hello i'm pretty new with Leerburg's website so any asistance would be appreciated.I have a German Shepherd that is 7 yrs old and want to train him I have a little experience in obedience taining with verbal & hand signals but with puppies not older dogs I'm very interested in purchasing a video to train my dog but don't know what to start off with anyone with any opinion's would be appreciated ? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Unless he's an incredibly fast learner, 7 years old is probably too late to start him in Schutzhund (the sport that many, but by no means all, of the trainers on this forum participate in). However if you're near a Schutzhund club you might want to at least train for the BH obedience/companion dog title. It's an internationally recognized title and Ed does sell a video on it ("Training for the Companion B"). I trained an older GSD for the BH and it was a lot of fun.

The other advantage to being near a Schutzhund club is that you can teach your dog to track--an activity he can enjoy even when he's quite old. Schutzhund organizations now offer 5 tracking titles in varying degrees of difficulty, from novice to very highly advanced. There are Leerburg videos on teaching foot step tracking (sport tracking) to dogs. Don't mistake these for Tracking Thru Drive or SAR videos--the techniques are very different.

Of course there are other dog sports too, but since I don't do them I will let people who do describe their benefits to you!

Best of luck.

Pete Felknor

thank you for replying back another question how do I introduce this dog to my kids they are of the ages of 2 & 3 should i put a muzzle on him when the kids are around him or any suggestions ? :rolleyes:

Most of the GSDs I have seen are fine with kids--it's one of the best characteristics of the breed. My current GSD enjoys nothing more than rough-housing with kids, and the more the merrier. Some GSDs are a little more aloof with children. I have seen very few that actively DISLIKE kids. Usually this results from kids who are allowed to tease and/or pester the dog--pulling his tail or ears, hitting him with objects, etc. etc. etc.

If you don't know the background of this dog you are probably well-advised to muzzle him at first when he's around kids--you certainly don't want anyone bitten. Watch the dog's body language carefully for any stiffening, growling, or a forward set of the ears. If the dog does not show any classic aggressive signs, he probably just wants to "meet" the kid in the normal way. Again, if there is no outward aggression, the dog probably has no problem with children. The biggest danger for a normal GSD playing with kids is that they sometimes don't realize that they outweigh their little "friends" and wind up knocking them over out of sheer exuberance.

I am assuming that your dog has the normal confident personality of a good GSD--not shrinking away from people, etc. Fear-biting is another problem area, but if your dog exhibits steady nerves in everyday situations chances are he will not have problems with children.

Pete Felknor

Forgot to add... ALWAYS, ALWAYS supervise any play between young children and large dogs. Supervise it EVERY MINUTE. Small children should NEVER be left alone with a large dog. This is essential not only for the child's safety but for the dog's too. Small children can unintentionally hurt or frighten a dog--with disastrous results.

thanks again I appreciate your opnion <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

My last rescued former K9 was about 9-10 when I started taking him to Sch. he was a dynamite little Czech ball nut <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> I was taking my younger male to the club and thought, *what the heck* Baron likes to go for rides . . . I'd already done some obed w/him, retrained him more motivationally he was a very soft dog and he'd been handled like a hard dog.
This old dog got downright giddy on the field. He loved obed, he loved going to training. I'd hoped to put a B on him for fun, but I lost him to liver failure too soon. He was training right up till he turned about 11 yo and just loved it, he bounced like a pup. I would definitely consider training the older dog for the B, good experience for handler and great fun for the dog.

you know what thanks for that information that's what I'm going to do train the dog for the dog's enjoyment and my enjoyment I really enjoy training dogs its the time i spend with the dog and the results after and thank you for your opnion.and like to say I'm sorry for the lost of your dog and remember you still got the memories of your dog.

Not only memores, Jose. Thanks for the kind words. You can see a nice pic of Baron on my web page, he's in the section titled *articles*. That photo was professionally done shortly before he died.

Basic Dog Obedience is a great start.