I have a training question for you guys.

To give you some background, I have a German Shepherd who's 7 months next week and he's taken 1 puppy obedience class at Petco and I have Michael Ellis' The Power of Training your Dog with Food & The Power of Playing Tug with your Dog DVDs. He's been progressing pretty well to this point all tho his focus needs some development. I haven't got to the point to where he does much obedience with tug because I'm still developing our playing skills so I still reward with food.

I'm looking to train him for Schutzhund down the road & a trainer here in town suggested that he "work" for atleast half of his food a day. So I feed him breakfast in a bowl but he does obedience (mostly positions & touch pads) for his dinner.

Lately I've ran into a couple of issues with Cairo.
A)I've only been working on tug with him for about 3 weeks but he's still very possessive. He will out fairly well, but if I let go he takes the tug and goes away with it rather than try to follow me like Ellis wants the dogs to do in the video.

B) I decided to give him a little break on his "dinner obedience" , feed him from a bowl and work on tug play instead. I just cut down from everyday to 3-4 times a week of obedience. The problem is for the last few days I've been trying to start him back up but he hasn't done very well at all. He knows the commands but seems to do them much more reluctantly now. He went from maybe a 70-80% accuracy to now about 20%.

C) he's been more whinny lately. He's naturally a "vocal" dog but he seems to be whining and barking much more than usual.

I was told that German Shepherds can get stubborn around adolescence so I'm not sure if these are symptoms of that, or if I could be doing something wrong. I know a question this broad will be tough to answer with out knowing Cairo but I was just hoping you could give me some insight on what could possibly be the issue.

Any advice you guys have for me would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in Advance

Jared

how long are your OB sessions where he " earns " his dinner ?

don't know if this could fit your world / schedule , but i'd try taking him for a walk , where you are doing very quick ( 15 - 30 second ) engagement sessions throughout the walk . plan it so you dispense the entire ration serving over the duration of the walk .

make sure you save enough for to get him in ( and out , repeat for fun ) of his crate when you get home .

and if he's showing you he can speak , why not turn that into a trainable moment that you can mark and reward , and then vice versa , train the " quiet " , another opportunity to mark and reward .

as to the tug game , he shouldn't be allowed to take off with the tug . he should be on the long line until he's readily returning to you with the object . you do need to be developing the game , but the tug shouldn't be used on it's own as a reward toy for OB just yet .

the possessiveness you just have to keep working on . . . if you are following ME and seeing progress , you are on the right path , but it takes time to break down the dog's reluctance to cross that line into your space with the toy . when he eventually realizes playing with you is the best game in town , he'll be bringing the toy in with energy . . . you'll have to fight him off lol

Great suggestions! The length of the dinner OB might have gotten too long for him. I'll try the short sessions during the walks & see how that works.

I'll also try training the noise.

And yes I agree that I shouldn't let him go away with the tug. I simply "tested" him from time to time to see if he'd bring it right back to me since eventually that's what I want him to do.

Thanks for the suggestions!

Teach a retrieve with back chaining and use the tug as a reward!
"Testing" him from time to time and allowing the non compliance will only teach the dog he doesn't always have to bring it back to you.

what bob said . . . every time you give him the opportunity to make the " do i or don't i retrieve ? " decision on his own , you undermine your own efforts to make yourself the best game in town .

considering you've already identified his possessiveness , you have to work extra hard to build that bridge with him , and you can help that by giving him only one option . make sure you confirm his commitment to you by making the reward worth his while . . . never give him a reason to not bring the toy back .

One of my GSDs is a natural retriever. He has been since I first tested the liter at 4 weeks old. The only thing I had to teach him was the formalities needed for competition retrieves in AKC and Schutzhund.
My other GSD was and is still possessive BUT I've taught him to retrieve withe back chaining and markers. I can hardly go outside where both of them aren't shoving their individual toys into me to throw so they can bring it back, so I can throw it, so they can bring it back, so I can throw it, yada, yadda, yadda!
Make it fun, make it a game, make it a rewardable behavior....with marker training!!!!!

Again thanks for the suggestion guys!

Tried the OB during walks and I did see an improvement! I've also been playing tug with him on the line. The kind of weird thing is Cairo has a couple toys that he brings to me to throw and he'll bring those back. He's just super possessive with the tug.

But as I've been learning its all a process and as long as I'm making it fun enough for both of us progress will be made!

think about it jared . . . when you are playing tug , he is working hard to win it , so when he does , he's going to want to hang onto it .

good to hear about the quick and dirty OB too . eventually you may develop a full OB routine , but for the most part , OB serves to build a relationship with the dog so that he can be a bigger part of your life . you need the dog to be willing to do particular behaviours for periods throughout your day , the rest of the time he gets to be a dog .

the meal on a walk builds on that because the dog is motivated to be with you and do the things you want ( he's hungry ! ) and it builds in his mind that " hey , good things happen everywhere i go with this guy , plus i get fed ! "

and you got it right with the fun part .