Weird Golden Retriever Behaviors Explained

golden retrievers do some weird things but there's usually a good reason for why they do them like busting in on you in the restroom gold retrievers are social animals that love to be around their humans 24 7. but when it comes to the bathroom there's an extra incentive for them to be there with you new smells particularly smells that smell extra you as you've probably noticed dogs and humans don't have the same requirements for what smells good and your golden will love to bask in all of your glorious smells but it's not only you they like to smell another weird behavior you'll probably find your golden retriever doing is smelling other dog's butts when dogs meet often the first thing they do is go for the other dog's butt it's totally normal and is one of the main ways that they communicate they're getting information about the other dog's gender their health and even if they're looking for love they also get some of the same signals from smelling other dogs poop which is another weird thing that you'll see your golden retriever doing often it's pretty gross to us humans but to dogs it's totally natural one of the weirdest things goldens do is sleep with their eyes open we don't really know why they do that but there are several theories one is that scientists think that they're not fully asleep and just dozing off a bit and then there's a theory that they're actually sleeping with their eyes open to be alert for predators and next up is an adorably strange behavior gold retrievers love to roll on their backs and play with their toys it's cute and it seems like they're having the time of their life and that's because they are rolling on their backs is one of the ways they express their happiness they might also roll on their backs for other reasons they do this to show submissiveness or trust or they might have an itch that they need to scratch but here's the weirdest reason golden retrievers roll on their backs dogs are very particular about the way that they smell they may be rolling on something to get a smell off of them like if you just gave them a bath and they don't want to smell like the shampoo or they might want to get another smell onto them they might roll around and poop so that they smell like poop and not what other predators might perceive as their prey and while we're on the subject another one of the weirdest things goldens do especially as puppies is eat poop but i've got some good news for you if you have a poop eater you're not alone one study found that sixteen percent of dogs are frequent poop eaters and it's so common that it has a name coprophagia okay enough of the gross stuff this next weird things goldens like to do is pretty adorable some golden retrievers like to get between you and your partner when you hug this can be because they think that you're playing they want to get in on the cuddles or they may even be trying to protect one of you i know goldens aren't exactly the scariest protectors but they do love their families a lot and this is evident by this next weird behavior golden retrievers will sometimes look you in the eyes when they poop when dogs poop they're pretty defenseless so they'll look to their protector you for reassurance that they're safe and everything is okay a little weird but super sweet and here's another strange way they show their affection for you golden retrievers love to lick your feet they do this for a variety of reasons first licking is one way dogs show affection to each other so this might be their way of telling you i love you but your feet might be sweaty and therefore salty which dogs love and they might be smelly and full of pheromones which goldens also love for some reason my golden likes to lick my feet a lot more than my wife's but i'm just going to chalk that up to him showing me more affection and not because my feet are stinkier but it's not just your feet that golden retrievers like to lick another strange behavior you may find your golden treater doing is licking their paws this isn't as cute as licking your feet because it could mean that they have a problem an occasional lick or two is fine as part of their self-grooming routine but if they're constantly licking one paw it could mean that they have an injury if your pup suddenly starts to lick one paw non-stop check their paw and between their toes for an injury like a cut broke a nail or a growth or for something stuck in there like a rock or a thorn if they're licking all of their paws and not just one it could be allergies a bacterial problem or parasites like fleas definitely check with your vet if you notice that your dog is licking their paws more often but licking their paws is actually quite normal compared to this next weird thing you may find your golden doing gold retrievers sometimes lick their personal parts and they have no shame when they do it right in front of your face when you've got company over or when you're trying to sleep and they feel the need to give themselves a good loud licking but there are a few reasons why your dog may lick themselves down there the first is because it's a normal part of them cleaning themselves although your golden would probably love to get down and dirty in a puddle of mud they do like to keep themselves clean through regular grooming plus they don't have toilet paper like we do so it's their only option to clean up down there but like their paws if your dog is obsessively licking their crotch it could be a sign of a problem they could have allergies a uti a yeast infection or another problem that we'll talk about in a second here are some warning signs from the akc for when you might want to go to the vet if your dog has swelling or redness down there if there's a foul odor if there's discharge if they're going pee more frequently than normal or if there's discoloration or a rash licking their butt might also be a sign of a problem with your dog's anal sex which brings us to the next weird thing you may find your golden doing golden retrievers may sometimes scoot their butt on the floor this could be a sign that their anal sacks are full and need to be expressed or that they have allergies or parasites i always heard that it was only small dogs that had anal sac problems until one day we found our gold retriever going to town on his butt as it turned out the vet said his anal sacks were full and needed to be expressed so definitely talk to your vet if you find your dog scooting their butt on the floor this next weird thing golden sometimes do might have you thinking that you brought a cow into your home and not a dog golden troopers sometimes eat grass many people think dogs do this because they have a tummy ache and eating grass helps them vomit and relieve it but according to an article on the vca hospital's website that may not actually be true studies show that less than 25 percent of dogs vomit after eating grass so it's unlikely that they eat it as a form of medication and only 10 percent of dogs show signs of illness prior to eating grass which further supports this theory your golden may be eating grass because they're anxious or bored it's fun to tear up grass they like the taste or the texture of it or it's just part of their instincts another study found that 11 to 47 percent of wolves eat grass so it's normal for canines to do this even though we typically don't think of them as grazers next up is another weird but super cute behavior the golden grumble golden retrievers sometimes sigh groan or grumble when they lay down to rest they sound like they just put in an 80 hour work week but really they played a little fetch and chewed on their toys they might even make what sounds like a little purr when you pet them and they're extra sleepy when they do this and they're sleepy it's usually a sign of contentment or pleasure but don't get this confused with the side that they give you when you don't play with them that's just your golden giving you some teenager-like attitude and venting their frustration that you didn't play with them next up is another weird but sweet and sleepy behavior golden retrievers sometimes like to sleep on your smelly shoes you've got a nice bed for them or they're allowed on your comfy couch but every so often you turn around and your golden is sleeping on your stinky shoes not only do they smell but there's no way that can be comfortable right well it might not be comfortable but it's comforting just like following you to the bathroom or licking your feet your golden retriever loves the smell of you and near your stinky shoes there's a lot of that and speaking of sleeping here's another strange behavior goldens do in their sleep golden retrievers often dream in their sleep you might hear them yelping or growling or see them twitch or kick if you're golden is having a bad dream and you feel like you want to wake them up do so by calling their name or making a noise nearby it's better to do this than touch them because you could startle them and they may accidentally bite you i mean if you were having a nightmare would you want somebody to grab and shake you probably not and here's another thing about dreams some people confuse them with seizures according to the akc seizures tend to be more rigid stiff and include more violent movements if your dog is having a seizure they can't be easily woken up like if they were dreaming i'm sure i don't need to say this but if you think that your dog is having a seizure definitely call your vet next up is another sweet behavior that goes back to what goldens were originally bred to do golden retrievers like to bring their owners gifts goldens were originally bred to retrieve birds for hunters so when they bring you one of their toys or a random object in the house they're getting back to their roots sometimes they're bringing you a toy to get you to play with them and other times they're just showing their toy off because they're proud of it i've found that my dog sometimes doesn't want to play with me but just wants me to sit next to him on the floor while he plays with his toys i love that just my presence is enough for him next up is one of the weirdest behaviors in this video and then two behaviors that might concern puppy owners the first one is that golden retrievers walk in circles before they poop now this isn't exactly the weirdest behavior on this list but it does have the weirdest reason your golden probably circles before he goes number two because a new study found that dogs like to poop along a north-south axis this means that they'd like to go facing either north or south and not east or west this study looked at dogs who were not on a leash or constrained by other things like walls or fences in total they looked at 1893 number twos and 5582 number ones from 70 different dogs over a period of two years so the next time your dog goes potty see what direction they're facing and if this is true for your pup next up we've got a frustrating behavior that clean and orderly humans just won't understand gold intriguers like to destroy things it seems like gold retriever puppies especially just like to cause chaos right they like to chew dig or tear things up but it's a totally normal dog behavior and they're not trying to make you mad dogs have a natural desire to chew and they can be even more intense when they're teething and their adult teeth are coming in the problem happens when your dog doesn't know what they're allowed and not allowed to chew if you're having trouble with the teething puppy we made a video about how to survive this tough phase and i'll link to it in the description below this next weird behavior might be confusing to some gold retriever owners gold retrievers like to shake their toys and here's why this is confusing this behavior is probably instinctual from when they would capture their prey and shake it really hard to kill it before eating the first time i saw my golden retriever puppy do this i was scared and i thought that my puppy was aggressive but as it turns out it's totally normal for how golden retrievers play with their toys and speaking of puppies see what my biggest regret in raising my first golden retriever puppy was in this next video thanks for watching and i'll see you in the next video

Channel: Golden Hearts

Views: 323,758

Keywords: Golden retriever, golden retriever puppy, golden retriever dog, golden retriever puppies, golden retriever tip, golden retriever tips, golden retriever training, golden retriever puppy training, dog, puppy, golden hearts, golden retriever care, Weird golden retriever dog behaviors, dog behaviors explained, weird dog habits, golden retriever habits, golden retriever habits explained, strange dog behaviors, golden retriever puppy behaviors, Meaning behind weird dog behaviors

Id: aBl1xj0PH8k

Length: 11min 7sec (667 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 12 2022