Golden Retriever Character and Personality

The Golden Retriever usually has the image of "the dog who loves children, always kind and easy to educate", who never fights, growls or even bites, and can without any problems adapt to a normal family life. Now, can he really live up to all these expectations? In the Breeds Standard the characteristics that define their behavior are described in the following way: " … willing to obey; intelligent, with a natural predisposition to work; always loving, both with human beings and with other animals; cordial and self-confident…". What exactly does all that mean?

… willing to obey, manageable and intelligent:

The Golden Retriever, with dog toys, usually learns quickly and easily because he has an innate predisposition to work with humans. But this does not mean that he will unconditionally follow every single order. When he fulfils his hunting tasks, he has to be able to work in an independent environment. Being "manageable" doesn't mean that he will only learn the norms of good conduct or that he already knows them from the beginning.

… with a natural predisposition to work:

in his origins, the Golden Retriever was exclusively a work dog. He was in the forest, field and water amidst wind and rain fulfilling his duty, hunting. He is still that service dog when the owner is a hunter and these abilities can also be observed in many Golden Retrievers that live like family dogs. They like to bring socks, gloves, grandma's purse, the big branch they saw while on a walk, the dead rat they found on the path or some delicious horse dung; simply everything they find is worth picking up and turning in. They also love walking in any climate and they can't resist water, especially if it's a puddle of muddy water. A Golden wants to work and he isn't the ideal dog to be used as a representing object or a sofa decoration.