Good luck! Every GSD I've ever met has needed no training to know how to protect his or her pack and the ones that are trained have only become better dogs.
So true...no training needed, and they are excellent with kids. I have had GSDs for 15 years and have kids...best dog you will ever own. Might I suggest these fine people, there dogs are A1 dogs.
ALLE STERNE GERMAN SHEPHERDS FORMERLY TORI &
I recommend Bruce at First Friend K-9 Training
Purchased/trained Scout at First Friend
Baro Pet-Keram ("Barrett")
AD, SchH III AD, KKL I, SG* (100 points in SchH III protection)
Wella z Jihomoravskeho kraje ("Vera")
BH, ZVV1
Get the Puppy about 2 months before the Child's birth. By the time the new born here, you will be over the hump with a large amount of the development training of the Pup. Puppies are almost as much work as Babies for their first 2-3 months.The wife and I are looking for some property at the moment, with a baby due in September to help supplement our 5 yr old. One of the first things she wants AFTER the baby is born is to get ourselves a German Shephard.
How much to spend, depends on how capable you want the Dog to be. I am currently training Beau (pics are in the GSD Thread) I am 18+ months and about $1,200 into his training. Beau can be walked completely off leash, as if it is being used. We are working on Training beau for Protection now. Protection Training is often misunderstood, the purpose to train a Dog in Protection is to have the ability to either stop the dog before he hits or call him back after a hit. I can tell my dogs to "Guard" or "Watch" and they will ratchet up their awareness towards which area or person I have identified them to pay attention to possibly ignoring distractions in the Area.I'm more of a Beagle and Bloodhound guy myself, but the idea has grown on me after awhile. After a brief discussion with the wife and a little research on the interwebz, I've kinda decided that I want the little pup trained for guard dog duty.
The real decisions we are facing is what level of guard dog training do we want? I'm thinking to what is commonly classified as a Level II, as I'd want something a little more advanced and able to defend family, home, and property. Second part is: How much do we want to spend?
Find a trainer in your Area. Do NOT Bite train Your Dog if you are not VERY experienced at doing it....I've grown up with animals (farm boy) all my life, but I'm not a trainer in any sense of the word, so I've start my book research, and started looking at prices. The biggest concern and determination at first seems to be the pup's suitability to the training to start off with. Later on, it looks like bite training can get expensive if you want a suit, but at the same time I'm not looking at making it a career of training other people's dogs, so why would I want a 2k dollar full suit for some unsuspecting friend to wear as a target...
Unfortunately the 2 I currently have are spoken for... This Summer I will be breeding 2-3 Females though, as they come into their heat cycles.Anyone have any good places to look for shephard pups?
Where are you located?!Anyone have a good place to help with obediance and then guard dog training?
Unless you are planning on Breeding the Puppy do not get a Papered Dog. Have a Dog with Papers that is spayed or neutered is beyond ignorant...Any other advice/heads up, that anyone would care to share?
You don't have to wait that long. Have a well trained dog is useful NOW!SHTF situation, dog would be REALLY handy. Especially when I have to leave my gun at home and travel to Chicago...
All my dogs are House Trained Dogs....We have had few Rotts and now a have 2 year old german sheperd. She is the most well rounded dog I have ever had. I would recomend you don't get one from sport lines if you want it to be in the house. They can be quite handful with over the top prey drives they always wanting to go and they typically don't have strong fight drives.
I am very impressed with our girl medium prey drive and very strong deffense drive. If you want to train it for protection work be prepared for a very big commitment.
Get the Puppy about 2 months before the Child's birth. By the time the new born here, you will be over the hump with a large amount of the development training of the Pup. Puppies are almost as much work as Babies for their first 2-3 months.
I recommend ALL Dog Owners have their Dogs trained in Protection.See if you can find a trainer that will let you take a bite from a strong tempered attacked trained dog, you may change you mind after you see how dangerous they can be.
An attack, apprehension dog handler usually needs more training than the dog.
At this age it is almost ridiculously easy to establish the boundaries for the puppy.I was going to suggest that, but wondered about the crap that a new baby would bring down on a dog transitioning to a new home and whether baby is perceived as one of the family or an "intruder."
True...And aside from those issues, I'm not convinced this is the best time for a family about to bring a new baby into the family, particular when the new mom is going to shoulder the majority of the care. It may work fine for the dog, but it is entirely dependent on the family's dynamics, priorities, and personalities. No way I could have dealt with a new pup in the last 3 months of m pregnancy. I could barely walk from the sciatic pain. Dealing with a dog who had just pissed on the carpet would be the last thing I'd want to have to deal with. I know it means the drawback is waiting for several months until the transition time with the new baby has worked out, but knowing that the woman shoulders about 90% of the burden of the new baby and has to deal with the consequences of all the changes that take place, it is an awful lot to put on her.