Hello,

My name is Jamie Slaughter. My wife Stacy and I (and our three cats)  welcomed a new GSP to the family about five weeks ago. Housebreaking has gone fairly well, with the occasional accident. Forrest (named after the general, not the fictitious character portrayed by Tom Hanks) is pretty much what I thought he would be: a very active puppy with two speeds: flank speed, and full stop.

He gets along reasonably well with the cats, and tries to play with them, although thier versions of play are quite different. Our oldest cat Harley, and our largest at over twenty pounds, pretty much smacks him around if he gets too close,  and the other two (Felix and Bear) get up high and taunt him. Nobody has been hurt to date, and we try to monitor them fairly closely.

We really need help with some basic obedience and hunt training references.  Could somebody please point (pun fully intended) us in the right direction? We have sit, come and lay down fairly well, and we are working on stay and shake (I know he is capable of a tremendous amount more).

Forrest is about the most handsome pup I have ever seen. He responds to training, but he has a short attention span sometimes. Any help with useful books and/or DVDs would be greatly appreciated.

THANKS!

Jamie, Stacy, and Forrest

p.s. Our cats  (Harley, Felix, and Bear) thank you too! 

Three books I would recommend for obedience are:

The Art of Raising a Puppy and How To Be Your Dogs Best Friend by the Monks of New Skete

Beyond Basic Dog Training by Diane L. Bauman

Another good book to read to understand the dogs behavior is:

The Other End of the Leash by Dr. Patricia B. McConnell

For hunt training, I think the consensus is the two DVDs called:

The Perfect Start and The Perfect Finish by Perfection Kennels.

I would also strongly encourage you to find a training facility and take advantage of their classes as many problems that people have with dog training are the people, not the dogs.  Dogs are very perceptive and smart and pick up on all kinds of signals from us humans (The Other End of the Leash will give you some ideas in this area).  Trainers can help you work through issues that you may not even recognize, especially if you are new to training a dog. Good Luck and most of all have fun with your pup.  When you get a chance, we love pictures.

Welcome and congrats on your new pup. For hunt training you should check out NAVHDA at  http://www.navhda.org/  there is a chapter locator on the left side of the page. I know most chapters are wrapping up their training days as hunting season approaches but you may meet someone who lives close enough to you to help you out. Course at this young of an age there is not a lot to do. Even if you don't want to test your dog the help you get with the training is great IMHO. We have several members that do not test their dogs. Post some pics of your pup when yoou get a chance