[jezzabelle]

I am a first time GSD owner. have a 4 month old male. He is very intelligent, well-behaved, and is very treat-motivated. So far he has learned the simple commands such as sit, lay down, come, speak, quiet, stay, go potty and go inside. Today, I sat down with him and started to work on "shake." I would make him sit, then shake. He was getting the hang of the command but would want to bite the hand he was shaking, as if looking for the treat. When he successfully completed the command, I would give him his treat with my other hand when I would say "good boy!" It seemed that he was beginning to understand the hand he was shaking was not where he was getting the treat from, and he wasn't trying to bite it anymore. He then began to get very excited, barking at me when I would say "sit" and then he started to bite my hand again, and then clawed me in the neck with his other paw out of excitement. I immediately stopped training with him and giving him treats, as I did not want to reward him for this type of behavior. Is there anything I should do to calm him down when we train? Even when we go over the things he knows, he gets very excited and will lunge for his treat and bark. Is it because he is still very young and has a very short attention span? Or am I doing something wrong?