Hi fellow dog lovers.

I have a 6months old German Shepherd. Not so sure it's thoroughbred as his ears dont stand. He does not bark and that worries my husband and I. We have however noticed that he has a way of doing anything he wants. He escapes from his kennel through the tiniest possible space and is extremely playful. We guess that's why he doesn't bark. How do we reduce his playfulness espeacially with strangers and get him to stay in his kennel.

GSD's tend to be a highenergy intelegent dog and need to be exercized and soclized regularly. A strong dominante handler will do fine just make sure that you have done a good job of establishing youself as the leader exercize (both mentaly and physicaly) the pup regularly and you should be good. Just because the ears do not stand on end does not mean the dog is not purebred. I have had many GSD's in my charge over the years and not all the purebred dogs ears would stand correctly.

I also have a GSD, Rex is 19 mos. now. His ears were slow to stand, it took almost a year. As for the hyperness, he still gets that way if he is not exercised enough. We take him with us when we can and that helps to calm him down with other people. Hope this helps alittle!

Welcome to the board! I don't really know much about German Shepherds. So I can't really help you.

We found this furry little bundle at a rescue centre, he's beautiful. We were thinking the same as you regarding ears. They cross over on the top of his head and make him look like he's wearing a fluffy hat, really cute! And he doesn't bark much... not a bad thing I suppose! And yes... I think they are very stubborn, ours likes to do exactly what he likes, and ignores us when he feels like it. Unfortunately, he has been ill since we adopted him, he was bitten badly at the centre, it lead to an infection, and the shock of this and moving has created a gastro problem that we and the vets are having trouble shifting, and until that is sorted they cannot treat his infection with antibiotics[. So, we have not seen him well yet. He is quiet and seems very lathargic for a puppy. But he follows us around everywhere, and gets so much love, cuddles and kisses, we hope that is helping him recover slowly, but it is slow... Its our first puppy, but my husband and I have grown up surrounded by dogs. We wanted our son to have the same happiness, but so far it has been a worrying time for us all... Any advice you can give us about these dogs, would be great!




QUOTE=Uju;18661] Hi fellow dog lovers.

I have a 6months old German Shepherd. Not so sure it's thoroughbred as his ears dont stand. He does not bark and that worries my husband and I. We have however noticed that he has a way of doing anything he wants. He escapes from his kennel through the tiniest possible space and is extremely playful. We guess that's why he doesn't bark. How do we reduce his playfulness espeacially with strangers and get him to stay in his kennel.[/QUOTE]

I'd say he needs to get out of the kennel more often.
He's young and not ready to retire to the kennel for long
amounts of time. You can teach him some obedience but you need to spend a lot of time with him in his young age.