Hi Mark, and welcome to the group.

My first thought is that you need to train your Mom and scold her for HER bad behavior. Your dog is playing parent against parent (you vs your Mom) and Hope knows which buttons to push to get what she wants. And while your Mom thinks "out of sight, out of mind" is just fine, she is rewarding and encouraging Hope's bad behavior. That's not fair to your dog and knowing Goldens, they really just want to be good dogs and please their owners. If your Mom is rewarding behavior that you then turn around and scold Hope for, you are confusing the mess out of the poor girl! She doesn't deserve that.

Coming from someone who just rescued 2 goldens within the past 2 weeks, I cannot stress enough that they are NOT outside dogs and should NOT be tied up outside. This is just total torture to such a wonderful breed of dog. Goldens are extremely social dogs who starve for attention and long to be around people! They are better being crated indoors in a cool environment (think about that heavy fur coat!) and actually some prefer to be safe and secure until their owners return. You might be better getting her the appropriate size crate and putting it in your room and keeping her in there during the day. Turn on a stereo so the house won't seem so quiet and it may cut out any noises your Mom may make that will disturb Hope while she's in there.

The only other options I see are either cutting the strings and leaving home (people can survive a long time on mac & cheese and Ramun Noodles) or be fair to Hope and give her to a rescue. They can put her in a home that will spend the time to train her correctly and give her the opportunity to be the wonderful dog she was meant to be.

Good luck with your decision. It's a tough one, but you're 19 now and life isn't going to get any easier!

ELECTRIC COLLAR!!! They are not cruel to your pet when used correctly. I have a lab/golden which has responded beautiful to this type of training & is not afraid of the collar or myself. Your Mother will have to tolerate her bad behavior but you won't & perhaps when she sees how well the collar works she will support you in this endeavor instead of hindering you

Good Luck

If she does'nt respond to this training I will be totally surprised!!

Thanks for the quick replies guys! Much apperciated.

Now to address the given points.

Kate: To be honest I took some offence to your "giving hope up to a resuce". I know what your saying but our dog is extreamly loved and extreamly well treated. I would hope that these problems will be corrected through training.

An electric collar seems extreme. I think im gonna keep on chuggin.

Any further replies are apperciated. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I'd have to agree with Kate on her point about training your Mom! It sounds like she doesn't want to be bothered with the dog, and by taking the "easy way out" she is sabotaging your own training.

But I agree with you that running out of the yard and jumping on the counter don't seem like grounds for giving the dog away!

If your Mom doesn't want to participate in the training/discipline of the dog, then I would ask her just to put the dog in the crate (or basement) if she is getting in the way, but NOT to give her any treats. She can just as easily lead the dog there by the collar!

As for the counter jumping, you said you cannot train with a collar and lead, do you mean a prong collar? I think negative reinforcement is in order in this case. I don't see how you can positively reinforce NOT jumping on the counter. If she is not responding to yelling "NO" or a yank of the prong collar, then maybe a sharp kick on the rump will do it, or giving her a really hard shove away from the counter. I'm not saying to hurt the dog, but you obviously need to get a message across that your dog has not gotten yet.

Sorry for the dilmena you are in but I recently worked with someone with the exact same problem as you. She (20yr student)and her 3 yr old lab lived with her Mom (parents divorced) and had some of same issues. We discussed working with her mother and teaching her how to handle the dog properly but her mom really wasn't interested in spending time doing it the right way. She basically tied the dog outside or fed her treats all day inside which created numerous problems and extreme weight gain. The best solution to the problem since you are the owner/trainer is what Kate said about crating the dog. I had this student set a crate up in her bedroom with music on and door shut. It was the student's responsibility to handle all aspects of the dog's care and training. I told the student to pretend she lived alone and had to handle all the care herself. I set up a training schedule for her according to her class schedule. She made sure she left plenty of time prior to leaving the house for play, feeding and walks etc. Everyone in the household seems much happier including the dog. BTW if your dog is a counter surfer then a correction collar with leash should be on "at all times" while you are there to correct any unwanted behavior. That doesn't mean you shouldn't use positive rewards for good behavior or listening to commands. Try and get back into an obedience class or spend some time every day working on commands with your dog in conjunction with playtime. Golden Retrievers are very food oriented so you should have no problem doing OB with her. Good Luck!!!

Mark,

Good to hear that Hope is making progress and you are committing more time to her. They really are wonderfully loving and amazing dogs, and all they ask is for our love and attention in return.

I did not mean to offend you in my posting, but understand that I have been involved with rescued Goldens lately and really just want what's best for the dog. I saddens me to know that people get dogs and then are "bothered" when the dog is not able to read their minds and behave exactly how they want them to. Dogs are like children and will do what they are taught or allowed to do. It is up to us to MAKE them behave and act appropriately. It requires a LOT of time and patience in the beginning, but the payoff later is overwhelming. Sad that your Mom does not realize the happiness she could have if she'd stop taking the easy way out.

You have a good relationship with Hope and all relationships take patience, committment, and a whole lotta love. Give the ol' girl time, stern correction, and praise her when she does well.

ps - May want to try to put something quite undesireable up on the counter one day and see if she goes for it. She might think the good food's not up there anymore and hopefully it will teach her a lesson and break the bad habit.