10 Not-So-Obvious German Shepherd Training Tips

Once you own a dog you can’t just let it live on its own inside a kennel in your house. You need to invest time in your Shepherd and consider him to be a part of your family.  A family has its own rules and every member is expected to follow them, your dog is no less. He is capable of being the star of the house as much as you are, all he needs is a bit of training.

Training your Shepherd is an art, and making a masterpiece requires time so here some German shepherd training tips.  The first step for this is understanding your dog and making him feel secure around you. In order to get the best result and receive more cooperation from your dog, it is important for you to be positive and patient. Instead of forcing your dog to ‘sit’ and   ‘pale dead’, make it more interesting for it to participate actively. Reward your dog with not just treats but also a lot of praises and long lasting comfortable hugs.

Apart from these, here are some German Shepherd Training Tips that will help you make your training period easier:

#1  Begin your training attempts at around eight weeks old.

German Shepherds can be very protective of their family members, so you want to socialize your puppy early in puppyhood. This will get them used to interact well with a wide variety of people and animals, which is essential.

#2  Don’t be afraid to use food treats for German shepherd training tips.

One of the key features of a good trainer is that he is able to motivate the dog. To do this, you need to find the things that your dog likes most and use them as rewards. Using food for training doesn’t mean that your pup will only obey when you have treats in your hand. Done the right way, your pooch will respond to your command even when empty-handed.

#3  Be generous with your affection.

Most people don’t have a problem being very clear about when they are unhappy with their dogs, but, they often ignore the good stuff. Big mistake! Make sure you give your German Shepherd lots of attention when he’s doing the right thing. Let him know when he’s been a good boy. That’s the time to be extra generous with your attention and praise.


#4 Be consistent

Whenever you’re training your GSD, it’s important to get as many family members involved as possible so everyone’s on the same page. If you are telling your GSD“off” when he jumps on the couch and someone else is saying “down,” while someone else is letting him hang out up there, how on earth is he ever going to learn what you want? Consistency will be the key to your success.

#5 Stop your German shepherd from Jumping NOW

You might think that this is not that important, but believe me, it is very important to control your dog’s jumping.  If he starts jumping, ignore him and make sure that you pay no attention to him. Once his jumping is under control, teach him to sit down when you get home in order to be greeted.

#6  Potty train your German shepherd the right way

You should know how many times, and when to take your puppy out. Use a crate if you need to and NEVER punish your GSD for an accident you did not see happen, you have to “catch-him-in-the-act” if you want to mildly reprimand and redirect to the correct spot.

#7 Tell him what you want him to do!

There is nothing inherently wrong with telling your German Shepherd “no,” except that it doesn’t give him enough information. Instead of telling your GSD “no,” tell him what you want him to do. German Shepherds don’t generalize well, so if your GSD jumps up on someone to say hello and you say no, he may jump higher or he may jump to the left side instead of the right. A better alternative would be to ask him to “sit.” Tell him what you want him to do in order to avoid confusion. This is an important German shepherd training tip.

#8 Reward good behavior and ignore bad behavior

This rule is amazing and will work wonders, besides it is really easy to apply, all you have to do is pay attention to your German shepherd puppy and reward the good things he does. However, there are a couple rules to keep in mind for it to work:

If you notice that the “bad” behavior is no getting any better, it’s probably because _somehow_ it’s being rewarded! You need to figure out what the reward is and remove it.

If ignoring your pooch for the bad behavior doesn’t work, then you can train your canine friend an incompatible behavior. For example, when a dog is laying down, it is harder to bark


#9  Your German shepherd needs to learn things in different places, and every time from scratch

Your German shepherd must learn things from different places, sometimes different experiences teach you different things, and make sure that the things your dog learns, he learns it from scratch, learning new things can be quite difficult, but the result is worth the work.

#10 Train your Shepard to ask for permission

You do want your dog to be disciplined right? So you must Train him to ask for permission. Dogs can be quite tricky, but if you train them in the right way, you can teach them things faster. Asking for permission is very important, as it shows that your dog is well trained, make this a habit and your dog will follow it.

If you follow these German shepherd training tips (and maybe check out more tips in this post), then your dog will listen to your commands. Just remember one thing, it takes time and a lot of hard work to train your dog, and training your dog will be very hard. Don’t lose hope if your dog doesn’t follow your commands, you must understand him and connect to him. If the connection between you both is strong, then he will listen to you. You must be consistent and train your dog every day, there will be a lot of hardships in your journey, but it’ll be worth it.