posted
Ok, let's have some background. I have had some really bad luck with dogs recently. We bought a little mutt that ended up being very unbalanced. He bit my kids, attacked anything that walked through the door and would even lunge after my wife and I. WE eventually had to take him to the Humane society where they told me he was unadoptible (he atacked the clerk) and probably need to be put down. This was probably one of the more difficult things I have ever had to do, and it makes me very leary to go and get another dog, although I really want a dog.
So... my question. Does anyone have Golden Retriever stories. Both good and bad. My grandparents have had 4-5 of them and they were all great dogs but I thought I'd see what other experiences people have had with them.
posted
From all I have heard they make great pets, but you might want to make sure the kids are at least older toddler range in age. Otherwise the dogs might try and bring the kids to you.
posted
In answer to the thread title, yes. Absolutely.
I grew up with a golden and it was the best pet that I've seen in my entire life. In fact I liked the bread so much I got one of my own last year. These are amazing dogs. They are high-energy dogs if you isolate them and only see them for ten minutes of the day. But, if you let them just be around you all day, they will calm down and just hang-out. The only bad thing is the tail, although it's not bad if you plan for it. The dog doesn't understand that it has a tail, so it doesn't understand that waging it will make it hit things. Again, these dogs are great!
EDIT: Make sure you ask the owner of the litter about the parents. Kidney function, hip dysplasia, weak knees, and quite a few other issues are important to know about the parents. Also, don't buy from a breeder if they don't show genuine interest in the breed.
posted
IF you get a golden retriever, make SURE both parents have been OFA certified Excellent or Good. The OFA is the Orthopedic foundation for animals.
Golden retrievers have been bred up because they were so popular, from their original size. Your common backyard pet, is probably one and a half times the size the breed was meant to be. As a result, hip problems are dangerously common occurances. Unless you really feel like spending 3-5K on hip reconstruction surgery (and I can name 5 people off the top of my head who have) it is much, much better to pay a couple hundred more get it from a responsible breeder, rather than rescuing, or getting one from a friend, no matter how nice that friend may be.
Goldens tend to be a bit more laid back than Labs but they both have a pretty hyper puppy stage until about two years old. And big full grown dogs that are still mentally puppies can cause a lot more chaos than small puppies at times.
Having said that, most of the goldens I have known are great dogs. If I was going to have a golden myself, I would get it from a working obedience line. They are some of the top dogs in obedience today.
posted
Don't take the kids, I echo the sentiment. You willl have a hard enough time remaining rational as it is. And if your small children fall in love it makes it that much worse if you don't feel that this litter is the right one for you.
I just kept a young dog for two months that I then had to return to its breeder, because it had a problem with its teeth (it needed canine braces). It was one of the harder things I've ever had to do.
posted
I grew up with a golden retriever, It was great dog to grow up with - friendly, fun, happy, and smart. They are great around children.
They love water and will immediately jump into any body of water...so be sure to have the dog on lead if you are going to be walking by a lake, stream, etc.
I had another golden until just recently (about a month ago)...she was 13 years old and we had to put her to sleep due to cancer. We are still recovering from this loss but if we were ever to get another dog..it would be a Golden.
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posted
My golden, Peanut, came from hunting lines. Because of this, he absolutely loves water! We bought him a kiddie pool for our back-yard last summer and had to take it away from him in November because he would still hang out in it, even though it was freezing outside.
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posted
Well, AJ is the expert here, but I'll add my stories.
My parents had a golden, she was a wonderful pet. They are good dogs to have around kids, normally very good natured. They tend to be a bit lazy, they do love their sleep.
They're retrievers, so they're "mouthy" They'll always want something in their mouth. They shed. They usually enjoy water. Retrieving is so natural to them you shouldn't really have to train them to do it, every retriever I've had was born knowing how to retrieve.
My current pup is a Golden retriever mix. Good dog, but a bit hyper, and a nipper. He doesn't bite, but he will reach out and nip at the kids, especially their feet. It's understandable, the non retriever half is an Australian cattle dog, aka blue heeler. They nip at the cattle's feet to get them moving. So, he needs a firm hand sometimes.
Do start obedience training right away. A well trained dog won't just be a better pet, he'll be happier too. They like having "stuff" to do. A bored dog is a destructive dog.
posted
A good breeder will always, always, always have an open door return policy on any of their dogs. If you are EVER unable to keep the dog, they want it back. They should also be giving you Limited AKC registration papers. Limited registration, means that the dog can not be shown in "Breed" competitions, which are giant beauty contests and that none of its ofspring are elgible for AKC registration. This is because the typical backyard pet should be spayed or neutered. On a limited registration the dog will be elgible for all performance events like obedience, tracking and agility that the AKC sponsors.
Even still they should be able to provide a 4 generation pedigree on the dog and all health certifications on the parents and possibly the grandparents. OFA, or Penn-Hip certifcations are for hips CERF certifications are for eyes. The parents should have tested negative for brucellosis before breeding. You will probably pay around $500-$600 for a golden retriever puppy from a responsible breeder. Over the lifetime of the dog it will literally save you thousands.
Many of them will do free boarding if you take a vacation. You will also have a personal pet behavior consultant that you can call at any time. They view every new pet owner that has one of their dogs as personal friends.
You are welcoming another life into your family for at least 10 years. Shouldn't you pick your dog breeder as carefully as you picked the doctor that helped birth your children?
posted
This is true, a responsible breeder will grill you about your home life. Do you have a fenced backyard? Where will you be keeping the dog while you work? Is your life stable?
They are looking at you as the provider for a puppy of theirs, and want to make sure you have the stability to make that decade long committment which ideally should last the entire lifetime of the dog.
Now a breeder who is just out to make a buck, won't care. But do you really want a dog from that type of person?
Incidentally I'm all for rescuing dogs from shelters, however I (and this is a personal bias would stay away from all fighting breed type mixes and terriers) and make sure you get a puppy. Adopting an adult dog, can be a long rehab process that you probably don't have time for with small children.
posted
Scott...no, but I do plan on moving back in this weekend and forcing her to face the problem instead of continuing to run from it. I don't plan on being pushy but I do feel I've given her enough time to "think" She's been begging to get another dog and I haven't been ready, but I guess the dog is a little bit of a peace offering. that is not the only reason, because I know that would be very irresponsible of me but it is part of the reason. The other part is that I just really want a dog and have been waiting to figure out what the right breed is. I think a golden would be a reaaly good dog. and regardless of what happens with my wife it will be a good thing for me to have a companion.
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posted
How many hours a day do you spend at home (normally) vs. your wife? Will you agree on rearing methods for it? If you do split up (and I know you hope you don't but...) who is the dog going to go with? Are you going to be able to let it go to the person who is best for it> Is it going to become another thing to fight over? "YOUR puppy crapped in MY shoes again!"
I'm just throwing these questions out there. I'm very pro-dog, and think owning one is a great experience, but you need to be willing to make sacrifices as a result, just like with kids, only to a slightly lesser extent.
Does your wife know about it at all at this point? While I understand the peace offering aspect, you should probably find a sitter for the kids and both go and select the puppy together without them. Make sure it does meet the kids before you take it home though. If you suprise her, even with something she says she wants, it could lead to resentment that you are imposing an extra responsibility on her.
posted
I've talked with her about it. I really see this as a gift to her, and understand that the dog would stay with her. We split time at home right now. She works evenings and I work days. She's home all day and I'm home all night. I'm pretty confident that this will be the case even if we split due to the kids.
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posted
I'm not trying to be snarky here, it is just that dog topics are as hot to me as most "child" topics are to parents.
Your two responses are inconsistent with each other.
First you said:
quote: regardless of what happens with my wife it will be a good thing for me to have a companion.
Then you said:
quote: I really see this as a gift to her, and understand that the dog would stay with her.
So which is it, or I am I seeing things through the wrong lens?
*hugs beanix* My first dog was my only companion through my lonely adolescence in many ways, I could cry in her fur when I was having difficulty with my parents. I knew she didn't understand but at least she licked my face and loved me.
The pictures might be on the large side. I don't have Photoshop on this machine so I can't downsize them.
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posted
It would stay at the house with the kids and wife but I'm there most nights. The kids go to bed at 8:30 and the wife doesn't show up until 11:00 - 1:00 depending on the night. So both responses are valid. Because as I said I would rather be with the kids on the nights she works than sending them to a babysitter, even if we split and it will suck being in a house that used to be mine.
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posted
I prefer German Shepherds over Golden Retrievers, personally. I currently have a German Shepherd/Rottweiler mix. Despite the Rottweiler blood, she's the sweetest dog we've ever lived with.
If I were you, I would adopt from the SPCA, rather than buying from a breeder. I've never had a dog that didn't come from the SPCA, and they've all been great animals. Besides that, most breeders I've talked with were stuckup A-holes.
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posted
Golden Retrievers are great dogs. When young, though, they can be very hyper (high energy) and maybe like to chew things (as all puppies do). As they get older, though, they are very mellow and easy-doing dogs.
I personally would look for an older dog that is used to children before getting a hyper puppy around young kids. But either way, a retriever is a good choice.
quote: . Besides that, most breeders I've talked with were stuckup A-holes.
While there are bad apples in every barrel I would be interested in knowing the context in which you talked to these breeders, and which breeds of dog they were breeding.
I have found most "dog people" to be very kind and generous if a little nuts about their dogs. There are always the bad apples of course.
Most serious breeders are trying to improve the quality of the breed and breed to the AKC standard, a breeding combinations of particular bloodlines are often the result of decades of planning and scruplous scrutiny of generations on both sides of the pedigree.
So if they seem stuck up because they know more about dogs than you it probably is because they do. And they don't want to place, even the dogs that need to go as pets in homes that don't care about them as deeply. Even after interviews, applications and everything else, every breeder I know has at least one nightmare story of a dog of their breeding being lost or abandoned or mistreated. They take it very personally, and well they should. If more people took their responsibility to a life of another species that seriously we wouldn't have all of the abandoned pets in shelters that we do.
posted
I wasn't really taking it personally, but I was trying to clarify the generalities.
Sometimes dog people are viewed as condecending to those not in the inner circle. I freely admit this.
But Hatrackers often are to newbies too. I think that it is partially a human reaction, but I also think that dog breeders have more reason for personal paranoia than jatrqueros do in general. You don't take personal responsibility for a defenseless animal's life every time you post on hatrack.
Technically I'm not a dog breeder yet, as I have never bred a litter. When I do breed a litter it will have been at least three years in planning however.
posted
Geez Farmgirl, I can see that you took what I said as a generalization, but a sweeping one? C'mon.
AJ, when I say most, I was referring to 3 out of the 4 or so breeders that I talked with. I was thinking about getting a purebred German Shepherd. I can certainly understand that a breeder would want to make sure that a potential owner was suitable for that kind of responsibility. But as a dog-owner for most of my life, the condescension was enough to turn me off.
The last woman I talked with was great. We talked about her dogs for a long time, she was polite and courteous, and I met with her a few times. But in the end I went to the SPCA, and picked up my current dog.
My recommendation to adopt from the SPCA stands.
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posted
Re: German shepherd people. (what you said makes a lot more sense now)
The German shepherd breed has sadly diverged into two camps. There are the "American show" German shepherd people, and then there there are the "German" German Shepherd people.
The American Show german shepherd has been bred to exaggerate rear angulation. When the exaggerated rear angulation is correct, the dog floats around the ring and is a beautiful thing to see. Unfortunately even in show rings you see this rarely. The problem with breeding for that angulation is that probably 50%(this is an opinion, a show german shepherd breeder would contradict me) of the dogs are unsound and have hip knee or back problems as a result. Thesedogs can't handle the everyday working stresses that would have been involved in herding sheep. That angulation just makes them too delicate.
The German german shepherds, are mostly from imported working lines. They are the dogs most frequently used in obedience, Shitzund and police work. They do not have this "floating" gait, but a much more standard doglike one. They are also heavier of bone with bigger, less refined heads (IMO) than the US Show variety. You would be hard put to get them to put up with that stretched out, one rear foot in front of the other angulated pose that the show shepherds hold, they just aren't built the same.
My guess, based on your description, is that the first three breeders were of the "show" variety, and the last breeder was of the "working" variety. Though I admit I have no proof either.
posted
When my husband and I married, he said we would only get a dog if it were a breeding German Shepherd. So I guess we will never have a dog.
His parent's german shepherd saved their firstborn son from drowning when he was little, but their luck with the breed has gone steeply downward the last few years. I imagine it must be the American show kind, since hip problems have been one small part of it.
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posted
If you want me to find some links to "working" german shepherd breeders I can. If your husband is absolutely insistent on not getting the dog fixed, and you can find a breeder who will let you get away with it, I would reccommend a male not a female. You might have a little more problems with marking, but dealing with a female in season is pretty messy. I speak from experience.
These type of German shepherds more than likely will not have Ch. in front of their name. This is because most of them will not qualify for AKC championships because they are being bred for a different standard.
This is one of the few times where this is actually ok. IMO.
Shutzhund is the key word you probably want to google for along with German shepherd. You don't necessarily want your dog trained to be a Schutzhund dog, but those bloodlines are the soundest.
If you look at the bottom of the above link, you will see "for sale show lines" and "for sale working lines" You can see the drastic difference there though I these are all still firmly in the German lines camp because even the show lines are german bloodlines and I don't know if they would actually finish in todays US AKC breed competition.
Also, most of the time the dogs are still registerable with the AKC so you can participate in AKC events. You would just be foolish if you tried to show one of the "German working" varieties in a US breed ring.
posted
AJ, that's weird that more rear angulation makes the hind end weaker. When we breed for angulation in horses, it usually makes the horse stronger through the hip and stifle. Now, breeding two sickle-hocked horses to each other is just asking for trouble, but I'd be interested in just what joints they breed more angulation into.
Edit: ::looks at link:: Ah, I see. The show lines ARE breeding sickle-hocked dogs, which makes their legs inherently unstable. Comparative anatomy is fun!
posted
My dog is only half golden retriever, but she is the sweetest-tempered, most good-natured dog I've ever met in my life. The other half is spaniel, and they're generally known to be snappy and somewhat unpleasant...
I've also had experiences with full-blooded golden retrievers, and every one has been a charm.
When I was little a family gave us a golden retriever because they didn't want her, and she was the best dog in the world (everyone says that about their dogs, but this time it's true ). She was by no means a show dog--she had an underbite, a birthmark on her tongue, hip problems, and she was the runt of her litter--but she was perfect for us. There are five kids in my family, and when we got her the youngest was probably 1 or 2 and we had no problems with her around us. A few years later my brother was born and we had no problems with her at all either through his "ooh look it moves! grab it's tail!" phase. She was sweet and completely even-tempered.
Aside from all the normal dog problems (which really were few and far between), she was the best we could have asked for. She got sick a couple years ago, and finally had to be put to sleep last year, but we have another one (not quite as perfect, but still wonderful). I think Golden Retrievers are the best family dogs people can get.
I always say that whoever I marry is going to have to like dogs and want to get a golden retriever.
posted
Thanks for all the advice. We picked up Lily Daisy Flower Inglis last night and she is already a great addition to the family. More details in a moment when I have more time. Posts: 1294 | Registered: Oct 2003
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posted
We went out to a farm near town and looked over the pups, met the parents, talked to the breeder and felt good about it all. We chose a very social and inquisitive young lady. She was very friendly and loving. She comes from a litter of 9 and there were 4 females left. They are 8 wks old.
My daughter wanted to name her flower but i suggested we pick a flower name, like daisy. My wife suggested Lily. Sophia decided they were all good and declared the dog to be Lily Dasiy Flower Inglis (Inglis being our last name).
She was very sweet last night. My girls went to bed at around 9:30 and the pup and I layed on the couch together until about 1:00 waiting for my wife to get home. My wife played with her for a while we took her out side and then put her in her Kennel. SHe whinned until around 3:00 then fell asleep and stayed that way until I woke her up at about 6:45 to take her out before I went to work. The cage was dry and she seemed very content.
All and all we are very happy with her. She is such a beautiful little girl.
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posted
Oh, the whining! That shouldn't go on for more than two weeks. Just don't go changing her souroundings around the kennel, that'll make her whine even longer. Don't let it get to you, it's normal.
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posted
The whinning didn't bother me at all. In fact I was pleased it was only whinning. With our previous dog, he would go absolutely ape s*** in his cage. He would shed anything that got close to the bars, he would howl at the top of his lungs, he would crap and then fling it all over the place. You could actually hear him down the street if her was in his cage. The fact that she only whinned for a couple of hours on her first night out of her large stall with her sisters is a good sign to me.
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posted
Lily is such a good name. (note that my feeling about this has *nothing* to do with what I named my very white kitten)
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