Why is my Golden Retriever so protective of me?

If your Golden Retriever is overly protective of you, this post will show you some common causes and what you can do about it.

So, why is my Golden Retriever so protective of me? Possible reasons are that it has been trained to be that way either intentionally or inadvertently, it didn’t socialize much as a puppy so it is not trusting of other people and pets or that it is naturally overly protective.

There are actually many reasons why your Golden Retriever might be doing it and it might be due to a combination of reasons. However, there are some things you can do about it and there are some things you can consider when figuring out the main cause.

Why your Golden Retriever is so protective of you

Below are some common causes why Golden Retrievers can be very protective of their owners and what would make them more likely to be the reason why yours has been doing it.

It thinks you’re in danger

The reason why it does it is likely to be because it thinks you’re in danger. This would be more likely if it does it when you are talking to people that it has not met before, when someone else is on your property or if it does it when someone touches you.

In this case, it would help to train it to listen to your command, to train it using positive reinforcement training and to avoid negative reinforcement. Each of which will be discussed below.

It was mistreated when younger

It could also be the case that it was mistreated as a puppy so it is now not so trusting of other people or that it was trained to be aggressive by previous owners. This would be more likely if you recently adopted it from a shelter.

In this case, it would help to give it lots of training as discussed below. It might also be worthwhile to seek the guidance of a dog behaviorist or trainer.

Nature

While Golden Retrievers tend to be very friendly, they can still be naturally very protective of their owners and it might be the case that yours is doing it due to nature as well. This would be more likely if it has always been overly protective.

Even if it is naturally protective it will still be possible for you to get your Golden Retriever to be better behaved around other people and dogs by training it. I will show you some things that you can do below.

It has been encouraged

It might be the case that you have been encouraging the behavior by giving it things that it wants when it does it. If you tend to give it things such as extra attention, toys or treats when it becomes overly protective then it might be doing it more in order to get more rewards.

Instead, it would help to reward it when it behaves the way you want it to and to avoid rewarding it when it does not.

It didn’t socialize much from an early age

Puppies will, naturally, explore the world a lot and learn about what they should and should not trust while they are puppies. If your Golden Retriever was not able to get much exposure to other people and dogs as a puppy, it might never have learned that they can usually be trusted.

Things to consider

Below are some things you can consider when figuring out why your Golden Retriever has been being overly protective.

When it does it

It would help to consider if there are situations when it tends to be protective and if there are situations when it is not.

It is normal for a Golden Retriever to be more protective when someone it does not know is in its home. However, it could still be the case that you have been reinforcing it by giving it things that it wants when it starts being overly protective.

Whereas, if your Golden Retriever does it when you are walking past other people on walks, it would be more likely to be due to things such as it being reinforced, not getting to socialize as a puppy or not being trained to be well behaved. This would be a more serious issue and something that will be necessary to stop with training as shown below.

When it first started doing it

If your Golden Retriever was not always overly protective, it would also help to consider what else happened when it first started doing it.

If it did start doing it suddenly it could be due to things such as learning that it gets rewards when it does it or someone mistreating it.

How to get your Golden Retriever to stop being so protective

Below are a number of options that you have when getting your Golden Retriever to be less protective of you.

Train it to associate other people and dogs with rewards

One option you have is to train your Golden Retriever to associate other dogs and people with rewards. By doing so you should be able to get it to have a positive and less aggressive response to seeing other people and dogs.

To do this you would start giving your Golden Retriever special treats when you are approaching other dogs or people with it and stop when your dog begins to start being aggressive at them. By doing this it will learn that being aggressive around other Golden Retriever results in it not getting rewards.

It is important to make sure to take measures to do this in a secure manner by keeping it a safe distance away from people, on a leash and with a muzzle. If it is aggressive, it would be best to do it with the help of a dog behaviorist.

Train it to listen to your command

If you have not given it much training already then it would help to start by training it to do things such as sit or stay.

By doing so you should be able to get it to be more responsive to your command and to be easier to control when it is around other people and dogs.

It would help to start by training it the basics and then to build up to training it to do more challenging tasks in more distracting environments.

Avoid encouraging the behavior

As mentioned above, it might be the case that you have been reinforcing the behavior by giving it things that it wants when it starts doing it. Instead, it would help to give it rewards when it behaves the way you want it to and to avoid rewarding it when it starts being overly protective.

Get help from a dog behaviorist

If your Golden Retriever becomes aggressive around people or you cannot get it to stop, the best option would be to get help from a professional dog behaviorist or trainer in your area. By doing so, you should be able to see why it has been doing it and how to get it to stop in a secure manner.