Hello, this is from the Ultimate Golden Retriever Second Edition and quotes the ACK and BKC standards: AKC: "Rich, lustrous golden of various shades. Feathering may be lighter than rest of coat. With exception of age, any white marking, other than a few white hairs on chest, should be penalized... Predominant body color which is extremely pale or extremely dark is undesirable." BKC: "Any shade of gold or cream, neither red or mahogany. A few white hairs, on chest only, permissible."
I hope this helps answer your question. We previously owned a reddish golden, and now own a cream one. Many people just have a personal color preference. If you are looking for a show dog, it would be more of an issue.
Love that picture. Monty is very light but still has some color. (Third from left on picture). MANY people ask me what kind of dog he is and then look very suspicious when I tell them he is a GR.
I think they are all beautiful! Both Bailey's parents were the same color as the third from the right. I'm pretty sure Bailey will be a lighter then her parents.
Riley is probably right between the third and fourth from the left - but closer to the third. Cooper was second from the right and I love them both!
Now the people who just moved in a few doors down have a dog that's SO red, it's either a young Golden or a small Setter. He's so dark that from a distance, I honestly can't tell. Sure looks pretty whatever he is, though.
Mine have all been red, but that's just because they were the ones needing to be rescued when I was available. I didn't own a dog for 15 years due to work and life style. We moved and life eased up and I found a beautiful, old red golden when I went fishing one day. I've been hooked ever since.
Ryder was a dark red.
Timber is getting darker as his big boy coat comes in but won't be near as dark as Ryder.
It doesn't really matter though - they are all beautiful, light or dark, and I don't imagine any of us would change a thing about them
I love that "rainbow" photo! Since we are preparing to adopt a rescue golden, we've seen all those shades in our group's available pups. All with the same wonderful smile!
I'm curious about the original question. If the AKC standard is butter / gold and not red, where do the redheads come from? They are still considered purebred, but not conforming? or do they have some Irish setter influence? (That's the only other red dog I've seen.) Curious!
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