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THE FLAT-COATED RETRIEVER Is this the breed for you? The Flat-Coated Retriever is extremely versatile as a hunting retriever and a responsive family companion with a happy and active demeanor, intelligent expression and clean lines. A proud carriage, responsive attitude, waving tail and overall look of functional strengh, quality, style and symmetry complete the picture of the typical Flat-Coat. The coat provides excellent protection, is of medium length and requires little attention with daily brushing. Coat color is either solid black or solid liver (brown); no other color is acceptable. The Flat-Coat is an active dog who adapts well to city life but requires considerable daily activity and exercise with family members. Character is a primary and outstanding asset of the Flat-Coat. He is a responsive, loving member of the family, a versatile working dog, multi-talented, sensible, and bright. In competition the Flat-Coat demonstrates stability and a desire to please with a confident, happy and outgoing attitude characterized by a wagging tail. As a family companion he is sensible, alert and highly intelligent; a lighthearted, affectionate and adaptable friend. He retains these qualities as well as his youthful good humored outlook on life into old age. The adult Flat-Coat is usually an adequate alarm dog to give warning, but is a good-natured, optimistic dog, basically inclined to be friendly to all. The Flat-Coat is a cheerful, devoted companion who requires and appreciates living with and interacting as a member of his family. To reach full potential in any endeavor he absolutely must have a strong personal bond and affectionate individal attention. Flat-Coats are slow maturing dogs, usually three to five years but even as they get older, there remains a spark of joy and mischief. This causes even more than the usual problems for the Flat-Coat because he has a particularly lengthy adolescence. When a pet owner buys a cute, promising Flat-Coat puppy, a mature behavior is expected when the puppy has attained adult height. At that time, eight or nine months of age, the puppy is at an early stage of adolescence and this is easily the most difficult stage of life for any animal. Just when the owner is expecting maturity, the Flat-Coat puppy becomes more trouble than he's ever been. More dogs are discarded during adolescence than at any other stage of life. The Flat-Coat was one of the first retriever breeds developed during the early 1800's. In addition to locating and delivering shot game tenderly to hand, sportsman and market hunters required a controllable dog who would locate live game within range of the guns. Dogs used to develop the Flat-Coat, in addition to various water dogs, were Spaniels and Setters for game finding ability, and herding dogs, which were used to improve trainability. As a direct result of continued development afield, the Flat-Coat today is a bright, enthusiastic, durable dog, whose character and temperament are well suited to being a responsive, versatile and devoted companion. Intelligent, quick to learn and easily bored, the Flat-Coat requires an individual approach to raising and training. The attitude when raising a puppy should be to prevent bad habits or failure and to make it impossible for the puppy to get into trouble when he is not personally supervised. Early puppy training is essential and good manners should be strictly enforced, but formal training for the young dog should be kept cheerful and enthusiastic. Care should be exercised when applying pressure for precision or steadiness that it does not reduce enthusiasm or speed. Harsh methods, frequent repetition, and lengthy training sessions are counterproductive and unnecessary at any age. Overall, the Flat-Coat is an easy dog to care for, raise and train but he does absolutely require and appreciate close interaction with members of his family and he thrives on human companionship. It should be said that Flat-Coats do have a higher incident of tumors than other breeds. Because of this, in 1993 The Flat-Coated Retriever Society of America Inc.(FCRSA) helped to fund a tumor registry with Ohio State University for the study and evaluation of tumors. Since then, over 250 tumors have been evaluated and it was found that a large percentage of the tumors are benign or malignant histiocytic neoplasms and that this type of tumor is more prevalent in Flat-Coats than is in any other breed of dog. These studies continue today, working towards the goal of one day, being able to find a way to stop the spread of cancer within the Flat-Coated Retriever. This general overview on the Flat-Coated Retriever has been provided by Pat Rohde(Rav'N Flat Coated Retrievers) I appreciate her letting me use this summary on my web page. Mark Strathaus |
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