I would say it depends on how much time you have to train him. If you have the time, I would buy the books & videos and do it yourself (it's very rewarding!). I trained my first GSP when I was 13 and used videos and books and he turned out to be one helluva dog, BUT I put in A LOT of time in training. I came up with a few alternative, yet creative ways to train. I'll admit, the first time training will be a learning curve for you AND the dog. The second GSP I trained was much much easier b/c I knew what I was doing. I trained my second GSP right before I went off to college 4 years ago. Once again, I had the time.....worked 8-5 and was doing lawns at night, but saved 30-45 minutes before dark to train him. He also turned out to be a magnificent hunter. My advice to anybody that trains their own dog is to "read" the dog.......make sure it's understanding what you want. If it's not, then slow down or even take a step back in the training.....just don't rush it.

It's fun (but frustrating at times) to train your own dog and very fullfilling when people ask if you had it trained and then you can tell them that you trained it yourself!! Good luck!!