German Shepherd Obedience Training:
Teach According to its Genetic Makeup
The German Shepherd is your friend, partner and defender and so you owe to him that it gets training worthy of its devotion and status as a loyal companion. There are a few steps required from the teacher when imparting obedience training and one should make a sound beginning by teaching the German Shepherd the easiest command possible such ‘sit’ or ‘look’ and then gradually try out newer and more difficult commands.
A Few Helpful Tips
One should consider the genetic makeup of the German Shepherd; for instance teaching it things such as personal protection should be easy as it has in its genes to protect. Initially, one should use commands such as ‘sit’ and if it responds by sitting, albeit even for a second or two, one should reward and then release it. Slowly, one may increase the time that it should remain seated. In German Shepherd obedience training, one should ensure that it is comfortable during the training exercise and remember to release it from a command/session if it seems stressed as short and brief teaching sessions are most fruitful. The session should also be ended on a positive note.
A new command should be taught in an area where there is no other distraction and this could be in the home or in the yard and once the dog begins to respond reliably one can increase the level of distraction to further test its obedience skills. It should respond well even when it is being distracted as this will further inculcate the obedience skill in the dog. Distractions could include bouncing a ball, throwing a ball/toy, squeaking a toy, running around your dog etc.
When imparting German Shepherd obedience training one should start by teaching a command with the dog very close up and gradually increase the distance till it reaches as far as 30 feet. Also, in case the German Shepherd is three feet away and a good distance from a squirrel, flock of pigeons etc, there is a greater likelihood of getting the dog to respond than if it were at a greater distance away from you and closer to the distractions. Only after it has reliably learned to obey will it be possible to decrease the distance between the objects of distraction and the German Shepherd.
One also needs to realize that a dog that responds obediently at home should also learn to recognize the command in other contexts such as on a local dog run. Varying locations while teaching your German Shepherd obedience training. While obeying commands is important, it is also important to try out the commands in urban as well as rural locations. One may also need to practice the commands on different object surfaces such as chairs, tables, low walls and logs.
Sometimes, the German Shepherd’s obedience training program may turn it into a patterned trained creature that expects one specific command to follow another specific command but this is not recommended and the commands should be given in different orders and be comprehended and obeyed by the dog without any difficulty. One may also intersperse the timings when to practice giving commands and this may include doing so in the mornings or evenings.
To check its obedience level one should try giving commands when in different positions. One may also need to vary tone as well as volume of the voice when giving commands so that it can obey in different tones of voice and at different volumes. Having taught the German Shepherd to obey commands one should proceed with German Shepherd potty training as the next step.