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Training:
What
training classes do you recommend?
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.
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