The Golden Retriever has been around since the 19th century with the breed considered to be a Scottish breed. The true origins of the Golden Retriever has changed so depending on who you ask the answer may be different. The original belief is that the Golden Retriever are direct descendants of some Russian circus dogs that were purchased by a gentleman named Lord Tweedmouth, known as Sir Dudley Marjoribanks at time of purchase. They were purchased with the purpose of hunting deer and due to their skills being acceptable they were later bred with a sandy colored bloodhound to reduce their size (they must have been massive) and improve their scenting capabilities. This origin story has since been debunked after the studbook of Lord Tweedmouth had been released by a descendant of his. This studbook shows that Tweedmouth had purchased an unregistered yellow retriever named “Nous” who was an offspring of two black retrievers. This is relevant because at the time the belief was that black dogs were better hunters and offspring that were any other color would be disposed of. Tweedmouth then bred Nous to a Tweed Water Spaniel (now extinct) named Belle and that the Golden Retrievers today are descendants of Nous and Belle. According to one source there are some chromo-lithograph pictures (which is a type of color photograph where the term is mainly used for 19th century photographs) on the cover of a magazine that shows 2 dogs with one highly resembling what looks to be a Golden Retriever. This magazine is titled “The Game Keeper” by Edmund Walker and the photo was after a painting done by Richard Ansdell. This magazine was printed 11 years before Tweedmouth purchased Nous. With this evidence the origin story of the Golden Retriever is still up for debate. There is plenty more information so I do encourage you to read the sources, particularly the GRCA.org source. One thing that can be agreed upon is the Golden Retriever was bred as a 19th century gundog and water retriever. This breed is skilled in hunting both on land and in water for pheasant, quail and deer for example. They are hardy, multitalented and excellent swimmers. They have a gentle and loving temperament (so don’t get one if you need a protection dog). This gentle and loving temperament does not mean they do not have a desire to work and will be easy going apartment dogs. They will still require exercise everyday both mentally and physically. They also thrive on having the human connection so being able to have time for your Golden is a must for their mental and emotional wellbeing.

This week I would like to talk about something that has become very much on the forefront of my mind especially as of late and that is setting up your yard to keep your dog from practicing unwanted behaviors. I will explain my living situation/set up with my dogs and what I plan to do to help with my specific concerns. As you may know I have 2 vizslas, Csili and Káosz, who are young and full of energy plus a pitbull named Lucas who is 12 years old. The vizslas each have their own thing that they “care” about the most. Káosz has a thing for lizards and Csili has a thing for birds (Káosz does as well but his is more for larger birds as we don’t see those ones as often so less practice to counter condition). We live in an RV where we are blessed to be able to have a little fenced yard and a dog door was able to be installed in the storage chute of my RV. Thanks to @Paul Bunker for his help with the dog door installation and the building of the platform so they can safely go in and out! My current fence started out as just 4ft tall livestock fencing supported with some posts and a gate but soon Káosz learned that lizards were ripe for being stalked just beyond the fence. This then turned into him hunting for them with no decompression available so his mind was not able to quiet. Even being out of the yard was no help since the lizards are everywhere on property and their existence consumed his mind. A solution was needed to block his view so now the whole fence is wrapped with garden fabric (double layer) to keep him from being able to look out and have his attention be expended on seeking lizards as this made even going on walks difficult let alone training. Unfortunately, an upgrade is needed due to Káosz learning that a 4ft tall fence is not tall enough to keep him in (thankfully this only happened about 3-4 times and I was on property for all but 2 of them. Both times he was quickly collected and returned home without having gone far). With this newfound information on his athletic skills Paul and I are going to upgrade the fence to a 6ft tall chain link fence with a proper privacy cover (it is from Alion Home if anyone needs some. If you have questions their customer service was very good and quick to respond. Will update on privacy cover once installed if anyone would like to know).

Wondering what brand earmuffs you use for your dogs. A woman in my dog club is trying to find something to promote for Dog Assistance over July 4. Thank you in advance.

Today we are going to get a little wild…or feral and talk about the Dingo. This dog is in Australia and considered as Australian as Koalas and Kangaroos with some sources suggesting they may not be indigenous to Australia. They are likely to have evolved from an East Asian dog and have relation to the New Guinea singing dog. These claims are still being studied so it is subject to change as more discoveries and scientific breakthroughs occur. Some sources believe that Dingos were brought to Australia by Asian mariners around 4,000 years ago with some sources stating that it could have been as far back as 10,000+ years ago. Scientists collected DNA of ancient Dingo skeletons all across Australia and was compared to DNA of current Dingo populations. It was determined that Dingos today do not interbreed with domesticated dog populations and instead still share most of their DNA with their ancient ancestors. Dingos weigh between 26-44lbs and are commonly either red brown or yellow brown in color with the occasional black or white coat. Dingos also have longer muzzles, larger ears (which are erect), larger molars and longer, slender canine teeth. It is currently unclear if Dingos have always been wild (never domesticated) or if they were at some point and are now feral (returned to the wild after being domesticated). According to one source the Dingo is thought to have replaced the thylacine (which looks like a fox/dog/cat animal with tiger stripes on the lower back) and not only that but is responsible for their disappearance on mainland Australia. Dingos are known to hunt alone most of the time but have been noted to hunt in packs up to 12 and being able to take down a kangaroo. In southeastern Australia the Dingo population has been eliminated and so the kangaroo population has increased which just further shows how effective these wild dogs are at having kangaroo for lunch. Dingos also help with population control of the invasive red fox. Depending on who you ask Dingos are seen as a pest, especially to ranchers, since they go after animals such as livestock. It got so bad that a “dingo fence” was placed to keep Dingos in the outback and ranchers will shoot them on sight to protect their livestock. There is also a claim about a Dingo apparently taking a human child/baby named Azaria Chamberlain (I did not read the specifics of this claim but it is mentioned in National Museum Australia source). Conservationists see Dingos as a vulnerable and important to the population control of other animals such as rabbits and other small rodents.

There is a reason the term “obedience” has a negative connotation to it. Typically, in the human to human world, when one says they “expect obedience” or “instilled obedience” from either their children or employees it is pictured that the individuals are waiting for their next “command” and there is no room for individual sovereignty to make the correct choice. This approach to “teaching” leaves little room for the possible intended learning therefore the individual does not understand why just that it is. For those of us who do not want to teach our dogs in an authoritarian manner may still use the word “obedience” by default. I know with me I may say it but the thought of not teaching my dog the why and how of a behavior I want just does not cross my mind. Sure, there are moments where, especially younger dogs or dogs that maybe never had training, our dogs are misbehaving in an embarrassing way and we just want them to stop! And yes allowing our dogs to jump on people or to bumrush another dog is definitely not what we want and allowing our dogs to complete that desire is self-rewarding to them. So some, especially those new to dog training, may resort to a punishment based approach to get their dogs to stop and it just might! Now that this instant gratification (to the human) has happened the human has now been self-rewarded to do that approach again. What actually happened here though? The human and the dog essentially learned nothing. The dog did not learn that the behavior they displayed was wrong and what to do instead and the human did not learn what went wrong and how to prevent and instill desired behavior instead. This approach also puts a negative spin on the relationship between human and dog. After some time, with this being the training method, the dog will no longer view going on walks as something positive but as something to be on edge for and anything is potentially something to receive punishment for. This paints the human in a negative light to the dog and will have a difficult time feeling relaxed around the human.