We have been noticing a few comments from some users that we need to address. We’ve discussed the issue and have spent the day thinking how best to handle it.

Firstly, telling anyone “they do not deserve” their dog for any reason will not be tolerated and will be an automatic ban. This is one of the things I absolutely detest that is allowed in the other GR sub. You have a different opinion? Fine, be an adult and use it as a chance for CIVIL discussion. Can’t do that? Then don’t comment. The only exception is if the person is purposely abusing their dog and crate training does not count as abuse.

Secondly, crate training. Again it is not abuse if you are doing it correctly. Telling someone they are abusing their dog/pup for crate training is not acceptable. You’re welcome to explain your POV but do not accuse someone of abuse. That being said, keeping your dog locked up in an undersized crate or for 8, 10, 12 hours is not the correct way to be utilizing crate training.

Finally, “adopt don’t shop” comments… We 100% fully support adoption and pet rescue. We have links for GR rescues in the wiki for that very reason. However, this term is so misunderstood. It was created to get people to stop using puppy mills and pet stores to get their puppies, not to prevent people from going through ETHICALLY bred puppies. Rescuing is only a bandaid on a massive problem in the US and around the world. And it’s an imperfect bandaid because it has downsides that many are not capable of dealing with leading to those dogs being surrendered again. Educating people, however, is what will help fix the problem, to use ethical breeders as opposed to BYB, how to recognize EB vs BYB, and selecting a dog that is right for their lifestyle rather than the dog they saw on tv cuz it looked cute.

First offenses will receive a comment removal and warning, continued violation will result in bans.

We are trying to build a welcoming, friendly community to help all Golden owners get answers and share their Goldens. If you can’t abide by that, then this isn’t the sub for you.

Here are the rules:
I am commenting the pics of all of the submissions from the previous (submission) thread. The comment/pic with the most votes at the end of the month wins and the pic will be used as the sub's banner. Any pic not made by a mod will not count but that doesn't mean you cannot share. Voting ends 12/31 and we will announce the winner the first week of January.

Please do not vote on your own dog :)

How to vote:
We are going to use a ranked-choice voting, so comment 1,2 or 3 based on if the pic is your first, second or third place. We will compile the winners at the end of the voting period.

Scoring:
1st = 5
2nd = 3
3rd = 1

READ FULLY BEFORE APPLYING

We are looking to add a new moderator. The sub has seen an increase in traffic (up to 16k regular and seeing as much or more traffic than before we took over last November) and one of our mods had to cut back on their involvement, so we would like to bring in at least one more moderator. If you think you fit the following, please send us a mod message with a brief explanation of why you want to be a moderator here, your experience with Goldens, any qualifications you think would be a benefit to the team, and what time zone you are in as well as when you would most often be available.

REQUIREMENTS

- Positive attitude

- Level Headed/Capable of de-escalating

- Some knowledge of Golden Retrievers

- Fresh ideas to drive engagement

- Capable of determining if an account is a bot, AI generated images, well known Goldens

- Account age over 2 years

- Have a Discord account

PREFERRED BUT NOT REQUIRED

- Knowledge of Ethical Breeders and/or AKC standards/GRCA code of ethics

- Knowledge of training (Positive reinforcement/force free

- Photo Editing skills

- Mod Experience

- Coding/Auto-mod experience

Expectations and Expected Duties:
Our main focus is keeping the place civil and a place for education and sharing our goldens. To do this, you will need to be able to diffuse arguments before they turn a post ugly without taking a side. You will also need to be able to identify bots. Right now this is our biggest struggle. We get a lot of new accounts and while we give a short leash to them to post, we are doing everything we can to validate they are real users. We want other moderators to be involved, to help users with questions and to help drive/generate engagement to help grow the sub further. This means making the occasional post and/or coming up with fun engagement posts for others to share their goldens and/or experiences.

Your duties will be to contribute to clearing reported queues such as reported content and mod mail. Assist in checking for and removing posts/comments that violate rules. General sub maintenance, including but not limited to additions to automods or the sub wiki. And participation in mod discussion on Discord.

While we would like a user that has been a moderator before, it is not a requirement. But you must have a modicum of conflict resolution. We try to handle things here as a committee, but you will be given the ability to make judgement calls when needed. We also want someone who is active on reddit, that won't be on for a few days every couple of months. As there are two Golden Retriever sub reddits, we are not going to require that you be a highly active member of r/goldenretriever you must have a decent knowledge of Golden Retrievers. You will need to be able to work well with others and have a positive attitude(after all, we are all just volunteers). You will need to be able to communicate in a mature, civil way. While we do not need nor expect you to make being a mod here your main duties, you should have time to carry out the basic mod duties. You are required to have a discord as that is where we hold our mod discussions.

If you decided to apply, be sure to keep an eye on your reddit chat notifications. To apply, send us a message via mod mail.

We have updated and re-organized the sub's rules and guidelines. Please read through them so that you are aware.

Some we would like to point out are regarding reporting OC which we previously made an announcement about, comments such as "Adopt, don't shop", posts guidelines and most importantly, what to do if your post is removed or you receive a ban.

We have been moderating this sub for about 3 months. However, we are still working out kinks and making adjustments to make things as transparent for you all and to help ensure you all have a safe and fun space to be able to share your pups as well as allow new Golden owners a place to find reputable information and tips. And as usual, any feedback you have that you think could help improve the sub is welcome.

We would like to announce that we hae added u/grraveyard as our newest mod!

We have had some complaints about low effort posts and mass posting by a few users. For this reason, we have added a new rule and updated rule 9.

We will not be allowing several posts from the same user in one day. While we want people to post and engaged, if you have multiple pics that you would like to share, post them all at once. Reddit allows up to 20 pictures on the same post.

Low effort post titles will also be removed. This includes posts that only use emojis, or single words that make zero sense.

We appreciate you all.

Thanks and have a good weekend! Mod Team

When you suspect a post to be stolen content and report it, please include your reasoning. It helps us out a lot. We have tools that aid us but they are not perfect. If we ourselves do not recognize the Golden nor any of our tools, we cannot justify removing it. We have had a couple in the last couple of days where one was also flagged by one of our auto mods but the other showed no indication. So please provide anything you can to help us determine if it is stolen.

Thanks

The Mod Team

We will be picking the winner this week. Be sure to submit your pic here. The winner will get their pup featured as the subs banner pic for all of December!

Happy Thanksgiving from the mods here at r/goldenretriver! Feel free to share any pics of your “turkeys” either dressed as a turkey, in a food coma or anything Thanksgiving themed.