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Today, while I was walking in a park in Rome, I noticed that many English and Italian families have a Retriever. Honestly I didn’t know this breed before today, and now after observing them playing with their most young owners, eating ice-cream with teaspoon, making a kind of pirouettes in the air for catching the Frisbee their families tossed I’m officially a fan of these dogs, I would write even a story about them! But don’t worry I am not going to write it in this exact moment, right now I would like instead to share with you some researches I’ve made about them, especially because they let me thinking about life and human nature, that today more than in any else time are both two very important topics to bring the good and free spring presents in every human being back again in mankind’s story life.
Anyway, in order to answer to the title – question and share with you some info I start telling you what I read on the web.
Pursuant to the web pages the Golden retriever came from Scotland by many crosses especially between the Flat Coated-Retriever and the Tweed Water Spaniel. It is an intelligent, sociable, beautiful, and loyal dog’s breed, very popular in the U.S., but not so much common in Italy (I have some concerns about that from today!) where is used as a retriever dog, family dog, pet-therapy dog and as an assistance dog. It loves playing, jumping, swimming and it adores children, in fact, it is a very calm and sweet although it is full of energy and force of life, so be careful leaving children with them. These temperature’s peculiarities let us to understand some of the obligations their owners have to respect if they care enough for its mental and physical health. Among these obligations the most important are: daily brushing, 40-60 minutes of hard daily exercises, letting them living indoors as they hate to be alone, not to leave food in house’s places where the dog can take it because they like food so much that they will quickly become overweight and at last every Golden needs an early socialization, that is to say they have to be exposure to many different people, sights, sounds, and experiences when they’re young because just in this way the Golden puppy can grow up like a well-rounded dog.
Regarding, instead, its physical characteristics I find that they have a dense, water-repellent outer coat with a thick undercoat. Some coats are wavy, some are straight, but their color is always or light gold or dark gold. Moreover, males are 23 to 24 inches tall and weigh 65 to 75 pounds instead females are generally 21.5 to 22.5 inches tall and 55 to 65 pounds. Golden Retrievers usually reach their full height by one year of age, and their mature weight by two but they keep on loving every sort of a play even after their third birthday.
Finally another thing which makes the Golden retriever a wonderful dog is its loving attitude not just towards dogs of its same breed, but towards every dog breeds and its friendly attitude not just with dogs or human beings but with all living creatures, in fact, with proper introductions and training, can be trusted with cats, rabbits, and many other animals.
Now we have learn a little more about this dog breed we can try to answer to the title-question, even if before answering, let’s try to give an answer to this other question: “How could be a Golden retriever if, being under a spell, became a man?” I ask you that because the answer, we’ll get us to stay on the right track to deliver the painting of the world we could have if man had the same characteristics of a Golden.
Well then, probably each one of you will have his idea but I think that none of you think that the human shape of this dog can be the one of Hitler, if you are an passionate of history, or the one of Mr. Fosco if you are into English literature, or the one of Cain that is e religious character, or the one of Lex Luthor created by Jerry Siegel e Joe Shuster or someone like Drew in “Meet Joe Black” or like Red John in “The Mentalist”, probably you think about it/him more as Gandhi, Abele, Clark Kent, William Parrish or Patrick Jane. So, having established that the human shape of a Golden is the one of the good man we can finally answer to the original question.
If man was a Golden, if he was loyal, friendly, intelligent, full of willing to learn always more, enthusiastic and a true lover for the concept of family, probably the Earth would lack in many actual masterpieces. In fact, probably Michael Jackson wouldn’t have written his beautiful song “Heal the World”, Superman wouldn’t have been created, we wouldn’t got Gandhi’s theory of “Nonviolence”, the most social commitment novels, the great paintings who represents wars, probably Plato wouldn’t have even written the Republic and Thomas More his Utopia and the list, believe me, could keeps on a lot more.
The thing is that, if men were like a Golden, there are no doubts that human history and culture would have much more white pages in their diary, but in the same time we would have and the entire Earth would have along with us much more actual idealistic and artistic works turn into reality! That is to say we’ll probably have much less history of art, literature and philosophy contents to study then now because they will be impoverished of many of their authors’works, but we will live in their fabulous or perfect works missed. So, it would be great, if we could turn us into Golden, don’t you think? Don’t you think that the world would be shiner and every man happier? In any case do you want to know a secret? We could become good and even better than this breed if we really wanted, because everything, which is on the Earth it’s up to everyone who inhabited it, and the mankind’s decision of being like an angel or even worst then a demon is up to us too …
By Agnese Andreocci
