My dogs have begun to be excessively demanding

[Feelinglikeachange22]

I've had dogs for plus 20 years. But lately I've found them irritating. I've got 2 golden retrievers. 1 in particular jumps on me and the children and paws at me all the time. They both follow me around and stare at me all the time. They seem to have frequent accidents at night. And one has started eating their own poo 🤮. several times when out walking recently on common land they have found piles of horsepoo to roll in.
I'm just finding it all very tiresome. I'm 45 with 2 kids and a demanding job. it's just getting all too much, then I feel guilty when I don't have enough time and energy for them.

Also if your dog is starting to toilet inside and this isn't usual behaviour I would either go back to basics and crate train- dogs don't like to toilet in their sleeping space. But if that doesn't change anything I would seek advice from a vet as their could be an underlying reason they can't hold their toilet overnight as at that age it shouldn't be a problem.

The dog is toileting inside because you’ve not trained it properly . If I were you I’d rehome the younger dog through a Goldie rescue and having just the one slightly older dog should make it more manageable .

My immediate thought too - I have horses and dogs so around a lot of people with pets and know several who had a phase like that!

The dog is toileting inside because you’ve not trained it properly . If I were you I’d rehome the younger dog through a Goldie rescue and having just the one slightly older dog should make it more manageable .

Im not sure I agree. I have tried to train them. I have had dogs for over 20 years but my previous ones were quite bright and didn't mess the house ever. I'm not sure what's going on with these two tbh.

Unless the dog has medical issues , or you are feeding them at inappropriate times - which I would imagine is not the case as you say you’ve had lots of dogs , messing indoors is down to lack of training , it’s not because dogs are dense. I didn’t say you haven’t tried to train them but you obviously haven’t trained them sufficiently.

Concentrate on the 1 year old. He's still a teenager and a pain in the arse. Be super strict but never angry with him. Goldies live to please. And they only need minimum effort. Be very repetitive and encouraging with toilet training at home.
Also walk them separately as much as you can and do bits of training during the walk.
Spend time brushing them, stroke them etc even 2 min one on one they'd love it.
I've had 2 Goldies in the past (not together). One in particular was amazing.

I don't know the procedure with barking, maybe they are lonely or can hear noise outside. Hopefully someone here knows more on this issue.

We have solved our vile buggars using the room they slept in as a loo.. Shoved them all in the smaller utility room. Space for beds but no floor to see. No accidents at all now. They bloody well can hold it in! Can you do similar op?

You try to walk them every day?
So sometimes you don’t?

It sounds as though they need more exercise (physical and mental), more training, and more engagement generally. If the younger one is having accidents at night, that would be a cause for concern if it's new behaviour. It could point to a physical issue or anxiety. Perhaps a trip to the vet would be worthwhile? OTOH if it's not new then it is probably related to training.

I definitely wouldn't suggest rehoming either dog. These are animals you've made a lifelong commitment to. Their behaviour may be annoying (especially the younger one who is in the adolescent stage) but that may well be due to lack of stimulation and interaction. If your time is limited, perhaps you could have them go to daycare once a week or so if there is a good facility nearby.

Sounds like you haven’t made enough effort to train the younger one - who is still a young dog who needs effort to be out into training

and both dogs sound unhappy and stressed

Unless there are medical issues at play, problems with toilet training are down to the owners.

Your dogs aren't dense, they just haven't been given the appropriate training and stimulation required.

Are the kids old enough to get involved in the training? There are so many games that you can play in the house to get them thinking and wear them out.

Sorry you’re having a hard time OP. Have you tried giving the last feed earlier for the youngest dog? My 6 month old recently went through a phase of crapping inside the house at night and I moved his dinner forward by an hour. He now poos before bed.