If you are reading this page, you most likely are in process of looking at German Shepherd trained puppies for sale, or perhaps you recently bought a puppy and are now thinking about trained your German Shepherd puppy yourself, or getting outside help with a professional dog trainer. On this page, we will outline several key premises that serve as foundational in our philosophy of dog training. Whether you purchase one of our trained German Shepherd puppies or are just here to up your game training your own puppy, we these foundational premises will be helpful.
Premise 1: Will engaging my German Shepherd puppy training in obedience somehow prevent my dog from just “being a dog?”
This is a question we often hear. One the one hand pet owners recognize the need for obedience training their puppy. But, on the other hand, a desire exists to give the dog its best life. This is a great question. Many pet owners fear their dog will somehow become robotic if the puppy somehow goes through high level obedience training. A great question that deserves a serious answer.
Let’s answer this question by means of an analogy. Instead of puppy training, let’s assume we were training a human child. Anyone that has ever raised their own children, or spent any time with young children will understand how easily a child learns to say the word “no,” or “mine.” Children seems to just spontaneously understand these concepts. That toy is mine. Give it to me. I want that candy! Child grabs candy and starts screaming for candy. These kinds of behaviors don’t need to be taught. Children do these things all on their own.
Now contrast that undisciplined child with a mental image of a child that has learned self-discipline. That young child calmly walks with his parents through the same store. Perhaps the child asks for a toy or candy. But when told no, the child doesn’t throw a fit. The child is happy. He knows his parent loves him. Which child is happier? The child throwing a fit with frustrated and angry parents, tired of their miserable child? Or, the child that has learned the discipline to accept parental authority with peace and contentment. The obvious answer, the disciplined child is the happier child. The same principle holds true in puppy training. A well-disciplined puppy will be far happier. Without discipline, you the owner (parent) will be continually frustrated. Your dog will feel the frustration. More than likely, many of you will raise your voice, and possibly discipline out of anger (frustration). In contrast, the disciplined puppy, like the disciplined child will experience a much happier life!
Premise 2: German Shepherd puppy training ought to be physical first and verbal second.
Too often we talk to our dogs as if they are “mini me” little people. They are not! As much as we might talk to our dogs like they understand us, dogs are quite different than humans. We might contrast dogs to humans this way. In a general sense, dogs are first physical, then verbal. In contrast, people tend to be verbal first, and physical second. Consider for a moment how dogs meet other dogs— especially new dogs. How do they react? Typically the dogs are quiet. There is no barking. One dog approaches the other dog. Barring aggression, they will quietly sniff each other, possible touch muzzles. There is physical touch before barking. If barking begins, the situation has escalated.
Contrast typical dog behavior with typical human behavior. Meet someone new. How do you respond. Are you immediately physical, touching, and intimate. Absolutely not! We would see this as a social cue that something might be wrong with a person who acts this way. We’d likely take a step back. If necessary, we would likely lean back ways to put physical distance between ourselves and the person lacking social/physical boundaries. How do normal humans greet people they don’t know well. Most interaction is primarily verbal. Increased physicality typically only occurs as people increase comfort and familiarity with one another.
This principle that dogs are physical before verbal is foundational to our dog training philosophy here at Czech Working Line. Touch and movement will be our primary means of communication when starting a German Shepherd puppy training in obedience. Proofing a puppy’s obedience training comes on the tail end of a puppy learning a new skill. How does one proof obedience training. Proof is done verbally and in the face of increased distraction.
Premise 3: Touch and movement are primary tools in German Shepherd puppy training in obedience.
How often have you found yourself raising your voice at your dog when it misbehaves? Too often we are treating dogs as verbal beings rather than animals that are physical first and only verbal after a situation escalates (unless your dog is a Min Pin or a Chihuahua, and then heaven help us all….). Attempting to verbally train our dogs with a verbal first approach fails to understand a dog’s nature. Effective dog training works with the dog’s nature, not against it. Therefore, effective German Sheperd puppy training engages the puppy physically through touch and motion as first and primary teaching tools.
Verbal proofing in puppy training comes after touch and motion. Start with touch and motion to show the puppy the exception response. Only after your dog clearly understands and is obeying do you starting eliminating touch and motion from your training. Transitioning away from physical touch to only using verbal commands is a process, a transition from one to the other. Only when your puppy is showing it absolutely understands and can instantly comply will you prove your puppy’s obedience with nothing more than a verbal command. This final step is often referred to as “proofing the puppy’s obedience.”
Wanting to improve your puppy training technique? Start with touch and movement as your primary means of communication. Here at Czech Working Line we prioritize touch and movement as primary when starting a puppy in obedience training, we then transition to a greater mix of physical touch and movement in combination with verbal commands, and finally proof the obedience with only verbal commands after the puppy demonstrates clear and quick understanding and obedience.
Premise four: Physical touch can dog trainer physically touching dog, or something external such as an electronic collar (an e-collar).
Electronic collar tend to be used in two ways. In the more common method of e-collar dog training, collars are used to punish a dog. They are a physical way of touching the dog and saying, “No, don’t do that.” Most e-collars don’t adjust easily. And this should not surprise us when we realize many trainers use the e-collar to apply negative pressure for dog for doing something other than what trainer desires. The second, and we would contend, more effective means of using an e-collar is to use a highly adjustable e-collar that is used on lowest possible setting in order to electronically touch the dog, alerting them that some kind of action is going to be requested of the puppy. Sit, stay, come.
The collar can be a means of gently touching the dog at a distance. In this way of teaching the dog, e-collar touch is not used as a negative correction or punishment. Rather it is simply a means of applying physical touch at a distance.This means of using the e-collar to apply physical touch at a distance is how we here at Czech Working Line practice physical touch when we are not close enough to the dog to reach out with our hands in close quarters.
Most e-collars are basically useless in that they are primarily designed to punish. Few of them are easily adjusted. The kinds of collars we recommend are collars where the volume can easily be adjustable up or down in a second or two. These collars typically have a manual dial where that click up or down swiftly and easily. The goal is to electronically touch the dog on the lowest setting where the dog “feels (hears)” the trainer. In a low stimuli environment this will be on a 1 setting, the lowest possible setting. Looking for a good source for an effective e-collar. Contact Chris and Bree at mydogtrainer.com.
These low setting are so low this electronic touch is hardly more noticeably than someone’s hand or fingernail lightly grazing the top of your hand. But have a rabbit run in front of your puppy while on a walk and your puppy will be so distracted it won’t even be aware of such a light touch. With increased distraction, the electronic touch is gently increased— only to the point that your puppy is aware of the touch. Kind of like say, “hey, look at me.” “Pay attention.” Such a distinction is far different than correcting your dog through negative pain. Don’t do this or you will get zapped and it will hurt.
Premise 5: Remember, dogs are physical first and verbal second; so we don’t verbally proof until our puppy obedience training is clearly understood by and being obeyed by puppy!
This last point summarizes and lays foundation for our entire training principle, this being, dogs are physical first and verbal second. This foundational principle underscores our entire dog training system here at Czech Working Line. We are physical touch and motion first dog trainers. Verbal proofing come along only after the puppy has made significant progress in understanding and learning to obey a new command. Our e-collar use is not punishment. When an e-collar is used, it is used as a means of providing physical touch at a distance. The collar lightly uses the lowest possible setting to alert the dog, “hey, we are going to do something.” “Change ahead.” “Pay attention.”
Following these principles, we find puppies respond extremely well to touch and motion as primary communication tools. Our German Shepherd puppy training principles are built around these foundational principles. Applied to the puppy training process, puppies learn faster. They are happier (less frustration). And you as the owner tend to be happier as you have a more clear and effective means of communicating with your dog.
Custom dog training options for our German Shepherd trained puppies for sale.
We offer custom puppy training options for puppies produced here by our family. At this time, we do not do board and training for outside dogs. Demand for training puppies we produce more than keeps us busy. Since we don’t outsource to employees, we are limited in the number of puppy training commitments at any given time. We typically limit ourselves to not more than four puppies at any one time. For a brief overview of cost and what is included in our standard puppy training options, click here.
It is worth reminding our reader at this point, that puppy training ought never be thought of as, now my puppy is trained. No, when purchasing one of our German Shepherd trained puppies, this training ought to be understood in terms of “introductory puppy training.” By no means will your puppy be done or finished with obedience training. Not at all. While effective, when puppies leave our home for yours, this obedience training is introductory training. The puppy will not have perfect recall, not by any means. While it may be learning to stay while in sit, most puppies will need continued work and practice to improve their self-discipline. Especially in the face of new people and distractions.
Most of our puppy training occurs within our puppy boot camp where puppies receive one to two months of introductory obedience, crate and potty training. With that said, some families will prefer more time spent in training their puppy than available through our “puppy boot camp” options. Custom options are available. One of the benefits of some of our custom training options include introducing your puppy to traveling in a vehicle. Taking the puppy to town and working on obedience with the multitude of distractions available in public settings. Here we drive puppies into town. We take puppies into Petco, Lowes and other big box pet friendly stores. Puppies are engaged in further obedience training where it is much harder and more difficult to obey. This additional level of training is quite labor intensive. And so the cost is more. But if this might be of interest, give us a call and we can talk about your specific puppy and the puppy training fit that might be best for your puppy.
Basic Puppy Training Cost
Puppy Boot Camp Phase 1: $1500
Puppy Boot Camp Phases 1 and 2 combined: $2800
Custom Boot Camp Option: Will start at $3500 minimum for 60 days. Each situation will be determined on a case by case basis.
Our dog training goals during puppy training.
Our main focus in our puppy boot camp phases is to give your puppy the ability to better adapt to his or her new home and family. Our dog training options give your puppy a jump start in learning good manners. This goes a long ways towards setting the stage for a smooth transition from our home to yours. We don’t bring in employees to work with your puppy. A big part of our joy in raising working line German Shepherds is the time we get to spend with them as dog trainers. We typically limit ourselves to not more than three or four puppies at a time. we bring puppies into our home. They snuggle with us in the evening as we watch the news. They curl up at our feet under the table while we sit around the table. So if you are thinking of adding dog training when purchasing one of our working line German Shepherd puppies for sale, let us know early. This can help us get you on our dog training list.
*** Our puppy boot camp ought to be understood as introductory. Your puppy will have learned basic obedience skills, but these are skills you will continue teaching and reinforcing when your puppy comes to your home. Many families will choose to continue with additional training as their puppy grows older. This is especially true for families interested in protection training. This sort of puppy training is typically not started even in its most basic forms until your puppy is 6-12 months of age.
Black sable German Shepherd puppy training candidate
More serious dog training also available
We know that some of you are interested in bringing home a German Shepherd with the end goal of developing a trained guard dog. With so many cities experience crazy increases in crime, this makes a lot of sense. Just recently, one of our customers in the Dallas/Fort Worth area of Texas bought a replacement puppy for their older German Shepherd that had recently passed. Even though they lived in one of the nicer areas of the metroplex, nearly every one of their neighbors had their house broken into— with the exception of their home and their immediate neighbor. And guess which homes had German Shepherds? With two IGP 3 trained guard dogs in our house, dogs that are DEEPLY bonded to our family, I can’t hardly imagine what would happen if someone were foolish enough to break into our home at night. For families interested in getting help preparing their dog for bite work, ask us about our custom training options. As a rule, we don’t train outside dogs. We pretty much limit ourselves to working with dogs we produce. So if you obtained your dog somewhere else, we probably can’t help you. But, if you bought one of our German Shepherd puppies for sale, and want to go the extra mile in more serious dog training, we’d love to have that conversation with you. Let us know your end goals and we can help you make a plan to get exactly where you want to go
