German Shepherd Puppies Blog

Dogs have become such an important part of our society, that the need for them to fit in well with other human beings and not pose a threat or a disturbance is critical to their long term acceptance by our neighbors and others around us. Not all people are dog lovers and to make sure that they’re not inconvenienced by our pets, training is essential.

Also, dog training is an integral part of a working dog’s life for them to be able to assist humans in activities like hunting and police work. Training dogs is a specialized skill since the key difficulty lies in how to communicate efficiently with them.

Dog training is a repetition of the basic principle of reward and punishment in various forms and combinations. Communication of these signals is the key to proper training. One very important thing to remember is consistency of signals. The reliability of the training depends on how well a dog is able to be sure of what your signals mean.

It must also be mentioned that different dog breeds take to training differently. Dogs like the iconic German Shepherd are very easily trained due to their high intelligence. Another important factor is the emotional state of the dog. A dog that is frightened, anxious, or insecure doesn’t train well and this reflects the importance of factors like proper socialization of puppies.

A lot of studies have shown that proper puppy socialization goes a long way towards ensuring a good temperament and receptivity towards training. Lots of handling, petting and generally being around humans in their everyday life goes a long way towards making a dog well behaved and easy to train.

Training German Shepherd puppies should not begin too early however, as there is evidence to show that before a certain age, the brains of puppies are not significantly developed enough to process complex learning.

Professional dog trainers are best when it comes to training your dog as they will ensure that the proper habits are set for life, including how to behave around strangers. For the safety of your dog, it is your duty as an owner to ensure that he or she is well trained.

It is said that a cat may look at a king, but the dogs have one better. A German Shepherd named Major who belonged to Franklin D Roosevelt, the 32nd President of the United States famously ripped the pants of Ramsay MacDonald, the British Prime Minister!

It’s quite a joke actually, and the symbolism of this can’t be missed if one factors in the date of this occurrence. The incident took place at just the time when Britain was preparing to go to war with Germany. Being bitten by a German Originating Dog inside the White House wasn’t quite the way to inspire confidence in people!

Poor Major was banished to another residence of Roosevelt and the story ends there. But keep in mind henceforth that a dog may bite off the pants of a Prime Minister!

They say curiousity killed the cat, but these two aren’t that far from it either…..desperately trying to figure our what is cooking!

The German Shepherd Dog

The stately German Shepherd-
Protective, bold and smart,
Looked into my eyes one day
And quickly stole my heart.

Courageous and endearing,
A favorite of its breed,
So proud and yet so loving,
A steadfast friend indeed.

Caring disposition,
Faithful to the core-
If you have a Shepherd’s love,
You cannot want for more.

- Author Unknown

Much like the Rottweiler breed, the German Shepherd excells at Schutzhund as well. What is Schutzhund? Well, Schutzhund, is a German word meaning: “protection dog” and it tests a dog?s desire to work, his courage, his intelligence, his trainability, his bond to the handler, his perseverance and his protective instincts. Dogs that pass Schutzhund tests should be suitable for police work, specific odor detection, search and rescue, and many other tasks.

The purpose of Schutzhund is also used with German Shepherds to identify those representatives of the breed that have the perfect character traits required for these demanding jobs. Becasue of their inherent intelligence, they are easily trainable. There are many dedicated people out there, who make it their vocation to train their dogs. Some even specialize in Schutzhund training for the German Shepherd breed. I take my hat of to them. It is one thing to love a breed. It is a whole different ball-game to make it one’s life work to study training techniques to better a breed as well.

The German Shepherd comes in three varieties; namely: short haired, medium haired and long haired. Some groups or breeders have focused on variants of the breed that are not recognized by most kennel clubs as standard show German Shepherds. The long-haired, or “fuzzy” variation of the breed is similar in looks to the Belgian Teruvian Shepherd Dog. The gene for the long hair is a recessive gene, and so it is more common to have the shorter or medium-length variety.

Color-wise, there are many color variations found in the German Shepherd:

- Conformation-line dogs, are mostly black-and-tan and black-and-red. Combinations containing very light hues such as cream are typically considered as faults. All-black is usually, but not always, accepted. For conformation-line dogs, the “saddle” marking is probably the most well-known. This consists of a large black patch on the upper and mid back, extending partway down the dog’s sides. The “sable” marking, which consists of one color with randomly-sized and -shaped patches or swaths of different-colored hair mixed in, is typical for working-line dogs. Some sable-pattern dogs have three colors in their coat; this is called agouti. The other popular marking is called “bi-color”, and consists of a dog that is all one color (typically black) save for differently-colored paws and lower legs, and sometimes a swath on the belly.

- Working-line dogs are typically sable, black-and-tan or black-and-brown.

One can sometimes see White German Shepherds, but these are also called Berger Blanc Suisse, or the White Swiss Shepherd dog and they are actually recognized by the FCI as a separate breed!The recessive gene for white coat hair was fixed in the German Shepherd Dog breed DNA by the late 19th and early 20th century German breeding program that extensively used “color coated” dogs that carried a recessive gene for “white coats.” The American-, the German- and the Canadian German Shepherd Club all see the white coat as basis for disqualification.

You have probably heard the word Alsatian. What connection does it have to the German Shepherd? Well, the the proper English name for the breed is the German Shepherd Dog, which is a literal translation from the German: “Deutscher Sch?ferhund”. However, they are usually simply called “German Shepherds”. In countries , where the police force uses only German Shepherds, the breed is colloquially called dog the “Police Dog” as well. In 1919, the breed was given the name: Alsatian Wolf Dog, due to anti-German sentiments after World War I. The word Alsatian comes from the word Alsace which is a traditionally German-speaking French area on the west bank of the Rhine. With time, the ‘wolf dog’ part was dropped due to a fear that it would create a negative connotation. The name Alsatian is still used in the U.K, in Ireland and in France. Only in 1977, did the name: German Shepherd become recognised in the U.K. In the United States, the breed was originally known as the ‘German Sheep Dog’ by the AKC Germany. In 1917, the name was changed to ‘Shepherd Dog’ due to anti-German sentiments. Only in 1931 did the word ‘German’ was once again become associated with the breed in teh US. In Germany, Northern- and Eastern Europe the breed is still commonly known as Sch?ferhund.

…a warm welcome!!

The German Shepherd is a popular dog breed and one has heard so many success stories of German Shepherd heroes on film and in reality. To this wonderful breed…and to all its fans..this blog is dedicated!Enjoy…