I don't post here often and have seen some great advice here, so I thought I would add my 2 cents.

We have 2 chessies and Fred our GSP.  When our chessy had pups it was interesting to see how Fred delt with the rough and tumble chessie pups.  Fred is only 46 lbs so as the pups got bigger he had to let them know when enough rough housing was enough.  He would put their snouts in his mouth and made a little short ruff.  We noticed he was pinching the upper lips to the pups teeth, not hard but enough to let the pup feel it.  We began doing that ourselves, saying a sharp NO, and it worked very well.  We also obseved that when a pup got to rough with another pup that one would run away, as if to say 'I don't want to play if you are going to hurt.'  Even today our son's 1 1/2 year old 100 lb Chessie gets too rough with Fred he can put him in his place by grabbing the snout. 

yes which is why I quoted it. 

Words like Always, Never, and Anytime back you into a hole from which the usual result is being wrong in terms of dog behavior and training.

 

No it's usually because the trainer has temperament and dominance issues.  Anyone that can't train a dog without slapping them around isn't much of a trainer.  Anyone that can't distinguish between normal puppy behavior and "dominance issues" probably has some dominance issues of their own.

Fred has it EXACTLY right and that's why I do the things I suggested - grabbing the muzzle or pinning the puppy down to the ground by the neck until they stop struggling. It's what their mother and other adult dogs in the pack do, so it is understood by the pup as normal discipline. Staring a juvenile delinquent down is also a tool used by adult dogs. If you watch pack behavior carefully, you can learn a lot.

Jean

I've used this approach before and had it work also, so I'm not at all opposed to getting the point across once by whatever means necessary and getting it over with. In fact I'm vastly less comfortable with the drawn-out nagging methodologies some people claim as preferable to a rare but stern physical correction... but to each their own.

The problem with recommending this to someone you've never met over the internet is that people's explinations and interpretations of what they're seeing is often WAY different than how I would boil it out. Just spend an afternoon watching The Dog Whisperer and you'll see all kinds of bizarre conclusions people come up with to explain (and often justify) their dog's behavior.

This thread is a more subtle example... I can't really tell from the description if this is just a 10 week old GSP pup being typically rambunctious or a 10 week old GSP pup starting to show attitude. This person has listed some things that they've tried with various degrees of success, but I can't tell if they're done these things overly harshly or loaded with uncertainty or quickly or slowly or how consistantly. And we haven't even touched on if there's someone else in the house that's undermining everything the poster is trying to do by letting it get away with too much.

I suspect that your intuition and timing is very good, and... no offense intended.... you obviously don't have issues being assertive. A person like you would probably be successful using a wide variety of tactics which may or may not work for someone else without all your skills.

I think the most important thing you can do is to be consistent and persistent.  At this point you have allot of options.  Try them and see what works for you.  Just remember it is consistency and persistence that will make it ultimately pay off. 

As for a timeline, well there isn't one.  Each dog is different and matures at a different rate.  So far, I have had lots of dogs in my lifetime and no two have been alike.

Sounds like you are on the right track, just keep on doing what your doing and you will have a nice dog.

Sorry I see the problem now with our misunderstanding.  I type and read in english.  In english anytime is synonomous with every-time which of course is an absolute.

www.thesaurus.com

Main Entry:	anytime
Part of Speech:	noun
Definition:	unspecified moment, period
Synonyms:	at all, at any moment, at one's convenience, every-time, no matter when, when one will, whenever

It usually takes more than two weeks to train eight week old puppies out of natural, normal behaviors.  That is why patience and persistance are in order, rather than losing one's temper and slapping a little puppy around.  You certainly may get the job done, but you risk creating problems for the future.

To the Original poster. 

I always find it best to start out at the low end of pressure/force on corrections and increase over time when milder methods are not working.  I try and avoid training things in (like hand shyness and a fear of coming to  you) that will create problems later down the road.

You have gotten some very good advice from several people here and I wish you luck.  Let us know how it goes.  All the best. CR

Let me ask you this.  How many puppies have you raised in a group setting (with multiple siblings or similar aged pups from different breedings) to six months of age?

How often do they kill one another?

This is not about life and death it's about training an animal who at best has the equivalent mentality of a severely mentally challenged 3yo child.  Again, anyone who can't get the desired results by out thinking such a creature and without smacking them around needs to examine their own training practices and temperament.

Patience, persistance, and constistency are the best ways to train a puppy out of normal puppy behaviors you find unacceptable.

Losing one's temper and over reacting will virtually always do more harm than good.

Ask all you like.  Don't post though if you aren't willing to have your suggestions challenged.  It's nothing personal, anytime (meaning every time, whenever, always) I see someone giving advice I feel is bad, wrong, or may cause harm I will point it out. You do so frequently.

All I care about on a topic such as this is helping people avoid making mistakes that will cost them and their dogs in the future.