German Shepherd Owner's

[Shelties]

Originally Posted by LylaBelle

Brock

OMG look at that face!

[GSD Keira]

Originally Posted by His masters voice

I have a GSD, I have just completed Shutzhund 1 with him and having a time out before we start training again ready for stage 2 this Autumn, or as you guys say fall

He is the most loyal, faithfull and friendly dog I have ever known with a learning capacity that leaves other breeds standing.

Well, Keira is my first one. But I have to agree with you completely on that one! She has shown me more intelligence, loyalty and understanding in the 5 months that I have had her than I ever could have imagined. I will never again be without a GS. When I first got her, my family told me I was making a mistake. " a german sheperd is no dog to have around a baby" is what they said. My son is 18 months old now. They couldnt have been more wrong. She is his friend, his protector, everything i could have hoped for. He crawls on her, pulls her around, lays on her, pulls her ears and hair, he even feeds her. He will give her treats, and even the food from her dish. (always supervised of course) and she never even flinches. At night i put the baby gate across his bedromm door, she sleeps right against it. She has amazed and wowed me. She learned quick and eagerly. At 7 months she knew, sit, down, stay, shake, okay, and take it. So with that i will stop bragging, and leave with a good bye!

[JoyB]

Hi

I have two GSDs. One is 6-years-old the other is just over 3-months-old

[bradfran]

Currently have 1 GSD. I have had 6 and have had them almost all of my life (a few years here and there where I didnt have one) since birth.

[SheperdSasha]

Her name is Sasha. I'd like to start training her to do things... I just don't know where or how to start.Do you any ideas for me. She is 15 weeks

[Sugardog]

Hi SheperdSasha, welcome to Global Paw!

I too own a shepherd puppy. Rosie is 8 and a half months old now.

I suggest looking into clicker training. It works so well on just about any dog. In fact, I have not yet come across a dog that didn't do well with clicker training. Incase you don't know what clicker training is, it's an all positive reinforcement method using operant conditioning. The clicker is a little toy that fits in the palm of your hand that has a button and when you press that button, it makes a unique click. You condition your dog to respond to the clicker by clicking, then giving a reward. Click, reward, click, reward, click reward over and over again until you can click and the dog will look at you expectantly, waiting for his reward. The click will mean "yes, you did it correctly and you've earned a reward" or "you did something I like and you've earned a reward".

To train with the clicker, it's easy. You can lure a dog into doing a behavior, then click immediatly after the dog performed or while the dog is performing. For example, you can use a treat and hold it over the dogs head and slowly bring it further and further over the dogs head and lure him into the sitting position. As soon as his rump hits the floor, you click and reward. You say the cue, "sit", as the dog is being lured into a sitting position.

You can also capture behaviors and add a cue later. For example, I once taught a dog to scratch himself on the head on command. Obviously I could not physcially place the dog or lure him to do this, so I captured. Every time I say him scratching, I clicked and rewarded him. He soon connected the click with the behavior of scratching and started offering the behavior on purpose to get the click and reward. Then I added the cue, "scratch".

And thats a very basic lowdown on clicker training.

The best thing to start with a 15 week pup is basic obediance commands. Sit, laydown, heel and walking nicely on the leash, stay and wait. Simple tricks work too, fetching, roll over, high five. Just remember to keep training lessons short. 5 minutes several times a day works better than 1 or 2 15 or 30 minute sessions. A lot of times you can train as you go. Have her sit, then laydown, and then put breakfast down and have her wait a few seconds for the ok to go eat it. You just did a training lesson.

If your new to dog training, I suggest picking up the book "The Power of Positive Training" by Pat Miller. It's got instructions for all the obediance commands plus a few tricks and explains clicker training in an easy to understand language which really helps if your new to training.

Feel free to PM me anytime if you have any questions.

[DogLover8]

I used to have a German Shepard years ago. He had to be put to sleep. He had hip and jaw problems.

[BetterDog4U]

I have a mix as well. She is a rescue I got in August and shes 2-3 yrs old.



I had a Dalmation before her. He lived to be 15 1/2 and I picked him out of the litter at 5 weeks.

[ivvy_fred]

I have 7 German Shepherds Best breed by far!!

[winter]

I am completely in love with both of my German Shepherds, and I find them to be the most amazing dog breed in the world! Beautiful, intelligent, and loyal.
Autumn and Fall are my first dogs, and were a lot of work, but completely worth it. That means I've only had GSDs for 5 years! I'm very wary of the way the American lines have damaged the breed, so the two are German working line imports.