Today's Golden Retriever is most commonly known as a companion animal.  Unless you go to, or are involved in, conformation, obedience, field or hunting trials, you may not realize that the Golden Retriever is a far more versatile animal.  It also had a reason for having been developed as a separate breed back in the latter half of the nineteenth century.
     Let's first take a look at the type of dog being used for hunting purposes around the year 1865.  We find that setters and pointers were being used for locating and holding game birds, such as, pheasant, quail, grouse and woodcock. These birds would normally be found in fields, brush, and thickets.  The coat of setters and pointers tended to be silky and light. Spaniels were used in flushing birds, not so much for actually retrieving. The spaniel also possessed a light coat  and was small in size.  Its light coat would not enable it  to work in marshes, and with its smaller size, a spaniel would not be able to break through heavy marsh grass, fight through the mud, or swim in rough water.  Now these dogs could retrieve, but that was not their main function.  Normally, the hunter would note where the game had dropped, walk over and pick it up.
     Other aspects to look at were the changes in the firearms being used by hunters.  Breech loading, and multiple shot weapons were being developed and used, not only by the military but also the gentlemen hunters.  Instead of going out for just a few birds for dinner, they could now go out and kill many more.  These hunters now needed a dog that could note where the game dropped, wounded or dead, and  go out and return the downed prey to the hunter.  They needed a dog that  worked equally well in woods, marsh, or river bend.  And if a wounded bird does manage to escape initial discovery and hides in brush, a keen nose was needed to locate the bird.
     The need for a retriever to gather the vastly larger number of birds being brought down by these hunters was a concern to Sir Dudley Majoribanks, the first Lord Tweedmouth at Inverness, in Scotland.  Lord Tweedmouth purchased a yellow colored puppy, whose litter mates all possessed black wavy coats, from a Brighton cobbler in 1865.  This yellow colored puppy was named Nous, and was later bred to a Tweed Water Spaniel named Belle. Lord Tweedmouth kept one female from the get of this breeding, and gave away the rest of the litter to neighbors, friends and relatives.  For twenty years he would line breed any yellow pups produced by this one female, named Cowslip, and her litter mates, and any yellow pups produced by subsequent offspring.  It is also speculated that occasional out crosses to the Bloodhound, Irish Setter and Water Spaniels were employed.  By the turn of the century, this yellow dog had become quite popular in Great Britain and was known as the Golden Retriever.
     The Golden Retriever achieved official recognition by The Kennel Club (England) in 1903.  The Golden came to America by way of Canada just prior to the First World War.  It did not take long for this beautiful animal to become popular with American hunters.  Its strength, intelligence and retrieving talents as well as its welcome companionship made it an easy dog to incorporate into the family as well. In the waterways of America there was a superabundance of feathered game. The Golden's use in this environment made it a valuable asset. Droughts in the 1930's decimated the flocks that once migrated through these regions. Once the droughts ended, the marshes eventually did refill and the wild fowl did return, but there were far fewer in number and combine that with stringent hunting regulations, the need for retrievers dropped.  It wasn't until the 1950s and 60s that interest in this breed began to increase once again.
     In 1932, the Golden Retriever was recognized by the American Kennel Club.  The Golden Retriever Club of America was formed in 1938.  An interesting point was that even though the Golden was being used by hunters, and it was growing in popularity, the A.K.C. considered it a rare breed.
     In the 1950's and 60's the Golden experienced a resurgence of popularity as more people began to use this dog in obedience trials and conformation.  People were beginning to recognize the talents that had laid hidden for so long.  In 1974 President Gerald Ford included in the First Family a Golden Retriever named Liberty.  Not long afterward, the Goldens were in the top ten breeds listed by the A.K.C.
     Today the Golden Retriever is still extremely popular and extremely busy. They are being shown in conformation, obedience trials, taking part in agility trials, and demonstrating their ability in tracking, field and hunt trials.  Goldens are being utilized in narcotics and arson detection, search and rescue operations, and in law enforcement.  They make excellent assistance dogs for those who are physically challenged, serve as guide dogs for the visually impaired, as hearing dogs for the hearing impaired.  Goldens are engaged as therapy dogs.
     A beautiful dog, engaged in a work that it loves - serving its master, loving its family, and benefiting mankind by its very existence.

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