Posted in golden retriever, golden retriever history, Retriever history, tagged Breeze, golden retriever, wavy-coated retriever on August 26, 2011 |
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This dog’s name was Breeze, and he was a golden retriever.
But he wasn’t one of those golden retrievers.
He was alive over twenty years before the breeding program at Guisachan began, so we can’t call him a golden retriever as we know them today.
Instead, it is more accurate to call him a “golden-colored retriever.”
Some art sites list this dog as a golden retriever, but they forget to check the actual history on the dogs we call golden retrievers. The dates simply don’t line up.
This dog was alive before retrievers ever got the distinction of being called “wavy-coated retrievers” and “curly-coated retrievers.”
However, he was a feathered dog with a waviness to his coat.
But the actual distinctions between wavy and curly-coated retrievers as defined strains dates only to about 1860.
Before that, retrievers were the gentlemen’s lurchers– performance-bred mongrels that were selected solely for performance.
Not all of these dogs had ancestry from the various dogs of Newfoundland. Some were terriers and terrier crosses. Others were greyhounds and collie-type farm dogs. There was always a contingent of regional water spaniels, as well as retrieving setters and the odd retrieving pointer or beagle.
