Anyone have a godlen/labrador mix?

 We were told Mick was a Lab/Golden mix when we adopted him.  Honestly, I didn't see any Golden in him.  When he was done growing, he looked more like an English Setter with a Lab coat. 

shamrockmommy

...I love love the look of the black coat with the length of the golden...

Uh, you do realize that a Lab/Golden mix can also be yellow or chocolate, too, and have a coat like a Lab, right?  I don't know if they're still doing it, but at one time (around the mid 90's) The Seeing Eye was breeding Lab/Golden mixes for Seeing Eye dogs.  The one I met when they held puppy camp where we were living looked pretty much like a fox red  Lab.

Yes, I realize that. I would specifically look for a black long coat one though, most of the time you can tell when they are fairly young if it will be wavy or short.  I like the multicolors I've seen but I'm drawn to the black for some reason.

shamrockmommy

Yes, I realize that. I would specifically look for a black long coat one though, most of the time you can tell when they are fairly young if it will be wavy or short.  I like the multicolors I've seen but I'm drawn to the black for some reason.

Have you looked into Flatcoats?  The most common color, at least around here, is black (they do come in brown/chocolate, too).  I know quite a few here that are involved in agility and obedience. 

 I have actually, they seem to have narrower heads and less stop, and I prefer a more golden/labby type head.

I will just have to watch and when th etime is right, perhaps the right pup will find me :)

 as a kid i had one. his name was Reggie. and he had the weirdest conformation i've ever seen on a dog. he was just.... gawky.. and his ears were weird.. Ben, one of my bulldogs, has similar ears... they are very stiff... not soft and fuzzy like you'd expect. but stiff like a piece of leather. he had a narrow golden retriever shaped head, deep chest, wide stance, constant smile, tail that.. we believe.. started Hurricane Andrew, and had so much energy he could pace a canyon in front of the fence.

he was a rescue actually... my grandmother "rescued" him from the neighbours across the street. he almost got hit by a car trying to run across the street visit her. so she knocked on his owners door and asked if she could just keep him - since he was always at her house anyway - and since i always visited during the summer my grandmother thought i needed bring that dog home with me. my mom did NOT like it when we were asked to "dog sit" for a week.... one week turned into a two.. then into four.. i asked my grandmother when she would come get Reggie and she smiled and said "he's YOUR dog!"

yeah.... mom wasnt happy..... 

he had a health issue though. anything he ate, big or small portion would cause his throat to swell up - so tight his collar had to be removed - and then he would vomit up his food. once he managed to do that he could continue to eat properly.

i forget the name of that condition but i have heard of only one similar case - from an old episode of Emergency vets.. and that lab puppy ended up dying after all kinds of surgical procedures. We ended up giving Reggie to an elderly lady who had just lost her dog to old age. she was willing and able to care for his medical condition far better than we could. at one point the kids in my neighbourhood, myself included, were trying to save every nickel and dime so we could take Reggie to the vet.

I wont say its a bad mix as long as you know both breeds. one is a field dog and one is a water dog. i wish i could have kept Reggie because he was a sweetie and didnt have a mean bone in his body.... hyper? yes.... but never mean or aggressive. which was surprising since his first home he was a "child's toy"... he was a birthday puppy for a four year old who would football kick him around. instead of getting even Reggie would run to my grandmother's house and camp out on her porch. 

I dont know if this is the info you are looking for or not. but it's my experience with the mix... limited as it is. Reggie LOOOOOOOVED to fetch a ball... naturally. he often had a tennis ball in his mouth wherever he went. we didnt live near water so i dont know about his swimming ability but if you want a dog for agility.... i think that would be absolutely perfect. 

incidentally... the neighbours who used to own Reggie have a fondness for that mix. they got another lab/golden mix a year and a half ago. she looks more like she has bulldog in her though. very square head, short pointy/floppy ears..they kinda stand out sideways if you can imagine that look! they treat her a little better than Reggie... in that there is no toddler abusing her. but she is an annoying sort. when i went to return their other dog she was jumping up as high as my shoulder trying to lick me... i had paw prints on my back shoulder! 

 You can often find mixes that look like black Goldens in shelters that are misID'd as Flatcoats. Goldens have a dominant gene for black, so they often produce black puppies in a mix. Flatcoats and mixes of them are almost never found in rescue but Golden mixes are pretty plentiful. Flatcoats do have a more Setter-type build and head, they really don't look like black Goldens. Unfortunately the breed also has a very high cancer rate in young dogs.

 With a Lab/Golden mix there is also a chance that you could get a service dog washout from one of the orgs that use them. Dogs wash out as service dogs for a variety of reasons, many of which would never affect their ability to be a good pet.

 As a flat coated retriever owner, I never recommend them unless you have time to give them enough outlets for their boundless energy (and your fully prepared to live with a dog notorious for their senses of humor). Cancer in the breed is a concern to not take lightly. I know why people often confuse Ari for some sort of golden or setter mix, but your right in that they don't have that "typical" golden or lab retriever look. They are much mroe stream lined, than blocky.

There are definitely a LOT of golden mixes in shelters, and a lot of black dogs with golden like featherings. I never thought of looking at dogs who washed out of training, but that makes a lot of sense and they would probably make fantastic pets, having had formal training under their belt.

Great thoughts, thank you.

Where would you find a link to find a pup that didn't work out for service work?

shamrockmommy

Great thoughts, thank you.

Where would you find a link to find a pup that didn't work out for service work?

  Each organization places their own dogs, so there isn't any one group that you would contact about this. You can try sending emails to the different orgs that use the breed you are interested in and asking how you can be put on their waiting list to be contacted when dogs become available. If it is something you are interested in for the future, it wouldn't be a bad idea to get on a waiting list. A high percentage of potential service dogs fail but quite a few are returned to breeders or be adopted by their puppy raisers.

 Guide Dogs page about adoption: http://www.guidedogs.com/site/PageServer?pagename=programs_dog_adoption

  This org has a petfinder site: http://www.petfinder.com/shelters/CO215.html