Less love and more structure for Willow the Golden Retriever

Willow the Golden Retriever is a classic example of what shouldn’t be done with a dog. Her owners mollycoddle her and constantly give her love and praise, even if she’s disrespectful to them. Would you do that to your kids? No, you wouldn’t.

I’ve been training Willow for some time now. At two years old, recall and respect with her owners has always been a massive problem. One of the owners, Peter, has always been reluctant to place Willow in residential training as he felt she would fret and panic. By contrast, Pippa, the other owner, was very keen and when the opportunity arose, she convinced Peter to allow Willow to stay for some structured training.

Is the dog the problem or the owner?

From the moment she arrived, Willow has been completely settled at my kennels. The reactions that Peter was concerned about – panic and separation anxiety – have not happened. She settled in like she’d been here forever, walking into the kennels and crates with ease, not whining, barking or panicking as Peter says has happened in the past with them.

It clearly indicates that the problem isn’t in the dog, it’s with the owners. When she was collected from her residential stay, she was able to calmly walk past her owners, sit quietly and then get into the boot of the car. There was no sign of her previous reactive behaviour, jumping up and dominance. Now she’s back home, new structure, new discipline and less affection will be applied with this Golden Retriever’s training.

Posted: September 16, 2019