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Bobbie, Leerburg's Computer Programer, with Leerburg's office dog CJ, a German Shepherd.

Leerburg's NEWEST DVD
The Building Drive and Focus Series with Michael Ellis
THE POWER OF PLAYING TUG WITH YOUR DOG
5 Hours, 25 Minutes | $65.00

On Wednesday we shipped our next DVD with Michael Ellis off to be pressed into a 2 DVD set. We expect it back the first week of December. The two DVDs contain 5 hours and 25 minutes of the best information I have ever seen on the subject of playing tug with your dog. The main goal of the DVD is to show the handler how to train a dog to look at a tug toy as a reward in obedience training. For that to happen a dog must play tug with enthusiasm; out when told to out; and bring the tug back to the handler when it’s slipped. You can read a detailed description of the chapters and segment of the DVD on our web site at http://leerburg.com/221.htm The work in this DVD along with the work in the first DVD I did with Michael Ellis, The Power of Training Dogs with Food, is the foundation of Michael Ellis’s method of training dogs. The DVDs I do from this point on with Michael will all be on training exercises. All of the future DVDs will assume that the trainer knows and understands the work in the food and tug DVDs. The next video will be TRAINING A COMPETITION HEELING DOG with Michael Ellis. I hope to have it out in the first quarter of 2010. It has filmed but not edited.

Enter for a chance to win a $25 Leerburg Gift Certificate!

Do you have great stories about your dog? Now is the time to enter Leerburg's Story Contest.
Email your story to Cindy about
How Your Dog Changed Your Life
We will change the theme periodically. Click here for more information.

Ok, I'll bite Thought I would send you my story of Sam. If you see fit to feature Sam's story, we don't need a gift certificate. Please donate $25.00 worth of treats or supplies to the shelter (yet another lesson from Sam).

Thanks!!!

So, here goes....

SAM

I don't recall him being anything super special to look at. He was just your average saddle back GSD. He wasn't even my first dog... being on a farm we always had a bunch of dogs running around. He really didn't have a special or fancy name either- he was just Sam. To me, as a 5 year old, Sam was my world. He was the first dog I really ever bonded with- and I was his person.

Sam came to the farm as a full grown adult. He had been chained up in the city and it was taking its toll on him. I don't know the exact deal that brought him to us, but I suppose it was because my grandfather felt he had to save him. My grandfather was like that.

Whatever the reason, one morning there he was. Until Sam got comfortable, my grandfather said we had to tie him to the Oak tree by the shed. My mother warned me not to get too close because she was convinced he would bite. Quite obviously she didn't know me very well, as I had a tendency to do exactly the opposite that I was told to do (a trait I still have today).

I grabbed a box of cereal and went to sit just outside Sam's rope line. Sam quietly retreated, but I stayed there talking to him and eating my dry cereal. I would occasionally toss him a piece or two. After a few days of this, he no longer retreated and even came forward and ate the cereal - Honeycomb, who could resist??

I visited with Sam each day and eventually he started to get as close as he could to me. He would patiently sit and listen to my silly stories and munch cereal with me. One day, after my mom had gone to town, I went inside his rope line. He licked me until I was completely soaked and made me laugh. We spent the rest of the day in the shade of the Oak tree.

My mom nearly had a stroke when she came home and found me laying with him under the tree. It took some convincing, but she let me unchain Sam. The first thing he did was tuck up his butt and run circles around us. Then he splashed around in the creek for a while. He was certainly a very happy dog!

From that day on, Sam was at my side more often then not. We had many adventures together. He wasn't allowed in the house, but I was able to snap the screen off my window so that he could come in and sleep on my bed at night. I thought I was being so clever, but I found out later that my grandfather knew about it the whole time and convinced my mom to leave us be.

Sam was only with us for 3 years. He began to lose a lot of weight and just couldn't keep it on. He wasn't the same energetic Sam anymore, even a short walk would wear him out. My grandfather took him to the vet and explained to me that Sam had Cancer and would be leaving us.

When Sam got to be too weak to jump through my window anymore, my grandfather allowed me to let him come in the front door so that he could still sleep next to my bed. One night, my grandfather carried Sam into my room and put him on my bed. Sam licked my face until I fell asleep.

My grandfather woke me early the next morning and quietly explained to me that my beloved Sam had died in the night. He gently wrapped Sam in a blanket and carried him to the shed. I followed behind, crying my heart out. He handed me a shovel and we both dug a grave for Sam under the Oak tree he had been tied to his first week with us. When I asked him why he chose that place, my grandfather replied, "because that's where he found you." He was wrong though, that's where we had found each other.

My grandfather explained to me that our animals come into our lives to teach us something and then they move on. He told me that my lesson from Sam was to learn to love and have compassion for animals. He said that someday I would look at my life and I would see the lessons that all my animals have taught me and know that they made me the person I became. He was right. The foundation of who I am is the love and bond that I shared with my Sam.

Those that were truly loved, never really leave us - Helen Keller

Scott Dunmore and his Dog, A'choo,
Working Engagement with Food
This style of training is taught in Leerburg's DVD, The Power of Training Dogs with Food.

Have a Question on Dog Training?

Have you checked the Leerburg Discussion Board? It is one of the most active dog web boards on the internet. The Leerburg Web Board has over 13,275 Members with over 165 forums and 212,000 posts in its archives. The web board also has an excellent search engine that only searches the web board's 212,000 posts.

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: Some of my dogs always chew up their beds and blankets when I’m not home, what can I do?

Cindy,

I follow leerburg web site all the time I have even bought some of your dvds  love them you and ed have given me a lot of useful stuff I train dogs  and do some rehab. but this one has gotten me pulling my hair out what little I have left any way. with that said I have four weims three of them are rescues no matter how much exercise I give them a couple of them eat there beds and blankets they do it when I am not home  I would love to buy them real nice ones but there is no use in it so do you have any advise to give me.

Steve

Answer:

Don’t give them anything they can chew. Some dogs just can’t ever be left unattended with blankets and beds. This is one of those cases where you just have to prevent the unwanted behavior. Dogs that do this can end up with blockages from ingesting pieces of their bedding, it’s just not worth the risk.

Cindy

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

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Question: My 4 month old puppy is very unruly in puppy class. I've tried a prong collar, a choke collar and a nylon collar and nothing works. Would a dominant dog collar help?

Thank you Ed and Cindy for all the information on the Leerburg website. I just purchased 3 DVDs - puppy, basic obedience, and pack structure and am anxiously awaiting their arrival.

I have a 4 month GSD hard puppy. He has strong prey drive and is learning quickly with markers and food (at home, no to low distractions).

At weekly obedience school (outdoor, at least 50 other dogs around, super high distraction), he is very unruly. I've used a standard choke chain, a snug prong collar, and a nylon type choke collar and none have worked. He continues to lunge at other dogs and pulls a lot. I'd like to take him on daily walks, but he pulls so much I think he might hurt himself. Will the dominant dog collar help to safely control him while walking?

His hackles are raised when transitioning from the car to the class. He so wants to play with the other dogs. He does some high pitched barking and some whining. Other class members seem fearful of him, but I believe he just wants to play (though I suppose I'm biased). When he finds a dog with similar high energy, they have a grand old time - soft biting, wrestling, pinning, being pinned. Do these behaviors indicate he is an aggressive dog?

I appreciate any assistance you can offer.

Aloha from Hawaii,
Jennifer

Answer:

Your puppy is only 4 months old and you have already used all of these collars to correct him? Dog should only receive corrections for choosing to not follow a command they 100% understand. Putting a puppy in proximity with 50 other dogs is such a high level of distraction that there are very few adult dogs that could focus in that environment. You will effectively be teaching your puppy to ignore you and will damage a relationship with him if you continue with your current line of thinking. A dominant dog collar is not the answer, backing up and teaching your puppy what you expect of him in a non distracting environment in a fair way is what will get you the results you want.

I also would NOT let him play with other puppies. Again, you are teaching him that the other puppies are more fun than you are. You are setting him up to either be dominant and pushy around other dogs, OR he will be dominated and pushed around by other dogs. Neither scenario is healthy for him. We don't allow our dogs to interact at all with any dogs from outside our family. NEVER.

My recommendations would be to stop with the group class situations until he's trained, and then use the class to proof your training. I would never ever take an untrained puppy to a class full of other untrained dogs. You are setting yourself up for problems you don't have to have.

I have raised my current dog using the following system.
Read this article on marker training first.
The Power of Training Dogs with Markers
The Power of Training Dogs with Food

These videos will complement the 3 you have already ordered.

You can see lots of video of this system at work with untrained dogs and puppies. We have tons of free streaming video.

I don't feel there is a better way to train dogs than this.

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.

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

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Question: My dog barks on her way into her puppy class and at the vet’s office, what can I do?

My dog is a cocker and 9 months old. When I take her to the YMCA for beginning puppy class she barks and barks really loud all the way into the classroom. She stops when we get into the room. She also barks and barks when I take her to the Vet's and and I have tried doing this every month to get her used to the place. She doesn't stop barking at the Vet's. What can I do? 

Thanks,
Karen

Answer:

Dogs like this are typically over stimulated and lack focus on the handler.  I’d work with your dog at home, to teach her to perform a behavior that takes her mind off of her surroundings. Like sit and make eye contact.  If she likes food or toys, use a high value (i.e. something she NEVER gets during regular training but loves) or a favorite tug toy and reward her for paying attention to you.  Like any good dog training, you need to start this in a zero distraction environment first to teach her what you want.

If you are not a student of marker training, I’d recommend it. 
The Power of Training Dogs with Markers
The Power of Training Dogs with Food

You can always go to corrections later, but I always try to teach my dogs that paying attention to me and interacting with me is much more interesting than anything going on in their environment.

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

Thank you so much for being so helpful. As promised, the wire muzzle arrive this afternoon at 4pm AZ time via UPS.

Ordered online in the evening of Oct 10 (Saturday) and the following day Oct 11 (Sunday) you e-mailed me to recommend another wire muzzle that would fit best based on my dog measurements. Then Oct 12 (Monday) was a holiday (Columbus Day), yet Leerburg processed it so quickly, it would arrive this Friday (Oct 16).

NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL SERVICE!! This is the reason why I am a returning customer.

Sincerely,
Rudy

PS....Fits nicely and my dog has room to pant.  He has accepted it without much trouble.

Leerburg's Affiliate Program
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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!

The Michael Ellis School for Dog Trainers

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

http://michaelellisschool.com

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