Walking a golden retriever...

[EleanorRigbysNeice]

So, I have a golden girl. She's now 2. We have a morning walk of around one to one and a half hours, daily. During this, she plays with other dogs in a field; swims in the river; plays fetch; explores the area. We have three venues, which we alternate. She's a mud magnet and I accept that in the mornings, we "get down and dirty" and she comes home and is hosed down.

My problem is this: She flatly refuses to have a second walk, later in the day. I try to get her out for a "pavement/park plod" and she throws herself on the pavement, refusing to move. Is it that she just hates the boredom of a pavement/around town "plod" and would rather be swimming and rolling in mud? Or is it that that's all she needs? She's pretty much always been like this. It's been a battle since she was a pup to get her out on a "utility" rather than full-on fun walk.

We do play in the garden if she's not had a second walk. Balls, tug, a bit of training (basic stuff). And of an evening, we do play with her when watching TV etc.

It's just that I thought these dogs were always watching the door with a lead in their mouths wanting to go out. Now, if I took her to the river/fields and for a swim on that 2nd walk, she'd go but we set off from home, make the turn for the pavement plod and she just refuses. Often, trying to pull me in the direction of the field walk 😐.

Is she trying to tell me something? I can't allow her to be soaked wet through, morning and evening. Partly because that's damned hard work and partly because she's NEVER dry and it's probably not good for her coat and joints. My friend keeps telling me she'll have rheumatism when she's older.

Anyone any advice? Should I aim for a real fun, run and mucky walk once daily and then play or insist on dragging her around the pavements, early evening?

Should add.... Two years on, I'm starting to feel weary, being dragged back home in the afternoons. It's NOT fun for me and NOT fun for her. This is how she likes to look, when she comes home from a walk each morning!

We LOVE her to pieces!!

Why do you feel the pressure for a second walk each day? Is it because you feel you "should"? (Genuine curiosity, not being snarky). We have a golden lab, will be 2 in July. He is happy with 1 walk a day mostly, although will sometimes come and give us "the stare" of an evening if he wants another.

As long as there's no sign of anything being physically wrong then there's really no reason to take her out for a second walk if she's not really into it.

If you're worried about the one walk not being quite enough for her then rather than doing a boring walk she's not bothered about you could try some more intensive stuff to get her brain working. Things like scent games, trick training, body awareness exercises and games like 101 things to do with a box are great getting them thinking and leaving them feeling fulfilled.

Whereis. That's it! I feel she should want 2/3 walks daily because of what I've read of the breed and advice from the breeder. She's my first dog. Also, friends do 2/3 walks daily with their dogs but then, they do what I've said..."pavement plods" for 2nd or 3rd walk.

There are days when I get her lead out, put my coat on and she disappears. I'll find her in the lounge, on the sofa as if to say "please, leave me be". Yet, if I take her again on a romp, she's fully up for it.

Thanks, Cornflake. I'll look those things up. Perhaps she wants more "mind" stuff 😊

I have a golden retriever, although she is from working lines and she is trained as a gun dog. I don't know how many miles you cover off in your morning walk, I aim to go for 4-6miles a day, some days less if we do dummy training at home.

Large retriever breeds do need the mental and physical exercise in order to remain a healthy range. Have you tried different things in an afternoon - taking her in the car to somewhere new to walk? Maybe make some of her morning walks shorter and her evening walks more fun?

I sympathise with mud monsters, unfortunately I think that is a breed thing!

We have a Toller so very high energy levels and similar desire to throw himself into any patch of water no matter how cold it is ....

He has his main walk in the morning - usually an hour and a half of charging about in the woods, playing fetch, lots of swimming and generally having enormous fun.

In the evenings he has a shorter walk - 40 minutes to an hour - either down to the patch of woods at the end of the road or round our local common. He would be Not Impressed At All if I suggested plodding around on the pavement (although there's a bit of pavement walking to get there). If you can't take her on a more interesting walk, then I'd keep her at home and play more games with her.

Incidentally we hardly ever hose our dog down after walks - we'll run him down with a towel before he gets into the car and he's pretty much dry by the time he's home. I know goldies have slightly different texture to their coat but I'm puzzled as to why she's taking so long to dry

No advice on the walks. But for drying off have you seen the dog bags? This works well for a friend with a mix breed who absorbs water like nothing else. www.innerwolf.co.uk/dry-dog-bag.html?gclid=CI7puImqydMCFakW0wod-OUJlQ

I'm not sure why she takes so long to dry. She's not a smooth haired, silky coated retriever, she's the full on curly, thick undercoated type. We could see when we first saw her that her litter mates were smoothish and she stood out as the woolly sheep one! 😊 The drying bag looks good. Will think on that.

I agree, I HATE the pavement plod too but she'd need at least a shampoo and hosing after two "mud walks". It's the thick, black slutch that if she were just towelled, would not come off till she'd dried and then brush it off. Is that what you mean? Maybe, let the residual muck (so visible in her lovely creamy coat) dry, THEN brush it out?

Just a few more pics of the dog with a bear-like undercoat !

And, this morning... 😄

Hiya, no particular advice regards the walking as I've got an extremely laid back Bassett Hound that only really needs 1 long (hour) walk a day. If she's had a shorter walk in the early morning, I'll then take her again in the evening, but she's not always guaranteed to want to go! Anyhow, I wanted to recommend a fleece/coat for drying called Equafleece.. they're amazing! You can put on a dry dog and go out in the lashing rain for hours and the fleece gets soaked but dog is dry underneath. But more importantly they work the opposite way round, you can pop on a wet (and muddy) dog and they suck the moisture out. The outside of the fleece gets wet but the dog dries inside. Stops all the wet dog smell in the house etc. The company used to make horse rugs and my old mare got a skin problem in the winter meaning I had to wash her every night. I used to put the rug on her and in about 45 mins the rug would be wet outside and horse dry underneath. They now do all styles and types of dog coats, fleeces, tankies etc. Also, they measure to fit your dog rather than just doing Small, Medium and Large sizes. I'm not affiliated with the company by the way, I just recommend this whenever I can because they're so good! My girl, being so low to the ground gets a muddy tummy (and rolls in any kind of poo!) and I seem to be forever washing her off, I've got the tankie for her and she's dry in about 45 mins wearing this after a bath as opppsed to hours drying naturally. If you google Equafleece you'll find their website.

Also, you can wash and tumble dry the fleeces so always available and clean when you want them.

I've a collie cross golden retriever and 1 walk is never enough - she'll take any firm of walk even if it's just to the shop for milk and back. But there's a goldie round the corner from us who just has 1 big walk in the morning and is then done. Seems a very placid laid back dog unlike my highly sprung dog

Thanks for that. Will google Equafleece. So, my girl would wear it after the muddy walk/a quick towelling off?. What she does is, she finds a puddle of mud and literally marinades herself so, if she were wearing the fleece on the walk it'd be soaked and muddy inside and out, I think. The wet would just seep in. I can't stop her swimming....it's her breed (and joy 😊)

Sorry to sound so dense!

Sunny that's interesting. I think that for my girl, it's simply a question of preference. She wants yomping, not walking. I LOVE that morning walk, in all weathers because she's an utter job to watch. And, it good for ME too! But I don't have the time or energy for all the much and wet. Also, I have a DS who has autism and OCD (in a totally crippling and life altering way) so....there's only so many hours in a day.

The normal wet dog smell doesn't bother me at all. It is what it is. But, even when she's dry, she has this "sour milk" smell if she's only had a quick shower/towelling, post mud-walk. Which is why it's shampoo, hose and buckets of warm rinse water every morning 😐

A JOY to watch !!

Yes, I don't think it would work for her swimming (bless goldies!) but I pop it on my girl after she's walked after towering her off and it takes off the wet and mud, or bring her home, wash it all off (in my case I need fox poo shampoo far too often for my liking) and then pop it on to dry her.. it's purely for the drying her off I'm recommending for you really. I'm not sure mine would wear hers for a walk, so I let her get wet and muddy then deal with the aftermath afterwards!

Toweling, not towering..

Thanks Blod

my dog is half-hippo too so I share your pain ... we try to end the walk with a swim when he's been for a really good mud wallow ..

Otherwise we let the mud dry and then let it fall out brush it out

Lovely muddy boy there, NoItsNot 😄

I try to do that too, with the "last stop, the river" trick. I've ordered a couple of dog fleeces so, we'll see how we go with the drying off more quickly thing and then two "wet walks" are doable daily 😊 Will update when they arrive and we've tried them out.

Thanks all x

Amazingly it hadn't been raining for days before that photo - I have no idea how he managed to get that filthy (it must be his special superpower...)