Having trouble reading this email? Click here.
If you do not want to receive our semi weekly newsletter, click here to unsubscribe.

Photo taken by Cindy Rhodes at a recent French Ring Seminar!

	RELEASE
The Building Drive and Focus Series with Michael Ellis THE POWER OF TRAINING DOGS WITH FOOD 3 Hours, 45 Minutes | $65.00

Common Mistakes Trainers Make in
Marker Training Part 1

*At checkout, enter coupon code OCT12 into the comments section at checkout to receive savings.
An email will be sent after you have placed your order specifying the new total.
This special is valid for ONE DAY ONLY on Tuesday, October 13th from 12:01 A.M. to 11:59 P.M. Central Standard Time.
Order must be placed, received, and be dated for October 13th.
Orders placed before or after this date will NOT be given the price discount. No Exceptions!

Clearance Closeout
While Supplies Last

Featured Products!

Roni Ball with T Handle
FREE Featured eBook Dealing with the Dominant Dog By Ed Frawley

This Week's Featured
Question & Answers
Our newsletter will always contain several featured customer Q&As from that week.

Have a question for Ed & Cindy? Try the Leerburg Search Engine. This search engine was written specifically for Leerburg by our in house IT manager. Our search engine is specific to Leerburg and only searches leerburg.com and the Leerburg web forum.

If you can't find the answer to your question by using our search engine,
you can email Cindy here at Leerburg at cindyr@leerburg.com
If you have your spam filter on, make sure you set it to receive our replies!!!

Question: From what sources do you list vets on your website? ?

Dear Cindy,

Hi, today I found your website and called a vet listed in NYS, Dr. Alberto Gil.  I checked the NYS Vet Medical Board and he’s not listed.  From what sources do you list vets?  I would like to know because I made an appointment for tomorrow and though I liked the fact that he’s homeopathic he answered the phone himself, was at a different address than listed and said he will be moving again soon.  Would you please reply.  I just adopted a 6 week mix and I want him to be seen.

Thanks for your time,
Carol

Answer:

This is what we have posted on our vets page: 

This list was created to assist dog owners who wish to raise their dogs on a raw diet with minimal vaccines and chemicals. This is NOT the list for people who want a regular allopathic vet that pushes kibble and yearly vaccinations.

We have asked our discussion forum members for their input and experiences with holistic vets, practitioners or conventional vets that support raw feeding and a minimal or no vaccine protocol. We have no experience with the vets on this list unless otherwise noted and are not recommending one over another.

We can’t be held responsible or liable for your experiences, good or bad, with any of the veterinarians on this list.

We are providing this list as a service; please do your own research into any health care provider you choose for your dogs.

For more questions on this topic, see our Q&A on Health.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Question: My young dog is trying to bite me if I block her from having something that she wants. She also is marker trained but won’t listen to me unless I have food. I don’t use a long line anymore because she gets tangled in it, what should I do?

Dear Cindy,

I have a 10 month old  female GSD.  We have the use of our neighbors acre size fenced yard and I take my dog over every day to let her run and exercise her.  Today, she was getting into something I didn't want her messing with and when I tried to block her getting to what she wanted, she lunged at me a few times trying to bite.  I literally had to kick her back to keep her from biting at me.  I have seen the pack structure DVD and she has been through obedience training since the very beginning.  I am also training her in SAR and she is doing very well with that.  It is times like today and other times she has jumped up to bite, that I feel she is not respecting me as leader, but am not sure what else to do.  I am wondering if I should use an e collar and correct her with that when she tries to bite.  She has a dominant personality and is a very independent dog. I have done marker training with her and she has learned really well with it, but if she knows I don't have food she will not come when called.  I used to have her drag a long line, but she kept getting tangled in it.  I did a lot of research on training and have learned a lot from your website as well as your DVDs and yet I feel so discouraged with her, I want to throw in the towel most days.  I have kids and I don't want her to end up biting them seriously or me.  She is crate trained and is not allowed on furniture or beds.  She is not dominant about her food or toys or chew things.  It is this one thing of trying to bite either me or my kids.  I owned 2 other dogs who never did anything like this so it baffles me.  Can you give me any suggestions as to what I should do?

Thanks so much

Shirley

Answer:

Is this dog already trained with the electric collar?  What videos do you already have?  I looked you up in our customer database and don’t have any orders on file.

The recommendations I would make are this:

Back up your training to establish more leadership.  Your dog does not respect you if she’s trying to bite when you block her from something she wants.  At 10 months old she’s only an adolescent, not even close to being fully mature.  If you don’t work on this now, then it will only continue to escalate.

Start with our groundwork program

Pack Structure for the Family Pet

Dealing with Dominant & Aggressive Dogs

Before you ever would use the ecollar for this, make sure you know how to properly use it and the dog is properly introduced to the sensation of the stimulation.

We have an excellent video on how to use the collar, Electric Collar Training for the Pet Owner.

You say your dog will only respond to marker training if you have food.  This means that you have made some big mistakes in your training.  You have either used the food as a bribe, instead of a reward AND/OR you have tried to use markers when you didn’t really have anything to give the dog.  At 10 months old you should NEVER EVER give your dog a command without being prepared to pay her for listening to you.  You should also not show the dog the food before you ask her to follow a command.  The food should be hidden on you, and used as a reward, not a bribe. 

I’d suggest this article on marker training.

These videos:

The Power of Training Dogs with Markers

The Power of Training Dogs with Food

I’d also direct you to the search function in the upper left corner of the website.  It will find posts, articles and Q & A’s that deal with your search terms.

Cindy

For more questions on this topic, see our Q&A on Markers.

Question: My dogs go crazy in their crates when my son visits with his dog.  They are otherwise well behaved, what should I do? !

I am hoping that you can help us. I have two ½ Australian Cattle Dogs. The ½  comes when my step son’s Australian Cattle Dog (neutered male) (Ryder) comes to

stay with us for two days every two days (my step-son is a fireman at Otis AFB, here in Mass.).  I have a spayed female (Libby) and a Champion show dog (Diesel).  ALL these dogs are crate trained.  All these dogs are registered ACDs. When Diesel and Libby are home and out of their crates, they are very good together, I am the pack leader as well as my husband.  Libby and Ryder don’t usually make a peep when they are in their crates.  Diesel sometimes whines (very distracting). 

My house goes into chaos when Ryder visits.  When my step son drives in (the dogs have excellent hearing), Libby starts barking, and Diesel gets to the very corner of his crate, barking and raising quite the ruckus.  Then Ryder comes in the house. All Heck breaks loose. Diesel actually moves his crate to try to get to Ryder.  There is a mutual hate by both Ryder and Diesel. Libby gets along with both, but sometime has a little difficulty with Ryder. (He’s a 75 lb. ACD!) When Diesel is out of the crate with Libby – Ryder will charge his crate as well trying to get to Diesel.  We don’t let Diesel and Ryder out together AT ALL. We’ve pretty much resigned ourselves to that fact. We’d like to bring peace back into our lives though.

We do have bark collars – we’ve found that if we have the bark collars on Libby and Diesel when my step son drives in that sometimes the aggression isn’t there. Do we need to step this up to a training collar? We’ve had a difficult time with Diesel in correcting him for lunging at the corner of his crate when Ryder comes through. It is impossible to correct him in the crate.

My dogs all get taken out to the arena to catch balls, run around, and my dogs do agility, so Libby and Diesel get worked and get tired. Ryder, sometime has no interest in the ball, and will just just run after Libby.

We are running out of choices, ideas, etc.  this is definitely affecting not only the dogs, but my marriage. We’ve tried contacting another trainer about the red zone aggression and have gotten no response.

Ideas, thoughts, help please!?

Margaret

Answer:

I’d use the bark collars, every time you put the dogs in the crate (even if your son is not going to be visiting) I’ve found that the best way to instill new habits in dogs is to simply be consistent.  If you wait until they already are showing aggression or barking, then they’ve gotten a rehearsal of behavior you don’t want.

We like these Tri-Tronics Bark Limiter

For more questions on this topic, see our Q&A on Barking.

 

*If you have a training question – write Cindy here at Leerburg at cindyr@leerburg.com

*If you have your spam filter on, make sure you set it to receive our replies!!!

*Our newsletter is a big success and we would like to send out a huge THANKS to our wonderful customers! Since beginning this newsletter our volume of email has greatly increased and you may have a longer than usual wait for a reply to your question.  We will answer; it just may take us a bit longer than you are accustomed to. In order to speed up this process, please condense your questions to a paragraph or two. This will make it MUCH easier for us to answer in a timely fashion. Your questions are important to us and we always appreciate receiving them.  If you have a medical issue or emergency, please consult with a health care professional right away. We can’t diagnose or treat sick dogs via email. Also, try using the search function on our site - it now searches the site AND the web board. Thank you. Ed & Cindy

Testimonials

Hi Cindy,

I just received the Basic obedience, and Establishing pack structure DVDs that you offer.  I just wanted to say thank you!  Great information presented in a simple, easy to understand format.  We have had many dogs during our life, but recently rescued a 1 yr old male Doberman.  He has been the biggest challenge that we have ever faced.  The information that you have presented has already started to help us gain control over Ozzie, and make our time together more enjoyable.  Again a Big Thanks!

Bob

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ed,

I made my third order from Leerburg last weekend, I think on Sunday. I got my package on Tuesday. Every order from your company has arrived very quickly and has always been 100% correct. You and your people do an excellent job. Thanks a ton.

Neil

Leerburg's Affiliate Program
Check out the NEW Leerburg Affiliate Program.
Learn how to become a Leerburg Affiliate!

Upcoming Michael Ellis Seminar
Check out the pictures from the recent Michael Ellis Seminar
and the upcoming seminar dates!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ANNOUNCING
The Michael Ellis School for Dog Training

NOW OPEN

More details on courses, course content and dates available on the website.

http://michaelellisschool.com

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This email was sent to you by Leerburg® Enterprises, Inc.
If you do not want to receive our semi weekly newsletter, click here to unsubscribe.
We will promptly update your contact preferences.
Copyright 2008 Leerburg® Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved. US Copyright Link.
By accessing any information within Leerburg.com,
you agree to abide by the Leerburg.com Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.