How do I train my puppy german shepherd to follow me?
I wanna know how i can train my german shepherd pup to follow me so when its older i can take it to the beach without it running away.
If I spend everyday all day with it looking after it Loving it all that stuff will it just follow anyway or does it need training?
Being nice is an absolutely essential first step. Your pup should regard you as the centre of its universe. It should know that you won’t call it except for something nice – praise, pats or rubs, tidbits, games such as fetch or tug-o-war, meals, to put it on-lead for an interesting walk where it can do lots of exploring at the end of the leash.
But being nice isn’t enough.
Merely following you soon gets boring.
No matter how nice is the person you like most at present, I’ll bet you don’t spend all your free time adoringly following that person. And I’ll bet that sometimes you do things that that person DOESN’T want you doing – especially when you are in an exciting place.
I require my buyers to attend training classes and send me their first graduation certificate.
The majority of your pup’s training should be done at home, a couple of minutes at a time, but being in a class is essential. It’s the only way you are going to be observed by experienced trainers and given advice that helps you improve whatever needs improving, such as your use of "the voices" and of your posture, your timing, your choices of rewards & reprimands. And it is the safest situation in which to find out whether your pet still obeys even when there are distractions. Until it does, no way should it be off-lead in any public place.
And it should NEVER be off-lead anywhere that has vehicles moving through.
[andreav4...]‘s brain needs assistance, starting with learning what our breed is called, and why. Dogs have instincts, and different breeds have been selected for particular instincts to reliably be present (until show-is-all breeders and breeders-from-pets breed those instincts out…), but training is necessary if the way they use those instincts is to properly match our requirements.
Les P, owner of GSD_Friendly: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/GSD_Friendly
"In GSDs" as of 1967
It does need training but the training is very easy and fun. Take a handful of treats and teach the dog off leash heeling, hold a treat next to your side with your left hand, let the dog follow the treat, and every few paces give the dog the treat.
Add a verbal cue ("lets go" is good) walk some paces and give a treat. After your dog understands what the verbal cue means you can quickly fade the food lure and start fading the food rewards (give a treat every 1/2 block, then every block, then maybe every 3rd or 4th block.) Keep the verbal cue going if your dog starts to drift away from you, say "lets go" and reward (you can say "good dog" in a nice warm voice and give a pet, or even throw a toy if your dog likes toys.)
Then train a release command. Something like "go play", this will let your dog know that it doesn’t need to stay in heel. Tell your dog "go play" and toss a treat ahead (or to the side or even behind you) and keep walking, then call your dog and set back into heel (just for a few seconds) then say "go play" and toss another treat– your dog will learn that it’s okay to go sniff things and check things out while you’re walking, but if it goes too far that you’ll call it into heel.
Make sure that your dog has a very reliable recall before taking it out off leash.
yes german shepard puppies are THE best puppies you could possibly have you dont need to trainit if it looks at you and in its brain you are the owner or the pack leader (as he/she will see it) then he is going to follow you around you are the leader!
ALL dogs need training. Looking after a dog and loving a dog is not enough to keep a dog from walking all over you. German shepherds grow up to be large, powerful dogs and large powerful dogs especially need training or they can become quite unmanageable. German shepherds also need a firm leader or they will take over the household. You really should get the pup signed up for basic obedience or puppy classes as soon as possible. Group obedience classes are a great way to bond with your dog (and a close bond will help keep your dog physically close to you on off-leash excursions) and a good trainer will be able to help you learn how to communicate with your dog. Not to mention that a lot of normal dog behaviors/problems that are not directly related to obedience are covered in a basic or puppy class.
Wendy’s suggestion for teaching off-leash healing is fantastic. I also like to teach a dog that their name means "look at me" so that I can get their attention just by calling their name. If your dog is off doing something more interesting than walking with you (like sniffing something, rolling in something stinky, or chasing a small prey animal) then you will need to have a trained recall command to get their attention.
He needs off leash training, if he’s young then take him out in the yard [hopefully it's fenced in] and have him chase you, puppies natural instinct is to chase so run calling his name have him chase and say [insert name here] come. When he gets up to you say good come and reward with a treat, practice a few times, but until his recall is good [immediately stops and comes] then do not allow him off leash. It takes a while and occassionally they will dash off after something more interesting but you need to keep working at it, it’s how I trained my Weimaraner to go off leash, she won’t run off if we go out on walks she sticks around but she will dash after something so I NEVER let her off leash near a road or around vehicles it’s always where there is little to no traffic just in case.