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 do best with a medium to large sized securely fenced yard. They learn very fast so an invisible PET SAFE fence is also an option. The Golden Retriever is not well suited for a two career family or a single person with a full time job as the Golden's require an inordinate amount of human interaction and companionship from their owner. They should not be left alone without their adult owners supervision for no more that 2 to 3 hours tops during the course of a day. This includes both puppies and adult Golden Retrievers throughout their lifetime. 

Training: 

The Golden Retriever is one of the easiest breeds to train. If is your first family dog, we recommend a professional trainer. They excel in obedience after their puppy stage and are popular therapy and service dogs.  It is a good Idea to socialize the Golden starting at 18 weeks old with other healthy dogs and people at an early age. Some people even have two Golden's for a companion to each other. They play together in ways you cannot do.  By having two Golden's, you may expect a longer life span. However, It doesn't matter the breed for a companion, Golden's seem to get along with most all breeds. Smaller dogs however, may not be able to keep up with the larger golden when running and playing.

Golden's are considered by many the perfect family pet, great in homes with children that have been properly taught.  They are referred to as being calm and mannerly which is not the case at all! This is very true of young Golden's. Golden Retrievers are very active and exert a large amount of energy and need to receive regular exercise accompanied with proper obedience training.  Without being able to be exercised properly each day, they in fact can be very dangerous around small and younger children.  Though not meaning any harm, their regular manner of play can easily become overwhelming a child if they are not properly trained.  If you are not accustomed to training a puppy, or if you never had a puppy in the past, we recommend a professional trainer. Ninety nine percent of all perceived unruly dog behavior is due to the owner's lack of knowledge.

Golden's are a breed that commonly mouth things during play including arms and legs of small children.  Like all breeds they also have razor sharp teeth and claws as puppies and when you add their innocent and playful nature to the mix, may cause unintended harm to an unsupervised child. It is for this reason that many rescue groups do not sell Golden Retrieves to families that have children under 6 years old. However, if your children are well disciplined, it will be very easy to teach them how to handle a puppy. Personally, I have grown up with a puppy when I was still in pampers. I absolutely loved the experience.

Golden Retrievers simply love children.

 Golden's are very eager to retrieve items thrown or tossed (this however is not recommended until they reach the age of 1-year old)  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. Remember, if you have little or no knowledge of training a puppy, If your not familiar with proper obedience training ALWAYS hire a Professional certified dog trainer. You will not be sorry.

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