Breed Priorities – The Golden Retriever

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262 – March, 2023

By Nikki Riggsbee

The Golden Retriever is and has been one of the most popular breeds in the United States for years. Originating in Scotland in the second half of the nineteenth century on the estate of Lord Tweedmouth, the Golden was developed as and is a gundog used in hunting birds. But the breed is physically and temperamentally willing to successfully work as a service dog, search and rescue dog, performance competitor in many venues, and perhaps most of all as a beloved family member.

Sixty-four Golden Retriever AKC breeder-judges were identified and invited by email to take a survey on the breed priorities used to evaluate their dogs. Forty-six agreed to do so. Thirty surveys were received, although two were incomplete, ranking the outlines only but not the lists.

The participating breeder-judges had been in Goldens more than thirty-seven years on average. They averaged nearly fourteen years judging the breed. Approximately one-third of the group had judged their national specialty, and almost all had judged other Golden Retriever Specialties.

Golden Retriever Virtues

The breeder-judges prioritized a list of characteristics from the Golden Retriever standard from most important to least important. Below is the list in order by the average of the experts’ ranks, with 1 being the most important.

1. Gait free, smooth, powerful, well-coordinated, showing good reach

Click here to read the complete article
262 – March, 2023

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Posted by AnthonyA on Mar 22 2023. Filed under Current Articles, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.