The best dogs come in golden

Have you ever wanted to own a dog as whimsical as a cartoon character? As intelligent as Rin Tin Tin? A dog that won’t snap at your friends? A pet as cute as a stuffed toy? A good mannered, playful and untiring dog? If you have then the Golden Retriever is just the dog for you.

Retrievers are boisterous, but obedient dogs that aim to please their masters. Goldens are mild tempered and good-natured pets, rarely do they attack people. With a smile to melt your heart and a cute, furry body to cuddle, it is impossible to hate a Ret.

Golden Retrievers are smart and cunning dogs, they know how to endear themselves to their owners. Goldens know when they are being fooled and will often bark at you when they sense your unpleasing intentions to them.

The most evident characteristic of a Golden is its habit and favorite activity of retrieving (no pun intended) anything its mouth can carry. In fact, the Golden was bred for its namesake: Retrieving.

Retrievers are made for the hunt, they will try to catch and fetch whatever you ask them to, provided of course that you have a good rapport with them. Their instinct to hunt puts them in conflict with birds and other animals.

For example: When you mention the Golden Retriever to a basketball fanatic and movie-enthusiast, the name that comes to mind is Air Bud, meaning a basketball-playing hound. And that’s just one of their talents. Retrievers are trained to sniff for drugs and explosives. They can be show-dogs for circuses and other miscellaneous activities. Retrievers are natural therapy dogs, they are sensitive to their patient’s feelings and will try to turn a sorrowful moment into a happy one.

How did the Golden Retriever become this talented, why is it so skilled and canny, and yet humble and kind? We only have to look a hundred years back.

Humble Beginnings

From the early 1920s to the 1950s, dog enthusiasts once believed in a fairy-tale story concocted by the breed’s founding father Dudley Marjioribanks, also known as Lord Tweedmouth and was of Scottish nobility. As his story goes: Lord Tweedmouth chanced upon a troupe of Russian dogs in a town in England named Brighton. He was so captivated by the talent of these blond dogs that he paid a large sum of money to the owner. At first, the head of the troupe refused reasoning that they were his life’s work and therefore could not afford to lose them. Yet, reason prevailed and Marjioribanks ended up with the dogs in his estate at Guisachan. Later investigations about the breed proved the story a sham as the Golden’s records were released in 1952.

The truth to the origin of the Golden Retriever is this. Lord Tweedmouth did travel to Brighton but did not watch nor bought Russian dogs. Rather, a yellow retriever (Labrador?) owned by a cobbler caught his attention and was fascinated. The yellow dog was given to the cobbler as payment by an employee of a certain Lord Chichester’s estate. The dog was the only yellow pup of an entirely black litter. The Yellow dog "Nous" (Gaellic for Wisdom) was mated to Belle, a Tweed Water Spaniel – a now extinct breed similar to the American Water Spaniel. Their pups were then mated with Irish Setters, Newfoundlands and other Water Spaniels. The breeding of the Golden Retriever was designed to make it an ultimate hunting dog and so it became a favorite of huntsmen. The Golden Ret was first recognized in Britain in 1908 and considered as a breed in 1913.

Recent Years

They work as eye-seeing dogs for the blind, narcotics inspectors, bomb-detectors and our all-time favorite: the family dog. Goldens are now the chosen accessory for the yuppies in the States.

The popularity of the Retriever has boomed, due to the movie Air Bud. It however has a downside. Mercantilists have capitalized on the breed’s popularity, becoming breeders, whose only goal is the almighty $ (or in this country, the peso). They neglect the inner nuances of careful and select mating for the retainment of the finer points of the breed. Although rarely, it is said that there exist biting Goldens.

The September 11 attacks and "the War Against Terror" have provided the Golden Retriever breed as a whole to show its amazing capabilities. During the rescue efforts on what was once the World Trade Center, dogs like Bear (who is incidentally the grandfather of my Retriever) exhibited their talents, leading the rescuers to body upon body of survivors and (regrettably) the dead.

In matters close to home, the Golden is the preferred dog to snuff out bombs from terrorists, especially in malls. In what could have been a source of great instability to our country, "love-him-or-hate-him" JV Estrada and his Retriever saved lives and the establishment of Greenhills, when his trusty pet uncovered a bomb. Just imagine the billions of pesos that was saved by… of all people, a Golden.

The Growth Of A Golden

My story begins with a dream. Months before the thought of my Cassandra ever existed, there were signs telling me to own a Ret. In a weird dog quiz, I inputted what kind of a person I was, which matched what kind of a dog I was compatible with. Lo and behold! The result was that I was a Golden Retriever. It is only recently that I have recalled such an event, years after Cassandra was purchased.

Cassandra or then known to her Breeder as SkyGlory Sabrina was born in November 28, 2001 to a litter of eight.

It was during that period of time, that I was suffering from bouts of depression. I was in total melancholy about the sad turn of events in my life. Hanging to the thin thread of hope, little did I guess what would lift my spirits up.

The dream began in the 2nd week of January. My family and I went to the beach to tour our Korean visitors around Batangas. The beach has always been a place of reflection and realization for me. Out of nowhere, my mom suggested that I buy a pet, preferably a Chihuahua. I begged her for another breed. Watching the Nile-like sands and water of the beach, a name came to my mind: Cassandra. Cassandra of the sands. The yellow sands of the beach reminded me of the Golden Retriever. And so began the story. Yours is just beginning.