Hi all

Sorry if my spelling is wrong.

Today has been a rather bad day Tinnitus wise and have been low in mood and thought it would cheer me up to hear your stories of Goldens and there antics , what the funniest thing your Goldens ever done?

I also wanted to ask for any book recommendations on the Golden

When I was toilet training Isla I started using treats and praise if she toileted, but she’s so greedy that I had to keep to praise as she became either overexcited about the treats and wouldn’t do anything or became very good at doing a pretend wee.
Somehow we ended up in the situation that when she is let out for an evening wee at 6pm ish she does get a treat, but at no other time. She’s seven years old
At 6pm she will be sat by the door watching me and this is her normal indication she needs to go out, so I say ‘do you want to go out’ and she pricks her ears and stands up, I let her out. Firstly she stands on the patio gazing about (not desperate then), then goes and sniffs round the bottom of the birds feeders to see if the birds have missed anything. I tap on the patio door to remind her what’s she’s out there for, so she wanders off to the side of the house and peers round the corner and sniffs the air. The garden is small at the back and steeply sloping with terraces, so our dogs have always had to use the side or the front of the house to toilet.
Isla looks back at me to see if I’m still at the door watching her, I am, so she wanders onto to the gravel and stands for a bit longer, then turns round and heads for the door having not done anything. I flap my hand which is means ‘get on with it’. She goes back to the side of the house and continues to stand and sniff the air and then moves forward till she’s out of sight, except she forgets her big fluffy tail. She turns round and heads for the door still not having done anything, I flap my hand again. She finally disappears round the side of the house to the front and I nip to the front window to check she’s wees, there may have to be another tap on the window to remind her again why she is out there. Finally she wee’s (I can tell she has as her tail bobs up and down a bit) and she trots back to be let in for her biccie.

This happens every darn night.

friends Golden guide dog.  He knew his owner couldn't see what he was doing provided he did it quietly... he took to shop lifting things he fancied in supermarket and our poor friend ended up having to pay for a whole chicken on one occassion (nicked out of someones basket)!  (he had a little retraining after this)

I got him a lovely kong toy to play with at home- it went missing after a fairly violent play ... sighted friend came over and found the kong wedged into plasterboard wall 5 foot up where he had lobbed it and went straight through

He was utterly appalling on a normal collar and lead- in harness very nice to walk- when out of harness it was play time. I tried walking him with my weimaraner and they egged each other on and I went up the road like Benn Hurr. 

When he retired our friend was not able to keep him and he went back to the couple who had puppy walked him all those years earlier- he remembered them and had a very happy retirement, sadly missed by our friend but good to know how settled he was.  He was a beautiful dog, a deep gold , a powerful build and very sweet natured but still with a sense of mischief.

Thought of another one. My last two I had together, they were about 15 months apart, called Tora and Jodi (the younger dog).
Whenever they were downstairs and they heard someone talking or a dog barking outside they would instantly ping to their feet and become intensely interested. Tora would spin round in circles very excited, all ‘I can hear something have they come to see me’. As all the downstairs window have high sills she couldn’t see out, so there she was full of excitement spinning around in circles. Jodi who was far more canny just nipped straight upstairs to the lounge (upside down house) and stood on a handy piece of furniture having a good old nosy as to what was going on outside. Tora never learned this.