I found something interesting when in two representations of talking golden retrievers. Now, the depictions are obviously fictional, but they do point to a greater truth.
The famous Bush’s Baked Bean commercial from the mid-90’s:
That was over 10 years ago. A golden retriever was thought of as an animal that had some level of intelligence, maybe even smart enough to divulge a secret recipe should the animal somehow develop the gift of language.
This is from the film Up, and it’s another talking golden retriever.
The dog is an idiot:
And that has been where the golden retriever has gone in the past decade. It went from being thought of as a super intelligent dog to being thought of as the blond idiot.
The dog is part of a cartoon, it is not an idiot. The people who made this are IDIOTS!
It’s just a portrayal.
But ten years ago, all you ever heard was how smart golden retrievers were.
You don’t hear it that much anymore.
You don’t hang around the golden retrievers that we do. MH UDX MX MXJ TDX ***
Just because some GR’s are dumb as a box of rocks doesn’t mean they all are.
But I’d say that the majority of the crap dogs produced as pets are dumber than sheep.
I’ve had one that was, and I had one that was very smart. My current dog is pretty darn clever– if only she had retrieving instinct.
I think–just because this is the way I think, not because I have any evidence but random observation–that both Labs and goldens have a very wide range of intelligence. Some are barely smart enough to find their dinner bowl (though no dumber, for sure), and some are very clever.
I have yet to meet a dumb Chessie, though some might be too smart for their own good.
I’ve met some flat-coats that were damn smart about PRETENDING they were dumb, but upon closer analysis it was actually a very clever manipulation!
No dummies, the flatties I’ve known.
I can’t believe you made me watch a bean commercial in my free time.
I love those commercials; the beans are bad either.
I suspect it’s because they’ve gone from feisty red-heads to blondes, no?
Maybe, but I have a blond one that is pretty easy to work with.
I think it may have a lot more to do with breeding for very calm dogs that don’t have retrieving instinct or biddability as the main focus.
I agree with you on your larger point about breeding and GRs, but I think this is a stretch. The dog in Up is an idiot because it’s funnier that way; there’s nothing breed-specific about the character that wouldn’t work with an ordinary mutt.
That last sentence makes my point. The reason why it works is because it’s a stupid golden retriever.
It is fairly obvious that the dog in Up was a Golden because it provides a very large contrast against the other dogs. Goldens are nice, good dogs, and the ‘bad’ dogs are Dobies, Rotties, and Bulldogs. Golden owners should actually be pleased by the portrayal of Dug, who is a sweet, nice dog, that obviously knows a good thing when he sees it and takes the opportunity to get a new, more caring owner. The owners of the other breeds, maybe they should be pissed.
That’s fine, but I’m more interested in the public perception of the dogs.
I’ve noticed a shift from people thinking of them as brilliant dogs that need no training to people thinking of them a nice lunkers.
As you might assume, I prefer the former, more cerebral type of golden. If I wanted a lunker, I’d get an Old English sheepdog.
People love stereo-types. Anyone who lumps ALL INDIVIDUALS of a breed into one narrow category are either very inexperienced or very unobservant with that breed. I am old enough to remember when Irish Setters were considered something of a versatile wonder dog–they became extremely popular, especially with conformation showers, and eventually got the reputation of being one of the dumbest breeds around, which they still are stigmatized with to this day. However, I have known some very intelligent and useful Irish Setters(Yes! They could actually point birds and retrieve!)–they were definetely more of the smaller, less “furnished” working type(which I think are physically better-looking than the show dogs anyway!), but dumb they were not. Although I will concur there are dumb dogs out there, most “dumb”, “stubborn”, “intractable”, “untrainable”, and “vicious” dogs I’ve met were made that way by stupid people action’s and/or neglect……L.B.
Stanley Coren and his stupid list did not help with that.
4th most intelligent dog. I have been around some that were brilliant. I’ve known a few that would have a hard time outsmarting a sheep.
Stanley Coren’s “intelligence” list aggravated me, too, till I actually got a cheapo copy of his book and read it; then I wasn’t quite so irked. Seems what he was saying was taken WAY out of context by the media(imagine that!)–and only ONE of his lists–the one on OBEDIENCE INTELLIGENCE was utilized–he readily admits in his book(with other lists) that there are definetely different types of intelligence! I tend to flunk obedience tests myself!….L.B
You can’t tell me that all of these sight hounds are stupid. I think they may have a hard time reading human body language simply because they are all far-sighted.
The stereo-type of sighthounds being stupid is extremely inaccurate! I have had three sighthounds(so far) over the years–an Azawakh, a Saluki, and presently a mostly Greyhound-X-Saluki cross longdog. They have been as intelligent as any dogs I’ve known, and this includes wolves and wolf-hybrids, which are also not particularly obedient, but never seem to get accused of being stupid! In fact, sighthounds remind me of wolves with their personalities(if not their looks) and behaviour more than most other dog types. My impression of the people I’ve met who call sighthounds stupid are of anally controlling individuals who consider any dog that doesn’t obey them without question, and doesn’t fawn all over them constantly as stupid. But human denseness and ego have nothing to do with actual canine sagacity…..L.B.
Sight hounds are probably the oldest specifically bred hunting dog type. They are really just a step beyond the “primitive” dogs.
I’m late to comment, but twice in the last few months, I’ve had people refer to Duke from the Bush’s Baked Beans commercial when they’ve seen Baxter. A facilities guy at the University where I work actually called out “roll that beautiful bean footage!” one day and it took me a minute to figure out what that meant.
So, while Up is more current, Duke seems to have made a more lasting impression. :)