A Puppy Love Guide About the Golden Retriever, Tips for Bringing your Golden Pup Home, and Doggone Delicious Recipes!

A Puppy Love Guide@

About the Golden Retriever,

Tips for Bringing Your Golden Pup Home,

and Doggone Delicious Recipes!

Virginia Clark

Table of Contents

Part I

About the Golden Retriever

Part II

Tips for Bringing Your Golden Pup Home

Part III:

Doggone Delicious Recipes!

Part I

About the Golden Retriever

The Golden retriever, sometimes called Yellow retriever, is the third most popular breed, according to the American Kennel Club, behind the Labrador retriever and German shepherd. Golden retrievers are known for their luxurious coat, beautiful faces, kind eyes, and endlessly wagging the tail. They are highly intelligent and respond well to basic and advanced training. This makes them suitable for a number of roles including service dogs for hearing/sight impaired and the disabled, tracking, natural disaster search and rescue, bomb and narcotics detection, and game bird hunting. They love to perform tricks and have an instinctive love of water. Their lifelong affection, devotion, loyalty, and ability to learn make them an excellent family companion. They are eager to have a purpose, are quick to learn, and interpret tasks and instructions with ease. Noted for their intelligence, the breed ranks fourth in dog intelligence following the Border collie, Poodle, and German shepherd.

Their many endearing traits also include, but are not limited to being loving, well-mannered, and intelligent. They are easy to train and are gentle with children. They are charming, devoted and self-assured. Energetic and loving, they find great joy in pleasing their masters. Being highly trainable, they excel in competitions. Known to be a very social breed, they are friendly with everyone, including other dogs. They are not known for guarding instincts, but they do make good watchdogs. The Golden retriever may become destructive if he does not get daily attention and exercise. Due to their versatility and playfulness, they make for the ideal choice as a family pet in both suburban and country environments.

The origin of the breed dates back to the late 1800’s near Scotland. Crossing a yellow Flat Coat retriever with the now extinct Tweed Water spaniel was the beginning of its inception. Credited with the development of the breed, Lord Tweedmouth (also known as Dudley Marjoribanks) later crossed with the Newfoundland, Bloodhound, Irish setter, Wavy-Coated retriever, and Black retrievers. The end result of the multiple crossbreeding produced sporting dogs that could combat adverse climate conditions when hunting fowl and game in the marshes, ponds, streams, and rivers. He called this breed the Golden Flat-Coat. The breed was introduced in the United States in 1912, where they became formally known as the Golden retriever. The Golden retriever gained instant popularity when first recognized by the AKC in 1925. In 1938, the American Golden Retriever Club was formed.

The average height of the male Golden retriever is 22 - 24 inches and the female is 20 - 22 inches. The average weight for the male is 60 -80 pounds and the female is 55 -70 pounds. Life expectancy is 10 – 12 years.

The breed is considered to be a sturdy, medium to large-sized dog with a build that is slightly longer than it is tall

They have an athletic build with well-developed hind and forequarters

Physical characteristics include: a strong neck and broad skull; a straight, slightly tapered muzzle

The nose is black or brown/black

The teeth meet in a scissor bite

The eyes are dark brown

The ears are short

The tail is usedasa rudder for swimming ease and is thick at the base with the underside being thick yet feathery; for adequate protection against the elements, they have a duel coat with a short downy undercoat and a long outer coat that is water resistant

The coat is dense and can be firm, straight, or wavy; coat colors