This is Daniel. He has been my neighbor for 9 years. I’ve known his family since I moved to Pennsylvania 20 years ago.
Daniel may look like any other Golden Retriever and beloved member of the family. But you’d be wrong. Daniel is a celebrity. And I don’t mean a local celebrity famous for visiting the local coffee shop or nursing home winning over patrons and residents with his handsome looks and affectionate demeanor.
I mean a national celebrity. Daniel’s official name is GCHP CH Hillock’s Jack Daniel’s RA JH CA RATN CGC and he’s about as famous as a Golden Retriever can get. Daniel’s titles abound from 21 All Breed Best in Shows to Grand Champion Platinum. He was on the cover of Dog News Magazine 3 times and was the #1 Golden Retriever in the country for 3 years running. In 2019, he won the Sporting Group at the National Dog Show allowing him to compete in Best in Show. Thor, the bulldog, got the nod for that. Crazy, I know.
But Daniel was on his way to the BIG show – Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show in the Big Apple. Even if you know nothing about dog shows, everyone knows the Westminster Dog Show.
There, Daniel crushed it. He won Best in Breed defeating 47 of his fellow Goldens AND solidified his place in history by taking the Sporting Group at Westminster in 2020. A Golden has never won Best in Show at Westminster.
If it had been up to the crowd, Daniel would have been a slam dunk. All of Madison Square Garden was chanting his name for cryin’ out loud! Ultimately, Best in Show went to Siba, a standard poodle. That’s worse than Thor, the bulldog!
In the end, Daniel got the last laugh. He broke the internet with #Danielwasrobbed. He was in James Corden’s monologue on the Late Late Show. He appeared on the Today Show. And got a book deal!
It’s no wonder why he and Golden Retrievers in general are so popular. They are the all-around good dog – affectionate, social, good with kids, playful, adaptable, trainable.
It took 50 years for everything to come together to get the perfect mix. That’s how long Tammy Tomlinson, co-owner of Daniel, has been breeding Golden Retrievers, and she knows that Daniel is a once in a lifetime dog.
If you’ve got the perfect Golden Retriever, what would it take to spread those genes to the Golden Retriever population? It’s hard to say how many Goldens there are in the U.S. I’ve seen the number placed around 750,000. For arguments sake, let’s say a million. How many Daniels would it take to change the genetic make-up of an abundant population of dogs whose breeding is controlled? 1,000? 2,000? 20,000?
This is the argument some are making when it comes to deer and chronic wasting disease (CWD). CWD is a fatal brain disease that affects species like deer and elk. There is no cure or treatment. Deer get it from coming into contact with another infected deer or they can get it through contaminated environments because infected deer shed prions which cause the disease.
There is a rare genotype in deer that allows them to live longer when they are infected with CWD. A small percentage of deer in the wild carry this gene. Notice I didn’t say keep them from getting CWD. Deer with this “durable” genotype still get infected with CWD and still die from it. They do live longer after infection. Some suggest that we “help” deer populations along by seeding deer with this rare “durable” genotype.
Let’s go back to dogs for a minute and talk about dog breeds. Dogs are all the same species, Canis lupus familiaris. Breeds are an arbitrary construct of human engineering that favor certain traits when selectively breeding dogs. Most of the dog breeds we recognize today came to be in the last 150 years. But there are consequences for selecting for inheritable genetic traits like coat color, temperament, size, and build. You may also be selecting for genes you don’t want. Golden Retrievers are the most likely breed to develop cancer with more than 60% diagnosed with it in their lifetime as compared to 25% in other breeds. It is thought they have many cancer-related gene variants associated with desirable genes. That is definitely not desirable.
The “CWD-durable” genotype in deer is rare. Less than 15% of wild deer in PA, MD, NY, and VA have it. It is rare for a reason as Mother Nature doesn’t choose lightly. We don’t know why this genotype is rare in free-ranging deer. Perhaps it has other not-so-desirable genes associated with it like cancer in Golden Retrievers. Whatever the reason, it is not favored or there would be more deer with it in the population.
Unlike Golden Retrievers, humans cannot control breeding or genetics of free-ranging wildlife especially when it comes to selecting for naturally rare or recessive genotypes. Indeed, to maintain the dog breeds we have today, controlled selective breeding is required in perpetuity.
There is no way Daniel’s fantastic genes can spread through the Golden Retriever population. That’s what makes him so special. He is one in a million. Think about that the next time someone says they can change the genes of the deer population with a few specially bred animals.
-Jeannine Fleegle
Wildlife Biologist
PA Game Commission
