Training German Shepherd Puppy
Training

Training A German Shepherd Puppy

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When it comes to training your new German Shepherd puppy you wanna do it right, as it can effect its behavior and actions later on in its life. German Shepherds are generally easy to train, but here is more information and tips to make the process a bit easy and more effective.

Potty Training A German Shepherd Puppy:

Potty Training is the most important overall skill to be taught to your puppy. There’s numerous ways to train them when it comes to this. But which way is the best?

The Right Way: Crate Training

Crate training is a great and easy way to potty train your puppy. You don’t have to do much work at all. All your gonna need is an appropriate sized crate, which you should already have whenever you purchased all the needed things for your puppy. When I say appropriate size I mean not too small, you want to give your puppy room to move around. That being said, you do not want it to be too big either. You want just enough space for your puppy to have room to sleep and turn around.

I would recommend putting some sort of bedding down. You might think, “Well I don’t want my puppy to pee on one of my blankets, towels, or new bed I buy them.” Well there is a possibility they could pee on it but it’s better to use when training them. The reason for this is even as puppies, they don’t like to do their business where they sleep. They will hold it in for as long as possible.

German Shepherd Puppy Crate Training

So what you do is put them in their crate at night then in the morning take them immediately outside and say the command like “go potty.” They will most definitely go since they have been holding it in all night. If they did have an accident in their crate just simply give them a little scold. Make sure not to be too aggressive. If they do go outside you reward them with a treat then repeat daily. They will learn that they get rewarded when they go outside, so they won’t wanna go inside. Even when they are out of the crate.

If you are going to be leaving your German Shepherd alone, you will need to how long is appropriate. We wrote an article detailing the proper time that a puppy can be left alone in a crate.

The Wrong Way: Pee pads

Pee pads are a square absorbent material made for puppies to learn how to be potty trained on. Most people think this is the best way to start off. It’s actually not. It may be easy to clean up and a fast training mechanism, but it’s not effective at all. Someone trying to sell you this might say something like, “After training your puppy to go on the pee pad, simply just transfer over to training them to go outside.” But it’s not as easy as it may sound.

Some people reading this might think, “Well I like to challenge myself, so I’ll just choose this anyway.” But it’s not like that. It’s not that it will be hard to teach using this method, it’s that it has a larger chance of effecting your German Shepherds behavior and actions a lot as it’s growing up. Let me tell you how.

The way you use these pee pads is you set them up somewhere in your house and use a command like “go potty” over the course of weeks or days. You reward them every time they go on it with a treat until it becomes natural to them. It may work but it teaches the dog to go inside the house. They know that when they get rewarded they are doing something right.

So when you try to make them go outside they won’t understand. Once you get rid of the pee pads they will try to still go inside because they think they are doing the right thing. Then you will have your dog peeing in the house instead of outside as a puppy.

Teething:

This is one of the hardest stages as a puppy parent. Puppies teeth start coming in at about only 4 weeks old then stop at their adult teeth at least by 6 months old. At this time your new German Shepherd puppy will want to chew on everything. This stage will pass eventually but let’s go through some tips and information to help you out.

German Shepherd Puppy Teething

Teething toys for Training German Shepherd Puppy:

Very important! When your puppy is teething you want to make sure your puppy has enough toys to chew on to keep him busy. There is two main reasons for this.

  1. You of course don’t want your puppy chewing on your furniture.
  2. If your puppy doesn’t have safe chew toys then it can lead to gum disease or eating problems later on in its life.

KONG Classic – Kong is a classic, very effective dog chewing toy. I would say the best one to get. It doesn’t just help with teething problems, it also occupies them from getting into other sorts of trouble.

Benebone Wishbone – Benebone puppy dog chew toy is great for really aggressive chewers. It is softer for dogs who chew more than others. It’s good for the puppy in its teething stage to chew a lot, but sometimes chewing too much can damage the inside of their mouths. So this is great for a puppy who needs something safer.

N-bone Teething Ring – This is more like a snack then a toy, but it means your puppy will probably just love it more. This ring is a delicious treat your pup can enjoy while teething. It relieves their sore gums and even the smell will keep them away from your furniture. No more worrying with these. Your puppy will have a much more enjoyable teething stage.

Side note:

Make sure any of the toys you buy aren’t small enough for your German Shepherd to swallow. This can lead to choking which is life threatening.

Non Safe:

Here are somethings to make sure your puppy isn’t chewing on. If you see them with it, quickly take it away. It can be too hard or dangerous for your puppy’s new teeth and gums.

Sticks/wood

You might normally see your puppy in your yard chewing on a stick or fallen branch. Well if you do, take it from the immediately. This can cut their gums.

Rocks

Rocks are not good for your dog to chew. They are too hard for its sore gums and young growing teeth.

Ice

This can rub the enamel off your puppies new teeth, which is not good.

Other Hard Things

We have already stated to not let your dog chew on too hard of things in their teething stage but it’s very important. Make sure you don’t see them chewing something like hard plastic, or metal. It can result in fractured teeth.

Bones

This is a given. Bones are obviously too hard and can also result in fractured teeth.

Water Bottles

If you have a water bottle lying around. Put it away quickly. Water bottles are dangerous to dogs. The cap can screw off and slip down your puppies throat, causing it to choke. Also, if your puppy is chewing on it for a while, the plastic will begin to tear off in pieces. Your puppy can swallow these sharp pieces and they can cut your puppy’s gums.

Obedience Training German Shepherd Puppy:

Sit, stay, come. Just a few simple tricks you can teach your dog. When it comes down to teaching them to do tricks, your really on your own. It just takes time and patience. Some tricks to teach them are posted below.

German Shepherd Obedience Training
  • Sit
  • Lay
  • Stay
  • Come
  • Drop
  • Fetch
  • Speak
  • Roll over
  • Up
  • High five
  • Paw/shake
  • Right paw
  • Left paw
  • Play dead
  • Spin
  • Stand
  • Beg
  • Bow
  • Kiss
  • Quiet
  • Take it
  • Leave it
  • Bring it
  • Heel
  • Back

Tell them the command you choose to teach them. Try to move them into that position then give them a treat and say something like, “Good dog.” Repeat this over and over until they can do it on command.

What to do if your German Shepherd keeps escaping and running away:

If your dog just keeps on running off and your getting sick of having to chase them down, here are some solutions. First off, German shepherds are big dogs, so if you have a fenced in yard you at least want your fence to be 4 feet high. Make sure there is no way they can get through the fence. If they are getting out by digging holes then you must block them off. If they are jumping the fence then think about getting a taller fence or train them not to jump over it.

There are two options, if your yard doesn’t have a fence. One, you can have a tie out stake to attach to your dogs collar. You want it to be plenty long enough for your dog to be able to run around. Also, another way is you can train your German Shepherd dog to stay near you and not run off. This shouldn’t be too hard, considering German Shepherds are smart and way easy to train.

Extra information:

Just to be safe, if your dog runs off a lot you might wanna consider getting your German Shepherd micro chipped. It’s a tiny tracker put into your dog, so if it gets lost you can find it.

Also, if your dog runs off but comes back home, don’t scold him. Most owners think that it is the right thing to say “bad dog” when your dog comes back home after running off. It might seem right to you but to your dog it’s completely different, and will make it worse. Your dog is gonna think your mad at them for coming home, not for running off. So if they do come back make sure to give them love and say “good dog.”

In Closing For Training German Shepherd Puppy:

As the conclusion, German Shepherd dogs are fairly easy to train dogs. The process shouldn’t be too hard. Hopefully this article will help while you train your new puppy. Hope you the best and easiest experience with them! Also, if you plan on taking any long trips with your puppy, check out this article for help!

Please leave a comment below and let us know what you think!

Do you own a German Shepherd? If so, do you have any experience with training one? Let us know! We would love to hear any new tips and tricks that might help others!

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