New puppy planning..

[TrentL]

My wife and I after finally choosing a breeder we liked, are now on a waiting list for a male puppy.

We have LOTS of time (8months) to prepare but I'm starting to look for good books, video's, tips for new owners to the breed.

So I'd love to hear from veterans and new people on things that worked for them, or books / video's that are a must to read/see (I honestly prefer books to video's)

This is our first shepherd that we will be raising, we have two children under 10 and 2 cats, so tips on how to get Pack order would be wonderful (Parents > Kids > Pup > Cats (No dog should be at the bottom of the pack compared to Cats :P)

I want to make sure that if I'm not around that the Pup will still listen, behave and be a productive family member, rather than an "unrulely teen because "Dad" isn't around"

[Stosh]

I really like Patricia McConnell's book 'The Other End of the Leash' and her dvd 'Lassie Come'. Since you have the time and interest, maybe find an obedience training club near you and watch a few puppy classes before you get your boy. Good for you for doing your research now!

[carmspack]

hi Trent , which breeder did you choose?
If they are "good" , they, should be more than able and interested to spend time with you , recommend reading material, training clubs , obedience classes, have you come out and fit you in to watch or get hands on experience with their other dogs. I don't intend to mean that you will be training their dogs but you could have lots of exposure and explanation to what you are seeing , giving you the --- "there" -- moments so that you can learn to read dogs' responses .
Why so far in the future . 8 months ? so what happens if there are no males, or no males suitable for your situation.

You can learn so much on this forum reading other peoples dilemas and success stories. A living and breathing book as it were.

Carmen
Carmspack Working German Shepherd Dogs

[Castlemaid]

Don't know if you can completely avoid the unruly teen phase.

Stosh gave some good suggestions. Get the whole family involved and on the same page with training. Everyone needs to be consistent in their expectations and techniques for your new puppy to be obedient to all.
There is a lot of GSD puppy energy and happy wanna play behaviours that to the untrained eye may look like an untrained/uncontrolled pup, but is normal puppy behaviour that needs to be channeled into positive and acceptable outlets, and not surpressed.

For me, I learned a ton from classes and from this forum. From day one in my house, starting to shape the behaviours that I want. With a puppy, it is more about managing their environment so that they don't have a chance to develop bad habits (like making sure they never get a chance to bolt out the door - always set them up so that they wait, get a reward, then get released to go out, for example). Biggest key here is consistency, and that will be something that everyone will have to be onboard with.

[TrentL]

Originally Posted by carmspack

hi Trent , which breeder did you choose?
If they are "good" , they, should be more than able and interested to spend time with you , recommend reading material, training clubs , obedience classes, have you come out and fit you in to watch or get hands on experience with their other dogs. I don't intend to mean that you will be training their dogs but you could have lots of exposure and explanation to what you are seeing , giving you the --- "there" -- moments so that you can learn to read dogs' responses .
Why so far in the future . 8 months ? so what happens if there are no males, or no males suitable for your situation.

You can learn so much on this forum reading other peoples dilemas and success stories. A living and breathing book as it were.

Carmen
Carmspack Working German Shepherd Dogs

I ended up going with Bluemist Kennels, after visiting them they were what I was looking for, they were just a couple of local breeders with great dogs, they have a family atmosphere, very down to earth, take care of their own dogs, want the buyer very active in after the pup is born (suggested I come by once a week after 2nd week until I take him home) says each time I come I'll get one on one time with Her and the pup where she'll answer questions, give tips on puppy training etc.

It was the little things, at one point I saw a beautiful shepherd in the back and I asked her who that was, and it was her previous Stud dog who was retired 2 years ago. Maybe something simple but that statement told me that she loves her dogs, they aren't a "Money Making" scheme etc.

She told me to ask as many questions as I can and she'll answer them all as she has time (By email) and has been very down to earth and easy to deal with.

The reason I'm waiting 8months for the Puppy is there was only 1 male in the current litter of 9week old puppies and he was spoken for. The next litter is planned to birth in July/August time frame (Forget the exact date)

She did mention she knew a couple of personal trainers near me etc, but like anything in life from raising my kids to brushing my teeth, I never take one persons opinion I like to gather lots and lots of info and choose what I like from each bit and make it my own.

I want to be as successful as I can with this Pup I don't think its fair if I don't try to be prepared... He isn't a "trial dog" I don't want to wait to my "5th shepherd" to finally get it right.

[TrentL]

So things I'm reading is:

Set my puppy up to succeed from the start, and teach habits that I want from the get go.

My father who trained dogs when I was a teenager said his biggest regret with his dogs was not spending enough time teaching "Look at me" type commands.

I'm told as well that GSD's have a flight stage that's very important to understand so I'm trying to do some research on that too.

As for getting the whole family involved I truly hope to do as much of that as I can, establashing pack order is going to be pretty important. And challenging because one of my daughters is a bit nervous around dogs, which dogs sense, so I don't want him to get it in his idea that challenging pack order is acceptable behavior.

Thanks for the feed back keep it coming

[Castlemaid]

Don't worry about a puppy challenging pack order. Just have fun with him.

Focus exercises are great! Don't expect too much from a pup though. They have the attention span of a goldfish, so if you can just get them to look at your for a few seconds to start that is good! Keep training sessions short, 2 to 3 minutes, even shorter if you feel your pup is getting distracted. My dog had about a 10 minute attention span for uninterrupted focus on me and on training until he hit 2 years old and it seemed to go to half an hour attention span almost overnight. Each dog develops and matures at a different rate so just go with your gut.

[TrentL]

Thanks for the advice, one thing I am worried about since I Have so much time to plan is to have to high of expectations on both me and the pup. So these reminders are good to have.