If you happen to get an older dog, adult dogs can still be trained effectively. 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 interacting well with a wide variety of people and animals, which is essential. [2] X Research source
Once the puppy is more confident and compliant around food, you can bring out a plate or bowl and continue your hand feeding routine in the presence of the bowl or plate, but don’t feed directly on the plate yet. Make the bowl no big deal. If a piece of food is dropped inside, let the puppy take it and praise them. Then feed nearby again. The bowl will not always have food inside. Gradually increase the amount of food you drop in the bowl as you stand or sit there with the puppy. It won’t take long before the puppy realizes that you near the bowl means food and good things and it is not something to guard. You can also add high value treats like roasted chicken breast into the bowl if your puppy seems to need more reassurance that you bring goodness to the food bowl. Resource guarding can be a very serious symptom of fear aggression and, if you are seeing this in a puppy, it needs to be addressed ASAP so it does not escalate.
If you continue to have problems, get a professional trainer involved.
Your puppy should be 8-10 weeks old and started on their vaccine series for this first class. There are puppy preschools designed for puppies who have not yet finished receiving all of their vaccines. The school will have certain requirements for enrollment and you will likely have to provide proof of vaccination.
It is important to begin training by building trust between you and your dog. Keep training sessions happy and short and give the dog a break in between lessons for play and a drink.
The timing of the reward is extremely important. Your praise and reward will need to come within two to three seconds of the behavior you are reinforcing. If the dog does something else in between the desired behavior and the reward, you are rewarding the last thing that the dog performed. For instance, if you want to teach the “sit” command, the praise and treat should be delivered when the dog is sitting with all feet on the ground. If you deliver the praise/treat with one paw up or as the dog starts getting up, you have just rewarded the dog for that most recent behavior. [9] X Trustworthy Source American Kennel Club The American Kennel Club (AKC) is a purebred dog pedigree registry in the United States. The AKC advocates for the responsible ownership of dogs and promotes purebred dog events, such as the Westminster Dog Show. Go to source Treats should be small and tasty. Consider three types: Low, medium and high value treats. Keep these in your arsenal to help your dog learn commands. When they first learn a new command, you may need medium or high value to treats to start them off and treat for every success. As they understand the command more, start adding in lower value treats intermittently. You can always go back to high value treats at any time you want to let the dog know they did something exceptionally great and you want them to remember that so you get that behavior again and again. Gradually, you will phase out any treat and do more praise reward as the dog gets more consistent. You don’t want to create a dog that will only work for food and ignore you the rest of the time. That could become a dangerous situation.
Read dog training books. Some good training books to consider are “Don’t Shoot the Dog” by Karen Pryor, “Getting Started: Clicker Training for Dogs” by Karen Pryor, “The Power of Positive Dog Training” by Pat Miller, “25 Stupid Mistakes Dog Owners Make” by Janine Adams, and “The Mentally Sound Dog: How to Shape, Train and Change Canine Behavior” by Gail I. Clark. Watch videos of training techniques. There are a lot of dog training videos on the internet, so make sure that the videos you choose are made by experts in dog training.
Visit dog trainers and ask if you can watch a few classes. You will learn a lot watching other people when you don’t have a dog of your own. See if you like the way the trainer works with the people and the dogs. You and your dog will learn better if you have a good learning relationship with your trainer. The Association of Professional Dog Trainers website is an excellent reference and place to start looking for a dog trainer to coach you and your pup.
