I have a 8 months old gsd solid tan in color.He is sort of okay obedience trained but he has a habit of mouthing which he has not got off since his childhood and he obeys all commands such as heel,sit,stay,down-stay,fetch,find,the recall and considers myself as the alpha,please suggest how to let him get off this habit.I have tried squirting water,scolding ,scruffing but of no use.Please suggest.

Ed has a great tape on obedience. His famous quote is "one good correction is worth a thousand nagging ones." If you correct a dog and he "knowingly" (Very important that the dog understands what he is being told not to do) repeats the act. Than you did not correction level did not meet his temperament level. A hard temperament dog and a tough dog has no correlation. I have seen top protection dogs fold with a harsh word and I have seen shit dogs popped with a sharpened collar and do it again. Your dog either does not know what he is doing wrong or is harder than the level of correction you are giving. Please note that does need to bite. So give him something he can bite without being scolded.

Sorry that should read your correction level did not meet your dogs hardness level.

And dogs need to bite not "does". Although if does are easyer to train than dogs maybe I'll switch over. LOL.

I find that the type of 'correction' you give a puppy when chewing or puppy biting can influence the pups learned response. Some dogs react well to a quickly withdrawn hand, a verbal reprimand, or the 'scruff-shaking' you mention. I find other pups, though, become more bitey from those things. It seems you might have one of those. I'd consider changing your correction. As Vince pointed out if you didn't correct hard enough, the dog didn't learn it. At this point the 'correction' could very well be a reinforcing action for the dog, that is, he condsiders it the type of rough play he's engaging in by biting in the first place. Of course, I have not seen it, so that's a guess. But try this: Wear gloves and let the pup chew on you while you hold your hands still. When he give up, then play with him or treat him. Don't give him any movement when he's chewing, don't talk to him, touch him, or play back or correct him. Just ignore it. If he catches you too hard, punish him by immediately getting up and leaving. For that maneuver he might need to be tethered.

Ethologists believe that pups have such sharp little teeth mostly for the purpose of teaching each other how hard is acceptable to bite each other. This bite inhibition is learned by biting each other. They're playing, one pup bites another too hard. The one that got bitten screams and runs off. For the biter the play stops. THere is no reinforcement, so they learn not to bite that hard. If a pup bites it's mother too hard, the mother does not 'scruff shake' or 'alpha roll' it. She doesn't allow him to continue playing or eating, and she may warn him a little. Try being the bitten puppy, since yours hasn't had one around for a while to learn from. If there's a bite that's too hard, everything stops, and you leave.

Try obedience training with a prong collar. Let him drag a short line around the house. When he mouths give him a good correction. As Vince said, match the level of correction with the temperament of the dog. Make sure you praise the dog when he is minding, and also after you give the correction wait a moment then praise the dog to let him know you still love him. Can't say this enough: get Ed's tape "Basic dog Obedience".

Of course I should mention that it is important to know how to administer a proper correction and that is why it is a good idea to get the tape to learn how to do this. I realize that there are all different levels of knowlege on this board and perhaps my first post was too presumtuous. It is not advisable to just go out and get a prong collar, throw it on the dog and start yanking away. I just wanted to clarify this point as I wouldn't want someone to take my advice without first learning how to properly utilize it.