Page 19 - ShowSight Presents The Golden Retriever

Scotland asked Lynn Kipps to take a photograph and the result is this historic photograph of 188 Goldens at their ancestral home. Photo © Lynn Kipps. Used with
resulted in several yellow pups that This is in the Guisachan record book, house-dog status, but they were very defi-
Permission. Copies available for sale from Lynn Kipps (lynn@kipps.co.uk).
Water Spaniel, (a breed now extinct), resulted in several yellow pups that became the foundation for a distinctive line of yellow retrievers. The breed was officially recognized by The Kennel Club in 1911 as “Retriever-Yellow or Golden” and finally, “Retriever-Golden” in 1920. Early Golden Retrievers were seen in Canada and the U.S. some years before their official recognition by the Canadian Kennel Club in 1927 and the American Kennel Club in 1932.
Those ‘gentlemen’ who visited the Highlands in the late 1800s took their sport very seriously indeed. As an example, the following is a list of the “head of game”
taken on the Guisachan estate in 1871. This is in the Guisachan record book, along with the information of the dogs and breedings: Total head of game: 4672. This included 37 stags (male red deer), 2458 grouse, 200 blackgame (blackcock, a Scot- tish bird), 191 ptarmigans, 118 partridges, 101 pheasants, 201 woodcocks, 14 snipes, 4 wild ducks, 328 hares, 977 rabbits, 13 roe deer (males) and 29 hinds (female deer), 1 capercaillie, 1 Reeves’ pheasant. Rabbits trapped were not included.
Game was a crop, and managed for production as well as for sport. Yes, “the gentlemen” enjoyed a long weekend of sport (especially when entertaining visitors),
and one or two of the retrievers made it to house-dog status, but they were very defi- nitely hard working dogs, all of them. Many call Goldens “the gentleman’s hunting dog” with no real understanding of what the dogs actually did! Those dogs probably retrieved literally thousands of birds (and rabbits) in the hunting season, and did it in harsh ter- rain with tough cover—no pretty, cutover fields here. It took real endurance and sound athletic structure suited for traversing rocky mountainsides and rolling moors covered with tough, wiry heather and bracken, and a sensible waterproof coat to work in the Scot- tish climate, which is generally anything from damp to downpour.
“IT TOOK REAL ENDURANCE
AND SOUND ATHLETIC STRUCTURE SUITED FOR TRAVERSING ROCKY MOUNTAINSIDES AND ROLLING MOORS...”
Golden J-Mills-4.indd 2
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At the Guisachan Gathering in 2006, Golden Retriever enthusiasts enjoyed a picnic on the grounds of the ruins of Guisachan House. The Golden Retriever Club of Scotland asked Lynn Kipps to take a photograph and the result is this historic photograph of 188 Goldens at their ancestral home. Photo © Lynn Kipps. Used with Permission. Copies available for sale from Lynn Kipps (lynn@kipps.co.uk).
SHOWSIGHT MAGAZINE, FEBRUARY 2015 • 253
Water Spaniel, (a breed now extinct), taken on the Guisachan estate in 1871. and one or two of the retrievers made it to