Natural Traits in German Shepherd Dogs: Psychological traits in GSD - Physiologically Based

Psychological traits in GSD physiologically based

Hello friends... hope you have liked post psychological and genetic character traits in German shepherd Dogs. Check out the last post on NATURAL TRAITS IN GERMAN SHEPHERD DOG. As I said before, I intend to write about some other character traits in German Shepherd Dog breed that are psychological, but physiologically based. That means these traits are purely psychological. While identifying the character and personality traits in German Shepherd Dogs, you can clearly notice that these animals have high degree of self confidence, and shows typical behavior of aloofness at times, which will make a stranger think twice to make friends with them immediately. Alike some of the other dog breeds, the heavy-weight personality of German Shepherd Dogs blends well physique of the breed. Physiological traits in German Shepherd Dogs are the traits backed by the mechanical, physical, and biochemical functions in the dog.

Here are the details of the German Shepherd Dog character traits that are psychological, but physiologically based:

The character traits of any dog breed depend on many factors. German Shepherd Dogs are sometimes quite hard by nature (both mentally and physically) and pain tolerating capacity is high, while soft at some other times. Both hardness and softness in the characters are the psychological traits in GSD that are physiologically based.

Hardness: Hardness is the trait that is both psychological and physiological. It is a mental resiliency (backed the physical and biochemical soundness) to not-so-pleasant experiences. Hardness is judged by putting the dog into situations where the pain threshold can be determined. Pain threshold is the point at which the dog starts reacting to pain. The intensity at which the stimulus (physical and mental pressure and stress) starts evoking pain the threshold stimulus. To be a bit more simple, the pain threshold is the point at which the starts not to tolerate the pain any longer. Since the threshold stimulus varies from breed to breed for a given stressful situation, the pain threshold level differs too. A well bred German Shepherd Dog has comparatively high level of pain threshold than most other dog breeds. By saying this I mean to say that the capacity of tolerating pain has been genetically engineered into the breed. Hence “hardness” is not 100% psychological and physiologically trait in GSD and other dog breeds, although, as a matter fact the level of hardness also varies form dog to dog within the breed itself. GSD has higher “Hardness” trait, means they can tolerate tremendous stress with little negative attitude. That in turn means that the GSD needs to handle strongly and requires strong corrections when they are disobedient.

Now what does it mean when I say that “Hardness” in GSD is a psychological trait, being physiologically based? From physiological view point, the hardness in GSD means that the dog is strong by nerve. It relates to the thick sheathing around the nerve fibers in the body of the dog which makes its pain threshold higher than other breeds. Sometimes the hardness is so high that corrections to disobedient behaviors sometimes become quite tough for les- experienced trainers. This is why an experienced specialized dog behaviorist/ trainer will always suggest not to hit him while training. This will make the training process harder and ineffective.

Softness: Softness in the character traits in German Shepherds is just the opposite of the hardness. Wild dogs in the nature are comparatively softer than the pets. In fact the softness is a natural trait that helps the dog to save himself from natural dangers. Softness breeds a bit of fear in them which acts as the natural measure for protection themselves form real danger – as I said in my last post. Softness in German Shepherd Dogs is another psychological trait that is associated to the fear from stressful experience. Excessive softness is a behavioral fault in the GSD breed. This is because these dogs are bred to work under a wide range of stressful situations. If a German Shepherds fail to do that, it means it doesn’t satisfy the breed’s actual purpose.

You will probably like to read about BREED EVOLUTION TEST IN GERMAN SHEPHERD DOG (Schutzhund) that has been designed to separate German shepherds with correct physical and character traits from the ones that have undesirable traits.

Up next purely genetic traits in German Shepherds! Stay tuned...