I'd never heard the term before so I looked it up. Yup, it means about what I expected.
I had a male Rottweiler who was a real tough customer. At about 6 months old, he decided that he was NOT going to be made to perform any stupid drills. I settled the issue of who was boss (without ever hitting the dog), and he always respected the chain of command afterwards.
My Golden male has had me pulling out my hair from day one. The main difference is, he's non-violent. Early on, he made some serious looking threat displays but he had nothing to back it up with. Still, establishing dominance with him has been a much longer process. I'd guess I'm about 90% through it but he's still looking for any chink in the armor. Always. He's pushy, obnoxious, demanding, and bratty. Some days I'm not so sure I'm winning. He makes me laugh--a lot--or I would have killed him a long time ago.
Obedience training has been tougher with this Golden than any dog I've worked with. True to his field dog breeding, he is nearly immune to pain. Corrections that would traumatize a lesser dog for life, won't even get his attention. He was very independent as a pup and has been a long time coming around to where praise was any kind of incentive for him. He's now very affectionate and a pest when he's feeling ignored. He's as smart as the Rotties (though he does a very convincing impression of a retard) and picks things up lightning fast. But there just can be no relaxing of the rules--not ever--or he'll take full advantage. Not at all what I was expecting from a Golden.
