My 2yr old GSD doesn't like men whom he doesn't know. If a male comes over a couple times a week for a few weeks then he is fine. He doesn't go after people but close mouth barks and his hair stands up...but only when approached. He can be in the same room and be fine but doesn't want to be approached. I am assuming he feels threatened at this point.

At 6months of age he was food aggressive and I hired a former K9 trainer to come to my home for 6 weeks where my GSD was introduced to a pinch collar. He instantly became a new dog and listens better than any dog I know but I believe this is when he decided men were not his friend. Slowly he started ignoring the pinch and was put on a shock collar to continue training. I keep up with training and he was getting better with strangers but has recently started his old antics.

I couldn't ask for a better behaved dog who listens to every word I say except for this HUGE problem of not liking men.

Current training...Crated during day and night, runs 40 mins daily with me plus playing ball, not allowed near bedrooms, doesn't go in or out the door before me, no leash but on heel command when out of back yard, put in down stay before he can eat, not allowed near us when we eat.

One bad confession is that he was allowed on the couch for a month or so but I have discontined this when I noticed his behavior going down hill again.

Any more training suggestions??

Well, the easiest and safest option would be to crate him when you have male guests in your house.

Another option would be to put him in a long down in an area where he feels secure, and instruct your guests to ignore him.

Is there some reason why he has to interact with the men that come into your house?

 Quote: Jaime Lasell

At 6months of age he was food aggressive and I hired a former K9 trainer to come to my home for 6 weeks where my GSD was introduced to a pinch collar. He instantly became a new dog and listens better than any dog I know but I believe this is when he decided men were not his friend. Slowly he started ignoring the pinch and was put on a shock collar to continue training.

I probably shouldn't even go here, but what was this guy's method to reduce the food aggression, that involved a prong collar?

And how are you using the prong collar now?

He usually is on his bed in a down stay but in the same room as male guests but recently gets up and barks when they move. I think I will just crate him or move his bed to another room so that he is not. I just didn't want to "ignore" the problem so I was looking for solutions to correct what I think may be a dominance issue.

My GSD had only been to the PetCo puppy training at that point so the prong collar was used to do basic walking training, stay training...To cure the food agression problem, he had us put the prong collar on and leave his leash attached and if he growled I would give him a correction and pull him away from his food and put him back in a down stay a leash length away from his food. Continued this process for 3 days until he didn't do it anymore.

 Quote: jaime lasell

He usually is on his bed in a down stay but in the same room as male guests but recently gets up and barks when they move. I think I will just crate him or move his bed to another room so that he is not. I just didn't want to "ignore" the problem so I was looking for solutions to correct what I think may be a dominance issue.

OK.. 1 more question! What do you do when he breaks his down and barks at your guests?

Here's what I would do:
First of all, always instruct guests to ignore the dog.

For me, using body language works better than a verbal correction. When he breaks his down, get up and block his access to your guest. I would push him back over to his bed (I mean, walk into him, forcing him to back up) and put him in a down again. If you keep a drag line on him when guests are coming over, you can redirect him with a combo of the drag line and walking into him. The more confident you are with your body language, the more likely you'll be to nip this behavior in the bud.

If you can entail the help of a friend that he doesn't know, you could set up the scenario a few times to practice it. Of course, this is all assuming that you can control the dog well enough that your guests would never be in danger of getting bitten.

Or, alternatively, just crate him when male guests are over.

I do exactly as you said...he has a short line always attached and I walk towards him and back him up but I usually tell him NO and stand over him until he lays back down and give the stay hand command. He gets a verbal command only the first time then just gets the body language correction as you stated above.

I have done tons of research on training in general and I feel as though I am doing everything correct so its just frustrating for me to see him behave his way

I will have a friend come over and see if we can practice this.

Should he be in a down stay before they come in?

 Quote: Jaime Lasell

I have done tons of research on training in general and I feel as though I am doing everything correct so its just frustrating for me to see him behave his way

I will have a friend come over and see if we can practice this.

Should he be in a down stay before they come in?

Don't get discouraged! It sounds like, for the most part, he's a great dog. He's 2 and perhaps just reaching mental maturity and this might account for some of his new-found 'boldness'. And if you have had some minor lapses in pack structure, he might be pushing the boundaries, so to speak.

IMO, your goal should be that he ignores male guests, not friendliness toward them. You should be able to desensitize him to men in the house, and practicing with someone who will follow your instructions re ignoring the dog is a great way to do it.

Without seeing you and the dog, I'm not comfortable recommending a prong correction for this, but maybe others here with more experience will have some insight re correction for this behavior. With my own dog, I would be comfortable giving her a correction for this type of behavior, but I know she would not come back up the leash at me.
With desensitization, you won't make the situation any worse, and it may resolve it ...

Sounds like maybe a little fear. It can't be "fixed" but you can manage it, that's about all.

I agree with Lynne. This is a young dog and nothing is written in stone. He has plenty of time to mature out of this. I have had and known dogs that were phobic at two that were fine by four. Key is not to make it worse and following calm expectations as Lynne says to help level it out.

Heck, when I got married Nan, my BC was just 2yrs old. This was after the baby in the road incident in the Dogs with Kids forum. So she had earned some patience. Meanwhile we get back from our honeymoon and move to an apartment. Nan goes NUTS every time my dh enters the room, the apartment, gets out of bed, changes his clothes or trys to take her for a walk without me. You would have thought she was hopeless and slightly insane to say nothing of thinking she had been abused.(Since I had bred her and raised her mom and litter I KNEW that wasn't true she was simply VERY sensitive) Top that with the move and lifestyle change unhinged her to a point where walking down the sidewalk she would be freaky and want to watch behind us if someone was within the same block. Thankfully she was tennis ball obsessed and you could throw the ball and distract her somewhat to work her past her psychoses. We put in daily work with her and she was one of the best dogs I ever owned. People who knew her in her terrible twos and then visited years later didn't believe she was the same dog.

Thanks for all the encouraging words and suggestions. It gives me hope that his behavior may change or can be dealt with. More training it is...