Dog Breed of the Week: Golden Retriever
Wednesday October 29, 2008
I can honestly say that I have rarely met an unhappy Golden Retriever! Even when I have worked with sick, neglected or abused Goldens, they still manage to keep wagging those tails. These loveable and highly loyal dogs bring a smile to my face whenever I see them. The Golden Retriever is one of the world's most popular dogs, but this comes as no surprise to those of us who love the breed! With its excellent temperament, happy demeanor, intelligence and loyalty, the Golden is a wonderful companion and an ideal service or therapy dog. This breed can also be considered one of the very best types of dogs for kids!
About the photo (from Carol):
This is our dog, Butters. He's a 7 yr old Golden Retriever rescue. He's been with us, his "forever home", for 6 yrs and he is everything Golden: happy, funny, sweet, affectionate, loves people and dogs, loves his humans!!!In March of 2008, 1 month after our Springer died from bladder cancer, I noticed a lump on his side. I took him to our Vet and upon aspiration, he scheduled him for surgery in 2 days. He had a baseball sized lump removed from his side, all edges were clear of cancer and he's doing great.
While I have many pictures of Butters, this one represents him best. When he sees that you are looking at him, he immediately wants to be as close to you as possible - it makes getting distance pictures a little difficult and we love that about him.
Now it's your turn - tell us about your own beloved Golden Retriever!
Photo of Butters © Carol
Comments
We have shared our life with Golden’s for 13 years-what a joy it has been. We lost our first girl last Christmas from lymphoma; she was a gentle, obedient soul that just wanted to be close to her family, our second is 8 and truly a miracle; she had both hips removed for dysplasia as a pup, is blind from diabetes, pops a pill daily for hypothyroidism and has such a sweet personality and loving behavior in spite of it all. We were told she was dying at the age of 3–we have invested significantly to give her a loving, caring long life… wouldn’t change any of it. Sure wish we could clone her without all the medical problems! Our third is a recently rescued 7 year old girl who arrived, plopped down and made herself at home. She has some minor issues, but who wouldn’t after losing her home a few times? Certainly this is where she’s meant to be–she’s like a ghost of the one we lost.
We seem to get the ones that need special care…..the love and laughs we get from them are worth all the challenges and vet visits.
Being greeted every day with those dark eyes, an extended paw and that wagging tail brings a smile to your face….everyone needs to be loved by a Golden at least once in their life!
My Golden is truly my best friend. His name is Duncan, but we call him “Bear”, short for Sugarbear. He is ten years old now, but you’d never know it by looking or interacting with him. When he was just a few months old, he escaped from our yard and was hit by a car the day before thanksgiving. When I arrived at the vets office half an hour after I heard of the accident, the vet told me that he was badly injured and most likely wouldnot survive. I insisted on seeing him, and even though the vet claimed he was too sedated to recognize me or respond to me, he broke the door off of the cage they had placed him in to get to me as soon as I walked into the rear room of the hospital. Needless to say, he survived, and to this day, shows no signs of any trauma or physical impairment. He has been right at my side every day since, and has even saved my life from two very aggressive stray Rotties. As soon as they rounded the corner and set their sights on me, Duncan was there, intercepting them and ultimately besting them in the battle to protect me from their powerful jaws. I will never forget his loyalty, devotion, and love. I can truly say that Duncan is the sweetest, most loyal companion I have ever known. His personality is so outstanding, so dynamic, and so Golden. Duncan doesn’t care where we are, on a job site (I am an electrician), at the park, or just walking, as long as he is with me. My wife swore he had a breakdown when I was admitted to hospital, saying he seemed very distraught and very upset that I was not home, relaxing on the couch with him like we usually do. Duncan is a true Golden Retriever, loyal, loving, affectionate to all, very intelligent, and very much a family member, not merely a pet.
I love the stories I’ve read – you can always spot a golden owner, the way we write about our dogs – they really are members of our family and when we lose one it’s the worst feeling in the world.
We lost our first golden at 6 due to lymphoma. She went through a month and a half of chemo and held up like a trooper but the cancer was too agressive and like that, she was gone. I was so heartbroken and distraught that I didn’t think I’d be able to love another dog as much as Abby, but within 6 months we were on the lookout for a new addition to the family. Brulee came into our lives as an 8 week old pup and he’s now 4. We call him ’scuba-dog’ because his favorite thing to do is hunt for rocks at the bottom of our creek. He finds one by pawing for it, then sticks his entire head under water until he has the rock in his mouth. He trots out of the creek like he’s just found gold, drops the rock on the ground and goes back in for another.
We recently adopted a 9 year old golden girl named Mandy and she’s been with us for about 6 months. She is funny, opinionated and grateful – There is something about rescue dogs, because they are so appreciative to be in their forever home and it shows every day. Despite the cancers these dogs seem to aquire
My Yogi Bear is my second golden. My first was KoKo. I had her for 11 years before her kidneys failed and we had her put to sleep. I buried her at my Mom and Dad’s place next to the other pets I had as a kid. I missed her so much I dreamt about her. Then about a year later I got Yogi as puppy. He grew up with my teenage kids and does not consider himself a dog, but one of the kids. He is loyal, friendly, a little hard headed, and loves to be with me in the outdoors. As an outdoorsman, I like to boat and explore islands on the Mississippi. He is right besides me on the boat and loves to seek out deer and turkey. Yet when he comes home, he sets right next to me at my feet. Truly loyal fellow. I still think about my old Koko now and then, but take solace in my best buddy Yogi.
I lost my Golden “honey” to cancer five years ago. It was the worst thing I ever went through in my life. Then three weeks after honey passed on we found “Shianne” who first served as a distraction from the agonizing pain of losing “Honey” However, it was not my decision to have another dog. I never thought I could love another dog after Honey. But, my family couldn’t bear to see me in so much pain. I used to drive with Honey’s urn beside me in the passenger seat, roll the window down and I’d envision the cool breeze blowing in her glorious face.
I found “Shianne through a breeder in Lindsay, Ont. Shianne came running up to me, I held her in my arms and I knew she was the one. It took a while for me to love her because I felt I was being disloyal to Honey. No one will ever replace Honey. I’ve grown to love Shianne very much and I couldn’t imagine life without her. She has brought me so much joy and restored meaning in my life.
Goldens definitely are the best friends anyone could ever hope for.
We have rescued four Golden Retrievers and loved all of them. Ringo is our most recent one and we got him at age 8 and he is now 11 years old. He loves his stuffed animals and every time he walks through the family room he picks one up and proceeds on to the kitchen. During the day they are all over the floor. He loves to squeak them and doesn’t chew them. He is a loving companion and likes to be where I am or my husband. Life just wouldn’t be the same without a Golden Retriever.
My Golden is always happy. I walk him once a day to the park and he just runs. The rest of the time I have a big back yard and all I have to do is throw the ball LOL. They are a really easy breed. He is a joy to have. He is 4 1/2. I cant believe how time flies by. I remember being able to pick him up in my arms. I couldn’t live without one in my life! They are the best breed. I have a Yellow Lab too. But I find that the Golden is a better dog then the Lab. Much easier to train in my situation. The breed in my oppion is perfect!
We lost our girl Taffy in May of ‘07. She had parvo when she was 9 weeks old. She had to have a foot of intestines removed. It took her almost three months to recover. She was always thin, and we struggled to find food that she could eat. At age 2 1/2 she got pancriatic cancer. It was a horrible loss. She was loving and cheerful thru most of it.
In September ‘07, we went to our local Pet Co to love on some puppies that were up for adoption. We met Max there. He was a three month old rescue pup. Now he is a year old, weighs 91 lbs, and is just an absolute joy. He is so trusting and loving, and has been a wonderful addition to our family. Goldens are so incredibly teachable, warm, and funny.
My Lovely Golden is 5 yrs old. Zoe is a beauty. To me she is the most beautiful, warm hearted, smart, loyal friend you can have. Her face radiates warmth. She always rushes to greet us at the door (unless she’s done something wrong). And boy is she emotional!! She cry’s (literally) when we have guests or when we don’t see her for awhile (grandma steals her for a week at a time here and there). While she’s crying, she searches around to find a “gift” to bring you. That gift is pretty much anything close by she can fit in her mouth. She is such a good girl that she hardly knows what a leash is. She sits at curbs, stops when you say stop….and when you say “go”, look out cause that girl is gone! I love her love her love her. We just welcomed a new baby girl into our family so my poor Zo-Zo is kinda on the back burner for mommy time right now. It breaks my heart that I can’t take her for her daily walk to the park anymore. I know she misses it. We’ll be back to our agendas soon!!!
These are all great stories. My Golden is named Dottie, and she’s about 9 years old. A coworker found her running along a road in rural Texas, and after five weeks, when no owner had stepped forward to claim her, we did. That was more than eight years ago, and my wife knew that Dottie was supposed to be with us. As my first dog, Dottie has taught me all kinds of great things, and she’s gotten us into Golden rescue work. She has the typical happy Golden energy, and she’s a real showoff when it comes to things like obedience work; she loves making me happy. She’s a super-strong swimmer who loves swimming in the ocean. Dottie also loves tennis balls, and she carefully carries four of them at a time…what a hoot! I agree that there’s nothing else like the love that Goldens offer. They can change a person’s entire outlook on life; Dottie has done so for me, and I will be forever grateful.
We just lost our perfect boy, Barkley, this morning. He was 7 years and 11 months old. He was diagnosed with lymphoma one year ago. We did everything possible to save him – chemo, radiation and more chemo. Through it all, he remained his happy, loving and playful self. He was the best dog we ever had and it will be almost impossible to move on. He loved to get us up in the morning and get the paper. This morning was his last and he died in my wife’s arms. We are so grateful for having him in our lives and teaching us to live in the moment. Once we get past the grief, we will start looking for another Golden Retriever “angel dog”.
Bill & Charlotte,
I just wanted to extend my heartfelt sympathy in your loss of Barkley. It is apparent that you did all you could for him just by the length of time he survived the disease, but I know all too well the struggle in your heart right now. We want to have them forever because they shower us with such love and affection; Barkley will let you know when the time is right and which Golden he will choose to bring into your life. Be comforted in knowing that Barkley is running healthy and free with our Jake at the Rainbow Bridge…a beautiful place for animals to wait for their human family.
Lynn, Dakota & Ziva
I have three of the most beautiful golden’s ever! Lola, Casey and Yogi. Yogi is the 7 yr old master of the house, Casey is his younger assistant in crime and Lola is a lady of the most elegant. We live on a large property and they get lots of exercise. We get them to the beach almost once a week for a couple of hours to run, run and run some more. They are kind, smart, loving and undemanding. They are the light of my life. If you are thinking of getting a dog, a golden is a great great choice. PS Dogs are a committment for a lifetime, they are not to be discarded like a piece of trash. Please do some sole searching before you acquire a golden or any dog, it is YOUR RESPONSIBILITY to take good care of them. If you do you will be repaid one million times over.
I have a Golden named Bentley. Oddly, he won’t retrieve anything.
He does have other assets though. I take him dogsledding with my three other dogs. He’s great pulling a sled…except when he makes his occasional sudden stop to make snow angels. Great dog!
Well, I don’t own a Golden, but as a dog walker and pet sitter, we have several Golden’s as clients. They are all such loving dogs, as is the case with most Golden’s you will ever come across. They just love the attention and are very gentle dogs. They are great for kids, they love to play, and they give you lots of love right back. There may just be a Golden Retriever in my future.
I am enjoying my first golden, Dexter, I found him the day before my birthday last year. He was a rescue, born bobtailed, he was smart from the start, housebreaking in days. I had a hip replacement this summer and my main concern when I first got home was to protect myself from his attention when we had our first greeting after 16 days apart. It was amazing, he wouldnt jump up beside me like we usually did, he sat at my feet and seemed resurved. Guess my feelings were hurt until I realized he understood my health problems and didnt want to hurt me. We are just now getting to that point where he is not as afraid of breaking me. His intelligence, compassion, and love have won me over. It was two days after I first saw him to decide he would be joining our family, Im so glad I made that decision, he is like a light in my life, my constant companion, may I live up to trust and faith he has in me.
When I was trying to decide on a breed of dog to choose, I read this in a book about Goldens: “To a Golden Retriever, life is one big party…and humans are invited.” Doesn’t that speak perfectly to those big bundles of hairy joy? So we welcomed Nelly into our home and lives – we had first pick of the litter and she turned out to be the “runt.” She is now 5 and a half. When she was about 2, we rescued a male golden who was just a little bit older. AJ is a lover and has the quirkiest habits and personality. He is the alpha; he ALWAYS has a ball in his mouth and I just can’t imagine my life without them. (I CAN however, imagine life without all the hair!!!) LOL
Hey everyone. I was wondering, i have a Bichon Frise and i saw the most adorable sweetest 2 month old golden. I am a junior in High School and having a Golden has been my dream for years. I was wondering, because i have to make the decision:I am an All-American track runner, and i get home around 445 each day depending on my schedule. My dad is usually home or my mom is there one of the two. I heard they need a lot of attention just like Bichon’s but does that mean so much that when we are home to love them for everything that they are worth? or like if im not home, but at school they will get distraught. I just wanted to know, i will love this puppy with everything that i have in me. thanks guys =)
we lost our little girl Holly a beautiful golden last week to lymphoma she was only 7 years old. she was our best friend and we will miss her forever. our home and our lives will never be the same now she has gone, she was the best thing that ever happend to us, such a good girl all the time.(we miss you and love you baby)
i am also in middle school and i am getting a golden in 2 days. i have seen him and i will name him charley. hes 7 wks old and i would appreciate any advice possible from golden owners. plz comment me for advice so charley will have the best life possible
thanks guys
I had my 1st golden and he died at 8 1/2 with a bowling ball sized tumor. I still miss him. I got a female before he passed and a white male and bred them. I just have the one pup. In between Gustav and we evacuated w/8 cats, the dog, and guinea pig & Ike; they found a tumor and it was cancerous, the size of 1/2 ping pong ball. Then he had pneumonia. He was 15 mos. old when all of this happened!!! Now he is sick again, throwing up water, picking at his food
and we are going to the vet tomorrow. This dog has given me so much happiness. I am an epileptic and my husband job takes him away for a long time and its important that I have
a dog who knows if I have a seizure or not. Well, I just want to share.
My goldens are the loves of my life. They are sisters, but were born in a different litter. Baileys is the oldest, she is 17 months old, and Coffee, the youngest one is 10 months old. I don’t call them Baileys and Coffee often though, I call them B-unit, and Scuzi. I don’t know why, I just started calling them that and now Coffee thinks Scuzi is her name haha. They aren’t Golden however. They are more of a cream colour, like their mother. They are the most adorable things in the world in my eyes. They are loving, playful, and very happy dogs. They often times like to play fight and it is quite amusing to watch. Its funny because Coffee usually comes out the winner, but I know Baileys is letting her win. Funny story about my dogs and me in a fight. I love all animals even if they don’t love me, except for my neighbors dogs. There is a hole under the fence that they continually dig up so they constantly come into my yard and poo, and dig up my mothers garden and pee on our stuff. There are 3 of them, their breed names are: Boxer, Boston Terrier, and Chihuahua. They will bark at you if you go near them or their yard, but they probably won’t attack you unless you attack them. I usually leave Coffee and Baileys outside, on their leads, and I don’t have to worry because the other dogs don’t go near them. One day they came into my yard and totally ruined it and almost bit my little brother, so I got fed up and went out their and tried to shoo them back into their own yard but they barked at me and growled and they started to advance on me, so I backed off and was planning on going over to my neighbor and telling her that enough is enough. As soon as I turn around the chihuahua bites the back of my leg and the boxer jumps on me. I start trying to keep the boxer from biting my face off. And all of a sudden I see Coffee tackle the boxer off me, and see Baileys pick up the Chihuahua and toss it away, she then started to fight with the Boston Terrier. Coffee is a tank, I must say, because she was only 9 months at the time, fighting this big Boxer that has been with my neighbor ever since I moved in 5 years ago.(she got it like a week after we moved in and she already had the other 2)Coffee and the boxer squared off and grabbed it by the neck and ripped it to the ground and then got on top and continued to manhandle it, all the while Baileys is fending off two little dogs. At this time I got up and the Chihuahua came back and bit me in the same spot again. At this tome I was pissed right off so I kicked the Chihuahua into the fence, and picked it up and tossed it over. I looked back and somehow the Boxer was on top of Coffee now, so I ran and tackled the boxer off of her. I got up again, and the boxer and the Boston Terrier were about to attack me again, but Coffee and Baileys came up and attacked them first but I called them back to me and they got on either side of me and growled at the other two dogs furiously. The two dogs then ran back into their own yard, and Coffee and Baileys look at me and sit down beside each other with their tongues out panting at me like nothing happened. They had no scratches, bite marks, or any wound of any kind on them. All they had was a lot of dirt on them(then again so did I). After that my neighbor comes out side and starts yelling at me telling me to control my dogs and axing me why I kicked her dog and threw it. So I was like ” Me control my dogs? your the one who lets your dogs come in my yard bark at me, dig up my flowers, scare my brother, poo and pee everywhere and you have the nerve to tell me to control my dogs. Your lucky I don’t have your dogs put down for attacking me. Get your f****** dogs under control before something bad happens, because I swear, the next time this happens, I’m not going to call off my dogs and I won’t just throw and kick your dog. I will end them. F*** YOU!!!” and I walked off with Baileys and Coffee. They are very aggressive when I’m in trouble. I remember one time, my house was broken into because I was an idiot and I used my emergency house key the day before to get into my house and my friend was their with his friends whom I didn’t know. So anyway, they broke in and I was in bed and Baileys and Coffee heard them and snuck into the kitchen. They waited until the guys came into the kitchen and barked furiously at them and I got up and grabbed my guns and went out their and was like to the robbers ” Hey yo I know you, you the mothaf***** that was in my house the other day whats going on, I see you met Baileys and Coffee, well if you want to know a secret, They are the most protective and aggressive dogs I have ever seen. They can do more than just bark and in case you haven’t noticed I got 2 more friends for you in my hands. So unless you want a bullet in your ass and bite marks all over your face, I suggest you leave before we end you.” the whole time I was saying this, Baileys and Coffee were again on either side of me growling furiously. So the dude ran out the door and I called the cops and I don’t know if they got him, but he still has my key, so I had to change the locks. My dogs are the most loving creatures on earth but if you aren’t my friend, your their enemy.