This is Harry. He is a seven-week old golden retriever.
People have said to me many times over the years, “goldens are dumb.” I’m not sure why people think this. About every other seeing-eye dog you see is a golden retriever. That’s not a job for a dumb dog. Is it that goldens are blond, and therefore must be dumb? Maybe. I suspect it’s more that they’re extraordinarily willing to please, and for some of us that translates as dumb. (This says more about us than about the golden, though.)
“Harry” is for Harry Hotspur, who is easily among the coolest characters in Shakespeare. (He is also basically the same character as Mercutio, but you try saying, “Here, Mercutio!”)
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May 8, 2008 at 8:56 pm
bitchphd
AHHHHHH THE CUTENESS.
May 8, 2008 at 9:01 pm
expat lumberjack
harry hotspur is also the namesake of tottenham hotspur football club in london. trivium of the day.
May 8, 2008 at 9:05 pm
Levi Stahl
I don’t even like dogs, in principle, but that might be in the running for cutest animal ever.
May 8, 2008 at 9:08 pm
bitchphd
Expat, that is an awesome piece of trivia.
May 8, 2008 at 9:17 pm
ari
Harry is far cuter in person, a stuffed animal come to life.
May 8, 2008 at 9:19 pm
expat lumberjack
that’s not cute, that’s terrifying. the dog equivalent of chucky, you’re saying?
May 8, 2008 at 9:22 pm
ari
Fine, be that way. Ruin Harry for me. Come to think of it, he does have needle-sharp teeth. Hmm.
May 8, 2008 at 9:24 pm
expat lumberjack
just watch out if he learns how to grab a knife without opposable thumbs. that’s all i’m saying.
May 8, 2008 at 9:29 pm
A White Bear
I’m sorry, Eric, but blonds are dumb. You, I, and Harry—we’re dumb.
I used to have a golden when I was a kid, and, despite being overly friendly, he was very smart. I find people confuse friendliness in blonds, in general, with stupidity. No, we just take bigger interpersonal risks than others.
May 9, 2008 at 4:17 am
The Modesto Kid
every other seeing eye dog you see is a golden
Really? I can only remember ever seeing Shepherds in this role.
May 9, 2008 at 4:43 am
LizardBreath
Oh, my, that’s a good puppy. I think the dumb goldens stereotype comes from their being big, energetic, and affectionate; a golden that hasn’t been well trained will make your life a misery with jumping on people and bouncing off the walls. It’s not about being stupid, but a badly trained golden is annoying.
Well trained, they’re wonderful dogs. And I love the name, although I do have to admit that, at least at this age, he doesn’t look sardonic.
May 9, 2008 at 4:54 am
A White Bear
If you don’t like a big paws-on-shoulders hug from a golden, LB, then you don’t like goldens. They are ridiculously hard to train to recognize that not everyone desires such a greeting. People who breed goldens for show don’t even bother trying. Love me, love my dog’s giant hugs.
May 9, 2008 at 5:03 am
Steve
Goldens are considered by those who rate such things as one of the ten smartest breed of dog. Your little border collie is universally regarded as number 1.
May 9, 2008 at 7:14 am
LizardBreath
The real training question, in this specific case, is whether he will come when you do call for him?
May 9, 2008 at 7:43 am
eric
LB gets it.
May 9, 2008 at 8:07 am
bitchphd
I want Eric to train his dog to do this.
May 9, 2008 at 8:21 am
eric
Goldens are considered by those who rate such things as one of the ten smartest breed of dog
When this book originally came out we bought it, and I remember thinking it was a pretty good analysis/explanation of what makes for a smart dog.
May 9, 2008 at 8:26 am
A White Bear
Oh my GOD, B. Oh my GOD! That was so so so so cool. And the dog looked a lot like my golden of childhood and I teared up a bit.
May 10, 2008 at 9:51 am
Cala
Golden retrievers are smart. Yellow labs, however, exhibit the perverse stupidity common to their breed. Friendly, but likely to run into the refrigerator.
May 10, 2008 at 4:35 pm
urbino
Another vote for GR’s being smart. Mine was. It’s not that they’re unintelligent, it’s that they are big goofballs, personality-wise. And, of course, outgoinger than hell.
Every time my mother pulled in in her car, Jake (the dog) would put his paws up on her windowsill, stick his head in and say hi. (If the window was closed, he’d just stand there like that until she rolled it down.) He was 110 lbs., but always insisted on sitting in my lap in the vet’s waiting room.
Maggie may harass Harry with her brainy herdiness, but that will probably stop when he’s fully grown. My grampa’s dog (general purpose farm mutt) liked to boss Jake around, and he took it good-naturedly. Until he didn’t. One day he picked Butch up by the scruff of the neck, shook him once, and put him down as gently as can be. After that, the two got along swimmingly.
Dogs is the best. Sadly, my irregular schedule keeps me from having one. I’ve been thinking about a cat, maybe, though.
May 10, 2008 at 4:52 pm
eric
urbino!!
May 10, 2008 at 4:55 pm
urbino
Yo!
May 10, 2008 at 10:28 pm
ben wolfson
every other seeing eye dog you see is a golden
Speak for yourself, asshole. I’m blind.
May 12, 2008 at 5:56 am
Blume
Really? I can only remember ever seeing Shepherds in this role.
Pay more attention! A good portion of the seeing eye dogs trained today are labrador retrievers. There’s a disease that affects today’s German shepherds that makes them go blind; apparently it’s common enough that it’s risky to invest all of that money to train a young German shepherd.
May 12, 2008 at 6:53 am
dware
Eric,
I’ve known a lot of goldens over the years and can confirm that they’re not dumb; on the other hand, they usually seem to be running on an excess of endorphins and also seem keenly attuned to their humans’ wants, needs and mental capacities. If there seem to be many dumb goldens, chalk it up to an excess of humans similarly disendowed.