Do you have this problem with your dog?

You need a control collar. A prong collar, not a choke-style one; those are potentially dangerous to the animal, but the ones that LOOK scary, with the metal fingers on the inside, are actually much safer, and work by folding open when the dog pulls too hard, but can't cause choking injuries. My friend who is into obedience training and all that stuff calls it "power steering for your dog", and my other friend who has a 220lb English Mastiff- it's the ONLY way to walk him- it won't take long before your dog realizes that you have a lot more control, and the breed is smart enough that he should settle down a little.

Does the dog know how to sit, or ANY commands?
This is what I would do, and you can just practice in the yard until he figures it out:
Put the control collar on him.
Have him SIT. Get him used to the idea that when the pointy collar is on, it's YOUR time, YOU are in charge and he is in training mode. Any commands he knows, work through them. It will probably help to have some treats in your pocket.
Just keep him FOCUSED on you.
Try walking him around on a very short leash, or even holding by the collar itself, right by your side. When he is in the right place, and walking nicely, give him a treat and tell him "good HEEL". Get him used to the new training word "Heel" so that in the future you can tell him HEEL and he will come stand next to you.
If he gets too frisky, say HEEL. Wait a moment to gauge his reaction to the new command, and if he ignores you, give a single sharp tug on the collar. This is called a CORRECTION.
Stop walking, get him back next to you, tell him 'good heel' when he is quiet next to you, and just keep doing this over and over until he understands where he is supposed to be walking.
You have to keep on top of this and be consistent- don't let him wander off and smell things while he is wearing the training collar. MAke him wait for playtime until the collar is off.
Anyway... just a little advice on training. German breeds are VERY intelligent and can also be very stubborn. Trust me, I know; my Boxer mix is a pleasure to train because she's so smart, but if she just isn't in the mood to be serious, OMG what a pain she becomes!!!

when i was growing up, we had a german sheperd. she was beautiful dog - absolutely gorgeous, and she was the sweetest dog ever, but she did have some obedience problems, and would do similar things to what your dog is doing. so my dad took her to obedience school, and after she was trained there, she was much much much better. she ALWAYS listened to him, and listened to the rest of us most of the time. the only thing is, i don't remember how old she was when he took her to obedience school...but i know that we had had her for awhile at that point. that age part though is really fuzzy because we got her when i was 4 or 5 maybe??? so i don't really remember her specific age when she went to obedience school. we don't have her anymore - she got arthritis in her spine, and a few bone spurs along her spine as well, and it eventually got to the point where she couldn't walk up and down stairs at all, and that was the only way in and out of our house. so she was having trouble making it outside to go to the bathroom. she was just really sick - even all of her fur fell off of her tail. so we decided to have her put to sleep, because she was going through so much pain. the week before we put her to sleep, we played with her 3 times a day, gave her a steak everyday, and we brushed her twice a day (her fave thing ever!!!) - we did all that for an entire week. and it made her happy. having her put to sleep was sooooo fucking sad.....because i grew up with that dog. she was the best dog we've ever had, and god i miss her so much. :(

Stinkyattic trains as well as she grows. Just one more thing.......when you say walk and the dog starts with the freaking out just sit down with the collar until he/she settles down. If you don't...all that high energy will transfer to the start of the walk.

Here's a pic of that collar to get.....make sure that his regular collar isn't blocking this one at all and have it so it rides high on the neck.

Have a good one!:jointsmile:

Yeah that collar.
That pic shows it in the unfolded position. Normally, when the dog is calm, the prongs sit totally flat.
Power steering, baby.

Yeah, I fell like this deserves a bump. :thumbsup:Chron's love for aminals is deep, so I think alot of folks using shock and choke type collars could personally benefit from this. If anyone switches, and can prove it, I'd even reimburse them for the collar! Anybody??

Hey man read up on this site Leerburg - Dog Training Videos & German Shepherd Kennel. There is a vast amount of usefull info here.

old habbits ARE hard to break, but it can be done with patients...

to stop the dog from pulling you just have to stop moving and hold the leash firm. when the dog calms down start walking again. every time it starts pulling stop. i kno wthis works no matter what age. my gf and I rescued a dog that is a boxer pitbull shepard mix(Strong), and she had all the same problems you mentioned. weve only had her since june but she was two when we got her. in fact the more walks you take the more it will learn to behave because you will have more oppurtunity for rewarding positive behaivor

I have used choke collars and they ARE safe and humane, and will not actually choke the dog when used properly. It is used just for a quick snap, and it's very uncomfortable, but just for an instant. It should never be pulled on though, just a quick pop. And hitting DEFINITELY does not work. I have a small dog that likes to get hit and slapped and poked and just generally clobbered, she actually begs for it. If she were large I'm sure getting actually HIT hit would just be a carnival treat for her.

take him to petsmart. they have obedience classes there