My current dogs are what I consider to be well trained, but every once in a while my GSD decides he's got enough balls to chase after a squirrel with out my permission.



I want to start working them both, and I want a book that gives me some good exercises we can all do together.

Not politically correct by today's standards but here it is.

Dog Training Secrets by William Kholer.

Old school +1

Maybe not so much a suggestion about what book to read, but what direction to go: Search and Rescue.  It takes nearly a thousand hours of training before you'd have a dog that would allow you volunteer to help during a disaster or somesuch but learning some basic SAR seems to be fun, challenging, rewarding, and bond building.   It is something I am thinking about getting involved in when I get my next dog.   There seems to be a growing number of clubs based around this activity.  I realize this doesn't directly impact your problem, but it does indirectly.  For starters, giving your dog a 'job' will help prevent him from assigning himself a job.  Becoming better bonded and more in-tune with you will also decrease your dog's likelyhood of going 'rogue'.  Finally, I'd be surprised to learn that SAR training doesn't cover keeping your dog on task when something distracting and fun to chase shows up.

I was out in public with mine a few days ago and someone asked me how I can tell them apart from each other.

I said, "Princess SIT", and her ass hit the ground instantly while the other dog did nothing. I told the person that the 'sitting' dog must be Princess. LOL!

I do 'name game' drills with mine a LOT (mostly because they have fun playing that game). Where you get both dogs together and start giving commands to each dog individually (by using THAT particular dogs name BEFORE the command). Dog that's name did NOT get called out should not be responding to the command at all and remain where it was previously.

Once you got them to where they will only follow commands if they hear their OWN name first - You can then add a word like 'BOTH' to the beginning of the command and start teaching them that that means 'both' of them are to respond.

I started mine off with simple commands that both of them already knew well and only added the individual dogs name to the beginning of the command. (SIT, STAY, DOWN, CRATE, COME, etc.) Less confusing is better when training more than one dog at the same time...

Working your dogs 'together' and at the same time is also going to pay off in respect to the time you end up spending on training in the long run. Dogs can and do learn from each other and if you have one dog banging out these 'individual' commands and ignoring commands NOT given to her while the other dog sits there watching - Other dog is likely to be 'learning' and really wanting to get in on the 'game'.

Ordered Dog Training Secrets by William Kholer

Monks of New Skete