How do you teach a German Shepherd puppy not to nip at children?
by Sue on June 13, 2009
in Questions About German Shepherd Dogs
Rob asked:
5 month old female German Shepherd - a great dog, very sweet and playful, but the only negative is that she occasionally takes nips at the kids. Playing, of course. Telling her off with "no!" doesn't always work, as she perceives this as playing. Any suggestions here? thanks.
If you own a Chow Chow or if you're thinking about getting one, then this may be the most important letter you'll ever read...
5 month old female German Shepherd - a great dog, very sweet and playful, but the only negative is that she occasionally takes nips at the kids. Playing, of course. Telling her off with "no!" doesn't always work, as she perceives this as playing. Any suggestions here? thanks.
If you own a Chow Chow or if you're thinking about getting one, then this may be the most important letter you'll ever read...
Have her drag a leash, and correct her when she does it. Have the kids learn to walk her on the leash so she doesn’t perceive them as stock to be herded.
You should get this under control with the help of a trainer, or she will be in trouble as she gets older – it is herding dog behaviour that doesn’t belong around the kids, and can get you sued by the kid down the street.
Even herding nips, which are really a form of communication, not aggression, to your GSD, are perceived as a bite in modern suburbia.
Take her to training school or something.
When the puppy nips, ask the kids to firmly say no. If she continues to nip, ask the kids to firmly say no again, get up, turn their backs to her, ignore her, and walk away. Hopefully, she’ll see that if she nips them, it ends up with them not playing with her. She’s still very much a baby, and it’ll take time for her to learn nipping is not okay. Just be patient and consistent. German Shepherds are extremely intelligent, and she’ll probably pick it up very quickly.
Bite it back? No, when it nips, take your hand and push the puppy to the ground, hold it there, look it in its eyes, and say “no” in a deep voice, until it realizes the game is over.
Yes the leash will work but I found that the hard part is the kids themselves. My puppy used to do the same thing to my daughter and my daughter would giggle and run away thus the puppy thinks this is great fun.The kids need to be able to be stern with the puppy as well or the puppy is not going to think they are serious and will continue. The problem is that the puppy sees the kids as other puppies and you are the alpha dog(I hope) so you need to make sure the puppy knows not to mess with YOUR kids.Good Luck!