many people use dogs to hunt deer or boars or racoons anymore.
I don't know how many people use Golden Retrievers anymore for hunting so I'm not sure there's good hunting stock being bred, but they are one of my favorite breeds out of the sporting group. I get a lot of goldens at work and they're always such sweet dogs that absolutely LOVE people and kids. Most of them would just walk off with a stranger because they love people so much. They can tend to be on the bigger side though but not huge. I just groomed one that literally wanted his forehead right up against mine the whole time wanting to be cuddled if I tried to move he'd move his head with mine. Others I've had have been ones that will follow me around the shop cause they just love human attention so much. They're not always the most intelligent but they are plain stupid like a cocker spaniel (imo) lol. They do tend to shed but it depends on the coat type how thick it gets. I've seen ones with thin coats that don't need much more than a bath and an occasional brushout, and I've seen ones with very thick coats with a lot of undercoat always coming out.