How To Train Your German Shepherd Puppy

Getting a puppy can be one of the best days of anyone’s life, but where it goes from there is completely up to the human. Especially with large dogs like german shepherds, you want to teach them the necessary obedience skills and manners to have a well behaved dog when they reach their full size. This task starts when they’re young—in fact on the first day you bring them home! So whether you’re looking for german shepherd puppies miami or anywhere in the country, keep these few tips to start teaching your pup what a good dog looks like.

Socialize

One of the most important steps for any breed is to socialize them with both dogs and humans when they’re young. This will teach them how to interact with other animals and people of all ages so when your dog is older it knows to stay calm and be gentle, no matter how large it gets. This method works best when your puppy is very young, less than four to six months ideally. It may seem scary to let your tiny baby wander in a dog park or play with full-grown pooches, but this is critical to raising a friendly dog.

Ban Biting

Everyone knows dogs like to chew, but puppies especially. They’re like human babies in the sense that they explore their world with their mouths at a young age. This is why you need to teach your pup what’s appropriate to chew and what isn’t by providing lots of toys and praise when they chew the right thing. Another important aspect is to teach them that biting people is not okay. The best way to do this is to speak their language. When your puppy bites you, yelp like a dog would to signal the bite hurt; this helps the puppy understand it hurt you and it won’t want to do it again.

Reward The Wins

Puppies respond well to positive reinforcement, so you can use that your advantage when training. Any time your puppy does something good, praise them, pet them, and give them a treat. Instead of fussing when they do something bad, though, just ignore the behavior instead. Puppies want your attention and affection, so if an action doesn’t earn that they’ll eventually stop it on their own.

These are the three basics to remember when training your german shepherd puppy if you want a friendly, well behaved dog down the line.