How to Teach Your German Shepherd Their Name

Series Summary

Since German Shepherds, as all dogs, are inherently wild animals they all need some sort of training to become accustomed to their surroundings and the rules of your home. The most difficult part of this process is communicating with your dog in a civil, non-violent way that lets them know you are boss and this is the rule. By praising positive behavior and correcting or ignoring negative behavior you are able to show your pet what is acceptable and what is not in a loving way that does not make them fear you. This creates a relationship between you and your dog that is based on love and not temperament.

This video series will show you lots of tips, information and techniques to help you train your German Shepherd to recognize their name, to sit and to lay down. You will learn how positive reinforcement is more effective than physical punishment and the best way to correct your dog when they are misbehaving as well as how to get them accustomed to the world and the distractions in it.

Video Transcript

" Hi! I’m Melanie McLeroy with Taurus Training for Expert Village and we’re now going to work with German Shepherds. This is Sophie. She’s a beautiful specimen of Shepherds. She’s been coming to Taurus for quite sometime and has been through training but it’s been several years, so we’ll see how much she has retained and I’ll be able to show you how to train German Shepherds with Sophie here. First thing we need to do is teach her how to pay attention. Now, if you haven’t already please check out the pre-training videos on how to give a commands, how to mark commands, how to fade lures and especially the video on relationship before you get started with your German Shepherd. Now Sophie here is pretty distracted by the environment. She’s not paying attention, so what I’m going to do is say her name and then mark that she did the right thing when I get eye contact. Sophie, good. Now she looked toward me but she didn’t actually make eye contact, it took a couple of seconds. Be patient. Be sure you’re accurate that you’re marking the second that your dog does the right thing, that’s how they learn. Then you can start giving them random reinforcement, they’ll start working for you because you’re the source of resources and you’re a good leader not just because you have the treats. Sophie, good. Now there I had to give her a little signal, I don’t know if you can see in the camera but her eyes were flicking back and forth to my hands to my eyes, to my hands to my eyes that wasn’t real eye contact, it was cheating. So she knows that the treat is in the right hand so I’m going to switch here and tempt her a little, Sophie, good. Again I got a couple of eye flicks but it’s not until I get almost a second of eye contact that I marked it that’s what I want her to do, Sophie. Now she’s acting a little unsure, give her little help, good. Now it can be helpful to actually release her before you give her the treat because then as she’s looking away she learns the release. So this German Shepherd Sophie is learning to respond to her name, how to pay attention, that’s the most important thing when you’re starting your training. "