[Timber1]

I am curious regarding everyone's opinions on the best advice they have ever gotten regarding their German Shepherd Dog.

I was trying to post this in the weekly discussion topics, but it shut me out.

Nonetheless, considering trainers, breeders, behavior specialists, rescue groups, vets, and this board, when you have questions or issues wiith your GSD, which of the afore-mentioned has been most helpful to you. And which has been the least helpful.

 

[Timber1]

I am curious regarding everyone's opinions on the best advice they have ever gotten regarding their German Shepherd Dog.

I was trying to post this in the weekly discussion topics, but it shut me out.

Nonetheless, considering trainers, breeders, behavior specialists, rescue groups, vets, and this board, when you have questions or issues wiith your GSD, which of the afore-mentioned has been most helpful to you. And which has been the least helpful.

 

[Cooper&me]

Stay calm. Calm and consistent.

 

[Dano]

"Don't take for granted that every Czech bred GSD will be high strung and hard." If I would not have been told that by a breeder years ago, I would have missed out on many of my best dogs because of misinformation delivered by well meaning novices. That covers the best advise and the worst advice.

 

[reeldoc]

Patience,
Don't let mistakes go uncorrected,
Repetition of tasks until interest wains.....
Play time and work time should be at least equal,
Involve the whole family in training and play,
Pick a favorite toy and buy several,
Play tug of war to keep teeth, jaws and neck strong,
Teach hand signals with verbal commands,
Plenty of non-material reward for good behavior,
etc.

 

[Maraccz]

a tie:
They are not Labs, will never be labs. Don't try to make them be like labs.

or

You need to be smarter then your dog

 

[doggiedad]

good breeder, good training, good dog.

 

[GSDLVR76]

a tired shepherd is a good shepherd!

 

[tmk101]

A great breeder (ours still stays in contact with us to ask how Cooper is doing), lots of exercise and challenging activities for his mind, patience, persistence, love, understanding... always with the upper hand though, so he does not think he found a weak spot. If Cooper can go where my family can go... then he is with us all the time to experience new things.

 

[Brightelf]

"When given training advice, always run things through your filter."

It takes guts and real courage to try a new way of training that has gone against how you have always done things. It takes even MORE guts to turn away from experienced dompetitor friends' advice and try something that intuitively feels right.

The reward is when running advice through your filter and listening to your heart and intuition pays off in a better relationship-- working relationship, too-- with your GSD!

 

[dhonner]

The best advice we have received with our rescue Samson is the following:

"Each day, each week, each month, he will improve, adjust and connect." She was ABSOLUTELY right. Samson is a completely different dog than the dog we brought home.

When we were lamenting about some of his behaviors, our trainer chided us with, "you got a German shepherd, remember?"

And, we too believe that a tired dog is a happy dog. Samson gets tons of exercise including 3-4 walks per day and frisbee playing several times a day.

 

[khurley]

I'm going to go ahead and lock this thread and direct everyone to the existing one in Weekly Discussion Topics. The thread is open so I'm not sure why the OP had a problem, but it should be functioning just fine. If anyone has any problems posting to it, please let me know.

Here's a link to the thread,

Best GSD Advice