Obedience Training

Question
Hello Labman!

I have a 2 yr old German Shepherd who's name is Hero. I acquired him from what I suspect as a backyard breeder. When I bought him (for $800), I didn't do any research or possess extensive knowledge of dogs, training, etc. Hero is now 2 yrs of age, and is experiencing some difficulty with socializing and relaxing around other humans and animals. When somebody comes to the door, he goes into defensive drive, and starts to bark of a storm. When somebody comes inside he gets real excited, he begins to jump on the person(s), thinking that they want to play with him, which they don't, as they are scared of his size and energy. Whenever he sees another dog when I am taking him for a walk, he barks and challenges them, his hair stands up like a porcupine and he goes into an aggresive stance. When the other dog comes near, he stops barking, sniffs them, and if the other dog tries to submiss him, Hero runs away and continues to bark.

How do I "re-socialize" him to stop all of this nonsense behaviour?

Any suggestions or insight at this point would be helpful


Answer
Undoing poor early socialization after a dog is 2 years old is tough.  You may be fighting poor breeding too.  I spent most of today in front of Wal-Mart at a fund raiser with my 10 month old Lab.  Many people were amazed at how calm she was.  Well it was a hot day, and another of several stressful ones.  Of course she is use to such.  I had to hold her under my coat when we were out there ringing bells for the Salvation Army.  But a big part of her being calm is her breeding.  

As you mentioned in your title, obedience training will help.  The key to most behavior problems is approaching things using the dog's natural instincts.  Dogs see all the people and dogs in the household as a pack with each having their own rank in the pack and a top dog.  Life is much easier if the 2 legged pack members outrank the 4 legged ones.  You can learn to play the role of top dog by reading some books or going to a good obedience class. A good obedience class or book is about you being top dog, not about rewarding standard commands with a treat. Start at http://www.dogsbestfriend.com/  If you are top dog, then it is up to you to take care of the problems he is trying to solve with his barking.  

Some more ways of establishing that your are top dog, http://www.dogbreedinfo.com./topdogrules.htm

Consistently is very important in correcting jumping and other problems.  Quickly correcting him each and every time he jumps on somebody is very important.  Something bad has to happen each time.  People are successful with a number of different things.  One of the most gentle is to grab his front paws and hold him up. The traditional knee to the chest or step on his paws work well too.  In each case apply ''Bad dog, its name, off!'' in a firm, but not loud voice.  Go ahead with it even if he is too quick to add a physical correction.