The Golden Retriever is one of the easiest breeds to train. They excel in obedience and are popular therapy and service dogs. They have many talents including competitive obedience, narcotic detection, agility, and performing tricks. It is a good Idea to socialize the Golden with other dogs and people at an early age. Some people even have two Goldens for a companion to each other. However, It doesn't matter the breed for a companion, Goldens seem to get along with most all breeds.

Goldens are considered by many the perfect family pet, great in homes with children.  They are referred to as being calm and mannerly which is not the case at all!  Goldens are very active and exert a large amount of energy and need to receive regular exercise especially in their early stages of life accompanied with proper obedience training.  Without this they in fact can be very dangerous around small and younger children.  Though not meaning any harm their regular manner of play can easily cause it if they are not properly trained.  Goldens are a breed that commonly mouth things during play including arms and legs of small children.  They also have razor sharp teeth and claws as puppies adding to their being able to cause harm.  They are very eager to retrieve items thrown or tossed often knocking down and running over anything and everything within their path to get it.  Furthermore, they tend to use their entire body when at play, including their very long and powerful tail.  So, are goldens a great family pet?  If you are committed to providing proper obedience training to the golden and more importantly committed to teaching proper pet handling and etiquette to your children, you should be able to achieve the goal of having both and doing so very nicely.

The Golden Retriever enjoys play sessions with their family, retrieving balls and other toys. They will do okay in an apartment dwelling provided they are sufficiently exercised. Golden Retrievers are moderately active indoors and does best with a medium to large sized securely fenced yard. They learn very fast so an invisible fence is also an option. The Golden Retriever is not well suited for a two career family as they require an inordinate amount of human interaction and companionship.