Golden Retriever
The Golden Retriever is a large-sized breed of dog. They were bred as gundogs to retrieve shot waterfowl such as ducks and upland game birds during hunting and shooting parties, and were named retriever because of their ability to retrieve shot game undamaged. Golden Retrievers have an instinctive love of water, and are easy to train to basic or advanced obedience standards. They are a long-coated breed, with a dense inner coat that provides them with adequate warmth in the outdoors, and an outer coat that lies flat against their bodies and repels water. Golden Retrievers are well suited to residency in suburban or country environments. Although they need substantial outdoor exercise, they should be housed in a fenced area because of their instinctual tendency to roam.The dog sheds copiously, particularly at the change of seasons, and requires fairly regular grooming.
The breed is a prominent participant in conformation shows for purebred dogs. The Golden Retrievers' intelligence makes it a versatile breed and allows it to fill a variety of roles – common ones being guide dog for the blind, hearing dog for the deaf, hunting dog, detection dog, and search and rescue participant. The breed's friendly, gentle temperament means it is unsuited to being a professional guard dog, but its temperament has also made it the third most popular family dog breed (by registration) in the United States, the fifth most popular in Australia, and the eighth most popular in the United Kingdom. Golden Retrievers are rarely choosy eaters, but require ample exercise (of two or more hours a day).The breed is fond of play but also highly trainable; Augie, a Golden Retriever from Texas, holds the world record for the most tennis balls held in the mouth by a dog.
Characteristics
The Golden Retriever is a large, strongly-built breed with a dense water-repellant wavy coat.As a dog with origins in pedigree breeding, and due to its widespread historical popularity, some regional variations have emerged in the breed; therefore, there are three sub-types of the Golden Retriever that reflect the typical variations in dimensions and coat. However, all Golden Retrievers are blonde, yellow, or gold in colour and all sub-types are susceptible to the same health problems.
British type
British type Golden Retrievers are prevalent throughout Europe and Australia, and are distinguished from the North American lines by the official breed standards. The muzzle of the British dog is wider and shorter, and its forehead is blockier. Its legs are shorter, its chest is deeper, and its tail is slightly shorter. Due to these features, a British type usually weighs more than an American or Canadian. Males will be between 56 and 61 cm (22 and 24 in) at the withers; females will be slightly shorter, at between 51 and 56 cm (20 and 22 in). Acceptable or expected weights are not specified in the UK standard, but the KC standard calls for a level topline and straight hindquarters without the slight rear angulation found in American lines. The eyes of the European type are noted for their roundness and darkness, which is in contrast to the triangular or slanted composition of their American counterparts. A Golden Retriever of British breeding can have a coat colour of any shade of gold or cream; red or mahogany are not permitted colours of coat. Originally, cream was an unacceptable colour in the UK standard, but the standard was revised in 1936 to include cream. At the time of this revision, it was agreed the exclusion of cream as a colour was a mistake, as the original "yellow" retrievers of the 19th century were actually lighter in colour than was permitted by the standards that were used before 1936. As with American lines, white is an unacceptable colour in the show ring. The British KC standard is used in all countries except the USA and Canada. Golden Retrievers have muscular bodies with great endurance, owing to their origins as hunting and gundogs.
American type
American Goldens are lankier and less stocky than British types. Males will stand between 22 and 24 in (56 and 61 cm) in height at the shoulders, and females should be 20–22 in (51–56 cm). Their coat is dense and water-repellent, and comes in various shades of lustrous gold with moderate feathering. The gait will be free, smooth, powerful, and well-coordinated. American breeders of Golden Retrievers sometimes import their dogs from Britain, in order to take advantage of the temperament and appearance of the British types.
Canadian type
As with American Golden Retrievers, Canadians are often taller and leaner than their British counterparts. However, Canadian retrievers differ in the density and colour of their coats, which are commonly thinner and darker than those of Americans.
Coat and colour
As indicated by their name, their coats come in light golden to dark golden colours. The topcoat is water-resistant and slightly wavy, and sheds in small amounts throughout the year. The undercoat is soft and keeps the retriever cool in summer and warm in winter; it sheds in the spring and fall. It usually lies flat against the belly. The Golden's coat should never be too long, as this may prove to be a disservice to it in the field, especially when retrieving game. Golden Retrievers have mild feathering on the backs of their forelegs and heaver feathering on the fronts of their necks, backs of their thighs and the bottoms of their tails.
The American Kennel Club (AKC) standard states the coat is a "rich, lustrous golden of various shades", disallowing coats that are extremely light or extremely dark. This leaves the outer ranges of coat colour up to a judge's discretion when competing inconformation shows. Therefore, "pure white" and "red" are unacceptable colours, as is black. The Kennel Club (UK) also permits cream as an acceptable coat colour. Judges may also disallow Goldens with pink noses, or those lacking pigment. The Golden's coat can also be of a mahogany colour, referred to as "redheads", although this is not accepted in the British show ring. As a Golden grows older, its coat can become darker or lighter, along with a noticeable whitening of the fur on and around the muzzle. Puppy coats are usually much lighter than their adult coats, but a puppy with a darker colouration at the tips of the ears may indicate a darker adult colour.
Temperament
The temperament of the Golden Retriever is a hallmark of the breed, and is described in the standard as "kindly, friendly and confident".[11] Golden Retrievers make good family pets, particularly as they are patient with children.They are not "one man dogs" and are generally equally amiable with both strangers and those familiar to them. Their trusting, gentle disposition makes them a poor guard dog. Any form of unprovoked aggression or hostility towards either people, dogs or other animals, whether in the show ring or community, is considered unacceptable in a Golden Retriever and is not in keeping with the character of the breed. Nor should a Golden Retriever be unduly timid or nervous. The typical Golden Retriever is calm, naturally intelligent and biddable, and with an exceptional eagerness to please.
Golden Retrievers are also noted for their intelligence. The breed ranks fourth in Stanley Coren's The Intelligence of Dogs – following the Border Collie, Poodle, and German Shepherd – as one of the brightest dogs ranked by obedience-command trainability.
Typical Golden Retrievers are active and fun-loving animals with the exceptionally patient demeanour befitting a dog bred to sit quietly for hours in ahunting blind. Adult Goldens love to work, and have a keen ability to focus on a given task. They will work until they collapse, so care should be taken to avoid overworking them.
Other characteristics related to their hunting heritage are a size suited for scrambling in and out of boats and an inordinate love for water. Golden Retrievers are exceptionally trainable—due to their intelligence, athleticism and desire to please their handlers—and excel in obedience trials. They are also very competitive in agility and other performance events. Harsh training methods are unnecessary, as Golden Retrievers often respond very well to positive and upbeat training styles.
Golden Retrievers are compatible with other dogs, cats and most livestock. They are particularly valued for their high level of sociability towards people, calmness, and willingness to learn. Because of this, they are commonly used as guide dogs, mobility assistance dogs, and search and rescue dogs.
They are also known to become excellent surrogate mothers to different species. Kittens and even tiger cubs from zoos are well taken care of by them. In some cases, a retriever may produce milk for her adopted young, though she may not have been pregnant or nursing recently.
Origins and history
The Golden Retriever was originally bred in Scotland in the mid-18th century. At that time, wildfowl hunting was a popular sport for the wealthy Scottish elite, but the existing retriever breeds were inadequate for retrieving downed game from both water and land. Retrieving from both land and water was necessary because the hunting grounds of the time were pocketed with marshy ponds and rivers. Consequently, the best water spaniels were crossed with the existing retrievers, resulting in the establishment of the breed today known as the Golden Retriever. The Golden Retriever was first developed near Glen Affric in Scotland, at "Guisachan", the highland estate of Baron Tweedmouth. For many years, what breeds were originally crossed was disputed, but in 1952, the publication of Marjoribanks' breeding records from 1835 to 1890 dispelled the myth concerning the purchase of a whole troupe of Russian tracker sheepdogs from a visitingcircus.
Improvements in guns during the 1800s resulted in more fowl being downed during hunts at greater distances and over increasingly difficult terrain. This led to more birds being lost in the field. Because of this improvement in firearms, a need for a specialist retriever arose, as training setter and pointer breeds in retrievals were found to be ineffective. Thus, work began on the breeding of the dog to fill this much-needed role.
The original cross was of a yellow-coloured Retriever, 'Nous', with a Tweed Water Spaniel female dog, 'Belle'.[30] The Tweed Water Spaniel is now extinct, but was then common in the border country. Marjoribanks had purchased Nous in 1865 from an unregistered litter of otherwise black wavy-coated retriever pups. In 1868, this cross produced a litter that included four pups; these four became the basis of a breeding program which included the Irish Setter, the sandy-colouredBloodhound, the St. John's water dog of Newfoundland, and two more wavy-coated black Retrievers. The bloodline was also inbred and selected for trueness to Marjoribanks' idea of the ultimate hunting dog. His vision included a more vigorous and powerful dog than previous retrievers, one that would still be gentle and trainable. Russian sheepdogs are not mentioned in these records, nor are any other working dog breeds. The ancestry of the Golden Retriever is all sporting dogs, in line with Marjoribanks' goals. The Golden Retriever was active and powerful and had a gentle mouth for retrieving games while on hunts.
Organisations other than clubs are dedicated to Golden Retrievers, such as breed-specific adoption sites. One such organisation is the Golden Retriever Club of Scotland, which in August 2013 assembled 222 Golden Retrievers at the historical home of the first Golden Retrievers.
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