My German Shepherd puppy literally has to be under me ever second I am around. Can you suggest any corrective measures I can take or will he be fine being that completely dependent on me?

I would definitely try to work on teaching him to be comfortable on his own and since he's already 15 weeks and likely been practicing this behavior for a while now it may be a struggle at first. Most German Shepherds follow their "person" around but if he is overly attached to you this can create all kinds of issues down the road, especially if your life circumstances change. We want a great bond with our dogs but we also want them to be able to relax away from us (in a crate, ex-pen or another room of the house.) If you would need to board him or have a pet sitter, this could be very stressful for him. This may escalate to separation anxiety in the future which may be dangerous to your belongings as well as to the well being of your pup. I had a friend years ago that had a dog like this and he would chew through drywall, doors and break windows if he was left alone. He never crate or kennel trained the dog as a puppy so he couldn't contain him. The house looked like a demolition crew had been inside. It was really sad for the dog and expensive and distressing for the owner. (this was also a German Shepherd).

I would recommend you watch the video we offer called Raising Your Puppy with Michael Ellis, it's almost 7 hours of great information on how to set healthy habits and training foundation for any puppy but is especially useful for the working breeds. It's available as a DVD or as instant streaming video or as an online course that includes the video cut up into smaller segments with the text that correlates with the videos. Some people like to read the material as well as watch the video portion. I'll add links to a couple of other videos that may be helpful to you also.