At a glance
- Type
- Purebred, FCI Group 8 (retrievers)
- Height
- Dogs 56–61 cm · bitches 51–56 cm
- Weight
- Dogs about 29–34 kg · bitches about 25–30 kg
- Life expectancy
- 10–12 years
- Coat
- Dense double coat, cream to deep gold; sheds all year, heavily twice a year
- Grooming
- Brushing several times a week, daily while the undercoat is coming out
- Exercise
- More than 2 hours a day, with retrieving games and swimming
- With children
- Very good with children; a bouncy young dog needs watching around toddlers
- In an apartment
- Only a ground-floor flat with long daily outings; a garden is better
- Cyprus summer
- Struggles in the midday heat; walks before 8 am and after sunset in summer
- Our price
- from €1,500
About the Golden Retriever
The Golden Retriever began as a shooting dog on a Scottish estate. Lord Tweedmouth crossed a yellow retriever with the Tweed Water Spaniel in the 1860s, and the line he built was recognised as a breed of its own in 1913. The job was to find shot game, carry it gently and bring it back — work that needs a dog who is soft-mouthed, biddable and pleased to cooperate. That is the temperament families buy today.
A well-bred Golden is friendly and confident with strangers, tolerant with children, and easy with other dogs. He trains willingly, which makes him forgiving of first-time owners, and he keeps a puppyish streak well into his third year — charming, and occasionally exhausting in a house full of breakables.
He is a big dog with real needs: more than two hours a day, and mental work as well as walking. Retrieving games and swimming are what he was made for, and the sea is the best thing Cyprus can offer him. The medium double coat sheds all year and heavily in spring, so brush several times a week and expect hair on everything.
Heat is the main local consideration. Exercise at the cool ends of the day through summer, carry water, and let him swim rather than run. Given space, company and work, a Golden Retriever is a straightforward family dog for ten years or more.
Origin, purpose and temperament follow the official FCI breed standard; exercise, grooming and family suitability follow The Royal Kennel Club (UK). Every puppy is an individual — ask us about the one you are considering.
Living with a Golden Retriever in Cyprus
A big dog in a thick coat. A grown Golden weighs around 30 kg and wears a double coat through summers that pass 35 °C. From June to September walk before 8 in the morning and after sunset, and leave water in more than one place. Heavy panting, a dark red tongue, stumbling or vomiting are signs of heatstroke: move him into the shade, wet him with cool, not iced, water and call a vet straight away.
Do not shave him. The undercoat insulates against heat as well as cold, and the outer coat shields the skin from the sun. A shaved double coat can grow back patchy and leaves the skin open to sunburn. What keeps a Golden cool is brushing out the loose undercoat so air can reach the skin.
Sea and pools. Most Goldens swim happily. Rinse off salt or chlorine afterwards and dry him down to the skin: a coat that stays damp in the humid coastal air leads to hot spots, red and weeping patches, and the hanging ears hold moisture, so dry them too. From about May to October sandflies spread leishmaniasis, so ask your vet about a repellent collar and the vaccine; ticks are covered in our puppy care sheet.
Space and joints. A Golden is happiest with a garden or a ground-floor home and people around most of the day. Hip and elbow dysplasia occur in the breed, so ask any breeder for the parents' screening results, and keep a growing puppy lean and off long runs and stairs in his first year.
