They have a beautiful coat, an amazing face, a strong, sleek, and muscular body, a fantastic personality, a tail that never stops waging, and they are a joy to watch at work, when flushing a pheasant, swimming in the water, or chasing a Frisbee.

The golden retriever was originally bred as a hunting dog in Scotland, around 1908, but is now very popular as a house pet, a therapy dog in convalescent homes and children's hospitals, and is used by law enforcement for drug detection.

Although they do not make very good guard dogs, they will bark loudly if a stranger approaches.

If you have children the golden retriever can be the perfect pet. Because of their natural nurturing instincts, and very gentle nature they make the perfect companion.

In 1974 President Gerald Ford made the First Family dog a golden retriever named Liberty.

If you are considering getting a golden retriever puppy, you need to find a reputable breeder that specializes in breeding them.

There are plenty of pet shops and back yard breeders that are selling goldens, that may have serious breed problems ranging from aggression, to hip and eye problems, and a host of other problems that may not be noticeable at the puppy stage.

A reputable breeder will check the blood lines of the parents carefully to make sure they do not have a history of these problems, before breeding.

This will be your best chance at having a trouble free pet. Training your golden retriever is not as hard as you may think. These are very intelligent dogs, and eager to learn. They want to please you, and hate to be scowled.

The first thing to remember is that puppies will be puppies, so don't expect too much too soon. You can start to bathroom train right away, but if there is anything around you care about within the puppies grasp like shoes, or your favorite slippers, I would put them away, because your puppy's going to chew them if he gets them.

Give your puppy something of his own to chew. They are teething, and want to naturally chew things because their gums hurt. Make it clear early on that he or she is to chew what you gave them, and nothing else.

If you expect your golden to respond to your commands, then you want to avoid confusing him. It's easy to forget that they do not understand the English language.

They respond to certain sounds, or words, based on your body language, and tone of voice. The trick to making the training as simple as possible is to use a few basic words and stick with them.

If you want your golden to get out of the trash, and you say "no" one time, and "stop" the next time, and then "hey" the next time, they never really get what you are telling them.

The six words that I have found over the years that work best are "NO" "SIT" "DOWN" "COME" "HEEL" and "STAY". I find they work best if said without the dogs name. These are discipline words, and are better left by themselves.

It's important that you show your golden retriever that you are the boss. You must establish that you are the leader to be successful with his training.

If you give one of your commands, and he does not comply, reinforce the command with a little different tone of voice until he complies.

If that still doesn't work, don't just walk away. That will send a bad message. Stick with it until you get the desired results. It will happen.

Never yell at your pet or hit them, or raise your hand in a gesture to do so. You also never want to use anything like a rolled up newspaper, or a belt, or any object of this type to discipline them.

This will only scare and confuse them, and loose their trust, which will make it much harder to achieve the results you are looking for.

If you use the word "No" Firmly, to stop him from what he is doing, or gently show him you want him to "Sit" or lay "Down", or use the word "Come" when you want him to come to you, or say "Out" when it is time for her to go outside - I think you will be very surprised at how fast he or she learns.

Whatever words work for you are fine, as long as you keep them simple, and stay with the same words all the time I think you will get surprising results.

And don't forget the most important word of all, GOOD. Using that word combined with boy or girl, or the dog's name such as "Good Sammy", can work wonders.

They learn to like that real fast. Saying Good Boy, or Good Girl, or What a Good Girl, with the right tone in your voice, combined with a pat on the head, a biscuit, or a rubbing of their belly, will practically send a golden retriever into orbit.

They are beautiful animals. Just be patient, and you will have a great friend for many years.