Why Teach Your German Shepherd To Stay
Teaching your German Shepherd to stay when you tell it to will help you in a number of ways. Below I will mention some of the benefits that it can provide.
Makes socializing easier
Youll have an easier time walking it
It will be easier to handle at the vets
Youll be able to get your German Shepherd to stay when at the vets are with it. This will help the experience to go much more smoothly and will help it to be a less stressful experience for you and the dog.
Keep it responsive to your command
The stay command is a good one to teach your German Shepherd because its one that you can do regularly without too much difficulty. For example, you can get it to stay before giving it food in the mornings. By doing this youll be able to keep it used to listening to your command and youll be able to maintain your status as the one in charge more easily. This can help to reduce bad behavior.
Youll stop it from misbehaving more easily
Keeping Four Paws On The Floor
Puppies jump up for many reasons. Life is good, what can they do? Its perfectly normal and natural behaviour but its not something we want to encourage since it wont be so cute when they do so as adults.
How to do it
TIPS
- Lets prevent jumping up by asking your puppy to sit when you know its likely theyll jump up. Do it just before, just like youre beating them to the jump.
- Dont get cross or punish them if your puppy jumps up, theyre just trying to show us that they love us! Its kind of lovely they like to do that to be honest.
- Heres an important tip. Remember that everyone in your household MUST do this, otherwise its confusing for your puppy and they will keep trying to do it!
German Shepherd Potty Training Aids
The are several commercial items available to help you potty train your German shepherd dog. The following are my recommendations:
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He Should Learn About Proper Socialization
Socialization is one of the most important things you can teach your dog because he needs to interact with other dogs positively. He also needs to learn to behave responsibly in public.
Start by taking him or her to public places, such as the mall, a park, and even grocery stores. This is an important step in training.
They need to be trained and socialized to know their place in the family and integrate themselves into an everyday routine.
This is especially true if theyre used as guard dogs since they need to be taught to look for danger and protect their family when danger presents itself.
Make Sure He Knows That You Are The Pack Leader And That He Respects You
To do this, you need to establish dominance over him in a calm, non-threatening manner. German Shepherds are smart, confident, and can make great guard dogs, but they need to know that you are the pack leader right from the start.
This means you need to be the one that feeds him, gives him treats, and decides when he gets to play and when he has to settle down. It also means that you have to be the only one that disciplines him to know that you are the one in charge.
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Practice With Distance Duration And Distraction
Remember to include the 3 Ds of dog training in your obedience lessonsdistraction, distance, and duration.
The 3 Ds help reinforce your German Shepherds training and give you more reliability over your dog.
They familiarize your dog with the many ways in which they might get asked to perform their commands. These extra steps are invaluable to the quality of your German Shepherd obedience home training program.
Examples of the 3 Ds of Dog Training
- Increase the time your dog is one position by taking a long time to offer the treat.
- See how long you can have your dog stay while you move into different practice areas and work on increasing the time.
- Try to keep his attention on you during his training despite other distractions in your room, inside your house, or outdoors.
If your GSD seems to have forgotten their command, take them back to the last place they were successful and begin training from there.
Its not unusual for you to have gone too fast or expected too much.
Not all of your days are perfect, right?
So, its not fair if you expect your German Shepherd to be perfect every day, either.
Adjust your training as needed.
Continue building on your dogs knowledge and your desire for a responsive companion and youll see amazing improvements in their good behaviors and
in your ability to control your German Shepherd.
Give Your Dog Responsibilities
German Shepherds thrive best when theyre pre-occupied and able to use their unique physical and abilities. In fact, if you give your GSD some household chores, youll find that theyre happier and better behaved.
Apart from having a happy helper at home, giving your dog a job also gives you plenty of opportunities to train and reward them for their positive behaviors.
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How To Quickly Teach Voice Commands To Your German Shepherd
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Bought a German Shepherd puppy? Start training it now.
German Shepherds are extremely intelligent and will pick on to tricks and commands in no time. However, it is also true that GSDs are made to protect herds and live in packs.
These dogs are guards and dominant by nature, and will become the alpha and rule over everyone else. So, by wasting time and thinking that your pup is too little to train, you are increasing the chances of it to get hold of you too.
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Dogs Stick To What They Have Learned
If you have a second thought about investing your time and resources on your German Shepherd puppys good training, then this fact will make you decide in favor of it.
Research testing the tendency of dogs to go with the crowd revealed that dogs would stick to what they have learned and not conform to other dogs behavior even under different manipulated situations.
This means that the good training you give to your German Shepherd puppy will stick with him, and you can expect your dog to portray good behavior in any situation.
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Call Your Puppys Attention
Youll need your German Shepherd puppys attention to have him learn the sessions command. To do so, direct your dog to a quiet place with no distractions. Squat in front of your pet so that you can both look at each other in the eyes. This is very important.
Then, conceal a couple of treats in your folded palm and make your furry friend smell them. You can also show them, but dont let him have them yet. Some great alternatives to store-bought treats that you can use are small pieces of meat or tiny pieces of vegetables.
Once your puppy has understood that there are some goodies on the way and you have his attention, its time to proceed to real training.
Recall Games Playing Tennis With Your Puppy
No, they wont be using a racket.
To play tennis with your puppy, think of them as being the tennis ball for this one, and them having to pingpong between people to get their yummy rewards!
This is great exercise for a German Shepherd even you will smile at seeing how much fun theyre having. They can actually put on quite a show when going after a tennis ball try making it bounce high in the air to see a nice Free Willy leap just be mindful of their joints and do it on a soft surface.
How to play:
PS. Youll need a friend to help you with this one. A human preferably, an imaginary one wont do unfortunately.
PRO TIP: Start reasonably close together and make the gap between you larger once the idea clicks for your puppy.
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Harness Fitting For A German Shepherd Puppy
The days for going on walks arent that far away! To prepare for the big day, getting used to wearing a harness will make your puppys transition to the outdoors much smoother.
Heres how to prepare:
- Pick a comfortable harness for them. A padded one that doesnt squeeze them tight will be brilliant.
- Adjust the harness roughly to the size of your puppy. If youre hesitating, its generally better that it fits too big rather than too tight.
How to do it
PRO TIP: Dont adjust the harness while theyre wearing itit will probably make them feel like its a dodgy piece of armoury. It if needs adjusting, take it off and resize before trying it on again.
Guide To Advanced Stay Techniques
Once you are at the full distance of your leash, drop the leash and work on having your dog stay while you move into different rooms. Dont forget to come back to your dog to reward him, so he doesnt develop the bad habit of moving during a stay.
Add in distractions, such as friends walking around while you train your GSD. For the final steps, have your dog on the long leash and train in your backyard.
Extend the leash as far as it will reach and have your dog stay in place for 30 seconds or longer. Move to outdoor training at a quiet park and repeat the steps for increasing distractions.
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How To Train A German Shepherd Puppy To Stay
- Place a treat in his bed, crate, or the area you want him to stay.
- While hes eating, tell him to sit. Reward obedience with praise or another treat.
- Take one step back and give the command Stay. If he listens, reward him. If he moves, patiently bring him back and try again.
- Each time you tell him to stay, take another step back. Your goal should be to take 10 steps backward without him moving towards you.
Repeat these steps until your puppy understands whats required of him. A great way to introduce this is to place his bed in the living room and have him stay there while you watch TV.
Final Thoughts On Training Your German Shepherd Puppy
Because of their many wonderful qualities, German Shepherds are among the most popular dog breeds in the world. In fact, there are over 3.5 million of them in the U.S. alone!
As a responsible owner, you want your puppy to grow up to be a loyal, well-behaved member of your family. By following these suggestions on training a German Shepherd puppy, thats exactly what youll get!
For more tips and advice, please peruse our full collection of training and behavior posts.
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Your German Shepherd Is Particularly Receptive To Your Sound
Dogs have an innate tendency to act according to their breeding purpose. As such, a German Shepherd might be quick to protect its owner in a dangerous situation by following its herding genes.
To become the friendly family dog you are looking for, a German Shepherd will rely on verbal commands to understand your wish, and they respond remarkably well with proper training.
Even though most of us have never considered it, researchers have discovered that dogs can understand some human words because their brains process language in a way that is similar to humans. A dogs right side of the brain deals with emotion while the left processes meaning.
But it is also suggested that, before your dog understands your words, they first notice the intonation of your voice. They will know when your tone communicates pleasure or disappointment.
Its not what you say, but how you say it that sends him the desired message.
Hence, regardless of what is being said, dogs will first respond to voice pitch, which is not only crucial for training in general but also for obtaining your dogs attention when he cant see you.
How To Potty Train A German Shepherd Puppy
House training your German Shepherd puppy is easy when you know the right steps.
Knowing how to potty train your German Shepherd is vital to having a happy, comfortable life with them. Use this training consistently to have the most effect.
A proactive approach works best. Which means you should
focus on preventing accidents, instead of waiting on them to happen!
Follow a strict feeding and bathroom schedule to see the best results. But potty training isnt only about teaching your pup where to go. Its also about clarifying that house soiling isnt appropriate.
Basically, you teach your German Shepherd puppy the right potty skills
until it becomes a habit .
Heres how to make it easy for you and your GSD to succeed!
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To Prevent Accidents In Your Home Your Pup Should Always Be:
You can either use a crate to speed up their potty training or provide them an area indoors to eliminate. I prefer the crate method.
Coupling Verbal And Gestural Cues Help Your Dog Learn Better
Most professional dog trainers will tell you to couple a verbal command with a gesture. The good reason for this advice is that body language is a canines primary mode of communication, and they have an excellent capacity to read visual cues.
Dogs will make out when you are sad from your face just as they will understand your hand and other body signals in training. This fact has been used to explain why deaf dogs will learn as well as those with optimal hearing capacity.
Research has confirmed that coupling your word with a gesture has a better impact on dog obedience, and this gets even better if the words and gestures are placed in a context. For example, telling your dog to search while pointing to the direction you want him to go will be more effective in a context where the search was done before.
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