Canis lupus hominis

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10 Responses

1. on July 3, 2009 at 2:54 pm Leanne

   I just wanted to reply to you regarding your post on youtube about it being impossible for golden retrievers to carry a black gene. This information is incorrect. My parents used to breed goldens and ended up with a few black litters. This happens when the bloodline is too pure. So, black goldens do exist.

   
   
   • on July 3, 2009 at 9:56 pm retrieverman

     No, they don’t.

     What happened was a Labrador got in with the bitch, and the litter had two sires.

     The golden retriever color is e/e. It’s a recessive. For a dog to be black or liver, it has to have a copy of the dominant E gene.

     Goldens do not have the E gene, and never have. You are simply wrong about this. My source is Marcia Schlehr’s book on the golden retriever.

     But goldens are affected by the gene that determines black or liver. I don’t know if you’ve seen a golden retriever with brown skin, but those dogs have the gene for liver, which is b/b. Most goldens have the black gene B/B or B/b. However, breeding two goldens together will not result in black puppies or liver ones. That’s because they don’t carry the E gene.

     
     
2. on July 4, 2009 at 10:04 am Dora L Swoboda

   Retrieverman,
   My golden had a black tongue, she also had the face of a bloodhound. She had the prettiest red coat, was way too tall for golden standards. she trained my husband as to how to work with a flusher/retriever and she was five months old when this all began. She was just big enough to drag the rooster pheasant to him, the rooster was beating her up about the head and shoulders. My husband, having never had his own hunting dog, said I didn’t know what to do, but she knew and showed me.
   Anyway, she definitely was not a pure golden and we knew that. She had so many health problems for almost 13 years, but was a stoic, the bravest, smartest dog that I’ve ever had. We could not bear to replace her and we now live with a little black clown of a dog. ;-)
   Thank you for this website.
   Dora and Roy and Mattie(black clown dog)

   
   
   • on July 4, 2009 at 12:59 pm retrieverman

     I’m around scent hounds a lot.

     I’ve never seen a golden that looked anything like a bloodhound. Nor do they act anything alike.

     However, any resemblance much more likely from the Tweed water dog (Tweed water spaniel) ancestry, which was known to have traces of bloodhound crossed in. Irish setters were occasionally crossed with bloodhound, and that could be another source.

     Every account I’ve read of the bloodhound cross in goldens has been inconsistent. 1. The crosses were savage (There are aggressive dogs that were called bloodhounds– mainly slave catching mastiffs– but the European breed we call the bloodhound has never been one). 2. The bloodhound reduced size in goldens. That’s a joke, right? A bloodhound is significantly larger than any golden retriever. 3. The supposed bloodhound cross account was written down on a piece of paper and then lost. Very convenient. 4. Bloodhounds appear in none of the kennel records at Guisachan. The kennel records included every dog that even stayed at Guisachan, and bloodhounds weren’t included.

     
     
   • on July 4, 2009 at 1:20 pm retrieverman

     I see lots of field-line goldens with very long legs. When I was growing up, this was the preferred conformation for working retrievers. Her behavior suggests a pure-bred dog. If you look at the early imports to this country, they resembled Irish setters, as do many field-line dogs today. The “bloodhound” face is very similar to the Tweed water dog/water spaniel. I see a lot of that in field-line dogs.

     The black tongue is not unusual in goldens. One of the studs we used had a black spot on his tongue. However, it was part of what is called “the black spot phenomenon.” It’s a somatic mutation that causes spots on the tongue and even “merling” on the body. It is not genetic. But I’ve seen solid black tongues in all sorts of breeds, none of which had even remote Chow-Chow or Shar-pei ancestry.

     Golden with black tongue: http://www.columbusdogconnection.com/images/GoldenBlckTongue.jpg

     
     
3. on July 4, 2009 at 10:09 am Dora L Swoboda

   I didn’t see http://www.GRINN.org listed. It is Golden Retriever Rescue in Nebraska, wonderful organization. Maybe it is listed.Thank you.

   
   
   • on July 4, 2009 at 10:10 am Dora L Swoboda

     Correction: itis http://www.GRRIN.org
     Thank you.

     
     
4. on July 5, 2009 at 7:54 am Dora L Swoboda

   Retrieverman,
   My husband was told by some old hunters who thought they knew ‘stuff’, that a dog with a black tongue was the best hunting dog. Sure proved to be true in the case of Chelsea. When I was a child I had a half collie, half chow. Most faithful protective dog I’ve ever owned and of course smart as a whip. ;-) He didn’t have a black tongue but he had the chow disposition.
   Thank you for sharing your knowledge of golden retrievers and hunting dogs in general. Never too late to learn, is it and it seems to be more important today than ever..
   I’m off to read ‘The Ideal Golden Retriever and How do You Find One?’
   Thanks again.
   Dora

   
   
   • on July 5, 2009 at 6:08 pm retrieverman

     I’ve heard the following from homegrown dog experts:

     1. Black tongue or black inside of mouth is a good sign of an excellent working dog.
     2. A prominent bump on the back of the skull is a sign that a dog is going to be very easy to train. It’s called the “bump of knowledge,” and in my experience, it is often true.

     
     
5. on July 12, 2009 at 7:06 am Shirley

   I always heard that called a “smart bump.”

   
   

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