10 Things German Shepherd Owners Must Never Forget

by pawbuzz on in Dogs 628

9. German Shepherds don’t understand speeches.

They respond to key words, vocal tones and body language. Research has proven that German Shepherds watch human interactions and understand subtle signals.

Here's an excerpt taken from an article on The Bark written by Julie Hecht, MSc, a canine behavioral researcher and science writer:

While there is no question dogs can understand verbs, their definitions might differ from ours. McConnell shares a classic example that she learned from Ian Dunbar, founder of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers. “What do dogs think ‘sit’ means? We think ‘sit’ means this posture we call ‘sitting,’ but if you ask a dog who is sitting to ‘sit,’ he will very often lie down. To him, ‘sit’ might mean get lower, go down toward the ground.”

Many people tend to overestimate their dogs’ facility with words and assume that dogs and humans have a shared understanding. Because a dog responds in one context and not in another doesn’t mean he is being disobedient. As Tom Brownlee, master trainer with the American Society of Canine Trainers and instructor in Carroll College’s anthrozoology program, candidly advises owners, “If a dog’s not getting ‘it’ — whatever ‘it’ may be — then you are doing something wrong. It’s our job to help them understand.”

When you talk to your dog, consider that the words you speak might not carry the same meaning for both of you. Instead, other aspects of communication might be more relevant. Maybe the real lesson is that context, prosody and tone — rather than dictionary definitions of words — are vitally important for human communication, too.

Read more at http://thebark.com/content/do-dogs-understand-our-words

cute german shepherd dog

Next Page »



Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

628 thoughts on “10 Things German Shepherd Owners Must Never Forget”

  2. Jo Eichler

    - Edit

    Reply

    Had shepard when my kids were tiny. We were fishing one day on a dock. A little boy reached for their tackle box. Prince gently took the little ones hand in his mouth and said no no in doggie language. Amazing dogs very protective.

  12. Gary Miller

    - Edit

    Reply

    I agree with most of them except the one where it says German Shepherds don’t understand speech’s, my German Shepherd had the runs a couple of weeks ago and I told her if she wanted to go out just wake me up and I’ll let you out, she woke me up at 4 in the morning and I let her out, so I like think it what I said to her.

  25. Jill Hunt

    - Edit

    Reply

    What a beautiful gentle dog.I simply adore the breed they have everything going for them.They are beautiful to look at, fun to play with,they would take a bullet for you and they don’t yap yap yap about nothing !!

Add Comment