my 8 month old golden retriever is terrible!!!?

Question

hi i need advice with my female 8 month old golden retriever. we've been trying for months to train her and she just ignores us and does what she wants. my aunt (who's a golden retriever expert) even says she's terrible and stubborn. we have about a 12 week old and she listens better and if you give her love will listen to you better than the 8 month old. also, we left her alone for a few hours thinking she's be okay b/c she usually is and she got our pillows down (we put them up so she wouldn't mess them up) and peed on them, did number 2 on the floor, shredded paper and lots of other stuff, and destroyed our blinds. She also is mean to our other golden. whenever we try to give the other golden food she growls and the little one won't go near food we give them both b/c she's mean and tries to bite her... please help me out.. i don't want to get rid of her but my mom says if she don't straighten up we might have to...

we have spent alot of time, and they have to have all of their shots to take obedience class and she hasn't had all of them yet. we're going to take her to obedience class after she has. and she hasn't started her first season yet so that could be it thank you for the response. we're home almost all the time we were only gone about 3 hours when she did this. thanks for the quick responses, and i don't want to get rid of her that's the last resort. sometimes she listens it's like she has selective hearing and everytime we yell for her we go get her if she doesn't come. thanks again for answering guys

oh, and we did do crate training and she was fine being left in a room for a while but evidently we have to get another one for her b/c of our baby golden. she gets into paper and stuff since she's little

one last thing (sorry i've sent so many of these already) we got her at 6 months old and her owners didn't take care of her or her siblings they kept them in a kennel and they were so skinny. we have spent alot of time trying to train her and i did everything my aunt told me and she had a personal trainer for her first golden and the trainer taught her how to train them. i don't know why she's so stubborn. could be b/c of her past owner/breeder. we take her for long walks and try to be good to her but i'm sick of this attitude and we try to put her in her place and she does this. thanks goldengal for the advice and everyone i'll try it.

okay, i think we're going to try crate training her again and if she's been bad we put her in the crate and things like that. hopefully that will fix it thanks everybody for responding

we got a crate and we're starting to use it thanks for answering everybody

Answer 1

Wow an 8 month old terror! If your Aunt is a Golden expert why hasn't she helped you out before things got so out of hand. I strongly suggest obedience training and not letting her rule you or your home. Get a crate and crate train her. sounds like basic training has been nonexistent. No golden should be growing at their owner. You need the help of a trainer and not a PetsMart or PetCo kind either. She need to learn her place and now.
Also sounds like she is allowed free roam of your house. Stop that now! Gate her in the kitchen,until you can get her a crate.
At 8 months old she is still a pup and she can learn to behave herself. But you must trainer to be a good girl. Take her for long walks to get some of her extra energy out and then start to train her in the basics. Get a good trainer to help you. Golden's don't learn on their own, no dog does they must be taught what is correct and what is not. That's where you come in. If you don't train her now than she will never be a good canine citizen.
The ball is in your court!

If you refuse to crate train her than you will need to get some gates and gate her in one place until she is trustworthy. None of my Golden's were allowed free roam until they were at least 1 1/2 years old and that was when I was here watching them. Never at night. My boy's are now 3 and 4 years old and I have just allowed them free roam at night just this past year. Also you will need to train the pup that her food is not to be touched. Your older Golden growing is just a warning to tell pup to stay away from her food and is normal, snapping is just not allowed and a correction to your older Golden is necessary and the pup removed. The pup has to learn too. This is mostly common sense stuff.

Ok I still think you need a trainer for your self to help you out. Some kenneled dogs just need time to get socialized and it does take time. Golden's are not stupid and they are very smart. It could be that she just doen't trust anyone just yet and giving her boundries will help this out a lot. See what make her respond to you better. maybe treats, maybe praise. Work with her a hours 2 times a day just on the basics and see how that goes.
Take care!

Answer 2

8 Month Old Golden Retriever Behavior

Answer 3

If she has not yet had her first season, this could be the reason for her behaviour. This happens to my female Goldens a few weeks before they come on heat. They become absolutely manic and hyper whereas normally they are quiet and easy going.

It sounds to me as if she was left alone a little too long to do that amount of damage.

You could also try feeding both dogs away from each other.
This might help.

She should start to calm down soon as she matures. Nothing is forever.

Answer 4

1. Excercise, excercise, EXCERCISE! Letting her out in the yard does not count. Long walks, runs, fetch, playing--very essential for energetic breeds like goldens.

2. Training, training, TRAINING! You have to be firm, confident, and consistent, or it won't work. Get treats to motivate her and make her sit for treats. Teach her small tricks, slowly, at a time, with no training session longer than her attention span. If she will only pay attention for 2 minutes, then only train her for 2 minutes at a time. When she does something bad, you have to catch her IN THE ACT and say "NO!" If you scold her afterwards, she won't know what you're talking about. I think crate training would be beneficial to you as well. And, over all, consult a professional dog trainer and perhaps take her to a class.

Answer 5

I had a problem golden retriever and had to crate train her-by the time she was a year old she was a well mannered, house broken animal-with one exception- she never would stop getting into trash cans if the opportunity arose-she remained a scavanger dog till the day she died of old age.

Answer 6

Your Golden sounds like a perfectly normal young dog who is lacking in discipline and respect. By 'discipline', I don't mean being physical, I mean training her and setting rules/boundaries.

Your first step is to use a crate. Most Golden Retrievers cannot be trusted loose in the house until they are 1-2 years old but it differs from individual to individual. The fact that your Golden is still chewing and destroying things means that she is NOT ready to be loose. She should be contained to a crate or puppy proof room for her safety and your sanity.

She ignores you and does what she wants? this is your problem, not hers. You need to learn how to communicate with her and train her properly. Sign up for a positive only obedience class. Also, you might want to implement NILIF (Nothing in Life is Free):

http://www.dragonflyllama.com/%20DOGS/Writing/LTD.html

She is stubborn because she is unmotivated. Most dogs will not work without an incentive. Find something that motivates her (food, toys, praise, etc.) and use it. No dog is un-trainable.

YOU MUST ALWAYS FEED DOGS SEPARATELY.

Good luck.

Answer 7

Not her fault. How much time have you actually spent training this dog? How much effort have you put into her training? Has she always been treated like a human child? Is she spoiled? Have you ever heard of a crate?
Goldengal is the one that should be answering this question here. She knows a lot more about Goldens then most of us here do.

Answer 8

Obedience training a MUST!
Golden's are not normally like this.
It seems to me that she is trying to get more attention from you.
If you have to leave, crate her or leave her outside with shelter and plenty of water in a fenced yard. No fence?
Get a chain link pen for her, so this way you can go out and not worry about her running away. Must have shelter, water and food available to her.

Answer 9

Behavioral problems are caused by one of two things. Or a combination of both.

One: because a dog's emotional needs havent been met. And Two; lack of excercise.

Please please get all the information you can about what your dog's needs are, they are not plants that just need food, water, sunshine etc, they are living, breathing, loving smart animals. They need gentle guidance, communication, consistency and they need YOU to understand what they are going through so that you can help them.

Your dog needs help. Find someone you know who has raised and kept happy well adjusted animals and get some advice. She is not terrible and she's not stubborn. She is confused and frustrated.

Read, read read. Obviously your dog has already suffered some emotional damage which CAN be healed. With love, caring and understanding you can help her.

Please consider your dog's needs.

As far as the dog whisperer, I personally would advise against that and so would American Humane:
http://www.americanhumane.org/site/PageServer?pagename=nr_news_releases_dog_whisperer

Answer 10

A dog should be trained on how to eat, walk with you, not to bark, potty training and sleep on its place etc. You can teach anything to your puppy, dogs get trained easily with some good instructions. If you want some good training tips visit https://tr.im/KwWxA

If properly trained, they should also understand whistle and gesture equivalents for all the relevant commands, e.g. short whistle or finger raised sit, long whistle or flat hand lay down, and so on.

It's important that they also get gestures and whistles as voice may not be sufficient over long distances and under certain circumstances.