Do you want to walk your German Shepherd in style? Here are four different tools you can use when walking your dog, and the advantages and disadvantages of each.

1. Regular choke collar. The main disadvantage to a choke or chain collar is that these give the dog walker very little control over their pets. German Shepherds typically are able to pull right through these collars. In addition, the slip action of the collar can actually damage your dog’s trachea.
2. Martingale or greyhound-style collar. These limited-slip collars function just like a plain buckle collar, except that when your German Shepherd pulls, the collar tightens enough that it can’t slip over the dog’s head. Many people find these collars useful for walking a well-trained but large dog, such as a German Shepherd, or a dog who can easily slip a regular collar.
3. Head halter. The Gentle Leader and Halti are two examples of head halters. Two advantages of the head halter are that they give the walker control over the dog’s muzzle, and creates power steering. A disadvantage of the head halter is that German Shepherds usually dislike wearing them, at least at first, so the owner needs to train the dog to wear the halter using positive reinforcement. Another disadvantage of the head halter is that if a dog likes to pull, it can rub the dog’s face. The third disadvantage is that unless the dog walker is willing to use the halter to teach the dog not to pull, the dog can still learn to pull right through the halter.
4. Anti-pull harness. An anti-pull harness is not the same as a regular body harness. A regular body harness fits around the dog’s chest, straps under its stomach and clips in the back. These harnesses are very similar to the style used by sled dogs — and guess what those are designed to do? Such harnesses encourage a dog to pull. An anti-pull harness typically clips in the front and physically prevents the dog from pulling, because the dog’s front legs become crossed if it tries. These work for all but the most dedicated pullers and are usually well accepted by German Shepherds.

What’s the best approach if you see a strange dog coming your way while you and your German Shepherd are on a walk?

First, make sure your GSD is on a leash. Whether the other dog is on leash or off, you can’t avoid an encounter with the other dog if you can’t control your dog, so call your GSD to you and snap a leash on.

Once the leash is on your dog, move out of range of the other dog if at all possible. If not possible, talk in a happy voice to your dog, laughing, singing if need be, and encourage them to keep walking with you. As much as possible, ignore the other dog. Feed your dog treats, offer him or her a favorite toy or stick, or break into a light jog.

If the other dog approaches and insists on greeting, keep your German Shepherd moving. Do not allow the greeting to turn into a spat. When possible, call out to the owner of an unleashed dog and ask them to leash their dog at least while you pass. This is polite etiquette, whether on trails, the street, or just out in the field.

photo credit: abardwell

With cooler weather comes rain, sleet, snow and ice. Wiping your German Shepherd’s paws after every walk is not only good for your carpets and flooring, but helps ensure your dog’s feet aren’t harboring burrs or don’t get burned by road salt.

If your German Shepherd is one of those who always kicks up the grass and dirt behind him after he does his business, the bulk of the groundwork is already laid out for you. What you need to do is use the positive reinforcement technique while speaking the phrase you want him to associate with this behavior. Tell him “Good ‘wipe your feet’, Rex! Good ‘wipe your feet’!” repeatedly when you catch him in the act, while scratching his favorite spot and treating him to a cookie. This will encourage him to try with all of his might to replicate the action.

The next step to take is getting him to repeat it in the appropriate place. Once he has caught on to the command of wiping his feet, bring him to the area you want him to begin performing this trick. For example, walk him to your welcome mat or a rug inside your front door. When he is standing on the rug or mat, use the phrase he is accustomed to. Make sure you have a treat, and that he knows it.

If your German Shepherd never kicks up the ground, getting him to perform the act is the first step. What you can do instead is train him to wait on a mat or rug so that you can wipe his feet off for him. Use the basic “Stay” or “Wait” cue every time he comes in the door. Wipe his paws, telling him “Wipe your feet” or even just “Foot!” Give him a special treat after each foot. Pretty soon he’ll be holding up each foot for you to wipe.

Your friends and neighbors will want to know how you manage to keep your floors so clean!

Teaching your German Shepherd not to jump up on you or your guests may seem like an impossible task, especially if you have a dog who loves people (and people who love dogs)! How many times have your guests been greeted at the door by your overenthusiastic German Shepherd’s nose and front feet, while you haplessly shout “No! Down! Stop it!” in the background? Or you meet a friend while walking your GSD, your dog jumps up, and your friend praises and pets the dog, and says, “Oh, it’s OK, I love dogs!”?

Let’s work on changing that scene with three simple strategies for training your dog not to jump on people. You’ll have the most success with your dog if you use these approaches in combination with one another.

Idea Number One: Ignore the jumping. Unless your dog weighs more than 60 lbs. or is using his mouth when he jumps, ignoring jumping up is the fastest way to permanently make it go away. Dogs jump up to get your attention — so stop giving it to them! Pushing your dog down, yelling “No!”, kneeing him in the chest, stepping on his back toes, bopping him on the head or any other interaction you can think of are a “score” in the needy dog’s book, and make him even more likely to jump next time. (After all, if a dog wants something, what’s the first thing he has to get? Your attention.) To instruct others on how to completely ignore your jumping dog, ask them to turn their backs, cross their arms and look up at the ceiling until all four of your dog’s feet are on the floor.

Idea Number Two: Manage the behavior (of both people AND dogs). The doorbell rings — where is your dog? Rushing, barking, to the door, waiting to pounce the minute it’s opened? Before you answer the door, grab a leash and put it on your dog. Then use the leash to keep the dog out of jumping up range, even tethering your dog in a secure location if necessary. This strategy is a must for adult German Shepherds, or if your guests don’t like dogs, or your German Shepherd mouths and bites when he or she jumps. On the street, keep enough distance between your dog and anyone unlikely to follow your rules so the jumping isn’t reinforced (and follow Idea Number Three).

Idea Number Three: Teach your German Shepherd an incompatible behavior. A sitting dog isn’t jumping up — simple as that. Work on improving your dog’s sit or down at the door while no guests are there, and on walks while no one’s around. Then you can ask for and reward a sit or down during progressively more difficult trials: You ring the doorbell, you pretend to greet a guest, enlist a friend or family member to play the guest’s part, etc. When the time comes, have really great treats handy and either you or your guest can ask your dog to sit or down BEFORE the dog jumps. Ask people not to pet your dog unless he is sitting or lying down.

Like everything else in dog training, consistency is key. Teach everyone in your family these strategies, and soon your German Shepherd will have one more feather in his good manners cap.

“How old does my puppy have to be before I can begin training?”

This is a question I am asked often. The German Shepherd puppy in this video is 10 weeks old; but you don’t even have to wait that long! “Training” starts the day you bring your new dog or puppy home to live with you — GSDs are learning all the time. This is why it is easier to prevent problems and bad habits than to solve them later.

But what most people mean when they ask this question is, “How soon can I expect my German Shepherd puppy to start performing tricks and basic obedience behaviors?” Happily, the answer is the same — immediately. Clicker training is an easy and fun way to accomplish this.

An easy way to add to your German Shepherd’s repertoire of tricks or commands is to teach her how to target objects.

Targeting (or “target training”) means your dog pays attention to, and then performs an action based on, a particular stimulus (usually an object such as your hand, or a target stick). A dog putting his paw on an object on command, or bumping your hand with his nose upon request, is targeting. Targeting is a super-quick behavior to teach and has a variety of uses.

“Go to your mat” is one handy result of target training. We first teach the dog to “target” his mat, add the cue “Go to your mat,” and then place in a location of our choosing. Agility trainers use targeting quite often to teach their dogs not to skip contact zones while climbing or dismounting obstacles. Service dog trainers use targeting to teach German Shepherds to open doors, turn lights on and off, and more. Target training is useful in the show ring to teach dogs how to gait and stack.

Teaching hand targeting

Targeting your hand is an easy behavior for most dogs to learn. Follow the steps below to get started. You’ll need a clicker, a bunch of small, tasty, easy-to-swallow treats, and a leash (if your dogs needs a reason to stick around).

1. Remember to always offer your dog a reward after you click, even if you have made an error.
2. Offer your dog your hand, palm facing the tip of her nose (you can hold your hand in whatever position is most comfortable). Most dogs will sniff or lick your hand out of curiosity. As soon as she touches your hand, click and offer a treat. If your dog does not attempt to touch your hand, put it behind your back for a second or two, then try again. If your dog is having trouble finding your palm, hold it closer to her face. Click only when she reaches and touches your palm with her nose.
3. Timing is everything! Be sure you are clicking as the dog’s nose touches your hand, not after. Otherwise, she won’t understand which behavior is earning a treat.
4. Add the word “touch” or “target” just as your dog touches your hand. As your dog becomes more fluent, begin asking your dog to touch your palm, using the command.
5. Raise and lower the target hand so that your dog has to take several steps to reach it. Have you moved it closer and closer to the ground, and up high so she has to stand up on her hind legs to reach it? Have you moved across the floor and had her follow you, nose to the target, as if her nose was magnetized?
6. Begin asking your German Shepherd to target other objects with her nose, such as small container lids, pieces of cloth, the end of a stick, etc. You can also vary the length of time the dog must keep her nose on your hand or target object before she gets her click and treat.

Of course, you can teach your dog to target any number of objects, whether portable or not. The most portable object I ever used to teach target training was a sticker, which could then be placed anywhere, including unmovable places like walls!

Training your German Shepherd to perform a reliable stay is not as difficult as it might seem. You only need two things:

1) Really yummy treats or some other desirable reinforcer.
2) Patience.

The easiest way to envision stay training is to think of the “No running in the hall” rule. When you were in school, if you were caught running in the halls, your teacher did not grab you by the collar, physically drag you back to where you started, slam you to the ground and yell “Walk!” (Or at least, I hope not.) The teacher simply looked at you, possibly pointed a finger, and requested in a normal tone that you return to where you started and walk – rather than run – down the hallway.

This is how we instruct our dogs – although, because German Shepherds are experts at nonverbal language, we can simply accompany them back to their original starting position rather than ask them to return.

Here’s the hardest part about teaching the stay exercise: It’s YOUR job to make sure the dog doesn’t get up! This is where we need 2) Patience.

There are only two possible scenarios in stay-land.*

Scenario No. 1:
Dog sits, you ask dog to stay, dog stays, you click and treat.

Scenario No. 2:
Dog sits, you ask dog to stay, dog gets up — you accompany dog back to the start of the exercise and repeat, hoping for better results.

*An alternate version of Scenario No. 2 exists if you don’t have the dog on leash, whereby the dog gets up, then proceeds to run away, chase squirrels, cats, birds, trucks, etc., or pee on the neighbor’s trash cans.

The easiest way to ensure that Scenario No. 2 never happens is to time your click and treat before the dog gets up. Your dog’s first rewardable stays will probably be about 1-billionth of a second long, because that’s how long your dog will remain sitting after the first few times you say “Stay.”

Gradually extend the length of the stays to whatever amount of time suits you, using the principles outlined above. However, throw in some random stays of shorter duration so your dog doesn’t begin to perceive the “stay” command as an aversive (i.e., “Each time she asks me to stay, I have to sit here for longer and longer periods before getting a treat – forget that, I’m outta here!”)

Extend the distance of the stays gradually, as well. Remember to extend distance the way you want the real-life behavior to look: For example, don’t begin to increase distance by backing away from your dog; begin by turning away. A stay the length of several football fields doesn’t do you much good if you can’t turn away from the dog!

As usual, the click ends the behavior, which means the dog can get up after you click. Eventually you can replace the click with a release word. Toss the treat after you click, to get the dog in standing position for the next stay exercise.

German Shepherds are amazing dogs, and typically biddable (making them easy to train) and smart (making them quick to learn). However, this doesn’t mean your dog fits the mold, or even if she does, that you’ll always have a smooth relationship.

Photo source: Flickr

Most folks who get a German Shepherd either know of or used to have a dog that was absolutely perfect — never made a mess in the house, didn’t shed, never jumped up, never barked inappropriately, never lunged at people or other dogs, never chewed the furniture, always laid quietly in another room during dinner, always paid its taxes on time, never forgot to bring home the milk, etc.

Not all of us are as blessed. Sometimes, a dog comes into our lives who has perfected a different art: making our existence miserable!

Here are a few signs to indicate that your dog’s behavior may require professional intervention:

Your dog is actively threatening to harm or has harmed a person. As much as dogs will be dogs, this is the land of people — and sometimes litigious ones. Besides not wanting anyone to be hurt, it’s important to get a handle on your dog’s aggressive behavior, because sometimes an aggressive display (barking, lunging, jumping at a person’s face, etc.) can be misinterpreted. In fact, any “biting incident” involving a dog, even a dog with no prior history of aggression, and even if the bite did not break the skin can be grounds for euthanasia in this country, as the case of Rolo demonstrates.

Your dog has threatened or harmed livestock, cats or other dogs. Again, besides the potential for euthanasia (or worse, if a neighbor or livestock owner has vengeance in mind), these kinds of dog problems aren’t simple to fix. Unless there’s a sibling rivalry issue between two dogs, this type of behavior is likely rooted in predation. Lots of well-meaning folks follow the advice of friends, “trainers,” or relatives, and punish the dog in an attempt to “correct” predatory actions. But predatory behavior is unlikely to be wholly suppressed with positive punishment, no matter how creative. And painful and/or threatening treatment (including yelling and leash-popping) of a dog who dislikes other dogs can exponentially worsen the problem.

You’re feeling helpless about, hopeless about or afraid of your dog’s behavior. If you’re dog is soiling his crate every day, or tearing up the house, or refusing to budge from the couch or bed when asked, ask yourself whether it might be time to call for professional help. Although animal behavior consultation can be expensive, it is a far smaller price to pay than chancing the dog’s life — which is likely to be the outcome when you decide not only can you not handle the behavior, but life would be easier without the dog. A well-known fact is that dogs are relinquished to shelters for behavior problems more than any other reason. Don’t let your dog be one of them.

For help finding a professional dog trainer or animal behavior consultant near you, visit the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants at www.iaabc.org, or the Association of Pet Dog Trainers at www.apdt.com.

Far too many German Shepherds live their lives on the end of a chain.

Pictured is Joshua, a one- to two-year-old male German Shepherd I rescued from the side of a busy highway with a logging chain literally bolted to his heavy-duty collar. Whatever attempt his previous owner made to keep him at home failed, thankfully. He was later adopted by a family of four, who lets him sleep on the bed and plays basketball with him!

If you know of a dog, any dog, that spends its life anchored on a chain, Karen Pryor has put together an excellent guide to getting involved in the situation and improving conditions for the dog. This is worth making a New Year’s resolution to do.

If direct intervention in a chained dog’s life isn’t possible, you can join a number of national campaigns to end the chaining of dogs, including UnchainYourDog.org and DogsDeserveBetter.org. The Humane Society of the United States also offers a number of tips and resources for those looking to end the chaining of dogs.

Chaining a German Shepherd isn’t just inhumane, it’s downright dangerous. Dogs who are chained or tethered are more likely to hang themselves or become targets for thieves, bullies or other animals.

What’s worse, a 2000 study published in the Sept. 15 issue of the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association noted that 17 percent of dogs involved in fatal attacks on humans between 1979 and 1998 were chained at the time of the incident. Chained dogs are more likely to develop aggressive behavior because they are unable to communicate normally and therefore become frustrated or over-aroused. The victims of such aggression are usually children, who wander unwittingly into the dogs’ path.

Furthermore, a German Shepherd is bred to be a working companion and therefore must be raised indoors as a member of the family to develop its full breed potential. Unsupervised German Shepherds are at risk for developing aggressive behavior and becoming further subjected to unfair breed-specific legislation.

For the sake of dogs everywhere, let’s bring them inside!

Source: Flickr

Those little balls of fluff are adorable, but life can become miserable without accomplishing at least these five tasks first:

1. Buy a crate. A crate is an indispensable tool for house training, as well as keeping your belongings and your puppy safe while you are gone. Crate-training takes a few days if your breeder hasn’t already started it with your new puppy, but most puppies take to it quickly if you are diligent.
2. Choose your vet. If you don’t already have a veterinarian for other pets, ask your friends, co-workers or breeder who they recommend. If possible, schedule a “well puppy” visit with your veterinarian for the day after you bring your puppy home. (Most breeders will require the puppy be examined by a vet within 48 to 72 hours of purchase for the health guarantee to be honored.) When shopping for a vet, don’t hesitate to ask about recommended vaccination schedules, costs, restraint methods, and whether the clinic offers any “extras,” such as boarding or microchipping.
3. Enroll in a puppy kindergarten class. A training class for puppies aged 8 to 18 weeks is a vital component of your new puppy’s life. These classes will not only get you started on the basics of obedience training and house manners, but should also allow your puppy the opportunity to play with other puppies. This is a must if you plan for your puppy to interact with other dogs throughout its life. Again, ask friends, your vet and breeder for recommendations, and visit the class in advance of enrolling, when possible.
4. Prepare the menu. Decide before you bring your puppy home what food you will feed. Kibble, raw, home cooked or frozen — the variety of choices at the moment is astounding, so take some time to research options before selecting a food or feeding method. The solution is to choose an option that meets your puppy’s nutrient requirements, and that you feel good about preparing and feeding.
5. Get some toys. What’s life with a puppy without dog toys strewn about the house? Choose sturdy, easy-to-wash toys that appeal to your puppy’s desire to chew. Rope tug toys and “puppy” chew bones are fine, so long as your puppy is only playing with them while supervised. Do not allow a puppy to chew any toy not specifically labeled for chewing (especially rope or cloth toys). Buy enough toys that you can rotate a couple sets in and out of your puppy’s life — they’ll be like new again!
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