This bitch is one of my favorite American goldens.
She was born June 2, 1944, and as her name clearly suggests, she was a dual champion retriever.
She was fairly dark in color, not heavily built, and possessed of a more moderate coat. She was a descendant of some of the prominent early dogs in both North America and England. (Cubbington Diver, the dog in my gravatar, is one of her ancestors.)
She was definitely what I would call a Bush’s Baked Bean retriever.
“Roll that beautiful bean footage!”
As you may know, this is the conformation I like in a golden.
It’s not exactly in keeping with the standard or with any sort of convention.
This sort of dog gets confused with an Irish setter or setter cross.
But I find them ruggedly beautiful animals, and the ones I’ve known have had a profound canine intelligence. They were almost the border collies of retrievers, very much in tune with the needs of people and willing to do anything to please our species.
You can see that keen intelligence in her eyes. That is a trait for which it is very hard to breed.
I suppose I’m haunted by the ghosts of old dogs. I look for their traces in the current descendants, hoping they will be around.
This is the golden retriever to me. It is the image that leaps up in my conscience when the words “golden retriever” are uttered.
The pet market demands a heavier boned and more lumbering animal.
Cuteness and cuddliness trump functionality and rustic elegance.
Speaking of which, congratulations to Miley for discovering her desire to retrieve. Eat that terrierfool. Your dog retrieves, mine have all seen sheep, and his is a show dog. OH the irony.
“haunted by the ghosts of old dogs”
I’m stealing this. Beats ‘living in the past.’
Esther Belle was bred by Henry Norton (Tonkahof kennels) and was certainly in accordance with his expressed desire to keep the Golden undivided between “bench” and “field”. And in the 1940s-60s that was typical: there was not the “split” that is seen today (in so many breeds, not just the Golden).
As for the breed Standard, I must again defend the current AKC breed standard, which is indeed based on what a functional, practical retriever should be. I know the people that wrote it; I know what they had in mind. Just because so many modern-day fanciers choose to interpret the words of the standard differently than was the original intent, should not be blamed on the Standard.
The current lack of Dual Champions in the Golden retriever breed is due to several factors, one of the more important being that modern retriever field trials demand such extremely highly specialized training, and are judged to standards that (in the opinion of many) have very little relationship to practical field work.
I agree with you on all points.
However, the issue that now think that is driving goldens away from this type isn’t the show ring: It’s the pet market.
Most goldens are bred by people who aren’t into producing anything of quality. They just want to produce what sells or what is cute.
I think retriever trials have gone a bit sideways, every bit as much as dog shows have.
The internet has certainly spurred the pet market, especially for supposed exotics such as “English Creme”, “British White”, “platinum”, “massively boned”, “block heads” (!) and the allure of anything imported– too often from shady breeders in eastern Europe. As you say, most of these sellers have little real knowledge, some are outright fakers using stolen photos/pedigrees. The problems are many. And Goldens are not the only victims, either.