# Are all GSD this obedient?



## Theedaysleeper (Jun 20, 2019)

I've been training the GSD I inherited from my mom for about a month now and I am shocked at how quickly he has improved his behavior. It's as if he truly wants commands and has a genuine desire to carry them out correctly. I've never encountered such an obedient dog before. Are all/most GSD like this? I'm really starting to see the attraction to the breed!


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## Femfa (May 29, 2016)

If only! If all of them were, I can’t imagine they’d be one of the most dumped dog breeds in shelters aside from ACDs, bully mixes, and huskies.


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

Most want to be correct.  They are smart and bred to work with us. Some are more independent and you have to work a little harder to convince them that you have value in their lives.


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## crittersitter (Mar 31, 2011)

They are all smart. But some want to please and others not so much.


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## Saco (Oct 23, 2018)

This is exactly the trait that won me over to the breed after owning mutts most of my early years. 

The first GSD I adopted was so obedient, she didn't need a leash from day one but would naturally heel. She was biddable, loved to work, loved children and had a solid temperament and eager to please- a terrific example of the breed. 

GSD, in my opinion, are dumped in shelters for reasons mostly having to do with poor breeding and/or the owner. Primarily their size, the amount they shed, the barking, issues with finding housing with the breed, and their propensity to be protective-reactive, dog selective, destructive, or hyper with poor management, poor genetics, and/or lack of training. 

My first GSD was dumped for no reason I could fathom. It certainly wasn't due to her appearance or temperament. The former owners had dumped her in the woods and left her to starve.


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## wolfy dog (Aug 1, 2012)

They are a refection of their trainer/owner. If you do it right, they are a dream that you never want to wake up from. If you don't, they will be a nightmare. Once a trainer said, "Everybody has the dog he/she deserves".


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## LuvShepherds (May 27, 2012)

Without even reading your post, No, they aren’t.


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## cvamoca (Jul 12, 2019)

wolfy dog said:


> They are a refection of their trainer/owner. If you do it right, they are a dream that you never want to wake up from. If you don't, they will be a nightmare. Once a trainer said, "Everybody has the dog he/she deserves".



You are so right. 

I've always said I was lucky with dogs, but I work hard to make them great dogs. Even my huskies were obedient and good in class--everyone goes to Obedience class in my house. I have nice friendly roosters and nice friendly geese too, but I worked hard with them as well. 

You see some of these training videos where the trainer is trying to show something to the owner, and 98.99% of the time, the owner flubs it. Doesn't correct at the right time, forgets to reward or over r under corrects usually at the wrong time. Animals all have body language and to me it's plain as day, but I was raised with horses and dogs, all who can tell you a lot about themselves just by their eyes, ears and mouths. You learn to read that or you don't do so well with them.


I train among lots of distractions and off leash around home, even the puppy who is tiny and silly has learned not to chase chickens, or geese. Just from a voice command. I expect a good dog, therefore, we always have good dogs.


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## wolfy dog (Aug 1, 2012)

cvamoca said:


> I have nice friendly roosters and nice friendly geese too, but I worked hard with them as well. .


So good to read this! I once saved a mean adult rooster from the pot. They advertised him honestly like that with his name : 'Gorgeous George', for the coop or pot. I took him as a training project. He was really mean and attacked me as soon as I put him on the ground with the hens in his new coop. (No "thank you for rescuing me" from him). It is pretty startling to be attacked by a bird like that. But I know learning theories so I figured out his grey zone; the narrow area where he was alerted by my presence but not reactive yet. Then I threw him grains and left. Did that for about two weeks and the result was that he tolerated me in his harem without attacking me. Unfortunately a predator got him, probably because he stood in front of his hens.
You can train anything that has a brain. Going to start a new thread on that topic


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## cvamoca (Jul 12, 2019)

wolfy dog said:


> So good to read this! I once saved a mean adult rooster from the pot. They advertised him honestly like that with his name : 'Gorgeous George', for the coop or pot. I took him as a training project. He was really mean and attacked me as soon as I put him on the ground with the hens in his new coop. (No "thank you for rescuing me" from him). It is pretty startling to be attacked by a bird like that. But I know learning theories so I figured out his grey zone; the narrow area where he was alerted by my presence but not reactive yet. Then I threw him grains and left. Did that for about two weeks and the result was that he tolerated me in his harem without attacking me. Unfortunately a predator got him, probably because he stood in front of his hens.
> You can train anything that has a brain. Going to start a new thread on that topic



My first little Gouldian Finch Freddy Fender Finch, taught me everything I needed to know about small bird intelligence. He learned to leave the cage and just hang out. Then he taught the intelligent canaries. Then I taught them, with a stick, to go back in the cage when I want--no nets for me, I won't net a bird. 

They know their names, some have games to sneak out when the cage is 1 inch open at warp speed. 

2 of my last year's Gouldian chicks have a game wth me. I lift the stick up to the top of the cage where they are, and they jump on it hard as possible, and ride the stick back into their cage. All afternoon, they hang out with doors open, doing bird stuff .Then at 7 when I go out to do the chicken chores, they all go in, one bird at a time, with me as the conductor.


For roosters- I have always been the top rooster and I walk through the flock that way. I make friends with them as chicks (I hatch everything in house), and keep about 20 roosters to 40 hens, as many were my old show birds, retired many years ago. I've only ever had 1 rooster nasty with me, in all the years and hundreds of chickens. They also don't fight--the Police Geese won't allow fights, they remove the combatants by flinging them, it's very effective.


I trained my favourite guy to be our ring bearer when we got married. Unfortunately, he died 2 days before the wedding, of old age. But I wore some of his feathers in my head piece. He was super smart, and the only chicken with a gravestone and a tiara, because he was a super diva. 



If people understood how smart birds are, and especially chickens, they would be much kinder to them. My sweet Brahma Flopsy, greets me with purrs and sings rooster songs to me. He is the most vocal, chatty rooster I've ever had, whatever I say to him he answers in burbles and purrs and the special voice he uses only for me. I give him hens, and food, and I swear he loves me. Plus I sook him and carry him home every night so the head rooster doesn't pick on him, he's 2IC (second in command). He was so named because like his mother, his comb lops over. He's the sweetest rooster, who lets me play with his wattles and do undignified rooster things to him. like talk baby talk ad cuddle him.


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## wolfy dog (Aug 1, 2012)

Sweet story. Good to hear about other ones loving their birds. I loved my roosters. They all have died protecting the hens and I finally gave up at chickens due to that heartache. I miss them a lot.


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