Retrieverman

Retrieverman (Golden Retriever blogger), said the horse has left the barn? Oh yeah, several horses have left their barns!

See, if you really want to get into splitting, most breeds haven't spit into TWO camps, they have already split into several camps.

It is just that some of the camps are smaller camps, but they have their ardent followers too.

There are bird dog people who have split into:
1) Show dogs
2) Pets
3) Guide dogs
4) Field Trail Competition dogs
5) Duck Retrievers
6) Upland Bird dogs

And I would be surprised to find a person or two who selects dogs to breed bird based on sledding, not shedding too much, not barking much, being a good watch dogs, square dancing talent, or whatever.

Admittedly, lone breeders aren't a camp, but I would guess that Golden Retrievers are at least spit 4 ways: show, pet, field competition, and lone hunters who choose based on things a bit different than fields trails.

5 ways if guide dogs have their own gene pool.

I don't know of any study or site that has gathered up info on how many separate gene pools Golden Retrievers in the US are split into.

If you bred Golden Retriever to guide blind people, and your carefully crafted line of Golden Retrievers got too inbred, which do you think would be the best out-cross:

a) field or show Goldies,
b) Labrador Retrievers that have been bred for generation to be good guide dogs,
c) German Shepherds Dogs that have been carefully bred for many generation to produce good guide dog puppies?