Before you buy a German Shepherd

The following information is about :
    1. Whether a German Shepherd is the right dog for you
    2. The commitments you have to make
    3. What can go wrong
    4. What you have to do to prevent problems occurring:
        • socialise your puppy
        • train your puppy, and continue training
        • establish a relationship of pack leader and follower

    5. Common behaviour problems
       

1. Is a German Shepherd the right dog for you?

Have you thought about why you want a dog, and why a German Shepherd in particular?
A German Shepherd is not a dog to be bought and left in the backyard to protect your home. It is not a wind-up toy. It is not a burglar alarm to be left in the “on” position. It is a highly intelligent, sensitive animal with social needs - the need to belong to a family or “pack”, and to know who the pack leader is (namely you) and have confidence in you. The German Shepherd is also a dog with a complex temperament. While it has a fierce “guard dog” image, it can also be very sensitive, emotional and affectionate. Temperament can vary a lot from dog to dog. For example :
• how confident and outgoing the dog is, or how sensitive and timid
• how human-oriented or how independent
• how dominant or accepting of human authority
• how aggressive or how friendly
• how excitable or how calm
These characteristics can also vary a lot within the individual dog as it matures and develops. But equally importantly, they are affected by how you bring up your puppy, and what kind of environment you provide.
Think about your type of family or household - anyone can have a dog, but there are particular problems that can crop up with single people, young adults, families with kids, older people and so on.
A German Shepherd is a wonderful dog to train, but it is not the easiest dog to handle, especially if you are lacking in confidence. Consider the dog’s size and temperament, and think honestly about your physical capabilities and your strength of character.

2. Making a commitment

Before making a commitment to a puppy, ask yourself the following questions.
TIME - will you make time to socialise, train, play with, exercise, groom, shop for, feed, read about and clean up after your dog?
MONEY - can you afford to carry out your responsibilities to feed, train, house and care for the dog, give it veterinary attention, put it in boarding kennels, pay for registration, buy necessary equipment etc.?
PERSONALITY - think honestly about your personality - are you fearful and nervous; do you tend to be a show-off; are you a bully; are you patient; are you prepared to tolerate a certain amount of destructiveness, and put up with the frustrating and irritating behaviour of a normal puppy?
Dogs have a large number of revolting personal habits. For example, they :
    • throw up on the carpet
• fart when you have dinner guests
• jump up on your elderly aunt
• grab your children’s ankles
• vomit in the car precisely one minute before you get home
• mount inappropriately (if you are religious, it will be the vicar’s leg)
• sniff other dogs’ rear ends
• sniff and sometimes eat droppings of other animals
• roll in foul-smelling, rotten things
• roll in the dirt just after being bathed
• shed hair in the house
• explore with its mouth, biting your hands and destroying your children’s soft toys
• steal food
• raid the garbage
• have toilet accidents inside the house
This behaviour should be properly managed, so that the dog is not ruined by inappropriate punishment, nor, at the other extreme, allowed to develop bad habits as it grows up.

3. Are you a “problem owner”?

 Some case studies

Your son couldn’t make it to puppy classes because he had football training. You think it will be OK because your sister has a dog, and the pup has met him and they play together. Anyway, you have heard that you shouldn’t start training until the dog is 6 months old. By that time, your son might get more involved. However, when that time arrives, he has started going out with his first serious girlfriend. You walk the dog around the block, but this is becoming difficult because he is pulling on the lead, and now he has started barking at other dogs. Your son is resentful when you suggest that you should take the dog to training. He insists that it is his dog. He will train it, starting very soon. But this weekend, he and his girlfriend are going away for the weekend.

You have no doubts about the dog being socialised - if it doesn’t have a nervous breakdown first. Your dog needs stability and predictability. Despite your best intentions you never train or do things with the dog consistently enough. By the time you get around to training, the dog has become unruly. It is hyped up and rushes around worrying about who is coming into the house. After being the laughing stock for being such a wimp, the dog starts to become territorial. The children are banned from play-fighting in front of the dog. You try to put the dog in the side garden when kids are visiting, but one day someone leaves the gate open.
The majority of dog-bite injuries to children occur in the owner’s backyard or their neighbour’s.
Dogs and families with children can live together, but precautions must be taken to manage the risks.

A man who sees himself as the family protector and the dog as his second in command will not always be there to control the dog. Will the wife in this family have time or confidence to be in control of the dog? Will she be seen by the dog as below the him in the pack? If so, what will she do when he becomes uncontrollable at the front door? How will she tell him that the pizza delivery boy is not an enemy? Dogs in this situation can become over-protective and territorial, reacting aggressively to anyone who enters “their” patch. Instead of responding to a real threat, they become a liability.
When you are at work, the dog sleeps on the bed. One night you come home early, and the snarling Caesar won’t let you into the bedroom. You decide to have it out with him, and end up with stitches.

You may be right, but you should think about what you want from a protective dog. Mostly, having a dog that barks at the door and runs around confidently is the park is enough. A bitch will do that just as well as a male, but will have the added advantage of focussing her attention on you, whereas the male will be looking around more, checking out the action. He may also be more inclined to dominate you and challenge your authority. If he wins he may become aggressive. You may misinterpret his jealousy and possessiveness as being “protective”, but really he is deciding whether or not your friends may come near your because he owns you - you don’t own him.
Ask yourself whether you are willing to be mentally tough enough to become his pack leader, and strong enough to have 35 to 40 KG lunging at the end of the lead. To be confident of controlling him, you need to be willing to train him, and go on training him. Some males make a move to claim the throne when they reach maturity, which may be when he 18 months, 2 or even 3 years old. The sweet, affectionate wimp of 12 months is transformed. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that he will obey you and protect you because he loves you.
 

Summary : how to mishandle your dog’s first year

• neglecting the critical socialisation period
• not having enough time for basic obedience training.
• not continuing with training as the dog gets older
• not establishing pack leadership
• spoiling the dog with too much petting and babying
• being too harsh with discipline
• punishing the dog inappropriately
• being inconsistent with the dog
• waiting until you have a problem to start training
• not recognising that you have a problem

4. What you have to do to prevent problems occurring

Prevention of behaviour problems with your dog depends on three things -socialisation, training and establishing the correct relationship with your dog. (It also helps if you are honest with yourself and have a sense of humour, but we don’t want to make it too hard.)

(1) Socialisation

Puppy socialisation includes introducing puppies in a positive way to other dogs, people, sensations and environmental experiences. It is important to socialise the puppy when young - between the ages of 8 and 16 weeks. This is when the puppy's basic personality is developing and its way of reacting to people, dogs and experiences is formed.

What happens if your dog is not socialised?

Dogs with little or no contact become fearful or aggressive. Some may accept their owners but never adjust to anyone else. Other dogs will get to know some new people but be neurotic and unpredictable. A well socialised dog will be friendly and confident, and will recover quickly from a startling experience. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that a protective dog shouldn’t be allowed to meet people. Teach your dog to be friendly, and when the time comes, it will recognise the difference between a friendly approach and a real threat. An inadequately socialised dog may be suspicious and unreliable, and more likely to attack someone who is a bit different - for example, someone with a walking stick.
The other common problem that you will have with an unsocialised dog is dog fighting. This is particularly true of the nervous dog that has never learnt to mix with other dogs, and attacks to get in first.
 

Socialisation checklist

Make sure your dog has contact with :
• people including children of different ages, adults, elderly people, people of various ethnic backgrounds
• dogs of different sizes, ages and breeds; dominant, submissive and playful dogs - but take care not to expose puppies to stressful encounters with over-aggressive dogs
• different environments
• moving objects, noises and activities

What happens in puppy socialisation classes?

Classes are generally held in vet clinics or enclosed spaces and all reasonable steps are taken to safeguard against infection. Puppies aged between 8 and 16 weeks (the “critical socialisation period”) are invited to attend. Each class lasts for one hour, normally once a week for four or more weeks (depending on the age of the puppy when it starts).
Socialisation with dogs should include opportunities for puppies to play, to try out their skills in relating to other dogs, to learn how to read other dogs’ body language and react appropriately to dominance and submission, as well as accepting human control, e.g. when to stop playing. The aim is for puppies to be confident with other dogs, neither nervous nor aggressive, and able to work out where they stand with new dogs that they meet. It is valuable too for puppy owners to learn to read the body language of their own and other dogs.
Participants should be encouraged to bring their spouses, family and friends to the class.  Children and grandparents are particularly valuable recruits. People and puppies enjoy the contact with each other. As well as giving the puppies exposure to strangers, classes should include specific handling exercises, such as picking the puppies, lying them down, rolling them over, examining their mouths etc.
It is important that puppies are exposed to new sights and sounds in their socialisation period. The aim is to build their confidence, not to traumatise them.
It is important to let puppies experience different surfaces, especially if they are to be confident working dogs. Various materials such as a sheet of plastic, plastic trellis, chicken wire and corrugated iron can be used.
Because a group like this presents many distractions it is not ideal for the teaching of commands to a puppy. However, some simple commands such as COME, SIT and DROP can be taught to the puppies one by one.

(2) Obedience training

Obedience training, using gentle methods of encouragement and reward can be started from 8 weeks, and should be continued as the dog grows up. There is no need to wait until your dog is over six months old to start training. This idea came about when the only training methods used were harsh, physical methods used by the military. These methods are no longer considered appropriate for companion animals.
You will make more progress if your dog first learns the basic commands individually, with no distractions, and then goes into a group when it is a bit more advanced.
You then need to follow through as your dog grows up, so you continue to have control of your dog, especially a male, as he reaches maturity and challenges your authority.

(3) Establishing a relationship of leader and follower

Dogs are pack animals, and give you their best when you step into the role of “pack leader”. Failure to establish a leader-follower relationship is the main cause of all the different types of behaviour problems seen in dogs. Or, another way of putting it is that the dog has successfully established a leader-follower relationship ... and guess who is the leader?

5. Common behaviour problems

Take a puppy of sound temperament and mishandle it during the first twelve months and you could be creating a dog who develops into a problem dog. Generally speaking the three most common behavioural problems seen in dogs are :

(1) lack of confidence - being fearful, shy, nervous or timid.

This is made worse in dogs that are not socialised. It also becomes worse if you comfort the dog when it is fearful. Another important cause of fearfulness is the failure of the dog’s owner to establish clear pack leadership, leaving the dog feeling like a passenger on a bus without a driver. It will therefore panic, or even bite, when subject to stress.

(2) Aggression

Aggression can be towards people or other dogs. It usually occurs because the dog is too dominant, or because early encounters with people and other dogs have been mismanaged.
Aggression can happen when you handle or groom the dog, or approach the dog’s food. Or it can be expressed only towards strangers. The main problem occurs with dogs that are bossy, jealous and over-protective. They run the show, not you. They become uncontrollable at the front door, or when they meet other dogs. Comforting or soothing the dog that shows signs of aggression does not settle it down. The dog interprets that as praise.
Aggression can be increased by playing “mouthing”, tug-of-war games with your dog. These games build your dog’s confidence and encourage your dog to use its mouth (and teeth) in a competition with you. Dogs are much better equipped than you to win this game. They enjoy the contest and it can lead to biting, as the dog has been taught to assert dominance over you and win.
Predatory aggression is another type of aggression, based on the dog’s desire to hunt and kill. It can be avoided by giving your dog early socialisation with cats and other animals, and by you learning how to control (not encourage) chasing behaviour.

(3) Unruliness

This develops because the dog’s natural exuberance has not been channelled, and human leadership has not been given. It includes good-natured but disrespectful behaviour, making the dog difficult to live with, causing injuries by jumping up, running into people, barging past people, pulling on the lead, pulling people over etc. Dogs like this usually respond well to training and to pack leadership. If you do not provide leadership, the dog, always an opportunist, will take over and aggression may result.