Basics of German-Shepherd Training
It's essential for German-Shepherd parents like you to know certain basic factors that determine your relationship with your German-Shepherd and can go a long way in training him effectively.
Before you begin training your German-Shepherd, it is absolutely essential that you build a loving bond with him. This is important as it helps you to understand his needs and instincts and also allows your German-Shepherd to have complete trust in you.
Let us see how.......
How To Bond With Your German-Shepherd
Building a bond with your German-Shepherd is the first and the most crucial step involved in training him successfully. As soon as you bring your German-Shepherd home, you must first try to develop a caring and loving relationship with him in order to win his trust and confidence.
When German-Shepherds are secure in the knowledge that they belong to the family, they are more likely to respond better to their owners' training commands. Just like with any relationship, there must be mutual trust and respect between you and your German-Shepherd.
Trust takes time to develop and respect comes from defining boundaries and treating any breach of those boundaries with firmness and fairness.
Without enforceable limitations, respect can’t be developed. And when there is no respect, building a bond with your German-Shepherd is almost impossible.
4 Golden Rules To Building A Relationship With Your German-Shepherd :
- Spend quality time together;
- Take him out in the world and experience life together;
- Establish and promote a level of mutual respect; and
- Develop a way of communicating to understand each other's needs.
Love Your German-Shepherd and He Will Love You back
Once you're successful in building a bond with your German-Shepherd, you can rest assured that training him and teaching him new and clever tricks will be a cakewalk.
How Your German-Shepherd Learns...
Your German-Shepherd's learning period can be divided into five phases:
The Teaching Phase - This is the phase where you must physically demonstrate to your German-Shepherd exactly what you want him to do.
The Practicing Phase - Practice makes Perfect. Once a lesson is learnt, practice with your German-Shepherd what you have just taught him.
The Generalizing Phase - Here you must continue practicing with your German-Shepherd in different locations and in an environment with a few distractions. You can take your German-Shepherd out for a walk, or to a nearby park and command him to practice whatever you've taught him.
Practicing the learned lessons in multiple locations and in the presence of small distractions will help him learn and retain lessons better .
The Testing Phase - Once you're sure that your German-Shepherd has achieved almost 90% success....he responds correctly almost every time you give a command, you must start testing his accuracy in newer locations with a lot of distractions.
Example: Take him to the local shopping mall and ask him to obey your command. He may not come up with the correct response the very first time you do this, but you must not lose hope.
The idea is to test your German-Shepherd to see how he responds in an environment which is new to him. Set-up a situation where you are in control of the environment and your German-Shepherd.
There are only 2 possibilities:
- Your German-Shepherd succeeds!!! (Trumpets please!)
- In case your German-Shepherd fails, re-examine the situation. Review and/or change your training. Then try testing again.
Keep on testing until he succeeds. Follow the rule of the 3 Ps – patience, persistence, praise.
Internalizing Phase - Finally, comes the extremely rewarding phase where your German-Shepherd does everything he is taught to do even without your commands.
Remember:
- Never scold your German-Shepherd if he fails. It's not his fault. You have failed as a trainer!
- You must be patient and persistent for your efforts to show rewards.
- Appreciate and love your German-Shepherd when he does it right! A little encouragement will work wonders for your German-Shepherd.
- German-Shepherd Training is easy when you do it right.
