How To Solve German Shepherd Problem Behaviors

by Jan Ryan

German Shepherds can turn into one of two kinds of dogs. They can either be the best dogs you ever owned or they can be an owner’s worst nightmare. German Shepherd problem behaviors will usually arise from human interaction or a lack of it. A German Shepherd has natural instincts but it will gladly put aside those instincts to make its human family happy. A German Shepherd can get very attached and protective of it’s human family and if you do not follow the proper training procedures when the German Shepherd is a pup then you will get German Shepherd problem behaviors.

One of the first things that can help your German Shepherd adapt to life in the world is to socialize the dog with other animals and other people as soon as possible and as young as possible. The sooner the dog learns how to be a social animal the less likely it is to attack other animals and people. A German Shepherd’s natural instinct is to hunt and herd and herding can mean protecting its family so if you do not get it used to other people and animals then you are asking for big problems.

You need to play with your German Shepherd constantly and show it a lot of attention because German Shepherds can get really bored really fast and a bored German Shepherd will start to display problem behaviors almost instantly. That is the thing about German Shepherds, they can make behavioral adjustments almost instantly and when they do they usually revert back to their instincts. A bored German Shepherd will start to hunt and, as you can imagine, that is bad. So show your dog a lot of attention and avoid this German Shepherd problem behavior.

A German Shepherd needs to work and needs to feel like it has a job to do so always give your Shepherd tasks to accomplish and a feeling like it is doing something important. Even if that means just being the family dog, as long as the German Shepherd is working it is happy. If you neglect it then it can start to use it’s herding instincts and that can usually escalate into more aggressive behavior, which is a very bad thing.

I have always been shocked at the people that get so trusting of their German Shepherd that they let the dog watch the kids for just a minute or two. Never leave your children alone with your dog because one of the German Shepherd problem behaviors is the herding instinct.

So until you have your Shepherd completely trained to accept the actions of other people avoid having it around the kids too much right away and never leave the German Shepherd alone with small children.

All a German Shepherd wants to do is be part of your family and if you treat it like a part of the family then you can avoid a lot of the German Shepherd problem behaviors that can occur with this breed.

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.

About the Author: About the author: Jan Ryan is a passionate lover of the German Shepherd and owns a popular website that can teach you how to have a happy, healthy and well behaved German Shepherd. Among other topics there, you can also learn all about German Shepherd Problem Behaviors plus a whole lot more.