History of the Golden Retriever Dog

The Golden Retriever, as its name so obviously suggests, is a member of the retrieving class of dogs. The retriever dog came about because the British sportsman of Victorian ages was frustrated with the game retrieving abilities of the Setter, Pointer and Spaniel dog breeds that were largely used for such purpose at the time. Though the Spaniel dog breeds were favored as being more adept retrievers they were still not considered as optimal retriever dogs on account of their small size.

In 1865 Sir Dudley Majoribanks (later to become Lord Tweedmouth) embarked on a breeding program to develop the most efficient and capable retrieving gun dog in the world. What is undisputed is the fact that his Golden Retriever dog breeding program all started with a yellow retriever called Nous. What is not quite so clear is the history and origins of Nous.

One story has it that Nous was purchased from a Russian circus trainer in Brighton, another tale contends that Nous was obtained from a Brighton cobbler, while yet another source claims that Nous previous owner was either a gypsy or the somewhat more distinguished Lord Chichester.

Golden Retriever Dog Breed Foundation Stock

Conflicting origins of Nous notwithstanding, what is not under contention is the fact that Nous was the only yellow puppy from a litter of black Wavy-Coated Retrievers. In 1868 Nous, the yellow Wavy-coated Retriever, was mated with a Tweed Water Spaniel bitch called Belle. The resultant litter consisted of four yellow puppies of which Lord Tweedmouth then crossbred the best bitch (a dog named Cowslip) to a Red Setter and a Tweed Water Spaniel.

Offspring from those two litters were then recrossed with black Wavy-coated Retrievers and from the resultant litter (that ranged from very dark colored puppies to very light colored ones) those that were golden were selected and mated together. It should be noted that there are some who claim that the Bloodhound dog was introduced to the mix but such talk is largely unsubstantiated and probably unlikely. Anyway it was in this fashion that Lord Tweedmouth of Scotland produced the foundation stock of the retriever dog breed.

The Golden Retriever was initially called the Flat Coated Golden Retriever (due to the fact that it was descended from the Flat Coated Retriever, a dog breed it largely came to eclipse in popularity) and was registered with The Kennel Club (British) under that name in 1903. Later on when the Golden Retriever Club was formed in 1911 it was categorized as a separate dog breed under the name "Yellow or Golden Retriever". Further down along the line the "Yellow or" was dropped and ever since then this dog breed has gone by the name of Golden Retriever

The retriever came to the shores of the North Americas in the late 19th century, reaching Canada first in 1881 and then the United States in 1890. It was finally registered with the Canadian Kennel Club in 1922 and then by the American Kennel Club (AKC) in 1932. Since its entry into the show ring from the 1930s, the Golden Retriever has become one of the most recognized and popular dog breeds, consistently ranking within the top ten most popular dog breeds according to the AKC listing.

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