PERSONALITY
The German Spitz is described as a happy, intelligent, friendly dog. They are very active and alert dog, and there should be no signs of nervousness or aggression. German Spitz love human company and like nothing better than to be included in any family activities.
Keeping this in mind, every dog will have its own personality and will develop at its own rate - this is first imprinted from the mothers temperament as well as the puppies experiences and behaviors in the 'imprinting period' (first 4 months of age).
Like children, puppies have a small window of time during brain development when they are most impressionable. This is called the imprinting, or critical learning period. For puppies, the imprinting period is during the first 16 weeks of life. Puppies learn more during this time than they can learn in a life time. Therefore, the quality and quantity of what they experience will have a huge impact on their future personalities and determine the formation of many of their “good” or “bad” behavior tendencies.
It is critical that new owners correctly train and socialise their German Spitz puppies.
Fun Contradictions...
German Spitz are very stubborn creatures, and need to be trained with patience and positive rewards. In many ways, they are similar to young children: They are very emotional and will sulk at the sign of any aggression or anger towards them, and just like children, they also need that incentive and are always asking why should I do that?
- They ARE a loyal companion who is always by your side, however they also posses the independence to ignore your requests at their will!
- They ARE extremely intelligent dogs who can be trained to do just about anything, yet they need a good reason to do it, and they get bored easily!
- These dogs will walk over you if you are not firm enough, but they will shut down if you are too firm. You need to walk the line!
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