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Most people feed their dogs on a schedule.   This practice is absolutely legitimate and many feel they have no choice but we have successfully free fed our long line of dogs for the past 40 years.  Read on to hear my thoughts on this subject.

Food Choice

I’ll start with WHAT food they get since I believe that is a key player in this discussion.  Do your Goldens need to LOVE their food?  The short answer in my opinion is:  No.  It is absolutely critical that you feed them really good quality food that is high in protein and has Taurine (more on this later) but feeding them food they get really excited about can be a problem.  Golden Retrievers (and many other dog breeds) tend to over eat and will become obese if not controlled.  Obesity is bad for your fur baby on so many levels, not the least of which is increased risk of heart disease and hip dysplasia.  Most control their pet’s weight with scheduled feedings but it can be done as well with free feeding.

Taurine

OK this is my blog so I can get on a soapbox if I want to.  Recent Studies have determined that an amino acid called Taurine can be a big player in the longevity and health of your Golden Retriever.  This is especially true in large dog breeds including the Golden Retriever.  The most common and scariest effect of Taurine deficiency is increased risk for a fatal heart disease (Dilated Cardiomyopathy).

Taurine is a naturally occurring amino acid in many types of meat but is least present in some very lean wild meats like Bison and Venison.  Fowl (chicken, ducks, etc), beef and lamb tend to be higher in naturally occurring Taurine.  Taurine can be had as an additive as well bit it’s typically expensive over time and the additive has not been proven in all cases to be effective.  Some dog food manufacturers are beginning to add it to their food but if you cannot find it on the label, consider at least giving your Golden Retriever good quality food that uses chicken, duck, beef, and/or lamb as it’s primary ingredient to provide the necessary building blocks for your dog to make their own Taurine.  You can also add sardines, goats milk or real chicken to their feeding rotation or as a snack to give added Taurine.  Try to avoid foods that have main ingredients listing peas and legumes in the first 5 ingredients (these ingredients can counteract the effects of taurine) and any  product that simply says “meat meal”.  Most wild or exotic meats (Bison, Venison, etc) are good for your Golden but seldom have naturally occurring Taurine.

The following video was an assignment that I turned in (and passed) at Western Governors University for a communications course.  Yes…  I’m almost 60 and still in school..  I don’t know that I’ll EVER stop learning.  The video had time constraints and I had to rip through much of the information faster than I wanted and is a little dated now but it should provide a good (if quick) summary and a basis for further research.

The podcast below is definitely worth a listen as one of the leading, unbiased experts in the field explains the science behind avoiding “Grain Free” and “Raw” diets.

I’ve included a few links at the bottom of this article if you’d like to read more on the subject.

Free Feeding

Terri and I have free fed all our dogs for the past 40 years.  Few of our dogs ever became overweight (and those that did we resolved by changing their food – see #2 below) and all lived unusually long lives.  While we cannot attribute the length of their lives to the free feeding it does go to show that free feeding is not necessarily evil.  You will of course need to monitor your Golden’s weight to assure adjustments are not needed and keep your puppy active and happy so they don’t eat just because they are bored but it does work and it can be much easier than scheduled feeding if your fur babies can adjust to it.

Free feeding is the act of always having food in the bowl; it essentially never gets empty.  Most people do not do this because they see their dogs gorge down the food whenever food is visible.  This gorging behavior can be caused by any of several reasons.

1. The Golden remembers being hungry and when it sees food, it wolfs it down as a conditioned response.
2. The Golden REALLY loves the food and wolfs it down because, well, it LOVES the food.
3. There are other dogs in the pack and the Golden wolfs down the food based on fear that the other dog will eat it all.
4. Your Golden Retriever is bored.

Healthy free feeding is easiest to accomplish when started as a puppy.  If the puppy never feels that the bowl will be empty they feel no driving need to eat any food they see just because it is there.  That fact removes #1 and #3 above as an issue.  I imagine that it might be difficult to train free feeding with a Golden that is not a puppy and is already used to scheduled feeding but it’s a natural and easy practice in my experience when started as a puppy.  We did convert a 6 month old, starving stray German Shepherd to free feeding one time but that is the limit of our experience in that area and it took a while to pull it off.

#2 above is also easy to resolve and probably should be a concern no matter which feeding method you use.  To fix this simply feed a really good quality food (usually kibble) that they like but don’t LOVE.  Which food this is will vary somewhat by dog so you may have to experiment to find the right one but be sure to give each food a little time as new foods are foods to be excited about in their minds and it may take a bit for the new to wear off.  We used to use Taste of the Wild (the variety with lots of chicken, not the wild meat) but but no longer do.  Because of recent well executed studies concerning Taurine issues that can severely affect Golden Retrievers we have dropped them and changed the Purina Pro Plan Savor Shredded Chicken and Rice.  We use one blend for puppies and another for our adult dogs.  They both have the right amount of protein, and tons of great quality ingredients, none of which are on the problem list for Taurine absorption.  We’ve found so far that our Goldens like the it but they don’t love it.  This means they are happy to eat when hungry but stop when they are no longer hungry.  Doing this can also reduce gorging when using scheduled feeding over time.  I am fully aware that we all want to make your fur babies as happy as possible but the food department is something they have little if any natural control over, so you’ll have to be the parent in this case.

Note:  “Grain free” foods in general have been linked to Taurine deficiency.  Be sure to pick a good quality food that includes meats that provide Taurine and/or have Taurine additives and have little or no legumes, peas or potatoes.  This subject has become so sensitive that Taste of the Wild has recently started adding Taurine to their foods.  We quit feeding Taste of the Wild as soon as we found out.

#4 is all on you.  Golden Retrievers are very intelligent, energetic, athletic and LOVE attention from their loved ones (you).  If you allow them to get bored and/or ignore them often you may have all kinds of trouble.  If bored or neglected they will chew on things, dig holes, find a way to get out of the yard and other mischief.  They may also just eat to make themselves feel better.  This breed needs attention and exercise every day.  If they feel bored or neglected they will likely do as humans do and look to food for comfort.  Dogs should eat because they need to and because they are actually hungry; grazing out of boredom or sadness is a bad thing.  Scheduled/measured feeding can control this but you are not fixing the real problem.

Side note:  You dog will almost certainly LOVE cheap food.  What cheap food lacks in nutrients they often make up with artificial flavors.  It’s much like eating cake and candy; it tastes great but is not particularly good for you.  Really good food will usually taste good but not good enough to make them all that excited after the new wears off (which is a good thing).  Do your research and shop at more places than your personal grocery store.  In our experience we seldom if ever see really good food on the shelves at Walmart; it can happen but it’s rare.  Our suggestion is to do very thorough research online then go find where your chosen food food can be had.  Major pet supply chains like PetSmart will be a resource for quality food but are typically expensive; we use Tractor Supply and a local feed store called Struttys.  Once you have decided which food you want, we suggest getting auto ship set up with chewy.com.  We have had outstanding experience with Chewy, they deliver those heavy bags to our doorstep and if you order more than $50 (two bags, or one bag and treats and/or dental chews), the shipping is FREE.  they even have a convenient app for your phone and their customer service is the best there is; anywhere.  (No… we were not reimbursed in any way for this plug..)

We’ve spent some time warning people off of low quality food but don’t be fooled by the extremely high end and breed specific food either.  In our research, the middle range of the higher end foods are about as good as it gets. Don’t be fooled by prescription food from your vet either; do your research, check ingredients, the history of the pet food, cost and move on.  Prescription food is not necessarily better than commercial foods and in fact is often worse and is almost always a substantially higher cost.

There is typically no reason to spend $75 or more per month per dog; no additional benefit at all.  We feed 2 young adult, energetic and healthy Golden Retrievers for around $100 per month (~$50 per dog) and feel we are delivering EXCELLENT quality food at a reasonable price.  Purina Pro Plan food is one example; there are others to choose from.  The message here is to find really good food that tastes good but not too good and does not break the bank; find the balance that works for you.

Scheduled Feeding

Scheduled feeding is the act of providing measured amounts of food for your Golden on a schedule.  Note that this should always be twice or more per day, not once.  If your golden is really, really hungry when food is provided, they will always try to wolf down their food.

Scheduled feeding is a great way to assure that one dog is not hogging the food from the other and to carefully maintain weight; it is also a hassle.  To be clear, most people feed this way and it’s absolutely legitimate but we’ve found that it’s not been necessary with our dogs thus far.  We do feed our cat on a schedule of sorts but that’s another story.

There are special bowls that can be used to force your dog to eat slower during a scheduled feed but in our opinion that not a good way to go if it can be avoided.  If your dog is wolfing down their food they either have a food that is way too tasty, have not been fed often enough or competition with other dogs for food has not been managed.  Eating food quickly has the same negative effect on dogs as it does humans; they will overeat and the food is usually not chewed enough to be efficiently processed by their bodies.  The body needs some time to process the intake of food to slow down hunger and if the food is eaten too fast, they will take in way more food than they should before they feel full.  Wolfing down too much food too fast can also be fatal as it can also contribute to Canine Bloat.

Summary

Either way is fine; scheduled or free feed.  It is entirely a matter of preference and your situation.  We at Texas TLC Goldens prefer free feeding our dogs but schedule our cat to control his diabetes and we’ve had good success with both.  The main thing is that you have thought about it and considered what is best for you, your family and your lovely pet.  Along with feeding schedule be sure to get good quality food (very few are sold at Walmart) that can also be a source of Taurine building blocks, then plan for their health and weight.  A Golden Retriever owner would not raise their human children on ramen noodles, sugar cookies, macaroni and cheese and Big Macs, don’t do that to your fur baby either.  You also don’t need to throw away money or break the bank.  Do your research and find a really good quality food that you can afford.

Links

NBC:  Canine heart disease linked to dog food

Time:  Dog Heart Disease May Be Linked to Potato-Based Pet Food, FDA Says

FDA:  Investigating link between canine heart disease and grain-free foods

Dog food reviews and ratings

About the author.

Bryan Curry loves all dogs in general, especially Golden Retrievers.  He has had dogs for all but 6 months of his long life and all have lived happy and much longer than average lives.  Bryan and his wife Terri are co-owners of Texas TLC Goldens; a small responsible breeder producing high quality Golden Retriever puppies.

So you’ve decided that you want some pics of your Golden Retriever.  You can use your phone camera or (preferably) a good DSLR  (Digital Single Lense Reflex) camera but either will work.

Let me start by saying I am not a professional photographer.  Terri and I did some black-and-white 35mm photography and had our own darkroom in high school but color DSLR digital photography is new to me.  I decided a few months ago that I wanted to get some good pictures and found a really good deal on my camera and lenses and have been learning ever since.  I found out however that there is just not a lot of good advice out there on Pet Photography and struggled to capture decent pics so I thought I’d share my experience.

I asked a friend that has mad photography skills to take a few pictures of Harley and River one time and watched him, it was amazing how much I learned in that few minutes of snapping pictures.  Since that time, with some practice and experimentation, I’ve managed to turn out a few decent shots and I’d like to share my learning.

In my experience so far, posing Golden Retrievers for pictures is painful at best and almost always requires help.  The animals just don’t get it and want to play and if you use an assistant to help pose them, the assistant almost always ends up in the picture.  For those reasons, I seldom pose them.  If you want to do that, more power to you but that’s not what I’m writing about today.

Camera Settings

For the purposes of today’s discussion I’ll be describing how I do it with my Nikon 5600 using a basic 70-300 zoom.  It is absolutely possible to get great pics with your phone or travel camera but I’ll leave those settings for you to work out.

Sho0t in RAW mode if your camera supports it – always; this bit is VERY important if you plan to do any post production editing at all.  Think of RAW similar to a recording studio mixer.  The mixer captures all the different layers and instruments and can adjust them on the fly to generate the best possible recording.  With RAW photography, the output image still has all the different layers captured by the camera so that they can be individually adjusted in post production (more on this later).  If you only shoot in jpg format, all the layers are stripped out to save size and editing later will always incur a quality reduction and have very limited capabilities.  I typically shoot in high quality jpg + RAW so that I can get both but this chews up space on your SD card so get a big one..

Use auto-focus; almost always.  Golden Retrievers move, it’s what they do.  If you are constantly trying to adjust focus you will miss that one shot you would have loved.

If your camera supports it, set it to rapid-fire pictures (hold the shutter button down and it takes many pictures in succession).

The picture themselves are free so you can’t take too many (SD Card space permitting) and this will let you choose from the many action/moving shots you took.  Nothing is more frustrating than missing the one perfect shot because you timed the button press wrong.

DSLR cameras have many automatic modes and I’ve played with them but I now prefer to stay semi-manual.  To get that pretty blurred background I work in Aperture Priority mode with a low F-stop (the lowest I can get away with), zoom in and try to keep the background relatively far from the pet.  Try to set your ISO so that you get a quick shutter speed (at least 1/300 – faster if possible) since pets are almost always moving.  If you have to, crank up the ISO to get the shutter speed you need.  The difference in picture quality due to a higher ISO is small but a blurred picture because their tail is wagging usually makes it unusable.

If you just use an automatic mode – chose a sports setting but blurred backgrounds will be hard to get.  The example to the right was shot in sports mode.  It’s nice but it would have been much nicer with a blurred background.

Setting Up the Picture

Bathe your Golden Retriever.  You’ll be amazed how much difference this makes in the pictures.  Whites are MUCH whiter and the feathering on your Golden will flow beautifully in the breeze.  If you want to get a groomer to trim up their feathers (not shave – trim), great but we’ve not done that.  I believe ours are gorgeous with their natural hair and feathering.

I try to take all my pet pictures outside.  The lighting is typically better and the varied natural backgrounds work really well with Golden Retrievers.  Ideally you should try this on an overcast day as diffuse light is your friend and dramatically reduces unwanted shadows.

As I said, I do not “pose” Golden Retrievers but I do get a number of pictures that appear posed; this is a function of patience, huge numbers of pictures and a good zoom. 

When I go outside to take pictures I ask all other humans to remain inside.  The Goldens and I go outside and of course the puppies want to play; do not indulge this.  Find a good spot to sit with the light high and to your back hopefully in mid morning or afternoon and not too many distracting objects in the background…. and wait…  be boring…   The Goldens will tire of trying to play with you and start exploring and playing on their own; this is when the magic happens.  Even if your puppy moves relatively far from you the zoom can bring them in close.  Start snapping pics (digital pics are free – take a LOT), especially when they stop moving but moving pics can also be very nice.

Framing The Picture

Yes you can fix much in post production but getting it framed correctly initially can be a HUGE help.

Pay attention to “The Rule of Thirds”.  If you always set the Golden up dead center in the picture it often comes out boring.  Find a way to get the pet into the right or left third of the pic unless it is a close up and even then it’s good to do it at times.  Don’t fret if you don’t get them positioned perfectly however as cropping in post production can often fix this as long as it’s not zoomed in too close.

Zoom in.  This and low f-stops (Wide Aperture) helps get that blurry background that most want.  The focus should be on the dog, not their surroundings.

Get down low.  The picture should almost be taken at the dog’s height or lower so when you set up for the session, sit or lie down. 

Zooming in from a distance takes care of this to some extent but you should always get down low.

Avoid too many distinctive objects that distract from the dog.  If the lawnmower or a trash can or torn up shoes are in the yard, you may want to move them.

Don’t be afraid of closeups.  Zoomed in head shots are often very nice and really capture the dog’s eyes and mood.

You should generally shoot broad side or head forward at an angle.  Shooting the Golden’s “fancy pants” rear end typically does not come out well.

The Golden Retriever breed is a happy and expressive breed but much of that comes from their head and face.

Goldens have a beautiful tail.  Try to capture the tail in the picture when you can.  Back and up is best but sometimes having it swinging in the wind up high is nice as well.  Oddly enough the tail is the hardest bit to effectively capture as it’s always moving and can blur in the picture.  Once again; use a fast shutter speed.

I’ve discovered that capturing or Goldens in a still photo when at a full run is harder than it sounds.  They are incredibly beautiful when running but a stop action picture often just captures their floppy ears flying around at weird angles and their feet are never where you want them. 

This can be a good candid photo and you may actually like it but I’ve not captured it (yet) in a way that I completely like without taking hundreds of shots and many tries.  My main advice is to have patience, a repeatable activity and a really fast shutter speed (1/600 at least) and a rapid fore shutter.  I continue to try on occasion but video may be a better choice for a full on running shot.

Post Production

Post production is to photography what a grinder is to a welder. 

Post processing can make  an average picture great and fix a lot of the things that the camera could not get just the way you wanted.  It can also take a good picture and make it artsy of that is your desire.  I can’t stress enough the value of post production; it can REALLY make a big difference.

I use Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop for post production.  Lightroom is my primary tool as it can crop and really clean up the colors, shadows and the entire feel in the picture.  The two of them together only cost me $10/month so they are relatively cheap and can be cancelled later.  I use the classic versions since all the pictures are stored locally on my PC instead of the expensive cloud.  Because RAW formats are licensed products from the camera manufacturers you will not find a good RAW editor for free.  Adobe makes the most widely used products for this purpose and Lighroom is my friend.  I currently only use Photoshop to remove that old shoe that turned up in the picture by mistake.

Lightroom will take some practice but the biggest sliders I use are shadows and back and white.  These allow you to make shaded eyes visible and really clean up the tone of the picture.  You can of course also crop which I most often do for every picture.  I also step up the vibrance when the grass is not very green.  I recently discovered that you can add a signature and/or watermark to you pictures as well.  I am still learning what this amazing tool can do.  Experiment and ask your photographer friends for advice; it’s a cool tool.

Lightroom will save all your edits and allow rollback and every time you save to jpg format, it is always the highest quality with no loss caused by editing (as is always a downside if you directly edit a jpg).

Candid Photos

Your fur babies will constantly do something cute; entirely on their own.  the challenge is to have a camera at the ready to capture it because it’s typically a fleeting thing and VERY hard to set back up.

If you cannot keep your DSLR at the ready, this is where your camera phone can be VERY handy. They will be in jpg format which makes them less efficient and less capable in post production editing but at least you will have them.  In fact all the examples posted in this section came from our phone cameras.  We have MANY more.

My only advice here is to be ready and willing to whip out the camera (or camera phone) and take the pic.  Take many..  Take them from where you are first before they see you and move then try to get more angles.

 

The lighting will often be dicey and you may lose quite a few to darkness or shadows but hopefully you can clean them up later in post production.

 

Have Fun!

This is the key bit.  You love your Golden(s) as we love ours.  Unfortunately they will not physically be with you forever so capture what you can now and cherish them for the rest of your life.  Enjoy your time with them and take pictures at all stages of life.  Post them on Facebook, share them on Instagram, frame them and put them on your wall or simply keep a photo album.

 

Check out our Picture Gallery.  We will try to keep adding more pictures as we go along.

Credits

Clayton Bownds – Friend and Photography enthusiast

Tiffani Nieusma – Friend and Professional Photographer

About the author.

Bryan Curry loves all dogs in general, especially Golden Retrievers.  He has had dogs for all but 6 months of his long life and all have lived happy and much longer than average lives.  Bryan and his wife Terri are co-owners of Texas TLC Goldens; a small responsible breeder producing high quality Golden Retriever puppies.

I read an article  recently on this subject and thought it was useful so I thought I’d make my own version of it so that I could offer my personal experience.

I and my lovely wife Terri have been married 39 years as of this writing and have only rented 4 or 5 times but in every case, we had many pets and some of those were always large dogs.  I also grew up as a landlord’s son for a 128 unit apartment complex and 4 homes so I have some idea what the issues are from both sides.

First: The Bad News

If you have large dogs, renting your home can be a challenge.  Let’s face it, dogs and most any other pet that can roam your home have real potential to be a liability to the landlord; large dogs multiply the threat.  Large dogs are also noisier, bark louder and just their footsteps alone could bother folks downstairs.  Making matters worse, many people are fearful of biting dogs and landlords do not want biting liability or neighbor complaints.  It matters not at all that you love your dog or that you believe they are wrong; it’s a statistical fact.  To that end, many landlords, even those who are “pet friendly” will not allow large dogs or dogs of particular breeds (Luckily Golden Retrievers are never on the “Not this breed because we fear them” list).  Landlords will also limit based on the number of dogs at times.  It’s all a numbers game.  The landlords want the property to be kept in good condition, minimize cleanup and repair costs when you move out and limit their liability and hassle.

Having pets in a rental will almost always require a pet deposit and/or cleaning fee.  If the potential landlord allows pets and does not require these I would move on to someone else.  It’s a fact that pets at very least add hair and dirt to a home and usually more than that.  If the last tenant was not thoroughly cleaned up after, what are you getting in to?  Be advised that not all “deposits” are refundable.  Read their terms carefully.  Also be advised that the deposit and/or cleaning fee is possibly not all you are liable for.  If the landlord spends more than those funds, they can legally charge you the overage and/or take it out of that extra month’s rent or deposit you were expecting to get back.

OK so all the bad news I can think of has been described, what can you do about it?

Know your dog(s)

• If your dog barks much at all then you should avoid apartments as noise can be a real issue
• If your dog is very energetic (Goldens Retrievers are) you should make sure there is a good area close by that you can use to exercise your pooch.  A fenced yard with room to run is best but not required if you can commit to regular trips to the play area and your dog is leash trained.
• If you dog has ever bitten anyone or that is a possible result, you may want to re-think whether you rent or buy.  Not all landlords are particular about this but almost all of the good ones are.  Luckily Golden Retrievers are almost never biters unless they were trained to do it or abused.
• Is your dog thoroughly house trained?  This is absolutely critical.  When I was growing up my family built and ran a 128 unit apartment complex and rented out 4 houses.  In my experience the number one most likely damage caused by pets was urine.  If your dog is not completely housebroken you need to get on that training seriously fast.
• Does your doggo get separation anxiety?  Most landlords know that pets who are left alone usually do the most damage and/or make the most noise.  I’ve seen dogs in extreme cases actually chew all the way through walls to get out.  While this is an extreme example, most landlords that allow pets have at least one horror story in their history and are understandably cautious.  You may want to consider crate training your pup for this purpose.

Finding a Place

So the first challenge is finding a place.  Yes you can find a few “pet friendly” locations on your own on places like Zillow but I suggest using a real estate agent.  They have access to a MUCH larger listing pool than you do and can give you a lot more choices with more up-to-date information than online resources.  You should also set your sights on a single family home, not an apartment or condo.  While it is certainly possible to have a Golden Retriever (or other large and friendly breed) in an apartment, it is a hassle and really not fun.

 

Our Golden Retrievers weigh in at or close to 80lbs each.  They are energetic.  They bounce off things.  They sometimes bark.  All these things make NOISE that can easily

irritate the neighbors all around you in an apartment complex.  It is also problematic to get proper exercise for your fur baby when there is no private yard for him or her to run in.

 

Communicating With a Potential Landlord

So you’ve found a place you like.  Now you need to convince the landlord that you will be a good and profitable risk.  First:  never go into any discussion with a landlord thinking they are there to like you.  They are there to make hassle free money and for no other reason so it behooves you to make them trust you and believe they can make hassle free money off of you.  I know this seems brutal but it’s the real world; get over it.  The first thing you should do in a negotiation is to understand your opponent and make no mistake, there will be times when it’s a negotiation.  Here are some ideas for those time when you find a lovely place that you love that may not want your dogs.

• Make a doggie resume.  This is a novel idea I read about recently .  I wish I would have thought of it when I was a renter.  If you tell the landlord that your pet is an angel, they will likely scoff inside and not believe you.  A great way to ease their fears is to document the dogs history.    This also shows preparation and that you really care about your pet; two things the landlord really wants to see.

  • 

    A lovely color picture of your fur baby

  • List any past rental experiences.
  • Get recommendations from past landlords and/or neighbors and/or friends.
  • List all the particulars of the dog.
    • Weight
    • Breed
    • Color
    • Temperament
    • Sex
    • Fixed or not
    • Housebroken
    • Penchant for barking
    • Vaccination records
    • General Health
    • Attitude towards other animals
    • Overall socialization
    • Separation anxiety
    • etc
  • List training and titles and achievements (ie: “AKC Canine Good Citizen”, awards, activities, etc)
  • If your dog has never bitten or threatened anyone, say that!  If you have a Golden Retriever you can brag about their loving and friendly nature.  In truth there are a few other breeds you can honestly say that about but I’m unapologetic and biased..  🙂
• Be honest.  Lying about your pet will come back to bite you (metaphorically speaking).  While it’s possible sometimes to lie your way into a home it will almost become a nightmare at some point and could end in a potentially expensive legal battle.  Start your relationship with the landlord well and keep it that way based on honesty and trust.
• Be flexible in your home choices.  Because you are living with a pet that MANY landlords will not tolerate, your choices will be more limited than those without pets.  This is a price of admission for pet owners who rent, get used to it.  You may need to be willing to look at something a little further from work, or something that’s not as big as you like or maybe it’s bigger than you wanted.  You should of course find the best place for your needs but understand that your choices will be more limited than non pet owners so go into the search with proper expectations.  I am not trying to discourage you but it’s just facts so it’s best you accept it and move on.
• AKC recommends  that if the landlord was waffling on the deal, consider offering a longer lease.  The majority of expense and hassle for the landlord happens on move out.  If you only stay 6 months, that is 3 times more hassle and expense for the landlord than if you sign an 18 month lease; 24 months is even better.  I think I agree that this could be attractive to some landlords if you can do it.
• If you have a lovely Golden Retriever that is heaven on earth and you’ve found the perfect pet friendly place but they only allow small animals, don’t be afraid to ask if they will accept you; the worst they can do is say “no”.  You will have to sell it but be honest, sincere and prepared to close the deal with all I’ve suggested above and more.  We’ve done this successfully in the past but don’t over sell it; be honest.  It is important that if you are successful and talk the landlord into the home you wanted that you follow through and make the experience for the landlord a good one.  If you succeed you will have made the world a better place for other large dog owners!

Other Useful Links on The Subject

AKC

Zillow

Zillow: Renting to tenants with pets

Humane Society

Example pet resume from The Humane Society (Requires Microsoft Word)

Rentberry.com – creating a pet resume

About the author.

Bryan Curry loves all dogs in general, especially Golden Retrievers.  He has had dogs for all but 6 months of his long life and all have lived happy and much longer than average lives.  Bryan and his wife Terri are co-owners of Texas TLC Goldens; a small responsible breeder producing high quality Golden Retriever puppies.

 

 

It’s something dogs do; not all but some do.  They will roll around in some really disgusting stuff if left to their own devices.  Dogs will roll around in poop, dead carcasses, old fish and all sort of other smelly things that they find or dig up.  They will often do it with gusto with paws in the air and seemingly having great fun.

Dogs have an amazingly sensitive sense of smell and people often question why they would do this in something so foul.  The short answer is:  No one knows for sure.  Many have theorized that this behavior is to cover up the dogs own scent for hunting but recently a different theory comes from the research of Pat Goodman who is the lead wolf behavior researcher at wolfpark.org nicknamed the “Wolf Goddess”.  On wolfpark.org she says in part this:

An unusual behavior, scent-rolling, involves a wolf who finds something strong-smelling (often manure or a carcass) getting down and rolling in it, coating themselves. Some dogs also scent-roll. No-one is sure why wolves scent-roll, but it may be that they are bringing the smell back to the rest of their pack, which might then follow the wolf’s scent trail back to the thing that smelled interesting.

Nearly every website I found on the subject quotes or paraphrases her theory so it seems to have become a popular theory.

So….  Your dog is NOT broken; this is expected behavior in some cases but what can you do about it?  Well one option is to just bathe them afterwards and move on.  Training it out of them can be difficult at best since it appears to be a strong instinctual behavior in some dogs.  A leash is also your friend but even then you will need to keep a sharp eye out and see it before they smell it and can get close.

Doctor S0phia Yin has this suggestion if your dog is off leash:

Since your chance of finding a mint patch next to every dead fish is smaller than slim, the solution lies in your keen vision and ability as a trainer. Keep your eyes open for things that excite your dog’s nose and before Rover’s rolling in ecstasy call him back to your side. Then keep him engaged in fun games and rewards around you so that he forgets the potential stinky fun elsewhere. While the training time for a good recall makes this solution sound tedious, the time saved on needless baths makes the effort easily worthwhile.

About the author.

Bryan Curry loves all dogs in general, especially Golden Retrievers.  He has had dogs for all but 6 months of his long life and all have lived happy and much longer than average lives.  Bryan and his wife Terri are co-owners of Texas TLC Goldens; a small responsible breeder producing high quality Golden Retriever puppies.