For those of you that haven't read my prior thread , this is my set up, i have 4 beautiful but naughty german shepherds whom i suddenly find myself in charge of, they are:

Saxon (almost 6, he is top dog for sure)
Beau (4 yrs old , very soft , not sure where he fits in the pack , he doesn't seem to care)
Nala (3 years old , very vocal girl , quite bossy)
Max (just turned 1 , very naughty lol)

The problem i am having today is with Max and his selective hearing. I have been assured that this is an age thing so i am giving him the benefit of the doubt, so my questions are:

When he ignores a command but the other 3 do it , should i reward the others and ignore him , should i repeat myself til he does it , should i tell him off verbally ?? For example the other 3 sit for dinner , Max grabbed it from my hand and ran into garden. They are all asked to sit and wait to go in the garden , the older 3 did it but he barged passed me almost knocking me flying , what should i have done?

His recall has become non existent , i seem to remember it being fabulous when my husband was training him but that was 6 months ago , so is this an age thing too? should i take him out on his own or with Saxon who has a fab recall everytime regardless of where we are ? When he eventually does come back what shall i do? Should i have him on a training lead all the time til he decides to listen to me again?

Any advice would be gratefully received. Just to add , although Max is a bit of a thug he has the most amazing temperament and is great around other dogs x

I don't know your breed but willing to bet a good part of it is age. Isn't the youngest always a bit of a pest to try to get attention--thinking here of our own species, but pretty sure it applies to dogs too. Our Bean at 6 months can either be a monster or an angel, but he doesn't seem to care for the middle ground much! I try not to laugh so he doesn't feel encouraged to go nuts.

I don't reward the good boys all the time, they should feel the treat is special, not something they just get because they do what they are told. If Max barges past you, can you haul him out and make him sit/stay till he's called? Sounds better than telling him off--it's still attention, which is the effect he's after. Hauling him off outside without talking isn't what he has in mind and he sounds smart enough to get the message if you do this regularly.

they can be so awkward at his age and a less patient person would probably give them a beating. i tend to ignore undesirable actions and really over praise the good actions. i would recommend trying to take him out of his own. this worked with my boys, when with them both, recall was shocking even when one did, the other just wasnt bothered at all, got his nose to the ground and bogged off. we did to long line training on a one to one basis and things improved.
this age is the typical "flight" period where everything learnt seems to go in one ear and out the other. i understand time must be quite difficult to find for you but maybe a one off one to one with a trainer may be beneficial to you as it will give you some pointers to work on.

Hiya,

What you want to aim for is not to tell him off, and not to keep repeating yourself as this just teaches him that the command doesn't really mean much, of that it does but on the second/third or fourth go.  It's really important where ever possible to set him up to succeed so that he can do the right thing and be rewarded for it.  Try making things easier for him to get it right.  If you are feeding them all at the same time he will get excited and probably doesn't have great self control by the sounds of it.

I would maybe pop him behind a baby gate while you ask for him to sit, this means he can't barge or grab, then you can reward him for sitting by giving him his grub and then open the baby gate straight away so he can take it outside.

I've read your other thread and I think you are amazing and are doing brilliantly.  The dogs aren't ignoring you because you aren't pack leader or because they don't care, they just don't have a working relationship with you and aren't used to the way you tell then what to do or what your cues/commands means.  Dogs don't generalise well so just because they understood that recall the cue, for example, 'come' with one person, means come back here now please, doesn't mean that they will with an entirely different person who has a different tone of voice and does things in a very different way to another person.  My Dobe is just used to working for me, so litterally if we go out for a walk with my brother or friends who she knows well and loves she will compleltey ignore them if they ask her to do something.  This is no negative reflection on the way she feels about them she just doesn't get them asking something of her as they haven't trained her to do anything, it isn't personal, it really is just training.

I would set up some one to one time particularly with your youngster - I know you will be restricted for time but even 5/10 mins alone will be great for him.  I would be tempted to train them all to recall to a whistle if they aren't already.  It's aunique noise, always sounds the same regardless of whether you are tired or emotional and it cuts well into the distance.  Start off at home with no distractions and pair it with something yummy.  I usually spend about a week at home conditioning them to it and then move on to the garden and then gradually build up distractions and proof it.  Again set up for success, if you are somewhere with lots of distractions or out with all of them then keep him on a line so he can't practise the wrong thing and get reinforcement from boggin off and ignoring you. 

It's also a good idea to keep him on the line when you get to the stage with a whistle (if you go with that method) of taking it out and about to proof it with the confidence of the line so that you know he can't ignore it and gradually build up the distractions with it on and then loose the line but don't test him too much by going out into loads of distraction without the line straight away.

Any way I'm going off track but like I say I would where ever possible start from scratch and train things as if you are training them for the first time (which you personally are).  Take things in really small steps so that you can reward him lots and rewarding the behaviour you want rather than telling him off for what you don't want.

Hoppe that makes sense :-)

Hope that makes sense

although Max is a bit of a thug he has the most amazing temperament and is great around other dogs x

Let's just re-phrase the word thug and turn it into a zest for life. :-) Everything is exciting and he will go bounding into it head first, this is IMO the worst stage of a dogs life, the dreaded adolescent, where selective deafness is pretty normal. You've already been given some great advice, one to one training is a must! You have to train and teach him seperately. I would definitely feed him seperately if he snatches, he wouldn't get it unless he sat, if he doesn't sit first time, turn you back on him for a few seconds, then turn around and ask him to sit again, then give him the food. But he has to learn that he can continue to be Mr Boisterous (age related) but with manners. :-)

The best thing of all will happen in another few months, he'll begin to lose his puppy privileges and your other 3 dogs will begin to tell him off and put him in his place, he will learn to calm and behave less OTT around them and this will also help you to take control.

Just to reiterate, this isn't a quick fix, slowly over weeks, possibly months, often when we give advice people think it should happen immediately, it doesn't! :-) Especially, not when you are coming in so late as the authority figure, forgive your youngest a lot of his behaviour, he isn't really naughty, just at that age when he will challenge authority and want to do his own thing, much like some of our teenage children.

But, with your guidance he will turn into a well behaved dog like your others, mainly are. Good thing about GSD's being owner orientated, the dogs will soon look to you first and be loyal companions, but do bring your teenagers in to also help. I trained my brothers GSD's even now years later they are as close to me as my brother who they live with and who is their owner, they never forget who trained them and gives them the love, affection and attention, and they can have more than one authority figure, sometimes I don't see them for months, but they will still come to me often even before my brother. :-D If your teenagers are involved too, it will bond you all to the dogs.

You may even find some of the dogs work better with other members of the household.

Good luck, your doing brilliant. :-)