Is the golden retriever your favorite breed? Test your golden retriever smarts by checking our list of Oddball Facts About the Playful Golden Retriever.
01/04/2023 | Sniff & Bark
The golden retriever is one of America’s most beloved dog breeds. It is a beautiful dog with Scottish ancestry, possessing a thick golden coat that earned it its name. Agile and friendly, golden retrievers are just as happy being family dogs as they are performing tasks. Because of this, you’ll often see them in search and rescue operations, as seeing eye dogs, and winning medals in dog shows.
Considered a medium-sized dog, the golden retriever dog is known for its short ears, intelligent-looking brown eyes, lean jaw that’s narrower than a Labrador’s, and a long and feathery tail that contributes to its swimming prowess.
Despite their playful natures, golden retrievers are outgoing, reliable, affectionate easily trainable, and eager to please their masters. They are strong and muscular but impressively gentle with children. Due to their builds and personalities, golden retrievers are perfect companions for outgoing individuals who love the outdoors. They can keep up with hikes, are great for retrieving prey, and love swimming. No wonder they’re so well-liked!
Let’s get started on our oddball facts about the playful golden retriever.
Most golden retrievers fall under three types: American, Canadian, and English golden retrievers. American retrievers have thicker coats than their Canadian cousins while English retrievers are more heavyset.
However, there are countless other types out there such as:
An English cream golden retriever has a cream-colored coat and comes from an English lineage. They’re sometimes also referred to as cream golden retrievers.
As you probably guessed, goldadors are a combination of golden retrievers and Labrador retrievers. Labrador golden retrievers began to be purposely bred in the early 2000s with the intention of creating a hybrid that bore the sensitivity of golden retrievers and the patience of Labrador retrievers. As a result, trainable pups that made excellent service dogs were born. Goldadors are popular candidates for guide dogs, emotional support canines, bomb detection squads, and search and rescue dogs.
Also referred to as mini goldens, miniature golden retrievers are a mix of cocker spaniels and golden retrievers. Sometimes, mini goldens are also combined with mini poodles.
To give you an idea of how much smaller they are than the standard breed, miniature golden retrievers are four to six inches shorter than standard retrievers. Regular golden retrievers stand 20 to 24 inches tall while mini goldens are between 14 and 20 inches.
A red golden retriever or red retriever is no different from your standard golden retriever except for its color. Instead of a light golden coat, the red retriever has a richer and deeper brown coloring with hints of red.
Similarly, a dark golden retriever has a deeper gold color than your average retriever dog. Standard colors for golden retrievers are dark golden, light golden, cream, and golden but you’ll find many variations based on color such as white retrievers.
While we’re on the subject of colors, did you know that you can tell what color golden retrievers will be when they grow up by looking at their ears as puppies?
If you’re looking at golden retriever puppies for adoption, this is a cool trick for predicting what their colors will be as adults. Goldens usually have darker ears when they’re puppies. As they mature, their coats will eventually match the color of their ears.
This fun and lovable breed takes the cake when it comes to setting world records. Two goldens are listed in the Guinness Book of World Records: one for having the loudest bark in the world and another for holding the most tennis balls in his mouth.
Charlie from Adelaide, Australia had a record-breakingly loud bark that measured 113.1 decibels. That’s just seven decibels short of a blaring siren!
Meanwhile, playful Finley Molloy from New York demonstrated that he’ll always have the most balls in his court by holding six tennis balls at the same time in his mouth.
It’s official: golden retrievers are exceptionally wacky, astounding, and fun!
They’re friendly, gentle, playful, intelligent, and wonderful family dogs. Is there anything a golden retriever can’t do? Golden retrievers aren’t naturally good guard dogs because they aren’t usually aggressive and don’t bark a lot. Once a stranger interacts with them, they become instant friends.
However, this doesn’t mean that they can’t be trained to protect you. According to a long-time owner of the breed: “...golden retrievers make good guard dogs. Though they may require some training because they aren’t naturally aggressive, their loyal nature will ensure that you and your family are safe.”
The golden-haired breed is kind and empathetic to the point that they’re known to take care of humans and other animals.
Whether it’s pregnant moms, babies, cats, or tigers, golden retrievers get along infamously well with all of them. Just try searching the internet for clips of goldens taking another baby animal under its wing as Veda did. Veda is a golden retriever from a wildlife preserve in South Carolina. She’s become viral for raising various animals, including Gemma, a tiger cub. Gemma eventually grew to a size that rivaled the golden retriever’s but their close rapport and kinship can still be seen in the famous YouTube video that’s been viewed over 3.7 million times.
Labrador retrievers have many wonderful traits. One of the things that make them stand out is they retain much of their playfulness from puppyhood. If you want a well-rounded family dog and can give the breed the physical and mental stimulation it needs, look no further than this friendly and warm-hearted breed.
Definitely. Golden retrievers are good family dogs. Just make sure that you can give them the level of physical activity they need. Because of their builds and lineage, they love the outdoors and need regular exercise.
Nope. Golden retrievers aren’t excessive barkers though they will bark when they need to. The usual reason why golden retrievers bark is because they want you to pay attention to them. They may also bark to alert you of strangers.
Golden retrievers are generally healthy dogs with life spans of up to 12 years. One of the main reasons why some goldens are prone to certain ailments is because of poor breeding practices. Some of the common ailments for this breed are skin conditions, cataracts, heart problems as well as elbow and hip dysplasia.
Where do we begin? Golden retrievers are wonderful family dogs because they get along with everybody, including other pets and children. They’re easy to train, eager to please, and will shower their families with tons of affection. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that they also have a gorgeous, golden, silky coat!
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