# Why aren’t golden retrievers more popular in the field?



## Megora

You know... talking to some guys I get the impression that it's a smidge something else....

Labs are like blue jeans and beer for some guys. 

Golden retrievers are all around family pets, but you do see more chicks with their goldens in obedience sports. 

There's more guys in field than any of the other sports just like obedience is basically almost all chicks.


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## gdgli

A friend of mine was looking for a pup. He asked me how much a Golden goes for and I told him. His answer was "I am not paying that for a dog". I told him to set his budget, might find what he wanted if he didn't mind driving. I told him to maybe get a Lab. He ended up with a Lab and is as happy as a pig in a mud pit.


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## GoldenCamper

If you look at the old tome reprint of Rachel Page Elliott's "reflections from a old timer" in Golden Retriever News Nov-Dec 2017 she explained it quite well back then.

Goldens IMO are being bred to be soft in these days for the majority of people looking for a all around companion. They are not so much the retrievers they used to be as people want "pretty"


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## Megora

gdgli said:


> A friend of mine was looking for a pup. He asked me how much a Golden goes for and I told him. His answer was "I am not paying that for a dog". I told him to set his budget, might find what he wanted if he didn't mind driving. I told him to maybe get a Lab. He ended up with a Lab and is as happy as a pig in a mud pit.


Yep - I agree that's the other thing.

There isn't the same amount of protectionism in labs as there is with goldens. So less use of limited registration = more breeders = cheaper puppies. 

You still are going to be paying an arm and leg for a well bred lab whether that's a show lab or a FC bred lab.


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## GoldenCamper

I have to laugh at some posts here over the years about a Golden being to cold for walking in the winter. Goodness they used to sit in a duck blind all day and crash through ice to retrieve a bird.


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## gdgli

GoldenCamper

I just think that the qualities that I find desirable in my Goldens are different from what other owners want. I just have to take a look at my local breed club and what they desire in their dogs. I am the odd man out. But then again I don't know of a single grouse hunter or pheasant hunter or duck hunter in the club. There are maybe two owners who have field bred Goldens but their hunting is limited to tower shoots. They are not rough shooting.


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## Megora

@Golden Camper - that white stuff on the left there isn't "froth" from the active waves. That was a chunk of ice in the water when my guys went swimming yesterday. It was about 30 degrees outside and the water was really cold...

Jacks went in a few times, but preferred staying out of the water while Bertie was in the water almost the entire time. 

As long as the cold doesn't bother the dogs, they are just fine out there.


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## Alaska7133

Megora said:


> Yep - I agree that's the other thing.
> 
> There isn't the same amount of protectionism in labs as there is with goldens. So less use of limited registration = more breeders = cheaper puppies.
> 
> You still are going to be paying an arm and leg for a well bred lab whether that's a show lab or a FC bred lab.


I disagree with you on several points. I have a friend that breeds field goldens. She breeds several litters a year. She is well known and has a waiting list at all times. A local lab and golden breeder was dying, so she bought his bitches, one lab and one golden. The lab had excellent breeding packed with FC-AFC titles, and was bred to a FC-AFC dog. Super pedigree for the pups and she expected easy to sell puppies. The golden was bred to a nice FC golden. She couldn't get rid of the lab pups and ended up giving most of them away just to get rid of them. She started at a price of $800 for those lab pups and ended up at free... The golden she got a nice price for all the pups and they went quick. It is supply and demand. Because 95% of the FCs in a year are given to labs, a FC title on a lab doesn't mean a lot or even a higher price. Supply and demand. Easy to find pups from FC lab bred litters. Not so easy for FC bred golden litters. 

Also when it comes to limited registration, most field golden breeders do not offer limited registration. Most only do full registration. The whole limited registration thing is all about the show ring. Same with show labs, you'll probably only get limited registration from show breeders of labs, field labs are mostly doing full registration.

Limited registration I think has really hurt dog shows mostly. The amount of people able to show a dog is tiny now that limited is pretty much the only registration you can get on a show bred dog. 

Food for thought: 69% of golden retriever litters in the US are bred by breeders that are not members of GRCA or their local golden retriever club. I read that statement in GRNews last year. 69%


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## GoldenCamper

Megora said:


> @Golden Camper - that white stuff on the left there isn't "froth" from the active waves. That was a chunk of ice in the water when my guys went swimming yesterday.


Fiona danced on the iceberg's  T'was a balancing act.


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## GoldenCamper

gdgli said:


> GoldenCamper
> 
> I just think that the qualities that I find desirable in my Goldens are different from what other owners want. I just have to take a look at my local breed club and what they desire in their dogs..


So glad my kids have been rescues and we figured it out in time. Will a floofy poofy fancy show dog be a hunter, sure. Will a feisty field dog be a couch potato, you bet.

One can breed a Golden but they become who you are.


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## hotel4dogs

Enjoyed the article, thanks for sharing!


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## ArchersMom

I've found the perception that Golden's don't make good hunting dogs to be rampant among hunters. But only among people that have never owned and never even hunted over a Golden. There seems to be this idea that they're just fancy show dogs and not a sporting breed. Its disappointing, because it's really not true. I think that given the chance, a lot of pet Golden's could make fine hunting companions. That's exactly what Archer was, but everyone that hunts with him is blown away at his natural instinct. He goes out regularly with our hunting guide friend. It's his nose that really sets his apart from hunting with a lab. He rarely loses a cripple on land and will even dive for them in the lake. I really liked that the article brought that point up. 

The purchase price is probably the biggest deterrent for most amateur Hunters. That same guide friend was asking about getting a Golden puppy from me. He has shown in Conformation in the past and finished a few AKC Champions. He said he would never pay more than $1,500 for a dog. That's pet price for a healthy Golden! But you can easily have an unregistered Lab for $400 from a backyard breeder. Or even full AKC with health certifications and some titles for $1,200.


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## fourlakes

I grew up in kind of a male-dominated hunting family. I took some grief for having Goldens which were *sissy dogs* vs. Labs which were *real retrievers* We used to trade barbs about that, mostly in good fun, but not completely. For some reason it seems Labs are the more *manly* choice for hunting dogs.


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## gdgli

fourlakes said:


> I grew up in kind of a male-dominated hunting family. I took some grief for having Goldens which were *sissy dogs* vs. Labs which were *real retrievers* We used to trade barbs about that, mostly in good fun, but not completely. For some reason it seems Labs are the more *manly* choice for hunting dogs.


It is the image that they have.


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## ArchersMom

fourlakes said:


> I grew up in kind of a male-dominated hunting family. I took some grief for having Goldens which were *sissy dogs* vs. Labs which were *real retrievers* We used to trade barbs about that, mostly in good fun, but not completely. For some reason it seems Labs are the more *manly* choice for hunting dogs.


But real men don't need their dog to validate their manliness


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## Vhuynh2

One time in a field training group, a guy "jokingly" asked me, "now why do you women always have goldens?" He runs labs and his wife runs goldens.


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## Swampcollie

What kind of dog one chooses depends greatly on the kind of hunting they are going to be doing. For someone that is going to waterfowl 100% of the time, Labs are generally preferred due to the lower cost and the fact that they drag back less water with them when returning from a retrieve. 

When you add upland birds to the mix, the Golden starts to gain rapidly in popularity due to a much better nose and close hunting style. If the hunter's balance of hunting will be significantly more upland than waterfowl the Golden will easily win out, as that is the kind of niche the breed was created to fill.


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## Megora

Alaska7133 said:


> Also when it comes to limited registration, most field golden breeders do not offer limited registration. Most only do full registration. The whole limited registration thing is all about the show ring. Same with show labs, you'll probably only get limited registration from show breeders of labs, field labs are mostly doing full registration.


I inquired about a show lab (years ago) and the pups ran the same prices as show golden pups (about $1000 back then), limited registration, and mandatory fencing. The breeder is somebody who has no problem placing puppies. Keep in mind she is only breeding once or twice every year and is "out there" with her dogs being shown. This is all the advertisement she needs for her dogs. <= I did not get a pup from her because we have no fence and are unwilling to put up fencing.

Even other breeds which are not as popular have no problems placing the puppies. 

It is "supply and demand" but also they are very selective about what they breed, how often they breed, and they are very well known in their breeds with them always getting referrals without any advertisement and even when they don't have puppies on the ground yet.

One comment on the breed (in general) and limited registration or lack thereof (in general) is that when you have everyone and his brother and sister breeding everything they have... you are going to struggle convincing puppy buyers to pay more when/if the quality is there. 

And quality isn't just titles on the dog. It's also appearance. If you are buying a dog vs adopting a $10 mutt from an animal shelter.. it better be a nice looking dog. And then it is also health and temperament. 

Any "gee I wish we all could do full registration and ensure people will be producing puppies for less money" thoughts going through our heads better go away quick with the reminder that labs are a mixed bag. You're not just talking about "prozac puppies". You are talking about dogs as aggressive in tendency as pit bulls are. This is major dog aggression and even aggression towards people.

That is why there is so much protectionism in golden retrievers among breeders. It's not just about keeping pups out of the hands of "dumpers" (ie people who buy on impulse and dump the pups at 6-8 months).


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## jdavisryan

My friend's husband is a duck hunter and she says his preference for a Lab comes down to one thing - the coat. He thinks a lab is less work after a hunt but a Golden needs a thorough brush out to remove burrs, sticks, tangles etc. She's been asking him to get a Golden for years and he always tells her "great dogs but too much work."


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## hotel4dogs

I know I've said this before, but it bears repeating. When running the flushing Spaniel hunt tests, it was amazing how many people came over to "watch the Golden run" and then would tell me in some form or another that "the best hunting dog I ever had was a Golden!".
These were mostly Spaniel people of course.


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## MillionsofPeaches

overall its easier to find a good hunting lab that will put in the waterfowl work down here. You can find all kinds of capable MH lab breedings and its easy to train labs for most training styles. Labs are generally straight forward so even the most novice of trainers can train them. The good old boys all breed their buddies dogs. so that keeps the common lab price low. Same with goldens there are a lot of lower priced hunting test goldens. NOW there are some Lab breeders that are exclusive. Their lists are long and selective. Prices can reach to 20K a puppy to gifts to their buddies for free. Good goldens are like these labs. its comparable but maybe not as exclusive because there is less demand for them so the left over pups go to pet homes. 

From what I've also seen is that this field sport which is where it began for goldens, not hunt, is primarily very very wealthy owners that spend lots and lots of money on their dogs or retired people that train all the time. I know a dog that was sold for 250000. They are playing this game like they are gambling and making wagers. They want a sure bet and statistically labs win which leads to these crazy high achieving bred labs. Unfortunately goldens are rarely bred like this because there just aren't that many FC/AFC bitches to breed FC/AFC males.. Labs are bred with more risk than golden breeders as well. Health clearances are important but certain things are not as emphasized as they are in the golden world. Thus keeping good golden breedings even lower than labs. 
I agree with what the writer wrote about the style and flash of a great goldens. Nine to ten lab clients that come out to train their dogs with my pro and see me training proof will comment about him. Its like they can't believe they are seeing a working golden like that. He just catches your eye and his coat is amazing. I have two show bred goldens and I hated getting them in the field. They always get stuff stuck in their coat and their endurance level just didn't match mine. I have a lab now and her fur takes longer to dry and sheds more. Proof's coat dries quickly and never tangles. I don't have to groom his feet but once every four months where my show goldens have to be done every month. I think that for most people thats not a big deal but for a working dog that I'm working with all day every day it is hard to find the time to do a lot of grooming. He loves to train and picks up concepts quickly. He uses his nose but can be trained to focus on the task at hand. If more people could have goldens like mine than I think they'd be more apt to having one. And I'm not saying that Proof is a rarity I'm saying that there just aren't enough of them in the field working. They are in the hunts tests or they are pets. Only a few make it into the field. Recently I feel like there are more and more though. Thats a good thing, it means good breedings will happen more often. 
I have a lot of thoughts on this topic since I'm in this sport and take a lot of crapp about having a golden. In fact today I was told he looks like a ball of seaweed floating in with the current since he's quite a bit slower on the last water bird back.


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## Megora

jdavisryan said:


> My friend's husband is a duck hunter and she says his preference for a Lab comes down to one thing - the coat. He thinks a lab is less work after a hunt but a Golden needs a thorough brush out to remove burrs, sticks, tangles etc. She's been asking him to get a Golden for years and he always tells her "great dogs but too much work."


The funny thing as a golden retriever owner is that your first thought on this is there's just no way to argue the conclusion that a golden is more work than a lab because you actually have to own a dog brush. :laugh:

That said, I have to throw something out there just because it's one of the most frequent assumptions when people (with short-coated breeds) meet my dogs. 

Their comment: You must brush them all the time.

And nothing can be further from the truth.  But it gets really complicated explaining _why_. Because the type of coat/texture that the dogs have is what makes them easy keepers when compared to the spaniel and setter breeds. The coats are not supposed to be "silky" or too "soft". Silky and soft and cottony is what tangles and really picks up all kinds of yard junk. I'm trying to figure out why a stick would have to be brushed out of dog's coat? 

Burrs don't count completely btw, because some pondy areas here in MI have really nasty burs which stick to everything and are completely miserable getting them cleaned off. They stick to my jeans and somebody with a short-coated dog would have to set time aside to clean up their dog if it got covered with these burrs. 

I do have certain tricks for getting these burrs off my dogs pretty fast. I have some oily grooming goop stored in my trunk + a slicker brush. If my guys pick up those really nasty kinds of burrs while we are out, I have the stuff in the car for quick clean up. And it literally takes about 5 minutes to get the burrs brushed out (using the oily goop to get the burrs just slide out). I do send my guys back out into the water (if we are near water) to wash the oil off, but that's it. It doesn't take heavy duty grooming.

My Jacks does not need to be show-groomed, however it takes 5 minutes to trim his feet (and he would have full blown slippers if I never trim them). And I literally just take another 5 minutes to clean up his neck and trim up on his tail. And he's done. And the grooming job would actually look just fine for showing. You don't have to go all poodle owner grooming these dogs. That's why they are a common sense choice of breed for most homes. A lot of people in pet homes take more coat off their dogs than they have to.


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## jdavisryan

I've never hunted with a dog, but I have spent hours hiking in the woods with them and they all loved to get off the trail and into the really heavy undergrowth. Daisy was a very full-coated dog and even with her it only took minutes to knock off the leaves and burrs with a slicker brush. I did have to attend to it right away because she would "self-groom" and rip the stuff out with her teeth as soon as we got back! I agree, the perception of the high maintenance Golden coat isn't really accurate.


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## gdgli

jdavisryan said:


> My friend's husband is a duck hunter and she says his preference for a Lab comes down to one thing - the coat. He thinks a lab is less work after a hunt but a Golden needs a thorough brush out to remove burrs, sticks, tangles etc. She's been asking him to get a Golden for years and he always tells her "great dogs but too much work."


I don't have that problem with my dogs' coats. Actually what they have is perfect for hunting, not excessive coat. I can hunt lowlands as well as uplands with my dogs. Minimal grooming and care.


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## gdgli

Buffy

http://i1107.photobucket.com/albums/h391/JumpingJohn-3/04_zps8087a4ca.jpg


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## Vhuynh2

This was Molly a few years back after pheasant "hunting" (they were planted)... I mean, this was pretty ugly but I was able to brush every single one of them out without using any product. She also has spay coat which makes everything worse. I can't imagine this ever happening to Maisey with a more "fieldy" coat. It's a lot shorter, the texture is different, and things just don't stick to it. Molly's tail feathers has always had a "kinky" texture (that I'm sure is probably not "correct") that things can get easily tangled up in.


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## MillionsofPeaches

holy moly vivian! 

See I love that proof's coat doesn't collect that to begin with. It is just a hassle and time consuming to take care of. His coat is like his mother's, Buffy's


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## Swampcollie

My dogs don't have a coat that collects excess debris, nor do they have feet that require any kind of trimming (other than nails). 

Spaying a female on the other hand will change the texture of the coat and cause it to collect every burr and seed available. Spay coat however is a man made condition.


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## Megora

Vhuynh2 said:


> This was Molly a few years back after pheasant "hunting" (they were planted)... I mean, this was pretty ugly but I was able to brush every single one of them out without using any product. She also has spay coat which makes everything worse. I can't imagine this ever happening to Maisey with a more "fieldy" coat. It's a lot shorter, the texture is different, and things just don't stick to it. Molly's tail feathers has always had a "kinky" texture (that I'm sure is probably not "correct") that things can get easily tangled up in.


I think her coat looks like it has the cottony spay coat thing going on. It looks similar to what we had with Arthur (rough collie with major spay coat going on). 

The thing that bugs me about stuff out there is you have some conformation breeders out there where everything they breed has a TON of coat (more than my guys and a lot of local show peeps dogs). 

And they won't sell to pet people without spay/neuter contracts and literally put a lot of emphasis on neutering the dogs because they are very protective of their lines. 

I get that... but the same time, I just think it must be really miserable having that much coat on a dog + dealing with a spay coat like that. 

You're talking as much or more coat than Molly has in the pics. It's unfair to the dogs especially since they don't get to enjoy life like regular dogs. 

The owners can't take them swimming because the dogs are prone to hotspots and the coats are miserable to get completely dry. And it's just a really tough road to go as an owner.

These are the types of dogs which I believe field people and the "moralists" in the breed are talking about when they are saying that "show dogs" are being bred to have too much coat and because they don't recognize the moderate dogs in the breed rings who have really correct coats without being naked and recognize the other issue as far as the damage that neutering/spaying does to any coat.... they are falling into the trap of defending the opposite extremes (dogs who have incorrect coats like single coats, not enough feathering for anyone to call that "moderate", etc). 

You don't have to go to either extreme end. A lot of people in the middle do just fine with the dogs they have. It's a coated breed and you DO EXPECT to groom them. If they have the same amount of coat as a lab - then they do not have a correct coat. You should not breed dogs to be more like the breeds you really want. Just get the _other _breeds. 

I was watching a thing for Westminster 2-3 years ago and they were interviewing the handler for a poodle and he was talking about the grooming process taking FOUR HOURS just washing/drying/prepping the coat. Add to that the fact that these dogs have falsies put in to build up coat and they are LADEN with hairspray and powder. 

Our breed is NO WHERE NEAR ALL THAT....

And for that matter, what I know people go through in order to groom that poodle coat - makes me just fall over from the craziness of people creating doodles under the premise that their coats are easier to manage than like golden retrievers! !

If you have a dog with no grooming done on him (or her), the biggest amount of time might be spent drying the dog after a bath. Sometimes with senior dogs, it's really important to get them completely dry around the necks at least because it's a bacteria-yeast stomping grounds there... but also you do have to get them dry if you don't want random curlies popping up when the dogs shake (the moisture is shaken out of the under coat and ends up causing flippies with the top coat). And if the dog is not happy about being groomed, wrestling with the dog takes time. But literally golden retrievers are very easy to groom and keep groomed. Because they are a coated breed, you are talking about more grooming than labs. They need to be brushed every once in a while, they will need feet trimmed, and some dogs who have more shag on the heads need to get that cleaned out. These things which are done to prevent issues like tree sap or clay/sticky mud becoming like cement between the dog's toes. It also prevents those danglers (little tight mats that develop around the ears because the fur on the ears tends to be really soft and fuzzy even when the rest of the dog's coat is correct). And brushing the dogs once in a while isn't just because you "have to" in order to prevent mats. It's more about distributing oils and checking for ticks too. Because retrievers are oily dogs + we are coming up on tick months (April-June) when the dogs are brushing up against long grass or bushes and picking up ticks.

There's labs out there who are never groomed, but even they could do with more frequent brushing because they shed like crazy + the oil clog type issues. I swear their coats are more oily than goldens. But it might also be that they just are not getting the same random grooming like most goldens do.


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## Vhuynh2

My thought is that spay/neuter coat in labs isn’t nearly as bad as it is in goldens, so all around they just have easier to manage coats.


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## ArchersMom

Archer looks just like that after a day of hunting. He has that terrible spay/neuter coat. Teal can go through the same trail and not pick up a thing. Sometimes I give up and trim all his tail feathering off because it's torture for both of us to brush it out 2-3 days in a row :/


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## hotel4dogs

Cowboy magic is your friend!


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## gdgli

Vhuynh2

Those are beggar ticks and are a pain in the neck to deal with. Also, tick trefoil which sticks to dog and clothes and I think some member of the nightshade family (don't remember name) which looks like a tiny lightbulb with sticky hooks (the worst after burdock) are horrible to deal with.


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## hahuston

As purely a companion dog owner, not showing/hunting/breeding, I could have gone with a lab or a golden. They both suit my needs as great family companions. 

The deciding factor was the reminder that I am allergic to cats. With lab dander being very similar to cat dander, I can't bury my face in the fur of lab like I can that of a golden. I'd be washing my hands and face with ridiculous frequency, have to double my allergy meds, bathe the dog more frequently and clean house like a mad woman. I'm so thankful I had the opportunity to play with a lab puppy again before I bought one. Had I bought a lab, I would have stuck with him/her. But really, life is so much more comfortable for me with a golden.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk


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## Megora

hotel4dogs said:


> Cowboy magic is your friend!


Or olive oil. 

Which as far as I know is the only thing that rapidly removes pine sap. <= guess what I was doing today? And guess which 2 blondies smell like an Italian dinner?


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## GoldenDude

fourlakes said:


> I grew up in kind of a male-dominated hunting family. I took some grief for having Goldens which were *sissy dogs* vs. Labs which were *real retrievers* We used to trade barbs about that, mostly in good fun, but not completely. For some reason it seems Labs are the more *manly* choice for hunting dogs.


I had to laugh when I read that because I had one Lab breeder refuse to sell me a puppy when he learned that I was gay. He actually suggested that I try a Golden Retriever.

(I had a similar situation with a Golden Retriever breeder but that breeder didn't suggest a Lab.)


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## hotel4dogs

Some people use WD40, too.
However, Cowboy Magic doesn't leave the coat greasy, it leaves it soft and shiny. Also smells good.
I don't know about pine sap, though, haven't tried it for that!



Megora said:


> Or olive oil.
> 
> Which as far as I know is the only thing that rapidly removes pine sap. <= guess what I was doing today? And guess which 2 blondies smell like an Italian dinner?


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## Megora

We had a lot of pine trees dropping branches this winter (we had rain followed by a heavy snowstorm last month). The dogs are going nuts nosing around those branches and marking them. >.< And getting sap on their heads and sides....


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## Swampcollie

Cowboy Magic, Show Sheen, Ice on Ice, etc are all good for getting crap out of your dogs coat. If your dog is spayed, they are a must have.


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## FTGoldens

I guess that I find my dogs' dirt attractive or something, since I pretty much never bathe them and don't regularly brush them ... and they do come into the house (but thank God for the Neato robo-vac)!
Honestly, my 6 year old male has had maybe 2 baths in his life, and one was after a skunking; the two 8 month old puppies have never had a bath and been brushed maybe 4 - 6 times. Our adult female is a children's hospital therapy dog, so she gets brushed and dry-bathed every two weeks, but only because she visits the hospital and often jumps in bed with the patients.
And these dogs are trained for field trials relatively hard somewhere from 2 to 4 days a week. Notably, we don't have cockle burs or beggar's lice on our training properties, or any known "mean seeds," so we're lucky in that regard ... we do, however, have water and mud; admittedly, if the mud is dripping off of them, they get to spend the night in the kennel. 
So I cannot say that "coat care" has a place in my routine.

One related story (and I apologize for this being something of a brag, but it is related to the topic) ... I was running a dog in an all age stake; out of an entry of 79 dogs, only 4 had made it to the last series water marks and my pooch was one of them (said dog was the only dog that, according to the judges, had properly done the water blind); the water triple was being run at a lake surrounded by cockle burs; after each mark, said dog came back LOADED with cockle burs, to the extent that the judges allowed me to pull them out of the pads and armpits between the marks (at one point, there were 4 people attending to this dog and the cockle burs). That dog had more guts, desire, courage, strength, intelligence, and determination than any other that I've ever seen, whether gold, black, yellow or brown. We got the blue.


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## MillionsofPeaches

wow awesome story!


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## gdgli

FT

This past Sunday I was asked to work a dog at a tower shoot. It was on a farm. There were three pigsties on the farm and of course the mud extended beyond the fencing. Well Buffy decided it was time to roll in the mud. YUCK! OK, back at the cars there was a pond. Six retrieves with a bumper and she was all cleaned up. BIG PLUS---Bath for the year!


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## Megora

Am sharing the attached for fun (plus, I'd just been looking at the pictures because yesterday would have been the blondie's birthday)....

Three different dogs.

And all three generally only got 1 bath a year, if that.

Note though - they almost practically never went swimming. For reasons.

The darkest redhead - was about 2 years old in the picture. By age 3, he began showing symptoms of renal failure, including him losing most of his undercoat and coat on his belly. Right up to the end of his life when he was 6, he still looked shiny and beautiful in the sun though. I think most redheads have that lustrous gleam to their coats like that....

The reddish gold boy had a silky coat that was more like a spaniel's coat. This got worse after he was neutered. That silky coat was prone to matting. 

The blondie was the only one who sometimes (2-3 times a summer?) was taken to lakes for swimming and that was MISERABLE because it was too much time spent letting him dry when he was younger and then he had an old dog's coat by the time he was a 9+ year old senior (very thick and like a sponge, sort of like the spay coat shown earlier in this thread) and I wish I had a dog dryer back then for him because his quality of life would have gone way up, especially with me being able to let him swim all he wanted multiple times a week like my guys do... and not having to worry about him having that "post flood wet basement" smell for weeks afterwards. 

Funny thing about the blondie is that he didn't shed like a normal dog. His coat was so dense that he shed in tufts of fur. Probably made worse because we didn't really brush him too often (I still do not brush my dogs that often). Those tufts of fur would become mats on his butt and neck too....

^^^ All 3 dogs for the reasons given are reasons why I'm completely nutso about making sure that when I go hunting for the next puppy, that he will have the internal health + external health + coat quality that my current 2 boys have. It's also why I have to speak up every time that people shouldn't just dumb down quality of coat to not having to bathe the dogs. Or look at a dog with a show coat and assume it's a nightmare to keep nice.

There's a lot of people out there kibitzing about coats as though it's all about length and based on sufficient amount of field titled dogs in pedigree, but there's a lot more to having a very easy to care for coat on your dog. Health matters + texture also matters. You can have a full show coat on your dog and not really have to put too much effort into keeping that coat clean and well groomed.

I'm speaking honestly here, the worst part about taking my current 2 boys swimming has nothing to do with them at all. It's the fact my car doesn't have leather seats. Getting through summer with the dogs swimming, it ends up stinking to high heaven because of the moisture soaking into the seats. <= My next car WILL have leather or vinyl seats.


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## Claudia M

I did not get a chance to read thru all the comments but out of a bunch of labs to choose from at a pheasant shoot I was asked if I could bring Rose on the upland hunt afterwards. She has already worked two turns that day. She was phenomenal! Went into burrs and under cover and brought those pheasants out. She even brought home a nice tip! 

The "clean up" was not as extensive as people think. By the time we got home the mud was dry on all three, a quick brush and a comb to get the burrs and they were all done. I would have done the comb any way to get the ticks. So I would have done the same work regardless of dog breed.


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## gdgli

Many people are surprised at how well a field bred Golden can work.


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## hotel4dogs

Many people are surprised at how well a well bred Golden can work.


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## Alaska7133

FTGoldens said:


> One related story (and I apologize for this being something of a brag, but it is related to the topic) ... I was running a dog in an all age stake; out of an entry of 79 dogs, only 4 had made it to the last series water marks and my pooch was one of them (said dog was the only dog that, according to the judges, had properly done the water blind); the water triple was being run at a lake surrounded by cockle burs; after each mark, said dog came back LOADED with cockle burs, to the extent that the judges allowed me to pull them out of the pads and armpits between the marks (at one point, there were 4 people attending to this dog and the cockle burs). That dog had more guts, desire, courage, strength, intelligence, and determination than any other that I've ever seen, whether gold, black, yellow or brown. We got the blue.


To put this into perspective for anyone not running field trials, the memory of this dog was incredible! Can you imagine your own dog watching 3 birds thrown out in a field with brush at distances of between 80 to 400 yards and remember where all 3 fell to pick them up individually and bring them back? Each bird may fall hundreds of yards apart too! Then add in the time in between each retrieve to get burrs pulled off. I'm going to guess the total time from watching all 3 birds fall to retrieving all 3 birds had to be 15 to 25+ minutes total time. Can you imagine your own dog remembering all that information and completing the series accurately? Then winning that day! That is one incredible dog! 

Thanks for sharing FT!


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