Golden Retriever/Hovawart?

This is my dog Annie. My friends own her mother. She is supposed to be pure Golden Retriever but I am not sure. I think her mother looks especially funny for a Golden Retriever.I think she might have a little Hovawart in her. She has some Hovawart characteristics, according to what I have read. She holds her tail high and loosely curled when excited. When she was younger it looked a little like an Afghan Hound's tail when she held it up. Also she is not very friendly with strangers. She is not mean, but she tends to be reserved. I think her mom looks like a hovawart from the side, more than she looks like a Golden.

Also she runs differently than most Golden Retrievers. I noticed it when she and another Golden were running together. She tends to lift her feet more, to look a little more dainty, when she runs. Something about her face also soesn't strike me as Golden-like. She might be pure Golden, just a poor example, but there are a lot of Golden Retrievers around where I live and none of them except her family look like this. They all look very much more Golden-ish. What do you think?







As a puppy




her mom (not a great pic)

The pics aren't showing, but a couple of things crossed my mind- one is that Hovawarts aren't very common. The other is that Mom could be a purebred Golden, just a poorly bred one. We have a Golden in our class that is very light boned, has funky ears and a blue eye. And, yes, he's purebred.

ETA- Yay! Now I can see the pictures. What a gorgeous dog! Looks purebred to me.

I think it's far more likely that your dog is pure golden. What a beautiful dog!

Looks pure to me. Because SO many people are breeding Goldens they can vary quite a bit. You have the ones that go in the show ring, hunting ones (who are somewhat varied themselves because they are bred for working ability and health, not looks, although being a good hunter may require a certain structure so they have enough similarities), then there are BYB and mill ones who are bred for no reason (except money), or breed them because "they are nice family pets" (I can find you a few million of those in shelters, you need a better reason than that you think he's a good pet).

So they can look very different depending on the breeder/lines/purpose.

Ditto.

Hate to do this,but everyone covered what I was going to say.

Pure Golden, probably just not from conformation show lines.

Pure golden. Unfortunately, the breed is plagued with poor temperament, conformation, health, and breeding so the type and quality of goldens is going to vary a LOT. That's the price of popularity.

There's such a blend of Goldens today , I'd say pure .