Lets start off with the basics

[The Capitan Of This Ship!!!]

I will add to this post almost daily, it would be imposable to put everything here at once so be patient, I'll try to go in order but that to could prove imposable also.. If you have ideas that might benefit others please add your knowledge & experiences..

 You have to remember that patience is the first ingredient needed when training a puppy.
Repetition, repeating the same thing over & over, outside good boy outside good boy, over & over like a broken record.
Now no matter how cute your newest family member is it's important for him to be independent, German shorthairs are notorious for being stubborn if you let them get away with doing wrong once they'll keep doing wrong. There is a fine line between cute & wrong, if it's wrong, then it's wrong period, there's no ahh he's chewing a sock that's so cute.. Nip it in the butt immediately! When you introduce your puppy to his new home be sure to have a place for the puppy planned out, his spot & have a code name for that spot, blanket, bedroom, whatever. For the first couple of days he should spend most of his time in "his spot" no matter how tempting it is to let him get up from that spot or how much you just want to hold the little bugger, don't. He's got to learn that the "blanket" is his safe place. You'll have plenty of time to shower him with affection. It's not a prison so pet him when he's on his blanket, let him go outside, (repeating good boy outside the entire time) to do his thing, let him eat (repeating good boy get that food the entire time) then tell him good boy blanket, good boy blanket, when he's done.  All this repeating my seem annoying but when he grows up you'll be able to say anything to him & he'll know what your talking about....

Next I'll try to cover getting him to retrieve to hand.....

[RibBaifisafog]

BTW do they really hammer all the way up each hill or do they hammer into the hill, go aerobic in the middle and then hammer over the top?

[vernuskloyz]

One technique that has worked when Nitro won't come...I call him one more time, then turn around and RUN the other direction.  That gets his attention very quickly, they don't want to be left out of anything.  Then I praise him, never, ever scold a dog that comes back, no matter how long it takes.  Would you come back if all you got was punishment?

Now, all I have to do is call his name or a short whistle, and he's right back.  Good Boy.

[vernuskloyz]

I also use "OFF" if Nitro jumps on someone/thing he shouldn't.  Instead of using NO, I sharply say "eh eh" and that gets his attention very quickly.  Leave it is a super command, but should only be used when you never, ever want the dog to touch something, like garbage or debris on a walk.

[vernuskloyz]

I was doing something really dumb... using the same command for many different things For example, Down means to lie down, but I'd also use it when he jumped up on people.

It was never really a problem cause he could figure out what I meant, but now I use Off when he jumps up on someone or something.

Peter

[vernuskloyz]

Well finally, Leave It is really working well. Even now when he is trying to play tug of war with the clothes I am wearing, I just say Leave It and he quits doing it, and also it is working outside when he tries to eat everything under the sun. Not 100 of the time, but we are getting there.

Deb

[vernuskloyz]

Hello Angie, I would say at this age, if you think your puppy is getting bored and not doing as told as it was at first, I would stop right away, as again when young it has to be fun as well, with lots of praise.

Keith

[vernuskloyz]

Hello Sharon, Sarah is the girl to help you with this one, The only thing I know is if a dog senses you have no authority over them they will take the micky out of you , and do as they please, so this might be the root of the problem. If Sarah, is not on site she may be busy, so I would send her a P,Message, and I am sure she would love to help you.

All the best Keith

[Dragonclaws0554]

Hi everyone (if anyone is reading.) This is going to be LOOOONNNGGG, I apologize in advance. I just picked up a GSH puppy (4 months) yesterday, she is papered but she is black/white rather than liver/brown so the breeder was giving her away for less than it cost to have her dewclaws, tail, and shots done. The man who bought her realized he did not have the time really fast and responded to my ad looking for a puppy. We also have a 2 year old border collie and they are close in size, its a great match.

I noticed in here something about stubberness and I have already seen it and need help breaking the habit. My border collie Chevy is not the sharpest tool in the shed, but he is a wonderful dog and I am now seeing where we went right, and where we went wrong with him. Some of Chevy's commands differ from other dogs and that is partially my fault, partially because it was a necessity with our young children. For example the command for "stay" is "YOU stay."  Chevy is not leash trained, BIG mistake but he is learning the leash now and picking it up very quickly. So all that tells me that I need to not only do a better job with Lucy, but that Chevy is not too old to learn new tricks either.
Anyway, the stubborn thing. Lucy has shown me how she was trained, she was allowed on beds and furniture which is an area off limits to dogs in my home. Teaching her to get off the furniture is proving difficult because she KNOWS what I mean when I tell her to get down, but she doesn't want to comply. I am also changing the command to "OFF" tomorrow, I like that command and I never thought about "down" as being confusing until I read it here, thanks!
 Also, I want her to go outside frequently because she is not 100% housebroken yet. I tend to take a puppy outside every single time it soils inside and that has worked for me in the past. When I give the command "outside" she knows it, she learned it FAST but again she will not comply. I have to physically MAKE her go outside and she's as big as my border collie already so thats no easy thing!

So while I have a million other questions that is my biggest for now. How do you teach a stubborn GSP to respect the new rules of her new environment? When I say "outside" or "inside" I mean now and Chevy knows this, Lucy will comply for "inside" but not "outside." Clearly either she just doesn't like going outside without one of her people, or outside was used as punishment in the past and I don't know how to remedy it.

 Lucy's old home had no children so ALL toys were hers. I have 3 children, how do I teach Lucy what is hers to play with and what is not?

Lucy also doesn't like to share with Chevy and they have gotten into a few minor arguments (all started by Lucy) usually over the treat filled kong or a toy. No one has gotten hurt because they are pretty close in size and seem to have mutual respect at least enough to no hurt one another. Is this something she will stop doing once she learns her place in the pack? Or is she trying to assert herself has higher ranked in the pack than Chevy when she does this?

Thanks!

[The Capitan Of This Ship!!!]

You gotta make these things fun, and you've got to repeat the commands in a normal tone, they may have been yelled at by previous owners so they get frightened or uncomfortable when your tone changes. Try good boy outside, good boy outside and while he's going potty I would say good boy go pee outside, good boy go pee outside, over and over while their doing their thing. You don't want to force them outside, make it fun go out with them and play or just be there and talk to them, good boy, good boy, good boy, maybe try feeding them outside or give a treat or some pettin, reward with lots of praise when they do right. The getting on beds and such is because thats their spot (or was), get them a blanket or pillow and put it in a good spot (wherever youd like) and have them stay there for a while every time you do this telling them good boy blanket good boy blanket, over and over, they'll soon figure out thats their safe spot, a place where they'll never get in trouble for being.

Welcome to the forum and have a great day...