As a golden retriever puppy, Chaco looked like the picture on a postcard. He was a perfect little ball of fluff that made everyone smile, but then he started to grow. Having experienced puppyhood with a golden once before (albeit 15 years prior), we knew what to expect. But the last time we had a golden puppy we didn’t have kids and had more time to dedicate to training.

As with most golden puppies, Chaco was curious and energetic. As he grew though, my wife had a hard time controlling him…he was just too strong for her. Chaco tried to rule the roost and at about six months of age, he was successful quite often.

As the weeks went by Chaco became harder to control. While we all spent time with him and enjoyed this part of his puppyhood, there were times when it was really difficult. I remember a few times having to attach his lease to the leg of the kitchen table to keep him from getting into sometime or causing a problem.

Larry first met Chaco at three months old (Larry has a great video with Chaco on his website). At that age he was still manageable. Even at that young age, Larry told us that Chaco was very smart. We somewhat shrugged that off as Larry being kind. Larry worked with us using more traditional techniques, but as Chaco grew, I was the only one strong enough to effectively incorporate these techniques. But there were four other people in our family that had to deal with Chaco. It became difficult to even “play” with him. Sure we could throw a ball for him, but this became a game of keep away.

Back to Larry Chaco went at the age of one. Larry knew our family. He knew my wife and I liked to run through the neighborhood for exercise and wanted Chaco to be with us, but there were no sidewalks and lots of distractions. He told us Chaco would be able to run off-leash without a problem after some training. My wife looked at Larry like he had two heads. Chaco wouldn’t even return a ball…how could we trust him off-lease in a busy neighborhood?

Somehow Larry saw something in Chaco at the age of 3 months that we couldn’t see, but we trusted him. He introduced us to the E-collar and trained us how to properly us it. It was a real game changer. After some time with Larry (and some training for us), we started to see what Larry saw. We were able to better communicate with Chaco through the use of the E-collar, and he responded incredibly well. Playing ball with him became fun. Even our youngest, Michael, who was age 6 at the time could completely control Chaco.

Fast forward to today, Chaco is 4 1/2. He runs off-leash through our neighborhood. He sits at an open front door until he is told “okay” to go outside. He’s a great guard in a pick-up basketball game with the kids. He’s better at stealing the ball than most kids my son’s age. He also understands very well how to “leave it” when he does get the ball. He faithfully brings in the paper every morning and he does all of this with wagging tail.

Chaco is a great dog and certainly a big part of our family. Its’ really quite amazing how little we worry about him these days. Larry made all this happen! Sure, we had to put some time in, but, without the solid baseline Larry instilled in Chaco (and us), none of Chaco’s success would be possible. I never hesitate to give out Larry’s name. He does great work to not only train dogs but also help train families how to deal with dogs. If you are in the West Mead area and see a couple out with a golden retriever off-leash, stop by and say hey…It won’t take me long to mention Larry’s name.

-Molly and Troy