A few years ago, my in-laws had been over for dinner, and it was the typical visit...my mother-in-law would say something rude/hurtful, I would bite my tounge, and my wife would offer a sympathetic look. This cycle would repeat itself several times throughout any evening I had to be in her presence, and that particular night was especially brutal. After they had left, my wife and I were cleaning up when I noticed my mother-in-law had forgotten her sweater on the back of a kitchen chair.
I carefully picked-up the sweater, folded it very neatly, and placed it in my dog training gear bag. My wife stepped over toward the laundry room and asked me, "what in the world are you doing with my mother's sweater???"
I calmly replied in a soft voice, "dog training". My wife asked, "what kind of training are you doing now?". "I need the scent on the sweater", I replied. "Tracking?", she asked, to which I said, "no, but scent work".
"What kind of scent work are you training the dog on with my mother's sweater?" she asked in a demanding tone. "Well, I take the sweater with your mother's scent on it and wrap it around a ball bat, and then I comence to beating the **** out of the dog with it! The next time your mother is here, and the dog gets her scent, she will react with the desired level of aggression."
That is a true story, and an example of my sick sense of humor, but not how anyone would really train a GSD!!!!
JINXR, A GSD should be naturally alloof, and protective with solid nerve. Training simply builds on that.....if you're dog doesn't have it, I wouldn't force it.
