Hi everyone

My husband and I are thinking of getting a Golden Retriever.  Hubby is working from home until the end of the months. After that we will both be out of the house between 8am and 5pm, but can get home for lunch hour.  Between the two of us we can cover about 1 and 3/4 hours during the day.  We are both willing to put in the time in mornings, evenings and weekends to ensure the pup gets enough excercise, and I also have a mother in law who is more than willing to pop in mid morning and let him out.  She has also said she is quite happy to have him at her house the odd afternoon/day.  I know Goldens are family dogs but does this mean that it would be unfair for it be left on it's own so often, or is it the case that it would get used to it?

Many thanks for any replies

Goldens are well known for chewing, and a dog left alone with no other stimulation for this length of time would probably develop it's own amusement, probably to the detriment of your skirting boards.....

It's also  not an idea situation to house train a puppy, as during the early days, the training needs to be led by the puppy with somebody on hand to let the puppy out as soon as it shows signs of needing to go, as the more times the pup soils in the house, the harder the habit will be to break.

Hi,

Generally speaking most Goldens thrive for human attention they do not like be left alone for long periods regularly.A dog under 18 months more so than ever,as they go from being babies puppies when they require alot of attention they then then enter the so called teenage stage which requires even more attention.This is when ,chewing,digging,perhaps barking,being stubborn REALLY kicks in,this stage may not last too long but can last say from 6 months - 18 months old and if they are bored despite toys and chews this won't necessarily solve the problem.

However im sure we all know someone else dog that can be left that long with no problems but you wont know that with yours before its too late and you have him/her .So this is just something to bare in mind :-)

I have a Goldie that I can leave for about an hour tops before hes completely up to no good despite company of other dogs ,children,toys etc.Then we as a family are totally prepared for this as we have 4 Goldens in total and they all different.But I couldnt be without this breed :-)

Would you leave a toddler (human baby) on its own all day, with the odd visit, of course you wouldnt. Then dont leave a puppy on its own either.
They need people around them all the time.
If you are looking forward to getting involved with dogs, go to a rescue centre, the dogs there would just love you to take them out for a walk, and so would the staff.