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The conformation Labs have gotten too heavy to work. Of course, some of it is "show fat" and comes right off. When we got our dog, she was a roly-poly puppy, because she was "boss dog" of her litter and got more than her fair share of the food! Our vet runs her dogs in agility, and she read us the riot act and we got the weight off her ASAP. She goes up and down 2-3 pounds depending on how many trials we go to and how well she can beg from unsuspecting passersby, but she's pretty much maintained her weight around 42-43 pounds since she finished growing.

I'm glad to hear that the Goldens are still multi-purpose. It seems like the breed organization is strongly encouraging performance (judging from the specialty reports in Golden Retriever News, which I subscribe to because I think it's the best all-purpose retriever mag going). We have a couple of conformation dogs in the hunting club that do very well in both venues.

It seems like the breed organization is strongly encouraging performance (judging from the specialty reports in Golden Retriever News, which I subscribe to because I think it's the best all-purpose retriever mag going).

This is KEY. Oh, and yes, the GRNews is a wonderful resource. I have boxes of them going back to 1988, and refused to not move them when we moved (hubby kept telling me we were paying by the pound). ;)

I wish more people who get involved in the working aspect of their breed, there is nothing like the bond you get working with a dog. However, if that were the requirement, I fear many breeds would simply cease to exist.

susie