Dog Owner Ask Redditors About The Best Way To Train Her German Shepherd Mix To Walk “Nicely”

"The trick" most people fail on is consistency.

Chelsi

• Published in Interesting
• August 4, 2022

Dogs are complex animals. They are domestic and fluffy creatures that people have taken to training for a better companion.

They are loyal but obedient when appropriately trained, so there have been many proposed ways of what’s best to do when you want them to learn something. There are tricks that can be learned by them but also commands that are for their safety, as well as others.

Like curbing their instinct to bite while they are puppies, or knowing not to eat anything they see while on a walk. These are both useful commands that are more than tricks.

There’s a generous number of TV shows, dog schools, and training videos that are available for pet owners. Since other dogs can be more stubborn than others, it’s the owner’s responsibility to tailor it to their behavior and keep trying until they learn it.

Although when it takes too long for dogs to learn a certain trick, owners slowly lose patience and end up giving in to what they want. But others overtake these challenges by asking their fellow dog lovers online.

This Redditor owns a German Shepherd mix that he got as a puppy. They immediately started teaching him tricks and commands that they wanted him to follow but there was one that he couldn’t quite master.

This is OP’s dilemma

OP narrated how they came to owning the GSD mix

And what kind of struggle she was having in terms of getting his dog to follow kindly

A lot have lent their opinions and advice to OP which she was really appreciative of

One of the best pieces of advice they offered is for OP to give her dog two kinds of distinguished walks, a walk where the dog needs to play nicely and another one where he can do what he wants

There’s an agreement with this from other Redditors.

This one shared their experience on how to...

reward their dogs while also tiring them out.

Adventure walks that tire dogs out would...

also mean that both of you will have peace

This dog has a default sniff or pull kind of walk

She isn't food or toy motivated so they had to use different measures

Things that mentally challenge her but she still always pull

OP asks how she can balance the two kinds of walks

There’s also a suggestion of using cue words so the dogs know when and where to enjoy

There might be a difference in what a nice walk means for other owners...

but it would be helpful if they can work their way to longer intervals

OP agrees and would just like to work on their walk so his dog would be less distracted

Someone pointed out that OP’s GSD mix’s behavior is understandable...

as they also have one of their own who exhibits the same trait

The traits of dogs can vary depending on what breed they are. So most times, it’s all trial and error until you achieve what works for both you and your pet.

Luckily there’s an abundance of pet owners who are willing to share their experiences with other people. For OP, it’s just a matter of finding what applies best to her pet and sticking with it.

Chelsi