Red-Dawn Golden Retrievers

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McKinney, TX
Red-Dawn Golden Retrievers

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‪Red-Dawn Goldens, 1 hour north of DALLAS Texas, is an AKC Kennel of Merit for 2 breeds. Hunting, show and blended lines.

I'm Alicia and I've been breeding, training, and showing dogs
since 1985. I've been training dogs and their people as a
full-time profession since 1996. My parents got me started
breeding and showing Golden Retrievers in Conformation and Obedience. Over the past 20+ years, my dogs and I have enjoyed participating
in agility, performance, obedience, and conformation. My dogs
have been featured in TV commercials (Go-Go My Walkin' Pup, Ford Trucks),
television shows (David Letterman, Pet Star, Incredible Dog Challenge),
and in various magazines. Many have won National championships
and/or been ranked top ten in Agility, Obedience, Conformation,
and Performance events.

10/28/2026

Let’s talk about aggression in Goldens.
It’s a thing, and everyone is acting like “not my line”.

I’m seeing it the most in the extreme hunting lines. Dogs who are dominate, possessive, high predatory that crosses into killing cats/small dogs, same-sex aggression, human aggression etc. It shows up in many ways.

This wasn’t common at all over 20 years ago. There was a hunting origins obedience competition line that was know for it in the 80’s-90’s. If you had that, you know what I’m talking about. Also in the 1990’s, in Texas, we had a common amount of grumpy, don’t-tell-me-what-to-do in one particular popular line of American Show. But that was really it back then. Maybe an occasional hunting line dog was a bit possessive or same-sex aggression was written off.

Fast forward and it’s getting far too common. It’s showing up in Europe show lines, American Show lines, Pet lines etc. It’s not just the high drive top sport lines like in the past.

I’m bringing this up because Goldens should have ZERO aggression in any setting. They are supposed to be marshmallows. What do families think when they want a Golden?? The most safe dog on the planet.

Breeders. We need to be honest with ourselves and others about dominance, aggression, predatory and skittish behavior of our dogs. Goldens need to stay marshmallows.

Does that mean we need to avoid pairing really amped up dogs together? YES

Do we need to blend in a very opposite types of lines into our dogs that reduces their competitive skills but adds in genetic diversity and passive personality? YES

If we own a competitive stud dog and he’s producing regular dominant puppies, should we tell breeders who are interested in him that we see problems? YES

Winning needs to take a backseat to quality of temperament. If we aren’t producing gentle, kind, sweet, passive, marshmallow Golden Retrievers, then we aren’t making Golden Retrievers.

Be honest and up front.

*** pictured is our puppy, Shelby, out of our Resolute mom line and a lovely sweet stud who we are a huge fan of, Ledger. 💙 Shelby is a sweet and very good girl. 🩷 She also got 2 passes this weekend for her HRC started retriever title.

10/27/2026

Functional healthy structure is more important than “type”. No matter how pretty the outer wrapper is, the mechanics of how a dog stands and moves is paramount.

How well does that dog run, jump, trot, swim?
Is he injured due to stress on his body from less than desirable structure?
Is he in pain from a body that is too extreme in a bad way?
Is this dog going to break down early from pain due to his not-functional structure?

We need to look at a dog’s body as an athlete who should live a long healthy life without extreme features that limit or harm him.

In Golden Retrievers we have overall created a functional athletic body type as a breed. That’s great.
In our breed we need to pay attention to small details that improve the dog’s health.

My main concern in Goldens is their front assembly. That is where many are lacking. It doesn’t matter if we are making sport, show, hunting, service or pet dogs. The front end assembly is where many Goldens need improving. We need to be aware of what is or isn’t a good front end and strive to do better.

Who are your favorite mentors on the subject of functional dog structure?

10/24/2026

Rosie had a good Finished water run this morning at the HRC trial.

10/23/2026

Did you know that dog breeders have multiple DNA testing companies available to use for predicting a litter’s inbreeding?

Check out our newest article on 3 company’s Pair Predictor tools. This allows a dog breeder to match potential parents virtually to find out if this is a good or bad match. You read that correct, prior to a pairing, a dog breeder can use science to know if that pairing is a good or bad choice. And it is easy to do. Each potential parent needs to be DNA tested at that same company. Here in the US our 3 easiest choices are: Embark, Wisdom, VGL with Better Bred.

Each of these companies offers Pair Predictor online tools to know if those 2 potential parents are a match.

In addition to inbreeding predictions, DNA tested diseases and coat traits can also be predicted. Exciting isn’t it!!

Science offers dog breeders many great tools. We should all be using science as part of our dog breeding choices.

**Link in comments to the article

10/22/2026

Serena wants you to know that she likes her self-applied cow p**p perfume so much more than this gross baby powder shampoo scent.
Yuck 😂

10/22/2026

Gryffin jumping our Cavalier. The kids had time on their hand to teach this! Are you more impressed the puppy stays in the basket or the Golden does that big jump?

10/21/2026

The dogs pictured represent a wide variety of lines of Goldens. Some of these dogs are extreme outcrossed to gain more diversity and lower inbreeding. Some of these dogs themselves are highly in**ed and are parents used for pairing with very opposite lines. All the dogs pictured are our dogs from today, and the past. The range of genetic COI on these dogs is 11%-38%. As a reference, 10% is a very low score in Embark’s COI calculations for Goldens.

At Red-Dawn Resolute Golden Retrievers, we use DNA testing through UC Davis VGL, Embark, and Wisdom. Each of these company’s DNA testing also includes pair predicting software, to evaluate potential matings. These tools help us estimate whether a pairing is likely to reduce inbreeding or improve genetic diversity in the next generation.

VGL measures genetic diversity: It examines selected DNA markers to see how much the copies inherited from a dog’s mother and father match, and how common or rare those genetic versions are within the breed. This helps breeders choose pairs that preserve more variation.

Embark measures genetic COI: It estimates how much of a dog’s DNA matches because both parents inherited it from shared ancestors. Lower percentages mean less inbreeding.

Wisdom’s Optimal Selection measures heterozygosity: It checks how often the DNA versions inherited from a dog’s parents differ. Lower scores indicate more inbreeding; higher scores indicate less inbreeding.

We strongly encourage breeders of every purebred dog to use genetic diversity testing appropriate for their breed. Reducing inbreeding should be an intentional part of breeding for health.

In a closed breeding population, dogs increasingly share ancestors over generations, and genetic diversity can be lost. Two dogs may have very different names on their recent pedigrees while still sharing substantial inherited DNA from older common ancestors. DNA testing helps reveal relationships that a limited pedigree cannot show.

Some breeds retain useful genetic differences among populations, such as hunting vs show lines or lines developed in different countries. Carefully combining these populations can help reduce inbreeding in their offspring. However, a different country, kennel name, or “pet line” label does not automatically mean a dog is genetically different. The value of a pairing needs to be measured with DNA testing.

Research in Golden Retrievers supports looking beyond a single breeding population. Ontiveros and colleagues studied 525 Goldens and identified genetic differences associated with performance and conformation breeding. Performance lines retained more diversity by some measures, while both groups had experienced narrowing of their genetic diversity.

The amount of inbreeding differs substantially among breeds and individuals. A realistic goal for one population may be difficult to achieve in another, making actual DNA results and predicted pairings essential to informed breeding decisions.

Golden Retrievers have substantial existing inbreeding. In a 2019 study of 93 female Goldens, genomic inbreeding ranged from 18.7% to 47.9%, averaging 31.6% under that study’s method. Higher inbreeding was associated with smaller litters. These findings describe that particular sample, rather than the full range found in all Golden Retrievers.

Bannasch and colleagues examined 227 breeds and found that higher inbreeding was associated with greater veterinary care needs, with body size and physical structure also contributing.

Our goal is to preserve the diversity that remains in Goldens and make thoughtful pairings that reduce avoidable inbreeding, alongside health testing, sound structure, and good temperament.

Links to the science behind this topic can be found on our website under Learn More. We share our own data from DNA testing dogs for inbreeding, along with detailed explanations of multiple scientific studies, their findings, and what they mean for breeding decisions.

Look up:
Red-Dawn Goldens “Learn More” page

10/20/2026

Gryffin won a lot in October.
He got 4 Best of Breed and a Group 2.

Brian, in his typical fashion, is like “oh yeah, Gryffin did great and won a lot”. (he’s very chill)
We love Brian the most. 💙 He’s been our handler since the early 2000’s and has shown many dogs for us over those years.

Check out Gryffin’s page. He has little kids coming soon.

https://reddawngoldens.com/all-dogs/adults/birnam-woods-too-marvelous-for-words/

10/20/2026

Show us your Golden’s most naughty choices! We want to see destruction and mayhem. 😂

This scene is constant at our house, the youngest puppy is always full mouth chewing on somebody… this somebody is our perfect 11, who puts up with it.

10/19/2026

You sure you want a puppy??
My Golden puppies have the best parties.

Today they decided to dig out all the water from the baby pool. Then they put these helpful drain holes in the pool. 😉

Next up
They dug a hole, and then they dug another hole, and another one too. 👏🏼

Recently they did some remodeling of the linoleum in their bedroom. They decided they do not want linoleum in that bedroom. 🫪

And right now? They found something dead on our nature walk, had a tug of war, and are chewing on old bones of that fun find. 🤮

Did I mention that cow p**p is their favorite perfume? They love rolling in it.

Are you sure you want a puppy??
I’m ready for these girls to grow up 😍

Address

McKinney, TX
75071

Website

https://reddawngoldens.com/

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