Every good place to begin is at the beginning, so let's delve into a bit of Golden Retriever history.
Where did this lovely breed come from?
What exactly is the Golden Retriever origin?
What country lays claim to its beginnings?
How did the breed spread to other countries?
How long has the beautiful Golden been recognized as being a separate and distinct breed?
The ancestry of the Golden Retriever is as colorful as the dog itself.
It all began with the first Lord Tweedmouth, Dudley Coutts Marjoribanks (pronounced "Marshbanks"). Records reveal that he bought a yellow retriever from a cobbler.
He spotted the cobbler and his dog walking through the streets of Brighton in the south of England.
The cobbler had been given the dog as payment for a debt owed to him.
The dog, which Lord Tweedmouth named Nous(Gaelic for "wisdom"), is said to have been the only yellow dog from a litter of black, wavy-coated puppies born in 1864.
Existing photos of Nous show a large, handsome dog with a very wavy, medium-color coat, very much resembling the modern Golden Retriever.
Lord Tweedmouth enjoyed hunting game birds of all kinds.Shooting parties were a great feature of life at Guisachan.
That was the name of Lord Tweedmouth's extensive Scottish country estate.
It was located on the Tweed River in the hills of Inverness, Scotland.
Nous quickly proved his worth retrieving birds.
The puppies he sired were also well-known for their exceptional hunting skills.
As word of the Goldens' beauty and talents spread, dog breeders throughout Europe began to take note of these new hunting dogs.
The development of the breed had its ups and downs, but it was only a matter of time before Golden Retrievers arrived in America, too.
The humble beginnings of Golden Retriever history served as the springboard to launch these special dogs into the hearts of people around the world.
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