German Shepherd Aggression towards people/dogs

Question
I have a 1 year old male german shepherd.  He hasn't been
socialized properly.  Is it too late to do this?  He walks well on
the leash and will not bark at people he sees, usually ignores
them unless they are around the house.  He also barks at people
that come into the house. I usually have to put him in his kennel
because people are afraid of him when he carries on like he
does.  When on walks he acts like a lunatic when he sees another
dog.  Would a prong collar be of help.  I guess my real question
is:  Is it possible to socialize him at this age? And since we have
so few visitors to the house, how can I get him to accept people
that I say are ok?  I know this is largely my fault for not
socializing him at an early age.   Any advice you can give would
be greatly appreciated.
Sharon

Answer
Hi Sharon,  First off, a dog starts to show their natural protective ability at approx. a year to a year and a half in age, so some of what you are seeing towards humans is just his natural ability coming through.  Getting him in obedience training will help as it will teach him some control which is what he needs to learn.  As far as prong collars, I do not advocate them as there are more humane ways to train a dog.  You can put him on a Halti brand head halter and train him with that.  He won't like it at first, but he will get use to it.  Again, obedience train him with the head halter and he can learn that he has to be under control when another dog is around.  Also, is he neutered? If not, that would help too because at this age, his hormones are also raging so that doesn't help the situation with other dogs either.  Basically what you need to do is get him into some training to teach him some control.  Hope this helps,

Dawn