Most of the puppy training books I have come across relay the message that If I am not a good trainer/parent and If I don’t socialize, bond, and prepare my puppy correctly then it is my fault that the pup is so hyper, digs up the backyard, or barks a lot. Nonsense! The problem is the breeding. A human being cannot stop an animal from being who he is. One can train or modify an animal’s behavior and that can mold the animal or suppress the animal into an animal that a family can love and tolerate. Certainly a normal man or woman who knows nothing about behavioral training will throw up their hands and break down in tears when they have to bring that eight month old dog to the pound. It is not all your fault. You are only human and most dogs are not meant to be apartment, city dwelling, humanized, well-controlled and behaved pets! I have seen it all too often and I have seen the family go through one heck of an ordeal. That is why I started breeding these dogs. I got tired of hearing “this dog was abused.” Why? Because he is shy? Most all the time the dog was bred that way, because folks don't understand that breeding is an educated art. Shyness is dominant. But at last there is an answer, there is hope for dog lovers and you will soon understand what I am talking about, as this dog of yours is so easy to train. You don't have to be an animal behavioral specialist to raise an Alsatian Shepalute!

The puppy's first year is the time for the owner to show and teach the pup your rules. You shouldn’t have to try and change the dogs herding, coursing, running, digging or barking characteristics. You should spend your time showing the pup how to fit into your household.

Puppies are not born knowing your rules. They are not born understanding the English language either.

In order to train an animal, the animal trainer must begin the training in the correct brain mode. First, the trainer must consider the animal to be trained. Since this is a book about the Alsatian Shepalute, my comments on training will be directed specifically towards this breed, the Alsatian Shepalute. All professional trainers know that different breeds are trained and handled differently. This is because they all work differently. They all have different sensitivities and characters, which makes them all respond differently to different types of training programs. It is difficult if not impossible to write a dog-training manual that would cover all dogs.

Next, we must take a look at all the different training methods. All the different books published on how to out-think and trick the dog into doing what you want it to do. Forget all that gibberish. We are pretty smart human beings, let’s talk about how to get your pup to behave as a companion dog around the house and around your children. Let’s get him to behave on walks or when we take the kids to the park. It’s not all so difficult. Why make it so hard? First, find out what your dog wants and let him have what he wants if he performs the habits, tricks, or behavior that you want him too! So, correct instantly and reward good behavior with the warmth and reassurance of physical contact along with a slice of hot dog! Hot dogs? Why not? Animals have always learned certain behavioral habits that humans wanted them to exhibit by rewarding them with food.

I know an awful lot of you are upset at me now for even suggesting that you use food rewards. Please just trust me on this. It will not make your dog into an animal that only does tricks for food! Nor will it spoil his appetite and make him a finicky eater. But it will get your dog to watch you, your hands and listen to the sounds you make. He will follow you everywhere you go anticipating, waiting with patience only an animal out for a chicken frank can have! I keep packages of sliced up chicken franks in my freezer for training. An animal will do anything for a food reward! Later they will do for you because they have learned, but until they begin to understand, why not make it easy? I personally guarantee that food reward training is the easiest, simplest and the most enjoyable form of training that I have applied for any animal that I have ever run across!

Remember this, no matter how inadequate your dog’s performance you must end all lessons with the puppy doing something right and a food reward until the lesson has been learned. And if you have a problem, stop the training. Go to the Alsatian training book and figure it out. If your mood gets in the way or your pride gets hurt because your pup didn’t do something right, stop. Get over it and think about how you can make it work, make it happen the way you want it to. You are the problem, not the pup. You are also the one with a human brain so put on your thinking cap and find a simple solution. I will give you some example problems and solutions at the end of this chapter.

Keep your lessons short, about 30 seconds or one minute. You can gradually increase the lessons as the pup’s attention span grows. I know you are in a hurry. I know you want it now. But have patience. Time works.

Most Shepalutes love to do things for you. They like your attention and the praise. Shepalutes will figure things out pretty fast if you show them what you want, then right after that, give him that hot dog slice. Shepalutes are not easily distracted especially if there is a food reward.

Ok, we have the praise and reward down, but what about punishment? And do we have to? Even if you do not believe in violence or force, there will come a time in your life when some one or some dog challenges you. You are about to get hurt. It is a fact of life. Nature and this world does not care if you understand or don’t understand. Nature does not care if you get hurt or killed. Nature and the world keeps on turning and life goes on whether you cry or not. Nature itself is force and violence.

All animals (including humans) challenge and fight, beat up, or chase away opponents. Just keep in mind that any amount of force that emanates from you must be in direct context to the amount of bodily harm you believe will be applied to you personally. Are you going to get hurt? Is your life in danger? You have a right to protect yourself. But if you can get out of a situation that might cause your death you must do that first and above all. That’s the law. No preemptive strikes unless your at war with Iraq.

In the dog world, dogs bite and fight and may even kill those that interfere with them and what they want. Your dog is an animal. Animals do not get together and make up rules or laws to govern themselves by. They don’t get together first and say, “Ok now, no biting in the eye, or no grabbing you-know-what.” I have seen the way animals carry on and that is the nature of things. Dogs bite with teeth that tear the opponents skin from the bones. Dogs snap those teeth closed and a puppy goes scampering. Pups get bite marks for life. One of my cocker moms snapped at one of her pups and took out the pup’s eye. Now you know she didn’t say, “Oops your eyes look kind of bad there, better call a human right away.” Nope. She didn’t even care, because she couldn’t. Animals don’t care. Sorry. They don’t have that capability.

Punishment---There are many ways to punish and there are different words I could use to say the same thing. How about compulsion, or negative stimuli? I’m not one for mincing words so I'll just stick with punishment. You can punish a dog by merely looking at him or by using a severe tone of voice or by actually bopping him on his behind or scaring him with a loud noise. Stopping a dog from doing a bad act can be a very hard thing to do. My chickens or goats for instance! Sometimes the life of one of my animals is on the line. Now I know from experience that physical punishment is not what stops my dog or pup from killing that animal. Here is the secret, it is fear. If I can put the fear of terror into my dog or pup for even looking at that baby chicken then he will ignore it. He will actually turn his head and look up to the sky! He will slowly get up and crouch away. He will go somewhere that the baby chick will not get close to him. I am telling you it is not the amount of force or hurt or pain that you apply to the animal’s body. It is the noise you make. It is the confusion, the amount of action, and the newspaper swatting as hard and as fast as a whirlwind onto the closest object then again on the other side of the dog. Smashing a tree and the branches swish over head and a bunch of twigs go spinning and the world seems to be falling down around this pup. His master is yelling and stomping and crouching and my gosh, that newspaper!

Again, I am talking about the hard dog. The Alsatian Shepalute is not a touch sensitive dog, but he is sensitive in nature. (So to speak). He will not like all that noise and confusion. One must of course judge how much of this to use depending on the emergency and the totality of the problem. I rather think it is a very bad thing for one of my dogs to eat one of my chickens or goats. It cannot be tolerated. It is one of my rules. A big no, no. These dogs easily learn not to displease me. Let me clearly state again that this is not physical harm. None of my dogs go to the veterinarian’s office with broken bones let alone a broken toenail!

One can also use the many different tools or hardware that are out there on the market for consumers to purchase such as leashes, chains, chokers, pinch collars, halty leashes, etc. All of them apply pressure to the animal’s physical being. But how much force is enough is gauged by the response and the desired reaction of the animal being trained. If the animal continues the bad act, the amount of fear did not overcome the dog’s pleasure in performing the presumed bad act.

A professional trainer has experience in many different techniques and levels of punishment and rewards that will get the response he is looking for. Whatever is called for, a professional handler knows that the emphasis should always be on the timeliness of the punishment, not strictly on the severity involved. The severity means nothing if the trainer or owner does not catch the pup in the act at the time. And a professional trainer sets the event up for the pup to do the act so that it can be dealt with. This is the major difference between a human that has never owned a dog and a professional handler. I strongly advise new owners to join any and all dog classes in their area. Experience different methods and techniques.

A trainer knows the value of praise and rewards. And of course not enough can be said about praise. Keep in mind that the praise level must be higher than the punishment level at all times.

99% of the problems in training a dog is the owner or trainers fault for not following through with his words. I call that lying to your dog. Lying is a habit a human being gets into without realizing it. Little words or white lies (cotton tails).

A grandmother tells her grandchild of two years old that her face is dirty and that she is going to wash her face off. This is a lie. The young child is scared now because she thinks her grandmother will wipe her face off and she will no longer have a face.

The dog is not allowed on the couch. You leave the pup alone unsupervised while you go to the store and the pup gets on the couch. You have lied to him. You told him he couldn't get on the couch, he could, and he did.

You tell the dog to sit and the phone rings. You go to answer the phone. The dog didn’t sit. To the dog, you are a liar. Sit doesn't really mean sit, especially if the phone rings.

You tell the dog to lay down after you have trained the dog what the word “down” means and you also use your body language for the word “down." The dog looks at you until you get mad and your voice changes and your body language tells the dog you finally mean it. (I've seen those dogs actually count the amount of times a student tells the dog to down!) Hehe.

Those are just some examples so you could understand how these little lies confuse or distort your true communications. That’s what lie’s do, even little funny sayings that us grown-ups don’t pay attention to.

What does all that mean and how do you stop yourself from lying? First you must think more of yourself. You must know that words are powerful. You must believe that a word is who you are. Once you finally realize that you are your words and that words are not to be taken lightly then you will think about the words that come out from your being. Each word counts and each word matters. Every time you utter a sound that sound travels at the speed of sound out into the universe for eternity. Do not say what you do not mean!

Its that simple. If you cannot enforce the word you utter or make sure it is followed through, then don't say it.

More on this very important subject as we go through each of the different commands.

Socialization is the education of your puppy in the everyday events of life. Your pup has never seen the world before and it is up to you to show your pup what the world will throw at him. Noise, cars, vacuum cleaners, can openers or just walking down the end of the street and back will bring many different sights, sounds and smells to your new puppy. He is so young he does not know all these things, so in the beginning take your dog absolutely everywhere you go. Carry him in his crate or cage in the car and remove him whenever you stop to window-shop. (Make sure he is up to date on his shots).

It is extremely important that this pup does not ever do anything that is deemed bad by you. You hold the rules and he must learn them. You need to let him know what the rules are. And you must not change your rules. (Lie to him). Your rules must be written in your blood. (So to speak)

Laundromats are good places to bring your dog while the clothes whirl around in the washer or dryer, then you and he can walk around the block and amble back and forth in the parking lot of the crowded shopping center. Be sure that all his inoculations are completed before you start early training anywhere but on your own property.

Try to locate nearby handling classes. If you have joined a kennel club, it probably sponsors a class or two and they will give you the details. If you cannot find a class, check with your breeder, the newspaper or your veterinarian.

I realize that a lot of people feel that a ten to fourteen week old puppy is too young for class, but I disagree. Work your puppy just a few minutes at a time. Bring his crate along and allow him to sit in it and watch the other dogs while he gets used to the confusion and noise.

This is how I look at all this training stuff: Say for instance World War III breaks out and your life and your pup’s life is on the line. You see a life-threatening situation and you yell to your dog to stay there, your dog stops and stays there. Then you say “down” and the dog downs and a car crashes into the path your dog would have been on if he were not trained.

Now maybe that scenario will never happen to you and your dog in your lifetime, but what if it did? I know my dog would live. Would yours?

Shepalute puppies have a strong natural instinct to avoid soiling their own area. If you are consistent and pay attention to your pup and his times, you will have no problems. Shepalutes do not want to potty in the house. If your pup does potty in the house, he has not learned how to get out. Where is the outside? Which is the door? Have you placed him in a huge house so that he gets lost and confused? You are responsible for teaching the pup how to get outside. He was not born knowing the rules or being able to speak to you nor does he possess the ability to make a map of your home and to be able to read it. He also cannot open the door by himself.

If your pup is eight weeks old, or older, your pup has learned to potty in fresh straw or grass if he came from my kennels. He will be upset if you do not let him know where to go. Where is the grass? He needs to be shown. If you know he needs to relieve himself right away, do not let him walk across the floor a long distance to the out side. Pick him up and carry him to the outside. Watch his brain work as he figures it out the next time he feels the urge. He will want to go back to the same place, the same door, unless you have him in a mansion of many rooms. Then boy, will you confuse him!

Q- How do you stop a pup from peeing on the rug?

A- Don’t let him on the rug!

Remember that your pup will need to go every time it wakes up. (What goes in must come out). Five a.m. is when all Shepalutes wake up. When the first rays of light appear over the Eastern horizon and you are cuddled in your warm bed having a great dream. And what is the first thing you do when you wake up? Go potty?

Wild animal babies explore the area around their dens first. As they get older they will begin to venture out further and further until they get to know the different smells and the direction back to the den. Let your pup get used to the room the door is in first. Let him get acquainted with everything in that room. That is the room all his stuff should be in. His food and water dishes must not be next to the door to the outside. If they are, you will not be able to tell whether your pup wants a drink or wants to go potty. Animals go as far as they can in the opposite direction away from their food and water to relieve themselves. As they get older, the will go still further. My adult dogs go to the hog wire perimeter line. Usually in about a 10 x 20 foot corner. They will make a complete route around the property and when the hog wire stops them from going any further that's were they will go.

Open the door every time your pup heads in that direction. Always, even if you just sat down! Your pup will understand real soon and will wait for you to sit down before he heads for the door! Tip: Crate him when not supervised. No water after six p.m. Exercise will make a pup go potty. Knowing this will help you in your house training. Getting excited will stimulate his body organs, be prepared.

Here is a secret that I have learned. Perhaps it will help you in understanding your domesticated animal. “The larger the area you harbor your pet in, the less he can expand into and the wilder the animal. The smaller the area the calmer and more bonded or tame an animal will become."

One must also remember that the area your pet lives in has to fit the animal’s needs. The area you keep an animal in must give him space to relieve himself, eat and rest, get up and turn around. And of course it depends on how old that animal is and what your intentions for that animal are.

For instance, say I want my Alsatian Shepalute to be a well-mannered protective pet dog and to bite when threatened or on command. This means I intend to really put some work into this pup and that I must make sure I know the laws! This pup has a purpose. This pup has a job to do and that is how I look at this pup. There is my mind set.

I must begin this dog’s training while still a pup, say 6-8 weeks old. Everything I do will be towards that ultimate goal. In this instance my pup will live in a crate while he is young and if I got him at six weeks old, perhaps a playpen to start out. The reason being is that I want total and complete bonding. This pup will need to look to me for everything he needs. (For further instructions on training a protection dog please email me at:

What if I want a pup to just be a farm dog? Then I would gate off the mudroom, which has at least one door to the outside. That will be his room. This mudroom has tile floors for easy cleaning and disinfecting. I would put newspapers down in the corner closest to the door. I would make the enclosed area about 4x6 feet if the pup were six weeks old, so he will not feel overwhelmed. I would spread the cage out as he grew. I would also make sure that anything and everything within that caged area was safe for him. He would also have a toy box full of things to keep him busy. And I would rotate his toys from the toy box to the cage.

I am assuming that you chose a pup to be a member of your family as 90% of those who have bought my Shepalutes have gotten them for this purpose. If you wish to train your pup for attack or protection please read “the Alsatian Shepalute Protection Dog t Training Manual." You can order that manual by e-mailing me directly at (Shepalutes@aol.com.) If you wish to train your pup for show, field trails, herding or herd protection again, get the manual for your particular lifestyle and training purpose.

Since this pup goes with me everywhere that means he is not unsupervised. My eyes and ears are upon him at all times, even when I stop to talk with a friend. This is almost impossible, you say? Well, yes. So when I cannot or do not wish this grave responsibility, the pup goes inside his cage or vari kennel. Now the vari kennel goes with me and stays near my feet so I can tap the cage to let the pup know I am here. Another thing I might do is to tie the leash to a piece of furniture in the room where I am working. This is an important bonding period.

All pups need to investigate. They need to know where the food and water dish is, where the door is, and where their crate is. You may want to give him only small amounts of water during the night for easier potty training until he settles in. Remember what goes in must come out.

Shepalutes like caves or sheltered areas to hide their food or toys and to stay warm or safe.

Pop your pup in and out of his crate with some small tidbit for him to chew on while he is inside his crate. I throw small pieces of hot dogs inside the crate with a command “over” or “kennel” depending on what this dog will be assisting me in when he is older.

I have found that the easiest way to train a Shepalute as a housedog is to use an exercise pen while he is young. This prevents him from getting into trouble, forming bad habits and allows him more room than a crate. I spread newspaper all over the pen. This pup can then relate the feeling of the newspaper on the pads of his feet with that of relieving himself and that will give you a head start on paper training while in the mud room. Make sure that when he finally does come out into your living area that no one in your household forgets to pick up the weekly newspaper from off the floor!

While any animal is in training his food and exercise program should be figured out to best benefit the training that your pup will under go. If the training is physically strenuous he will need the proper nutrition. Up his proteins and the “B“ vitamins for stress.

Make sure that after the training sessions you calm him back down. A horse gets walked and brushed out. A dog gets walked and petted to calm him back down. A marathon runner walks and bends over then walks more and breathes deeply.

I do all my training before a dog gets fed. Keeping your dog a bit hungry will ensure a more positive, energetic, “want to do “ attitude. Of course I am not talking about starving a dog. Just watch the dogs reaction to the food reward and the type of foods you use to stimulate his interest in the lessons.

Shepalutes do not need a lot of exercise. They do not need a lot of room. They are heavy boned dogs and would rather pull a heavy load than to run five miles.

Exercise and training go hand-in-hand if your dog is a city dog. Take your pup out at the same times every day. Go the same route and let the pup potty at the same place. Bring a plastic poop bag just in case. All my dogs potty on command and its easy to train your dog to do the same. Feed and water him well, then bring him to the area where you want him to go and let him sniff naturally. As he lifts his leg or she squats say “go potty” in a soft voice. When he/she finishes praise him. While walking your pup, do not allow your pup to potty wherever it wants. There is a place for that and a command. This will be a real pain in your side when your dog gets older and out weighs you or pulls your arm out of its socket. Let your pup potty before the walk, at a designated turn around, and/or at the end of the walk. That should be plenty when you go on a twenty-minute walk. (Twenty-minute's when a pup is older, only a few minutes to start with).

While walking my stud dog that weighs over 100 pounds, I need to make sure he knows we are on a walking exercise. So first of all, before we even go for the walk my stud dog is allowed to run around the farm to relieve himself. Then we have a special leash and collar for pleasure walking. That means he doesn't pick fights, he doesn't sniff continuously or lift his leg every five seconds! He is to do that on our property before we step foot off our property. After we leave that invisible property line the chance for marking territory or messing around is over. No more lifting the leg until we get back on our property. That is our rule and there cannot be any leeway.

Plan the length of your walk according to the age of the pup and its training level. My four-month-old has never been on a leash, so I put on his flat collar and a 12-ft. leash. He understands the come and sit commands and as he runs in the opposite direction I call him to me. I watch his stress level as we head out of the property and down the road. It is unfamiliar territory so I walk about 80 feet all the while calling him and then praising the pup when he is close to me. 80 feet out and 80 feet back. End of lesson. It took me twenty minutes to get the pup and myself ready and it took us eight minutes to walk our first planned heeling exercise. No go potty was used, as it was inappropriate at this time. Reminds me of fixing dinner, two hours to prepare dinner and five minutes to eat it!

1. Always tell your dog to sit. Don’t tell a dog to sit and then say, awe, I guess you don't have to right now, that is lying to your pup.

2. The Golden rule for the sit command is: Never pet your dog unless he is sitting. Don't let anybody else pet him unless they tell him to sit and he does. The moment your dog gets up from a sit, walk away. Turn your back. Don’t pay him any more attention. When you are sitting on the coach and your pup comes over and looks in your eyes and wags his tail, maybe even nudges you- do you automatically pet him and smile? Well don’t!

To teach a pup to come and sit takes all of two minutes.

This is how fast my puppy learns to sit:

I go to the refrigerator and pull out the baggy that has chopped up hot dogs and cheese in it about the size of a dime.

I rattle the bag and kneel down as I call for my puppy in a high pitched voice. If he doesn’t come I go to him and kneel down about two arm lengths away. I hold out the hot dog slice and let him sniff it, but I clinch my fist as he tries to get it and I bring my hand in towards me as the pup follows. I continue saying, “Vegas, come!” “Good boy” and I open my hand as he eats the treat. Before he goes away or jumps on me or tears my hand up or eats my fingers I stand up and get another treat. When he looks up at my hand (he knows there is a treat there) his bottom will automatically go down. If the pup is really hungry, I continue giving him treats (cheese this time) as I speak his name until he gets full of the cheese and the excitement is not so bad. He has calmed down and realizes the cheese will continue to come if he just sits there. Voila!