We are eternally grateful to Cornelia Gutmann of Raynox for blessing us with our once-in-a-lifetime boy, Moses.  We dearly love this dog.  Words are insufficient to describe how wonderful he is!  My husband and I constantly fight over whose dog he is, but the truth is, Moses is so affectionate and so loving that we’ll never know who he likes best! Such is the hallmark of the quintessential English Golden Retriever - a true family pet.  

             Moses is a solid boy, with a broad skull, deep pigment and tremendously muscular body.  His conformation is just about perfect, with neither a body too long nor legs too short.  His parents’ hip ratings are superlative and he received an OFA final rating of “Good” (which is a wonderful rating in the OFA system).  His coat is GLORIOUS!!  It is impossibly soft and extremely flat, which is difficult to find in an English Golden Retriever.   While there is no such thing as a white golden retriever, it’s hard to come up with another word to describe his coloring.  As a baby, people described him as a “white golden retriever puppy.”  As an adult, people comment that they’ve never seen a “white golden retriever.”  Needless to say, he is an extremely light English Golden Retriever!  His expressive eyes are the deepest chocolate brown and positively light up whenever he sees us.  I look at him and can scarcely believe how striking he is!!!

             But it’s his personality that will steal your heart.  A gentleman, Moses will not jump nor nip for attention.  But if you sit down, look out!  He’ll be in your lap, grunting and wagging his tail with such velocity that he can hardly keep his body still!  He loves having his tummy rubbed and he’s always ready for a game of fetch.   But best of all, Moses is MELLOW.  From the time my boys were very little, they would walk past this puppy and say, “There’s Mellow Moses.”  His motto is, “Any time is a good time for a nap!”  (And part of the charm is that he constantly grunts throughout his naps, as if to say, “Oh, I’m JUST so content!”).

             When Moses was 4 months old, he was doing what he does best (napping on the kitchen floor) when the refrigerator repairman arrived.  He walked in the door and passed Moses, who briefly opened one eye to make sure all was well (why exert the energy of opening both eyes, when one will do?!?).  The repairman walked back and forth in front of Moses, frequently going out to his van to retrieve parts.  Moses never moved.  Finally, the repairman looked at me and said, “Is that a puppy?  I have gone in a lot of homes over the years, and never have I seen such a mellow dog!”  That’s Moses.

             And yet, he possesses all of the greatest traits of an English Golden Retriever.  He is CLEVER!  (One time he climbed up a chair, onto a table, gently removed the ceramic lid off the dog treat jar, carefully picked the jar up in his mouth, gingerly climbed off the table, and took the jar onto the grass to have a little snack in the sun!).  He is LOYAL!  (He devotedly follows me twice a day on my feeding rounds: horses, ponies, chickens, Moses is at my side).   And without question, he is a water dog!  Whether it’s taking a dip in the horse trough or diving headlong into the pool, Moses is all about the water.  If he’s napping, he’s mellow.  If he’s awake, he’s muddy.  That’s Moses!

             As a sire, his personality is simply incomparable.  “Food, $60.  Crate, $80.  Mellow Golden Retriever:  Priceless.”  Seriously!  He consistently produces even-tempered,  easy-going, intelligent, gorgeous, and devoted golden retriever puppies.  We are so very grateful for this once in a lifetime guy.