When I brought Prince home, a few days after Thanksgiving 2008, I had never trained a German Shepherd before.  Due to my father having trained so many of them (and my having so little to do with any of it), I was under the somewhat erroneous impression that a German Shepherd was a very easy dog to train.  A smart dog should pick up things quickly...or at least, that was what I thought.  And, at first, it seemed that I was correct.

Prince was housebroken in 2 days.  He had exactly 2 accidents in the house...at 8 weeks of age.  All I had to do was take him outside, wait for him to relieve himself, and give him a snack.  The next time I took him out, he immediately went, I repeated the process, and that was it.  I have housebroken poodles, Shih-Tzus, chihuahuas, Miniature Schnauzers and many mixed breed dogs, and while some of them were pretty were quick to catch on, none were quite that quick.  Prince was the smartest dog I had ever housebroken.

Pleased with my almost effortless success, I went on to the basic commands of obedience that I had learned years ago were essential for all dogs to know.  I taught Prince to come as easily as I had taught him to go potty outside.  All I had to do was call him, wait for him to come to me and give him a snack, and he caught on.  I taught him to sit by giving him a snack as soon as he sat down while I held a snack, and to lie down and stay in the same manner.  Each time, he would look at me in an almost condescending manner, as if he somehow expected more of me.  Inordinately pleased with myself, I even wrote a letter to the lady who had bred him, extolling his rapid learning ability.

Ironically enough, it was only a few days afterwards that the chewing problem began.

Prince didn't chew up toys, like my small dogs had.  He didn't chew on furniture, or flooring, or books, or even bedding.  None of those things were worthy of his chewing efforts.

Prince chewed on people.

At first, I tried saying NO in a loud, firm voice, and yanking away whatever part of me he had decided to sink his teeth into.  This only made it more exciting for him.  He would simply lunge at me and try to chew on another available part.  Shouting NO had exactly the same effect (i.e, none).  Clapping my hands, stomping my feet and making loud noises were similarly useless.  On his first visit to the vet for shots, I explained the situation to her and asked for her advice.

"You can't let him get away with that," she said (as I had seriously considered doing so)."You have to correct him immediately."

"How?"  I asked.

Whereupon she provided me with a pamphlet titled "How to curb your puppy's aggressive tendencies."

Relieved, I took it home, read it, and prepared to tackle my German Shepherd puppy's chewing propensity.