No, you are not asking too much.

I have seen better obedience from a 4-month-old Husky puppy than I was getting from my 18-month-old Catahoula.

If a 4-month-old Husky can do a 20-minute sit-stay, and a long down; your 6 month GSD has no excuse! (yes the owners used a puppy prong collar)

I would definitely expect a 6-month-old to walk nicely on a leash. He can learn that when the leash is on, he walks nice, and when it's off, he can run around.

P.S. My Catahoula, now in his adoptive home, did get really good with his O.B. - with patience and time!!

My GSD walks an impressive formal heel, and he's 6 months old. He's been dead on with this for quite awhile.

I do let him have some rambling, fun, walks that involve sniffing...usually as a reward for heeling properly...but that's only after the release command, and he's never allowed to pull me. And he has to come to heel when I ask him to.

Practice heeling in your yard, with as few distractions as you can find. I wouldn't necessarily start out with a prong correction if you've never taught your dog this command. You don't want to correct unless your dog knows he's done something wrong. Make heeling fun, with rewards and praise, and no distractions. Once he's got it, but refuses to comply, that's when corrections come in.

If you only want a dog that will walk nicely on the leash without pulling you, that's easy enough too. They can learn to walk however they want as long as there isn't any tension on the leash. However, I personally feel that controlled heeling (left side) is a very valuable skill for any dog that will be walked in public.

6 months is plenty old! Start training! It's fun and you and your dog will love it if you do it right!

My 7 mos. old GSD seems to think she needs to be in front of me all the time when walking and sniffs everything. When I try to get her to heel she won't. I walk her on a 6' leash and she doesn't pull at all unless I shorten the leash to get her by my side then she tries to lung forward to get back ahead of me. Does anybody have a good fix for this?

1st question do you have Ed's Basic Obedience video? He demonstrates it on the video.

No I don't. I've been meaning to get it but have been slacking in that. I will get that and give it a try. Thanks,

Samuel, you might want to order a prong collar from Leerburg at the same time as the Basic Obedience DVD. The prong will keep your 7 mo old from pulling you down the sidewalk. Very effective and not as hard on the dog as other collars that allow them to pull and hurt their neck.

You can read about them here:
http://www.leerburg.com/equip.htm#prong