Golden Retriever advise.

[sugarplumfairy28]

I have another thread about French Bulldogs, but I think we have firmly ruled them out now. I spent the day reading about Golden Retrievers, although I do already have a pretty good idea about the breed already. I know to look out for hip and elbow dysplasia and most of the ads and breeders I can find show parents have been tested, so that's a good start. Can anyone tell me how they did at introducing a Goldie to cats? Both the people I know with Goldies also have cats but I was hoping for a broader picture.

I have seen videos where it kind of looks like a dream, tired/calm puppy let the cat in to investigate at their own pace, repeat. Seems to be good to be true really.

My terrier pup will ignore the cat if she’s tired enough or eating something better 😂 From my experience all pups are a pain in the arse with cats once they gain confidence. Predatory chasing behaviour doesn’t kick in until 9 months ish. My cat’s very confident and has lived with a dog (terrier cross) but we keep them separate unless we can supervise. Lots of treats for calm around the cat. BIG win if she chooses to come to me or OH not cat. She’s getting it (we’ve had her 5 weeks) but we’ve worked HARD on it. We expect to referee for some time yet. Our cat can come and go as he pleases without being in a dog space but often chooses to sit and watch.

The only people I know to have done nothing have then found pup chasing cat down the line. I prefer a preventative approach.

I read once that introductions are usually easier if one of them is young ie cats and a puppy, or a dog and kittens.

Buy yourself a good puppy book, I highly recommend the one by Gwen Bailey. I can’t remember what she says about this, but keep looking at stuff written by animal experts.

On some videos I’ve seen puppies wrestling with the cat and everyone is laughing, how cute. I’m cringing because this is NOT how you do it.

Goldens tend to be gentle. They are friendly and playful though.

We have a golden and a small terrier not a cat but our golden is gentle with the terrier. She's interested in the neighbours cats but hasn't got close to them.

I think it would be fine. it's likely the cat will ignore the puppy and will be the boss. The cat will tell the puppy off.

The only thing I will say about Golden's is hair. Do not underestimate the amount of shedding they do. It's insane. Your vacuum will be your friend and you may never wear black trousers again.

My cat has told pup off. With teeth. It didn’t deter her. It just became a bigger game. Cats should not be pushed to that point. Ours was a breakdown in management (our fault - hasn’t happened again). I personally wouldn’t allow a cat and dog to play. They’re very different and I’ve seen play go wrong. You ideally want a dog to calmly greet the cat then walk on. I find a clicker great for this but I use it anyway.

Generally beautiful happy dogs that love to make you laugh.

(They do like mud though so be prepared for a few puddle sitting moments but they do it with a smile on their face)

Yes easy to check out health tests. I would go for a working goldie as show goldies are being breed with short legs and too chunky for excellent health.

Minimum health checks I would want would be
Hip dysplasia screening scheme (BVA/KC)
Elbow dysplasia screening scheme (BVA/KC)
Eye screening scheme (BVA/KC/ISDS)

Eye testing - PLA (Gonioscopy) (BVA/KC/ISDS)
Also look into COI easy to do in UK not sure in Germany.

Check no of litters people have bred and ask to speak to owners of previous litter if there is one.

Other tests that can be done and worth checking would be the DNA tests

Our goldie happily took to living with an already established cat - carefully non rushed introduction from day 1.

Cat had areas they could go away from the goldie. Our goldie often got pushed out of his bed with the cat sleeping in it instead. He was too polite (or scared) to ask it to move.

Good luck in your search

I walk a golden retriever who lives with cats but is utterly terrified of them and won't even walk past them.

My cat was older when we got our GR puppy, but she'd grown up with our previous GR and was used to them. Puppy wanted to play with the cat and she would tolerate so much and when she'd had enough she would give him a little swipe with the paw to tell him off. She never used her claws and never hurt the puppy. Cat is very much the boss in the house and the dog knows it lol.

We have older cats, and would looking to have a puppy. The cats will definitely be in charge, so looking for a breed that is accepting of that. I do have several books already with general advice about introductions etc but at this point looking at an appropriate breed. I absolutely wouldn't find it cute to see them wrestling. Finding a tiny kitten under a big dogs ear is cute lol

Can't advice about cats but our Golden needs so much stimulation and constantly wants to play with our other dogs. He also eats our walls.....

Was your puppy fairly accepting of your cats boundaries? Once the cat says no, thats it? Obviously not necessarily straight away, but something they learned easily?

@sugarplumfairy28 the puppy learns fairly quickly. They will try to play with kitty, and sometimes see it as a game, but after a few rebukes from the cat they will learn that they won't take any nonsense. My two get on absolutely fine now, but the GR still knows the cat is boss.

The two of them together

Frenchies and Golden Retrievers are quite different breeds but I definitely think you have made the right choice. Please get absolutely gold-plated insurance, the highest you can get. Goldens have numerous health problems which can be expensive to treat, including cancers, eye issues, joint and ligament issues, dietary allergies... the list goes on. In addition to the tests already recommended, I'd want to know that at least one parent was ICT-A trait free. It's a skin disease.

Wherever you are, use the actual official registry for pedigree dogs and don't take it on trust that the tests the breeder says have been done, have been done. Nor that the puppies you're buying are from the actual bitch/ dog you think they are. I'd definitely choose a well-known kennel affix, rather than a home breeder.

Goldens are epic and I would never have another type of dog. However, they need quite a lot of vigorous exercise - ideally about 1h 30 a day of off-lead running, sniffing, and preferably some sort of brain work. Lead walks absolutely will not cut it, you will end up with a dog who is chewing furniture, stealing underwear, and demand barking. They also need a lot of human company typically, although mine is a bit of an outlier on that front and is fine for a good few hours alone.

As to their relationship with cats, goldens are generally very gentle and mine would run away from an aggressive or defensive cat, in sheer panic, with tail between legs. We don't have one at home; she is interested when she sees one or visits homes with one, but tends to flatten and stay well away. Introducing when the dog is a young puppy will be fine. Cats can defend themselves, they have sharp claws. Smaller furries, I would not trust them (or any dog) with, really.

People assume that GRs don't have much prey drive or chase instinct. In my experience this is absolutely not true. Mine LOVES a chase, as do others in her line. Her sibling killed and dismembered a squirrel. She has brought me dead birds and small mammals - they are bred to do this.

I've just seen your other thread.

One other thing I will add is that Goldens can be absolutely SAVAGE as puppies. We were all covered in bruises, puncture marks, and scrapes, our clothes were wrecked. I once answered the door with Ddog hanging off my jeans' belt loop, a whole puppy body length above the floor.

People call it mouthing or nipping, but it is actually (whispers) biting. There's no getting away from it.

However... they get to about 6 months of age and it just stops. I can put my whole hand inside my dog's mouth now and I'd never worry about getting even a skin indentation. I brush her teeth with a silicone toothbrush on my finger. They have soft bites as adults. Not so much as puppies....

I’ve had Goldies all my life.
When we had the cats first the dog was keen to play but soon discovered that wasn’t an option! Then wary respect was the order of the day.
When we got kittens the Dogs generally adored them and it was mutual

We don’t have a cat but next door on both sides do, our one year old golden barks at them if they’re in the garden but cries when they come too close to the window she’s sitting at!

Absolutely lovely dogs in general but ours has a tendency to get a bit possessive; we’ve worked with a behaviourist and she’s much better now but the behaviourist told us it’s surprisingly common in goldies, so be aware!

That being said, she’s soft as muck with my brothers kids even when they tug her tail/put their entire arm down her throat etc, so I’m optimistic if they were introduced right, she’d be fine with a cat too!

Good luck!

Our goldie is 17 months now. He is just the loveliest chap. Absolutely hilarious, thinks the world loves him, very enthusiastic. Has what I would call and 'explosive' energy. Ours is dual purpose I.e show/working blend. Look on champdogs.

We have chickens and ducks and he is so good with them. They free range in the garden together unsupervised. If anything I can relax a bit as I think he would protect them! Lots of early exposure, he learnt what 'leave it' meant with the chickens. He has a very high prey drive (has killed multiple rats in the garden!) but despite that and the fact he was bred to retrieve birds he is fantastic with them. I don't think you'd have any issue with a cat.
Get one. They are just the best

Also.. 100% what @Goawayangryman says. They do need a huge amount of off-lead exercise, after all they are a working dog.
And also, in my head, before our pup came home, they were lab sized. But the reality of it is that unless you get a female they are BIG dogs. Ours weighs 29/30kg and he is like a whippet under his floof. Male goldies can easily get to 40kg

Your other thread mentioned grooming.

Goldens need a good brush frequently to prevent matting. Some have thicker coats than others. They shed, copiously. When stressed (blowing coats) or at change of season times, it is like a hair tornado. I find it upstairs behind my radiators and in my actual bed, even though the dog isn't allowed up there.

They will lie in puddles and wade into bogs, and look like they are wearing mud wellies. They will roll in carrion and other unspeakable things.

On the plus side, they never have to go to the groomers for a short back and sides - there is no need to clip them and it's positively a bad idea.

They can also be complete divas. Mine knows when people are stressed or anxious. If conflict levels are higher than usual in your house, I'd be tempted to go for a more stupid, less human-oriented averagely intelligent breed. Or potentially a guide dog puppy reject - they can fail on some totally weird things like fearing shiny surfaces, escalators, or plastic bags.

@LBF2020 ooh he is lovely... And... the chicken thing is impressive. I would absolutely not trust mine in that situation :). I think we would be having chicken pie for tea.

Thats so sweet! That sounds promising too. We have a 'cat' lounge for the cats which will always be off limits, they spend a lot of time there, so there will always be a retreat space too.

When we first brought our lovely goldie home the cat (highly strung!) refused to come into the house for hours, and retreated upstairs for a few days - but it didn't take long for her to just ignore the dog. She'll hiss at him if he annoys her or gets too close, and he backs away - though actually she's happy to get close on her own terms (like if they're both nagging for food...) and he's very tolerant of that. We do have to watch out for if he wants to play as he loves to chase and doesn't understand that it's not a fun game for the cat, but his recall is excellent so we can usually forestall any problems there! We have baby gates for upstairs and the utility room, where the cat food and litter are, so she has private space too. We've found it works really well.

I'd thoroughly recommend them as a breed, just wonderful dogs, I can't think of another one I'd rather have!

Totally agree on the different types of dog, I thought it was odd but in every recommendation list I came across they were both on it, along with basset hounds!

I've spent today looking for breeders, and what it is they are offering in terms of health checks, certificates etc, but not an quick task. As for exercise, we live in the country, very rural lots of space to explore and interesting things for doggie noses, we also live in the middle of a forest. I don't work and honestly spend most of my days bored or running up the school for our DD. My husband also works from home, so no periods of being alone in the house for long periods, and I have spades of time I would prefer to spend doing anything other than worrying about our DD.

Other than the cats, there's not too much to chase really, most of the wildlife is contained to the forest and don't tend to stray into gardens.

Thanks for the heads about the biting. I know all puppies go through the biting stage, but I have only had small dogs, so a bit different.

We do have a very large garden, and live in the country with the forest on our doorstep, so I am hoping we are well equipped to deal with the energy.

All the stories are really reassuring, love the chickens! He is adorable.

I did indeed mention grooming, for the last 14/15 years I have had to groom both my dogs. My Westie went to a groomers at about 8 months old and came back a shaking mess, they had cut the quick on all her nails, cut her so short, she had nicks all over, and this was the best rated groomers in the area. She was terrified of being groomed, I had to spend years working with her. My sausage was very nervous of strangers and so I had to do him too. While it would be nice to not have so much grooming this time round, its a fairly minor compromise.

I would LOVE a reject guide puppy but they are so hard to come by. My aunt was actually a puppy walker for many years, and she took on a 'reject', best dog I have ever known! She failed because while she would toilet on command, she also liked having the odd cheeky wee on walks too.