# gotta brag



## Mac (Jan 10, 2010)

i'm not a big poster, but after reading all the great stories on here i need to do a little bragging myself about my new gsd puppy. last week he graduated obedience training. we enrolled him in at home, one on one training. he is now 5 months old and he knows come, sit, down, stay, watch, touch, leave it and get on your bed. i knew i had smart one but even i'm impressed. we have also started going to public places and working on commands....that still needs a little work. i have to keep reminding myself that he is still only 5 months old.

the frustrating (or funny) part? he knows his commands so well that now i can see him thinking about whether he actually wants to them or not!

congrats to everyone who has graduated puppy training, and good luck.


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## Jason L (Mar 20, 2009)

Very cool! He sounds like a smart boy! What's his name?


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## Mac (Jan 10, 2010)

his name is mac and he is black and tan...currently running laps through the house like a nut...


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

That is one drawback to private training - working with him in distracting environments is going to feel a bit like starting all over! Good for you for getting him out there and continuing his training. Have you considered signing him up for a group obedience class? Even if he already knows all or most of the commands that will be covered in a beginning basic OB class, it's usually still well worth it for the socialization and working around distraction elements.


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## DJEtzel (Feb 11, 2010)

I don't mean to be insulting in any way, shape, or form, but I'm generally curius; do most dogs (GSDs specifically) not know these commands by 5 months?


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## Jason L (Mar 20, 2009)

Mine knows breakfast and dinner. That's about it 

And he is 2 weeks older than Mac so I say Mac is doing pretty well.


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

Jason, I've seen your videos - you're being modest.


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## Jason L (Mar 20, 2009)

Did you see the video of Ike doing verbal stand? Well, so this morning Ike and I were working on it again:

Me: "Steh" // Ike kicks into a stand from a sit
Me: "Potato" // Ike kicks into a stand from a sit
Me: "Filibuster" // Ike kicks into a stand from a sit
Me: "Doofus" // Ike kicks into a stand from a sit
Me: "Damnit, Ike, pay attention" // Ike kicks into a stand from a sit.

Me sit down and massage my temple while Ike finishes his breakfast ...


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## Mac (Jan 10, 2010)

you're not being insulting. i'm not sure about what commands they should know, but my trainer told us that most dogs only know sit and down at 4-5 months. she said though that gsd's as a breed a much smarter and can usually learn at a much faster rate, which means that you can get into more advanced training that other breeds just won't be able to understand.

we haven't been to a regular puppy class yet, but he does get frequent trips to petsmart and caribou coffee for socialization. and you guys are right, doing stuff in distracting environments can be like starting over. luckily we did some of that with our trainer, and he knows the commands...it's just that now he is deciding whether he wants to do them or not...its pretty cool watching him think it through. though he is not near as bad about that as our malamute was. he would just look at you like you were stupid and give you a look that conveyed a cross between "i'm bored" and "you do it".


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

Jason L said:


> Did you see the video of Ike doing verbal stand? Well, so this morning Ike and I were working on it again:
> 
> Me: "Steh" // Ike kicks into a stand from a sit
> Me: "Potato" // Ike kicks into a stand from a sit
> ...


:spittingcoffee: May I suggest working a bit more on stimulus control? oke:


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

Mac said:


> you're not being insulting. i'm not sure about what commands they should know, but my trainer told us that most dogs only know sit and down at 4-5 months. she said though that gsd's as a breed a much smarter and can usually learn at a much faster rate, which means that you can get into more advanced training that other breeds just won't be able to understand.


It really depends on how early you start working on simple obedience commands, what your skill level is as a trainer, and how much time you devote to training as to how much a puppy will know by 4 or 5 months, or at any age for that matter. 

It may be that most of the pups your trainer encounters don't know all that much by that age, but she's absolutely right that GSDs are extremely smart and trainable. I start working with mine as soon as they come home, and they learn a lot of commands in those first few weeks. But I'm weird that way. :wild:


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## Jason L (Mar 20, 2009)

Otherwise known as "calm the #@$ down"? 

Of course what I should have done is to videotape him doing "stand" to ten different languages and then come on here and say "Look! he knows English, French, German, Chinese, Russian, Klingon, Whatever it is that the elves speak in Lord of the Ring, Japanese, etc."


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

Jason L said:


> Otherwise known as "calm the #@$ down"?


Oh, no - that's a completely separate issue, LOL!


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## Jason L (Mar 20, 2009)

Sounds like Mac is doing great. You can never do enough socialization!



Cassidy's Mom said:


> Oh, no - that's a completely separate issue, LOL!


Yeah Debbie I know ... issues ... We got lots of issues, and he is not even 6 months old yet! ...


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## DJEtzel (Feb 11, 2010)

Fair enough. GSDs are definitely smart.. I was just curious basically as to where most dogs are at around this age because by 5 months Frag had sit, down, heel, bedtime, stay (3min), off, stay back, shake, bang, and a solid recall down. I only work with him 5 days a week, for about 5-10 minutes twice a day, and I'm in no way a professional trainer (only 17) though I do have dreams of it. Just kind of checking out other dogs' success rates.


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## Mac (Jan 10, 2010)

wow, DJ thats impressive...we are still working on shake, i don't think he is too fond of it at the moment. we work with mac most everyday for five or ten minutes and work some recall into his playtime as well. 

keep up the good work and become that trainer you want to be.


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## DJEtzel (Feb 11, 2010)

Thank you  

Have you tried just putting your hand in front of him and see what he does? Frag pretty much knew this already, I just put a word to it. He instinctively "pawed" my hand when it was in front of him, so we got off easy with this one. 

Thanks for the support too. I'm going to start making some videos I think and put myself out there. Once I figure out how to get bonded/insured, I'd like to start doing some puppy classes, socialization, basic obedience, etc to start with. Easy stuff first, then move my way up.


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## EchoGSD (Mar 12, 2010)

Hilarious! My rottie is so food-oriented that if bait is involved anywhere on my person (even the lingering scent from a previous training session with another dog), she will give me _every_ behavior she knows in response to _any_ command I give...ex: "Tori, Front!" results in Tori spinning to a front sit, then offering her left paw for a shake, then her right paw, the laying down, then sitting again, and then spinning back to heel position all in the time it takes me to draw a breath.


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## LaRen616 (Mar 4, 2010)

*MAC *
*"you're not being insulting. i'm not sure about what commands they should know, but my trainer told us that most dogs only know sit and down at 4-5 months. she said though that gsd's as a breed a much smarter and can usually learn at a much faster rate, which means that you can get into more advanced training that other breeds just won't be able to understand."
*
We got Sinister when he was 11 weeks, he did not know anything. Within the first week of having him we taught him to Sit and Shake. The second week we taught him to Lay down and to go to his kennel. The third week we taught him to Speak, give his other paw and at the end of the week he knew how to tell us he needed to go out and he was completely potty trained. He learned all of that right before he turned 15 weeks old (so one week before he was 4 months old) He was a VERY fast learner.


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## BoomandBolt (Mar 15, 2010)

Boom knows "sit" and "stop friggin whining and sleep at the end of the bed you are a dog" at 9 weeks. ah progress

congrats on a well trained dog


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## Jason L (Mar 20, 2009)

Very impressive. Smart puppies!!


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