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Golden Retriever Anonymous
I've noticed an ad that someone wants to give away a 5 month old Golden Retriever and I always wanted one. Is there anything I should now before getting this particular race?

I've heard it's better to get a female, they're much easier to train, is it true?
>> Anonymous
not really, trainability pretty much depends on the individual dog. the thing with female dogs is that they're less likely to be aggressive, or likely to be less aggressive. I wouldn't really care with a golden retriever because like labrador retrievers, they are usually pretty nice, friendly dogs regardless. if you were getting a large breed, you may then want to consider gender.
>> Anonymous
Watch out for hip problems. Don't train the dog too hard or let it run too fast the first year or so - my friend had to euthanize their puppy because of the hips. Really sad.
>> Anonymous
>>107925
Listen to this person. Also ask a breeder for the best nutrition, it's very very very important what you feed to a puppy of a large breed. Also ask the owner if he knows about the puppys parents, and if they had hip problems.

Otherwise, as far as I know, these dogs are very nice and quite easy to train.
>> Anonymous
Beware of heart murmurs, too. My friend's health certified retriever pup was just diagnosed with a heart murmer, and she may return him to the breeder if it doesn't fix itself over the next few weeks.

Considering someone is just giving away their retriever, chances are that it's not health certified and from a puppy mill. Quality retrievers from non-puppy mills cost a few hundred dollars, so they're not the type of thing someone would generally just give away.
>> Anonymous
They can be overenthusiastic at times, and being a big dog, doing stuff that overexcites them is hazardous to your health. It's not exactly the calmest breed in the list.