How To Quickly Teach Voice Commands To Your German Shepherd
Bought a German Shepherd puppy? Start training it now.
German Shepherds are extremely intelligent and will pick on to tricks and commands in no time. However, it is also true that GSDs are made to protect herds and live in packs.
These dogs are guards and dominant by nature, and will become the alpha and rule over everyone else. So, by wasting time and thinking that your pup is too little to train, you are increasing the chances of it to get hold of you too.
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Types of GSD Training
The owners that lack experience with GSDs often find themselves stuck between different training methods. There are several methods to train a GSD and for a variety of purposes. Going against the genetics of a GSD is not an easy task. It requires hard work, patience, consistency, and repetition. A GSD can be trained using the following techniques.
Verbal Commands
Verbal commands are highly effective for GSD training.
A dog hears the voice signals and different frequencies. If you say ‘No’ is a strong voice, your dog will know that you are serious. If you say ‘Good Boy’ with a smile on your face, your dog will interpret it as a happy tone. Audio/voice/verbal signals have a lot of importance when training a GSD pup. An aged GSD will not be able to hear well and in that time you can take help from hand signals.
Hand Signals
Hand signals are used to make your dog obey your commands. They are extremely effective in making your dog learn different tricks. Your dog can pick hand signals from a far distance, and when combined with voice signals, you create a much more effective training technique.
Teaching Your GSD to Sit
During the initial days of your pup at your home, you will need to train it the basic commands.
‘Sit’ is one of the most basic dog commands that allow you to have control over your dog. When you teach your dog to sit, you are actually making it calmer. For example you have visitors home, and your GSD starts jumping over them.
If you have trained your dog to follow your ‘sit’ command, you will be able to calm it down and avoid misbehavior. How will your GSD learn to sit? Follow the actions below to make your dog learn to sit.
- Get a dog treat in your hand.
- Make your dog sit in front of you.
- Bring your hand above your dog’s nose and let it have a taste of it.
- Once your dog is excited to get the treat and tries to take it from your hand, pull your hand backward.
- Your dog will try to snatch the treat from you.
- Move your hand with the treat just above your dog’s nose.
- Your dog will move from left to right.
- Tell your dog to ‘sit’ and keep repeating the command so that it learns what it means.
- Your dog will sit to get hold of the treat.
- The moment your dog sits, offer it the treat with your hands.
- Repeat this activity until your dog learns to sit and associate the treat with sitting.
- Make sure you use the command ‘sit’.
- Do not forget to appreciate your pup when it follows your command as it will prove to be helpful.
Teaching Your GSD to Stay
Are you facing a behavioral problem with your GSD pup?
Say for example you bring your food to the table and your pup starts to jump in excitement, and sometimes it barks. So, what do you do to avoid this behavior?
Dogs love food, and if you haven’t trained your dog to behave, it will bark, cry, and jump at you whenever you bring food in front of it. This behavior is very disappointing, especially when you have guests over. The thing that helps most in this scenario is to make your GSD learn to ‘stay.’ ‘Stay’ is another verbal command that tells your dog to be calm and behave. It works whenever your dog is hyper or doing something you don’t want it to. You can also associate the ‘stay’ command with ‘sit’. If you want your dog to keep sitting for a while, you can use ‘stay’. Read on to the technique of making your GSD learn to ‘stay.’
- Have a treat in your hand.
- Sit in front of your dog and bring your treat hand close to your GSD’s nose.
- Let your dog sniff the treat.
- Take your treat hand a little upwards.
- When your dog tries to get up to get hold of the treat, push it down from the nose with your treat hand and say ‘stay.’
- If your dog doesn’t stay, repeat the activity and if it stays, give it the treat.
- Repeat this activity for 5-10 minutes or until your dog learns the ‘stay’ command.
- Make sure you have enough treats with you so that your dog makes a connection between treat and stay.
Teaching Your GSD to Stay Leave it
Many GSD owners face a lot of trouble making their dog learn to leave an object that they are biting on to. If your GSD is showing bad manners by biting on furniture, pillows, etc., make them learn to leave it. Follow the tips below to turn your dog into an obedient one.
- Hold a treat in your hand and call your dog’s name.
- Once you catch its attention, drop the treat on the floor.
- Your dog will approach the treat and will try to get it.
- When your dog is about to get the treat from the floor, bring your leg forward and put it ahead of the treat.
- Do not step on the treat, just block it.
- Say ‘leave-it.’
- Again pick the treat in your hand, go back a little, drop the treat on the floor, call your dog’s name, repeat the action and ask your dog to leave it.
- If it stops and doesn’t take the treat in its mouth, pick the treat from the floor and offer it.
- This will help your dog associate the word ‘leave it’ with staying away and will make it easier for it to learn.
Common GSD Commands
There are many other commands that GDS owners should use during their dog’s training process. The most common and basic commands to teach your dog are:
- Heel.
- Down.
- Come here.
- Jump.
- Stand.
- Stop.
- Go Out.
- Fetch.
- Good.
- Stand Still.
- Quiet.
- And much more.
Remember, the key is to be consistent and cut back on treats as your GSD starts to pick commands. Lastly, don’t let your dog be bored during the training as it will react oppositely to your commands.
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