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For many, owning a pet constitutes an unparalleled joy, an investment that seems significant when they first make it but pays itself off year after year as their newest family member brings such much life to their home.

Owning a pet has been known to have many health benefits, from positively affecting your spirits in tough times and giving you unconditional love to training you to adhere to a healthy exercise routine. And owning a dog can be even more effective in this respect, as there’s a reason they’re colloquially referred to as “man’s best friend.” The key for aspiring pet owners is, before going to the market and seeing the sheer volume of available options, to decide on which breed can best fit the needs of their home.

Different breeds tend to have different ways of interacting with the world, and though personalities will still vary from dog to dog, some things tend to stay mostly consistent across breeds. Some breeds will tend to be more aggressive towards people they don’t know, making them excellent guard dogs; others will tend to be friendly towards everyone they meet, unless they pose a threat to their families. Some breeds will be able to function as service dogs, having the intelligence and the hard-working drive to be trained to serve a function quickly: others will not. Choosing a breed to adopt is all about choosing a dog that will serve your family's needs and best integrate quickly into your home.

For many families across America, Golden Retrievers have represented the perfect intersection of friendly, loyal, and intelligence. These big, fluffy, heaven-sent angels are friendly to just about everyone they meet, always having a bright, vibrant attitude that can light up any room. While they do require lots of exercise on a regular basis, as they tend to be high-energy dogs that are more playful in nature, they fit smoothly into just about any home, especially families with small children.

Here are a few reasons why you might want to consider browsing the Golden retriever puppy market and adopting yourself a little angel today.

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Friendly, Compassionate Animals

Golden Retrievers have (more than other breeds) an inherently kind and compassionate disposition, making friends with everyone they meet. They are wired to be both gentle and playful, and it’s said that when a golden retriever picks up an object with its mouth, it can hold a raw egg there without cracking the shell. Golden retrievers also tend to be playful, holding on to the youthful exuberance of a puppy long into its… well, golden years.

These things make golden retrievers EXCELLENT at brightening up a room as soon as they walk in, which means that golden retrievers are one of the most commonly used breeds in the profession of therapy dogs. Whether you choose to loan your dog out to a school or hospital to help children in need, or simply keep your dog at home to brighten your children’s spirits on particularly bad days, golden retrievers have been known to improve people’s mental health on bad days.

Sporting Dogs: Air Bud Incarnate

There’s a reason that a golden retriever was the star of the Air Bud franchise: golden retrievers are sporting dogs through and through, hailing from Scotland where they were used as hunting dogs. Today, what that translates to is that your dog will require constant exercise to avoid going stir crazy and will excel at nearly every sport you play with it: frisbee, running, and according to Air Bud, even volleyball.

That last one was a joke, don’t play volleyball with your golden retriever.

Jokes aside, a golden retriever will encourage both you and your family to live a more active, healthy lifestyle, being a constant companion through hikes, a brisk walk through the park, and any number of other outdoor activities.

(Image from Deposit Photos)

Anything For a Scooby Snack

Lastly, golden retrievers are both intelligent and hard-working and willing to do just about anything for a treat, making them easy to train compared to other breeds. They tend to go through obedience training faster than other dogs, and they can also be trained to perform a number of complex duties: golden retrievers tend to make the best service dogs and can also perform complicated functions such as a search and rescue.

Golden retrievers have been among the most popular dog breeds for decades now, being world-renowned for their kindness, their intelligence, and their capacity to perform a number of service-related functions. Whether you’re a first-time dog owner or someone who’s had dogs all their life, you may want to consider bringing one of these fluffy-haired friends home.