How to Train a German Shepherd Puppy?

German shepherd dogs are really popular and there are many people that are looking for a puppy. However, it is important that you know that to train German shepherd puppies is important. This is the only way to make sure that you are going to get a dog that is disciplined and that is listening to your commands.

German shepherd dogs are medium to large dogs. They are strong in nature and one of the cleverest dogs that you can find. These dogs are also known as hard-working, but one of the best family dogs that you can get. But, because they are clever, active and dominant, it is important to train a German shepherd puppy as soon as possible. This is all the information that you need about training your new German shepherd puppy.

When you should start train German shepherd?

The first thing that you should know, is when you should start to train your German shepherd. Some are saying that they are only learning from the age of one year. While other people are saying that you should train your German shepherd as soon as possible. What is the correct answer?

The correct answer is that you should train your puppy as soon as he arrives at your home. This will normally be from four to eight weeks old. The sooner you are teaching him to obey you and to know some commands, the easier he will learn some of the other tricks that this breed can do. The longer you are waiting, the harder teaching the dog will become.  You should not spend hours and hours training with a small puppy. Just a couple of minutes a day is all that the puppy can handle. Playtime is just as important as training time.

Tips before you start to train your German shepherd puppy?

Before you start training your German Shepherd puppy, there are a couple of information and tips that you need to know. This is the only way that you can start training your puppy correctly, and where you can make sure that you don’t frustrate yourself or your puppy.

The first thing that you should make sure about, is that you have some tools that will assist you with the German Shepherd puppy training. We are talking here about the clicker, and some treats to give while training. You won’t realize how important it is to have these tools to be successful with training.

You should learn your dog to be social and to bite softly. This is also normally the first thing that you are teaching a German Shephard puppy. You should also make sure that you know what type of reward your puppy will enjoy when you are training them.

If your puppy isn’t in the mood for training, you should quit for the day. By forcing them, you are going to lose his trust. You will see that the puppy isn’t concentrating and just want to play and to have fun. Then, you should rather leave training and play with the pup.

Another thing that your German shepherd puppy is going to learn, is how to become house trained. This is a slow process and you need to have lots of patients for this training. Rewarding him when he did his things outside is essential. It will show him that you are proud of him and reward his positive actions.

Never, ever shout at your puppy. Especially during training. There are many German shepherd puppies that are scared of people, or aggressive. This is because of an owner that has shouted at him while training.

What kind of Training that You Should Teach a German Shepherd?

A German shepherd dog that doesn’t have any kind of training can become a dangerous dog when he is grown. This is why it is important to make sure that you know that to train your German Shepherd puppy correctly, is essential. For your safety and for the safety of others and your dog.

This is the great thing about the German Shepherd, there are many things that you can train your dog for. They are known as police dogs for nothing. There are two basic dog training methods that you should train your German shepherd for. This is the basic command training and advanced command training.

The first training that you should start with is the basic command training. This is where you are teaching him to sit, lie down, eat, and no. Those commands that your dog knows exactly what he should be doing.  There are a couple of things that you can teach him with this command. Go outside, good dog, fetch, come, eat food, leave it. These are just some samples of basic command training. This is the commands that are the easiest to learn, and that should be learned correctly before you are going to the advanced command training.

The advanced command training is where you are teaching your dog other commands that aren’t common. Things that he can use in his working environment. For example, training to become a police dog, a watchdog or just to be a family dog, protecting the family. This is also the training that you might consider asking for some assistance for. Especially, if you don’t have the right knowledge for advanced command training.

This is the stage where you are teaching tricks, learn to sniff drugs or playing fetch with you. If you are going to use the dog as a guide dog, you should make sure that he is getting proper training from an expert. If this is going to be just a family dog, he should know to be gentle with small children and not to bite hard or snap at them.

Become the Alpha Leader

It is important to know that your dog doesn’t see you as his mom or dad as what you might think. He is looking up to you as his alpha leader. This is how dogs work.

And, it is important to make sure that you are going to know how to become the alpha leader. The one he is going to listening to. No, this isn’t going to happen if you are discouraging him from learning and if you don’t discipline him for making mistakes. The thing about discipline isn’t about leaving the dog without food or getting a slap or two. This is to show him that he did wrong and that you don’t accept that behavior. Again, this is where the right training comes in.

Even if you see you as the alpha leader, he should still be able to obey you and to protect you against any danger. You need to know that dogs are living in a pack, in nature. That they have an alpha leader that they are listening to and protecting. In a household, your family is his pack and you or the puppy’s owner is the alpha leader. And, you need to teach him to listen to you and to make sure that he knows who is the leader of this pack. Otherwise, you are going to have a dog that is going to be the leader and that you are going to have some problems to get him to listen to you.

Housebreaking Essentials Training for German Shepherd

If your German shepherd is going to sleep in your home, or if he is going to be an indoor dog, housebreaking is essential. This is something that you should make sure about, from the start. He needs to know the limit of where he might be and if he is allowed on the furniture and your bed or not.

Because of the size of the German shepherd, it is important to make sure that the dog is housebreaking before he is getting too large. But, this is the one thing that many people are struggling with. Just because they don’t realize that the sooner you are housebreaking your dog, the better for you and your dog. These are some of the information that you need to know about housebreaking essential training for German Shepherds.

The dog must know where he is sleeping. He needs to have his own dog bed where he can sleep at night. You might feel that you want him to sleep with you because he is small and cute, but he isn’t going to stay small. And, then it is going to be hard to teach him that there are parts of the home that is off limits, like your bed. This is the first thing that a German shepherd needs to learn about housebreaking.

Limit his access to the house. Especially, if you are just starting with training your Germain shepherd puppy. You will need to keep an eye on him at all times. It is just easier to do that if he has limited access to the home. You can do this by putting him in a doggy cage, or by adding some dog gates to the home.

You need to have eating rules between your German shepherd puppy and your family.  The puppy should learn from an early age that eating out of your plate isn’t acceptable. And, that he should not be in the room where you are eating. It doesn’t matter if you are eating in the kitchen, dining room or in front of the television. By feeding him from your plate while he is young, he isn’t going to be housebreaking correctly. This can cause some problems when he is older, bigger and stronger.

The last thing and the most difficult thing is to make sure that you are preparing him for house training. So that he can go outside if he wants to do his thing. This isn’t something that is going to happen overnight, but with lots of patience and perseverance, you and your dog will get it right eventually.

Training Your Dog to Accept Handling

If you think that it is natural for a dog to accept handling, then you are wrong. Just think for a minute what is going to happen when you are trying to touch a dangerous dog that doesn’t have contact with humans. He is going to defend himself and he is going to bite or become aggressive. The same can happen if you don’t teach your dog to accept handling from you and other people in the family.

Puppies can be shy and really afraid of you. This is because they aren’t familiar with your scent. This is why you should make sure that to train your German Shepherd puppy starts with accepting handling. Not only from you, but from everyone that he is dealing with on a daily basis.

Something that you should be careful of, is to start using a clicker if he isn’t comfortable with you and being handled. This can give him a fright, and he will not trust you again, easily. If he starts to trust you and you start using the clicker, do not use it to close to him. The sound will still frighten him and he might struggle with handling again.

This is the first training that you should do with your dog. You can’t start with normal training if he can’t accept handling and being touch by people. To start the handling training, you should give your hand to him to smell you. Do this for a couple of minutes. If the dog is sniffing your hand without feeling threatened, you can start patting him on the back. Stroll his hair and talking softly to him. He will start to see that you won’t harm him and that you are going to protect him while he is a puppy. If you can do this, you have already had success with your first training session with your German shepherd puppy training.

Train your German shepherd for Potty Training

The hardest part of training your German shepherd puppy is to potty train them. This is also the most frustrating part of having a puppy. Not only should you know exactly how to potty train your puppy, but you should also be patient. If you lose patience, you will not get your puppy to potty train. If you don’t start off correctly when potty training your German shepherd puppy, you aren’t going to get it right. The secret is to know how to do it correctly. These are tips about potty training your puppy successfully.

• You should take him out at least every two to three hours during the day. At night, you can take him out before bedtime and in the morning when you first wake up. This will ensure that he starts to realize that he should go outside for his business
• You can put him in a dog play den at night. Making sure that he isn’t missing the whole house during the night. This is a great thing to do if you have the room for a play den. You can also use the play den during the day to ensure that he doesn’t mess in the house.
• Every time that you are putting him outside, you should say “go potty”. Making sure that he knows what you want. He will start to learn the command and you don’t need to take him outside anymore. You can just say “go potty” and he will go outside by himself.
• You can give him treats when he does his thing outside. This will make the dog realize that he is going to get a treat if he is going outside for doing his things. With repetition, he will automatically go outside for potty.
• Early training is essential. The last thing that you want is to have an adult dog that is still not house trained
• The easiest way to potty train your puppy is to keep your eyes open and to see when he wants to do his business. To take him outside in time will let him learn that going outside for his business is the right thing to do.

Basic Obedience Training

Earlier in the article, you have learned that basic obedience training is the first step in training a German Shepherd puppy. And, that you can’t teach him the more difficult commands and training if you don’t know how to do the basic obedience training. This is why you should make sure that you don’t just know these tips, but that you are able to make sure that you can do the basic obedience training with your dog before you move on to the more difficult commands and training. This is what you need to know about basic obedience training.

• Make sure that you have the right equipment before you start with your basic obedience training with your German shepherd puppy. You will need to have treats or toys, a short and long leash and lots of patients.
• The puppy should be in the mood for training. If you see that his attention isn’t with you, you should stop training and try again later. This is when owners are getting frustrated. They think that the puppy will be ready for training when you are.
• Giving him a small number of treats at a time. Every time that he has done the command correctly. Or, if he prefers playing with a toy, give him the toy to enjoy for a couple of minutes. Then, continue training. With each correct command, he can play with his toy, or you should give him a treat. Dogs and puppies learn with rewards.
• Don’t make a training session for longer than 15 minutes. This is how long a puppy can concentrate. And, you should make sure that you are always ending the training session with something positive. A treat, a play with the toy or just some attention.

Teach Important Commands

There are many commands that you can teach your German Shepherd puppy. But some are a lot more important than other commands. This is why you should start off with the most important commands. This is the only way that you can make sure that you are going to get the best results. These are the most important commands and some tips on how you can teach these commands to your dog.

• Sit. This is the easiest command to teach your puppy German shepherd. And, this is the most important one as well. With a treat, this command it easy to teach your puppy. You should make sure that you are only teaching one command at a time. You also could read our another article about how to teach your dog to sit without treats.
• Stay and Come. With a large dog like a German shepherd puppy, you need to teach him how to stay and come. Especially, if he is going to be a guard dog. This is just as easy to teach as with the sit command. You just need to have a treat or two, and some patients.
• Down. This command might be a bit more difficult than the sit and come command, but by now, you will be able to know how to teach your dog. He will also know that with every command that he is learning, he is going to get treats. This is important to make sure that your dog can lie next to you when you are talking to friends and family.
• Leave it. There is nothing more frustrating when a dog doesn’t know to drop something that he might have in his mouth. Or, if he is going to charge at something. The moment that they are learning the command leave it, they will know exactly what is expected from them. And, this will prevent any dog bites to strangers when they are visiting your home.

With each command that you are teaching your German shepherd puppy, you need to say the command as well. This will let them learn the command with the reaction that you want. And, they will know that with that  command comes a treat or a toy.

Read our another article “Basics Commands You Could Teach Your Dog” to know more details about basic commands that you could teach to your dog.

What you should not do when Train Your Dog

This is something that everyone should know. Not only German shepherd puppy owners. If you want to train your dog successfully, there are a couple of things that you should not do when training your dog.

• Don’t Shout to Your Dog. The first thing is that you should never shout on your dog. This is the fastest way that your dog won’t trust you anymore. And, a dog that doesn’t have trust, won’t learn to obey their owners.
• Losing Patience. Lose patience is another thing that you should not do while training. Rather leave the training for a bit, if you are getting frustrated and going to lose your patients. The one thing that you need to know is that a dog knows when you are getting angry and frustrated. Even if you don’t show it.
• Don’t ever chase your dog away, when he wants to get close to you. This is the fastest way that he is going to lose trust in you. And, this will make learning commands impossible. He needs to see you as the pack leader. And, if he needs some attention, this is exactly what you should give him in order to trust you and to learn commands.
• No Treat For Bad Behavior. Do not give the German shepherd puppy a treat if he didn’t do something correctly. This is going to teach him that bad behavior is acceptable. Only give him a treat if he has done something correctly, or after a training session.
• Teach two or more commands at a time. This isn’t going to work when you are trying to teach him more than one command at a time. This is going to confuse the dog and might take longer to learn the different commands.

 When you should call Professional Trainer?

You are trying to train your German shepherd puppy yourself. But, how do you know that it might be time to call a professional trainer? If you have the patients, you can train your puppy yourself, but if you don’t have lots of patients, you will not be successful with the training. And, you might want to call a professional.

If you have tried to learn your puppy German Shepherd, and you have failed. If you don’t succeed with training hiring a professional will do the trick. They know exactly how to do this correctly. The other reason when you might want to hire a professional is if you want to teach your dog more than just the most essential commands. The more difficult commands can be much harder to teach, so this might be a great opportunity for your dog to be introduced to a professional trainer.

Some Recommendation reading for German Shephard training

The great news about German shepherd dog training is that there are lots of information online that you can make use of. Books, videos, and step by step guides that you can use to be successful with puppy training. The only problem is that there are some people that don’t know where to find this German shepherd puppy training information. These are some of the best readings that you can get about training puppies.

• German Shepherd Training: The complete guide to training and raising your German Shepherd eBook
• German Shepherd Training: The Beginner’s Guide to Training Your German Shepherd Puppy
• German Shepherd Handbook: Your German Shepherd Puppy Month by Month

You always wanted to have a German shepherd puppy. But, because you are not sure about how to train him correctly, you rather search for another dog breed. The good news is that German Shepherds are learning easily and you won’t need to be a professional trainer before you can train your dog. The only thing that you need to do, is to know how to train him correctly, and to get as many information about training your dog as possible. This will ensure that you are going to have a dog that is listening to you and that are going to have a tight bond with you.

You could learn more about how to train your German Shepherd on gallery video. Click the below link to watch it:

• Video about training your German Shepherd puppy

• Complete guide in training your German shepherd

That’s all our tips for a German Shepherd puppy. If you have any training that we should add, please share it in the comment below.