Owning a well-behaved and obedient German shepherd is one of life’s great experiences and having such a dog around the house enhances the enjoyment of life. On the other hand having an unruly German shepherd, who is uncontrollable can make life very stressful and often ends with the owner having to part company with their dog.

In the majority of cases, this is no fault of the dog but the situation has been caused by the owner’s lack of understanding as to how to train their German shepherd, set appropriate rules, and install the required habits within their dog.

As with all relationships, the first few weeks are the all-important time where your dog will learn from you what is expected of it and what, if anything, it can get away with. Molding your german shepherd dog’s behavior from the beginning is the best thing you can do to achieve the results that you desire.

Two Things That You MUST avoid:

Do NOT think of your German shepherd as another human member of your family. They do NOT think with the same intellect or with the same emotions as we do. Your dog is a dog first, then a German Shepherd, then whatever you decide to call it third. Realizing this from early on in your relationship will go a long way to making training a lot easier.

However, your dog does have feelings, it is not a robot and is very capable of understanding what is going on. So give it the respect that it deserves and beyond everything else, BE CONSISTENT, in whatever you do as consistency

will develop “second nature” habits and you will find that your dog does what you want it to do without you having to ask it.

Being The Surrogate Parent

Young dogs crave somebody to replace their parents, who will be able to provide them with a caring, warm and comfortable environment. If you can take on this role with your dog then you will win your dog’s love, respect, and trust which will enable that magic bond to happen and for your dog to fit in with what you want. NEVER dish out physical punishment to your dog.

If you need to do this then YOU are doing something wrong NOT your dog. It has been proven that physically punishing a dog can lead to serious aggression problems in the future either through dominance or fear aggression. You have been warned!!

Why Is German Shepherd Dog Training So Vital?

Training your GSD helps to create the required bonding between you and your dog. Even just teaching the simple “sit” command puts you in control of your dog and shows it who is the boss and what is expected of it. As the owner, you are responsible to society to raise your dog in a way where it will not be a threat to you, your family, or outsiders. Ideally, you will have a very young dog as training a younger dog is much easier as they learn quicker and do not have any currently installed practices in their mind which will need to be removed first. You may, however, own an older dog. If you do then do not panic as it is still very possible to get the trained dog you require. If you have a real problem in this respect then it is good practice to go along with a trained dog professional who can look at the specific issues and undo what has to be done?

German Shepherd Dog Training Sessions Have To Be Fun & Positive

If you see training your German shepherd as a chore then you need to change the way you approach it as your dog will pick up on your emotional signals and it will be a lot harder to achieve the results you want. German Shepherd dogs are especially intelligent and astute and can pick up via “6th sense” what mood you are in which will cause them to change the way they are. You, therefore, need to remain positive, calm, and assertive AT ALL TIMES whilst training, especially if things aren’t going the right way from the start.