Categories: Pets

Dogs: Is a Golden Labrador Right for You?

Feeling a little lonely?

Need someone to talk to without fear of betrayal?

How about a little unconditional love?

Would any of those feel pretty good about now?

Friend, what you need is a Golden Labrador Retriever.

This is not a pure bred dog but a blend of Golden Retriever and Labrador retriever. In my opinion it is a match made in Heaven. Let me share my accidental introduction to this new blend of four-footed companionship.

When I was a little girl I would often get caught moping about the house and the most common reaction to this unacceptable behavior was the question “What happened to you, did your dog die?” At the time, since I didn’t even have a dog, this was a rhetorical expression at best. However, it did serve to snap me out the doldrums. Sometimes.

However, that was then and this is now and God protect anyone who tries that line on me today. You see, my dog did, indeed, die and, yes, it did dump me into the doldrums for a while. This article is not about my emotional overload at the loss of a beloved pet so don’t pull out the hankies. (Well, maybe one or two.)

What I want to do is introduce you to this wonderful new hybrid canine. It is not an officially accepted breed at this point in time. Nevertheless, let me introduce you to my Shadow.

Last August our 16 year old Golden Lab, Shadow, had to be put down. My husband and I stayed with him until it was finished and I am here to tell you that was quite possibly the most difficult thing we have ever done. Those images will remain with me forever, I am pretty certain of that. (Hanky number one)

This was a very (I mean VERY) sad day for us. End of life is always a sad experience for those who cared for those who are now gone. But by starting at the end maybe we can get the sadness out of our system and get on with what proved to be a very happy and successful experience of “petship”. You see, I don’t think you ever “own” a pet because the relationship becomes so much more than merely possession.

See also Strange and Unusual Dog Breeds

Anyhoo, roughly 17 years ago in April Shadow was born out of wedlock. His registered Golden Retriever momma slipped out of the kennel one night and met up with the registered Black Lab from next door. Kismet!

It must have just been infatuation because she left him and came back home. However, a short while later along came a sizeable litter of an odd mixture of black and golden puppies. Now these were not very valuable to the young man who was trying to develop a 4H project of registered, pure Golden Retrievers. So he sold them for about $25.00 apiece. (Definitely a bargain if you look up the cost of a Golden Lab now).

We had always wanted to have a Golden Retriever so we thought maybe one of these puppies would look enough like our image of the desired pet to satisfy us and our daughter, for whom we were getting the puppy. We did not want to spend a whole lot of money on a pet so we drove out into the country to look this bunch of “accidents” over.

(Just a word to the wise here. Do not go out to “just look” at a puppy unless you plan to bring it home.)

The puppies were 8 weeks old and, of course, all of the golden ones were already gone. This left several little balls of energetic black fur dashing about. One of the little balls ran over and adopted us on the spot. That is how Shadow came into our lives.

Our daughter was 13 and was more than willing to take on the responsibility of training the puppy which was to be an indoor dog. All of the normal events transpired, the shoe chewing, the sock unraveling, the paper shredding the accidents of the carpet. However, all of these were relatively short lived because were to discover that this guy was a smart little cuss.

For instance, within the first year we saw Shadow could use tools. Weird, huh? Well, we had this older dog that Shadow wanted to play with but got very little cooperation. So one day we saw Shadow pick up his big Nylabone chew toy and go over to Trooper and whack him on the head with the bone. Well, that did, indeed, get a reaction out of the older dog. From then on, Shadow would periodically, pick up his bone and go bonk Trooper on the head.

Another thing we noticed in that first year was that the retriever instinct was so strong in Shadow that training was very nearly not even needed. Before he was much bigger than the Sunday newspaper, Shadow would run out and pick it up and carry it in to the house for us. (I never had to go out in the rain or snow to get the paper in all the years we had Shadow). Sometimes it was so heavy he would drop it a time or two before he got in but he never gave up and he never ever tore it up before giving it to us, no matter how much he wanted to play. I think he looked at it as his job and he wanted to be a “working dog”.

He was even able to solve problems. One time as he was bringing in the paper he came to a barrier of some sort (I don’t remember what we were doing at the time-some sort of remodeling) that would not allow him to just trot right on into the house. So he just backed up a step or two, turned his head sideways so that the paper was vertical and came right on in. This was repeated on many different instances in different, but similar, situations so it was not a fluke.