Understand Your German Shepherds Body Language
Weve discussed keeping yourself calm and under control, as your GSD is very adept at reading your emotional state. He will pick up on cues from your body language just as easily as he will pick up on the inflection of your voice.
This goes both ways. It is very important that you are able to understand and accurately interpret your GSD puppys body language. Unlike a person, a dog will not smile when hes happy, and he will not frown when hes sad.
For example, if your GSD has his tail hanging in a middle position, neither high nor low, then this could be a cue that he is feeling either fear, arousal, aggression, or even playful. Obviously these emotions cover the spectrum from fearful to playful it seems rather ambiguous because it is.
This example illustrates the importance of understanding your particular dogs body language, as it is often the surrounding context and environment that will provide the true meaning of a cue such as a middle hanging tail.
This cue, like many others, is often subtle, so it is imperative that you take the time to clearly understand what your GSD is feeling by getting to know his body language.
Weve taken the guesswork out of this for you here in this article about German Shepherd body language. Give it a thorough read before you begin any training regiment with your GSD, as it provides clear explanations for even the most subtle of body language cues.
Best German Shepherd Dog Training Books: Parting Words
We hope that this article has given you a better idea about how you can choose the best book for your needs.
Its always hard to shop for books because you never really know how good the product might be. Still, a little bit of homework can make the choice an easy one.
So, which one of these books is the best? We cannot really say. The needs of every reader are different, and everyone has different levels of reading proficiency.
As such, we urge you to look carefully and consider what you need from that book. Apart from that, we hope that you will return soon to read more of our work.
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Bousnic Dog Training Collar
Bousnic shock collar is especially targeted at dog owners with two pups since it comes with an additional collar for a reasonable price from the get-go.
The remote dog training collar also provides the option for trainers to alter the intensity of vibration levels and shock levels. There is also a tone mode too. So altogether there are 3 training modes.
Range, just like most collars for German Shepherds mentioned in this list, is 330 yards .
Other Key Features:
- Multi Dog Training. An additional collar comes with the purchase of this dog collar that allows you to train two furry friends at no extra cost.
- IP67 Waterproof Certified. This is the waterproof certification that most modern mobile phones come with. It allows the e-collar to be submerged up to a meter deep for half an hour.
- Protection Mode. This mode will put the collar automatically into protection mode if the static feature works for more than 10 seconds.
Pros
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How Long Does It Take To Train A German Shepherd
It takes anywhere from 8 to 12 weeks to train a German Shepherd to learn basic obedience commands.
Usually, most 20 week old German Shepherd puppies are house trained, crate trained, and understand a few basic commands if youve trained them correctly.
Crate training will take about a week to introduce slowly and have your dog or puppy go into the crate on their own to relax. But if your dog has had a bad experience with the crate it could take months.
Keep in mind that if you have an adult Shepherd who has already lived with another owner then you may have to undo improper training or behavior problems. This means that you have many months ahead of you of training.
Some GSDs are aggressive or reactive and it may take years before they learn to relax around other dogs in a calm manner.
While other German Shepherds have excellent dog social experiences from the start and can mix in with other dogs on a whim and quickly pick up their training basics.
Understand That Your German Shepherd Is A Working Dog
German Shepherds were bred to work. Specifically, they were bred to herd and guard other animals. This eventually evolved into personal protection and many other applications as well.
The point in telling you this is so that you understand that work is not only a good thing for a GSD, it is essential to a GSDs well-being. A GSD without a job to do will often times become depressed, destructive, and sometimes dangerous. Your GSD wants first and foremost to work for and to please you, his owner.
You should always keep this in mind when training your German Shepherd puppy. Know that your GSD likes to learn, and the more complex the task, the more your GSD will benefit from it.
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How Can I Stop My Puppy From Biting
It’s important for puppies to learn to control their bites. This is best taught at a young age.Carefully watch your puppy for signs that he is about to grab your hand. Before he can do that, give him a soft toy or a Kong as an alternative.
If puppy bites you before you can give him a toy, make the squealing sound a littermate would make when it is bitten by another pup “eek” or “ouch”. Then quickly redirect the puppy to an appropriate toy that is “chew safe”.
When a puppy can’t be supervised he should be safely in his crate or an exercise pen with Kongs or other dog-safe toys that can’t be chewed up and swallowed. DO NOT LEAVE STUFFED TOYS IN A CRATE WITH A PUPPY. Talk with your breeder and/or vet about safe toys for puppies.Also, a tired puppy is a good puppy. Be sure your puppy gets plenty of exercise for his body and his brain . Exercise for 10 minutes every hour or so is better than 2 hours at a time. Puppies need naps just like babies.
Start training at an early age in a good puppy class in your area. Puppies of all breeds get your puppy used to other types of dogs.– Cheryl May
For more information: Use Google to search for ‘puppy training’ in your area. Look for local classes that are affiliated with the AKC’s S.T.A.R. puppy training. Also look at our Regional Club listings to see if there is a club that offers puppy classes in your area especially for German Shepherd puppies.
Consider why puppies pull when they are walking:
Training Goal #: Socialization
Puppies of all breeds have a critical socialization window that closes at 12 to 16 weeks of life, and your GSD puppy is no exception. In fact, for GSDs, who by nature are protective guardians, socialization is extra important so that your puppy learns which strangers are friendly and not a threat.
GSDs are very observant, and your puppy will pick up on your cues and reactions around new people and new situations. During this critical period, having exposure to many different kinds of people in non-threatening situations will help your puppy be confident among friendly strangers rather than fearful or aggressive. And even during times of social and physical distancing, you can still socialize your puppy safely.
Proper socialization cannot be overemphasized for this breed as Adams notes, The foundation for most training is confidence. It is critical that the GSD puppy is well socialized from an early age onward. Safely exposing the puppy to new sights, sounds, and smells is absolutely critical for development. Good socialization translates to confidence.
Certified dog trainer and CGC evaluator Jacqui Foster, CPDT-KA, echoes this sentiment: I tend to lean more towards developing self-confidence in the puppy. For this I recommend short, fun, three-minute games that engage the puppy with the owner as well as in noises, weird and uneven surfaces, family members, etc., throughout the day. A confident puppy is a happy puppy.
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You Can Reteach A Particular Behavior If Your Dog Struggles With The English Command
For dogs that have learned to respond poorly to an English command, you can reteach the desired behavior using the German command. Your dog wont confuse it with the English command because the German word doesnt have pre-existing associations. This gives you a fresh start to train your dog with the proper response.
Essential German Shepherd Puppy Training Tips
So you are eagerly awaiting the arrival of your new German Shepherd puppy or perhaps youve just welcomed him or her into your household as your newest best friend and family member.
While all you may want to do is play with your puppy for hours on end, there is much work to be done if you want your puppy to grow into the capable and intelligent dog that he has all the potential in the world to be. But this requires you to do your part.
Properly training a GSD puppy is essential. Not only will doing so work to ensure that your puppy listens to you, doesnt pick up destructive habits, and is just an overall good dog it will also ensure that your GSD will not present a danger to other people and animals. This is your responsibility, and you should not take it lightly.
In this article, we will give you some really helpful tips and instructions to make this happen. It is work, but its the kind of work that you will love doing, and it will serve both you and your GSD well for a lifetime to come.
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Your German Shepherd Puppy Month By Month
2nd Edition: Everything You Need to Know at Each State to Ensure Your Cute and Playful Puppy by Liz Palika and Terry Albert
If you are not familiar with what to expect with your German Shepherd puppy, this easy-to-read book is the right book for you.
The format of the book makes it easy for you to focus on a specific month because it is labeled by a GSDs age in each corner.
It contains the German Shepherds stage of development month by month, what to expect from each month, and how to correct common unwanted behaviors. To easily adapt to your GSDs progress, you can easily refer back to this book as your GSD reaches each new stage.
You can be sure this book contains useful information because the authors teamed up with a vet and a dog breeder.
David Daigneaults life has changed because of Cody, his GSD. Because of that, he wrote The Complete Guide to German Shepherds hoping people will read it before buying a GSD.
This up-to-date book published last year 2019 is a comprehensive guide to selecting the right GSD, preparing his place, taking him home, caring for him, and so many more.
The author also included timely recommendations and some of his personal experiences in the book.
This book contains useful instructions in teaching not only basic but also advanced commands for German Shepherd Schutzhund training such as off and up, take it and out, and leave.
One thing is sure after you read this book- you wont be a dummy.
How To Keep Your Dog From Barking
While German Shepherds communicate primarily through body language, their bark is another way for them to let others know what theyre thinking. Its unreasonable to expect your German Shepherd never to bark, but you should teach your dog when barking is acceptable.
A GSD is a guardian breed, and he will want to protect his family and his home from any danger. Thats why they bark when someone knocks on the door. But, they may also bark at other dogs, the TV, and other non-threatening stimuli.
What can make this behavior tricky is that you want them to bark to alert you when a stranger or other legitimate danger approaches, but you also want them to stop after youve confirmed that the family is not in danger.
The best way to do this is to follow these steps:
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Your Gsd Doesn’t Communicate Like A Human
Secretly we all wish that our dogs could speak a human language!
We also know that they don’t come with a pre-installed language program!
Although your Shepherd can’t speak, they can communicate. And as I mentioned earlier, dogs are masters of body language!
If you want to learn more about how dogs communicate using their body language, check out Dog Decoder. It’s available on iOS and Android for a small one-time fee.
With that being said, here are a couple of tips for using words and cues in your German Shepherd training plans
- Short and sweet cues are more useful than longer phrases.
- Be mindful of your tone and volume. Giving a cue in a different tone or volume can mean the difference between your dog responding or not.
Choose Your Learning Environment Wisely
Like you, in order to learn something, your GSD will excel in an environment that is conducive to learning. Ideally, you would not go to the food court of a busy mall to sit down and study for an upcoming exam. Instead, you would choose a quiet room in your home, or perhaps a library or coffee shop. Why would you do this? Because there are no distractions.
Similarly, you must choose an environment that is conducive to learning for your German Shepherd in order to give him the best chance for success. What this means, practically speaking, is that you want to choose an environment such as a quiet room in your home, or even your own backyard. The idea being that it must be some place that your GSD is familiar with and that will not lend itself to distractions.
You should not consider training your GSD around people that he is unfamiliar with or in a new or busy environment, such as a dog park full of other dogs competing for your GSDs attention.
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Get The Timings Right
Timing is crucial in training. If youre trying to reward your dog for a certain behavior, you need to do so immediately. Otherwise, they may get confused about which behavior you are rewarding.
A great way to improve your timing and to ensure you always clearly communicate to your German shepherd is by using a .
Pet Resolve Dog Training Collar
Pet Resolves dog shock collar is up next. If youre in the search for something affordable with all the premium features, then this is a worthy collar to keep an eye on.
Lets start with the essentials firstthe training modes. Pet Resolves shock collar comes in with three modes, static shock mode, vibration mode and tone mode.
The static stimulation mode has 10 varying levels ofcontinuous or momentary shock for effective training and corrections.
This shock collar for German Shepherd also has an impressive range, even more so than our number pick. It can cover up to a max of 1312 yards .
Looking at the fit. This dog shock collar can fit German Shepherds that are 15 pounds or larger.
Other Key Features:
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Tip #: Dont Try To Become The Alpha Dog
For a long time now dog trainers have known that the dominance/alpha theory is nonsense. Those ideas came from research done in wolfs in captivity and have now been debunked by new research done in wolfs in the wild.The new research says that you need to be a good leader, kind of like a parent. Alphas are most often the parents of the group. Provide shelter, food, safety and limits. This article tells you more about it!
German Shepherd Exercise And Enrichment
German Shepherds do best when they are fully incorporated into your and your familys lifestyle, like going with you to work or on trips. German Shepherds are working dogs through and through, they love to have a goal or a job. This isn’t the dog who is comfortable laying around the house or hanging out in the backyard all day, every day. Think about how a navy seal would feel if forced to stay home all of the time and stare at the wallnot so good!
If you are interested in or already have one of these dogs in your household, consider giving them different ‘jobs throughout the day or week. Agility classes, sheep herding classes, and basic nose work are all activities that these dogs love and need. Examples of a basic nose work activity is playing a game like Find It or Hide and Seek with your German Shepherd.
Here’s a helpful video of one of the world’s most recognized and respected dog trainers, Victoria Stilwell, showing how to teach a dog to play Hide and Seek using a toy:
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