# No Desire To Exercise



## FurdogDad (Mar 30, 2021)

Teach sit/stay/wait. Put your foot in front of the crate door so she can't push out until you release her. Don't open the door to outside or set food bowl down until she sits. Then make her stay until you release her.


----------



## Tagrenine (Aug 20, 2019)

You need to enforce household rules. If she wants to do this, don’t let her. Don’t get out of her way. If she tries to force herself out of the crate, don’t let her


----------



## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

She's trained you. Bash her face in the door when she tries to bully through. She's only allowed when you say her name or "okay." Quit letting the dog run your life. You're bigger and smarter than she is.


----------



## pawsnpaca (Nov 11, 2014)

Agree with the above advice. This doesn’t sound like she needs more exercise (well, she does, as a simple walk isn’t enough for most young, healthy Goldens, but I don’t think that’s the reason for the bad behavior), it sounds like she’s _rude_ and needs to go back to manners 101. Go back and retrain this as if she was still a puppy. Make her sit before you open the crate door. Open the door _sllloooowwwwlllyyy. _If she gets up before you say OK, close the crate door in her face and wait till she sits again. She can’t leave the crate till you say OK. Lather rinse repeat. Same with meals. She must sit before you start to lower the dish to the floor, if she gets up or jumps on you, stand up (or if necessary, put the bowl away and go sit down for a few minutes.). When she sits, start to lower the bowl again. She doesn’t get to eat until you put the food on the floor, stand up, and say OK. Same for Door manners: a sit gets you to start to open the door, standing up or moving forward and you close the door/take your hand off the handle (or if she’s super rude, the door stays closed and you walk away for a few minutes before you move back and try again.

Dogs do what works. If you’re consistent, and dont allow rude behavior to be reinforced, you’ll be amazed how quickly her manners return!


----------



## Hildae (Aug 15, 2012)

How's her weight?


----------



## TIFFSGOLDENS (12 mo ago)

pawsnpaca said:


> Agree with the above advice. This doesn’t sound like she needs more exercise (well, she does, as a simple walk isn’t enough for most young, healthy Goldens, but I don’t think that’s the reason for the bad behavior), it sounds like she’s _rude_ and needs to go back to manners 101. Go back and retrain this as if she was still a puppy. Make her sit before you open the crate door. Open the door _sllloooowwwwlllyyy. _If she gets up before you say OK, close the crate door in her face and wait till she sits again. She can’t leave the crate till you say OK. Lather rinse repeat. Same with meals. She must sit before you start to lower the dish to the floor, if she gets up or jumps on you, stand up (or if necessary, put the bowl away and go sit down for a few minutes.). When she sits, start to lower the bowl again. She doesn’t get to eat until you put the food on the floor, stand up, and say OK. Same for Door manners: a sit gets you to start to open the door, standing up or moving forward and you close the door/take your hand off the handle (or if she’s super rude, the door stays closed and you walk away for a few minutes before you move back and try again.
> 
> Dogs do what works. If you’re consistent, and dont allow rude behavior to be reinforced, you’ll be amazed how quickly her manners return!


Hi Lisa,
Thank you for taking the time to offer such great advice. In the past, she has identified me as the alpha and listened to me far more than she does anyone else. Problem I’ve seen though is when I’m not around, i.,e, my wife or kids go to let her out or feed her, she runs all over them. I’ve also tested my theory of her behavior…she’ll behave when she believes she’s being watched. For instance, we have another golden retriever and she’s knows she’s not allowed to eat from his food bowl. She’ll eat all of her food and then try to bully her way to his. She won’t eat from his bowl when I’m around but the second she thinks I’m gone, I’ve watched on our cameras as she peeks her head around the corner, then goes for his bowl. The moment she hears me coming back, she trots away from it. Now she even chooses whether or not she’ll listen to me now.


----------



## TIFFSGOLDENS (12 mo ago)

K9-Design said:


> She's trained you. Bash her face in the door when she tries to bully through. She's only allowed when you say her name or "okay." Quit letting the dog run your life. You're bigger and smarter than she is.


Easier said than done. She acts differently when I’m around than she does when my kids or wife are with her. I’m struggling in teaching her where her “place” is. She definitely feels that she’s alpha sometimes if not second in charge most of the time.


----------



## TIFFSGOLDENS (12 mo ago)

Hildae said:


> How's her weight?


Overweight. The food her vet previously recommended has a lot of protein and with her lack of desire to exercise, it’s a bad mix. She’s on weight management food now


----------



## FurdogDad (Mar 30, 2021)

Your wife and kids need to hold her to the same standards of behavior.....and need to correct her consistently as well. Raising and training a well mannered golden requires the whole family to be on the same page.


----------



## pawsnpaca (Nov 11, 2014)

Agree! Time to train the wife and kids too!


----------



## SRW (Dec 21, 2018)

TIFFSGOLDENS said:


> I’ve listened to the “you’re not exercising her enough” advice and I’ve ensured that I walk her.


Walking on lead is not exercise.



TIFFSGOLDENS said:


> Calming chews don’t work, walking doesn’t seem like a pleasant experience for her and it only leaves whoever is walking her frustrated…


Treats are never the answer to behavior or training issues. 
Your dog is probably just as frustrated as whoever walks her.



TIFFSGOLDENS said:


> What else can I do?


Teach basic obedience, provide adequate exercise and don't reject good training advice simply because you don't want to hear it.


----------



## dezymond (May 3, 2012)

I highly recommend you attend training classes with her. It'll be a new environment where you can establish a new rapport and working relationship with her and then generalize those skills into the home. With dogs, it is all about timing of reinforcement and consistency, but if a routine in her behaviors has already been established at home, it will be more challenging to break within the home environment. It will be easier for both you and her, to train in a new environment than it will be to train in a home where these problem behaviors have already been established.

Also, dogs are very keen to our emotions, even just the slightest change of tone in your voice could be the difference between a compliant and noncompliant dog. Which is why I think seeking the help of a training class or private trainer could be great feedback. It can be frustrating, we all have been through it at some point, so take the feedback of a trainer and work on being consistency with any technique they can demonstrate to work with your dog.

Good luck!


----------



## ceegee (Mar 26, 2015)

TIFFSGOLDENS said:


> (...) I’ve read and been told that golden retrievers “mature” at different ages.
> 
> Lately, for a couple months now, she’s been using her weight to bully everyone in the house. If she’s crated, she pushes the crate door open with a vengeance when someone is letting her out…sometimes hurting the person who is letting her out. If she is going outside, she bulldozes through whomever is opening the door and when it’s time for her to eat, anyone who is in her way better brace themselves as she darts to her food bowl.
> 
> ...





TIFFSGOLDENS said:


> She acts differently when I’m around than she does when my kids or wife are with her. I’m struggling in teaching her where her “place” is. She definitely feels that she’s alpha sometimes if not second in charge most of the time.


First: forget the whole "alpha" thing. It's hogwash. There's no point trying to teach a dog its "place" because dogs don't function like that. Your dog isn't living in a pack of wolves, she's living in a human home. Her behaviour doesn't depend on social rank, it depends on how well you've trained her to function in that home.

Her bad behaviour when leaving the crate is a training failure, not a dog failure. As pawsnpaca said in an earlier post, teach her how to sit and stay until you release her with "OK" or a similar command. I'd add: at first, don't do this when she's in the crate, do it outside the crate. Then, when she obeys reliably outside the crate, do it when she's in the crate with the door open. Then, when she obeys reliably with the crate door open, do it when the crate door is shut. Then, when you want to get her out of the crate, simply tell her to sit and stay, and release her with the "OK" when the door is open. It goes without saying that everyone in the family has to do this. Again: dog behaviour doesn't depend on social rank, it depends on training and reinforcement.

Question for you: how long and how often is she in her crate?

As for the walks: Instead of wondering why she's refusing to walk, the more relevant question would be: why aren't the walks more fun for her? By definition, walking on leash isn't a dog's idea of fun, but there's a lot you can do to make it more interesting. Vary your route. Vary your pace. Walk quickly, do u-turns, make it a game for her to follow you and keep up with you. If you feed kibble, put one meal's worth of kibble in your pocket and feed it to her, piece by piece, as you walk. Use it as a reward for quick "down-stay" or "sit-stay" commands during the walk. Use it as a reward when she follows you in a u-turn. Be enthusiastic. Occasionally, take some very high-value food with you (cooked chicken pieces, cheese, etc.) and give her some from time to time during the walk. Talk to her. Be upbeat. Be invested in the walk, instead of treating it like a chore.

I've told this story before and I'll tell it to you. I have a friend who started doing agility with his dog. His local agility club held trials at an indoor facility generally used by horses. During his first trial, the dog would do the first three or four obstacles on each course, then run off to a corner of the ring to sniff. My friend was philosophical. At the end of the day, he said: I guess I know what my homework is. I need to make myself more interesting than horse poo.

That kind of summarizes the whole human-dog training relationship for me. If your dog doesn't want to walk with you, don't blame the dog, look at what you could do to make her feel more enthusiastic about the outing. If it's not fun for you, it's not going to be fun for her either. And if you're continually frustrated with her, she's going to pick up on that and associate it with the fact of going on walks with you.

As for the pushy behaviour elsewhere in the home, again, this isn't the dog's fault, it's a question of training. Use the sit-stay to go through doorways, and when putting down the food bowl. The food bowl sit is the first thing we train in our household. No sit-stay, no food. Simple as that. You have to be firm and consistent. It really doesn't take much time to teach food bowl manners, even to the most assertive of dogs. If the other humans in the house can't be trained to be consistent, then you should be the only one to feed the dog.

Again: this isn't the dog's fault. Every dog is different, and some dogs need more human input than others in order to function well. What worked for one golden retriever won't necessarily work for another. Some dogs learn things easily, others don't. Some push back against the rules, others don't. Some are assertive, others are laid-back. And an assertive dog is just that: assertive. It has nothing to do with rank or hierarchy - it's simply part of his or her personality. It's up to you, as the human in charge of this relationship, to figure it out and adjust your training accordingly.

The alpha approach is unhelpful at best and harmful at worst, because it obscures the real issues. If you're able to see your dog's behaviour from a different standpoint, I believe the answer would be clearer for you.

Anyway. I hope you find a solution. Best of luck.


----------



## DblTrblGolden2 (Aug 22, 2018)

ceegee said:


> First: forget the whole "alpha" thing. It's hogwash. There's no point trying to teach a dog its "place" because dogs don't function like that. Your dog isn't living in a pack of wolves, she's living in a human home. Her behaviour doesn't depend on social rank, it depends on how well you've trained her to function in that home.


So happy someone said this!!!!!!!


----------



## Mosaic (Oct 22, 2020)

K9-Design said:


> She's trained you. Bash her face in the door when she tries to bully through.


gosh, I am horrified by this


----------



## SRW (Dec 21, 2018)

Mosaic said:


> gosh, I am horrified by this


I'm shocked, outraged, appalled, flabbergasted ........... never mind, I'm over it.


----------



## goldens9 (Apr 7, 2020)

Did your family take puppy classes with your Golden puppy? 
All the family needs to be on the same page and take the classes and take turns working with your Golden.
I always take Puppy Classes with any of my Golden puppies, and then sign up for Trick Classes or something fun after graduating puppy class.
Trick class is great to take after Puppy class is finished, as many Goldens do enjoy learning some tricks which can be more fun then controlling obedience classes.
Or sign up for beginners Dog Agility Classes. Search for what type of puppy dog classes are available in your local area.
I don't know why to crate. I crated my first Golden puppy for a week and returned the crate and instead bought an 8 panel X pen when I needed to control the Golden puppy in the house
when not fully supervised or needed a break. 
Used waterproof sheets on the bed and extra beach towels on top in case of an accident in the bed as a puppy. We took the Golden out once or
twice at night up to a year, then once the Golden can hold thru the night, then no more middle of the night outings, unless needed. 
Make your dog walks enjoyable. Enjoy the dog walk. Take your Golden to local park trails to dog walk as it gets boring walking around the same neighborhood every day. Find
others to dog walk with. Change it up so dog walking is more fun for both of you. Take your Golden to different places to visit locally to get out and see some local sights.
The more you get out with your Golden, the easier it gets, as they get use to riding in a car and look forward to going to different local parks or local trails with new sights and new
sniffs. 
If you missed out on puppy classes, then plan on taking family Beginner classes to work on the manners. 
How long is your Golden in a crate?
My Golden graduate from the large 8 panel X exercise pen around 12 months old as they have been trained how to live in the house without any need for a crate or X pen.
Fold up the x pen and put in the garage as no longer needed after 12 months, as you have done the puppy classes and worked on their manners and showing them what to do
and showing them how to live in the house.
If we leave and cannot take our Golden with us. I keep marrow bones filled with peanut butter in a bag in the freezer. I give one when leaving so they can suckle on frozen
peanut butter and then relax until we get back.


----------



## ComeBackShane (Mar 20, 2021)

First, also not personally a fan of the whole "alpha" thing. That said, it's not fair to have expectations of your dog and not be clear with your dog about what those expectations are (and beyond not being fair, not making those expectations clear is quickly going to lead to you, your family and the dog all being miserable). 
Hopefully you know of some activity/reward that your dog loves. Make this activity contingent on a perfect sit/stay until released (and with all family members). Then work hard to generalize the sit/stay to all other situations. No exceptions and no cheating.
Our dog loves dock diving but "setting" him before his dive was like bull riding the first time out (defintiely a two person job and still far from acceptable). The solution was no sit/stay-no/lure toss or dive - ever. For some that might mean picking up everything and leaving the pool for the day. For us it was drop the lure, walk off the dock and go sit in a chair away from the dock ignoring him for 3-4 minutes (if that hadn't worked, the next step would be to leave pack-up and leave for the day). He now has a sit/stay that is pretty bomb proof. Even away from the pool he'll let me walk a couple hundred feet away (probably further but I haven't tried it) and he'll hold his stay "indefinitely" (I've tried up to 5 minutes from 100+ feet). Someone at our second dock diving meet asked how we did it. We just taught him that we wanted to have fun with him but part of that fun for everyone meant a non-negotiable sit/stay until released.


----------



## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

Mosaic said:


> gosh, I am horrified by this


If abrupt, physical corrections do not seem like proper dog language to you, you could try contacting an attorney or writing a letter to the editor about your dog's behavior. The dog may deem these threatening and see the error in their ways.


----------



## nolefan (Nov 6, 2009)

Mosaic said:


> gosh, I am horrified by this


I promise no dog was harmed by having a light weight wire crate door slammed in his face when he tried to go barreling through. It makes a loud sound and it's very surprising to a dog who is a "bull in a china shop' but it's not hurting anyone. Twice is all it takes for the bull to take notice and wait for the 'ok' to exit. 

The reality is that if you ever have children or older people helping care for dogs or in the household it's simply unacceptable to have a 60+ pound dog (who is way old enough to know better) ramming her way through the house till she knocks someone over or takes a knee out. Yes, in an ideal world, clicking and treating should have started as a puppy to help her learn some self restraint when she's excited, but clearly that isn't happening in this household. 

And for the record, this dog needs on leash obedience classes for a year - have the wife take her and have the wife help practice daily with her till she will do down/stays while you do meal prep and not move till released. She should be able to learn this quickly so the youngest child in the house can work this task. I am afraid that an overweight dog will not enjoy walks when the temperatures get warm. Try to get her out early and she needs aerobic exercise - 20 minutes a day. It will take the weight off faster. Kick a soccer ball, throw a frisbee, will she chase a tennis ball and swim? Get creative, just get her moving. It's a process but it will make the next 8 or 9 years of life with her far more enjoyable.


----------



## SRW (Dec 21, 2018)

Mosaic may have been too horrified to ever return here. GRF can be a very scary place.


----------



## FurdogDad (Mar 30, 2021)

It's like the House of Horrors at a carnival sometimes......


----------

