Golden Retriever and Dominate are two words that don't belong in the same phrase unless there is a NOT in between them.

Actually I think popularity has done many bad things to the Golden. I do agree with how to manage the pup is well covered and that this sounds like normal behavior but

It was a sweet little old purebred Golden who savagely attacked my current 6 year old GSD when he was a puppy. What you see is not always what you get..IT is harder for me to read their body language than a GSD and no one anticipated the attack.

just guessing ofcourse, but looks to me like he is crazy about attention. maybe praise and petting only when he sits and is quiet. "good boy". he has discovered that this wild behavior will get him attention, like a child that does naughty things to be noticed. i think you could turn it around to where he realizes that the attention will also come when he minds his manners and the wild hooligan behavior is not needed. it may take a while, but if you truly love the dog, training him to be a gentleman will be well worth the effort.

Lisa wrote - It could be that he truly doesn't understand what's expected of him, or that his enthusiasm outweighs his good sense, or more likely a combination of both.

My reply,
Its my opinon that Dogs don't have good sense, enough to do adapt to a humans, they have to be taught.

Good dogs/human interaction like a Good Child are made they are not born that way. I do think the opposite is true.

You can take any dog/person and surround it with poor training or no training, poor socailization and enviroment and have a crazy dangerous dog.

There are some breeds that are naturally more aggressive, but all are capable of it. I've been bitten more for no reason by the Peeka-too (toy breed)type then by the so call aggressive dogs.

This is just my opinion, I agree with Nancy the time when you the Lab, Golden or Setter could be taken for granted that they are gentle, peace and love type dogs is over.

There are all kind of mutant Lab & Golden weighing 80-100lbs. VC I disagree, a Golden can be dominate, not that his breed type specifies this but as Nancy described it can be aggressive.

All that Analyzing because its Blonde, Phoofy on that, nip unwanted reactions in the bud, Analyze it later, what it might have been.

I think Pat may have something here, if you are into Analzying the problem and solution.

Good work Doctor Pat (trying to be cute not snide).

Don,
By "good sense" I did mean learned self control (taught by the human). I think you're reading too much into my words.

It is true that overbreeding/poor breeding practices have led to a lot of temperament problems in Goldens. A BYB or puppy mill Golden is not as likely to possess the friendly, goofy temperament a well bred Golden is supposed to possess; the kind of temperament that the breed is known for and that conscientious breeders make a priority in their breeding program. I agree that both nature and nurture form the temperament of any dog, however a Golden with a good genetic background is not likely to develop dominance problems, regardless of how often they get to sleep on the couch or beg at the dinner table.

I would like to thank everyone for their advice. Bailey is doing 100% better. I can honestly say that he has improved immensely since I have been visiting this website. I have come to the conclusion that he doesn't have a dominance problem, but still needs obedience training now to correct some of his behavior problems. Problems which are probably normal for a puppy but I would still like to work on now. I attempted a walk with Bailey today for the first time since he drug me up the street. I put the prong collar on him, which I also learned that I was not putting on properly, and we went for a walk. I took the advice given about pulling. Everytime he started pulling I turned and started walking the other way. What an improvement I saw just by the end of the walk!!!!! I had to do a lot of turns but by the end of the walk he was actually watching me to see where I was going.
He's also doing a lot better when people come to visit. I think we're starting to get the hang of this. Again, thanks for all of your help. P.S. I LOVE this site!!!!!!!!!!