I am currently looking for a pale golden retriever, if the mum has colour and the dad is pale, what are the chances of the pups being pale? Or is it a case of waiting for the litter to be born?

Hi charlie

When i bought Rodney, my GR, 3 years ago, in his litter there was mainly very pale pups, but both his mother and father were "golden"! So i would say that you will just have to wait and see, but i'm not expert, just going from my own personal experience.

By the way he's amazing!!

Gem

Thanks Gemma, have you got any pics?

The best guide is to look at what's already been thrown (If anything).

Fashion these days seems to be the pale cream Goldens although in eye testing we find more problems. It seems that somewhere in the past there was a pale dog with problems which was used. It would then follow that mating pale to pale in order to be reasonably certain of feeding the fashion for pale would carry the eye problem into the breed to produce the problems we are now seeing.

As a Labrador person this is why I am so against the specific breeding for a particular colour. The available gene pool is reduced and this leads to any dog which suffers (And I'll be charitable and say unknowingly) from a hereditary ailment will have a disproportionate effect on the breed.

Regards, John

Just like to say, it's not a fashion thing for me i just prefer the colour! :)

Unfortunatly a look into the Golden ring will show just how the fashion has caught on. There is almost nothing in there of the old "Golden" retrievers of yesteryear. I can remember some georgous rich coloured dogs the like of which are sadly never seen in the ring these days. :(

Best wishes, John

Does the name Rossbourne Timothy bring back any memories John ?

Only vague Moonmaiden. As a Lab man with a number of friends in the golden ring I get to see them when I get to shows (Which is not as often these days) I remember Fred Triptree (Brambletyne) had some lovely dogs many years ago (one was featured in the Crufts catalogue around 1980). Around 30 years ago a friend had a lovely bitch from him, really dark, almost the colour of a setter! Another friend has a gorgeous Holway working Golden, looks like a Golden and works like a top class retriever

Best wishes, John

Timmy was fox red gold & a real character Sadly the pale ones with huge coat seem to be the norm nowadays