start. Don’t allow behaviour you aren’t prepared to tolerate in an adult dog (eg. if you don’t want him to jump up as an adult – don’t let him do it as a puppy).
"Any time you are with your dog, one of you is being trained. It is better to be the trainer than the trainee." - Steve White
Teaching Right is Easier than Teaching Wrong
Rewarding good behaviour is the principle of successful dog training. Choosing to focus on rewards rather than punishment is the most important decision you can make with respect to educating your dog. Not only will you and your dog have more fun, but it is also much easier, because there is a short lis tof right behaviours but an almost endless lis tof wrong behaviours.
Catch Your Dog Doing Something Right
We usually ignore our dogs when they are good and tend to focus on behaviours we don't like. Change this by trying to catch our dogs doing something right at least five times aday, this will be come easier and easier as your dog learns the best way to get your attention.
Teach Your Dog To Say Please
Asking your dog to say "please" ( fpr example, to sit before going outside, before dinner etc.) is one of the secrets to successful dog training. It demonstrates your leadership without using force.
Set Your Dog Up to Be Right
THINK about what you want your dog to do rather than what you don't want him to do. Then prevent him doing what you don’t want and reward him doing what you do want. Get it? Teach him some words to help communicate what you want such as “leave it”, and “drop it”.
Make them small (just enough to taste)! Feeding him a treat for correct behavior is one of the easiest ways to effectively communicate to your dog that he did something right. Your dog should believe that you could produce a treat for him at any time and it just might be something really awesome! I strongly suggest putting a treat container in the main rooms of the house so as not to miss any good opportunities for reinforcement and always carry treats on walks. Fresh treats such as meat or cheese are useful when working outside in distractions.
Your attention is a reward (sometimes even if you are yelling!).
USE PUNISHMENTS VERY CAREFULLY (they can have yucky side-effects). Never strike your dog.
Train in 5 minute sessions, 3 times (or more, go nuts!) per day. Also be aware that you are always teaching your dog how to behave by your response to his behaviour.
