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.