What’s the single best decision you made for your GSD?

[Malakai The Great]

Hey pack,

One of the things I love most about life is how many different journeys we all take with our shepherds. Some of us are in the thick of raising pups, others are years into competing, and some are just enjoying life with a loyal companion by our side.

When I look back at my own journey, one of the best choices I made was prioritizing structured engagement early. I didn’t just let my dog “grow up”. I made sure from 8 weeks on, he was learning to look to me for fun, for guidance, for confidence. It wasn’t always pretty (lots of clumsy moments on both our parts ), but it paid off big when we hit those tricky adolescent months.

So I’m curious... what’s the single best decision you’ve made so far in raising or training your GSD?

• Was it joining a club?
• Investing in the right crate or equipment?
• Setting boundaries early?
• Or maybe a simple habit like daily walks, mental games, or road trips together?

Would love to hear your experiences.

 

[Alethia]

There's never a SINGLE thing, as all decisions come from the results of prior decisions, however, fir my comurrent dog, the best decision was to foster him. He was a BE case, so no one wanted to deal w/him.

My 2nd best may have been to "fail" by adopting him.

After a few years of daily training & bonding, the former "BE Candidate" is a (mostly) well behaved favorite! (We're still working on the barking, but. GSDs will GSD! )

 

[Malakai The Great]

There's never a SINGLE thing, as all decisions come from the results of prior decisions, however, fir my comurrent dog, the best decision was to foster him. He was a BE case, so no one wanted to deal w/him.

My 2nd best may have been to "fail" by adopting him.

After a few years of daily training & bonding, the former "BE Candidate" is a (mostly) well behaved favorite! (We're still working on the barking, but. GSDs will GSD! )

That’s awesome, Alethia. Sounds like your foster turned into one of the best wins. It takes a lot of patience and commitment to turn a BE case into a solid, well behaved shepherd, and that kind of bond doesn’t come easy.

And yes... the barking… that’s one shepherd trait that seems to come standard, no matter how much training you put in.

Love hearing stories like this, thanks for sharing.