Well, I'm jumping into this disscussion late, and I bet by the time I'm done typing this out, there will be a lot more posts. lol But anyways...
Why do you have your heart set on a Retriever of some type? Just courious. If you wanted a dog that is good with kids, there are lots of breeds that are.
Anyways, from what you are saying (forgive me...I've only read a couple posts...well, ok, actually, I read a couple, and skimmed through the rest. lol) a Curly-Coated Retriever comes to mind. They shed less than an average Lab (they still shed, but less), and they are a pretty good watchdog/guard dog.
(Oh, and BTW, pretty much all dogs are watchdogs. A watchdog barks when someone approaches the house and nothing more. A guard dog, barks, and then will back up that bark with a bite if necessary.)
Here is some info on them:
Curly Coated Retreiver info
More Curly info
If you just wanted a family pet, I would stay away from the Flat-coated Retrievers. They are mainly being bred for an active sport life. (Frequent hunting, agility, feildwork, tracking, whatver.)
Goldens, in my mind, are just like Labs, except that they are more "people friendly" and are more a "push button" breed then Labs are.
I'd stay away from the Labradoodles unless you were getting one from a shelter. In this case, I can almost assure you that the people that are breeding the mutts on purpose, are doing it irrisponsibly. So in this case, it isn't a matter of quality, it is a matter of who you are supporting.
If you didn't mind a more dominant, more watchful dog, I'd also suggest a Chesepeake Bay Retriever. You can find more info on them on the sites I listed above.