222 Golden Retrievers Gather At Scottish Convention, Awww

222 golden retrievers gathered in Scotland in July at the remains of the Guisachan House where the breed was first developed. If you’re ready for cute, hit the button to see a video report including photos.

There’s also a compulsively large collection of hundreds of photographs of the gathering taken by Gordon Richardson that you can view here.

The event called the Guisachan Gathering was hosted by the Golden Retriever Club of Scotland. It all started in 2006 when a large group of golden retrievers met on the Guisachan site to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the formation of the club.

The 2006 event included a gathering of 188 golden retrievers — which set a world record for its day.

However, the new 2013 gathering easily shattered the old record when a total of 222 golden retrievers arrived.

The Guisachan mansion is a run-down shell which provided an atmospheric background for the photographs.

Is dog tourism becoming a thing? Earlier this summer, I talked about Petaluma, California’s 2013 World’s Ugliest Dog Contest. The shocking winner turned out to be a mixed breed with a duck waddle.

No one predicted that the humpbacked mix of beagle, boxer, and bassett would steal the prize from truly heinous dogs with outrageous whiskers or tongues that wouldn’t go inside their mouths. But the winner’s atrocious walk won the day.

The golden retriever breeders, of course, have a very different focus. The club seeks to maintain the high standards of the breed, including the personality, beauty, and working ability of the golden retriever.

The Golden Retriever Club of Scotland’s website also noted that they now have around 50 people working on breed rescue to help place golden retrievers in secure forever homes.

Do you think the world record of 222 golden retrievers in one place will ever be broken?

[Golden Retriever thumbnail photo credit: keeva999 via photopin cc]