Interesting facts about Golden Retrievers

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The Golden Retriever is a breed of hunting dogs.

It is a gun dog that retrieves shot waterfowl, such as ducks and upland game birds, during hunting and shooting parties.

The name “retriever” refers to the breed’s ability to retrieve shot game undamaged due to their soft mouth.

The Golden Retriever was originally bred in Scotland in the mid-19th century.

At that time, wildfowl hunting was a popular sport for the wealthy Scottish elite, but the existing retriever breeds were inadequate for retrieving downed game from both water and land.

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The original cross was of a yellow-coloured retriever, ‘Nous’, with a Tweed Water Spaniel female dog, ‘Belle’. All Golden Retrievers are related to these two dogs.

Later integrations of Irish Setter, Bloodhound, and more Tweed Water Spaniel produced the retriever we know today.

The breed was created to be stronger than other retrievers but more gentle with people so they could be trained very easily.

The golden retriever was first shown in England in 1908 and was registered with the American Kennel Club in 1925.

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Today, Golden Retrievers are a very popular kind of dog.

The average lifespan for a Golden Retriever is about 11 to 12 years.

Labradors are a medium-large breed.

Males are from 56 to 61 cm (22 to 24 in) tall at the shoulder and weigh between 27 and 36 kg (60 and 80 lbs).

Females are from 51 to 56 cm (20 to 22 in) tall at the shoulder and weigh between 25 and 32 kg (55 and 70 lbs).

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As indicated by their name, their coats occur in light golden to dark golden colors.

The topcoat is water-resistant and slightly wavy, and sheds in small amounts throughout the year. The undercoat is soft and keeps the retriever cool in summer and warm in winter; it sheds in the spring and fall.

They always have brown eyes and can show a lot of emotions with them.

The typical Golden Retriever is calm, naturally intelligent and biddable, and with an exceptional eagerness to please.

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Golden Retrievers are very good family dogs because they are extremely sweet and gentle with young children and do not bark very much.

They love to catch tennis balls and frisbees. Goldens also enjoy the water.

The Golden Retriever is also popular as a disability assistance dog, such as being a guide dog for the blind and a hearing dog for the deaf.

It the 3rd most popular family dog breed in the United States the 5th most popular in Brazil and Australia, and the 8th most popular in the United Kingdom.

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In July 2006, the Golden Retriever Club of Scotland organized a gathering of Golden Retriever enthusiasts at the ancestral home, Guisachan House. A photograph taken by photographer Lynn Kipps to commemorate the occasion captured 188 Golden Retrievers, and so holds the record for the most Golden Retrievers in one image.

The loudest bark by a dog measured 113.1 dB and was produced by Golden Retriever Charlie, owned by Belinda Freebairn (Australia) during the Purina Bark in the Park event in Rymill Park, Adelaide, Australia, on 20 October 2012. Most dogs bark between 80 and 90 decibels in volume, about as loud as a shouting human.

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The world record for the most tennis balls held in the mouth by a dog at one time is five. Augie, a Golden Retriever owned by the Miller family in Dallas, Texas, USA, successfully gathered and held all five regulation-sized tennis balls on 6 July 2003.

On 16 July 2010, Instagram’s co-founder and CEO Kevin Systrom (USA) uploaded a picture of a Golden Retriever to the app, which was then known as “Codename”. The names of the dog and its owner are not known, but the foot in the picture belongs to Systrom’s girlfriend. The photograph was taken at a taco stand named Tacos Chilakos in Todos Santos on the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico. The app was made available to the public in October that year, by which time it had been retitled “Instagram”.