Are Golden Retrievers very stupid? They always look very sweet and sloppy -

Very high EQ, moderate IQ.

Had two growing up. Most loyal, sweetest dogs you can own. Very smart actually, learn fast and very obedient. Great around kids, but shed like crazy.

Sometimes it's good to have a dumber dog. They're more "doglike" -- they like to run and fetch, they're loyal, they're fun-loving, etc. The really smart breeds, like Poodles, Border Collies, Jack Russell Terriers, etc, are a handful and a half. Smart enough to run the whole household, have human-like neuroses, and be demanding like a spoiled toddler unless you're willing to invest enormous time and effort into training.

Give me a nice dumb dog any day.

They are dumb compared to other dogs, unless you luck out. It's funny my husband is a teacher and he had this big dumb blond girl in his class who would ask the stupidest questions, weird questions. She came in perplexed one day and asked him if he lived in a house, because she had yet to meet anyone in the city who lived in an actual house. Anyway, at home, he always referred to her as the Golden Retriever.

It's a doggy-dog world, we're just living in it.

Never settle for less than a dumb mutt.

Who needs gorms when you’re as adorable as that?

"Gormless"? Had to look it up. Thanks, OP, what an excellent word!

- The Dumb but Adorable Golden Retriever in the room

I think they’re comparatively dumb.

We had a border collie growing up. They’re almost another species in terms of intelligence, especially when it comes to recognizing vocabulary and performing tasks.

Our next-door neighbors had a Golden Retriever. She was incredibly sweet and rather dumb, but no one minded the latter on account of the former.

The two dogs were best friends. I loved them both.

There’s much more than smarts to appreciate in a living creature.

Dumb. Sincere. Whores.

Agree with R2.

Growing up, we had a Golden and a Yorkie. The Yorkie ruled the roost, and the Golden was content to allow her to do so. He was extremely gentle with her except for one time. He had been sick, and we gave him the usual boiled chicken and rice. The Yorkie scooted into his bowl, and he growled and snapped at her Didn't blame the poor guy.

Loyal, loving, obedient, and gentle.

They may be dumb, but they're smarter than the average Republican politician.

I call goldens the cheerleaders of the dog world.

Depends how you measure IQ for a dog. In some perspectives, Golden Retrievers are among the top 5 in dog cleverness because they are so obedient and trainable.

They are fine for lazy pet owners. But they shine if they are raised by ambitious owners who know how to train their dogs and expect the dog to do a lot.

It's a fabulous service dog, rescue dog, and hunting dog.

Golden BUMP

This is supposed to be adorable. It's just annoying.

Goldens are great dogs. Yellow labs should be put on the terrorist watch list.

They are hands down the BEST family dog OP. Loyal, eager to please- to the point of tripping over their own ears, gentle and easy to train, but still up for the occasional game of fetch.

That being said, at the Veterinary Clinic I worked at for years, most of the techs that worked with this breed oft-labled clientele of this breed "Golden Retards."

I'd like to hope that was with loving fondness.

My experience of being in dog parks with Goldens and Labs over many years is that they're tremendously well meaning, but big klutzes who never watch where they're going. I mean, they make a habit of running really fast looking back over their shoulder, and they knock people off their feet regularly by coming up behind them in this fashion. (On a good day it's a phone-zombie who wasn't watching out for them, or his own dog, either.) If they hit you in the back of the knee your feet can literally end up higher than your head as you come down.

Aside from this they are very gentle. If they monster the little dogs it's only because they don't understand they are not little and just want to join the gang. You often see terriers basically rolling their eyes at their owners and making the "cuckoo" sign in back of a Golden.

We had two growing up. My dad took one hunting one day, about five miles from the house, and the dog bolted when my dad shot the first bird. My dad was frantic, but the dog just ran back home and laid on the front stoop until somebody noticed and let him in.

Incredibly gentle, even with toddlers.

R6 what nonsense! CKCS excel at learning human words and manipulation. They aren’t stupid dogs.

But I just learned the goldens are half spaniel which explains a lot.

Are spaniels stupid? I guess they are. They are very beautiful when they're young - but they age incredibly badly.

Spaniels are the blond twinks of the dog world.

That explains the 'cocker'

Maybe that's why cockerpoos are more popular these days - poodles are quite clever apparently.

People are describing the Golden Retrievers as dumb but don't they have other qualities, like compassion? They seem really sensitive, mostly, to other people's needs and I think I would like that in a pet.

Aren’t they used as guide dogs? I’d imagine they can’t be too dumb if that’s true.

I know someone who volunteered to raise a guide dog puppy for the first year. They like you to give it a pleasant life, socialise it and train it up a bit, then at 12 months or so it does some tests prior to going on to get intensive training as a guide dog. This dog (which was a Lab) failed, so my friend ended up with it for 12 years instead of one. So they can be meant for guide dogs and still be truly dumb.

For those who get through, I think what the authorities like for a guide dog is a dog that is trainable and alert to its environment, but is very tractable and placid. They don't want intelligence like my corgi or my terrier, who are constantly thinking up ways to outsmart me and get their priorities met instead of mine.

They can be idiots on the grooming table. Trying to kill themselves and your back. It's also crazy because they can be aggressive for grooming, which is always shocking because it's without warning. They also die of cancer and sometimes very young. Goldens used to be my favorite dogs until I started working with them

There is no such thing as EQ.

Golden Retrievers have a sweet nature. I love them.

I’ve had a golden retriever and a German shepherd and the golden might have been just as smart. Maybe I had a dumb German shepherd and a smart golden. They were both great dogs.

The golden knew people by name and knew when you were looking for them, which we only figured out by accident. If you said, “Where’s Rob?!” and she would run find Rob.

The German shepherd would play hide and seek. I’d tell her to stay, show her the object, and she would wait in one room while I went and hid it in another. Sometimes she cheated and peeked, but she understood the game.

Once I tried to teach the German shepherd to open a cabinet with a dish towel. Just for fun. I saw a YouTube video on it that explained the process really well. Unlike stay or come or fetch (they will chase a ball, but will they bring it back and drop it?), tricks are usually very easy to teach. She couldn’t figure it out right away and I gave up.

Both dogs learned stuff like sit and shake in one or two short training sessions. Maybe three.

I think goldens have a goofy personality that makes people underestimate their intelligence.

Dangerous animals. They mercilessly overwhelm their prey

As long as you don't get a fucking Goldendoodle.

[quote] If they monster the little dogs

Oh Christ, another fucking gen z verb to learn

r36 You really think that's a gen z creation?

I adopted my golden retriever when he was just under 1 year old. He was my niece’s dog and her son was horribly allergic so I took the dog.

He was housetrained but that was it. I worked with a trainer for eight weeks and he quickly mastered basic commands, learned to walk on a leash, socialize with other dogs. He is now very well mannered.

He sits by the refrigerator when he is ready for breakfast and will sit by the cabinet where I store his treats when he wants one. Dinner time is around six and when I am working from home he will come get me at six on the nose if I am still working. He brings me a toy when he wants to play in the house, but if he brings me a tennis ball that means he wants to play outside or even better go to the dog park. He’s pretty smart and just a really good natured goofball. He definitely remembers his family that raised him as a puppy and still visits them but I don’t think he misses them or his old life. He has it pretty good.

I just got home from a long weekend away and he nearly lost his mind when I got home he was so happy to see me. Meanwhile, the cat was like “‘sup” when I walked in and is ignoring me.

I've had them before and I'd like to get another one when the mutt currently holding my couch down goes off to the big dogpark in the sky. But I'm worried about the cancer problem they have. I read somewhere that Goldens in North America get one kind of cancer, Goldens from Europe get another, and the ones from Australia get a third kind.