Golden Retriever: Training Insights & Behavior Traits

Scotland

Golden Retrievers were originally bred in Scotland in the 19th century to retrieve waterfowl and game birds. They were popular with the Scottish elite who loved hunting and needed an energetic dog capable of bringing the birds back unharmed.

As guns became more effective over long distances, more birds were being felled and the need for the perfect dog with the retrieval ability to help the hunter became important.

The breed had to be capable of navigating their way through rough terrain, over long distances, determined and undeterred, retrieve the birds where they had fallen and bring them back to the hunter intact. The Golden Retriever was excellent at performing these tasks and so their popularity as a great retriever grew.

Although they are still used for hunting, Golden’s excel at many other activities including search and rescue and guide work.

United Kingdom

The Golden Retriever was first bred in Scotland and then spread throughout the UK. The United Kingdom style of Golden Retrievers are slightly different than the North American types with thick coats and larger body weight.

British-type Golden Retrievers can be found in Europe and Australia. They have a larger, broader skull, larger chest and forequarters and are more muscular than those found in the USA and Canada. The coat is generally lighter in color than in the American types, with the blonder color being very popular in Australia. The darker colors of gold, red or mahogany are hardly ever seen.

Golden Retrievers have muscular bodies with great endurance, owing to their origins as hunting and gun dogs.

United States

In the USA in 1938, the Golden Retriever Club of America was founded. Golden Retrievers are ranked number two for American Kennel Club Registrations. According to the pure bred dog guide recognized by the American Kennel Club, Golden Retrievers are judged based on a variety of traits: color, coat, ears, feet, nose, body, etc.

Canada

The Honourable Archie Marjori Banks took a Golden Retriever to Canada in 1881, and registered 'Lady' with the AKC in 1894. These are the first records of the breed in these two countries. The breed was first registered in Canada in 1927, and the Golden Retriever Club of Ontario (GRCO) was formed in 1958. The cofounders of the GRCO were Cliff Drysdale, an Englishman who had brought over an English Golden, and Jutta Baker, daughter-in-law of Louis Baker, who owned Northland Kennels. The GCRO in later years expanded to become the Golden Retriever Club of Canada.

Why Pool Safety Training Matters

Goldens love the water and won’t take much coercing to get them swimming. This comes as no surprise considering their origin. As dog owners, it’s our job to make sure they are safe. If you have a pool in your backyard be sure that your dog is trained in pool safety. You might well ask, why would a Golden Retriever that can swim efficiently, need pool safety training? They have to be able to locate the stairs as some dogs stubbornly try to exit the way they went in. There have been incidences where dogs or young puppies have fallen into a backyard pool and the owners have found them near exhaustion or worse dead from trying to get themselves out of the pool. Your dog needs to know where the stairs or exit from the pool is, or they could just swim around for hours, attempting to get out of the pool where they went in. They can easily tire and drown.

Even though Golden Retrievers are adept at swimming and are addicted to water, they still need to be trained how to exit backyard pools safely. A dog can drown in a backyard pool, even an adept swimmer like the Golden Retriever. The reason being is, the side of the pool is slippery and does not allow a dog to gain a foothold, to allow it to easily climb out.

It is hard-wired in the domestic dog as it was in the wild dogs, that when they fall into a creek or a river, they would instinctively attempt to exit the water at the exact spot where they entered or fell in. This is nature’s way of protecting them for those times when they fall through the ice while maneuvering frozen creeks or rivers. A fall into icy water could be fatal and the instinct is to get out quickly, not to swim around and find another option.

Pool Safety Tips for Golden Retrievers

• Start water training as soon as your new dog or puppy is venturing outside and near the pool.
• Fit a firm collar and long leash to your puppy or dog and let them enter the pool and swim around a little while. Now gently guide them, using the long leash, to the stairs or where you know they can exit the pool with ease and allow them to exit the pool on their own. You are conditioning your dog or puppy to locate the right way out of the pool.
• If you help them, you can slow their ability to be able to get themselves out of trouble if ever they were to fall into the pool or in an emergency when you are not there.
• If it is impossible for your dog or puppy to exit easily, then your puppy/dog must NEVER be left alone near the pool or he could drown.
• Once you see that your dog can exit easily, then start having the pup or dog enter at different points, still attached to the leash. Make sure that they are capable of working out how to swim towards the exit or stairs and get out of the pool.