10/21/2026
Working line German Shepherd puppy Zeus recently signed up for our Ultimate Program so that I have the opportunity to help guide him and his family as he goes deeper into adolescence and young adulthood.
Zeus has very common, working dog/GSD traits the require a unique and specific understanding and approach.
🐾 What are those traits?
Like many German Shepherds I've worked with, Zeus has a combination of getting over stimulated easily, having trouble self regulating during those moments, and failing to be able to cope with the feeling of frustration/delayed gratification successfully.
🐾 What does this look like in real life?
For Zeus (and many dogs like him,) this presents as a quick escalation in reactive based behaviors like vocalization, lunging on leash, hackles (hair standing up), fast paced movement/pacing, and hard mouthing treats.
Zeus also shows what we call "displacement behavior." This term means that he engages in behaviors that are typical but he is using them during specific moments of arousal to attempt to self regulate as best he can. This includes jumping up and shaking off.
So something as mild as exiting the car, leaving his crate or not immediately getting access to a treat/toy can spiral Zeus into a frantic state where he struggles to process not getting immediate gratification.
🐾 Why do working breeds and especially GSD'S behave this way?
When we are selecting dogs to work alongside people for the purposes of guarding, military and law enforcement, the dogs who are most successful in the work have some common traits:
> they get agitated easily
>they are willing to work HARD to get access to what they want
>they are quick to get frustrated until they get to what they are after
>they sustain interest in their target even through challenges
>they are quick to bark
>they don't give up easily
If you want a dog that's likely to deter a bad guy, stay focused on a threat and ignore everything else until that stimulus is gone, these are the traits you'd want.
If you're looking for a relaxed pet who can ignore exciting and stressful stimuli, easily self regulate if they get overstimulated, and naturally cooperate during big emotional moments, that takes work and understanding with many of these pups.
🐾 How does this understanding influence how I work with these types of dogs?
Training that solely focuses on trying to fight against who a dog is/what their DNA tells them to do is just plain unsuccessful and can even hurt a dog's mental health.
Instead, I try to train smartly, be highly observant and am prepared to modify to suit individual needs. This is something I had to learn on the front lines of training 20 years ago. And I remember the dog who taught it to me.
Bella was a 2 year old, shepherd mix who had all of the traits I described. She would bark and lunge at other dogs on leash and just in general was intense and stimulated when anything was going on.
Her family had already worked with another trainer and were still struggling to even get polite leash walking with no distractions present. So I asked to see what they had been working on 👀
The first thing they showed me was the use of a sit/stay and release to exit the front door to start the walk. This was something all of us trainers were taught (and typically still are). And they were taught it well. The humans executed their part perfectly and Bella performed the behavior.
⚠️ But as I sat there taking in what I was seeing, doubt crept in. I had been told this approach was part of the answer. That it would control Bella. That it would set her up to be a better listener. I had perfected teaching it myself.
But what I saw with Bella was a dog who was technically complying (because she had to) but who was crawling out of her skin with arousal and frustration. So much so that upon release, she burst out the front door primed for pulling and reactivity like nobody's business. We weren't helping her be calm, we were winding her up and setting her to explode.
That early acknowledgement thanks to Miss Bella lead me on a path to start asking questions and being open to new ways of looking and doing.
🐾 My Takeaways
1) Emotional state is more important than body position: with Bella we switched gears to working on a cooperative exit strategy playing a walk and feed game that didn't force Bella to sit/stay and load up on BIG frustrated feelings.
I no longer prioritize what a dog's body is doing, my main focus is their brain. Quickly Bella became a dog who could calmly exit alongside her people with zero fanfare. It set her up for a calmer walk and to be a better adjusted dog.
2) I target frustration tolerance specifically and carefully
Pups like Bella and Zeus get overwhelmed by frustration. They are no longer in learning brain when they go that deeply. And they don't know what to do with those feelings.
Rather than waiting to try and guide them when they are at the peak of their frustration and their learning brain is turned off, I elicit moments where just a little frustration is present and work with them to find ways to help them navigate.
This lets them build emotional self regulation like a muscle so it can be used in the most challenging situations later on.
3) I test. When you've even doing this as long as I have, you get your ego checked by many pups! If you think you're going to employ a one size fits all approach, you're severely limiting successful outcomes.
Who is it that decides what is the best way to self regulate through big emotions? ➡️ the dog I'm working with ⬅️ So part of my job is to create space and opportunities to test different self regulation tools and watch to see which ones work the best.
🌥 This morning I did just that with puppy Zeus. When boisterous visitors Leo and Lyla arrived (they looove getting dropped off for their doggy vacay,) Zeus could hear the party outside and the sequence of overstimulation, barking, and pacing was on.
I used this as an opportunity for testing.
👎 I tested a couple treating games: he took them but his emotional arousal was unaffected
👎 I got out a few toys and offered him the chance to channel that energy into play with me: he half heartdly played but lost interest immediately and returned to his overstimulated behavior
👎 I asked him to move with me on a reset walk to see if movement away from the space and focus on me would help: he moved with me but was jumping and shaking off-clewr signs of ongoing overarousal
🎉👍🎉 I leashed him on a long line and took him outside to sniff. And I watched in a manner of 20 seconds as Zeus quieted, his body calmed, and his mind relaxed as he went about calmly checking out the best sniffs.
This isn't the only approach I'll take with Zeus, but this is powerful information I will be putting into a clear plan to help his family understand his needs and bring out his best.
Erin ❤️ 🐾
