^^ Nice to know about the long association with strays. They are definitely very affectionate and loyal. Some of them come near my house, but my girl (my golden I mean) doesn't tolerate them getting attention when she is here *lol*.
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Originally Posted by Abhi_abarth Need advice from you...
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My questions : |
My answers below
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Will it be difficult for a newbie dog owner to handle the GSD ? I am ready to train it with basic obedience and socializing. One of my friends is a dog trainer.
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Should not make any difference whether you are a newbie or not. You can definitely go in for a GSD, as long as you are aware of the breed's traits. You may want to train it yourself. Quite a few people have this trainer thing which will not work properly most of the times. I can explain in simple terms- for the dog who is staying with you, you are the master. He would love to be guided by you, rather than by someone who comes in for half an hour on weekends or something. I've seen some people employ trainers who will train the dog, but the dog might either forget the commands because the actual owner doesn't use it the same way as the trainer, or else the dog doesn't feel he needs to obey the actual owner in the same way. Either way, it is a lose-lose situation. I'd rather have YOU do the training yourself, and the results will be permanent, plus you and the dog will bond better during the training. Lots of videos on the web available on these things, so it shouldn't be difficult. Drop me a PM in case you need any assistance, will be glad to help out.
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Will my parents have trouble handling the dog (GSD) ?
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Not at all. I suppose you are referring to difficulty during taking the dog for walks, etc. Lots of dogs pull like crazy, because they have not been trained to walk at the same pace. Most of the cases, the dog ends up taking the owner for a walk, with the owner clinging on for dear life
All the dog needs to be trained for is NOT to pull during walks, and not to be distracted by other people/ stray animals / situations during walks. These are very easy things to train. Soon you will have your dog walking/jogging at exactly the same pace as you. If you speed up / slow down, he/she will do the exact same thing without a fuss.
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Are the Indian breeds at par with GSD in terms of intelligence and watchfulness ?
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Depends on what kind of intelligence you are referring to. GSDs can take care of children at home, and be trained to attack intruders on the property at the same time, for example. By Indian breeds, do you mean mongrels / strays? There are lots of Indian pedigreed breeds too. When a particular breed is termed as intelligent, note that I only mean that breed is easier to train complex commands. It is not that the other breeds are inefficient of doing those things, it is just that they take longer to pickup and understand the training.
On a lighter note, here is a ranking list of the top 10 most intelligent dog breeds
http://www.petmedsonline.org/top-10-...the-world.html
P.S - After training my golden retriever (which ranks pretty high in intelligence) pretty easily, I had gone to one of my friend's houses where they were trying to train a Basset hound (a slightly dumb breed). The amount of time it took to teach the Basset to wait till it was allowed to eat (Stay command) was hilarious. It just would not understand even after good 20-30 attempts, so they had try again after a day. That's the kind of difference I am referring to.
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And can both GSD and the mongrel (adopted dog) stay without fights if I plan to take both ? |
Definitely yes, if you acclimatize them properly. While most people would suggest bringing both as pups so they grow up as siblings, I would suggest the reverse - that you get a GSD pup, bring it up for a year or so, and once it attains mental maturity, then you can go in for the next dog. I say this for 2 reasons -
- Housebreaking / toilet training of 2 new pups is going to be a nightmare you do not want to get into. House will soon start smelling of you-know-what
- When the second pup is brought into the house in the presence of a bigger, trained, mature guy, the younger one watches and learns the older one's mannerisms and picks up the trained habits quicker. Also, the newer pup learns to respect the older guy and leaves it that way. If 2 pups are brought in together, you will have sibling rivalry every now and then. Competition for food, for attention, for petting, etc. It (rivalry) becomes quite a handful at times, because what will be sacrificed will be your mom's favourite cushions or bedsheets, or your dad's favourite pair of shoes.