I'd really like to have a larger companion, someone I don't need to worry quite as much about as the lhasa apso. For years, we had Golden Retrievers.

To me, the Golden is the Ideal Dog. They're kind, cheerful, playful, but still calm, patient, great at searching and in general, they're really terrific friends to take on a long walk.

Our first Golden came into our lives when my sister and I were very young. So young the breeder didn't want to sell a puppy to mom. But she agreed to let us come and take a look and be inspected in our turn. The mommy dog came up to me to say hello. My sister must have been on mom's lap.

I was paralysed with fear. Normally, I wasn't afraid of dogs, but I didn't know this big, strange dog. I must have figured that the best thing to do would be to stand absolutely still. The cute bitch put her head underneath my hand, as if she wanted to show me how to say hi to a dog. It helped! Mom was allowed to buy a puppy.

The puppy grew up to be a dog who turned into a nanny to me and my sister. That was her relationship to us, it seemed. We never tried to be in charge, so if she'd wanted to, she could easily have taken over. In a way she did, but she never acted aggressively.

If a stranger wanted to enter the house, they had to pass her inspection first. Golden retrievers don't make good guard dogs, or so people say, but she was anyway. Without growling or barking or being close to biting even once.

Our second Golden was an expert at searching for candy. We'd get her out of the room, hide lots of candy (up to 15 or even 20 of them, and no, she never got fat!). Then we'd let her in, and she'd find them all in a very short time. Naturally, we'd let her eat them as well.

She always wanted to run just a little bit faster than she really could, so she would often get quite tired after being out for a run (not really a walk). Don't worry about it, if you don't have time to run far, your dog can run and play by itself in the garden or some fenced in run, or any other suitable place.

I could tell you any number of stories about her (and the first one too), but one more will have to be enough. One evening we were up quite late, and the weather was good. But we forgot the dogs, tied up outside. We'd left the front door open so if they'd wanted to come inside they could have barked. But they didn't until three slightly drunk people passed by outside our gate.

The man heard the smaller dogs (the apso and the cairn) and apparently, he intended to enter our yard and tease them a bit. He had no idea a large silent beast was approaching. Suddenly, he and his two female friends spotted the dog appearing out of the moon light. She was always as big as the biggest Golden male (according to the breed standard) and in the semi-darkness, she must have looked enormous.

Since he was trespassing on our land (our yard) he was clearly an enemy. Enemies are dealt with by pretending to attack them. (She'd done that to several rude smaller 'siblings' and courting males earlier). She was fast approaching. The intruder tried to back up and turn around, but that took him a while, and meanwhile his friends were screaming for him to get back.

It was hilarious to watch. Those three will probably think twice (or three times) before trespassing on someone's property again.

Golden retrievers come from the border between Scotland and England. The breed was created by crossing yellow retrievers (born in litters from what is now the Flat Coated retriever) and the Tweed water spaniel (which doesn't exist anymore). This happened in the late 19 century. In 1919 the breed was registered under its own name.

I also have a bit of a relationship to Labradors.

Personally I find both yellows and blacks to be really cute, but maybe I have a little preference for the black ones. I don't have all that much experience of the breed, but I do remember very clearly when our second Golden met the neighbor's dog, a black lab bitch.

We were out walking our Golden and on the same sidewalk from the opposite direction, the neighbor was walking, with her new puppy on a leash. The puppy was smitten with our grown up Golden. She jumped up and licked our Golden's face, which didn't entirely please her mistress. Our Golden wasn't particularly pleased either, but we, her human sisters, or moms, whichever way you choose to look at it, were probably the only ones to notice. She simply looked a bit embarrassed. It was as if she was saying, how embarrassing, but still, it's just a little puppy. Then the neighbor pulled the puppy along with her, continuing her walk.

Now our Golden has gone for a few years, and so is the dog next door. She used to bark a lot for a lab. At least I assumed that labs were like Goldens in that they don't bark so much. Not at all. Somtimes other dog owners got really irritated with their own dogs, while our bitch just kept staring at them, inquiringly. It was as if she wanted to say: what are you yelling about? There's nothing wrong with my hearing. That has to mean that the dog next door barked because she was lonely, or labs are different from Goldens.

My sister also had an American Cocker Spaniel and later, when he was gone, a second one. They're absolutely adorable. Except for two things. As far as I can tell, they have many congenital defects which affect the expected life span. Also, they're a bit hyper. Of course, both my sister's dogs were males. Maybe females are a bit more laidback.

Spaniel breeds can be traced as far back as to the 14 century. The first mention of different breed types, the Springer and the Cocker came in 1790. Both Cocker breeds (the English and the American) have the same ancestry, but in 1946 it became clear that the dog had become two distinct breeds on each side of the Atlantic.

Though the Cocker Spaniel is kept mainly as a pet, it can still be used as a working dog, and will crave some type of physical activity. Not necessarily hunting though.