# My very needy dog



## nolefan (Nov 6, 2009)

Cervantes said:


> Hi everybody, ...Our golden Marley is about 17 months old. She has been through training as a puppy, (we continue to use it still *but should probably go for more*). She is walked twice a day, goes weekly to a doggy daycare so she can run all day, and we throw the ball for her every day. My kids also play with her every day.....


You've answered your own question. Your dog is still a puppy and needs more obedience training and work. Some Goldens are puppies for close to 3 years. They need daily aerobic exercise that leaves them panting and tired, leash walking will not do it and unless your kids are playing with her for a 20 minute stretch, it's probably not doing much. 

Your dog needs structure and more obedience work, keep her on leash so that she can't practice the rude unruly behavior. She needs to learn things that help her develop self control and a good trainer can help you with these exercises. You can also search youtube kikopup for learning "go to place" "leave it" and "settle" another useful thing is to teach a formal retrieve where you have a special retrieving bumper that is only for retrieving and nothing else. She has to return to your side and sit still at your heel to earn another retriever. THen she doesn't get to retrieve until you release her to fetch. YOu can also teach her to wait in a down/stay while you fix her meals. Your children should be able to put her in down/stay and fix her bowl while she waits, then set the bowl on the ground next to her and she shouldn't move until they give her the release command. THese are things that will help her build the self control to stop tackling everyone she meets. IT will take time and patience on your part but it's necessary.

ANd your instincts are correct: under no circumstances should you bring home another dog until Marley's obedience training is much more solid and she is a little older, maybe more like 3 years old if you work very hard. Otherwise you are correct, it will be mass chaos.


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## Wicky (Aug 27, 2015)

Hi and welcome!
She does sound anxious or at the very least that she cannot relax. I think you are correct when you say you probably need to attend more training classes. Also if she is only getting a chance to run around off leash once a week that is likely not enough to burn off her energy. Could you find an enclosed field to take her to where she could run around for an hour or so every day. Another dog as you said will not help.
You should probably provide more opportunity for her to do calming activities - I would give her the long lasting chews or Kong every day- something that lasts at least an hour. You can use a portion of her evening meal to fill a Kong for example. The more she gets into the habit of being calm the better. I find the AbsoluteDogs videos on Facebook really helpful and they did one recently on increasing calmness. 
You can also teach her to settle on mat http://www.dogsandbabieslearning.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Relax_on_a_mat.pdf unfortunately telling her to chill and lie down all the time may actually be doing the opposite.
Do you do short training sessions every day? I’m taking 5-10min a couple times a day. This can help mentally tire her. This can be reinforcing the basics sit, stand, down, stay or teaching a new trick etc
It won’t happen overnight but finding a good training class and doing things that promote calmness and impulse control will help. This means you will be able to get out and about with her which also helps.


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## Gleepers (Apr 20, 2016)

Penny is 2. We are still working on house guests but after the initial happy freak out she is starting to settle a lot. We used a leash (still do) and essentially keep her contained and then work on sitting with a lot of treats. The calmer she gets the closer we let her get. Takes a lot of consistent repetitive work. 
If you are short on guests the Mormons work great for this. When they knock, let them in and agree to regular meetings to “learn all about it). Then politely listen while you work on the dog the whole time. 

For walks we had to make sure that every time someone approached we put her in a nice close heal. Again requires a lot of practice but she is really good now unless someone makes eye contact and speaks directly to her. 

I’m sure there are other good methods out there too 
Good luck


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