Some Positive Kennel Training Tips for German Shepherd Rey

By: David Codr

Published Date: September 25, 2019

Rey GSD - Some Positive Kennel Training Tips for German Shepherd Rey

For this Omaha in home dog training session we do some kennel training to help 2 year-old German Shepherd Rey develop some self control.

Rey lives in a very active home with kids. I spent the first part of this session sharing tips to help ensure the dog and kids dont have any problems. The guardians have done a great job of socialization Rey to be comfortable and tolerant with the youngest’s child’s sometimes less than ideal interactions with the dog so I recommended a few tips such as making the dog off limits when in the kennel or on the dog bed and giving it a hour every day where it can rest and relax away from the kids.

One of the dog behavior issues I saw was a lack of self control from the dog. It wasn’t hard to see why. While the humans did a great job of socializing the dog to be comfortable around kids, they didn’t have many rules or limits. These are great activities to help a dog develop self control.

After suggesting some rules and creative ways to exercise the dog, I handed them my camera so I could show them how some positive kennel training can help a dog develop and practice self control.

This kind of positive crate training is really easy as long as you pay attention. Aside from my loosing sight of Rey at the wrong time, she did amazingly well at this kennel game exercise. Once Rey learns that she has to be calm and completely relaxed before she can exit the kennel, she will start to offer calm behavior more often and faster. Id like to see the guardians letting her out of the kennel this way every time.

Once Rey is laying down in the kennel calmly when people reach for the door, the guardians can start increasing the time they ask her to wait before letting her out to develop even more self control. My personal dog Cali can stay in a kennel with the door open while puppies play right outside it with no problem. That took a lot of practice, but when achieved, its impressive and a great way to help a dog develop and practice self restraint and control.

These positive kennel training games are something anyone can do. You don’t have to specialize as a professional German Shepherd dog trainer to do this. In fact, it would be great to see the older children practicing this kennel release exercise with Rey after their guardian does a few reps. That way, the dog see’s and respects the kids as having more rank or authority than she does.

I also went over a leave it exercise as one of Rey’s favorite things to do is steal soiled diapers out of the trash. I recommend all the adult humans in the house practice this super useful command until Rey will leave anything on command.

To help the guardians remember all the tips we covered in this in home dog training session, we recorded a roadmap to success video that you can check out below.

Roadmap

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This post was written by: David Codr