Sticks are good. I can't imagine what you would have done if she was getting out of the water with a duck in her mouth :)
I don't have personal experience with Golden Retrievers but I have raised a few dogs and 6 years sounds too soon to be called old. Maybe it is something temporary that annoys her and keeps her from going full speed. But even if she isn't the fastest any more it doesn't really matter, does it?
She is still adorable :)
I hope it's only temporary, I was also thinking that maybe her swim vest was over-inflated because it had just been readjusted, which would make her uncomfortable to swim in π But the week before she was running after birds and suddenly stopped because she was tired, something she had never done before. But yeah, it's like humans, we can have little bouts of weakness, viruses, whatever. We'll see if it continues or not.
Thanks for stopping by, have a good day π
Best wishes :)