Golden Retriever Facts (What You Probably Don’t Know)
Golden Retrievers are arguably among the top ten dog breeds in the USA, extremely popular with families due to their friendly nature and golden coat.
The unique personality and great temperament of Golden Retrievers makes them a stand out breed that is sociable, intelligent, tolerant, loyal, and can fit in any home or family setup.
Golden Retrievers take well to training, and thrive on pleasing their owners, so this combined with their friendly approach toward other pets in the family makes them an ideal pet.
In this article, we will discuss some Golden retriever facts to give you insight to this breed.
The History Of The Golden Retriever
The Golden Retriever was developed in Scotland during the 19th century by Lord Tweedmouth who was an ardent waterfowl hunter.
Tweedmouth aimed to develop a loyal, even-tempered and talented retriever who would be of great help in his hunting expeditions.
In addition, he wanted a dog that would adapt to a rainy climate as well as rugged terrain.
The golden retriever came into being through the cross-breeding of a number of dog species.
Tweedmouth bred the Tweed Water Spaniel; an eager retriever in the hunting field, with his yellow flat-coated retriever, a bloodhound, and a red setter -bringing forth the Retriever.
Note that the hunting characteristics of the Spaniel are found in the modern Golden Retrievers.
In 1911, the kennel club of England recognized the crossbred retriever and was known as the yellow, golden retriever until 1920 when the name officially changed to Golden Retriever.
A few years later, in 1932, the American Kennel Club recognized the Golden Retriever breed. Since then, their popularity has grown.
Physical Appearance of Golden Retriever
Golden retrievers achieve their full height by the first year.
- By then, a mature male retriever would be 23 to 24 inches tall, while mature female’s would be 21 to 22 inches tall.
Conversely, retrievers achieve their mature weight by the second year of their lives.
- As such a 2-year old male weighs between 65 lb. to 75 lb, while a female retriever weighs 55 lb. to 65 lb.
This dog breed features water-repellent lustrous coat available in different golden shades ranging from golden to cream, with a flat or wavy shape appearance.
The striking feature of the Golden Retriever is the natural floppy ears that are moderately large.
Also, the dog breed features a strong and broad head, as well as friendly intelligent eyes.
Another hallmark feature of this breed is the feathery legs, thighs, neck and tail.
Golden retriever’s also boast a sturdy, muscular, well-balanced body with a deep chest.
Health
Generally, Golden Retrievers enjoy good health, which is a hallmark of being a crossbreed.
However, that doesn’t mean that you should not make regular vet visits along with your pooch for clinical examinations for instance on general health conditions and diseases.
Some of the highly recommended health tests for retrievers include hip evaluation, ophthalmologist evaluation, elbow evaluation, and cardiac tests.
In addition, it is recommended that your retriever gets a weekly checkup of ear infections.
Feeding
Ensure you give your retriever high-quality dog food to ensure they obtain all the essential nutrients they need for optimal growth and development.
Since retrievers are considered athletic dogs, they require lots of energy to keep up with their activities.
Once in a while, you can offer them healthy treats, but remember to do it in moderation.
It is also important to note that some Golden Retrievers are prone to gaining excess weight.
Therefore, it is important that you monitor your pooch’s calorie intake and regularly check on their weight.
A good food choice for large dogs is Pure Balance dog food, check it out in our review.
Care
Although Retrievers do not require frequent baths, their nails require frequent trimming.
Retrievers shed their dense coats – light shedding occurs on a daily basis while heavy shedding occurs once or twice a year.
Therefore, you will need to have a good grooming brush to remove the dead hair daily especially during the heavy shedding hot season.
Being sporty dogs, Golden retrievers require daily exercise, so you will need to engage your retriever with bike rides, running, and general walks.
Also, Retrievers love participating in canine sports that include tracking, agility, and obedience.
Training
Golden retrievers are loyal, eager to please their masters and outgoing thus they are fairly easy to train.
They need early obedience training to instill them with good manners since they tend to carry on a puppy-like approach to life to adulthood.
Engage your pup in puppy training classes and exposure to the world (diverse people and places) to help her grow into a well-mannered mature adult.
Check out our post about finding the right dog crate for a golden retriever
Personality
Golden retrievers have great personality traits, and they are very intelligent – considered the 4th smartest dog breed.
An outstanding character trait of this breed is their great temperament that makes them the perfect family pet.
Retrievers are eager to please, responsive and relatively easy to train, explaining why they perform well during obedience training.
They are also playful, friendly, and affectionate pets that get along with and care for other family pets such as cats, and are good with children as well as strangers.
Their barking is welcoming rather than protective.
Golden retrievers are considered service dogs.
They love to work whether on a search and rescue team mission, as therapy dogs, as guide dogs for the disabled, or hunting birds (they are known as bird dogs) etc.
Retrievers make great watchdogs but not security dogs, since they do not have strong guarding instincts, and also due to their friendly nature. However, they will alert you of any approaching strangers.
Another great feature is that they are naturally athletic; they love to chase and catch, and in the same way, they also love to swim.
Other traits include being outgoing, loyal, trustworthy and kind/gentle.
Golden retrievers are social dogs and should not be left in solitude for long periods.
According to experts, they can easily fall into depression when left alone, and should not exceed 7 hours of solitude.
Summary
Retrievers too should be accorded great care in terms of healthcare, regular grooming, and feeding.
Being the athletic and powerful dogs that they are, retrievers should be engaged in frequent exercises that they need.
In doing so, you will not only raise them to be a healthy and happy dog, but also to be the best friend and partner.
