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Golden Retriever — BetterBred Breed Page – BetterBred.com
BetterBred Breed Profile

Golden Retriever

Temperament: Intelligent, friendly, and devoted. Goldens are highly active working retrievers who need real daily exercise despite their reputation as calm family dogs. They are biddable and trainable, good with children and other animals, and fill a wide range of working roles from service and guide work to search and rescue. Sheds seasonally and needs regular grooming.
Height: Males: 23-24 inches (58-61 cm), Females: 21.5-22.5 inches (55-57 cm)
Weight: Males: 65-75 pounds (29-34 kg), Females: 55-65 pounds (25-29 kg)
Life Span: 11-14 years
Outlier Index ?
0.23
Born before 2016: 0.24 Born after 2024: 0.28
Avg Genetic Rel. ?
-0.03
Born before 2016: -0.02 Born after 2024: -0.04
Internal Relatedness ?
0.03
Born before 2016: 0.02 Born after 2024: 0.07
Golden Retriever
#NameGender OIAGRIR
1 Wakemup Power of Love at Wakemup CD BN RA JH WCX NAP NJP NFP NA NAJ NF CCA M 0.25 -0.02 -0.10
2 Wakemup Go Wild WC CCA TKI F 0.29 0.02 -0.17
3 Maywood's Written in the Stars CD BN RAE2 RM2 CCA CGC F 0.13 0.06 0.04
4 Maywood's Steal the Spotlight RA CGC F 0.17 0.03 -0.14
5 Maywood's Bright Treasure from Sky CD BN RM2 RAE2 CCA CGC F 0.19 0.07 -0.15
6 HRCH Resolute Red King of Texas M 0.18 0.00 0.02
7 Red-Dawn Resolute Nala JH F 0.18 0.00 0.06
8 Red-Dawn Ivy F 0.15 0.02 -0.03
9 SHR Red-Dawn Resolute Pickles WX CCA FTN F 0.18 -0.04 -0.01
10 Red-Dawn Jeffery M 0.53 -0.19 0.22
The Golden Retriever was developed in Scotland starting around 1850, when Lord Tweedmouth set out to create a retriever capable of working over the rough terrain and water of the Scottish highlands. Indigenous retrievers were crossed with a now-extinct Tweed Water Spaniel, and subsequent generations drew on Irish Setters, sandy-colored Bloodhounds, the St. John's Water Dog of Newfoundland, and wavy-coated black retrievers. The resulting dogs were then inbred to set type and consistency. The AKC recognized the breed in 1925 and the Canadian Kennel Club in 1927. Today Goldens fill roles worldwide from family companion to service, guide, and search-and-rescue dog - one of the most versatile and popular breeds on the planet.
Cancer is the breed's defining health concern - hemangiosarcoma, lymphoma, osteosarcoma, and mast cell tumors all occur at elevated rates, and lifetime cancer incidence in US-bred Goldens in particular runs well above average for dogs. Hip and elbow dysplasia, progressive retinal atrophy, subvalvular aortic stenosis, and hypothyroidism are also concerns. European-bred Goldens appear to have somewhat lower cancer rates than American lines, though they share many of the other issues.
VGL has reported Golden Retrievers carrying an average of around 8.55 alleles across the 33 STR loci, with an effective allele count near 3.43. The high average allele count shows the breed's large foundation; the more modest effective allele count shows that a smaller subset of common alleles still carries most of the weight. Preserving and redistributing rarer alleles is the main lever breeders have. VGL testing has found Golden Retrievers with observed heterozygosity slightly below expected, giving a small positive inbreeding coefficient. The breed's genetic structure shows a large central cluster of closely related dogs and a smaller number of genetic outliers. Breeders have meaningful room to redistribute diversity by actively seeking out less related mates and using outlier bloodlines in breeding decisions. Individual IR values vary widely and the breed-wide average does not tell the whole story for any given dog.

Average metrics by birth year for dogs with recorded birthdates in the BetterBred database.

A 3D genetic map of enrolled Golden Retriever dogs in the BetterBred database, based on allele-sharing distance across 33 STR loci. This is not a complete picture of the breed — it reflects only dogs whose owners have enrolled them. Drag to rotate · scroll to zoom · hover for dog names (public profiles only).

Historical founders — oldest 25% of enrolled dogs     Current gene pool — most recent 50% of enrolled dogs
Building plot… this may take a minute for larger breeds.

The Dog Leukocyte Antigen (DLA) region controls immune function and is the most polymorphic portion of the canine genome. Every dog carries two sets of DLA haplotypes — one from each parent — which almost never recombine across generations. Frequency percentages reflect how often each haplotype appears across all allele copies in the breed, not the percentage of dogs carrying it.

Class I Haplotypes

HaplotypeFrequency
1066
33.8%
1065
24.5%
1003
10.8%
1014
7.2%
1062
6.8%
1068
5.8%
1069
5.4%
1016
1.8%
1067
1.8%
1006
1.1%
1070
0.7%
1008
0.4%

Class II Haplotypes

HaplotypeFrequency
2046
32.0%
2048
23.7%
2001
10.8%
2021
6.8%
2050
6.1%
2045
5.4%
2053
4.3%
2017
3.2%
2003
1.4%
2007
1.1%
2037
1.1%
2047
1.1%
2086
0.7%
2049
0.7%
2005
0.7%
2051
0.4%
2052
0.4%

Class I & II Combinations

Class IClass IIFrequency
1066 2046
32.0%
1065 2048
22.7%
1003 2001
10.8%
1062 2021
6.8%
1014 2050
6.1%
1069 2045
5.4%
1068 2053
4.3%
1016 2017
1.8%
1067 2017
1.4%
1068 2003
1.4%
1006 2007
1.1%
1014 2037
1.1%
1065 2047
1.1%
1066 2048
1.1%
1070 2005
0.7%
1066 2086
0.7%
1065 2049
0.7%
1067 2051
0.4%
1008 2052
0.4%

The Canine Diversity Test from UC Davis Veterinary Genetics Laboratory is the foundation of BetterBred’s breed management tools. Testing your dog adds to the breed database and gives you access to the full suite of breeding analysis tools.

Order from UC Davis VGL →
OI
Outlier Index

The Outlier Index (OI) measures how unusual a dog’s allele combination is relative to the tested population of its breed. A higher OI means the dog carries alleles at lower frequencies across the breed — genetic variants that are underrepresented in the population as a whole.

Dogs with high OI are genetically valuable because they carry diversity that most other tested dogs don’t share. Breeding them thoughtfully into the broader population helps redistribute lower-frequency alleles rather than allowing them to become even rarer over generations.

The breed average shown here reflects all dogs tested in the BetterBred database. The senior and youngster comparisons show whether diversity is trending up or down in recent generations.
AGR
Average Genetic Relatedness

Average Genetic Relatedness (AGR) measures how similar a dog’s DNA is, on average, to every other tested dog in the breed. It reflects the dog’s mean kinship — how closely related it is to the population as a whole.

A lower AGR means the dog is more genetically distinct from the majority of the breed. Dogs with low AGR carry alleles at lower frequencies across the tested population, making them higher-priority candidates for inclusion in a well-managed breeding program.

AGR is conceptually related to mean kinship used in conservation genetics for managed species populations. A declining AGR average in younger dogs suggests the breed is successfully redistributing genetic diversity across generations.
IR
Internal Relatedness

Internal Relatedness (IR) measures how much identical genetic material an individual dog inherited from both parents. IR is a useful indicator of inbreeding: lower IR generally reflects lower inbreeding, and it is widely used and reported in the scientific literature.

A high IR is not the cause for alarm it might appear. Elevated IR can often be resolved in a single generation by pairing with a dog whose ancestry is less represented in the breed. It is a signpost, not a sentence.

BetterBred reports IR for reference, but it is not our primary breeding guidance tool. OI and AGR together give a more complete and actionable picture of a dog’s genetic value to the population.

AGR tells you which dogs are genetically unusual relative to the population. OI tells you which dogs are most valuable to preserve. OI specifically weights mid-frequency alleles, identifying dogs whose ancestry is underrepresented in a way most likely to benefit the breed.