Not sure if this belongs in GQ or here, but I figure since most replies would be opinions and guesses…
I’ve just received a 5-6 week old puppy from a friend of a friend. It is a female golden retriever mix with ____. The mother is full 100% G.R., but I was never informed of the breed of the father. My puppy had 2 siblings, one was mostly all black and the other mostly all white. Mine however is light golden with distinctive white fur tips at the paws and toes as well as at the chest and tip of tail. She otherwise appears to be a golden retriever except these features and small paws for her size as noted by many passerbys.
Any experts take a accurate guess at the father’s origins (for child support purposes )? It is especially important to me so I could more accurately monitor her size and growth.
It may be easier to tell when she gets a little older and loses some of the puppy fat, has been de-wormed, etc. Is she weaned at 5-6 weeks? That seems like a week or two early.
Here is something called The Wisdom Panel. It is a newly developed test that is designed to tell you what breeds are in mixed dogs. The test sample, which needs to be taken by a vet, is sent for analysis against 130 AKC recognized breeds. You get back a profile that tells you what is in your dog. I plan on doing this for my little buddy Goliath. However, since he was attacked by a dog last week, I think I spare him this needle for a while anyways.
That is pretty early. Most pups stay with their mother until at least eight weeks with 12 weeks being even better.
Puppies need socialization with their mother and their siblings to learn how to be dogs.
I suggest you socialize that pup with other dogs and people as often as you can. Without the mother to teach him what is acceptable and what is not he is going to really need it.
I would also suggest a good quality puppy food. Being taken away that early he needs more vitamins that he normally would get from his mother. Even though they may not nurse very often at that age and don’t get enough food to really sustain them they are still getting nutrients only the mother can provide.
As far as breed I think it is way to early to tell. I can see the golden but not much else at this point. He is really cute
While in college, I had a very similar dog.
Mom was 1/2 golden, dad a spirit in the night.
Same appearance down to the white paws, tail-tip, and belly, plus a line from his nose down his head.
All his littermates were golden color.
Bowser grew up looking pretty much like a golden. Maybe 80-90 pounds.
Folks who owned goldens thought he was a golden.
Our Max is a Golden-Brittany Spaniel mix. He looks like a slightly smaller GR, but has a red nose. He is the most friendly dog in the world, but still has his “I don’t know you / I don’t like you” bark that comes out now & then. I highly recommend Goldens! Congratulations!
I’m going to link to your pictures if in case I ever need a cite to prove that Golden Retriever-type puppies are the cutest l’il doggies on Og’s green earth.
Keep in mind that a “mixed breed dog” is typically not the offspring of two pure bred animals. The puppy in the picture can be the result of many different mixes. And DNA analysis as a means of determining what breeds are present in a dog’s lineage is (today) about as accurate as a mood ring.
My guess would be the other dog was a Heinz 57. The Golden half should dominate his appearance and temperment. He’ll probably end up looking like a Golden with a little extra volume in the undercoat.
I know exactly what people are talking about when they get all mushy when they see a human baby and think “Let’s have another.”
I have a beautiful 5-year-old golden and all pictures and videos of golden pups make me want to run out and get 12 more.
Anyhoo…if the littermates were black and white I’d say that this little one is part golden and part yellow lab. Yellow labs can be very very white.
It doesn’t matter, tho. She is all CUTE
Oh, also, I’ve seen plenty of full-bred goldens with pink noses. Dolly’s nose is pink in the winter (so she can, yaknow, hide in the snow) and black in the summer but her friend Rex has a pink nose year-round.
Her name is Ginger, she is definitely cute, but I as type this she just poop and then ate her poop, shortly after puked up all the poop on my carpet. I thought dogs were instinctively non-waste eaters? (And yes I feed her and exercise very well)
Are golden retrievers suppose to have long whiskers at such a young age, even long whisker-like lases above the eyes? I’d really like to discover her exact mix, DNA analysis appears expensive especially if not at least reasonably reliable.
)? It is especially important to me so I could more accurately monitor her size and growth.
