About

German Shepherd Training Information in an easy, no-nonsense approach.

photo credit: Gunty
Let me start off right now with this disclaimer: I’m not a professional trainer! I’m just a dog owner who happens to find training dogs to be both very interesting as well as beneficial to the dog. What you’ll find here is my experiences “Training a Working Dog for Dummies”. I’m going to chronicle my German Shepherd Training Information of both of my GSD’s, Sable and Zero.

Give Credit Where Credit Is Due!

I’m learning German Shepherd training information from multiple internet and book sources, as well as friends of mine. These techniques will probably differ from what the typical “Obedience Training” books offer. That’s because these techniques are strictly for “working dogs” - like the GSDs. There’s a huge difference between the way you raise a pet vs. a working dog! From bite inhibition (you don’t want to inhibit biting from a working dog, just redirect it), to the way you socialize, raising pet dogs and working dogs differs in techniques. Follow the links to the right - those are my personal favorite training forums and article sites.

German Shepherds Rock!

A bit about my GSD’s

Sable

Sable’s a purebred “Sable” German Shepherd. We got her as a blessing from her first owner. Actually, Sable was my Valentine’s Day present from my lovely wife! She’s the best present I’ve gotten, besides my bride of course! We got her when she was just 12 weeks old. What I did the few first weeks was to seriously build a bond with her. I did a technique called “tethering”. Basically, you connect the dog’s leash to you, and so everywhere you go, your puppy goes to. I’ll cover this bonding technique, among others, in the links provided.

What’s a Sable?

Sable GSDs are not the typically colored Black & Tan color variety that you see. Their coat is black and tan, or black and red, but not in the saddle back configuration. And the ends of their fir contain either silver, or red, or more, hence the sable name! Now, again let me remind you that I’m not a pro at this stuff, so if you want a concise description of GSD’s and their colors, you can Google a hundred different sites for that.

Zero

Zero’s a purebred black & tan, in a saddle back configuration, German Shepherd. He was also a blessing from his previous owner. Unfortunately, she did not have the time for him anymore, so I adopted him. I got him a 2.5 years old, with very little training. Actually, he’s had zero training (zero training for Zero ,~) He PULLED you on his walks, jumped onto furniture/beds/kitchen table/people. Since I got him, he no longer does MOST of this bad behavior (UPDATE: Zero does none of this undesirable behavior anymore ). Most excitedly, he walks in a near perfect Fuss! Taking lessons learned w/my Sable, I applied a training technique using a “training collar”, and w/just one 5 minute session, perfect fuss!

What’s a Saddle back?

Saddle back is the color pattern you’ll see in most common GSD’s. Their coat can be black and tan, or black and red, and in a “saddle back” pattern.

Training Experiences

How many times have you told your dog to “sit”, “stay”, “heel”, and “Don’t Bite Me!”. I admit, during my 39 years of life (and remember…It’s better to look good than to feel good!), I’ve had quite a few dogs that I’ve been responsible for. But I’ve never really put in the time and effort to fully OB my dogs. So, please join me in the continuing saga in my German Shepherd Training Information.