[Marches Farmer]

We're thinking of getting one of these to be more of a companion dog than our Border Collies, who will happily work sheep till they drop but hate to be in the house for more than ten minutes.  Never kept a retriever breed before so any tips would be most gratefully received.

[Mammyshaz]

Can be very nice family dogs. Love carrying soft toys around. Energetic when out but happy to settle in the house. Some love water (mud)! Easy to train, not as quickly as a collie but also don't pick up the bad habits as quick as a collie. Can chew lots as a pup. Can be greedy so weight watch.
Very nice all rounder really 

[Kimbo]

I think Goldies on the whole aren't a daft as Labs when puppies but equally slow to mature. Affectionate and good family pets, if you don't mind all that shedding 
Watch out for hip and elbow scores.
Male Goldies can become really quite big and heavy dogs. Nowhere near as intelligent as a collie.
Re chewing: I think all retrieving breeds do a lot of mouthing when they are young but  a neighbour's young Goldie ate right through her utility room wall. Oops!

[in the hills]

Were you thinking of getting working line or show/pet line?

We have kept working line labs and Flat Coats as house dogs but known working Golden Retrievers as father trained them for other people. Show/pet lines are probably a bit easier going as you would expect but I like working line retrievers as they tend to be lighter in build, more athletic, etc.

Labs I would say are the easiest to train and handle, then Goldies and then Flatties. Working lines are in general quick to learn and eager to please. They are 'active' but Labs and Goldies usually settle well in the house. Flatties can be more 'challenging', particularly the males. They never grow up and tend to be more 'head strong'. Real characters though. Most retrievers love companionship of humans and other dogs and are usually good and reliable around poultry/stock (with training of course). Working lines will probably show interest in 'game' but usually easily managed ... with training.

I think all retrievers are 'mouthy'  but suspect all pups/ young dogs will chew if left unsupervised so not much different in that way. They love to carry and usually are playful and love children.

Father feels that, in his experience, he has met more Goldies with a tendency to show a bit of aggression towards other dogs than he has with other retriever breeds.

I really like the look of the working Goldies that are more 'red' than 'gold'.

HTH

[Marches Farmer]

Very helpful.  Are show/pet lines so very different to working?  Our youngest BC chewed a hole in a wooden door so I now have a large puppy cage and outside kennels made from galv. and breeze blocks!  What should I be looking for with regard to hip/elbow scores?

[Kimbo]

I hope this link works for you
 http://www.thegoldenretrieverclub.co.uk/health.html

[Clarebelle]

We have had our golden retriever since she was a puppy, she is now 7. She is amazing with our three kids and has never so much as looked at them in a bad way, her temperament is beautiful and can't be beaten. She is a lovely companion dog and has a lovely nature.

She's  not protective of her food but she is greedy.

She is very excitable when she knows it's time for a walk.

She is very intelligent and quickly grasped the commands we chose to teach her when she was a puppy.

She is far less demanding than our collie and Springer. If you can put up with the hair shedding then I would go for a retriever over other breeds every time.

[in the hills]

There are some breeders of Goldens that would say their dogs are 'dual purpose' but there are two distinct types ..... as with Labradors.

As a general rule 'working line' will be finer in build and less heavy. Heads tend to be smaller/less domed. They appear more 'athletic'. Not sure if show types come in the dark red colour that you often see in working lines. The fashion when we were showing dogs was for 'pale' Goldies' but it may have changed now.

Look up 'show vs working Goldens' on the net. You'll see it discussed in forums etc. There are the usual extreme stories of 'crazy' working line Goldies but overall I suppose you would expect them to be a bit more 'on the go' than the show types. I have a young very much working lab here and yes she is busy, needs exercise, training but a really good little house dog. Guess you're an outdoor type and used to collies so shouldn't be a problem. 

[Old Shep]

lovely dogs but you'll need a good vacuum!!

[cloddopper]

My GR was my own self trained gun dog from a long line of working stock of which about 40% were KC registered with shed loads of field & on the gun live trial championships.
Not a block head insight (  show dog    ) in her .
She had a mouth so soft she use to pick up chicks and bring them to me as if she thought they were too far away for the coop . I'd put the chicks back near the others . It became a game when she collected any escaped small mammals off the floors in the mammal sheds


 re the block head commetn.. most working dogs have much longer snouts  the area of scenting in the nose is usually therefore much bigger than in a show dog .
 
If you have a good two face comb/stripper one with rounded teeth 2 mm apart & a 0.6 mm stripper edge ,  it's easy to give the dog a clean up every couple of days and always on the same evening if they have been working .
It not only cleans the dog it also make for a fantastic bonding sessions as well . Hazel got to love the Dyson vacuum hose at the end of the brush out sessions .

Somethings she did on her own accord ..
 She used to jump up and shake the Pershore egg plums down so she and the goose could eat them , as well as take a single bite out of any Egremont Russet apple that were in easy reach .. she never pulled them off the tree though .

 She was a dog apart .. when she was 18 months old  I was offered £6 K for her & a months B&B at a place in ESSEX to show the prospective buyer how to use her .
 No way , no deal .. ever nor was I going to have her used as a breeder .

 I could toss her some food and say " Hold " then ask for it back up to about 15 seconds later & she'd put it in my open hand un touched , save for a bit of dampness.
If you have the time and inclination ,you always have the dog with you almost 24/7 .
You train them every few seconds or reinforce things then most dogs can be reasonably trained , some like Hazel were apparently exceptionally trained .

 One of her amusing foibles was to eat all of her rough a& ready coarse feed and leave behind the bigger lumps of caked blood , fats & flours etc  by taking them out the bowl and putting them a foot or so to the side. Once the bowl was emptied & licked cleaned she'd then daintily eat them . If ever I asked her for one , she'd bring me one ... un slavered  , right away .

 We had about 40 verbal commands , over 15 hand signals and six whistle signals that she worked with . plus there were a lot of signals of verbal and body language that she picked up that were not working commands, these were mainly from Alison & out Munchkin

 If you can get the dog to learn like that you will have a fantastic relationship & lots & lots of fun . plus a few blubs at the end
 

[Clarebelle]

Following on from cloddoppers post, my Goldie will pick up a quail egg and give it to me intact unless I tell her she can eat it. Lovely dogs 

[farmvet]

You must have all been very lucky, or selective in the pups you've chosen, most of the goldies i've met have been pretty suspect in temperament & I definitely wouldn't trust them with children. Huge tendency to bite hard with no/ very subtle warning signs. I think being soft mouthed they dont always learn bite inhibition properly as pups. Maybe your all just better owners than average...
Love flatties though especially the more traditional ones.

[Mammyshaz]

I've came across a couple of bad apples but the majority have been fantastic temperament wise. The bad apples were exceptionally bad. A dark working line and a very pale show/pet so no pattern either.

In general they are good. Like any breed do the homework. Don't just see parents but try to see previous offspring from both sides too. A list of potential owners already on a waiting list before the bitch has had the litter is usually a good indication that people in the know of the lines think this line is a good one.

[in the hills]

My young lab was playing with something in the field only yesterday. Ignored her for quite a while but then recalled. She'd found a pheasant egg and been playing with it for quite a while. Unbroken!

My Flattie as a young dog would collect the hen eggs out of the coops and come trotting home with them!

Re temperament ..... As a trainer of retrievers for the field my father did feel that Goldies were the most likely to show aggression towards other dogs but you can get that in any breed. Though Flatties are in general totally 'soft' we had a dog that was quite aggressive towards people and very dog aggressive. The breeder of my current Flattie said that she felt that Flatties were becoming more dog aggressive as a breed from what she was seeing at shows and they really can 'brawl' if they start. So, I guess, you can get that in any breed.

[Kimbo]

my experience of Goldies led me to believe that they are mostly docile and affectionate but, oddly enough, I only heard yesterday that my friend's young Goldie ( about 15 months I think) had recently  bitten her son
I don't know the exact circumstances in which this happened, but thought it was pertinent given the above posts.