From A Cotswold Village (1899) by Joseph Arthur Gibbs:
There is no dog more knowing and sagacious in his own particular way than a well-trained retriever. What an immense addition to the pleasure of a day’s partridge-shooting in September is the working of one of these delightful dogs! Only the other day, when I was sitting on the lawn, a retriever puppy came running up with something in his mouth, with which he seemed very pleased. He laid it at my feet with great care and tenderness, and I saw that it was a young pheasant about a fortnight old. It ran into the house, and was rescued unharmed a few hours afterwards by the keeper, who restored it to the hencoop from whence it came. One could not be angry with a dog that was unable to resist the temptation to retrieve, but yet would not harm the bird in the smallest degree (pg. 320-321).
What a lovely photo! Yes indeed, you should never be angry with a pup whatever “treasure” he retrieves to you.
I’ve happily stuffed countless number of dead mice and the likes in a plastic bag always in my pocket for the occasions… :)
The pup seem to have a white stripe on his forehead. Not too often seen.
Various shades – or stripes – of yellow, from very light cream to reddish brown, are typical in yellow labs when at puppy stage. ;)
You can get stripes on some lines of golden retriever. Sometimes these disappear. Sometimes they don’t.