Doberluv:
Thank you so much for taking the time to help me out. So much of what you said makes sense.
Kody is 18 months old. We got him when he was 13 weeks old. I took him to puppy pre-school when he was just a little over 2 months old and then we went back when he was 8 months old and we were put in the most advanced class! We pretty much take him everywhere with us, and have since we got him. He rarely sits at home alone and he's been exposed to all different types of people, kids and adults. When he was about 6 months I'd guess, he started growling at the door which I discouraged (which after reading your post, wasn't the right thing to do). Not too much later he started the barking and charging.
When I say he is friendly, I mean that no one in my family or any of my friends are fearful of him. He is so gentle with my niece and nephew (3 and 6) and we only see them on the holidays. He was a groomsman in my wedding 3 months ago and he was a perfect gentleman. We even let him come out to the outdoor reception (off leash) and get on the dance floor with us and there were a hundred people that he didn't know there and he was fine. He has never done this at the dog park, and he's never aggressive to other dogs. When people come to our house, for example on Halloween, he growled at every trick-or-treater. It is strange though, like I mentioned before, his tail wags as he does it! If we would have welcomed a tricker treater he didn't know into the house he would've stopped the growling and probably started licking them.
He has never barked at anyone my husband works with frequently. Most of the time it is when complete strangers are just minding their own business. It's not even like he's defending his territory. Just this week he chased after people that were walking down the road by the new construction site. My husband chased after him (probably yelling, Kody, NO!) and once Kody got up close to the people he stopped barking and they pet him and then he was all happy and they were best friends. But for sure, those people probably thought that they might get bitten.
Oh, believe me, I am not feeling good about this; and you are right, I guess I don't know that he wouldn't bite someone. And as far as the rules out in the rural area around here....there are none. The thing I fear is some crazy farmer shooting him because of this. Just putting that in writing makes me realize that we've got to fix this problem now. It is not worth risking that. He is so smart, I know he is trainable.
Speaking of training, if I understand correctly, this is what you recommend:
Obviously, we must keep him on a lead until we can fix this. So, take him out to the places where this happens, on leash. Wait for stranger to walk by or ask stranger to help us out. When the person walks by, put him in a sit-stay or down stay....start giving little treats to him, and here's where I'm still confused....say he starts growling...still give him treats? Is that not rewarding the behavior?
I can definitely work on the "look at me" command. We touched on this in obedience school, they called it "watch me". And I already know he is very food-motivated. In class I used the peanut butter kong stuffing can and gave him little squirts. He'll do anything for that stuff! He is really good at sit, sit-stay, down, down-stay, but I don't think he'd stay if we were outside and there was a major distraction...I know I need to start practicing those commands with distractions.
As far a come when called goes; I could never master this with him. I mean, when we whistle for him he comes running but it is not fail-safe. If he's super interested in something else he ignores. Even when I use Kody, "come!", which is how I was taught to train him, (and I'd reward him when he came) again, it's only if he wants to.
Oh and about goldens these days not being smooshy lovers because of bad breeding practices, this worries me. We have AKC papers on him, but he does have a black spot on his tongue about the size of the tip of my pinky finger....do you think this means he could be part something else?
Thanks again, for taking the time to help.