Hi People, i'm looking for some opinions on how i could teach my Golden to be a bit more passive. He gets plenty (sometimes too much) of love at home, so much so that he's extremely sociable. Weather its another dog or human, to him its all play.
I'm not complaining its great that he's so loving and friendly, but i want him to understand that there 'bad' things out there... like fierce dogs and bad people... any idea how i could get him to be more careful? or its just experience vs. temperament...
Dedicated & responsible breeders have through generations bred good temperament into the GR ... why would you want to change that?
I think you should just enjoy your GR as he is ... no need to teach him about bad things ... If he comes across a fierce dog, your dog will learn ... and as a good owner - you are supposed to protect him from "bad" people - just remember to keep your gate closed ...
Agree with you i do (Yoda talking) I'm just concern some one will try to steal him coz his really friendly. I get strangers coming to my gate almost on a daily basis to pet him. Worried lah...
afraid nothing much u could do about him being stolen. GR are known to be so friendly that he will even follow ur burglar. i too am very particular about who pets my GR. i am slowly teaching him "friend" and stranger", though there is no improvement on it yet i don't think it can be done! haha she is too excited when she sees other people, she is cautious about other dogs though.
maybe u can teach him to only accept food from your family so he will not eat any poisonous food, i find this is working slowly.
Fortunately for me food will never be an issue (Half of it anyway), as he has a funny character of not eating any other dog snacks aside form his own food. Treats and snacks never works for him, that's why i can only use his toy as a reward when i train him (which makes progress slower)
However if you temp him with any human food (coz of the strong smell) He'll go for it.
"... I get strangers coming to my gate almost on a daily basis to pet him. Worried lah ..."
I guess that is one way to socialise a dog ...
But seriously ... just be careful ... make sure your gate is locked ... and if you need to - you put up some fence grating to stop the gratuitous petting ...
Last weekend I took my dog for his normal walk, and this mad spitz come scrambling down towards him, obviously he assumes that the other dog wants to play, unfortunately it was not the case and he got nipped on his nose. Luckily its only a very very small cut. Even then he was still running around trying to play with the aggressive spitz... how lah?!
I couldn't protect him coz the spitz kept running around me.. and i could not pull him away in time. hummm always didn't like spitz, really aggressive dog lah, since i was young alwasy chase me hehehehe.... old memories
It is VERY hard in a forum like this to suggest what should or can be done ... Much depends on what you mean by the Spitz is "aggressive" ...
If the Spitz is indeed - showing aggression in an outright manner ... then you should keep your Lab away!!! ...
But at the same time - you should also not keep your Lab from interracting with other dogs ... It is only through interaction that your Lab will learn & fine tune his own doggie language ... and also learn how to be more careful and to protect itself ...
As a responsible owner - you have to find a balance somehwere. You should protect your dog but not be over protective.
Which is why I keep posting that you should go and get a good dog behaviour book to read & learn.
Cheers
(This post was edited by surchinmy on Nov 13, 2004, 7:13 AM)
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i don't think it can be done! haha she is too excited when she sees other people, she is cautious about other dogs though. 
hummm always didn't like spitz, really aggressive dog lah, since i was young alwasy chase me hehehehe.... old memories