The Golden Retriever Breed
Facts About the Golden Retriever Breed.
Golden Retrievers were originally bred to hunt small game in the Scottish Highlands. Today, three distinct branches of the Golden Retriever are popular. The American Golden Retriever has a long, attractive coat that can range in color from light golden blonde to a deep russet or mahogany brown. The English Golden Retriever, often called the White Golden Retriever, is stockier, more squarely built, and has a shorter, lighter coat. The Canadian Golden Retriever is a cross between the American and English varieties.
Golden Retrievers are moderately large, active, friendly dogs. A male Golden Retriever weighs in at about 65 to 75 pounds and can reach 24 inches at the shoulder. Females are a bit smaller, standing 21 to 22 inches tall and weighing 55 to 65 pounds. All Golden Retrievers are prone to put on weight, and must get regular exercise and be fed carefully to keep them at their trimmest. An obese Golden Retriever is at greater risk for arthritis, digestive problems, and a variety of other canine illnesses.
The Golden Retriever breed is best known for its active personality and its easy-going, people-loving nature. Golden Retrievers are so fond of people and so anxious to please them that they are among the easiest dogs of all to train, making them ideal for use as guide dogs for the blind or companion dogs for people with other kinds of physical handicaps. Golden Retrievers are protective of their owners but are so friendly to everyone that they do not make the best guard dogs.
Golden Retrievers are also popular hunting dogs and outdoor companions. As their name suggests, they will retrieve prey from the woods or the water for hunters, and they love to be taken out on hunting or fishing trips. They are energetic, physical animals and are at their best in situations where they get plenty of time outside and plenty of exercise. They do crave human companionship however and do not like to be put out in a yard and left alone. Golden Retrievers are very social and are miserable without fairly constant human interaction, so keeping them crated while an owner spends 10 to 12 hours per day at work is not a good idea at all.
Golden Retrievers do require regular grooming to look and smell their best. Brushing them once per week at minimum and clipping the longer hairs around their hindquarters is necessary. Regular professional grooming will keep them looking beautiful and is worth the expense unless an owner has unlimited time to shampoo and brush them. They have delicate skin and should not be doused with harsh soaps or perfumes, but professional groomers can have them looking flawless fairly easily.
The Golden Retriever breed more than earns its widespread popularity and acclaim. Golden Retrievers make great family pets, excellent hunting dogs, stellar companions, and fast friends. A healthy, happy Golden Retriever can live for up to 15 years and make any human household a happier, friendlier place. Always buy a Golden Retriever from a reputable breeder and then enjoy many happy years and with this wonderful dog.
Golden Retriever Information
Basic Information About Golden Retrievers.
Golden Retrievers are one of the most beloved dogs in America. The reasons for their extreme popularity are many and they are all great reasons. Golden Retrievers have an innately gentle disposition and a need to please that makes them ideal guide dogs and wonderful family pets. They are good with children and careful around handicapped and elderly people. Golden Retrievers are excellent hunting dogs and love to spend time outdoors, making them ideal companions for hikers, sportsmen, and anyone who loves nature.
The most famous characteristic of the Golden Retriever is his happy personality and love of human beings. Golden Retrievers are not aggressive dogs and their need to make their owners happy makes them easy to train. In spite of this stellar personality, Golden Retrievers are also active, rambunctious dogs that need plenty of exercise and lots of attention. They don’t like to be left alone and they have to be walked and played with regularly or they can develop behavior problems. A Golden Retriever is definitely not the right dog for a city dweller who works all the time and isn’t home very much.
Golden Retrievers are very attentive when it comes to their owners and small children, which is one of the reasons they make such good companion dogs for the handicapped and the blind. However, they do not make good guard dogs because they are indiscriminately nice to everyone. They simply love people. They also require regular grooming to look and smell nice, and their long fur can sometimes cause problems for family members with allergies.
Golden Retrievers live for up to 15 years, but like lots of other large breeds they are prone to certain health problems that other dogs are not. Purchasing your Golden Retriever from a reputable breeder can help to weed out genetic problems like hip dysplasia and other bone disorders, but even Golden Retrievers that are healthy at birth can develop problems later in life like cataracts, cancer, thyroid problems, digestive issues, epilepsy, and various allergies.
As a breed, Golden Retrievers are also prone to obesity, so careful feeding and regular exercise are a vital part of keeping them healthy. Table scraps are definitely out of the question. Letting your Golden Retriever pack on the pounds will shorten his life and make him more susceptible to arthritis and a host of other canine illnesses and conditions.
Golden Retrievers are enthusiastic sporting dogs, and will appreciate any hunting or fishing trip, camping trip, or excursion to a wildlife preserve or park. They can be taught to hunt and, as their name suggests, they can learn to retrieve birds and other prey from bodies of water. In fact, just try to keep them from doing that! Although many people now keep Golden Retrievers as companions, not as hunting animals, they were originally bred to flush and retrieve varmints and birds. When given a chance to do this they appreciate and are extremely helpful.
Golden Retrievers are happy, energetic, active dogs with a keen intelligence and a deep love for human beings that is bred right into them. If a Golden Retriever is right for you and you have the space and the time to spend with this wonderful dog, he will reward you many years of friendship and fun.
Golden Retriever Puppies
Is A Golden Retriever Puppy Right For You?
All puppies are adorable, but Golden Retriever puppies set the standard for cute and make it pretty hard for other breeds to compete. It’s easy to fall in love with a Golden Retriever puppy at first sight and impulsively bring the little guy home without thinking that decision through. How much trouble could an adorable little puppy be, anyway?
The answer is, plenty! Caring for a puppy of any breed is a huge responsibility, and Golden Retriever puppies are in some ways more challenging that you might expect. Golden Retrievers are famous for their friendly, easy-going dispositions, and Golden Retriever puppies are just as friendly as their adult relatives–even friendlier, really. In fact, Golden Retriever puppies are so friendly that if you bring on home and leave it alone in its pen that first night it will likely cry and cry until you let it into your bed, at which point it will jump all over you and keep you awake anyway.
Welcome to the wonderful world of puppy training! Puppies are high maintenance companions. They must be taught to go to the bathroom outdoors and not in the house, and this usually entails taking them out every fifteen minutes for weeks after you first bring them home. They need to play and chew and will destroy slippers, clothes, and furniture until you take the time to train them not to do that. They can’t be left alone for long periods of time any easier than small children can be left alone, and they will make a terrible fuss when you leave them.
Perhaps you’ve thought of all that and are prepared for it. That’s great, but there are still other excellent reasons NOT to take a Golden Retriever home from a pet store or on impulse. Most puppies in pet stores come from ‘puppy mills’. Puppy mills are inhumane, irresponsible breeding facilities that keep parent dogs locked up in horrible conditions and force them to have litter after litter of puppies with no regard for the long term health or genetic viability of the animals produced.
Golden Retrievers are prone to a number of genetic diseases and personality disorders that will not become apparent until you’ve already bonded with your pet store puppy. The most common disorder is hip dysplasia, an inherited condition in which the hind legs of the puppy do not grow into the hip sockets correctly, causing severe lameness. Often the dog has to be put down once the dysplasia is diagnosed. Sometimes surgery can be performed, but the surgery is very expensive and the recovery time is long and labor intensive.
Reputable Golden Retriever breeders always check their dogs for genetic problems and screen for hip dysplasia. A reputable breeder will only sell Golden Retriever puppies that have been certified by the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals. OFA certification is not optional for large breed dogs such as Golden Retriever puppies; certification is essential if you want to make sure you are taking home a dog that can live its full lifespan of 15 years or more.
So go ahead and fall in love with a Golden Retriever puppy. Then purchase one selected just for you from a reputable caring breeder.
Golden Retriever Breeder
How To Choose A Reputable Golden Retriever Breeder.
Golden Retrievers are the fourth most popular type of dog in America, but one common problem with popular dogs is the issue of finding a reputable breeder. Finding a good, professional breeder who really understands Golden Retrievers and their unique physiology and temperament is the only way to be assured that the dog you buy will stay healthy and happy for most of its fairly long life, and it is also the only way to know the dog your buy was bred and raised under humane conditions.
Golden Retrievers live 15 years on average, but dogs that are bred by amateurs or supplied to pet stores by puppy mills are more likely to have serious personality problems and physical issues than dogs that are purchased from a reputable Golden Retriever breeder. Whenever a dog is popular and commands a good price, unscrupulous people will always breed as many dogs as possible under horrible conditions and then sell them to make money fast. These are not the dogs you want.
Golden Retrievers are prone to a number of genetic diseases common to all large dogs, and to specific personality problems unique to their own breed. One of the most common genetic problems common to large dogs is hip dysplasia. A reputable Golden Retriever breeder will certify every breeding pair with the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals, also known as the OFA. OFA certification means that the dogs the breeders use have been checked and do not carry the genetic predisposition for hip dysplasia and other common physical problems of the specific breed.
If you already have a veterinarian or know a good one, the vet’s office is an excellent place to begin asking questions about breeders. Most vets are familiar with the reputable breeders in any given area and they can also steer you away from places like pet stores where you are likely to have problems. Talk with other Golden Retriever owners too and get some breeder names and numbers, then call a few breeders interview them.
A reputable breeder will happily answer any questions you have in a direct and forthright manner, and will not be shy about showing you the kennel or the dogs. A good breeder will know a lot about the personal qualities of each breeding pair and will be able to tell you about their lineage and strengths.
A good breeder will want to know which qualities you are most interested in and will help you select a puppy most likely to have those qualities, based on their personal knowledge of each parent and of the puppies in each litter. For example, a buyer wanting a Golden Retriever to show in AKC competitions will want different characteristics in a puppy than a buyer wanting a hunting dog or a family wanting a gentle pet.
A good Golden Retriever breeder will love the breed and the dogs and this love will come through in how they speak. Good breeders want to build relationships with customers, and will care about you and your understanding of what you are getting into. They know that a poorly placed dog is bad business for them. They are about much more than just the profit that comes from brokering puppies.
The White Golden Retriever
Facts About White Golden Retrievers.
Many Golden Retriever owners have no idea that English Golden Retrievers—also known as White Golden Retrievers–differ from American Golden Retrievers in significant ways. To the average dog owner, one Golden Retriever looks pretty much the same as the next, but for professional breeders and dog trainers there are big differences between individual dogs and between different branches of individual breeds of dogs.
English Golden Retrievers are sometimes called ‘White Golden Retrievers’ because of their paler, near-white cream-colored coats, but they go by lots of other names too. Other common terms for White Golden Retrievers include British Cream Golden Retrievers, Blonde Golden Retrievers, White Golden Retrievers, and Platinum Golden Retrievers, and English Cream Retrievers. The coloration of an American Golden Retriever, on the other hand, can range from pale blonde all the way up to a rich brown mahogany shade.
As a group, White Golden Retrievers have paler, shorter coats and are stockier and more square-framed than American Golden Retrievers as well. Their faces are also more square and their noses a bit shorter and more block-shaped than American Golden Retrievers. White Golden Retrievers were first bred in Britain as hunting dogs, and were designed to have coats that could withstand cold temperatures and wet, damp weather.
The shorter paler coats of White Golden Retrievers are actually more efficient and easier to care for than the shaggy, decorate coats of American Golden Retrievers. American Golden Retriever coats are clearly more for show and tangle and require constant brushing, trimming, and grooming to look nice. American Golden Retrievers typically have lots of hair, sometimes an excessive and impractical amount of hair. A soaking wet American Golden Retriever is a major mess, but a wet White Golden Retriever is built to shake that same water off fairly quickly and keep hunting.
White Golden Retrievers possess other qualities that distinguish them from American Golden Retrievers. Their eyes are a bit darker, and their ears are set just above their eyes instead of behind the eyes like on an American Golden. This gives White Golden Retrievers a different facial expression and a sturdier look in general.
American Golden Retrievers and White Golden Retrievers both possess the good-natured dispositions that families love. White Golden Retrievers adore people, are easy-going and nonaggressive, love to play and chew, and needs lots of exercise. White Golden Retrievers are great with children, the handicapped, and the elderly, although they are not the best type of canine for someone who is away from home a lot or who is very sedentary, since they need lots of company and lots of exercise to be happy.
White Golden Retrievers are perfect family dogs for country or suburban homes with big yards of acreage, or for people who are love to hike, boat, swim, or just be outdoors in general. They are awesome hunting and fishing dogs and adore being taken along on sporting expeditions. Obedience training is recommended to keep them in line, but they are eager to please and are usually quick learners.
Golden Retriever Adoption
What You Should Know About Adopting a Golden Retriever.
According to American Kennel Club registration statistics, Golden Retrievers are the fourth most popular dog in the United States, surpassed only by Labrador Retrievers, German Shepherds, and Yorkshire Terriers. Golden Retrievers are popular for good reasons: They are loyal, friendly, eager to please, gentle with children, and loving companions for people of all ages. In short, Golden Retrievers make excellent family pets.
Golden Retrievers thrive in households where at least one person is home most of the time. Households with young children in which one parent stays home all day or the households in which the owners are retired and like sharing their day with a large, gentle dog are ideal.
Golden Retrievers hate to be alone and won’t be happy if crated for extended periods or if left in a backyard while the owners are at work. A Golden Retriever needs lots of owner-dog interaction and lots of play time and walk time outdoors, so this is not the ideal breed for a single person who lives in an apartment and works a lot of overtime.
Golden Retrievers are relatively easy to train. Intelligent and eager to please, they love people and try hard to deliver the behaviors their owners want. Obedience training is recommended but is usually quick and successful. On the down side, because Golden Retrievers are fond of all humans and extremely easy-going, they make poor watchdogs. A Golden will be more than happy to accept treats and pets from an intruder and may not even signal that someone strange is in the house.
Golden Retrievers have other habits that make them inappropriate for some households. They love to chew and need lots of toys and lots of activity. Without proper training and lots of exercise they may tear up furniture, shoes, and socks. They also love food and will overeat if allowed to do so.
Many Golden Retrievers lean toward obesity naturally, and this tendency will be made much worse if ill-informed owners feed table scraps, too many treats, or provide too little exercise. Obesity is a serious issue for all dogs, but for large hunting breeds like retrievers it is even more dangerous and can lead to hip and hind knee problems that are painful, expensive, and in the worst case scenario, can lead to the dog having to be put down. A Golden absolutely needs exercise and proper diet to stay healthy. Owners who can’t provide this should check out other breeds.
Finally, Golden Retrievers do shed and need to be regularly groomed and brushed. The fur around their back quarters can get quite dirty and unpleasant if not trimmed and kept scrupulously clean. People with allergies to pet hair or dander might want to avoid this particular breed.
Despite these few drawbacks and considerations, Golden Retrievers make the perfect family pet and are great with elderly or handicapped people too. Millions of families own a Golden Retriever and are thrilled about that fact and wouldn’t have it any other way. If a Golden Retriever sounds right for your family, make sure you deal with a reputable breeder who screens for genetic problems (like hip dysplasia) that disproportionately affect sporting dogs.
