dogs

Five things to do before bringing your new puppy home

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

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.
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.
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.
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.
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!

How to make sure your German Shepherd is friends with your friends

German Shepherds aren’t known for their outgoing, I-love-everybody nature. In fact, the breed standard obliges them to have “a distinct personality marked by direct and fearless, but not hostile, expression, self-confidence and a certain aloofness that does not lend itself to immediate and indiscriminate friendships.”

But this doesn’t mean your dog has to bark like a maniac at everyone who comes through the door, or worse, bite or threaten to bite.

The secret to success

The secret to having a German Shepherd who is safe around non-threatening strangers is teach him or her what friendly people look like. The message should be, “Everyone is friendly.” That way, if your German Shepherd meets someone who isn’t, he or she will pick up on the person’s intentions right away.

Temperament Time-Out

Some dogs, no matter how well socialized, are innately shy or innately suspicious. If your dog has a history of growling, snapping or lunging at strangers, do not attempt behavior modification without the opinion and/or supervision of an animal behavior professional.

Start young

Socialization to strangers should begin in puppyhood. Every person your puppy meets should be as kind and as rewarding as possible. This is not a breed that socializes itself. Early puppyhood, from 3 to 12 weeks, is a vital time in a pup’s brain development. While the breeder should have taken care to socialize your puppy until 7 or 8 weeks of age, your job isn’t through. Your puppy needs to meet at least five new friendly people per day, and take at least one trip away from home every day, as well.

If there is a subset of people your puppy seems uncomfortable with (such as young children), expose your puppy to them in a gentle, lighthearted manner. Do not allow others to pick up your puppy by the scruff of its neck, for instance, or flip it onto its back without warning. Have all strangers, children especially, feed your puppy tasty treats (even better if done in exchange for sitting politely)!

The never-ending process

Socialization for German Shepherds doesn’t stop once the puppy is 6 or 7 months. In fact, German Shepherds need regular, diligent exposure to nice and neutral strange people, places and objects until they are close to two years old! This will be a mostly painless process if you are dedicated to teaching your German Shepherd obedience and good manners — he or she can go with you everywhere!

Turning point

Most German Shepherds (and other herding and guarding breeds) begin to differentiate between “strangers” and “their pack” around 7 to 8 months. This is a vital time to remind your dog that no one they meet in the course of everyday life is dangerous.

Oftentimes, a young dog will start barking at strangers or other dogs, raise its hackles, or moves away when strangers approach, seemingly overnight. If your German Shepherd has only recently started to display such behavior, and is less than a year old, chances are he or she is going through a phase in the maturation process.

Be proactive, not reactive

Even if such behavior is a phase of doggie development, it is still unacceptable to the public at large. Start listening to your young German Shepherd about what he or she is or isn’t comfortable with — and act accordingly.

If your dog seems to dislike bearded men, for instance, do not force him or her to interact with bearded men. Instead, keep your distance in a relaxed manner, and if your dog observes the man without barking or growing, praise and feed a treat. If your dog does bark or growl, you must move farther away until your dog is able to focus on you and be calm. Feed and praise the dog for looking at you, making your distance to the undesirable person closer ONLY AS THE DOG FEELS COMFORTABLE. Any signs of discomfort from the dog should be interpreted as though you are moving too fast.

Typically, a soothing laugh from you and a cookie or two given BEFORE the dog begins to react are enough to calm most young dogs’ nerves. But always, always, listen to your dog’s body language before allowing a stranger to pet the dog.

Dogs who move away from a stranger’s touch are stating in no unclear terms that they do not want to be petted. Forcing the issue could lead to a bite!

Management is key

Teach your dog a solid “go to your crate” command, using clicker training. This simple command is a wonderful way to control your dog’s access to strangers while you are at home. Teaching a down-stay can be equally effective.

Remember, not everybody loves dogs, and for those afraid of them, the sight of a grown German Shepherd can be enough to start some folks’ fear signals flowing. Teach your dog to be respectful and polite with everyone, but be prepared to remove him or her from the scene if necessary. Your friends will thank you for it!

Too late?

What can you do if your five-year-old German Shepherd has been hurling himself at the door, teeth bared, every time company arrives — for years? Contact an animal behavior consultant qualified in dealing with aggression issues.

When should I start training my German Shepherd puppy?

“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.

Want a smarter dog? Try target training

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).

Remember to always offer your dog a reward after you click, even if you have made an error.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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!

When to seek help with your dog

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.

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 iaabc.org, or the Association of Pet Dog Trainers at apdt.com.

Five things to do before bringing your new puppy home