Myrna Loy of Gilbert, Minnesota, sent me this photo of her late golden retriever named Mick.
Mick was a mahogany golden.
It’s not a very common coloration these days, even among field lines, where darker colors tend to predominate.
He was a beautiful dog and, as you can tell from what he has in his mouth, really got to be a real retriever.
did she mention where her dog was bred, or what area his parents came from?
so many of the reddish shades [and smaller Goldens] i have met are from New-England breeding stock.
thanks in advance,
– terry
terry pride, APDT-Aus, apdt#1827, CVA, TDF
She said he was born in Minnesota, and she’s getting another, also from Minnesota.
The Midwest has a lot of really good golden lines.
Famous golden retriever kennel in Minnesota:
http://www.goldwoodkennels.com/services.html
Rachel Page Elliot (the Dog Steps woman and a really great person in goldens) got her first golden from this kennel.
His name was Goldwood Toby UD and although an obedience dog, also worked as a gun dog on the coast of Maine.
She based her work on golden retriever conformation off of this dog, and it was used to inform the standard we have today.
Here are a couple :
Sir Hobson
Sir Redworth
Sir Hobson and Sir Dudeley
And these would be in the Province of Quebec.
the first-photo with the canoe, snow-geese, etc, the dog on the RIGHT is Sir Hobson? who is on the left?
the skull and face on the left-side dog, appears to me to be F, but in the 3rd photo with the infant, again the dog on the left has a narrower backskull, less bony-fill under the eyes, and more tapered muzzle – again, seeming to be F?
confused, TIA,
– terry
Yes, the dog on the right is Sir Hobson and on the left, Lady Huntess (female obviously). On the third photo, the dog on the left is Sir Hobson and his son, Sir Dudeley.
Hobson is from the Western USA and Lady Huntess, from the Eastern. The mix between the two bring little wider skull structure.
ah, i see! thanks very much, that clears it up. :-)
“Mahogany” in this context means no more than “dark red”.
“Mahogany” used by a collie person has a different meaning altogether (a “mahogany sable” has black tippings on the hairs). I have a mahogany sideboard which is a very deep, dark purplish brown– a color I’ve never seen on a retriever of any sort. “Phillipine mahogany” can be light red, even “blond”.
Many of the early imported Goldens, which formed the original basis for the breed in this country, were dark red dogs with very little light shading. So darker shades were quite common. And still can be found, even in some “show” lines.
At one time AKC registrations could have almost anything written in for “color”; “blond”, “honey”, “chestnut”, “red”,”buff”, etc etc. Now, the only choices are “light golden”, “golden” and “dark golden”. Less poetic, perhaps, but more factual.
I’ve seen other photos of this dog on Facebook.
He was so dark that he had almost violet or maroon tinge to him.
That’s mahogany. It’s the preferred color of an Irish setter.
Mick seemed to have spaniel (mean setter) ears!