# This is why we got a GSD! (First timer!)



## peppsmom (Oct 4, 2014)

As many of you know, Pepper was my first GSD and my first puppy. She has been A TON of work, but I love her so much and I am so glad to have her.

I have a little brag unrelated to training.

Pepp is a fairly high energy high drive 6 month old. She doesn't cuddle much unless she's really tired, and our biggest evidence of bonding is that she doesn't like when my partner and I are out of her sight. We still have small training issues (consistency of recall, performing under distraction etc) but overall we're doing great. Two part brag below!

We live in Montana and there is an area where we regularly walk her off leash (never run into anything besides wilderness). She never wanders out of our sight, and if she wants to blow off steam she just gets the zoomies in circles around us. Well, about two weeks ago we were walking and we came to a section of trail and their were HORSES for the first time ever, grazing there in an area we've never seen them. She's never seen horses, and immediately bolted under the fence and started running towards them. My husband and I PANICKED. We try to recall her, and she completely ignored us. My husband goes to start climbing under the fence to chase her and I just thought, you know, when she's bad she plays the "you can't catch me game" just out of arms reach. Since this was a potentially dangerous situation for her and my hubby (Trying to catch puppy under horse feet) I grabbed him and said "trust me!" and we started running AWAY from her, and I yelled her name once before I booked it the other direction. It was terrifying, I was just hoping it worked. Sure enough, the second she saw us leaving her sight, she turned around and bolted back towards us and stopped right at our feet. :laugh:

While I was still bummed at the quality of the recall, I was so happy and proud that she is so pack connected to us that no matter what the distraction, she isn't going to let us out of her sight. :wub:

THEN, we had her on leash, haha for the rest of the walk. About a mile later, on an icy incline, she got a bit hyper and pulled too hard and yanked my hubby and he felt right on his arse on the ice, hard, and dropping the leash. :snowing: Cute little Pepp immediately circle around him, crouched down on the icy incline, and carefully inched forward till she was laying next to him on the ice, nudging his arm. :wub: She waiting til he stood up before proceeding to act like a wild thing again. My husband couldn't even be mad, it was so darn cute. 

Anyway sometimes people ask me why on earth I picked a GSD puppy. That's why! Such intuition for such a little baby. Love her!


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## Nikitta (Nov 10, 2011)

Aw that's so sweet


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## Debanneball (Aug 28, 2014)

Thats such a nice story. Great day was had by all! Often when I want Fritz to come, he Is off sniffing something, I run in the opposite direction, he comes immediately!


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## Castlemaid (Jun 29, 2006)

Love these stories!!! Good thinking on the running away and calling her to get her to chase you. Her coming to you and sitting is a result of your good work and training.


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## dogma13 (Mar 8, 2014)

What a great story!Thanks for sharing,really made me smile visualizing your adventure!


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## Jake and Elwood (Feb 1, 2014)

Thanks for sharing your story. We're working on recall with our boys and they are not consistent (or I should say…in the face of distractions they are consistently bad). I'm gonna try this tomorrow (in a safe environment) and see if they will respond. GSD's are delightfully smart and stubborn and require us to anticipate their next moves and to always keep up our guard….exhausting!!:headbang:


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## Cdn_Cuda (Oct 26, 2011)

Good thinking on running away. My GSD Kenzie is the same. Does not like to be out of view of my wife and I. We frequent an off leash dog park and Kenzie has specific spots we play fetch at, and will run ahead to them, but stop just in view before moving ahead again. 

We also have accidentally, but effectively trained her with "Where's mommy?" command. No matter what she is doing, if she is asked where mommy is, she's off to find my wife. Very effective at getting her to focus when needed, sadly does not work well for "Where's daddy?" though. I guess I am more expendable.


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## igottabecrazy (May 24, 2013)

Great story. They sometimes show you their loyalty in unexpected ways. The first thing I have taught all my dogs is to "chase me". I act all excited to get their attention, yell "come on", wave, and start running away from them. It works pretty much every time. I guess they are afraid they will miss out on some kind of fun. I even do it when Indie gets close to our property line to help her learn when it's time to turn back. The underground fence is trashed after 13 years from the other dog. Trenching 1.4 acres for a new one is not appealing especially since Indie is never outside without direct supervision. We keep her on a 50-ft check line when we are outside in the yard - almost 2 years, so far so good.


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