Do Golden Retrievers need a lot of attention?

If your thinking of getting a Golden Retriever then you’re probably wondering whether or not they require a lot of attention.

So, do Golden Retrievers need a lot of attention? Yes, Golden Retrievers need a lot of attention compared to other breeds. They need a lot of exercise to be properly stimulated and vets will normally recommend that they get at least 1 hour of exercise per day.

Golden Retrievers are a breed that was bred to do energy-intensive tasks for hours on a daily basis. This means that they require a lot of daily exercise in order to be properly stimulated.

If you are thinking of getting a Golden Retriever then you should be prepared to spend a lot of time giving it attention and exercise. If you don’t then you’ll often find that they can become hyperactive and hard to manage and it will look for ways to get attention from you.

There are actually many ways that you can give your Golden Retriever attention and exercise. A number of them are also very effective ways to wear them out very quickly.

Ways to give your Golden Retriever attention

Below are some options you have when giving your Golden Retriever attention.

Walk it

Golden Retrievers are a breed that is meant to get a lot of exercise daily in order to be fully stimulated. Generally, it is recommended for them to get atleast an hour of exercise per day when they are healthy.

The most common way to give it exercise would be to walk it. You might find that it isn’t enough for your Golden Retriever in which case you could try making it harder by doing things such as walking in a hilly area.

Play fetch

One way to get it to wear itself out quickly would be to train it to play fetch. By doing so you will be able to get it to do a lot of running without much rest in between.

Train it

Another way to give it attention and to stimulate it would be to give it training. The main benefit of this is that it will also help to improve its behavior which should get it to be easier for you to manage.

Teach it to swim

Teaching your Golden Retriever to swim would be a good way to give it lots of attention. The act of swimming requires your Golden Retriever to move its legs around quickly in order to stay afloat which can cause them to use up a lot of energy. It is also a good way to keep it cool in the summer.

Play tug of war

One way to give your Golden Retriever attention and to wear it out a little bit at the same time is to play tug of war with it. Doing so will also help to prevent your Golden Retriever from venting its excess energy out on things that you don’t want it to like a sofa.

Things to consider

It might take a lot to properly wear it out

Something to consider is that it might take a lot of exercise in order to get it to calm down especially when it is younger. It is generally recommended for them to get at least an hour of exercise per day. However, you might find that yours needs more than that. If it does, you could wear it out more by getting it to play fetch, to swim, walking it faster, walking it in a hilly area or walking it with other dogs.

If it’s a puppy

When your Golden Retriever is a puppy, some people argue that you shouldn’t give it as much exercise as you would when it is an adult. The argument is that then it’s young its bones and joints are still developing and having it do lots of running could cause them to become damaged. It is generally recommended that puppies get walked for 5 minutes a day per month of age twice daily. So, a four-month-old Golden Retriever would need to be limited to about 20 minutes of walk time twice a day.