Saucy Pet

Posts Tagged ‘Group Puppy Classes to Socialize Your Puppy’

I think German shepherds are great dogs but I’ve had to learn to control biting problems with a couple of mine. Although all were great pets, two of my largest males had biting problems. The first of my boys loved people, but just hated other dogs. I had adopted the one that wanted to fight other dogs as an adult, so his dog hating was already established when I got him. I got him over that problem by having him meet and eventually become pals with a nice looking female dog-once he became friends with her, he began relaxing around other dogs, too (belated socializing in action). After awhile he actually began to tolerate and then enjoy the company of other dogs . I loved finally seeing my formerly aggressive big German shepherd play with other dogs without being a real pain in the butt. However, my other big German Shepherd liked other dogs, but really had a problem with people- that was a much more serious issue. To my household, the puppy seemed like a terrific young dog, confident and fun, but to others his confidence and aggression  demeanor were another matter. When my little German shepherd was only 8 weeks old I witnessed his first overt aggression. I was doing some gardening in the front yard, and a UPS truck pulled up. The driver hopped out with a package and started up the walk to the house. Before he could reach the door, my little German shepherd pup had his hackles up, and with his teeth bared and barking furiously, he backed the UPS driver back into his truck. I remember being amused and thinking what a great watchdog this puppy would grow up to be.At the time, I didn’t realize what a problem it would later become to control his aggression and eventual urge to sink his teeth into someone.At 6 months my puppy attacked my mailman, and ended up atop of the poor guy, who was flat on his back.A humorous side note to this is that the poor mailman inadvertently missed my dog and instead sprayed his own face with pepper spray in the confusion-he didn’t find it so funny and I didn’t get any mail for awhile after that. If think your puppy may be aggressive like my crazy little guy, you’ll want to hear my advice about that. The following advice holds true for any puppy in general, but especially for a dog showing signs of aggression, who will later grow up to be a big dog like mine. Dog aggression and biting and is something that should be must be corrected as early as possible, because it’s much easier to fix it before it has already been happening awhile.Once I came across this great advice and put it to use, none of my other puppies have ever grown up to be overly aggressive and prone to biting.

I was checking the puppy area of the dog training book I use for advice, and read that it is an excellent idea to begin socializing and obedience training your puppy at a very young age.

Besides getting started early with obedience training for your new puppy, you are also giving him a chance to socialize with other people and their puppies. The great thing aout the socializing is your puppy will not only learn good dog etiquette with this interaction, but he will also learn to enjoy the company of other dogs. This is a very important factor in not having to deal with aggression problems later on. It is easy to see why it is that a dog that is kept confined and away from interaction with other dogs or people is much more likely to become aggressive. If a puppy is acting out of line, the other puppies in the class will straighten him out.  You will be socializing your dog, but also you’ll be getting an early start on training your puppy how to behave. Little puppies of only six weeks old can already learn a lot of the basic obedience tricks. If you want an example of young puppies already doing tricks, check it out on uTube.

If you follow this one important tip and bring you puppy to a group training class you will be glad you did. Look up information on group puppy training courses in your area and use one that uses positive reinforcement training only. I tried out the group puppy training class with my next puppy, and it made a huge difference. Besides being a great way to get an early start with training and socializing, my puppy and I both loved going to the classes.

Read more about how to train your puppy.Secrets to Dog Training Review