Puppies › Golden Retriever › Lifespan and size
Golden Retriever guideMale Goldens stand 23 to 24 inches and weigh 65 to 75 pounds, and females stand 21.5 to 22.5 inches and weigh 55 to 65 pounds. Most live 10 to 12 years. Our Golden puppies are expected to grow to 65 to 80 lbs.
A grown Golden weighs 55 to 75 pounds, with males at the top of that range and an inch or two taller. The breed standard is strict about height, and a Golden more than an inch over or under its range is ruled out of the show ring.
Our Golden mamas weigh 56 to 73 lbs. Each Golden puppy's page has our estimate of how much it will weigh grown and shows both of its parents, which is the best guide to how big it will get.
Large breeds reach adult size at 12 to 18 months, so expect a Golden to fill out somewhere in that window, though big dogs aren't really grown up until around 18 to 24 months. Anyone who has lived with a two-year-old Golden knows the puppy in them hangs on even longer, because Goldens keep their joyful, playful streak into adulthood.
The coat changes over that first year as well, and most puppies trade their soft baby coat for an adult one at around 4 to 6 months. A light puppy's color often deepens as it grows, which our Golden color guide goes into. Check with your vet before you start a growing Golden on long runs or other hard, high-impact exercise.
Most Goldens live 10 to 12 years, and two things help a Golden toward the long end of that. The first is weight, since extra pounds cost dogs time in every breed that has been studied, and some Goldens do get heavy, so go easy on the treats that make training so much fun.
The second is the family tree. It's worth looking at the health results of a puppy's parents and asking how long the dogs in its pedigree lived, and a Golden's color never decides its health or how long it lives. Ask us about the pedigree behind any Golden you're considering.
A Golden's parents should have their hips and elbows x-rayed, their heart checked and their eyes examined by a canine eye specialist, plus a DNA test for an inherited disease of the nervous system. Those checks look for problems the breed can have, including hip and elbow trouble, eye conditions such as cataracts and an inherited eye disease that leads to blindness, and heart disease.
Results only tell you something when you read them, so ask to see them rather than taking a list of tests on trust. We are working toward health testing every one of our mamas and papas. As each parent's certificates come in, we post them on that parent's own page.
Every Golden puppy has its own page, with our estimate of its grown weight and its mama and papa.
Call or text during the day, email any time, or send an application and we will get back to you, usually within 24 hours. You are welcome to visit in Syracuse, Indiana, during our hours or at another time on request.