i have an 11 wk old german bloodline shepherd and at 11 weeks, i can already tell he is by far the smartest dog ive ever had. as he gets older, the main thing i want him to do for me is obey me when hes commanded. so far hes doing good considering hes 11 weeks old. at what age do i need to start expecting perfection from him? am i starting too early with him at 11 weeks?

For 11 weeks, you are way ahead of yourself. Work on building a strong bond with your dog. There have been a ton of posts about how far you should push your puppy and you might want to look in the puppy section of the forum. Also there are tons of great article on the main website. Read the ones about drives, Ed's training philosophy, and how to form a bond/become the pack leader. Those three really laid the foundation for how I work my dog.

That being said here are the main points. Keep everything motivational. A puppies' attention span is maybe 10 seconds so keep it short. Train sit, down, come, kennel, place, and no. Absolutely not compulsion until 6 months or later and make sure that it is all fun. I'll go ahead and plug Ed's 8 Weeks to 8 Months and Basic Obedience DVDs because they are phenomenal.

I am also reminded that walks are very important as my 5 month old Czech didn’t get her's today and she is tearing around the room like a maniac while my fiancé yells down to keep it quite. Also your puppy will be more apt to listen if you do your training right before mealtime. It is funny how an empty stomach often leads to compliance. Good luck and keep it simple, but most importantly love your dog and have fun!