What is Helping Us Train Our German Shepherd Puppy

Disclosure: This is a lifestyle blog that mainly discusses career, parenting teens, and inspirational posts. As such, this post may contain affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission if you click a link and purchase something that I have recommended. While clicking these links won’t cost you any extra money, they will help me keep this site up and running! Please check out our disclosure policy for more details. Thank you for your support!

Last summer we got a German Shepherd puppy. It was love at first sight. We instantly knew that she was the one we wanted. At first, I was a bit hesitant to get her because she was high energy, but there was just something about her that captured our heart. We knew that we had to train her because she was a big dog.

Big dogs get more of a bad rep than little dogs. We already have a Pekingese mix dog named Li, and I never really paid attention to his behaviors until we got Lola (that’s what we named her). He jumps on me, and I never thought about it until she started jumping on everyone. It got to the point that there was this little girl with mental health issues, and Lola freaked her out really bad. I knew that I had to make sure Lola was well trained because she scares people more than Li.

I am proud to report that she no longer jumps on people all the time. She will jump on the teens once in awhile, but she knows not to jump on other people now. These are some resources I used to train my dog.

In-Person Dog Training

We took Lola to these really great dog training classes from this company called Lead with Fun. The first puppy class was when Lola was 16 weeks old. It was more to socialize her with other dogs. It was so cute seeing all the puppies running around. Lola panicked the first day, but then after that, she was have fun with the the rest of the pups. In this class, we learned the basics:

1. Sit
2. Lay Down
3. Leave It

The second class we took was when she was a teenager. Teenagers are the same in dogs. You love them so much, but they are testing you every two seconds to see what they can get away with. This time we didn’t have all the puppies together. We had barriers between the teenaged dogs. Lola learned:

1. Stay
2. Leave it for longer periods of time
3. Settle
4. Not to jump on people
5. Come even with distractions

We want to keep taking other classes, but we want until she is spayed because she will be around other dogs again.

Dog Training Treats and Toys

Barkbox was great in providing us the treats and toys that we used for Lola’s training. What was amazing is that we found out quickly that Lola is an aggressive chewer. Barkbox changed our subscription to the chewer box, and those toys were great. They were able to withstand Lola’s teeth, and we even took a couple of them with us to the dog park.

Dog Training Web Sites and Forums

I love to Google, so I searched tons trying to find how to stop Lola from pulling, jumping on people, being destructive with her toys, and other things. You should also do the same. I found one forum that has been great called German Shepherd Forums. I am learning a lot. Check around to see if there is a community for your dog breed. Even if your dog is a mixed breed, like my Pekingese/Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, he/she is usually more like one of the breeds. Li is more Pekingese than Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, so I tend to look more at the information for Pekingese.

Dog Whisperer on Hulu

I love Cesar Millan. I learned so much from watching “Dog Whisperer” on Hulu. The main lesson was that a dog is not a human, and you have to treat your dog like a dog. Also, that I do not have to be so vocal to train my dog. When Lola would pull or bark at other dogs (she started this as a teen), I would wail “Lola, stop!” and keep talking. Now? I just say “Shh,” and she will stop. Confidence is the other lesson I learned from Cesar. Dogs can sense when you are not confident or are freaking out, so take a deep breathe and relax before you train your dog.

Dog Trainers on YouTube

Like I said in my last post, I watch a lot of YouTube. I have found some great dog trainers there. Here are my favorites from my top favorites being first.

Robert Cabral

Upstate Canine Academy

German Shepherd Man

Zak George’s Dog Training Revolution

Training Positive 

SolidK9Training

Ruff Beginnings Rehab Dog Training and Rescue

Dog Training by Kikopup

Simpawtico Dog Training

Bound Angels

McCann Dog Training

Leerburg

Indigo Dog Training

Top Animals TV

Stonnie Dennis

You should only train for 5 minutes at a time. It’s a lot of mental work for a puppy so don’t tire him/her out. Please let me know of other dog training tools that you have used. Have you checked out the new dog training apps? If so, do you think they are worth it?