Why is my German Shepherd so jealous?

If your German Shepherd keeps acting jealous you might be wondering why and what you can do about it.

This post will show you a number of reasons why your German Shepherd might be acting jealous and what you can do to stop it.

So, why is my German Shepherd acting jealous? Possible reasons are that it wants attention, it is being dominant, it is being protective, you have inadvertently been rewarding it or that you recently got new pets.

There are a number of things that you can consider when trying to understand why it might be doing it. Depending on the cause, there are also a number of things that you can do about it.

Why your German Shepherd is jealous

Each of the different reasons why your German Shepherd gets jealous will likely come with a number of clues.

Below, I will mention a number of reasons why your German Shepherd might get jealous and the signs to look for.

It wants attention

The reason why it gets jealous is likely to be that it wants more attention itself. This would be more likely if it does it when you have not been giving it much attention or when you are giving attention to another pet.

In this case, it could also be that feels like you care about the other pet more. It would help to try to give it attention throughout the day and to exercise it. However, it would be important not to reward it when it does get jealous so that it does not continue to do it.

It is being dominant

The reason why it does it might be that it is being dominant. This would be more likely if it also tends to be aggressive towards your other pets even when you are not giving them attention. In this case, it would help to train it to leave your other pets alone using the tips in this post.

It is being protective

German Shepherds are a very protective breed and they are used as guard dogs for this reason. If your German Shepherd tends to get jealous when you are interacting with people and pets that it does not know then it might be being protective. In this case, it would help to use the tips mentioned in this blog post.

You have been reinforcing it

The reason why it gets jealous might be that you have been inadvertently rewarding the behavior. If you tend to give your German Shepherd things that it wants, when it gets jealous, such as treats or attention then it would be likely that it has learned that being jealous gets it rewards.

Instead, it would help to give it attention when it is being well behaved and to avoid rewarding it when it becomes jealous.

You got new pets

If it started being jealous when you got new pets then it is likely that it feels left out. In this case, it would help to give it attention and rewards when it is being well behaved. You can also look here to see how to get it to behave better around your new pets.

Related post: How to tell if your German Shepherd loves you

How to get your German Shepherd to be less jealous

There are a number of things that you can do to get your German Shepherd to be less jealous that I will mention below.

Exercise

German Shepherds are a breed that is meant to get a lot of exercise daily. When they do not get much exercise it can cause them to develop behavioral issues. Generally, it is recommended for them to get an hour of exercise per day.

If your German Shepherd does not currently get that much exercise then it would help to make sure that it does. You can exercise it by walking it, playing fetch with it or having a local dog walker do it for you.

Give it attention

It would also help to give it attention when it is being well behaved. By doing so it should help to reduce how much it feels the need to be jealous. However, it would also help to avoid rewarding the jealousy where possible.

Give it training

If you have not given your German Shepherd much training then it would help to make sure to do so. By giving your German Shepherd training you will be able to get it to listen to your command and to be better behaved.

When training your German Shepherd it would help to start out by training it easy things such as the down command in an environment without many distractions. Then, when it can do it, you would start to include the object of jealousy and train it to do the command then as well.

You can look at the book Training Your German Shepherd on Amazon to get more tips about how you can train your GSD.

Avoid rewarding it

As mentioned above, rewarding your German Shepherd when it gets jealous could be causing it to do it more. Instead, it would help to avoid rewarding it when it’s jealous but to give it exercise, training and positive attention when it is being well behaved.

Things to consider

When trying to figure out why your German Shepherd is being jealous there are a number of things that you can consider. Below, I will mention a couple of particularly helpful things that you can think about.

When it started being jealous

It would help to consider when your German Shepherd started being jealous. If it started to do it suddenly then it would be likely that there will have been a trigger that caused it.

Some things that could have caused it would be:

• You brought a new pet home
• Someone new moved in
• Its schedule changed
• You rewarded it one time when it was jealous

When it becomes jealous

The timing of when it becomes jealous would also be helpful to consider.

For example, if it only seems to get jealous when you have not been giving it much attention then it could be that it wants attention from you. Whereas, if it seems to be jealous when you are feeding it then it could be dominating behavior.