You can pretty much count on every breed of dog to have its own types of behavioral issues that need to be addressed. Luckily for you the German Shepherd is an extremely intelligent breed of dog that would much prefer making its human family happy than almost anything else in the world. Many German Shepherd problem behaviors can be avoided by simply spending time with your German Shepherd and helping it to learn new behaviors to override its instincts.
One instinct that can become a problem later in life is the herding instinct that German Shepherds are born with. They can become protective of their human family with this instinct but it can also make them increasingly aggressive and difficult to control. To offset this you need to socialize your German Shepherd as soon as possible. Get it used to other animals and other people so that when it grows it does not feel threatened by the presence of other animals or other people even near its family.
A German Shepherd needs a lot of attention and if you want to avoid German Shepherd problem behaviors in the future then you need to always keep your German Shepherd active and involved in family things. A bored German Shepherd will probably start to resort to it’s hunting instinct and chase cars, other animals, and people and that can turn into a bad thing. So show your German Shepherd plenty of attention and you should be able to avoid this German Shepherd problem behavior before it can develop into a real problem.
A German Shepherd, by nature, is a working dog and if it does not have some sort of assigned task then it starts to get antsy. Always make your German Shepherd feel like it has important work to do even if that important work is just being the family dog. Left to its own devices it will resort to herding activities and that can escalate quickly to more aggressive behavior so be sure to keep your dog busy.
For some reason some people take the Shepherd’s loyalty and ability to function with a variety of animals and people as a sign that it makes a good babysitter for a few minutes. No matter how well behaved your German Shepherd is never leave your children alone with your dog. A main German Shepherd problem behaviors is the herding instinct and that can kick in at any time and if your small children are around unsupervised that can be a bad thing. So never leave your kids alone with your German Shepherd.
The German Shepherd is probably the most loyal and intelligent of the dogs breeds available but it can have its draw backs as well. You need to spend a lot of time with your German Shepherd and you need to teach it how to interact with other people and animals if you want to avoid major German Shepherd problem behaviors down the road.
This article can help you with your German Shepherd training efforts. If you need additional information about the German Shepherd then go here.
Posted under Dog Breeds, dog training
This post was written by admin on November 12, 2008
