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How To Stop German Shepherd Aggression

Can 2 Female German Shepherds Live Together

Aggressive German Shepherd Training/How to stop your barking dog!

Will two female German Shepherds get along? Two female German Shepherds can get along however, the German Shepherd breed is known to develop same-gender aggression. There are several excellent characteristics of female German Shepherds, but trying to place two together can often result in misbehavior and fighting.

Diversion Tactics Deter Your Gsd Puppy From Biting

You can stop your puppy from biting your hands by distracting him with a toy or game. Puzzles and similar games are especially effective if your pup is biting from boredom.

Training Methods

  • Crate You can avoid using your pups crate as a place of punishment or isolation by placing your pup inside it with a favorite toy. Keep the puppy and crate in the same room as you.
  • Tether Tethering is helpful if your puppy likes to bite your ankles or chases you when you attempt to ignore her. Similarly to the crate, do not use a rope to isolate your pup.

Games

Your training with games is most effective when you train the desired action with food rewards and then add the cue or command.

For example, you offer your dog a tasty morsel for dropping the ball after fetching it. Once your pup begins to bring the ball and give it to you automatically, you add a cue such as drop it. You would use the same process with other games for the desired action, which is usually releasing the toy.

Toys

Toys are simple diverters. If your pup starts nipping, you substitute a toy for your hand. Toys are more effective for hand biters than ankle chasers.

How To Train A German Shepherd For Aggression Control

Make sure you train your German Shepherd from an early age. Older German Shepherds can still be strongly trained, but it takes more time and effort to first untrain them of any unwanted habits already acquired.

  • Your German Shepherd must recognize that you are the alpha dog . Make sure youre acting like an alpha from the very first day that he joins your household. If you dont, then you may experience resistance at first when trying to assume that role.
  • First, wear a protective bite sleeve that covers your arms. This will keep you from bite injuries.
  • Never use humiliation, hitting, abuse, or rough corrections when dealing with aggressive behavior.
  • Teach your GSD the word attack. Tell him to sit then tap his face using the glove on your arm. This will annoy your GSD and he will attack the glove. As soon as he attacks, say the word attack. Reward him by giving him treats.
  • Repeat this process until he understands the word attack. If he attacks your gloved arms when you say attack, it means he already knows the command.
  • Always reward good behavior during training. This is called positive reinforcement training and recognizes that most dogs especially intelligent ones like German Shepherds respond very well to encouragement and rewards. Harsh corrections such as loud angry voices, hitting or humiliation results in the dog switching off and not being able to learn.
  • Final Words

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    The Right Collar And Leash To Use

    When you take your GSD out for a walk, it is important to know which collar is the right one to use. There are many different types of collars to choose from, some work well and some dont. Avoid using collars that may harm or irritate your dog such as choke collars, metal chin collars, electronic collars, plastic collars, or pinch and prong collars.

    If you begin training your GSD as a puppy then it is not necessary to use these collars. These types of collars only become necessary if you are training an adult that has preexisting ingrained habits.

    Instead, for a puppy, simply use a standard inexpensive collar made from nylon or leather. This will be comfortable for your GSD and will not distract it from listening to you.

    Prevent Rehearsal Of Territorial Behavior

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    The more a dog engages in a behavior, the more it puts roots. You’ll therefore have to take steps to prevent rehearsal of the problematic behavior. These tips will therefore good for management purposes and teach your dog that guarding the home is no longer your dog’s responsibility.

    • Prevent your dog from charging at the window, fence or door.
    • Limit access to areas where your dog tends to engage in territorial behaviors and you cannot provide guidance. You can do this by allowing your dog to spend time in a room that is farthest from the window or confine him to an area away from the window blocked off by a baby-gate. As the saying goes, “out of sight, out of mind!”
    • Block visuals. You can do so by applying some opaque window film to your windows so to prevent your dog from seeing outside.

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    How To Stop German Shepherd From Jumping Over The Fence

    Boredom is the main reason why jumping is happening. German Shepherds are the breed that craves to be around his family and play. These dogs also require physical and mental exercise daily. Just being out in the yard does not offer them any organized physical activity or mental exercise. Its a boring thing. Outside the fence, there are more new things-other animals, yummy things to sniff and stuff to see. Thats why theyre running away.

    If you want to ensure the safety of your pup, create a suitable dog kennel with a roof. Or if you dont want to imprison them and prefer to keep the pet free and happy, it wont be a bad idea to sign up for an obedience class.

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    Your Dog Chews Your Belongings And Furniture

    Like barking, a well-behaved German Shepherd will stop chewing on something when you tell him not to. He may mistake a shoe for a toy after all, they are a curious breed but he should respond when you ask him to leave it alone. Watch this video about how to train a dog.

    If he ignores your command, this is another act of defiance. Hes asserting his dominance with antagonistic behavior to act out.

    Again some dogs respond to commands better than others. Dont be surprised if your German Shepherd is playing with your shoe because he thinks its a toy.

    You can know if hes being aggressive if he begins growling or barking when you give a no command. Highly aggressive dogs may snap at you if you try to take the belonging away from them so its important to resolve this behavior early.

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    Use Safety Precautions To Prevent Injury

    Try a control management tool such as a muzzle or headcollar to regain control when out in public. Its best to prevent biting accidents before they happen and head collars give you better control during training.

    Gentle Head Collar

    This control tool provides gentle corrections and prevents jumping, lunging, and pulling. The head collar is painless and doesnt cause choking, but gives you more control over your German Shepherd.

    Using a head collar wont solve your underlying issues. It does, however, provide better safety and control. If you need more confidence in handling your aggressive German Shepherd, then place the head collar on them before going outside.

    Teach Your German Shepherd To Bark On Command

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    Teaching Your German Shepherd the speak’ quiet’ cues.

    Speaking or barking on command is a method that is also associated with trick training. But it’s just as effective in altering excessive barking behavior.

    To begin with, the trick is to only reward your dog when you want him to bark. This will ensure that you don’t reinforce the excessive barking.

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    What Can You Do To Avoid That Your Puppy Chews Some Expensive Or Dangerous Items

    The last thing you want is that your puppy chews your Expensive clothes or shoes. But he cant chew items on which he did not have any access.

    Make sure your puppy does not have access to this kind of items.

  • If possible try to limit your puppies access to the place where your items are.
  • Never keep on the floor your expensive items like shoes etc.
  • If there are dangerous toys, make sure they are always far from the puppy.
  • You can use some baby gates in the home and limit his access.
  • Supervise your puppy, do not let him stay a long time alone when you cant see him
  • How To Stop A German Shepherd Puppy From Jumping And Biting

    If you watch a little of puppies, you will see them jumping and nipping at each other as part of the play. When things go out of hand and become too rough, his mother intervenes and regains control of the situation by growling at him.

    Now when you brought your new puppy home, he likely wouldnt have any idea how to treat you or your children and mistook you as one of his littermates. Here is how you can stop your shepherd puppy from jumping and biting.

  • Play with your puppy.
  • Also Check: When To Neuter A German Shepherd

    Help My German Shepherd Is Becoming Aggressive

    Finding out why my German Shepherd is becoming aggressive helped me to avoid a catastrophic nightmare.

    You already know that aggressive dogs are a liability when not handled correctly and are stressful to control!

    But, theres a way thatll allow you to take charge of the situation and learn how to make your German Shepherd less aggressive starting today.

    Heres the process thatll help you.

    What Are The Warning Signs And Symptoms Of German Shepherd Aggression

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    To get an indication of whether your GSD is aggressive, try looking at the warning signs, the act and the result.

    Very clear aggressive warning signs and symptoms include consistently displaying the following:

    Snarling and showing teeth

    Lunging with force

    Tensing body muscles, arching back with front body lowered as if appearing to lunge

    Nipping or biting at the air as if to warn what is going to happen if the target or threat does not go away

    Charging

    Very clear acts of aggression include biting, attacking and physical force .

    Very clear results of aggression are bite marks, bruising, bleeding, feeling emotionally scared and any form of serious physical or emotional harm, damage or injury.

    It is always wise to seek a vet, or animal behavior specialists opinion if you believe your German Shepherds case of aggression is serious.

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    Do Teach Them That Biting Means Game Over

    If your puppy continues to bite, ignore your puppy by turning your back away from her and tucking your hands in your armpits.

    She needs to understand that biting ends playtime and that it does not give her anything in return. Over time, your consistent reinforcement of this will be highly effective to curb your puppys biting behavior.

    Signs Your German Shepherd Is Bored

    Raising a dog is quite a responsibility, and while some pets just need food and shelter, dogs require positive engagement, socialization, and exercise. German Shepherds are a large breed with lots of energy, and if you dont find productive outlets for this energy, youll have an aggressive dog who is poorly socialized and frustrated.

    We often overlook our own boredom but doing the same with our canines is unfair. The consequences of boredom vary, and you should watch out for the following signs that indicate that your German Shepherd is bored.

    Your Dog Chews and Digs a Lot

    While chewing things and digging soft earth are natural tendencies among canines, if you notice a spike in such behavior, you can be sure that it is because your girl wants to alleviate her boredom.

    In case youve never adopted a dog before, you may talk to a friend who has dogs and ask them to observe whether the frequency with which your German Shepherd digs or bites is typical for her age/breed. Please note that youll need to train your dog to avoid such behavior, even if this is not excessive. You can check out this article, German Shepherd Behavior Problems: Tips That Actually Work! for greater insight into this topic.

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    The Bite Of A German Shepherd

    Theres a saying that when a German Shepherd bites you, shes in it for the long haul. An aggressive 70-pound dog pouncing on you can get quite ugly fast.

    Think broken bones, damaged muscles, deep lacerations, bruises, scars, and expensive medical bills. Although uncommon, it can sometimes lead to the victims death.

    German Shepherds have a bite force of 238 PSI , compared to humans with a bite force of 162 PSI.

    In fact, the American Animal Hospital Association lists the German Shepherd as one of the six breeds with the most dangerous bites, based on a US study.

    Therefore, training your GSD to inhibit her bite is mandatory as it not only rewards you with a well-behaved dog, but also ensures your safety as well as the safety of the people around you.

    A crucial step towards correcting this nasty behavior is to first understand why German Shepherd puppies bite.

    Before we move on, take a look at some important and useful information that weve written for you in the following 2 articles:

    How To Get Your German Shepherd To Be Less Aggressive

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    If you want to get your German Shepherd to be less aggressive then there are a number of things that you can do that I will mention below.

    Positive reinforcement training

    One option you have is to train your German Shepherd to stop being aggressive by using positive reinforcement training.

    This is where you teach your German Shepherd that it will get things that it wants when other dogs or people are around and when it behaves appropriately. This will help to get your German Shepherd to have positive feelings towards you, other dogs and other people.

    One way to do this is to try the open bar technique where you give your German Shepherd positive attention and a treat when you see other dogs or people on a walk. The positive attention and treat should stop when the other dog or person goes away.

    The treat should also be a special treat that you only give to your German Shepherd when other dogs or people are around. You might think that doing this would reinforce bad behavior but behaviorists argue that it creates a strong positive association with other dogs and people that overrides the bad behavior.

    You can also try shaping where you reward your dog for making small steps towards being well behaved.

    You would start by rewarding it for not reacting when it sees other dogs and people and then you would gradually build up to rewarding it for playing with other dogs and being well behaved near other people.

    Avoid positively reinforcing bad behavior

    Avoid punishing the dog

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    The Rev Up And Cool Down Game: Help Teach Calming Behaviors

    If your dog gets too worked up and then bites, then teach them this Rev Up and Cool Down game.

  • Start by running a few steps .
  • After a few running steps and before your pup gets too excited, stop running and walk slowly.
  • Dont look at your dog at all. Keep moving slowly until your dog also slows down. When you see them slow down, take a few more steps calmly and peacefully. Then, click and treat them or say your reward word and treat them.
  • Continue with steps one through three. Each time your dog should slow down sooner and quicker.
  • If your puppy knows any of these basic German Shepherd commands, incorporate those commands to make the training more interesting and fun.
  • The point of the Rev Up and Cool Down game is to teach them to settle and stay calm without nipping and biting you.

    How To Stop German Shepherds Rolling In The Dirt

    Its difficult to curb instinctual dog behaviors. Nonetheless, one way to stop your GSD from rolling in the dirt is to use basic obedience commands that youve already taught your dog. You could use No! or Leave it! to stop your German Shepherd from starting to roll in dirt or Heel! to encourage him to keep walking beside you when you notice him giving attention to a pile of poop!

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    How To Control German Shepherd Aggression

    If your German Shepherd shows aggressive behavior after 14 months of age, when it has reached sexual maturity, you must address the problem immediately. First, make sure you have established yourself as the pack leader.

    Never pay your German Shepherd for aggressive behavior, even if he is scared. Train your German Shepherd to respond to your requests, control feeding and walking times, and make sure that you are the pack leader in the household.

    If you allow your German Shepherd is to take alternatives in your home, it will exhibit more energetic aggression toward others. If your German Shepherd is defensive-aggressive, they may strike out at a person in fear.

    These dogs may not have been adequately socialized. Keep them away from small children, which they may see as direct threats and attend a training session or behaviorist who can gradually acclimate the dog to a social atmosphere.

    Socialize Your German Shepherd

    Introduce your GSD to your family. Then you can introduce a few friends. You need to go for a walk with German Shepherd along with those people who are randomly your visitors. Slowly but surely, invite more friends and more newcomers to accompany you and your GSD.

    Daily Exercise

    Your GSD needs a daily walk, a high-intensity activity, and mental stimulation. Take him running, hiking, skating, and biking with you. You can also play games, such as Frisbee toss.

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