Golden Retriever

The Golden Retriever is the most beautiful and talented of the retrieverbreeds. It was originally developed to retrieve birds shot down over water. Dogs are trained, as shown here, with a dummy.

HISTORY OF THE GOLDEN RETRIEVER

The youngest and most beautiful of the retriever breeds, the Golden Retriever was originally developed as a waterfowl dog. Although still an admirable shooting dog, the Golden today spends more time romping with the family than in the duck blind or the field. Often considered the ideal dog to hunt over, compete with or just live with and hug a lot, the Golden has something to offer the sportsman, dog fancier or professional dog lover.

The Golden Retriever can trace its ancestry back to a single breeding and the first pair of yellow retrievers destined to be called Golden. The fancy is indebted to a Scotsman, the former Sir Dudley Marjoriebanks, first Lord Tweedmouth of Guisachan at Inverness, Scotland, and the first breeder of our golden dog.

Typical of 19th-century aristocracy, Tweedmouth was an avid sportsman and waterfowl enthusiast. His passion as a hunter was equaled only by his dedication to the sporting dog, having owned and bred Beagles, pointers, setters, Greyhounds, Scottish Deerhounds and Irish Water Spaniels.

During the 1850s he turned his attention to the moderatesized retriever varieties who were the water dogs of that era. Such dogs were known to be desirable combinations of setters and spaniels and other working varieties. They possessed great courage, strength, sagacity and temperament, and, not surprisingly, a superior nose. Although color was unimportant to most sportsmen, who understandably cared more about working capabilities, Tweedmouth was a true vanguard of his time and was bent on developing a yellow retriever strain.

The color of the Golden Retriever is any shade of rich, lustrous golden. They are powerful for their size and highly intelligent.

For many years the dog fancy embraced the romantic myth that Tweedmouth had acquired his first yellow dogs from a troupe of Russian circus dogs. That golden tale was dispelled by the late Elma Stonex of Somerset, England, the recognized judge and breeder of the Dorcas Goldens, a noted authority on Golden Retrievers who researched and uncovered the true history of the breed.

In an article in Dog World magazine, Mrs. Stonex wrote of information published in 1952 and 1953 in Country Life magazine. Contributed by the sixth Earl of Ilchester, a noted historian and sportsman, the articles revealed the breeding records of his great-uncle, Lord Tweedmouth, from his kennel at his Guisachan estate.

Those records, dated 1835 through 1890, contain no reference to dogs of Russian origin. They indicated that Tweedmouth purchased his first yellow retriever in Brighton in 1865, a dog named Nous (the Greek word for wisdom) out of a litter of otherwise all-black Wavy-Coated Retrievers.

Recorded as bred by the Earl of Chichester, Nous is shown in photographs from 1870 to be a large and handsome dog with a very wavy medium-color coat, very much resembling the modern Golden Retriever.

Two years later, Tweedmouth’s cousin, David Robertson, presented him with a Tweed Water Spaniel named Belle. David lived at Ladykirk, which was located on the Tweed River, and the Tweed Water Spaniel was the preferred hunting dog of that region. Historians describe the Tweed Water Spaniel as a small English Retriever of a liver color (liver meaning all shades of sandy, fawn or brown), a dog with a tightly curled coat who was an apparent descendant of the composite Water Dogs of the early nineteenth century. Belle was destined to become the foundation of Tweedmouth’s plan to develop a yellow retriever breed.

Golden Retrievers were developed as outdoor dogs. They were regarded as companions for the lonely hunter, assistants to bring in downed game, and handsome working animals. To this day Goldens enjoy outdoor activities more than anything.

Even though Golden Retrievers are large dogs, heavily boned and muscled, they can maneuver gracefully, hunt for long hours in the field and run at a rapid, sustained pace.

GOLDEN VIRTUES

Early writers spoke of the virtues of the Water Spaniel, ancestor of the Golden Retriever. He rushes in with the most incredible fortitude and impetuosity, through and over every obstacle that can present itself, to the execution of his office... He rivals every other breed in his attachment to his master. Those same words easily describe the twentyfirst-century Golden.

In 1868 the now-famed breeding of Nous and Belle resulted in four yellow pups that Tweedmouth named Ada, Cowslip, Crocus and Primrose. He kept Cowslip to continue his pursuit of breeding yellow retrievers, and gave the other three pups to relatives and friends who shared his dream of producing superior yellow dogs. Ada was given to his nephew, the fifth Earl of Ilchester, who founded the Melbury line of retrievers and often crossed his yellow progeny with other Wavy-Coats and Labradors.

Golden Retrievers are often credited with having derived from the Tweed Water Spaniel. They possess a great love of water.

In 1873 Cowslip was bred to another Tweed Water Spaniel, also given by David Robertson, and Tweedmouth kept a bitch pup he named Topsy. Three years later Topsy produced Zoe, who was later bred twice to Sweep, a descendant of Ada and bred by Lord Ilchester. In 1884 Zoe whelped another litter, this time sired by Jack, another son of Cowslip, who had been sired by a red setter in 1876. This litter produced a second Nous, who is the final link between Tweedmouth’s breedings and today’s Golden Retriever.

This second Nous was bred to a dog named Queenie, who was out of Nous’ sister and a black Flat-Coat sire. Two pups, Prim and Rose, no doubt named for their generations-removed ancestors, are believed to be behind the first two Golden Retrievers registered with The Kennel Club of Great Britain.

This last yellow litter from Nous and Queenie, recorded in 1889, shows four different lines going back to Cowslip in five generations. Linebreeding of this nature was most unusual in those days, so Tweedmouth was a true pioneer of his time.

GENUS CANIS

Dogs and wolves are members of the genus Canis. Wolves are known scientifically as Canis lupus while dogs are known as Canis domesticus. Dogs and wolves are known to interbreed. The term canine derives from the Latin derived word Canis. The term dog has no scientific basis but has been used for thousands of years. The origin of the word dog has never been authoritatively ascertained.

Although reading about Dogs A and B bred to Dogs C and D and beyond can become somewhat tiresome, these important detailed records reveal how the Golden’s yellow coat became the hallmark of the breed. The second Lord Tweedmouth followed his father’s dream and bred yellow retrievers until Guisachan was sold in 1905, although sadly, he failed to keep records of his breedings.

A Golden Retriever, bringing to the hunter a downed pheasant. Goldens must have soft mouths, which means they don’t damage the game when they retrieve it.

The final connection between Tweedmouth’s yellow retrievers and today’s Golden pedigrees is contained in a letter to his daughter, Marjorie Lady Pentland, written by John MacLennan, one of the Guisachan keepers. MacLennan had a litter of pups from a daughter of Lady, a bitch owned by the Hon. Archie Marjoriebanks, Tweedmouth’s youngest son. In his letter, MacLennan stated he had sold two pups to the first Viscount Harcourt, founder of the famous Culham Kennel, whose dogs are behind the entire Golden Retriever breed. Those two pups are believed to be descendants of Prim and Rose, and the foundation stock of the Culham line.

Lord Harcourt was a major player in those early Golden years and was the first exhibitor to show the breed in England (then known and registered as Flat-Coats, Golden) at the Crystal Palace show in 1908. His great sires, Culham Brass and Culham Copper (1905), were registered with The Kennel Club in 1903 and 1905.

In 1906 Lord Harcourt was joined in the ring by Winifred Maude Charlesworth, the most notable of early Golden aficionados. Mrs. Charlesworth spent 50 years breeding, training and campaigning her beloved Goldens. She was the force responsible for the formation of the Golden Retriever Club in 1913, and for many years she served as Honorary Secretary for the Club. That same year, also largely due to Mrs. Charlesworth’s efforts, Goldens were afforded their own category and registered as Yellow or Golden Retrievers. The Yellow was officially dropped in 1920.

The importance of Mrs. Charlesworth to the Golden breed is legendary among Golden fanciers. Under the prefix of Normanby (later changed to Noranby), her breedings to Lord Harcourt’s famous sires appear in every Golden Retriever pedigree today. She was a dynamic personality, and her dedication to the breed established the Golden as a premier gun dog in the British retriever world. Active in field trials as well as conformation, Mrs. Charlesworth was dedicated to the preservation of the working Golden who combined both type and soundness. Her dogs were sound and powerfully built, with lovely heads, and took honors on the bench and in the field. Her energy and enthusiasm in both venues promoted the Golden as a most capable gun dog who was competitive with the other retrievers of that time. In her 1933 book, she credits Lord Tweedmouth as instrumental in obtaining her first Golden, Normanby Beauty, which leads the reader to assume that bitch was directly from a Tweedmouth breeding.

During the early 20th century, the Golden Retriever was referred to as the Yellow Retriever. The term yellow was formally dropped in 1920 in favor of the current name.

BRAINS AND BRAWN

Since dogs have been inbred for centuries, their physical and mental characteristics are constantly being changed to suit man’s desires for hunting, retrieving, scenting, guarding and warming their master’s laps. During the past 150 years, dogs have been judged according to physical characteristics as well as functional abilities. Few breeds can boast a genuine balance between physique, working ability and temperament.

In the early 1900s, retrievers of all colors competed in the field trial meets. In 1904 the International Gundog League Open Stake was won by a liver Flat-Coat who was recorded as sired by Lord Tweedmouth’s Golden Flat-Coat Lucifer, an accomplishment heralded by some historians as possibly the first Golden Retriever field trial win. The important fact remains that most Goldens of that era who competed on the bench also took honors in the field.

THE GOLDEN COMES TO THE USA

British immigrants brought Golden Retrievers with them to North America in the late 1800s, and Goldens from Britain and Canada were imported to the US during the 1920s. In 1925, the Golden Retriever was officially recognized by the American Kennel Club (AKC) and by the Canadian Kennel Club in 1927.

BE A SPORT

Yellow pups occasionally appear in litters of all-black retrievers. The color is due to a recessive gene. Such deviation from the normal pattern is considered a mutation, and the resulting yellow pup is called a sport.

American sportsman Colonel Samuel S. Magoffin founded the Golden Retriever Club of America (GRCA) in 1938 and acted as the club’s first president. His hard-working hunting dog, Speedwell Pluto, became the breed’s first AKC bench champion in 1930. Magoffin also takes credit for owning the second and third bench champions as well. The breed’s first national specialty show and field trial took place in 1940 in Wisconsin. The conformation specialty was won by Beavertail Gail Lady. Both the show and the field trial were equally supported, and early Golden club members were dedicated to establishing a handsome, working retriever in the US. Today the emphasis in the States is clearly on conformation, and the national specialty usually has at least five times as many show dogs as field dogs entered. The club publishes a bi-monthly newsletter called the Golden Retriever News. The GRCA, in an effort to promote the breed’s natural hunting abilities, introduced special Working Certificate Tests and, in an effort to promote the breed’s prowess in conformation, obedience and field work, started the Versatility Certificate program. Both of these programs award titles as suffixes to the dog’s name (WC, WCX, VC and VCX).

Whether you are considering a Golden Retriever as a pet, show dog, field worker or competition dog, the breed is among the most handsome of all pure-bred dogs.

One of the Golden Retriever’s most admired characteristics is its water-repellent undercoat, which essentially keeps the skin dry, thus making the dog more buoyant.

The Golden Retriever has enjoyed tremendous popularity in the US, beginning in the 1940s and continuing to this day. Only the Labrador Retriever outranks the Golden Retriever as the most popular sporting and pet dog in the country.

CALL ME HONEY

In India, a six-year-old police-trained Golden Retriever named Madhu (the Indian word for honey) was used to guard the palace grounds and home of the late Prime Minister Nehru.

There are too many Golden Retriever breeders who have made American breed history to name them all. Some of the most influential kennels include: Gilnockie, Rockhaven, Stilrovin, Cragmount, Goldwood, Beautywood, Gunnerman, Tonkahof, Sprucewood, Cheyenne, Sun Dance, Golden Knoll, Malagold, Pepperhill, and many others. All these early kennels produced not only bench champions but also hard-working hunters. Goldens have left their mark not only on the conformation ring but, more impressively, on the obedience and field trial worlds. The first three Obedience Trial Champions, the highest possible title in AKC obedience competition, were Golden Retrievers. Likewise, there are many Field Champion Goldens as well, though few Dual Champions (earning both a Champion of Record in the show ring and a Field Champion title). Stilrovin