The infatuation stage has passed for my wife and she's beginning to get frustrated at some of his behaviors. It's understandable and we have no idea what kind of life he had before us so you can't blame him for not being perfect. I'm committed to getting him trained though as I know he means well and is a good dog.
Perhaps you could take him to some dog training course? Perhaps together with SWMBO? Then the both of you can get to know him better and learn ways to correct him if needed.
That's the plan when I save a little money up. Petsmart was on $99 but I'm not quite sure the training is that good.
Read the book "Inside of a Dog". It is a most coherent work on the psychology of canines and how to speak a language they understand. "Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, & Know" by Alexandra Horowitz, ISBN-13: 9781416583431. You can find it for a reasonable price on Ebay. It's written by a cognitive neuroscientist and is quite good.
My GSP is constantly alert when we are cooking, and he checks all floor surfaces as we eat. But seriously, after reading that book, I started to treat my dog like a dog, and not like a toddler human. He's actually happier, and we are too. I held notions about dogs, and limited my ability to communicate with him by over anthropomorphizing his behavior.
Bama is on the right track here. Many times we help create problems with our dogs by thinking of them as human and having human emotions. I have found that my dogs work best when they understand their place in the pack and have rules and limitations. The fist thing I would suggest is structured walks. I don't mean the walks that the dog drags you and does as they please but walks in which you are the leader and they walk beside you taking cues from you. Start off small and go from there. It's also a big help if you can figure out what motivates or drives your dog. It might be toys or food. My Malinois is driven by toys and food. In the beginning as you train the dog, give them the reward they are working for. Then over time substitute praise for the reward. Before you know it your praise will be the reward. Training a dog takes time and hard work but the efforts are worth it.
He's pretty good for the most part but we have some stuff to work on. He really does soak up all the love and has quickly made himself at home.
