[Linda Blazina]

Hi everyone,
I'm new to the forum. recently we bought two male German shepherds, Rufus is 14 months, Shadow is 8 months. they are wonderful pups, out of working German lines. we have had shepherds in the past, just lost our wonderful male Victor in March.
I'm interested in learning as much as I can from everyone's experience in training shepherds.

we live on a farm in middle Tennessee and have cattle and horses (which the dogs love to bark at and run the fence line). so we have a lot of work to do with these guys. plus we 're getting them used to the house and are working hard on manners!

 

[Connie Sutherland]

Hi everyone,
I'm new to the forum. recently we bought two male German shepherds, Rufus is 14 months, Shadow is 8 months. they are wonderful pups, out of working German lines. we have had shepherds in the past, just lost our wonderful male Victor in March.
I'm interested in learning as much as I can from everyone's experience in training shepherds.

we live on a farm in middle Tennessee and have cattle and horses (which the dogs love to bark at and run the fence line). so we have a lot of work to do with these guys. plus we 're getting them used to the house and are working hard on manners!

WELCOME, Linda! I'm sorry about Victor. We would love to see his picture if you would like to post it. And of course Shadow and Rufus!

Do you have training plans for your guys after manners?

 

[Connie Sutherland]

P.S. We loooove pics!

 

[Linda Blazina]

I will post pictures of Vic, Rufus, and Shadow soon, i'm not great at that task, so hubby will have to help.
Yes, we are serious about obedience training with both of these guys. they are very intelligent, we live in a rural area and don't have access to any great trainers, but have found one person who is a possibility.
I am a psychologist, so I should be able to apply my knowledge of learning theory to this endeavor, but i have to admit, it is difficult to apply theoretical knowledge to training and be 100% consistent, but I'm trying. we have mastered sit, down, are working on down stay and recall (recall is going VERY slow), we ordered ed frawley's obedience training video and are watching it now and it has proved to be quite helpful.

my biggest concern with my dogs is that I do not believe they are well socialized and we don't have a lot of people visiting us, so when family or friends do come for a brief visit, both dogs become uneasy and then I become nervous and the dogs then become more nervous and---you can see where this is going.

If anyone can give me some advice about how to deal with getting our dogs accustomed to "occasional" visitors and being calm, i would greatly appreciate it!

this forum has great information, looking forward to learning from you all.
Linda

 

[Connie Sutherland]

Well, I think you did a smart thing by getting Ed Frawley's updated Basic Obedience video. I like it very much. It's long, but it covers much more than basic obedience.

You might find that basic obedience is a fun thing to do yourself with the dogs, and that watching the video can make it clear enough to pursue on your own.

We also have some good threads in our obedience forum here.

Mike and others here are masters at socializing, and there are several of us who can help with the recall and the visitor thing, too.

Anyway, welcome!

 

[Woody Taylor]

Forum psychologist. Excellent. Interested to hear your takes on the group's notions of various training...also handy for the occasional breakdowns here. And advice on meds. :twisted:

Welcome, Linda!

 

[Linda Blazina]

Woody and Connie,
Thanks for the warm welcome. I'm sure I will be able to learn a lot from all you guys on this forum.
My schedule is crazy, so if I don't check in for a while, it's because I've overloaded myself.

I'll be happy to provide input from a psychological perspective. Medication advice, now would that be for dogs or people?? :lol:

 

[Woody Taylor]

Linda, I can honestly say dogs here are amazingly well-adjusted. ;-)