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Your cute and friendly Golden Retriever can sometimes become mischievous. So, Golden Retriever starts to hide things. I know it is disgusting to find half-eaten food under the cushions, behind the yard, and in their crate. But you should know that hiding things are a natural habit of your pet.
So, why do Golden Retrievers hide things? Mostly your pet hides things due to immaturity, possessiveness, aggression, illness, depression, and fear. Further, mistreat or abuse from owners, change in environment, and negative reinforcement also contributes to this behavior in your pet.
Being a family dog, Golden Retriever has access to all the things in the house. Thus, it is easier for your pal to hide the things that it finds appealing.
Undoubtedly, I will discuss Golden Retrievers and their hiding habit in detail further in this article. But before that, don’t you want to know the things your pal most commonly hides.
What Are The Things Golden Retriever Hide?
When you see the contagious smile of your Golden Retriever, you might get an impression of its innocence and cuteness. But your playful pal is more mischievous than your think. And you will not know the trouble it prepared for you unless the house starts stinking due to the hidden treasures of your pet.
Usually, the things that attract Golden Retrievers are the ones that hide from others. And they are:
- Bones
- Treats
- Soft toys
- Shoes
- Socks
- Remote control
- Clothes
Moreover, your pal is very competitive and doesn’t like sharing its stuff. So, when strangers approach an eating pet, it runs to its safe place to hiding its meal.
Besides this, the chewy texture of soft toys and shoes provokes your pal to hide them. And your Golden Retriever hides your belongings to snuffle and smell them when you aren’t home. However, the places where your pal hides its things are often the backyard, crate box, cabinets, or cushions.
What does your pet keep in its secret place?
How often does your pet hide things?
Why Do Golden Retriever Hide Things? [10 Reasons]
Owing to its history, Golden Retriever are hunting dogs and has excellent ability to fetch or retrieve things. So, these breeds naturally hide several things and start fetching or retrieving fun. But your pet’s hide behavior doesn’t always justify according to this statement.
Thus, there are many more reasons why Golden Retriever hides things. And they are:
Mistreat Or Abuse
Owners are the favorite person of Golden Retrievers. So, mistreat or abuse from you breaks the trust of your pet. And your pet starts suspecting everyone.
Furthermore, your pal may always feel anxious and uncomfortable. Thus, your pet starts hiding all its favorite things to protect them.
Immaturity
The playful attribute of Golden Retrievers resembles the kids. So, these dogs are the best companion for kids. Further, they act as puppies throughout their life. The addition of numbers in their age cannot make them mature.
So, your pet hides its favorite things and itself to avoid attraction. Besides this, your immature pet is possessive. Thus, it performs hiding its belongings than sharing.
Possessiveness
When you love something, you automatically become possessive over it. Isn’t it? Thus, since your Golden Retriever loves you, its toys, meal, etc., it wants to keep these things safe. Hence, your pet hides them.
However, you can control the possessive behavior of your pal through behavioral training. Further, to ensure your pet loves you, read the article-
Negative Reinforcement
Some owners find the hiding habit of their Golden Retrievers adorable. So, instead of ignoring, they reward and encourage these habits through treats, toys, and attention.
And since the hiding habit gives your needy Golden Retriever attention from its owner, it starts hiding things more often.
Boredom
When you fail to manage your pal’s daily activities, it gets a lot of time off. And since these dogs are hyperactive, they run all around the house and backyard, hiding, retrieving, burring, and digging.
Furthermore, your Golden Retriever may also hide things to gain attention for their owners sometimes.
Depression
If your Golden Retriever comes from a poor breeding environment, it is emotionally unstable. The beating, scolding, and threats that your pal got in the breeding home imprints a negative image in its mind. So, these dogs do not trust people around them.
Hence, Golden Retrievers feel sad, depress, and only. Instead of including humans for company, these dogs steal toys, food, clothes, etc., and play with them.
Illness And Injury
Golden Retrievers are susceptible to several health issues due to their body structure, gene pool, and playful attributes. Like constipation, allergies, hip dysplasia, cancer, joint disorders, ear infections, etc. So, your pal might experience immense pain.
Further, to relieve the pain, Golden Retriever hides the household things and starts chewing them.
Fear And Anxiety
Golden Retrievers with a traumatic history are always uncomfortable, anxious, insecure, etc. And since they fail to trust people, they make the household their companion. Therefore, your pet hides things to keep them safe.
Since your pet doesn’t want to lose its beloved toys, food, and treat, it hides it secretly from others.
Change In Environment
Suddenly a change in the environment is threatening for your pet. So, it takes some time to adapt to the new surroundings. But if the place is too loud or noisy, your pet becomes anxious, scared, and uncomfortable.
Thus, it hides familiar things to feel protected.
Emotional Imbalance
As Golden Retrievers reach the adolescence stage, your pal starts experiencing hormonal fluctuation. Thus, it becomes moody and aggressive. Besides this, birth control causes restlessness and emotional instability in your pet.
So, Golden Retriever may hide different things and roams around the home to manage emotional imbalance.
Further, excessive hiding disturbs the hygiene of the house. And if you fail to manage the behavior of your pet, it may result in life-threatening consequences.
How To Stop A Golden Retriever From Hiding Things?
Hiding different things in several places and running to dig or bury them deteriorates the hygiene of your pet. And thus, the lifespan of your Golden Retriever decline.
Therefore, you must stop your Golden Retriever from hiding things. For this, you can use the following ideas:
Be Patient And Calm Around A Golden Retriever
Golden Retrievers understand the language of love. So, you use a calmer and soothing tone to convince your pal to stop hiding things. After consistent training, your pet finally understands your emotions and stops hiding things.
Exercise With Your Golden Retriever
If you want a healthy lifespan for your Golden Retriever, you need to manage adequate exercise and training sessions. Make sure you give intense physical activities to your pet so that it doesn’t feel boring. Further, you can even take your pet from long walks, swimming, hiking, camping, etc., to control its hyperactivity.
Besides this, behavioral training sessions like bite inhibition training, barking control training, training session to calm your pet, potty training, etc., helps to keep your pet gentle and calm. Thus, your Golden Retriever stops hiding things.
Don’t Punish Your Golden Retriever.
Never punish your pet. Since punishment breaks your beautiful bond with your pet, it starts being uncomfortable, scared, and anxious around you. Thus, to strengthen your bond with your pet, avoid punishment.
Instead, take to your pet with a soft and low voice and start spending more time. After you gain the trust of your pet, it comes to you to relax. Thus, your Golden Retriever stops hiding things.
Don’t Encourage Your Golden Retriever’s Negative Behavior.
Golden Retrievers are always needy for attention, whether it is good or bad. And though the mischievous look looks cute in your Golden Retriever, you should ignore it as much as you can. Whenever your pet hides its treat, redirect your pet’s attention by shifting the hiding place.
In this way, your Golden Retriever learns that there is no use in hiding. And thus, it stops hiding things.
Consult With Professional
As we know, your Golden Retriever might show hiding behavior due to underlying diseases like cancer, allergies, eye diseases, thyroid disorders, heart disease, etc. So, consult with the Vet as soon as you notice abnormal behavior in your pet.
The Vet prescribes the required medication after diagnosis of the disease. Along with this, the diet plan and exercises suggested by the Vet can help manage the healthy lifespan of your Golden Retriever.
Similarly, you can also ask help from an animal behaviorist to control the behavior of your pet. Besides this, suggestions of the training sessions help a lot in improving the behavior of your pal.
How often do you visit the professionals?
What are you doing to manage the behavior of your pal?
Things To Consider To Stop Hiding Habit Of Golden Retriever
Though changing your Golden Retriever’s habit seems complicated. Yet, a little time and effort can help you in eliminating the natural behavior of your pal. Further, to control the hiding behavior of your pet, you need to look for:
When Golden Retriever Started To Hide Things?
If your pet started hiding the things recently, it might be due to health issues, injury, mistreat and abuse. Thus, look for other signs of your pet like pawing, grunting, and appetite loss indicate diseases condition. And barking, biting, hiding in darker rooms, avoiding physical contact shows your pal is anxious and scared.
But if your pet is following this habit since it entered the house, it means the breeding environment wasn’t good. In such a case, you should give extra concern and care to your Golden Retriever.
When Golden Retriever Starts Hiding More?
When you ignore the initial signs, your Golden Retriever starts hiding more. So, to protect your pet, carefully observe the environment and time of hiding. If your pal hides due to loud noise, it is a common reaction.
But if it suddenly starts hiding at random times, it might be a sign of depression or illness. However, sometimes your Golden Retriever fails to accept its new environment. So, it hides more often and prefers sleeping in its crate box.
Analyze all these behavior to stop your Golden Retriever from hiding things.
How often does your pal hide things? Does your pet hide? What do you do to comfort your pal?
Quick Tips To Stop Golden Retriever From Hiding Things
After a detailed study of your Golden Retriever’s habit. Here are some tips to stop it from hiding things are:
- Store the toys in a place where your pet can reach them.
- When your pet brings back the play toy, give rewards and pats.
- Teach your pet the fixed place for keeping toys in the house,
- Don’t leave the food in your pal’s food bowl the whole day.
- Limit the number of toys you give your pet.
- Maintain a peaceful and safe environment for your pal. For this, using baby gates will be a great idea.
- Involve your pal in mind-stimulating training like fetching, jogging, trick training, etc.
Owing to their beautiful body and skin coat, Golden Retrievers are one of the most popular dogs in the world. And parenting this high-maintenance dog breed is a tedious job that needs a lot of your time, money, and effort.
Thus, if you are alone and struggling with a job, I suggest you not buy a Golden Retriever. Further, parenting responsibility doesn’t end up after you buy an expensive dog. After you bring a pet home, you must prepare yourself for tons of responsibility.
So, decide carefully about what is best for your pet. You may make some mistakes in the beginning. But don’t settle down your enthusiasm due to these mistakes. Consult with the Vet to manage a healthy lifestyle for your pet.
I hope this article was helpful.
Do you have more queries regarding this issue? How did you manage your pal’s behavior?
Please write your queries and suggestions in the comment.
