Page #5 Training:

What training classes do you recommend? 

Basis obedience training is almost necessary for any medium to large breed dog.  Dog less than 12 pounds can be pickup and carried with little effort. A larger dog is more difficult to control when out in public or trips to the vet. It should be noted that all breeds of dogs aren’t bred with human interaction in mind. No one likes an unruly and misbehaving dog.

We recommend that you join or contact a German Shepherd club for obedience classes for your shepherds. Most all GSD clubs offer obedience classes (members normally get a discount on classes). We have found it's better for your shepherd to be in a class with other shepherds because they are within the same intelligent range and bred for the same purpose.

We don't recommend the training classes of pet stores.   Pet Store classes have a mixture of breeds that range from lap dogs to hunting dogs.  All dogs are 70% controlled by their genetic programming and some breeds may not do well in obedience.   In a class with a wide range of dog breeds you might find yourself wasting a lot of valuable training time while the trainer works with someone with their hunting dog or an unruly lap dog. In a training class with all German Shepherds, your Shepherd will be with other puppies with the same type of intelligent and purpose. So you will get more training done in let time in an all Shepherd class. Your shepherd will also pickup on the behavior of the other dogs.

For example: We had a family come to us to get a German Shepherd puppy and they brought their family dog. They said they had taken their dog (an English Bird dog) to an obedience class but the dog didn't do well and in general their dog didn't interact well with their family. While they were playing ball and interacting with our German Shepherd puppy, their English Bird dog went over to our bushes and did a perfect point to the bushes. Their dog was frozen in a perfect stance with head up, back straight, right front foot pulled up, tail sticking straight out. She had pointed to our cat in the bushes. I turned to them and said "now that's what your dog was bred for". The breeders of this English Bird dog bred dogs to hunt and point birds and did not care if it would interact with a family or walk on a leash.  Many pet owners don't understand that it takes years and many generations to imprint the purpose of a breed of dog. All of the breeds of today's dogs at one time came from what we now call mixed breeds. The birth of a breed comes from some with a purpose and desire for a dog to do a certain job. They will find dogs that meet their needs and breed them to other dogs that meet their needs. Over years the appearance and temperament become the recognizing treks of their breed.  Dogs are controlled mostly by the 70% of natural genetic programming. You can train a dog to go against they inherited nature but it's sometimes like swimming up stream. It's better to purchase a dog that's bred for your needs and desires than to train a dog to go against it's inherited nature.

Leash Breaking your puppy: Almost all training starts a leash and a collar. A leash and collar establishes control. Most intelligent puppies and dogs can be leash broken in a 30 minute training section.  In most cases the younger the dog the better.  He or she won’t be perfect leash walker in that time period but it’s a start.

You can use a nylon or choke chain collar.  I commend that you use a choke chain collar on older puppies and adult dogs.  Place the collar around their neck and attach the leash. Sit down and pet and talk to your puppy. When he starts to leave your side, gently tug on the leash and call him back to your side and pet him. Keep this up for 5 to 10 minutes and then a step or two and call him as you step away. Wait a half minute or so and repeat it.  Just keep repeating this procedure and increasing the distance. Soon you will be able to walk around your yard and the puppy will be staying with you.

Second phase - After your puppy starts to get the hang of walking on a leash, start repeating the word “Heel”. When you stop, press down on his hind quarters and repeat the word “Sit” while putting up on the leash. Putting up or giving a little tug on the leash will keep his head up and he won’t try to lay down. After several days of this you are ready to go in to public and expand his experience.

After on leash commands of Heel, Sit, Stay, and Down are mastered you can advance on to off leash training and commands.