Golden Retrievers are obedient, affectionate and insanely patient dogs, which is why they are often found in families with children. But the breed was bred for completely different purposes - hunting. The name comes from the verb to retrieve.
The Golden Retriever breed owes its origin to the English aristocrat Lord Tweedmouth. He was fond of hunting, sports and dreamed of breeding a new breed of dogs. For a long time it was believed that Golden Retrievers descended from Russian shepherds, but in this story, not everything is so simple.
At the end of the 19th century, Dudley Marjoribanks Tweedmouth visited a Russian circus, who had come to Great Britain on tour, and there he saw shepherd dogs, which he bought for breeding a new breed. This legend was believed for a very long time, and at the beginning of the 20th century even the name "yellow Russian retrievers" appeared, they were presented at famous exhibitions.
But thanks to Elma Stoneks, who studies the history of the breed, it became known that Russian shepherds have nothing to do with retrievers. It turns out that in 1865 the Lord acquired a Curly Coated Retriever named Nous, he was distinguished by a golden color. It was then that Tweedmouth decided to breed yellow dogs for hunting.
In 1867, a tweed water spaniel bitch was bought, from her and Nous, the breeder received the first litter of puppies with a dark yellow color. After the death of the lord, his son and grandson continued his business.
Since 1900, the popularity of the breed has been growing, many kennels have appeared, and their representatives have earned new titles and became champions. There was also controversy over color. In Europe, over time, breeders introduced a fashion for light goldens, white retrievers appeared in Finland and Sweden, and in the USA only dark golden dogs are bred, considering light tones to be a marriage of the breed.
The first representatives of Goldens were brought to our country from the USA in 1989, and the first litter appeared 3 years later. Goldens were initially chosen only in the USA and India, the dogs were very different from the European ones. However, in the 90s, the popularity of the breed has greatly increased, dog breeders began to take puppies from the best kennels in England, France and Finland. Now our golden retrievers are represented at famous European exhibitions.
