Why German Shepherds develop behavior problems, and how to solve them.
With all my years of experience training and owning & raising German Shepherds.
The number one thing I see all the time is, German Shepherds, developing behavior problems from a young age. I’m talking about within six, eight, or 12 months of age. I want to be honest with you, it’s a lack of leadership and inconsistency in their training program or no training at all.
Dogs don’t just develop these behaviors on their own. These behaviors are developed from the environment they’re living in and how they’re being raised.
Understanding German Shepherd Behavior:
1. What age should you start training a German Shepherd puppy?
Training should start when you bring your dog home. Eight weeks and beyond! You want to start training your puppy at a young age, so you don’t develop behavior problems.
A lot of people are led to believe, that they cannot start working with their puppy at eight weeks of age, The imprint age is so important which would be eight weeks, to four months, and actually, your dog can be in the imprint age right up until … Six months is when they start coming out of the imprint age.
What that means is, at a young age, your dog will start to come out of its imprint age and want to explore away from you because they’re maturing. So, you are missing the train ride. Eight weeks is a great age to start your training so your puppy will bond with you.
2. They talk to a dog trainer and they tell them their puppy is too young to train.
I’ve had people contact me for training and tell me, they contacted several trainers, and you’re the first person that told me at four months of age, I could start training my dog. The reason is, they want to sell them boot- camp training programs that cost hundreds or thousands of dollars to train their dog.
I do a lot of boot camp training programs, but that’s no reason to tell a customer that they can’t start training their dog until six months of age, because it’s too young, so it won’t fit in their boot camp program. Man, that is far from the truth.
Hey, let’s face it. If I was to tell somebody who contacted me for training a dog. I would tell them what they need to start doing right now. So, when their dog comes to me for more training, I’m not going to be cleaning up all these behavior issues they developed.
The average person, especially if you’re a new German Shepherd owner or a new dog owner period, is that you can do so much training at a young age. You should be doing your crate training and your house training.
You shouldn’t be walking your dog until it’s had all of its vaccines, three sets of (DHLP shots). Teaching it the proper rules and boundaries in the house and outside the house. Don’t spoil the puppy. If you don’t know what DHLP means, for GSD pups parvo-distemper.
You got your housebreaking, you got your leash training. You can go out and teach your basic commands, come, stay, sit, and down. I just don’t understand it. I’ve been doing this for a long time, and I can not believe what I’m hearing from people about when they contact different dog trainers.
3. Pet dog owners,
There are a couple of other things I want to talk to you about. This is for pet owners. All real top-quality professional dog trainers know this stuff, and novice dog trainers don’t. Another thing I hear dogs develop aggressive tendencies and issues because they didn’t take their puppy, or their older German Shepherd, to the dog park so they get along with other dogs and people. That is far from the truth.
Princess’s mom, Connie, and my black German Shepherd Val, their sisters. Connie, I’m going to make a video so you can see her. She’s 14 years old. My back German Shepherd Val just passed away 30 days ago. I had to put her down for a brain tumor. She’s on my blog germanshepherdbehavior.com. It sucks. Things happen. We have to do it for the right reasons.
4. Taking your dog to the dog park,
Anyway, I want to get back to talking about I’ve never taken either of those dogs to the dog park. I took Princess a couple of times, just because I knew some people were going to be there, and they wanted to see Princess and wanted to buy a couple of puppies from me. I took her there so they could see how she would get along with other dogs.
We see these issues with fearful dogs, weak nervous dogs, and bad bloodlines are the types of dogs that develop these issues. and even if those dogs are fearful of stuff, we’d have less aggression or behavior issues, if people would just develop leadership and structure daily.
Top-quality German Shepherd puppies, or older German Shepherds, do not develop these behaviors on their own. Like, I said at the beginning of this article it’s, a lack of leadership from dog owners.
You cannot change bloodlines. You cannot change your dog’s temperament. But for insecure German Shepherds, you can build their confidence. I’ve helped so many of them, and a lot of times, you’ll never get them over 100% of being fearful of loud noises, or thunderstorms, but you can sure change 85%, sometimes 90%, of that behavior, just by the proper training and building their confidences.
If we had more dog owners who would take responsibility, we have fewer dogs being euthanized every day, for behaviors that can change by hiring a good dog trainer who knows German Shepherds and has years of experience working with the breed.
The only way that any of this stuff will change, is for you to get started with training your dog. Another thing is, people have a fenced-in yard. They think a fenced-in yard is the answer to having a trained dog. Wrong,
Well, I got four acres fenced in, and that’s no excuse for me not to walk Princess. Walking a dog on a structured walk, you’ll teach it to heel on command so the dog walks beside you. It’s either you lead them, or they’re going to lead you. It’s our responsibility to train our dogs, the behaviors we want them to learn, and be consistent daily.
If we have more people doing that, we’d have fewer aggressive issues, and fewer dog training problems in the world today. Just my personal feelings, for over 30 years in the business. 30 years of training dogs from German Shepherds to Border Collies my whole life. German Shepherds, and Border Collies, are the number one breed I love to train.
Princess is now nine and a half years of age. She gets along with any dog. Some dogs, two dominant females, or dominant dogs, might want to scrap a little bit, but I won’t allow that to happen, and you shouldn’t either.
5. Having a fenced-in yard for a dog.
Another thing is, that people don’t have a fenced-in yard, so they tie their dog out on a 10 or 20-foot tie-out stake, and if the dog is a strong or dominant dog or a fearful dog, a lot of those develop biting issues when somebody gets in their territory.
Most dogs are going to protect their household. They’re going to bark. If you got a real strong-headed dog, they’re going to let you know somebody’s there. But a majority of the time even if they’re not strong-headed dogs, they might bite out of fear. So, this can make a dog aggressive too.
6. Train your dog,
Learn how to get off and on-leash control so you can go out, and burn them out before you leave the house for work. Learn to unleash your dog’s potential so you can have a well-trained dog that you can enjoy for many years to come.
7. Not doing crate training the right way,
Another reason is, that a lot of people think they should just use a crate when their dog sleeps at night. They don’t think that they should be doing crate training structures throughout the dog’s life. Guys, my earliest, youngest German Shepherd, had total freedom of the house at 16 months of age. You can’t rush maturity level with your puppy.
If you’re not providing a crate structure, you’re going to develop separation anxiety issues. If your dog’s clung to you 24/7, it’s going to have behavior problems. Examples,
You go into this room, and the dog follows. You go into the kitchen, and the dog follows you, you go to the bathroom, and the dog follows you. You go in the shower, and the dog follows. I got people telling me all kinds of stuff. It’s the truth. Your dog should not be up your butt 24/7. If you do, you raise them insecure. If you did that to your kid, what would happen?
Connie & Val, my older German Shepherd Females
There are a lot of things going on out there in the dog training world, and I’m going to tell you the truth, because anybody that knows me, knows that I will not hold back. I will be honest and authentic with anybody.
8. Why you need to walk your German Shepherd dog,
Another big thing I want to cover is about walking your dog. If more people would learn to walk their dogs and introduce them to the real world, they’d be much happier and the dog would be too.
9. Why free-feeding is bad,
The other thing is, don’t free feed. A lot of people develop behavior issues from free feeding. Some dogs will become very aggressive, so if you bring another dog into the house. I’ve had people call me about their older German Shepherd wanting to attack their new puppy in the house. Because they were free feeding for so long, now their dog is guarding the water bowl and guarding the food bowl and guarding dog bones, and any other toy that they use of having to themselves.
When you leave toys down, some dogs will start guarding their toys too. That’s why we have more young kids getting bit because people buy a toy box for the dog. Dogs do not need a toy box. They are not kids, but to some people they are, and those are the people who have a lot of aggression issues with their German Shepherds.
The dog brings them the toy and the dog tells them it’s time to play. The dog is leading you. These are some of the most important reasons why they develop bad behaviors. And if you want to start changing those today, get out there and start training your dog, I don’t care what age your dog is, you can start training your dog at any age. Any German Shepherd can learn at any age. If you can’t do it on your own, find a professional.
10. German Shepherd Rescue,
If you’re going to rescue a German Shepherd, that’s another thing I want to cover. If you don’t know anything about the breed, hire a professional to help you. Hire somebody you know that owns the breed and has enough knowledge about the breed, to go with you and help you pick out the right temperament puppy or older dog.
If you’re thinking about adopting or rescuing a German Shepherd. I recommend you read the article I wrote on seven things you need to know about rescuing and adopting a German Shepherd.
Don’t just buy German Shepherds for cosmetic looks. I did a video two years ago on this. That’s not how you want to buy a dog. Looks and temperament … Princess is gorgeous, and everything, but we don’t want to just buy a dog on cosmetic looks.
If you are going to buy a dog, you want a sound temperament dog, that has a nice temperament and strong threshold. The threshold means the dog’s nervous system. You want to get a strong nerve puppy. That’s why I recommend buying from a good breeder, so you pick the right puppy and temperament for your lifestyle.
Princess is 100% DDR bloodline. That’s border patrol, military dog, used to guard the Berlin Wall in Germany. She’s a very dominant female. Strong headed. Lightning, gunfire, noises, nothing bothers her. Want to learn more about East German Bloodlines? This is a great website to review. You’ll see a lot of nice-looking dogs, and how they train them.
If you have a dog that has a weak tendency in that nerve, your job is to do a lot of positive, confident-building training. A lot of food rewards-based training. Introduce that dog to real-world surroundings, cars, noises, bicycles, anything. You’re never going to learn to get your dog over any of these challenges until you start your training. Get out there, introduce your dog, and teach him how to get over those challenges. You can do it.
I hope this video helped, germanshepherdbehavior.com. I got a lot of great videos and information I’m going to share more with you, so please check back, to get all further updates.
My new German Shepherd puppy is going to be a solid black male DDR bloodline pup! I just love this bloodline because of the way they bond with you and are so loyal to their owners when trained and raised right. Just in case you haven’t figured this out yet! Dennis loves black German Shepherds.
I wish you guys the best of luck on your German Shepherd journey. If you have any questions, please post them below in the commons. I’m happy to help!
Thanks for stopping by.