Housetrainning a Golden

[jel0511]

I know a lot of people here have Goldens. We're thinking of getting one. Can you crate train a Golden? Any advice would be appreciated!

 

[JayCT]

Definitely. We have a golden and we tried not to crate him as a pup, but it soon became clear that for his own good and our house, he needed to be crated. We used the crate for the first year or so while we weren't home, then once we could trust him to not chew everything in sight, we would reduce the amount of time in the crate. It was kind of a see as you go thing. The crate actually became his den and he slept in it for many months after we stopped using it. Eventually we got rid of it. Funny thing is we would put him in it as punishment and to this day when he does something wrong we yell "go to your cage" and runs for the laundry rooom where we use to keep it. He is 12 years old now and getting slower and slower as the days go by. He has hip problems but is the gentlest dog in the world. He loves kids. When ours were little, they would lie on him or hug him hard and he would just lick them. A truly great breed. I highly recommend them. Jay

 

[Val]

We have an 8 month old Golden- Seamus. He is our second. We lost our first golden to cancer about 4 years ago, and we lost our dear black lab in August. Seamus joined us in June, to accompany our coon hound Lilly (in other words, we have lots of dogs!). Goldens CAN and SHOULD be crated. We have a golden sized crate, and got a barrier wall to put in when the dogs were puppies. We have one crate in the family room and another in our bedroom- Goldens are people dogs and really, really need to be with people. Now that we are back to school (my DH and I are profs, and we have 4 kids), Seamus spends about 5 hours a day in the crate, and then some nights (when he is overactive or we can't watch him).

The "golden" rule about goldens- if you aren't watching the dog closely, s/he needs to be in the crate! Goldens chew, find trouble (they are experts), and have potty accidents. The crate prevents many, many problems. Put a toy or two in and they are quite content for a little while. It also makes a great time out place (effective for both you and the dog!).

Puppies need to be let out very frequently- at least every 1/2 hour. Eventually you will find the pup gives you "signs" s/he needs to go out- learn these. However, until you are 100% sure that s/he is trained- don't get lulled into complacency- when you can go 1 week with absolutely NO accidents, s/he isn't trained (and this can take a year!). Use the crate if you aren't watching. Exercise also helps (a tired dog is a dog too tired to find trouble!).

That being said, Seamus is a very, very important part of our life- along with dear Lilly Puppy. He is sitting at my feet as I type. We haven't put the tree up yet- and when we do it won't have any decorations on the lower half because of "tail damage". We have chew marks on some chairs in the kitchen and on the family room coffee table, but we view those as "love marks"- we can tell you which dog did which "bite". We still cry for Butchie and Merry Puppy when we accidentally call the wrong dog name. Dogs are a critical part of our life (and our cats and horses, too!). Goldens are special creatures- they know when you are happy and sad and can be the silliest beings on this earth. They may not be smartest, but they are loyal and trustworthy through and through.

A great website and discussion group for goldens is:
http://www.topgoldenretrieversites.net/forums/index.php

Good luck- be ready to fall completely and absolutely in love!

 

[Shugardrawers]

Of course! Any dog can be crate trained and it's the quickest and least painful method for all involved including the dog. As another poster mentioned it also becomes their own quiet little place. Petey still uses his a lot to escape and for a place to go when he's in trouble. I just have to say "Go to your room" and he does.

 

[Keli]

Funny thing is we would put him in it as punishment and to this day when he does something wrong we yell "go to your cage" and runs for the laundry rooom where we use to keep it.

This sounds like my golden, Maggie. We tell her to "Go to your blanket" and she will run to where her blanket usually is and lay down even if the blanket is in the washer at the time, lol.


We were never able to crate Maggie (we did crate the golden we had before Maggie) probably because we got her as an adult dog after a abusive and neglectful puppy-hood. She was miserable in the crate so we ended up just allowing her free reign of the house while we were gone and she does virtually no damage to anything after some serious work at training her to not chew on or pick up anything that doesn't belong to her. The only problem we still have is she will lay on the furniture when we are gone even though she knows she isn't supposed to. We've started shutting our bedroom door before we leave to keep her off our bed and laying stuff across the sofa to keep her off of that.

 

[JPN4265]

Another vote for crate training. There is no better way to house break a dog then by using a crate. The dog is happier and so are you. Our golden now has the run of the house. Also, if this is your first golden, he/she will go through the terrible two's. The crate is idea for time outs. When your golden starts becoming to aggressive, (bitting, chewing, jumping up on you, etc.) just put him in the crate for 15-30 minutes. It is not a cruel thing to do. Our golden enjoyed sleeping in the crate, and during thunder storms, he would go into the crate for protection (in his own mind) and we would cover it with a blanket. Expect to have many years of enjoyment with your golden, they are a great family member.

 

[barkley]

my brother is a golden devotee! he has gotten his last 3 (he's not complete unless he has at least 3 at a time!) from golden retriever rescue. he swears by their good works, and sez they are a great resource not only for wonderful loving animals, but also for information on the breed.

btw-while i don't have a dog of my own, i can say that i support crate training. we live in earthquake country, and a few years back when a fairly good jolt hit many pet owners were very thankful that they immediatly knew where to locate their pet in a potentialy dangerous situation.

 

[eeyoreiscool]

We have crate trained a golden and now he loves going in there to sleep. At least when he is not kicking us out of our bed.

 

[NMAmy]

We crate trained our golden puppy this summer. She was housetrained fairly easily so now when we're gone during the day, we leave her in a closed off area of the basement (DH's den--it's finished but with tiled floors). She's only had one accident and she's always very good and doesn't tear anything up except her toys.

We don't crate her very often anymore unless she needs a time out. But she will often go in there on her own--it's like her room. She will keep her toys in there--she'll put one back and go get another one out. She sleeps in our room under the bed.