What are Golden Retrievers like and how do they differ from Labs?

http://pedigreedogsexposed.blogspot.com.es/2016/09/fuck-closed-stud-books-fuck-them-to-hell.html

Warning - there's lots of swears!

 

I know a lot of working line golden retrievers and flat coats (I compete in a team with one of each!) and while they are wonderful dogs and great at what they do, I do not think either breed would be particularly good as therapy dogs - but then I don't think most working line labradors would be particularly good therapy dogs either, as they are often too highly-strung. Emily, if you are interested in flatcoats or working line goldens, there are plenty of litters advertised on the DRC website.

 

Last night my OH ran into a guide dog in training - Lab X Flat coat. Apparently that is the breed that the Lion's Club is working with locally now.

 

Our next door neighbour has a golden retriever who is a few weeks older than Stanley so probably about 30 weeks now. She's BEAUTIFUL!

I adore her. So full of life and playful and really really clever. She's really well trained, much better behaved than Stanley. Although that probably says more about me & OH than Golden Retrievers. Stanley loves her as well.

Golden retrievers are like the dog goal for me, OH preferred Labrador (well actually he preferred French bulldog but that's another story altogether) which is why we ended up picking Stanley but one day I really hope to own one.

They always remind me of Shadow off homeward bound - "dogs are supposed to be faithful, loyal and true".

 

I never knew that the GR in that was called Shadow. So, why does everyone think it's weird I have a yellow dog called Shadow, then? Hmm?

 

In the original book, The Incredible Journey, the first dog is a young, red-gold Labrador called Luath. I loved the book as a child, and maybe that was what first made me want a labrador?

(The film, Homeward Bound, was based on The Incredible Journey).

 

I always wanted a GR but my husband didn't. He wanted a Staffie cos he'd had a great experience with one some years earlier and he liked their solid build. So we chose a breed we both liked: a Lab. And now we wouldn't want the GR or the Staffie! I do find a Lab is more solid than a GR and I do love to hug Snowie and I like that I'm hugging a strong, solid dog.

Snowie was once in a TV ad and I asked the animal wrangler what her favourite breed was and she said GR, the easiest dogs to train.

Studies that have been done on neutering and cancer in GRs. They found that late or no neutering reduced the chances of cancer.

And finally, most mornings we meet a flat coat boy, he's about 4 years old and almost as energetic as the day I met him when he was about 1 years old. It was a weird story how his current owner got him. He was taken to a groomer and never collected. The phone number that was given by the woman who'd dropped him off didn't work. And no-one reported him missing. The suspicion is he was just too much energy to cope with. When I met him in the local park, he'd race around like a racehorse and liked to body slam. He hurt my leg on one occasion when I wasn't quick enough to avoid him. When I see him now, he races up to me and presses his body into me, incredibly affectionate (no longer body slams, and I'm guessing then that the body slamming was his way of being affectionate). His new owner says he is the most amazing dog she's ever had although his dog walker tells me that he races around when he gets home after a long walk and has bashed over all the pot plants! Of course this is just one flat coat although I have heard that they require a lot more stimulation than Labradors.

What a decision to make! Why don't you get one of each?

 

Someone actually asked this question on a FB group I'm in. Here are the responses:
‎
Has anyone had any experience of owning a Golden Retreiver? We are looking to get our Tom baby a companion now he's reached the ripe old age of two. He is the most placid and lovely dog and I'm just weighing up whether to opt for another Labrador of a similar temperament (<breeder> obviously!) or something slightly different.

- They are a lovely breed full of character. Very different to a Labrador, I'd say personally slightly scattier, a bit blonder and slightly more air headed.... BUT then I don't live with them just view them from training them and competing against them

- That's it in a nutshell Di!! and they can be stubborn, leave a LOT of hair around the house and are obsessed with mud and water!! But having said all that, I love them. Just would say if you are wanting to do any gundog work with them get a working bred one which would be my next choice. ​

- Agree with Di, don't live with them, just walk or home board them. Lovely character but not for me as I'm a lab girl every time.

- We've had 2 retrievers in the past, yes definitely blonder but in a nice way. Our first had the gentlest softest nature you could get and full of character , loved people . Second was completely different, still lovely nature BUT she was as stubborn as a mule!!! Flatly refused to walk without our other dog ( bum on ground ).
Lovable dogs but not as sharp if you want to train them.
Just personal experience.

- Someone told me the Goldens have a much more distinct doggy odour, would you say that's true?

- I hadn't thought about it until you asked but maybe a little, I did used to bath groom and trim our first quite regularly, our second had to go to the groomers because she wouldn't let me do it ( just wouldn't sit still) . I think wet dog is wet dog what ever the breed . I think the grooming is just so important with golden retrievers as they can get matted so quickly.
They are still lovely dogs, just a bit more maintenance Hope that helps. X​

- I've had Goldens and have a 10 year old now. They're properly blonde, in every way, but they're also cheerful, happy people and the 6 I've lived with have all had brilliant temperaments. They make a lovely foil to my bright black Labradors!

- Vast difference between the show and working Goldie's. We train withe the Golden Retriever Club of Northumberland over the summer months. There's some beautiful Goldie's but seem to take a bit longer to mature. I had a friend that bred show Goldie's and these were really soft and dippy. Real clowns. The coat and all the soggy hair put me off. Labradors are a bit more low maintenance grooming wise.

- Similar differences to show and working labradors. Huge split in both breeds.

- Lovely dogs, great family pets.
My grandparents always had them.
Require a lot more grooming than Labrador's.
Be careful where you get them from, we see more epileptic Golden Retrievers than any other breed at the kennels.
I know a dog trainer who's part of the South East Golden Retriever display team, I can ask her for decent breeders I you like?
She has 6 but doesn't breed anymore, mainly because epilepsy came out in her lines

- The grooming and reported strong doggy odour is my main concern. The shedding I can deal with, my lab sheds constantly. I'm wondering if I should stick with what I know!
- They need a good brush out a couple of times a week and personally, I'd go to a professional groomer and get them tidied up 2-3 times a year, they drop a lot of hair if you don't brush them out regularly.
I'd be more concerned about health issues, than hair.
A 4yr old that stays with us regularly had 11 fits in 2 days a few weeks ago, partially lost use of his legs and had to be euthanized!
- that is really sad, one of the Goldie's I walk also suffers with fits and only a young dog.
- Thank you for the advice, I think it's back to my original plan and go for another lab​

- A golden was our first choice as my husband's parents had five but I thought the coat compared with a lab would be a pain and set my allergies off. They are beautiful temperaments though and always seem to be smiling!

- Our first two were goldies (we also had two yellow labs) and we adored them, but living up on the Pennines, they used to bring so much of the moor back home with every walk, in other words, higher maintenance coat.
There are distinctly two separate types - show and field, with (in my opinion) the field a little more manic. However, I know a number of people who work, and compete in Fts/WTs, their goldies with good success.
I don't remember a smell with them, but hey, love masks all faults
We have had chesapeakes for 25 years .....now there's another breed entirely!

- My ex's wife has a golden retriever. He's a lovely soppy chap, with few brains and a lot of hair and quite smelly (possibly as he's old now). I had him to stay for a weekend and he was quite needy as he's very attached to his owner. Not for me as i prefer the intelligence of a lab but they are lovely dogs.

- Gabby, I hope we haven't put you off as they are wonderful characters and excellent if you have small children (I have 2 small granddaughters). I haven't noticed that mine smell!! (Except when wet and muddy!) What I would say is they fit in very well with family life, as they are so laid back, as indeed do Labs. You can leave them for hours without worry, take them on long car journeys to Northumberland/Pembrokeshire without them batting an eyelid, and take them to pubs and cafes and they will lap up the attention and lay quietly under the table! But see my previous comment above for downsides!

- Not at all I'm extremely lucky that my lab is very laid back, no trouble and therefore a bit of a tough act to follow. I did so much research with him and it really paid off when I found <breeder>. Now it's a question of whether I can find a puppy without waiting too long ​

 

Thank you, thank you! Such great info! I've got to sit down and ponder it all and won't have time to do that until I finish up my holiday and get back online and back to work on Monday.

Lots of food for thought here, but the health thing seems to be a recurring thread and frankly a big concern for me. And the slight air-headedness factor also keeps coming up, though that doesn't bother me (heck, pre-chemo I was a blonde too). Funny as in Stanley Cohen's (I think that's his name?) famous and therefore controversial ranking, GR's are ranked over Labs.

I've got one more day of battling traffic in Rome, then thankfully will be parking my poor little car and sitting still in Florence for the next month. Then my relentless questions will resume. Thank you all again for all your help and patience!

 

Short of getting one of each, you could get a bit of each into one! My sister had the most wonderful dog called Labri -- named by her kids because he was a Labrador. Well, not quite -- his mother was a Lab. His dad a Rottweiller x long-haired Belgian Shepherd. And Labri looked like a Golden Retriever!! I think that is why I always wanted a GR, because of Labri -- as my sister says: he was one of a kind. Such a special dog. I didn't know much then about different breeds and also didn't know he had Rottie in him cos my sister always told people he was a Golden when asked. Later she told me that people would be afraid of him if they knew he had Rottie in him. Instead they loved his Disney look: Lab size with long fluffy ginger hair like a GR with a big fan of a tail, a Lab-shaped face, and amber eyes like a Rottie. And an endearing friendly personality like his Lab mother. He had no health problems (he wasn't neutered) but did become frail at 14 years old. My sister had two puppies who were playing wildly and bumped into him and she thinks that must've damaged his back, cos he could not walk after that incident and she sadly took the decision to have him PTS (although subsequently regretted she took two weeks to decide and prolonged his suffering).

 

Hey, thought I'd do an update here. In the whole "which breed for me?" Labs are still in position one and I'm having a very hard time kicking Rottweilers out of position two, even though I know, know, know that they are not the best choice for me given my current lifestyle and the current state of the breed (especially in Germany). I keep saying I'm 98% decided on Labs and then can't quite say goodbye to that last two percent! Part of "no more Rotties" feels like turning my back on Brogan and Duncan - it's hard to close that door.

Anyway, for the Golden Retrievers, reading through all the great replies here, they sound wonderful but the health thing is disconcerting. So I think for the moment the strategy is to continue to find the right Lab breeder for me, but do a little more "meet and greet" on the GR front. I'm going back to the US in a few weeks (first time in five years!) and have contacted a woman I used to volunteer with in rescue who has had purebred GRs for years and years. She's got a 13 year old and a 6 year old now (along with assorted rescue pups). She kindly agreed to let me meet her dogs and talk GRs with her. I also found a GR breeder near my town in Germany (where I'll return in November) so can arrange a visit with her once I'm back.

Now the real challenge is to try to find some Labrador breeders who will have puppies next summer and are the kind of temperament I'm looking for. But that's another thread!