It appears that I *don't* have an actual Golden Rtrvr....

He's a pretty one.  Goldens are wonderful dogs.  The performance-bred goldens, IMHO, sare amazing in obedience, let alone agility.  If your fella is part sheltie, he's probably very intelligent.  Tollers are smart, but not quite the people pleasers.

Here are some typical tollers.  I see sheltie, collie or shepherd in your fella's face. Not so much Border or Aussie.   I have two friends with tollers.

If you believe River is a purebred Toller, you would probably want to do an ILP with the AKC. It is cheaper and more accurate than the DNA tests. Also, if they determine that River is a purebred, he'd be elgible to compete in AKC events, with the exception of conformation.

https://www.akc.org/reg/ilpex.cfm

Beauceron.Akita.Golden

how every individual/shelter is listing their black/tan tailed dog as a beauce.  And while, dont get me wrong, some of them actually are beaucerons, thats been very very few..

Unless it had upright ears and a curly tail.  Then it's a basenjiX. 

And we all know that if it's black and tan with a saddle and two ears that stand, it's a Shepherd Mix xD 

and atleast the black saddle/tan dogs may actually be a shepherd..sence its not hard to find people giving them away, leaving them tied in the back yard, etc etc..much more comon to find mixes of..as apposed to an uncommon breed like tollers, basenjis, and beaucerons..and while ive never done extensive research on basenjis or tollers (although both are breeds i do like)..I know the general asking price of a beauceron ($1000 and up) is enough to keep most people that are irresponsible enough to let them breed with something wrong, away from the breed..

Don't forget, everything that has oversized ears is a pharaoh hound mix. 

stanton

He's nothing at all the size of a golden, he is a lot thinner and shorter then a Golden...my relatives have had lots of goldens, he is not built like any of them. He's shorter and sturdier, built more solidly then what I see of some typsy Goldens.

His coat IS a red color, in the pic he looks blonde cause the lighting of the camera was not adjusted correctly.

I see golden all in that face. espeacially from the second picture. I think the best bet is golden collie mix. Collies are also known for a white tipped tail and socks. So he could have easily gotten those markings froma  collie aswell.