Hello..I am new to this forum and I have not yet introduced myself. I found this website last year after the sudden loss of my 13 year old GSD. I was raised with working shepherds as my father worked in law- enforcement, I spent many of these years living in both the US and Europe. My brother trained police dogs, my daughter recently married a PPD trainer from Europe, and my younger daughter works for a facility that trains/boards dogs and our local police K9’s. I do puppy raising for a non profit organization that place dogs in homes with children that have various medical conditions. I have a passion for rehab/ re homing many animals, my favorite has always been GSD’s.

I currently have two Paps’ and a 16 week old GSD that I purchased as a family pet. I have always trained my own dogs and I can honestly say that I have not had any issues
that I felt I could not handle on my own. I had planned on raising this new pup as I have raised the others in the past, however, this has not been an easy task! I am getting varied information from those above about how this dog should be trained, what he is now, what he will become, etc. I am a confident person but this information overload has me doubting myself.

I have read many of Ed’s articles, watched his videos, and I discovered my views are the same on so many topics. I enjoy this forum, and look forward to using it as guidance with this pup!

Welcome Tammy!
Wow, you sure are lucky to have had so much exposure to being raised around the working lines, your father in law enforcement and your daughter married to a PPD trainer.
How lucky are you?

I enjoyed reading your post. You certainly have come to a great forum here, so many, many experience levels but one commonality in that we all love our dogs and care tremendously about learning as much as we can from each other.
You have come to the right place to help you with your new pup!
Congrats BTW and Best wishes for the future!

 Quote: Tammy Moore

I am getting varied information from those above about how this dog should be trained, what he is now, what he will become, etc. I am a confident person but this information overload has me doubting myself.

I have read many of Ed’s articles, watched his videos, and I discovered my views are the same on so many topics. I enjoy this forum, and look forward to using it as guidance with this pup!

Welcome to the forum Tammy. In all things, trust your gut. (Unless you have eaten a bad piece of fish!) LOL.

What I like about what I've learned and continue to learn on this site is that is allows for mistakes without damaging the dog or our relationship. You can't get much easier than marker training and what a GREAT way to start with a pup!!!

It makes such perfect sense to me to never correct a dog until I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt that he KNOWS what I was asking of him. How can anyone argue with this?

Having all that experience in your family is both a blessing and perhaps an anchor... Keep reading, trust your instincts, and enjoy that new pup.

Welcome, Tammy. Your pup is adorable!