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Retrievers as specific breeds were not seen until well into the nineteenth century. All working dogs were mated very much for their working ability, not for their looks, thus the Newfoundland, the Setters, the Water Spaniel, the Collie, and the Wavy-coated Retriever are all said to have played a part in the development of the Golden Retriever.

The most complete records of the development of the breed were kept by Lord Tweedmouth on his Guisachan estate near Loch Ness in Scotland. He acquired a yellow Retriever of Lord Chichester’s breeding from a cobbler in Brighton and called the dog Nous (Gaelic for wisdom). Nous was the product of two blacks and in 1868 she was bred to Belle, a Water Spaniel from the Tweed, and the resulting litter of three yellow puppies was the foundation of the Golden Retriever as a distinct breed.

In 1904, Lord Harcourt founded his Culham kennel with stock going back to Lord Tweedmouth’s Guisachan dogs and the two kennels are the foundation on which the breed became firmly established. When Golden Retrievers were first given classes at the Crufts show in 1910, Lord Harcourt’s Culham Copper was Best of Breed.

The last of the Retriever breeds to become established, it is now one of the most popular breeds of dog in the world.