# Golden Retriever mixes?*pic heavy*



## wdadswell (Dec 17, 2015)

Loved all your pictures!! You can never show too many!! Beautiful girls!! No question in my mind, at least 1 parent was Golden and to do the Border Collie stalk pose, you would think a fair bit of that as well. Does Sierra try to herd too? That would be my guess. 

People always ask me what breed my mutt is, as she looks like Ewok. I'm always tempted to make up one. They look so dissappointed, when I say a bit of everything and shrug.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

No clue what could be in the mix behind them. Keep in mind in some areas where you have a higher stray population + less preventive care by the owners and or less breed education by the owners (people buying puppies that are said to be purebred because they "look" purebred, but might actually have other stuff behind them), you may have several generations of mixes behind your non-purebred dog.... 

But they really are beautiful! 

I guess a good tip as far as whether they have pyr in them - check the feet. 

Great Pyrs- they have the double dews on the rears and fronts.


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## CAROLINA MOM (May 12, 2009)

Great pictures, they were adorable pups and have grown into beautiful dogs.


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## PrincessDaisy (Dec 20, 2011)

Both are gorgeous dogs. You did good, as did they, in that adoption. 

Time for a DNA test on them both. Could have different fathers.


Max


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## kwhit (Apr 7, 2008)

Megora said:


> I guess a good tip as far as whether they have pyr in them - check the feet.
> 
> Great Pyrs- they have the double dews on the rears and fronts.


Yes...check the rear legs for double dew claws, (I've never heard of them having doubles on the front legs, only rear).

They're absolutely beautiful dogs, BTW. :


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

kwhit said:


> Yes...check the rear legs for double dew claws, (I've never heard of them having doubles on the front legs, only rear).


Ah - this is correct. 

I'm usually so distracted by how ugly the rear feet look on the dogs at shows, I haven't noticed the fronts too much.


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## Tennyson (Mar 26, 2011)

Part golden and definitely part angel.
They are beautiful! Love the pictures.


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## CavyCrazy (Feb 16, 2016)

Thank you all for the lovely comments  

They dont have double dew claws like a pyr would. Plus i feel like theyre kinda small to have much pyr in them. I never really thought about them possibly having multiple fathers, it would definitely explain alot though in terms of their differences in energy level. I could totally see Sierra have some border collie in her the way she acts, but Maggie she's just sooo chill its hard to see. 

I've been considering doing to DNA tests on them but Ive heard of then not always being that accurate and coming up with some crazy results.


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## Elsa Cholla's Mom (Feb 8, 2016)

Do they have retriever traits? My daughter's dog came to us from the shelter labelled a german shepherd mix. Lazy staff, there was no GS in him. Vet suggested newfie cross. And Yes he grew almost newfie size (100 lbs), but wasn't built right for that, he was also fixed way too early in life, that would have made him over bulky. Then someone mentioned Flat Coat Retriever, they are black with occasional white marks, usually chest. So when I researched them, lo and behold, there was a breeder of those dogs in the region he came from! Their sires looked just like Odin, but slimmer, plus Odin has retriever traits. So we tell people he is a flat coat retriever/newfie mix. So I would guess your pups could be flat coat retriever/lab crosses.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

Flat-coated retrievers are not that common... and they do NOT have white markings. As newfs are whole lot more common (easier to get a newf from a byb) and rule of thumb is the more common a dog is, more likely you will see mixes. 

We have a pretty active FCR club around here. I train around a lot of flat coats. They are not heavier dogs than golden retrievers. They are pretty compatible in size. You would never confuse the two breeds if you ever seen them side by side. Flat-coated retrievers are not black goldens. 

Just the same - you would never be able to confuse a newf with a flat coated. Massive difference in size. Not talking just weight, but newfs are related to mastifs. You have the giant heads and bone - that go along with a breed that was designed to haul boats back to shore. Just like mastiffs in general were produced as major league working dogs and war dogs. 

Being able to spot breed specific traits (size/coloring/coat/expression/overall) is easy to do when you have a purebred or a mix produced by two purebreds.

But this gets complicated when you add other factors...

1. Not every purebred out there is bred to standard. Using the golden retriever as an example, you only need to look around and see people breeding for smaller goldens or "giant goldens". I was watching the Westminster obedience competition this past week, and there was a 26" golden retriever in the competition. Really big golden. Golden retrievers are only supposed to be 24" tops if males. Shorter than that (21-22") if females. If you have a 24" female - that girl is oversized. 

So, I have a neighbor who has a 25" (eyeball measurement on my part - based on her being a noticable smidge taller than my boys) - golden retriever. She's copper colored, and in general looks like a cross between a golden retriever and an irish setter. She has the very long legged, lean form, head shape of a setter. Except, I know she's a golden retriever from a byb. And hey, she's intact, so you can't blame the size and shape on her being spayed. 

The owners are probably going to breed - and I haven't kept close enough tabs on what they do, so for all I know, they may have bred her already.

A dog like that will likely produce similar or more defined traits on her offspring - if not compounded by the traits of the dog she's been bred to. Which roundabout way is me saying they could produce offspring who look even MORE like Irish Setters, or alternatively Dock Tollers - instead of looking like purebred golden retrievers like their papers say. 

So if a golden retriever like that is bred to a lab or some other breed - they may totally have different looking offspring which confound "breed guessers" - even if it's a simple purebred1Xpurebred2 breeding. 

2. While a lot of people assume a mixed breed is a very simple case of two purebred dogs of different breeds spawning and having puppies who bear resemblance to both adult breeds...

Most cases of dogs ending up in shelters that I've seen are a more complex mix of stuff. You might have several generations of mixes in some cases. I do think you can narrow it down to the most common "running breeds".

A lot of people just categorize dogs as shepherd mixes, lab mixes, hound mixes, beagle mixes, husky mixes, terrier (pit bull mostly, but other terriers as well) - because these breeds are the most common AND they are the most common breeds that escape their hards to go play without their owners. 

And this gets compounded as the next generation of puppies from those running breeds above have the same issues with their dogs getting out and playing before they've been neutered. 

And of course there are people who let their family dogs breed. And this could be mixed breeds being bred together. 


So basically speaking - when you have mixed breeds that you are trying to guess the breed based on looks... even if you can pinpoint a certain breed based on looks, odds are that you are just seeing the most dominant traits being passed down. It might not indicate a very simple mixed breed scenario. 

^^^ Which all is my lengthy way of saying, I wouldn't worry about testing and so on. I think it's probably a good bet that your dogs have either golden retriever or Labrador retriever in them. I would definitely say you have retriever mixes. And very pretty ones.


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## SandyK (Mar 20, 2011)

They are beautiful no matter what they are!!! DNA testing can be fun even if there are some weird breeds that show up. When I did test on my mix it showed all kinds of breeds, but explained some of her different traits.


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## TiffanyGolden (Dec 6, 2015)

The gold almost looks like my little man Duke when he was younger! Maybe mixed with Lab? Black though for sure might be mixed with Border Collie! They are both cute as can be!


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