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This week I have two Golden Retriever facts to share with you.

Fact 1: Golden Retrievers fall into the Sporting category of dog breeds. Some other breeds that meet this classification are Pointers, Setters and Spaniels.

German Short-haired Pointer

Irish Setter

Saint Usuge Spaniel

Our Golden, Oshie!

Dogs that fall into the Sporting Group are alert, smart and very active. They are also excellent swimmers and can navigate through a forest without a second thought. Many of these breeds are still used for hunting. Being active breeds, sporting dogs require plenty of exercise and and plenty of space to do it in. Don’t worry, you can still own a Golden Retriever without owning a farm. Just make sure you have somewhere they can get plenty of exercise like a park, or hiking trails.

Fact 2: Golden Retrievers are very smart and love to please. The first 3 AKC Obedience Champion titles won were won by Golden Retrievers. According to the AKC:

“Obedience trials demonstrate the dog’s ability to follow specified routines in the obedience ring and emphasize the usefulness of the dog as a companion to humankind. The objective of obedience trials is to recognize dogs that have been trained to behave in the home, in public places, and in the presence of other dogs in a manner that will reflect credit on the sport of obedience at all times and under all conditions”. ~American Kennel Club

Obedience work with a young Golden Retriever.

So if you are just looking for a loyal and happy companion or a dog to compete or go hunting with, Golden Retrievers can pretty much do it all. Hopefully these facts were interesting and you learned something new. Come back next Wednesday for a new Golden Retriever fact!!

Sources:

http://www.akc.org/dog-breeds/groups/sporting/http://www.akc.org/dog-breeds/groups/sporting/

http://www.akc.org/events/obedience/what-is-obedience/

Oshie Loves Getting Pampered

Oshie loves rolling around in the grass. It is probably one of his favorite things to do outside. Of course when we had the dusting of snow a week ago he couldn’t help but roll in it. The result was a wet and muddy Golden who needed a bath. So after his bath Oshie was ready for a little pampering.

Due to the crazy amount of fur that Oshie has, air drying can take a long time so we usually speed the process up using Nancy’s hair dryer. We take this opportunity to get a thorough check of his body for any abnormalities and to get a good brushing done. Using the dryer also helps prevent wet hair from tangling and matting in places like his armpits. Here is a short video of Oshie completely enjoying the salon experience.

You Can ignore the video intro. The VLOG is has already been posted 🙂

March 22, 2017 4

VLOG #1 Q&A

We have finally posted out first VLOG to Oshie’s YouTube channel. You can see it below. It was a bit awkward being in front of the camera so don’t be too harsh on us ;). We will hopefully get better as we do more of these. Also, sorry if the volume isn’t the best. It was our first time using this setup and I need to dial it in better for next time.

March 21, 2017 2

TBT

Just a quick Throw Back Thursday post. We had a blast during our trip to Asheville last April. The Biltmore was awesome and we all had a great time. There were so many opportunities to make great photos. If only the weather had been a bit more cooperative the day we were there.

Here is one of my favorites of Oshie from the trip to the Biltmore House. He was pretty popular with the other tourists!

Shot with Canon 7D MarkII and Tamron 15-30mm f/2.8

March 2, 2017 2

Oshie And The Egg Test

Golden Retrievers have a soft mouth. That might seem like a weird statement to make because when you look at a dogs mouth you see a big floppy tongue and a bunch of large hard teeth. What I mean by this is that Golden Retrievers are able to carry delicate items in their mouth without damaging them. This is one of the characteristics that makes them a great retriever. If you are a hunter you wouldn’t want your retriever to bring back a mangled bird would you?

We were well aware of this and had even heard the claims that they could carry and egg in their mouth without breaking it. Recently on social media we had seen a few videos of owners testing this on their beloved Goldies with success. Now we don’t doubt that they do have soft mouths but we wanted to see if Oshie was capable of completing this challenge. We suspected he might but were also prepared for him to break the egg. Below is the video we made of Oshie attempting the challenge. He gave it his best ha-ha.

Enjoy!