# Where on the energy scale should a golden retriever be?



## Cpc1972 (Feb 23, 2015)

I would say it depends on the golden and age. Of course when they are under a year they are very high energy. Chloe I think is medium to low. With just us theee adults at home she is very calm. We try and walk her two miles and she gets some play time. That seems to be enough for her. But she does get a lot more energized if people come to the house.

But I do agree I would not recommend a golden to someone who wants a coach potato.


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## cwag (Apr 25, 2017)

Before I got Rukie, I asked for a "couch potato" dog. The breeder picked him for us because she thought he would be "as much of a couch potato as a Golden can be." Personally I think it is ok to have a lower energy Golden. I think there is room for the highly active field dog, the medium active family dog, and a lower energy "slightly senior owner" dog. I agree it would be sad if the entire breed was ramped down though. I love Goldens but if they all needed several hours of exercise a day I couldn't own one. 
Rukie seems fine with a quick morning walk, 15 - 20 minutes of frisbee and general running at his own pace in a field, plus a late afternoon walk and occasionally a weekend hike. He also likes to just hang out in the yard several times a day. Since he's still growing we don't do long walks yet. We will add swimming in the summer and maybe try an intro to agility to see how he likes it. 
We are a perfect fit energy wise.


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## myluckypenny (Nov 29, 2016)

cwag said:


> I agree it would be sad if the entire breed was ramped down though.


I think this is what I was feeling overall. I don't want to see the whole breed become less energetic or people purposely breeding for couch potatoes. I get that there are definitely varying degrees of energy levels in a litter and it makes perfect sense to match them up to people with similar lifestyles.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

myluckypenny said:


> I just had an interesting conversation with someone on facebook that was recommending a golden retriever for someone that wanted a medium to low energy dog. I stated that I didn't think a golden retriever would be a good fit as all the goldens I know wouldn't be considered medium to low energy until after they were four to five years old. She then gave me several examples of young goldens that she knows that really don't need more exercise than a couple throws of the ball.
> 
> Personally that makes me a little sad as I think that as a breed they should be a medium to high energy breed (field bred obviously on the higher end). What do you guys think, do you think breeders should be breeding lower energy dogs? This is not intended as a discussion on conformation vs. field dogs but as a discussion of the typical minimum energy level you would expect in a golden.


I have 2 thoughts (and more as I kept going).

1. If you have somebody who is DELIBERATELY breeding a poor quality hunting dog (low energy, lazy, difficult to train because they are blobs etc).... that's about as bad as somebody deliberately breeding golden retrievers with afghan coats.  

2. Realistically though - that person is guilty of misleading future dog owners who down the road will be whining and complaining about "aggressive" puppies who are out of control and who are running the neighborhood every chance they get.... 

Dog owners like that are sheer misery to witness as a long time golden retriever owner who loves this breed and knows how difficult they can be if you are expecting a lazy bear who lolls around the house with no exercise.

3. The best dog breed for lazy owners is actually those giant breeds out there who are not on anyone's list for "must have for agility". 

I've mentioned this before, but my baby sister and her husband brought home a Saint Bernard puppy late last year. This puppy is now about 8 or 9 months old and is an angel. My sister just sent me a video showing him sprawled out like Cleopatra and soaking in the love from my 16 month old niece who was feeding him dinner one kibble at a time. He is huge. He's already about 110 pounds, bigger than the goldens, but absolutely does not make any quick or sudden moves. He loves food MORE than the goldens, but especially with my niece he never uses his teeth to take treats from her. And this was something he naturally does. He's very sweet and docile dog by nature. He's also very easy to train for my brother in law who does all the training himself at home (they have no access to obedience classes there on base). 

Not everyone wants a huge and messy Saint Bernard - especially if they live in a hot area of the country and have a kitschy house with "look don't touch" carpets and furniture. LOL. But those same people probably should be thinking twice about goldens too since they do not have any love for hot weather and they are a whirlwind in motion when it comes to cluttered homes. 

4. Even 5 year olds who are more relaxed and well behaved in the house still need outlets for being a dog. Just being on leash all their lives is a miserable existence for a sporting dog. And don't be fooled by a lazy and quiet dog.

I went to obedience class last night after a busy weekend (hiking on Sat and long fun match on Sunday). Different points of the class, my dog was sprawling out like a bear rug and going to sleep. 

Which had a lot of people commenting on that and asking what I DID to him. LOL. 

This same dog when I came home at 8PM or so... he went running outside with my other dog. All sleepy time forgotten, he was galloping full speed out there and giving me a heart attack x 1000 because our driveway is all ice in different spots. 

A dog like Bertie would be miserable living in an apartment with somebody who never walks him and never takes that leash off to let him run.


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## FosterGolden (Mar 10, 2014)

In looking for puppies, many of the breeders I am looking at (with OTCH, MH, MACH dogs) breed higher drive, moderate energy dogs, because people work and have lives outside of their dog and they need dogs with off buttons. Retrievers are working dogs, but they were not made to be "insane". They really are made to sit in a blind for hours at a time then run/sprint when a bird is shot -- which can be one an hour and that run lasts a couple minutes. Real life hunting isn't like a field trial or a hunt test. More waiting, less movement. So, if you look at a house pet in these terms, you've got a dog that is pretty mellow and then when it's time to play/hike/walk they are ready to rock and roll. They need daily training and some exercise, but three hour games of fetch or 10 mile runs every day are not how these dogs are supposed to function per the standard.


So maybe a Golden is not the best fit for this person, but if they really want a Golden, they should most definitely find the right breeder and be completely transparent about what they are looking for. I feel like bad breeders a lot of times breed super high energy dogs that are maybe less energy but more needing exercise to help them with OCD or nervous energy or something.


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## myluckypenny (Nov 29, 2016)

Megora said:


> The best dog breed for lazy owners is actually those giant breeds out there who are not on anyone's list for "must have for agility".


Definitely agree here! I think the lady I was talking to was using off-switch and energy level interchangeably. There is definitely a difference though in my opinion, my dogs are medium (conformation line) to high (field line) energy levels, but they both have really good off-switches. But those off-switches only work after I've met their exercise requirements, and I certainly can't meet that with a short walk around the block. They need that off-leash time to be dogs, and sporting/athletic dogs at that!


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## myluckypenny (Nov 29, 2016)

FosterGolden said:


> So maybe a Golden is not the best fit for this person, but if they really want a Golden, they should most definitely find the right breeder and be completely transparent about what they are looking for. I feel like bad breeders a lot of times breed super high energy dogs that are maybe less energy but more needing exercise to help them with OCD or nervous energy or something.


I wasn't actually conversing with the person asking for breed recommendations. I was disagreeing with a person that was recommending a golden for someone that wants a low-medium energy level dog. I didn't think that was a good recommendation, in my opinion. I think most goldens are medium to high energy level.


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## ArkansasGold (Dec 7, 2017)

myluckypenny said:


> I wasn't actually conversing with the person asking for breed recommendations. I was disagreeing with a person that was recommending a golden for someone that wants a low-medium energy level dog. I didn't think that was a good recommendation, in my opinion. I think most goldens are medium to high energy level.


I agree that recommending a Golden to someone that wants a low energy dog is not quite right. However, my breeder has a line of calmer dogs that often go on to become therapy and service dogs. They are not as high energy as my guy (conformation line), in that they are unlikely to do parkour (or barkour LOL) on the furniture when no one is home. They are however, just as trainable, intelligent, and biddable as Goldens should be. They just to tend to be very calm in all situations and very in tune with human emotions. 

If these people are wanting a "low" energy dog, I agree that a giant breed would be better. There is a Leonberger in our Rally class (first Leonberger to get the RM title, she is also a a GCH and CD) and she is very calm and laid back, but still willing to work.


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

I see two things: An underexercised Golden and a very surprised owner.


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## cwag (Apr 25, 2017)

maegan0412 said:


> However, my breeder has a line of calmer dogs that often go on to become therapy and service dogs. They are not as high energy as my guy (conformation line), in that they are unlikely to do parkour (or barkour LOL) on the furniture when no one is home.


Ha, ha, thanks for the laugh!


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## CAgirlinIA (Dec 22, 2017)

I agree that a Golden Retriever is/should be a medium to high energy dog. To me that is inherent in the breed and I agree, also, that breeders trying to breed a lower energy breed not only makes me sad but it's not breeding to standard nor bettering the breed. That said, each dog is unique. Our first Golden was a high-energy puppy until he was 5 years old and overnight it seemed, he became a calm, obedient companion dog; all the obedience he had learned in the first five years seemed to kick in and he was perfect  Our second Golden, on the other hand, remained a very high energy puppy until he succumbed to cancer at the age of 8 1/2. Perhaps he knew he was going to have a short life and tried to cram all that life had to offer into that short life; he had lots of fun (me....not always). We are currently awaiting the arrival of a Golden puppy sometime this summer and since it's been twenty years since I trained a puppy (having had a Golden mix rescue in the interim), I am not only looking forward to it but "gearing up" for it head-wise.


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## Altairss (Sep 7, 2012)

energy level is a very subjective term really and what a person considers moderate can very greatly from person to person. Sparkles had a great laid back attitude in the house, people that met her thought couch potato and that she was too low key and would say I want one like that. then she would go out to work, play, hike or do an agility course and people would see a whole other side of her. She would happily work as long as you needed but would turn it off in the house or when you wanted her to wait around. Tink is similar in work with a great off switch. Boots did not have as good of an off switch and tended to be really restless and we had to teach it too him It really took a couple of years before he figured out it was good to chill. Goldens should have a good work ethic combined with a good off switch so they can sit in the boat or blind then go to work with intent when it was time. Too high of energy with no off switch and they are not really good in the field. Its also harder in other venues as well. Also since goldens do not mentally mature till somewhere between 3-5 years of age that in itself causes some stress in the new puppy people.

As an funny aside I thought I knew what moderate energy was till I brought home my Aussie. He ran me off my feet for over a year he needed over three hours of offleash walking/hiking every day to get him to settle and I kept asking his breeders so this is what is considered moderate for an aussie? Are you sure? What's a high energy one like? They laughed at me like loons


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## CedarFurbaby (Jun 6, 2016)

I’m just thinking that different breeds may have different favourite activities, and that may end up with requiring different amounts of time from their owners. 

I met a husky owner who said her dog just wanted to walk for at least 10 or 15km, and there are others who need a good run everyday. That might sound like a “moderate” energy dog or whatever you want to label it on the scale, but I’m just thinking Cedar could play with dogs solidly for 2 hours without even resting or lying down, but ask him to walk more than 1km...forget it lol. he just can’t do it, he got to investigate every inch of the way and then he gets mentally tired quickly.


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## rabernet (Feb 24, 2015)

My first thought is that the lady recommending a golden has probably only seen or experienced goldens that are larger than normal (overweight) who don't get exercised much. I see far too many "big boned" goldens (as their owners excuse their weight), that I guess to be several years older than I find out that they are, and that excess weight really seems to age them (IMHO). I want to shake the owners and say "you're literally loving your dog to death"! 

I get it, it's hard to resist those eyes that beg for treats or a bite or two of your dinner. But I hate with all my heart seeing an overweight golden along with an owner who is in denial that their dog is not a healthy weight. Especially given that it's probably the number one thing that you can do to reduce your risk of cancer (keeping your dog lean). Studies show that fit dogs live on average, 2 years longer than overweight dogs. We, as a society, have grown so complacent about keeping our dogs fit that when one sees a fit animal, they often tell the owner that they're too skinny. 

Now - if I could just take my own advice about my own weight! LOL 

But I am obsessive about Noah's body condition. When he had to go to the emergency vet in Jan, and he was a lb over breed standard, I worried over that. I don't want his weight to creep up without me noticing. Thankfully, on his annual exam, he was a lb under the top end of breed standard. So much easier to correct a weight problem when it's just a couple lbs, than 10 to 20 lbs. His dock diving coach is always putting her hands on her students' dogs to feel the body condition and advises if she feels an owner needs to be more mindful of their weight or not.


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## puddles everywhere (May 13, 2016)

Interesting question.. and like you I'm not sure I would ever describe a golden as a couch potato. But there are several breeders in the North Texas/OK area that are breeding (as the breeder described to me) "laid back, lazy dogs". I'm guessing they are providing a product people are wanting?? I did not go with this breeder.

I got one of those dogs, despite telling the breeder I wanted a dog for competitive obedience. I love my girl and have learned to enjoy her gentle, quiet nature and her ability to be pooped after 10 minutes of frisbee. 

I was terribly disappointed in many ways. My expectations were to have a biddable dog, high enough energy to train and run the trails together. As I said before .. to do obedience training and planned to get involved in agility. We go to the trails and it takes longer to get there (less than 10 minutes away) than the time spent there. After about 5 minutes she has lost interest and only reason she is still walking is to be with me... looking over her shoulder towards where the car is parked.

What I got was a wonderful dog that poops out quickly. When I say poops out I mean she looses interest and just wants to lay down and watch the activities after about 15 minutes. Even the grand kids were sad as she chased them about 3 minutes and laid down while they ran around and tossed the ball to each other, she was 6 months. She is a giant hair ball, sort of Yetti. She has so much hair it's insane. I may need a better dryer but it takes 2 hrs to get her to the damp stage. I've seen chows that don't have this much hair on their legs!

It's 9:30am and she is already into nap mode. I have never worked so hard in my life to train a dog. She is wonderfully creative but following direction has never been her strong point. She just doesn't enjoy obedience, she is doing the exercises but there is no joy in doing them... and every step of training is met with resistance.

But if you want someone to lay in your lap while you watch tv or under your desk while you cruise the internet or help finding a mud puddle... Sipsy is your girl!


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## Goldens&Friesians (May 31, 2014)

I agree with the others who say a golden should be medium to high energy. But I also agree with the fact that energy level is very subjective. I consider my golden to be medium energy, but I'm also comparing her to my cousin's border collies who are psycho, crazy, I-couldn't-deal-with-it, high energy with zero off-switch. My golden has a definite off-switch and anyone who saw her indoors would think she was a couch potato. But outdoors its a different story-she could give my cousin's border collies a run for their money outdoors! But even though I consider my golden medium energy, I'm sure there are people who would consider her high energy. Its a really hard thing to answer. But, yeah, I agree with you that that person should not have recommended a golden to someone who wants a couch potato.


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