When I brought Prince home, a few days after Thanksgiving 2008, I had never trained a German Shepherd before.  Due to my father having trained so many of them (and my having so little to do with any of it), I was under the somewhat erroneous impression that a German Shepherd was a very easy dog to train.  A smart dog should pick up things quickly...or at least, that was what I thought.  And, at first, it seemed that I was correct.

Prince was housebroken in 2 days.  He had exactly 2 accidents in the house...at 8 weeks of age.  All I had to do was take him outside, wait for him to relieve himself, and give him a snack.  The next time I took him out, he immediately went, I repeated the process, and that was it.  I have housebroken poodles, Shih-Tzus, chihuahuas, Miniature Schnauzers and many mixed breed dogs, and while some of them were pretty were quick to catch on, none were quite that quick.  Prince was the smartest dog I had ever housebroken.

Pleased with my almost effortless success, I went on to the basic commands of obedience that I had learned years ago were essential for all dogs to know.  I taught Prince to come as easily as I had taught him to go potty outside.  All I had to do was call him, wait for him to come to me and give him a snack, and he caught on.  I taught him to sit by giving him a snack as soon as he sat down while I held a snack, and to lie down and stay in the same manner.  Each time, he would look at me in an almost condescending manner, as if he somehow expected more of me.  Inordinately pleased with myself, I even wrote a letter to the lady who had bred him, extolling his rapid learning ability.

Ironically enough, it was only a few days afterwards that the chewing problem began.

Prince didn't chew up toys, like my small dogs had.  He didn't chew on furniture, or flooring, or books, or even bedding.  None of those things were worthy of his chewing efforts.

Prince chewed on people.

At first, I tried saying NO in a loud, firm voice, and yanking away whatever part of me he had decided to sink his teeth into.  This only made it more exciting for him.  He would simply lunge at me and try to chew on another available part.  Shouting NO had exactly the same effect (i.e, none).  Clapping my hands, stomping my feet and making loud noises were similarly useless.  On his first visit to the vet for shots, I explained the situation to her and asked for her advice.

"You can't let him get away with that," she said (as I had seriously considered doing so)."You have to correct him immediately."

"How?"  I asked.

Whereupon she provided me with a pamphlet titled "How to curb your puppy's aggressive tendencies."

Relieved, I took it home, read it, and prepared to tackle my German Shepherd puppy's chewing propensity.

Training a German Shepherd

My father was convinced that no dog in the world was a match for the German Shepherd in terms of intelligence.  He actually trained them in the military as a young man...and had the scars on his forearms to prove it.  My mother is a devoted fan of the German Shepherd, as well...primarily because when my father was serving in Korea, and she was living alone in Indiana with two small daughters, she purchased a German Shepherd for protection.  This dog...Brutus...not only accomplished this exceedingly well, he also helped me learn how to walk when I was a baby by letting me pull myself up on his body and walk with my hand on him.  I called him Brutee.

When I was 5 years old, we got another German Shepherd...Prince I...who was also the model of patience with my parents' young family.  My father took dozens of pictures of me as a child with my arms wrapped around his neck, hugging him as if I were trying to choke him.  The only person Prince I didn't care for was the garbage man, because he would try to sneak up and take the trash away.

We had other German Shepherds when I was older...Prince II and Count..both of whom were extraordinarily protective and extraordinarily patient.  The only fault Count had was that he liked to steal our dolls, and run away with them with his ears folded down!  

I grew up with the impression that German Shepherds were the smartest dog in the world, too...but what I never realized was that their very intelligence might make them a little bit more difficult than the average dog to train.  I discovered this the hard way...when I purchased my first purebred German Shepherd, Prince Blackstar (or Prince III) from a breeder in Columbus, Nebraska.  

Prince's parents were German imports, so Prince is bigger than the average German Shepherd in America...he is over 100 pounds.  I suspect Prince's ancestors were also possibly used for police work, due to various ingrained habits he arrived with, as well as herding, for the same reason.  This made Prince's puppyhood an especially challenging time.  Yet I actually learned more from training Prince than I have from training any other dog I have owned, and in this blog, I would like to share some of that for anyone who is trying to train a German Shepherd and may be encountering situations similar to those which I did, or for anyone who needs a good laugh.  

I'm pretty sure Prince approves.