Spencer the Golden Retriever at 3 years old—"Spencer loves to visit the local water hole. He jumps off the muddy 8 foot high cliff into the water. If you toss a stick into the water he will jump in and retrieve it for you."
Spencer the Golden Retriever at 3 years old swimming—"He swims in the hole and enjoys it. He swims like polar bears do, smooth and calm and very relaxed, just chill in in the water. He will sniff the people around him when out of the water looking at each person calmly seeing if anyone has a stick to toss. If you throw a stick, great, he’ll get it with enthusiasm, but if you don’t, he's cool with that too."
Spencer the Golden Retriever at 3 years old swimming in the water hole
Spencer the Golden Retriever at 3 years old swimming in the water hole
Spencer the Golden Retriever at 3 years old climbing out of the water
Spencer the Golden Retriever at 3 years old climbing out of the water with a stick
Spencer the Golden Retriever at 3 years old climbing out of the water
Spencer the Golden Retriever at 3 years old shaking the water off of his coat and in the process getting a shepherd all wet
"This is my purebred, male Golden Retriever named Pongo at 1 year and 8 months, and 25 inches in height. Pongo is very athletic and energetic. Friendly and has a good temper with my German Shepherd Wolfy. He gets a good amount of exercise and jogs with me every morning and evening for at least 2 hours every day."
"Foofa the Golden Retriever puppy at 3 months old has a very high ball drive and food drive. She is also actually an escape artist. She loves riding in the car, and loves to feel the breeze outside the car window."
"This is Maxi, my 3-year-old Golden Retriever. Allow me some time to illustrate our background to your loyal readers and fellow dog lovers. I'd like to share our story about how a breed has nothing to do with dog aggression or dominance issues. We had dogs all our lives and I grew up with German Shepard mixes and mongrel Rotties, but we never had any trouble with unbalanced dogs. However, that was a different time and we had more than one pack leader in the family when all 5 families had lived under one roof (we were poor and its Asian culture to live together as a family unit). Our environment became better and one by one, we moved out of my grandparent's house and everybody now has their own house. When we got Maxi, dad was the only alpha and the only person with calm-assertive energy in the household. The rest of us...not really. As children I was probably the only one old enough to remember an ounce of dog leadership sense. Dog training and fancy-smancy dog luxuries were unheard of until these few years. Suddenly the era of the purebred exploded and everyone and their grandmother has one Poodle or Husky. Dad went to visit his friend one day and his Goldie just had a litter of puppies. Maxi, even as a puppy, was resilient and strong willed, that's how he stood out among the puppies and dad, captivated by his "leadership," took him home as soon as he was ready to wean from his mother. Little did we know we chose the naturally dominant one, thinking that a Golden Retriever was a calm, playful dog and not a guard dog and would never ever fight. Oh, how wrong we were. Looking at the photos of how well-trained he is, you'd never have guessed he was an insecure dominant dog. Eventually I took up the responsibility of walking him daily because no one else bothered and dad was always working late. In the first two years of his life, I let him walk everywhere he pleased, because I didn't believe in "breaking his spirit." We had the usual disciplines like no going into the house without invite and never eating from the table, so he was extremely well behaved in the house, but a different case outside of the house. As usual, he liked pulling and rushing out of the house but he would always wait for us to catch up and then continue his walk. Looking back, we were in the follower position and we just thought "awe, how sweet, he waited for us!" Now in Malaysia, it’s common for dogs to walk themselves and a lot of dogs in the neighborhood are extremely unbalanced and Maxi got attacked a few times. This, in turn, developed further his dominance issue and soon he learned to "attack first before being attacked." After the program "Dog Whisperer" came to Malaysia, it made a lot of sense and my childhood memory came flooding back, no dogs have ever acted like how Maxi did and we began training him to walk beside us. I've even taken him to dog obedience class and he graduated with no problem at all. Now when I see dogs in the neighborhood I've trained him to ignore them. If a dog approaches us in a tense way I just "tsst" and it'll go away. Energy is important and I believed it wholeheartedly now."
Maxi the Golden Retriever with his Canine Sports Club Good Citizens vest on
Maxi the Golden Retriever is showing great discipline by waiting to eat the treats that are placed on his paw.
Maxi the Golden Retriever is showing great discipline by waiting to eat the treats that are placed on his paw.
Maxi the Golden Retriever is showing great discipline by waiting to eat the treats that are placed on both of his paws. Good boy, Maxi. This is an excellent way to exercise a dog’s mind.
Hillary the Golden Retriever at 10 years old sleeping on the kitchen floor
A senior Golden Retriever
Rusty the Golden Retriever out on a pack walk with his owner. Rusty is a very high-energy dog and the backpack helps slow him down, making it easier for him to heel. It gives the dog a sense that he has a job—carrying the pack and the items in it.
Adult Golden Retriever wearing a harness—the harness is one of the harder tools to work with when walking a dog. The harness was designed for pulling, for example sleds and weight-pulling sports. With a harness the handler has to work with the chest and mid-body areas, which are the strongest parts of the dog. Dogs think they are great tools for pulling humans!
This is Sallie, a happy Golden!
Sallie looking pretty!
Meet Rufis!
Eric the Golden Retriever loved to swim in the water and dig in the sand at the beach.
Scout the Golden Retriever as a puppy at 8 weeks old
Scout the Golden Retriever as a puppy at 9 weeks old enjoying the Melbourne, Australia sun
Scout the Golden Retriever as a puppy at 6 months old
Echo is a two-year-old Golden Retriever—"He is a lover! He can't wait for his owner to come home and he follows her everywhere. I think sometimes he sees himself as human!"
This little mud lover is named Bailey, a Golden Retriever puppy at 6 months old.
Orion the Golden Retriever as a puppy at 3 months old
"Hi! My name is Ellie Mae. I'm a purebred Golden Retriever. Here I am at about 10 weeks of age. My owners built me a fence around my property to keep me safe, and a beautiful 12 x 12 kennel for me to sleep in. Next thing you know I'll have central air! I love to hunt grouse and pheasants. I don't really like geese. They are just a little too big for me, but swimming is to die for. My owners bought me in Spooner, Wisconsin—so I guess I'm a transplanted cheesehead that resides in Minnesota. Gooo Vikings!!!!!!!!"
Max the Golden Retriever at 1 year old wearing a party hat and sitting next to the Christmas tree
