The story I am about to tell took place several years ago, but I hope I never forget what I have learned from my experience.

In 1992, one of my dreams came true: I got a Golden Retriever puppy from a much admired breeder. The puppy was wonderful, not only cute but also very intelligent. Other than that, it soon became apparent that he had a mind of his own, being both curious and independent.

By this time I had already successfully trained several Goldens without any problems, so I was unprepared for what would happen to my lovely little boy.

My then husband had never had a dog before and when we met I had a wonderfully trained mature dog who knew how to behave and never asked me questions. She simply adored him, fulfilling all her wishes.

When I started training my son, my husband took things for granted, expecting the pup to be as obedient as our adult female. This meant that he would never reinforce any of the orders he had given him so that the young man would never receive the guidance he needed.

This was a very busy time in my life, going to college, writing my thesis, running a dog club and the like, which meant I didn’t realize how husband and dogs got along. I just needed time for myself and all the things I had to do …

So the puppy became a boisterous young man who had never learned to walk on a leash without stretching his arms. Nor did he know that he had to do what he was told for a period of time.

Fortunately, his temper was very solid, there wasn’t a growl in him. He was affectionate, fun to be with, but absolutely uncontrollable in the lead as long as he had seen something of interest.

I still remember the day he was about to rip my arm off because he wanted to go swimming in a pond we were passing. Those of you who have a dog that pulls on a leash know the physical pain that I endured for several days.

No matter what I did or how I did it, it changed things for me and my son because the real problem was between me and my husband.

We just couldn’t agree on any command or find a way to come up with a consistent training or rehabilitation program for the poor dog.

The disagreement between us caused the problems we encountered with our dog. Today I know we were lucky because he was such a caring and caring character that he still went out of his way to please us no matter what. If it had been a dog with the slightest tendency to be aggressive towards other dogs or people, our behavior could easily have caused a disaster for all of us.

Yet right there twenty years ago I blamed my poor dog for being disobedient when we actually trained him to act like he did.