Facts

Life span: 10 – 12 years
Colors: Cream, Golden, Dark Golden, Light Golden
Temperament: Intelligent, Kind, Reliable, Friendly, Trustworthy, Confident
Weight: Female: 25–32 kg, Male: 30–34 kg
Height: Female: 51–56 cm, Male: 56–61 cm
Did you know: Golden Retriever is the fifth-most popular dog breed by registrations (92,994) worldwide.

Characteristics

  • Life expectancy: 10 to 12 years
  • Character: friendly, intelligent, self-confident
  • W through height: 51 to 61 cm
  • Weight: 25 to 34 kg
  • Colors: light golden, cream, dark golden

Nature and character

The Golden Retriever was a hunting companion to his breeding, which should be used in common with other dogs. This explains its compatibility with conspecifics and its generally gentle, harmonious nature. In addition, he is a resilient and agile dog whose species-specific urge to move is to satisfy. With empathetic and competent upbringing, the Golden Retriever is a balanced and peaceful companion who can best be led as a family dog.

His family suitability is strengthened by the pronounced inclination to please his pack leader ("will to please"), which on the one hand shows a high degree of attention and on the other hand leads to a pronounced ease. However, this does not make the Golden Retriever a pure submissive dog. He is very spirited and playful until older age, also adaptable and rudelbewusst. 

The Golden Retriever can live well with children of all ages due to his balanced, cheerful nature and his unshakeable serenity. He fits easily into his assigned place within the human ripple, as long as it fully integrates him and takes into account his needs.

Activities with the Golden Retriever

Due to its diverse properties, the Golden Retriever can be used in a wide range of activities. When hunting, he is used as a specialist in detecting and retrieving game, especially of water and small game. He is equally well suited as a reliable and faithful guide dog. He serves the police and customs as a precise beagle, the mountain rescue as a perennial avalanche search dog, as well as in the rescue of earthquake and disaster victims. 

Especially the Golden Retriever feels at work and activities in the water. There, as well as in the forest, field and meadow, he searches patiently and perseveringly for his prey and retrieves them precisely and promptly. He can be distracted by virtually no external stimuli.

Through his "will-to-please", the Golden Retriever is generally well suited for all tasks as a companion dog, especially for people with disabilities. He supervises and guides these attentively and quickly learns to take on complex tasks reliably. If the Golden Retriever has no fixed task, he can be kept very well by retrievers, dummy training and dog sports, such as obedience or agility.

Origin & History

It has been proven that all retriever breeds originate from Newfoundland. In the 19th century, the weatherproof dogs of the island impressed English sailors with their zest for water and their desire to retrieve the rafts. Already at that time, the dogs' abilities were used for recovery and detection.

A number of the dogs returned to England with the sailors, where they were referred to as "Little Newfoundlands" and "St. John's Dogs" and crossed with English hunting dogs. Such a mix was called "Wavy-Coated Retriever". In 1864, the English lord Tweedmouth bought a Wavy-Coated Retriever named "Nous" with a fancy yellow color and paired him with a Tweed Water Spaniel bitch - a breed with equally strong appetite and good stamina.

This started a longer breeding experiment with these two breeds, into which later the breed of Irish Setter was crossed. Within 20 years, the current "Golden Retriever" developed as a working dog in the hunt, whose primary tasks were the detection and retrieval of shot wild. In 1903, the British Kennel Club recognized the Golden Retriever as a breed.

Racial features Golden Retriever

The Golden Retriever is characterized by its medium-length, either smooth or slightly wavy top coat, whose color varies between dark gold and cream and may include some white breast hair. Any shade within this spectrum is in line with the breed standard. The coat has a dense, water-repellent undercoat and feathering on the forelimbs and tail.

The proportions of the medium-sized Golden Retriever are harmonious and characterized by a strong bone struct

Golden Retirever breed featuresure. The broad, but not coarse skull characterizes a strong catch and a pronounced stop. The dark brown eyes are set far apart from each other. Eyelids and nasal sponges are preferably black pigmented, but may become slightly tan with age. The so gentle and friendly facial expression typical of the Golden Retriever is complemented by medium-sized, soft ears set at eye level. 

Head, neck and body of this breed are in harmonic relationship, the back forms a straight, upper line. Well arched ribs surround the deep rib cage.

The tail starts at the height of the back line and reaches to the hocks without bending to the end of the tail. The Golden Retriever's paws are round and resemble the shape of cat's paws. The movement is powerful and characterized by a good start. 

The Golden Retriever belongs to the medium sized dogs. According to the FCI standard, females reach a shoulder height of 51 to 56 cm, males from 56 to 61 cm. The latter weigh between 34 and 40 kg, bitches weigh between 30 and 36 kg.

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