# Coat color ?



## vrocco1 (Feb 25, 2006)

Extremely light colored goldens are not very common here in America. Often times, the color of a pup's ears will give you some indication of what the adult color will be.


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## heartofgold (Oct 27, 2007)

What a handsome boy you have! Thanks!


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## indysmum (Jun 20, 2007)

The only ones I have seen with the real pale color have a European & English Parent.


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## Penny & Maggie's Mom (Oct 4, 2007)

i, too, thought when I first was looking that I wanted a very light female. However, when we went to the breeder, I sat on his patio with a litter playing all around me. The dark colored runt of the litter came over and sat in my lap, looked up in my eyes and that was that.......she's been my heart dog ever since!!! BTW, since there were 2 females in the litter, by the time it came to leave, we agreed to take both. LOL It was a great decision!!! BTW, we were told to expect their final color to be about the color of their puppy ears........ turned out to be true in our case. Others???


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## Ardeagold (Feb 26, 2007)

Their guard hairs (outer coat) do usually turn out to be the color of their ears, however some may have more light undercoat than others do.

The lighter or darker the dog, usually the more "uniform" the color is all over. Red field Goldens rarely have a very light fluffy undercoat. Blondies undercoat just blends right in with the guard hairs. It's those middle of the road GOLD Goldens that often vary widely.

I've only seen a couple of very light cream to white Goldens, and they (or their parents) were all imported from Europe.


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## HovawartMom (Aug 10, 2006)

It's so funny,when I was looking for a golden,I wanted a deep red one,cos,coming from Fr,you don't see them!.Cream colors goldens are very common in Europe while the red ones are tipically not found cos not really accepted,in the show ring!.


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## Chaucer and Mom (Feb 26, 2007)

heartofgold said:


> I spent almost three months looking for a white gold female pup. I don't know why I just like the lighter look better? I looked at 5 litters and could not find a female with a light color coat. In every littler the males were lighter and the females had medium to darker coats and darker ears, which, a local breeder told me means the pup will end up having the darker reddish coat. After looking at all those pups I got my girl from the breeder with the best pedigree pups and the parents that just stood out as the most intelligent and personable. My question is, are white gold females a rare thing in general? My pups coat is a medium color now, will it get darker as she gets older? Not that it matters...I'm in love regardless of her color. Just curious.
> 
> Scout's Mom


I'm glad you decided on your puppers the way you did. 

From my experience, the coat color has nothing to do with the sex of the dog. White/gold goldens are often referred to as English or European Goldens. There are a number of puppy mills that purport to sell "rare English Cremes". They are not rare. And the millers usually charge upwards of $2500 a puppy. There is a website englishgoldens.net that lists breeders in the US and Canada that breed Goldens from English/European stock that are often "white." However, I know from experience, not all breeders on that site are reputable either. So like all breeders here, they need to be checked out.

The most important thing is that you got a happy puppy from good parents.

Garrett, Chaucer and Mom


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## Elway&Prince (Sep 6, 2007)

I wanted a really light colored golden too but my husband found the litter we got Elway from and even though I went in there dissapointed because the woman told me she just had darker colored puppies that she got from a BYB I just knew I made the right decision with Elway and I was in no way dissapointed with my choice when I walked out. I also wanted a female puppy, I don't like male dogs, and he was the first one I touched, he was glued to my side the whole time I was looking at the others as well so it was pretty easy to see which one I was going to pick. The woman told me to judge his final coat color by the color of the tips of his ears so I don't think he'll get much darker than he is now. 

It's funny now because I have two male, darker colored goldens and I don't like male dogs (well except my two) and I really wanted a lighter golden. I love my two though and I now know a golden is a golden no matter what sex/size/or coat color!


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## Goldndust (Jul 30, 2005)

They are rare around here, i've never seen one up close and personal. I've seen one that was very light, but yet not a cream. They are beautiful dogs though aren't they.


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## Sunny Delight (Mar 10, 2007)

Elway&Prince said:


> It's funny now because I have two male, darker colored goldens and I don't like male dogs (well except my two) and I really wanted a lighter golden. I love my two though and I now know a golden is a golden no matter what sex/size/or coat color!


I just love Elway's face!! He seems to have a slightly shorter coat, but he's got that golden face. There's just something about him that's really special to me. I'm sure I'm seeing in a picture what you saw that day he came up to you and stuck to you like glue. It was meant to be!:heartbeat


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## Oaklys Dad (Dec 28, 2005)

When I got my Oakly I had no color preference in mind I just wanted a golden heart.  He is quite light and has a British dad and American mom. I do love his color but I've also had a very red setter golden mix and a medium gold mix that I thought were gorgeous too. I think the most important part of a golden is the part between the ears and beats in their chests.


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## Sunny Delight (Mar 10, 2007)

I think Rob's Oakly's mom was an English (or was it Dad?) and Oak is a gorgeous light color! 

My Sunny sort of reminds me of me and my natural hair color. It's just brown. And she's just gold. Not light, not dark, just plain old gold. She's not really shiny or super soft, but she has a nice straight coat and lovely feathers. 

I've noticed that the redder dogs seem to have a golden highlight and really shine in the sun. I've fostered three that have had that, my current beautiful Bella being one of them. And their coats have been shorter, as was said here. 

But as you said, they are all golden in personality, whether male or female, red or white. Goldens are just the best!!!!!!! (But I guess I'm just preaching to the choir...!)


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## Sunny Delight (Mar 10, 2007)

Oaklys Dad said:


> When I got my Oakly I had no color preference in mind I just wanted a golden heart.  He is quite light and has a British dad and American mom. I do love his color but I've also had a very red setter golden mix and a medium gold mix that I thought were gorgeous too. I think the most important part of a golden is the part between the ears and beats in their chests.


Hi Rob! I was writing my long winded post as you responded! So true about those wonderful :heartbeat's of theirs!!

And I stand corrected on Oakly's parentage!


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## mdoats (Jun 7, 2007)

Some information on the "rare white golden."

Golden Retriever Club of America Public Education


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## ginger-ly (Jun 24, 2007)

My Ginger was a very light color as a puppy, now that shes all grown up, she is very very red color. I think she is beautiful!!!!


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## THE HONEY WOLVES (Jun 9, 2007)

I think it sometimes difficult to forecast - Our Katie was very blonde as a puppy but she matured into the most beautiful Honey Color Coat I had ever seen on any Golden-

Her whacky nieces Jaime and Lucy began as Blondes and stayed blondes

Anyway - I learned from my mother that you dont choose your dog by looking at their coat but rather by looking into their eyes- She vetoed my original choice of a blonder puppy and chose Katie instead - she was head and shoulders the most beautiful dog on the inside and outside our family ever had ( and we have had Goldens in our family for over 40 years)

baby Katie










adult Katie










Senior Katie










baby Lucy









Baby Jaime












Adult Lucy and Jaime


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## THE HONEY WOLVES (Jun 9, 2007)

can you tell which is the good dog :smooch:and which is the bad one?:doh::bowl::uhoh::no: by looking at them ?


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## Griffyn'sMom (Mar 22, 2007)

Ahh color - I've found a lot of the English Goldens to be very light in color, heavy in bone and with a rougher coat texture.

A lot of the Field Goldens are finer in bone - smaller in stature and richer in color - they are also quite witty and if you don't challenge their intelligence you will be in trouble because they will find something to amuse themselves.

I personally LOVE the Red Dawgs but didn't find any in my area. The lighter color seems to be the fad these days. Underneath it's the Golden personality you want and they've all got it.


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## Emma&Tilly (May 15, 2005)

Good luck in your search heartofgold, just be careful about breeders trying to sell a paler golden retriever for ridiculous amounts of money and calling them 'rare'...I would run a mile from a breeder like that. Fair enough, if a breeder loves the look of a 'English type' goldens and they want to introduce them to their breeding, great, but they should not be using them as some kind of gimmick! They even get called 'rare english cremes' sometimes...it really makes me laugh...it sounds much more like something tasty to eat rather than own! Just do some good research and I am sure you will find a good breeder with the look of dog you want. Here in the UK cream golden retrievers (CREAM...not white!!) are 10 a penny...infact you rarely seem to see anything above medium blonde...I seem to becoming partial to the darker goldens I see on these forums that we dont really see over here...the grass is always greener, eh! But anyway, whichever colour golden you end up going for, it is the golden character that will get you hooked!!

Here is my pale little bear cub...well, Tilly at 12 weeks


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## Bailey & Bentley (Feb 25, 2007)

Usually whatever color the pups ears are will be the color they will turn once they are older. That held true for both of my boys.


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## BeauShel (May 20, 2007)

When we picked Bamabear he was the darkest male puppy and he hasnt changed color at all so far and is even looking alittle lighter.


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## heartofgold (Oct 27, 2007)

Thanks everyone for all the info on color. I was always told that blondes were more fun...guess I was wrong!


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## goldensmum (Oct 23, 2007)

In the UK, lighter coloured dogs are common. I am the opposite preferring dark coloured coats, and picked both of mine mainly because they had the darker coloured ears.


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## Gwen (Aug 9, 2007)

Many breeders in Canada are breeding "white" goldens - many of them are being imported from Denmark & Switzerland. I also find that the White goldens are very large dogs.


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## AquaClaraCanines (Mar 5, 2006)

I don't care for UK type or color, just a personal preference, they're way too big and clumsy for me, I like an fast moving athlete with grace and I don't like cream- it's a fault in the standard in the US, and the original first Goldens were darker anyway. To me a GOLDEN should be... *gasp* GOLDEN! LOL  I like my light boy, but he is NOT cream. He is still obviously a Golden.


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