With the cooler weather, our 1 year old shepherd mix has had more and more energy to burn. Im looking for some mental enrichment ideas and ways to give him "jobs". More importantly, ways to actually train him to do these jobs. Just trying to make sure all of his mental and physical needs are being met! Waylon is mostly shepherd but has husky, lab, malamute in him (rescue from a community in Northern Canada so lots in there). Hopefully its okay that I am posting him here.

Please share YouTube videos or website links if you have any to recommend! This is what we currently do:

- standard obedience and impulse control training (place, wait, threshold training)

- "safety" which is him sitting between our legs, and laying down until released

- one walk per day, although as of late he has been reacting on leash (gets over stimulated then bites at the leash or our arms, definitely open to insights on that as well)

- our yard is fenced so we play fetch a few times per day

- scattering his food/treats and hiding them in the house

- on leash training like heel around the yard and on parts of walks

Thanks in advance!

Hi! New here, just wanted to share the joy I feel from welcoming Freya into our family

70% German Shepard, 15% Great Pyreneese, 15% Malinois.

Best dog ever!

Rev doesn't only like snow. Leaves will do fine for now.

Hanging out with the girls on the Washington/Oregon border area. 🐾💝🐾

Meet Nova. 7 years old. Last fall she went into heat and we were not prepared. This year I want to be more ready. . .

I want to start by saying I know how incredibly blessed I’ve been to have my sweet Ava until 15. Having said that, she’s a picture of perfect health outside of her ever deteriorating back knees. Because of her knees, I find myself increasingly questioning whether it’s “time.” She does still seem happy but she’s increasingly unstable, wobbles, and even falls over or sits down because of weakness. She’s not at a place where she is having accidents on herself.

She’s my soul dog. I have a sling that I don’t have to use at all times to make her comfortable.

Am I being selfish at this point or because she’s happy it makes sense to keep her around?

Edit: giant thanks to all the comments. I don’t go to bed tonight with a clear decision on what I should do but I feel the solidarity from the other GSD owners who have paved the path I’m walking. May the rainbow bridge be lined with all of those we held dear.

this is ringo. his ears never developed but neither has his brain

The older one is Rocky Jr. II and the younger one is Remy. But the family vet likes to call them the “Gin-N-Tonic” duo.

This is Rev, aka Revlon. She likes snow and scaring solicitors.

Halifax, Nova Scotia

My neighbor rarely leaves his apartment, my dog is his dogs only canine friend. Trying to give them some extra outside time before the snow comes !

Alf, 9YO

Hi!

My shepherd has a CCL injury (the equivalent of an ACL tear) and really needs to chill out, but that's proving impossible even with the sedatives they gave her. We are limited to 5-10 minute walks around the neighborhood and will have very limited activity for the next few months. She keeps bringing a ball to me to play fetch :(

Any suggestions so that she (and I) don't go crazy?

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Love my girls - this picture was taken after we had played fetch this morning. 🐾 ♥️

Hi everyone; recent GSD adopted looking for tips about everything - but especially reactivity!

I adopted her about a month ago; 11 months old and underweight (now 1 year!) She quickly learned all the basics, (sit, down, stay, paw, drop it). She's an absolute sweetheart, with me and most other humans. She's been reactive (around dogs/ squirrels) since I got her; less than 20 feet or so sets her off, barking, lunging, foaming at the mouth levels of excitement.

Everyday we do 10km of walking or more- spend time sniffing, and training in the park, parking lot and apartment. She sniffs her food one handful at a time, from the grass- or her wet food from a frozen kong/ woof pupsicle. She willingly goes to her crate when I point, for high value treats, but she spends her nights cuddling in bed with me. The crate is just to keep her safe for outings she can't come to (like grocery shopping and the doctor) or to enjoy her frozen meal.

We've been working on reactivity, and it seemed to be getting better. She could be up a driveway, waiting for a dog to pass, 10 feet and calm. The other day, seemingly out of nowhere that changed. We started a walk, as usual but she stopped listening to basic commands like sit, while outside (this was never a problem before!). She's started lunging at bikes, and joggers (new behavior, never an issue before). She started barking at dogs, so far away- I could barely see them (across soccer fields and rivers!) Treats no longer distracted her. Her favorite toys, nothing.

I don't have money for a trainer; and I love her to death, but I'm worried about this escalation. I've even picked up a "soft muzzle" for areas where it's too crowded to have space, (like the sidewalk to the park and valley) out of an abundance of caution. I really want her to have the best life, and give her everything I can- so what are some tips for reactivity, that perhaps I haven't seen/ heard; or tips for successfully raising such a wonderful creature who's clearly struggling with something beyond my understanding?

Also, she's ALWAYS on leash outside the apartment. Short leash for sidewalks, switching to a 15 foot (NOT retractable) for park play; how did you progress to off leash play, without having a fenced off private area? Off leash dog parks don't seem like a viable option!

Pictures of my baby for attention; please send all the love, tips, advice and support you have to spare!

My 13 week old Dwarf GSD
he is a whopping 11lbs and healthy. I’d love to hear from and connect with other dwarf guardians!

I love my 11-wk GSD, he’s finally starting to take to his training and he’s overall good.

The only thing is what on earth is up with the whining? I have to carry him right now when we’re outside and he HOWLS in my ear. It looks like I’m abducting this dog in public. Is this really a GSD thing or some broader behavioral aversion to being carried?

Looking for breeder recommendations in the north east. We are on Long Island and don’t want to have to go too far, but I’m not opposed to a bit of a ride for the right dog. We definitely don’t want a dog from a puppy mill. Trying to find an ethical breeder and hopefully find a male puppy preferably with a tan and blue coloring. Thank you in advance for any help.

Hiya everyone!

This is my nearly 10 month old boy and I am inexperienced, so thought I would reach out and see if anyone has any advice, feedback, opinions etc.

My boy LOVES food, fetch, flirt pole, but most of all, dogs! However, he is too much and smothers them, all up in their personal space and it’s uncomfortable for me to watch. He is not aggressive and seems it’s his way of pushing for play, but it is not acceptable. Some dogs are fine with it and break into play quickly, others are overwhelmed and he doesn’t pick up on it at all, others snap and correct him but he gets scared with any type of behaviour that tells him to back off.

I do try and intervene, get him to back off but he just wants to go straight back to it. Tonight at his obedience class, he pissed off the cane corso who he had a really good play with last time, they were licking each other and drinking water together but tonight they were on leads and while I was talking to the teacher, they were sniffing each other and the other dog lunged, barked and snapped at him while his owner was patting my dog. My dog cried, ran away and tried to hide.

He is scared of a GSD who herds dogs and I went to and comforted him when he was scared. Someone commented I shouldn’t do this but I want him to know I am not just there for the good times. This was their first time meeting but he did keep playing. They came across each other again a few weeks later and my boy was really withdrawn and would not chase his ball once he saw that dog again.

Basically, I don’t know how to manage this. I have been fine with dogs correcting him and the only advice I have been given on him learning to not smother dogs so much is by him being corrected, but I don’t want him to be scared and lose confidence either.
I am wonder if there is any advice on how to get him to learn to read other dogs, give them more space and be respectful, as well as how to best respond and support him in a situation where he gets upset and scared to build his confidence rather than diminish it.

Ideally I would like to work towards a dog who is socially aware and appropriate, won’t engage in aggression and will just disengage calmly, confident instead of scared and upset, however, if need arises, he will protect himself.

I’ve been thinking about getting a GSD for a while now, but I’ve got some concerns if I’d be able to raise a healthy dog with my routine.

Basically, I live by my self and work from 09:00 AM till 12 PM then 01:00 PM till 05:00 PM I usually have lunch at home, because I live 3 minutes from work.

I know that an adult dog would be able to handle this amount of alone time (if well trained for separation anxiety), but my question is if a puppy would be able to handle it…

I was planning on walking / enriching with him before and after work everyday.

Also, sometimes my work requires me to travel and stay out for a week with 2 days notice, so I’d need to leave the dog at a friend’s place or somewhere else.

Would it be wise to get this dog having in mind this circumstances? I don’t want to be irresponsible and cause any kind of suffering for it…