It’s no surprise that these guys are popular due to their fantastic temperament, friendly manner and loyalty to their families. They are also extremely energetic and very slow to mature so they continue searching for fun, happiness and mischief way into old age. They are natural athletes born for every kind of competition from agility through to obedience. For this reason, they need plenty of daily exercise, such as accompanying their ‘hoomans’ on a jog or a swim at the local lake. Tiring them out will also mean they are more well-behaved at home and they are less likely to run around knocking things (and people) over. These dogs are family dogs at heart and don’t really like to be left by themselves so, if you’re up for a runaround and have enough time in your day to give lots of attention and love to a Golden Retriever, you’re sure to have many happy years together.

The sunny, Golden Retriever was first developed in Scotland by Lord Tweedmouth. He spent over 50 years trying to perfect the ‘Golden’ breed and eventually bred a yellow-coloured Retriever, named Nous, together with a Tweed Water Spaniel called Belle, this breed is now unfortunately extinct. The development quickly attracted attention as these new doggies had excellent hunting skills. They were mainly used for the job of retrieving ducks and other types of fowl for the ‘hooman’ hunters. Their popularity has since grown… and grown… and grown! They are now recognised as one of the most popular breeds in the world and this beautiful dog sits as the 7th most popular dog in the UK and 3rd in America!