by Daniella Rice

Created on: July 18, 2010

A golden retriever... a companion who is there for you through all your troubles.

A breed of dog... that won't let you down. They are a beautiful yellow/gold colour. They shed some of their hair in the summer. But they do not have greasy skin like some other dogs. 

Golden retrievers used to be used as hunting dogs but not so much now. Their intelligence is now used for a variety of very important jobs like: 

* Guide dog... they can help the blind with their impeccable feel for direction and they are extremely easy to train, they listen and are patient and loving. 
* They can be used to detect illegal drugs 
* They are fantastic pat dogs for example, in nursing homes 

My golden retriever is 9 years old. We found him a bit of a handful when we first got him... like any other puppy. But retrievers are known for being a little bit mischievous at a young age when they are unused to their surroundings. When we were teaching our retriever...Sammy to learn to sleep by himself downstairs rather than howling like other breeds of dogs when he was scared he would tear up the carpet. This proved to be rather pricey by having to keep re-carpeting the floor but he eventually grew out of it... I'd say it is best to leave them in a tiled floor room where they can't do that! 

When Sammy was a puppy we were told to feed him things like rice pudding (his favourite which we now give him for treats now and then) and weetabix with milk. But now he just has ordinary dried dog food. 

From 8 months onwards we had taught him with little training to sit by the door when he needed to go out into the garden and how to sit, lie down, roll over and to give us his paw. He also learned by himself how to open doors (this might be his guide dog qualities shining through). 

Now he is 9 years old, I can't remember not having him around, he is such great company and he bounds towards you so happy to see you when you come in the front door... a lovely welcome home. 

However Sammy is certainly an exception in the Golden retriever checklists: 

1. He hates water! Whereas most owners cannot stop their retrievers from bounding in the sea.... You only need to watch the DVD Marley and Me with Jennifer Aniston to see this. However not many retrievers are as hectic or half as badly behaved as Marley in the film. It is a shame Sammy doesn't like water and very peculiar because we live right on the coast and have a beach that we have taken him to since he was a puppy.

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