Base colour
Any shade of gold or cream, neither red nor mahogany
- Permissible: A few white hairs on chest only
About the Golden Retriever
Origin: Great Britain
- Typical life span
- 10-12 years
- Size
- Large — from its typical weight
- Weight
- Male
- 29-34 kg
- Female
- 25-29 kg
- Height
- Male
- 58-61 cm
- Female
- 55-57 cm
- FCI status
- Recognised by FCI
- FCI group
- Retrievers - Flushing Dogs - Water Dogs
- Origin
- Great Britain
- Also called
- Cobrador Dorado
- Known hereditary risks
- 7 documented conditions, with the test for each
About
What is a Golden Retriever?
Large, athletic sporting dog with a dense, lustrous, flowing golden coat and friendly disposition, known for their versatility as family companions and working dogs
Golden Retriever history and origins
Developed in the Scottish Highlands during the mid-to-late 19th century by Dudley Marjoribanks (Lord Tweedmouth), who crossed a yellow retriever with the now-extinct Tweed Water Spaniel, with later additions of Irish Setter and Bloodhound for hunting and retrieving in rugged terrain and cold water
Golden Retriever appearance and size
Males typically weigh 29-34 kg and stand 58-61 cm at the shoulder; females 25-29 kg and 55-57 cm.
What the breed standard says
- Bred for
- Gundog
- Behaviour and temperament
“Biddable, intelligent and possessing natural working ability; kindly, friendly and confident”
Quoted from FCI standard n°111. It describes the breed the registry recognises, not any individual animal.
Breed reference from The Dog API.
Characteristics
- Size
- Large
- Exercise needsRead from what the breed was bred to do, in the registry’s own words: “Gundog” That is a working purpose, not a measured exercise requirement — an individual dog’s needs depend on its age, health and household.
- 4 of 5
- Easy to train
- —
- Amount of shedding
- 3 of 5
- Grooming needs
- 4 of 5
- Good with children
- —
- Cost to keep
- —
- Tolerates being alone
- —
- Intelligence
- —
- Health of breed
- 7 conditions documented
Pros & cons
Pros & cons for the Golden Retriever
What you get with the Golden Retriever
- Purpose stated in the standard: “Gundog”
- The standard describes the breed as: “Biddable, intelligent and possessing natural working ability; kindly, friendly and confident”
What you are taking on
- 6 serious inherited conditions are documented, mainly in bones & joints and heart & circulation. The health guide tab has the test to ask for on each.
- High grooming needs — the standard’s own description is “Flat or wavy with good feathering, dense water-resisting undercoat”
Drawn from sources rather than written as an opinion — cited health research, the registry’s own standard, and peer-reviewed longevity. FCI breed standard; Golden Retriever Club of America — Health Statement (March 2020). One breeder’s animals can differ from any of it, and an empty column means we hold nothing for that side rather than that there is nothing to say.
Characteristics
FCI standard · Golden Retriever
Coat and colour
As the FCI standard sets it out. Every line below is the standard’s own wording, tagged permissible.
Coat
Flat or wavy with good feathering, dense water-resisting undercoat
Colour
- Preferred
- Permissible
- Undesirable
- Disqualifying
Preferred, permissible, undesirable and disqualifying are FCI’s own words about the breed. They describe what the standard asks for — not an assessment of any individual dog, and not ours.
Shortened from FCI standard n°111 — each label is the standard’s own wording with the verdict lifted into the tag beside it. Read the full clause at source.
Breed-level information from The Dog API. It describes the Golden Retriever in general; any individual animal can differ.
Health guide
Health & screening guide for the Golden Retriever
Known hereditary risks for the Golden Retriever breed, and the specific documentation to request from any breeder before paying a deposit. A responsible breeder will have these readily available; deflection is a red flag.
7 conditions documentedThis is breed-level literature, not veterinary advice about an individual animal — your vet knows the animal.
Health checklist (PDF)Heart & circulation
Subvalvular aortic stenosis (SAS)
Serious
A narrowing below the aortic valve that makes the heart work harder to pump blood, ranging from mild with no effect on lifespan to severe enough to cause sudden death. Clinically normal-looking parents can still produce severely affected puppies.
What to ask for
Echocardiogram from a board-certified veterinary cardiologist (ACVIM) on both parents, at 12 months or older
Brain & nerves
Neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis (NCL)
Serious
A fatal, inherited neurodegenerative disease. Affected puppies develop progressively worsening neurological signs and do not survive it, though the causative mutation is rare in the breed as a whole.
What to ask for
DNA test for NCL; at least one parent should be tested
Bones & joints
Hip dysplasia
Serious
Malformation of the hip joint causing instability and, over time, osteoarthritis. It is one of the conditions the breed's US parent club requires breeding stock to be screened for.
What to ask for
Hip evaluation from OFA (24 months) or PennHIP, or a BVA/KC hip score, on both parents
Elbow dysplasia
Serious
Developmental abnormalities of the elbow joint causing pain, lameness and a predisposition to arthritis.
What to ask for
Elbow evaluation from OFA (24 months or older) on both parents
Eyes
Progressive retinal atrophy (GR-PRA1, GR-PRA2 and prcd-PRA)
Serious
Progressive, incurable degeneration of the retina leading to blindness. Golden Retrievers carry three distinct known causative mutations, so a clear result for one does not rule out the others.
What to ask for
DNA test covering GR-PRA1 (SLC4A3), GR-PRA2 (TTC8) and prcd-PRA on both parents
Skin & coat
Ichthyosis
Monitor
A skin condition causing greyish, flaky scaling over the body from puppyhood. It is lifelong and visible but not painful or life-shortening.
What to ask for
DNA test for the PNPLA1 gene mutation (ICT-A) on both parents
Cancer
Hemangiosarcoma
Serious
An aggressive cancer of blood-vessel-lining cells, most often arising in the spleen or heart. The breed's own parent club material describes it as affecting roughly one in five Golden Retrievers over a lifetime, making it one of the breed's leading causes of death, but no validated screening or DNA test exists.
What to ask for
No validated screening or DNA test exists. Ask for documented cause of death and age at death for the sire's and dam's own parents and littermates, since risk is known to cluster in some lines
How long the Golden Retriever lives, in the records
Median survival 13.2 years
95% confidence interval 13.1–13.2 years, from 4,252 recorded deaths among 11,504 dogs
Mortality hazard 0.76 (0.74, 0.78) relative to crossbred dogs, whose median is 12.0 years.
Measured in the United Kingdom from 584,734 dogs. Median survival is not a prediction for an individual dog.
McMillan, K.M., Bielby, J., Williams, C.L., Upjohn, M.M., Casey, R.A. & Christley, R.M. (2024) Longevity of companion dog breeds: those at risk from early death. Scientific Reports 14, 531.
Gallery
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Puppies
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