Golden Retriever

Who it suits

Someone who wants a dog close by. The Golden Retriever is an emphatically relationship-driven breed — it wants to be in the room you are in, and it enjoys work mainly because it is doing it with you.

It is gentler and more sensitive than a Labrador. A raised voice unsettles it more than people expect, and harsh methods do not work at all. It is exactly that temperament that makes it one of the most common assistance dogs.

It does not suit a flat that is empty all day. Being left alone is the commonest cause of problem behaviour in this breed.

What it looks like

• Height: dogs 56–61 cm, bitches 51–56 cm at the withers
• Weight: dogs 30–34 kg, bitches 25–30 kg
• Coat: long, straight or wavy, with a dense water-resistant undercoat and feathering on the legs, chest and tail
• Colour: any shade of gold or cream; red and mahogany are outside the standard
• Lifespan: usually 10–12 years

Colour says nothing about temperament. A white Golden Retriever is simply a very pale individual, and a dark gold one is not an American type — these are shades of the same breed, and selling them at a premium as something rare is a sales trick.

How much exercise it needs

Count on an hour and a half to two hours a day. The Golden Retriever is not a sprinter — a steady pace suits it better than a fast one — but it needs to be outdoors and with you.

Retrieving is a genuine need for this dog, not a trick. A dog that nobody ever throws anything for will find a substitute, and it is usually something you did not want.

Training and the first months

• Being alone is trained from day one — in minutes at a time, before a problem exists. In this breed that matters more than obedience.
• Gentleness instead of severity. A raised voice makes it shut down rather than comply; it learns that when something goes wrong, doing nothing is safer.
• Mouthing hands in the first months is part of a breed developed to carry things. It is not solved by forbidding it but by putting something it is allowed to carry in its mouth.

Feeding and coat care

An adult eats roughly 300–400 g of dry food a day in two meals. Like the Labrador it tends to put on weight, and as with the Labrador the ribs must be possible to feel with your hand.

The coat needs work, and that is the part people underestimate. Brushing two or three times a week, daily during the moult. Mats form behind the ears and under the feathering and then have to be cut out.

Dry the ears after every bath or swim — a drop ear plus damp is the commonest cause of infection.

Common health problems

• Hip and elbow dysplasia — inherited; the parents must have scored radiographs.
• Cancer — unfortunately more common in this breed than in most, particularly in later life. It is the leading cause of death in Golden Retrievers.
• Progressive retinal atrophy and cataract — both can be screened for.
• Ear and skin infections, often on an allergic background.
• A heart defect (subaortic stenosis) — detected by auscultation and ultrasound.
• Gastric torsion — keep the dog quiet for at least an hour after meals.

This is not a diagnostic guide. If you can see something wrong with the dog, it belongs at the vet, not on the internet.

Anything else to consider

The Golden Retriever sheds heavily and constantly. Long hair with undercoat shows up in a home more than a Labrador’s does.

And it is a dog that ages sooner than you would expect of a large breed — at eight it is usually already a senior. Those years with it are good ones, though.