When I say “dark golden retriever,” this is what I mean:
We may call this dog “red.” As you can tell from the name in the JPG file. However, dogs of this color were always within the accepted range of golden retriever color.
Just not in the UK or the FCI.
And here’s another:
Djanick Michaud at Zomarick golden retrievers suggested that I include the color range for the breed. He has a very good color chart on his website.
And here it is with actual dogs for visualization purposes:
our neighbor’s one year old GR is this color. Her name is Bella and she is nucking futs. crazy barking dog.
Not surprised.
She is probably from working lines, and these dogs are often too much for many households.
http://www.bredekaer.dk/golden_retrievergb.htm
I prefer this type, but they are very driven and active dogs.
Not as bad as some field Labradors, but they are more so than what most people expect from golden retrievers.
ooo I love that photo!
I used to keep my hair the color of that second dog.
now that is a proper golden retriever alll we get here in the uk is those wishy washy white or cream ones, i have seen a couple of dark goldens being walked near by but they were from working lines and they were gorgeous dogs. , well to me anyway. dont understand the need to make a golden dog into a white dog, but then again i dont understand why dog breeders do the things they do to dogs anyway.
tracey
To give proper accreditation: The group photo showing range of colorings was taken by Elizabeth Russell for the Golden Retriever Club of Canada, and is also used (by permission) by the GRC of America in educatonal material. The Canadian breed standard allows for “creams” such as the two dogs on the left end; the US standard says that dogs whose body color is predominately “extremely light or extremely dark” are “undesirable”. Not disallowed, just somewhat outside of the ideal range of coloring.
And those two dogs on the far right, may be called “red” but are still not as dark as many Irish Setters, and still show some “gold” to their coats.
CM
Yes I agree with MRS, please always give credit on this photograph. The two extremes shown in this photograph are equally fine dogs with outstanding conformation: a credit to the breed.
Considering the nature of the web, it is not always possible to find the actual photographer to give credit. The attribution does not always stay with the work.
And the “nature of the web” has too often made hash of copyright law.
Copyright law hasn’t changed. There are just more people with no understanding of it with more access to copyrighted material and more means of disseminating it.
The other side of the coin is that copyright has limitations, and there are just as many people who don’t understand those, either.
Fair use is still fair use, and infringement is still infringement, whether it is on the web or elsewhere.
I have seen that particular photo on about a half-dozen sites without any attribution.
When I see that, I usually post without citing, simply because I am unlikely to get a complaint about it.
Now, you know my method.
My other policy is that if someone complains, I take them down immediately.
Jess, what you say is true, and does not contradict what I meant. But– whenever people are considering using something created by someone else, they SHOULD make themselves aware of what they may, or may not, do with that material. “Fair use” in most cases does not include use for commercial purposes, for instance.
I’ve worked with dogs the last few years, and I mostly see dogs that look like the third and fourth ones from the right. I’ve met one “English White Retriever” at work, and he was huge and NUTS. He was actually fairly well-trained, for a pet, but he had no self control or direction. I’ve also met one who was truly red, all the way to the right side of the spectrum. Poor thing had horrible, horrible allergies; he was no good for himself. His feet were so irritated he could barely walk on pea-gravel, and he would rub himself up and down the fence or wall all the time. He was a sweet boy, though.
I don’t know if either of these examples says anything about the breed as a whole, though, just my observations about the spectrum.
The photo was meant as a teaching tool plus it was really a lot of fun to gather all those different shades of Goldens together. Just a credit on the photo would probably suffice.
the dog on the far right is the photographer’s dog.
There is a similar photo in Wendy Andrew’s book “Golden Retriever The Breed Standard Illustrated” that she took but the dog on the far right is an Irish Setter and the one on the far left is a Kuvasz and they were put there to show the colors that are outside of both the US and UK standard.
Love my red! Smartest dog I’ve ever owned. Independent, stubborn, talkative and playful.