One thing I've learned over the years is that everyone has a different idea about what is a perfect dog for them. If you know what you want in a dog, seek that and not what someone else is telling you your dog should be like. It's your dog, your responsibility, and your life.
That said, I've raised a few GSD's and I just don't have the problems other people seem to have. Not trying to sound conceited, but I really believe with enough preparation, anything can be easy. My dogs get along with other dogs, people, kids, etc. They can sit through one-hour firework shows without showing any sign of fear (pretty sure they enjoyed feeling the booms), they go everywhere with me, and are always praised.
Here is my opinion of dog training:
You and the dog need a communication system so the dog knows when it has done something that you like and a clear command he has done something wrong. I use three words. Yes, Good, and No.
No obviously means no. Good means the dog is doing what I want and needs to continue. Yes is also a reward, but means the dog can break the command, like come out of a sit. Yes is taught first and then in later training sessions, Good is added.
Start with just the dog's name. Say the name, when the dog looks at you, mark the action with an excited "YES" then give a reward or even kibble can be used. Nothing wrong with the dog earning their food.
I would highly encourage you to purchase a couple videos from Michael Ellis, The Power of Training Dogs with Food, and Raising your Puppy. I will PM you my notes if you would like.
Those will teach you the mechanics of basic dog training and take your knowledge to a whole new level.
That said, the energy you bring to the dog will make or break you. I personally don't believe in inflicting any unnecessary pain on the dog. This, in my opinion, will cause more problems than it solves. If you have gotten to a point where you are yelling at the dog, you need to walk away and come back later.
A dog that fears you will NEVER respect you. They might listen to you out of fear and in order to protect themself from your punishment, but they will never listen out of respect. NEVER.
That said, a little pressure on a leash they have to learn to turn off is not at all what I would call pain or punishment.
For some weird reason Cesar Millan seems to have a bad name amongst "professional" trainers. Yet, since he came to fame, there has been a boat-load of trainers/authors who started out bad-mouthing him in their books, but are now fully adopting his methods and are now releasing their own books copying his methods, just using different wording.
If you get past the TV show, and buy his Mastering Leadership DVD's, you will definitely learn a lot about what energy you need to make a dog respect you.
I have a lot of "look how good my dog is" stories, but one that always stands out is from like 20 years ago. Living in an apt complex on the edge of a small farming community. My apt was next to a farm, mostly just wheat fields; it was thousands of acres of land, no homes, just wheat fields.
I would let my dog wander the fields on her own and come back when she was ready.
One day, I needed to leave and the neighbor was outside chatting with me. I whistled loudly, then gave the verbal command. Nothing happened, noting happened, the neighbor starts chuckling, "I don't think your dog is coming back." To which I just laughed...
...a couple seconds later, probably 800 yards or more in the distance you see this small black figure appear over and she just keeps getting closer until she has run all the way back, up three flights of stairs, and is sitting right in front of me awaiting further commands.
His response, after picking up his jaw from the ground, was "I've never seen anything like that before".
PM incoming...
