Parade Pets and Yahoo may earn commission from links in this article.<\/p>\n
In this funny clip, a young Golden Retriever<\/a> named Mochi has little patience for her family, who insist on leaving her out of their dinner plans. Mochi protests as if “personally offended” that not one of them would assume she deserved not a first, not a second, but a third dinner. The pup yelps<\/a> and bites her paw while pathetically hanging over the back of the couch and giving her humans a look of disdain.<\/p>\n Mochi’s “woe is me” act is par for the course, as her human attests in the caption: “I love her…even when she’s dramatic.”<\/p>\n And she’s not alone in Golden Retriever-ness. I’ve personally written about more “overly emotional”<\/a>, melodramatic<\/a>, and intense<\/a> Goldens than I can count on both hands. But for all of the ones who entertain us with their histrionics, there are just as many who charm us with hearts of gold<\/a>.<\/p>\n If you\u2019ve ever lived with a Golden Retriever, you’ve experienced this first-hand. One minute, they\u2019re thrilled about a tennis ball, the next, they\u2019re emotionally devastated by the vacuum cleaner. And it turns out that science might actually back that up.<\/p>\n Related: Golden Retriever Unlocking New Trick Is Both Impressive and Satisfying<\/a><\/p>\n A Surprising Connection<\/p>\n We eat up amusing videos that depict these emotional swings, but there might be a very good reason why we’re so engrossed. A study by researchers at the University of Cambridge discovered a surprising link<\/a> between human and Golden Retriever behavior.<\/p>\n When the genetics of more than\u00a01,300 Golden Retrievers\u00a0were analyzed, something fascinating was discovered: some of the genes linked to canine behavior are the\u00a0same ones tied to emotional traits in humans.<\/p>\n In other words, the things that make Goldens lovable \u2014 their sensitivity, enthusiasm, and occasional theatrical reactions to everyday life \u2014 may be written into their DNA, just like humans.<\/p>\n The study identified genes connected to traits like\u00a0trainability, energy levels, fearfulness, and social behavior. One gene linked to how easily a Golden learns commands is also associated in humans with\u00a0intelligence and emotional sensitivity. Another gene tied to dogs being nervous around certain situations is connected in people to anxiety and overthinking.<\/p>\n Researchers say these genetic overlaps help explain why dogs sometimes react emotionally to situations we might think are no big deal \u2014 like the doorbell, a loud truck, or a suspicious-looking leaf.<\/p>\n So, if your Golden Retriever dramatically flops on the floor after a minor inconvenience, science suggests you shouldn\u2019t take it personally. (Or judge them too harshly!) They might just be\u00a0genetically wired to feel everything a little more intensely\u00a0\u2014 which, honestly, is part of what makes them (and us) so lovable.<\/p>\n \ud83d\udc36<\/a>SIGN UP to get \u201cpawsitivity\u201d delivered right to your inbox with inspiring & entertaining stories about our furry & feathered friends<\/a>\ud83d\udc3e\ud83d\udc3e<\/a><\/p>\n This story was originally published by Parade Pets<\/a> on Mar 7, 2026, where it first appeared in the Pet News<\/a> section. Add Parade Pets as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Parade Pets and Yahoo may earn commission from links in this article. In this funny clip, a young…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":334196,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[32951,103,61,60],"class_list":["post-334195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-golden-retriever","tag-health","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=334195"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334195\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/334196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=334195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=334195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=334195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}