The phrase, Color is essential in defining the breed as the "Golden" got me to thinking. Where do some of these breed names come from anyway; and is ANY one of them truly necessary to identify or characterize the breed properly?
The AKC Standard for the GREYHOUND includes no less than 31 distinct color possibilities. Not one on the list is actually GREY or GRAY. If you check your etymology dictionary (doesn't everybody have one of those?), it turns out that the word greyhound is from the Old English. The word is GRIGHUND-- grig (bitch) plus hund (dog). So I guess when you put a grig in a room with a hund you get a bunch of little greyhounds-- if you're lucky.
Now consider the origins of the Chesapeake Bay Retriever. It involves a rather dingy red DOG and a black SLUT. At least that's how it was described in 1845 about an event which occurred off the coast of Maryland in 1807. It seems that an English brig headed home from Newfoundland was caught in a sudden storm and ended up on the sea bottom. But before it sank the crew (described as intoxicated) and two Newfoundland- type puppies were rescued as well. Sailor was the male and Canton was the female. But the young dog and the slut never got together "so to speak" even though they had unrelated bloodlines. If you haven't guessed, the word SLUT was commonly used for a bitch at that time. Anyway, one pup ended up on one side of the Chesapeake Bay while the other spent its lifetime on the opposite shore. They were bred to local dogs and together, over time, gave rise to what we now call the Chesapeake Bay Retriever. So, here is an example of a breed created by accident-- or rather AN accident, a shipwreck.
What about the dog we call the Australian Shepherd? If you guessed it was a breed which originated Down Under, you would be dead wrong. Apparently what was to become the breed had its beginnings in the Pyrenees Mountains between Spain and France. The breed was further developed on ranches in the western United States. Why call it the Australian Shepherd? Did it resemble a koala or kangaroo? Perhaps a wallaby or a dingo? Nope. The Australian monicker was added because the breed was refined in the West by folks from the Pyrenees who had emigrated to Australia before settling down in the United States. The dogs went through a litany of names, including Pastor Dog, Blue Heeler, Bob-Tail, and Spanish Shepherd.
What of the French Bulldog? Actually he developed from a toy variety of English bulldogs of one sort or another. The first organization in the world devoted to the breed was located in America of all places. And the arrival of the dogs had a good bit to do with whether the dog should have "bat" ears or "rose" ears. Go figure.
What does this have to do with the Golden Retriever? Well, early on, the breed was called the "yellow" retriever and kind of lumped together with the flat-coated retrievers of the time. They were sometimes identified as Tweedmouth retrievers because they were developed by a Scottish lord of that name and his descendants and acquaintances who followed. Some American observers called them English retrievers. For a good many years the belief held by many was that the Golden actually developed out of a troupe of white or near-white (some say biscuit or cream in color) Russian circus dogs. This romantic theory lingered far longer than expected; even in the face of evidence to the contrary. Factual evidence. Mrs. Charlesworth went to her grave believing this to be true.
I would remind folks that the Australian Shepherd was for a time called the BLUE Heeler, even though coat color in the breed ranges all over the map.
My point: A name is a name. There is far more to the Golden Retriever breed than the shade or color of a coat. Jeffrey Pepper, a breed expert, has commented,
"....I believe that if I see a dog's head in profile in a car two vehicles away from mine, I should be able to quickly identify what breed he is without knowing his color."
As the author said earlier in the same paragraph, "The head is the index to the breed." And a good judge can distinguish among the six retriever types, if the head is proper for the breed.
I wonder what the result would be if we were to blindfold judges and ask them to rate Goldens on the basis of structure; then, allow the judging process to continue. Just a thought.
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