How to Teach Your Golden Retriever their Name

Series Summary

Since puppies, although cute, are inherently wild animals they all need some sort of training to become accustomed to their surroundings and the rules of your home. The most difficult part of this process is communicating with your dog in a civil, non-violent way that lets them know you are boss and this is the rule. By praising positive behavior and correcting or ignoring negative behavior you are able to show your pet what is acceptable and what is not in a loving way that does not make them fear you. This creates a relationship between you and your dog that is based on love and not temperament.

This video series will show you lots of tips, information and techniques to help you train your Golden Retriever puppy to sit, lie down, stay and many other things. You will learn how positive reinforcement is more effective than physical punishment and the best way to correct your dog when they are misbehaving as well as how to get them accustomed to the world and the distractions in it.

Video Transcript

" Hi! I’m Melanie McLeroy with Taurus Training for Expert Village. Today, we’re going to talk about training golden retrievers. This is Bodie, this golden retriever I just grabbed out of the play yard here at Taurus. So he has some dirt and slobber on him, and he’s also a dog that I don’t know at all. So the first thing I need to do with this golden retriever is to teach him to pay attention to me. Now, I’d like to use his name. His name is Bodie, and what I’m going to do to teach him to pay attention to me, a brand new handler, a new trainer, is to say the name and then mark when he makes eye contact. Then I’ll reward him. If you haven’t already, by the way, please check out the pre-training videos before you start working with your golden retriever. So, he’s very intent on his environment, and I think he wants to go back to the play yard. So I want to do something to get his attention and keep him from pulling on the leash… hey… hey kiddo there we go, Oh! Now he knows I have food. “Look at those beautiful brown eyes, what a pretty golden retriever!” Bodie, good… okay. Now I’m having to use the food as a lure to get his eyes up to mine, but that’s alright. It’s a good first step in training your golden retriever how to pay attention. Wait till he looks away… Bodie, good, so that time I did use a little bit of hand signal to get him to look at me. Bodie, good… okay, Oh, Excellent! This golden is very bright and responsive. Bodie, good… okay. So, you can see there I waited a little bit longer before I gave him the treat. That’s how you teach your dog to make sustained the eye contact and really pay attention to you. Bodie, good, he looked away, give a little help, good, up. Now I’m waiting too long, I need to reward Bodie a little bit more quickly to set him up to succeed, and then start gradually increasing the time between giving the command marking it and giving the reward. Bodie, good… okay. We’re going to end the session with a success teaching this golden retriever to respond his name and pay attention to his trainer. "