How To Train My German Shepherd Dog

Keeping Your Pup From Nipping And Chewing

Puppies have sharp teeth, especially German Shepherd puppies!

Puppies are energetic and must learn their limits for playing too rough . When your dog nips you, say ouch immediately and do your normal noise when something hurts.

Dont immediately jerk your hand back or punish your puppy physically.

Puppies view you jerking your hand back quickly as part of a game and could also tear your skin. And physical punishment should never be given!

Tip : Clean Up Accidents Thoroughly

Since they use their scent to find the right place to eliminate, its critical that you;clean up indoor accidents;properly. This is also the best way to maintain proper hygiene and good health.

Typical household cleaners might not be enough to remove the traces of odor that your dog leaves behind, so find a cleaner thats made specifically for puppy accidents. Youll also find plenty of;excellent pet stain removers;that will help you survive this stage of puppyhood.

How Do I Socialise A German Shepherd Puppy And Why Is It Important

All puppies have a socialisation window. This is a sensitive period where theyre the most eager to learn about the world and make connections which affect how they view things, often for the rest of their lives.

Within this is period of time, theres another one called the Fear Period. This is where puppies learn to interpret hazards for example children, loud noises, or unfamiliar surfaces. In German Shepherds, the time they have to interpret these hazards is shorter than other breeds so its quite important that you socialise them early so you dont run into any trouble later.;

Actually, studies say that German Shepherd puppies are actually quite afraid of new objects and sounds than other breeds. Ironic isnt it, that theyre often in charge of saving us from danger.;

Here are easy ways to socialise your German Shepherd puppy:

• Find out what your breeder is doing to socialise your puppy before they leave them good puppy socialisation programmes to send them are Puppy Culture and Avidog.
• Follow the exercises in this training article .;
• Read our full article on socialisation here.
• Dont be afraid to take your puppy out before they are vaccinated, but do it safely! German Shepherd puppies get quite big and hefty, so why not be like Yogi Bear here and invest in a carriage for your puppy to keep them safe? Save your arms from working extra hard.;

Also Check: What Age Do Female German Shepherds Go Into Heat

What Dog Makes The Best Emotional Support

Labrador Retriever. Labradors are known to be some of the gentlest breeds around, so they make perfect ESAs. Yorkshire Terrier. Yorkies are the sweetest of the sweet lap dogs. In addition, Beagle, Corgi, Pug, Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Pomeranian, and Golden Retriever are a few other dogs that are the best for emotional support.;

When Should You Start Potty Training A German Shepherd Puppy

German Shepherds become aware of their ability to control their bodily functions at around 3 weeks old. However, it is best to start potty training as soon as you bring your puppy home, usually, this is around 8 weeks of age.

If you bring your puppy home a little earlier, like a 6 or 7 weeks old, you should still start potty training immediately, just know that your pup wont be able to hold their bladder long at that age.

As a general rule, puppies can hold their pee for a maximum of one hour for every month theyve been alive. So, a 2-month old can hold their pee for about 2 hours.

To avoid accidents, take them for potty breaks once every hour. Thats something you need to do throughout the day, including sleeping hours.

Dont worry! This stage doesnt last long and you can add another hour for every month they age. Soon enough, theyll be sleeping through the night without waking you up every few hours.

Also Check: Do Black German Shepherds Change Color

Train Your Dog Not To Bark

German Shepherds are fantastic guard dogs, so you dont want to train him not to be one. Its his natural instinct, and it is the way he shows his loyalty to you and your family. However, if your German Shepherd pup constantly barks for no reason whatsoever, this is a time you will want to train him not to bark.

• First, you will want to see if any items or objects in your household are causing him to bark. Sometimes even a flowing curtain in the wind can set off a barking session. Either remove all the stimulus in the household or tie them down so that they dont move.
• Next, allow your pup to become friends with the stimulus if it cant be removed. Place a treat on the floor closest to the object and encourage your pup in a soft voice to get the treat. Repeat this until your pup becomes familiar with the object and no longer cares about it and only focuses on the treat.

If your pup continues to bark consistently, it is wise to visit the veterinarian for a check-up and to rule out any health issues.

How Long Will I Have To Train My German Shepherd Daily

Be prepared to train your German Shepherd for at least 10 to 15 minutes a day. You should practice basic obedience training, but also include fun training games to keep them interested in their training and engaged with you.

Youll want to break up the 10 to 15 minutes throughout the day to make sure your German Shepherd doesnt get bored of the same routine commands.

Aim for five three-minute sessions daily in the beginning, as a minimum.

There are exceptions to this rule since your GSD is a working breed and some GSDs will enjoy training for longer. But start with no more than a few minutes in a short session and gradually build onto each individual session longer times.

During each session work on just one or two commands so that your dog learns the right way to perform the command. You can add in another command they know if theyre struggling to pay attention and keep the session positive and interesting.

Ready to start using games during your German Shepherd training?

Then youll enjoy these fun German Shepherd games for obedience training to help your dog stay active, alert, and ready for their daily sessions.

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Socialize Your German Shepherd Completely

This is a super important part to your German Shepherd being the new guardian of the house. Take them to meet different small pets and animals that they may see and encounter so they dont bite or attach them. We want to keep these animals safe from danger too.

Make sure your German Shepherd is completely socialized with all the family members in your household. You want your German Shepherd to be able to take orders from people in your house, so if there is any danger whoever is near the German Shepherd can tell them what to do. You can use simple yes or nos. So if someone is in the house that your German Shepherd thinks is dangerous but actually isnt, the person closest to them can tell them no, alerting your dog to not show aggression toward them.

When your German Shepherd is hiding and acting like they dont want to socialize start doing things they like so they want to join in. Grab one of their favorite toys and begin playing with it. They are sure to come out and join in. Once their out, reward them.

Try to take your German Shepherd out with you as much as possible. If they stay home every time you go out they will not interact with as many things and not know how to respond when they do.

Create A Real Life Scenario:

Next step, create a scenario. This will take your dogs training to the next level. Try doing this exercise in the evening when it is starting to get dark out. Inside your house go to the front door and bring your dog. Begin knocking a few times on the door and say the command. Once they bark a few times reward them and repeat a few more times. You can try to do this every evening, but dont repeat it too much in one day, it can make the dog bored of it.

To make it more challenging you can get a friend or family member to go outside and knock on the door. Then you can say the command to get them to bark. After a while they should just bark on their own. Now they know to alert you when someone comes to the door during the evening, or even the day.

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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!

Letting Your German Shepherd Puppy Explore The Garden

Besides the gnomes and questionable garden furniture you may have, letting your puppy explore your own garden is a great and safe way to start showing them the sounds, lights and wonders of the outside world.

When theyre outdoors, theyll be able to experience what wind, and rain and sunshine feels like, as well as get familiar with walking on different surfaces.;

PRO TIP: Gardens are the perfect toilet areas for puppies. Teach your puppy where the toilet area is in your garden, by rewarding them when they go for a pee or a poo, and also by rewarding them simply for being outside just so they get fully on board that its a fun place to be.;

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Positive Reinforcement Produces Positive Results

Your German Shepherd will respond best to training with positive reinforcement. Yelling or physical punishment will cause this intelligent breed to mistrust you.

Reward good behavior with treats or praise or both. Its the best way to show your German Shepherd that hes doing it right and its a motivator for him to continue with this behavior.

Remember earlier when I said that your German Shepherd actually wants to please you?

Well, once your dog has mastered the behavior, you can remove the treats and reward only with praise hell relish in it all the same.

You know by now that there are heaps of different training programs. Each program has a specific focus, function, and outcome.

Well take a closer look at some of these in future posts. So, for now, lets look at two basic programs

How We Build This Programme: Push Drop Stick

Heres a good resource for you to have the Push Drop Stick game. I like to use this game to see whether puppies are ready to move on in their training, or if they need to spend more practice runs.

Did we need to remind you how intelligent German Shepherds are? Make sure to keep them stimulated by progressively making their exercises more challenging. They really do need to be given a job to do rather than allowing them to be self-employedwho knows how that can end up.

What is Push, Drop, Stick?

Push, Drop, Stick, is a way of systematically raising the difficulty of an exercise or behaviour.

If exercises are always kept too easy, then dogs will keep doing them correctly because they are being rewarded . However, progress will be slower as theyll get stuck at this level.;

If lessons are too hard, then its likely that theyll give up since treats wont be coming as easy. Looks like theyd be quite good businessmen as humans.

Push Drop Stick can help avoid both scenarios by maintaining enough momentum: It will keep your puppy winning enough times to keep them interested and not quit, but not so much that they arent thinking about how to be rewarded by trying harder.

How does it work?

Push Go to the next level of difficulty

Drop Back to the previous level of difficulty

Stick Stay at the current level of difficulty

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How Often Should You Walk Your German Shepherd

Walking and exercising is very important for German Shepherd Dogs. They need a lot of exercises to burn out their energy.

German Shepherd is strong and high energy dogs so it is recommended 1 -2 hours of exercise each day. Walking can be a part of the daily exercise you do with your German Shepherd Dog. You can walk them for 15 minutes 2 times a day. This should be the minimum if you have more free time you can as much as you want.

You can read this article for more information on exercising.

Training Your German Shepherd Not To Jump

While being greeted at the front door with enthusiasm and unmatchable excitement is great for a dog owners ego, it is not so great for their physical body.

The reason is your cute little German Shepherd pup is going to grow into a full grown adult very quickly and him jumping on you is going to hurt, possibly causing you injury. The reason dogs jump up to greet their owner is because they are trying to reach your face. Have you ever observed two dogs meeting each other? No matter what their size, they are capable of looking at each other in the eye when greeting. Your pup is simply trying to get to your level so he can greet you.

Train your pup not to jump using the following technique:

• Practice entering your front door and letting your pup greet you.
• If he jumps on you with his cute little paws, ignore him.
• If he continues to jump turn your back to him and walk into the other room.
• When you notice that all four paws are on the floor, then greet him enthusiastically and give him a small treat.

These easy steps will result in a well-behaved pup that greets his owner and his family with all four paws on the floor. A great idea for making this process easier is by keeping a small container filled with treats close by your front door. This allows you immediate access and results in rewarding for proper behavior.

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Master Obedience Training And Socialization

Before you can get to the nitty-gritty of guarding, you and your dog need to master the basics of obedience. If your pup wont listen to sit and stay, how can she learn something more complicated?

A group class will help your dog practice obedience while gaining experience around other people and pets. Its important to socialize German shepherds, especially ones who will be guard dogs, so they have a baseline idea of what counts as appropriate behavior whether theyre guarding or not.

How Can I Teach My German Shepherd Puppy To Be Ok On Their Own

Its a fair question and were here to help you see through those puppy dog eyes and help your puppy cope from the very beginning.

TIPS

Take it slow: It works much better than trying to speed up the process. If they seem worried by you leaving, stay in view, and just pop right outside their confinement area.

Keep it short and sweet: No need to stay away for long, 60 seconds tops will do for now.;

Repeat: Do this at least once a day to make progress go steady and smoothly.;;

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How To Get Your German Shepherd Certified For Therapy

The most suitable way of training your dog for therapy includes program training. Program training requires you to hire a professional, to begin with, the training program. The two important benefits of this are that there is a high success rate and what to be done is known very well. Essentially, its easier to get a better-trained animal out of program training than it is out of owner training

Some places require official certification before you and your dog can volunteer together. Organizations such as the Alliance of Therapy Dogs provide training and certification. Typically these programs involve a training course, test, and monitoring during the first few volunteer visits.

Once certified and trained your dog can be taken to various other organizations and clinics where one can volunteer for the dogs to assist in therapies helped in the reduction of various mental health disorders.;

Apart from this, you as an owner can also train your dog after their adoption. Training your dog as a therapy dog is a lot of work. Therefore there are services that help you do so. Nevertheless, you can always start the therapy training by yourself. The two most important foundations of German Shepherd therapy dog training are temperament and obedience.