Behavior Problems Q&As

Hello Ed & Cindy, I'm writing today regarding my mother's year old spayed female GSD. She was purchased by my 18 year old brother who didn't do groundwork before leaving for college. She is loving & intelligent, but extremely stubborn and dominant. I've never had a dog this frustrating to train. She is teetering on the edge of needing to find a new home because of her behavioral issues. I'm hoping that you can suggest specific DVDs and articles that are most fitting for her issues. ...

Please help me! My husband and I have consulted our trainer who has suggested things that just don't work and I have yet to find an answer that really relates to our problem. We have a 7 month old Boxer mix (we think--we adopted him from a shelter at 2 months). He is such a good dog! He has been in obedience classes since he was about 4 months old and does amazing everywhere but in our backyard. Even then the only issue (but a big issue) is that he will attack our coats and shoes when we are ...

Hello, My wife and I bought and have watched the basic obedience video, on recommendation from a previous trainer, and absolutely love it. We noticed a number of little problems with our own behavior and have since begun implementing the techniques. I was hoping I could get a little advice on the place command. We have a rescue dog (4 or 5) which we have been crating since she came home. She has always shown strong anxiety while in the crate. She tore her way out of one, and will not...

Hi Cindy, We have a 4-month-old Caucasian Shepherd puppy and he displays uncontrollable dog aggression to unfamiliar dogs. I have read that this breed of dog is very independent and does not have the best recall. Having owned a protection-trained Malinois and a German Shepherd, I am amazed at how intense this puppy can be. He lives with an 8-year-old male German Shepard and a 10-year-old female Border Collie. They all get along although his "puppy play" can be rough. We socialize him at...

Hi Cindy, I have a high energy 6 year old female GS. She?s gone through basic obedience but seems to have a growing issue with barking. My house backs up to a park and she often hears other dogs etc, which spurs the barking. I have heard the best way to control barking is to teach the dog ?when to bark? thus I would assume this works in reverse? If this is the case, can you give me some direction on how to control her barking when told?

We have a no vac, raw fed male who is 4 years old. His Dad was no vac but his Mom was given vaccine. He is strictly a pet. We have one of your E-collars. Recently he decided he would NOT go for a walk with me. Only if my wife goes will he go out the door for a walk. If I try to take him, he flops down and no amount of stern commands, yanks on the prong or delicious treats will get him up off the floor and out the door. Would you recommend using the E-collar to break this habit? Put...

I have a mellow, neutered male 12 year old mix breed med sized house dog and recently acquired a JRT puppy. Is it alright to let the old dog correct the pup with growls and barks when she pesters him or jumps up on him? He wants nothing to do with the puppy and usually walks away from her. He is tolerant of sharing his bed if she lies quietly beside him. The pup is doesn't always get the message, however, and continues to bug him until he gets up and goes to another spot.

Could you give me some advice and help with my dog? I'm due a baby in 2 months and am thinking of getting rid of my 3 year old Staffordshire bull terrier. The reason for this is because when I let her into the house from the garden, she storms in jumping on the sofa and is very hyper and I would be scared of her jumping on my new baby or something. I thought I would ask you first as I really love her and would like to try and sort her out before I would give her up. Please get back to me. Tha...

Hello, I have a five-month-old Shepherd pup. I'm having issues crate training my dog. When I have to go to work, I have my pup crated. So he is crated for four hours, then I come home and take him out and walk him for an hour, then he's crated for four hours, and then when I return home at the end of the day, he's then fed, walked, and played with. Originally my problem was with him escaping his crate and then tearing up my carpet. Some trial and error, a blanket under the crate, and ...

Hi Ed, I just ordered a dominant dog collar and a 3 series DVD that you had recommended in one of your QAs. My question is, my husband doesn't like to have a huge crate hanging around in our house. Is it possible to substitute the crate for a 6ft lead tied either in the dining room or our bed post, to follow your instruction on establishing pack leadership in our house? The only other option is to have the crate in our daughter's bedroom. I want to start from scratch, even though we had...

Dear Leerburg, I have a large German Shepherd mix male neutered age 3. He needs help in learning to socialize happily with other dogs. Can I buy a DVD or CD showing large healthy dogs playing together? My dog will watch TV if and only if dogs are on it. He can learn some by watching other large dogs playing without barking. Please reply. Thank You.

Hi Cindy, My sister and I both have dogs at home that tend to bark when we are at work. We wanted to purchase the collars for both dogs but are concerned that this may limit them from playing with one another since they growl and play bark. Do you have any suggestions? Would keeping it on and off confuse the dogs? Thanks for your assistance.

Cindy, I have a 4-year-old male Boston Terrier who is very dominant and is the pack leader (of me). I'm trying to right this wrong because of two major behavioral issues we're having with him. 1. He terrorizes house guests with too much crazy affection 2. He's extremely leash reactive and can only be walked in really deserted areas (this is our biggest problem and I'm hoping that by beginning to establish pack leader we can work up to correcting this). I read the article on pack structu...

I have a 2 year old Airedale, high spirited. I live in New York City, in a large apartment building, and work at home. He is free in the apartment when I am there; in the crate when I am not. My question is about barking at outside noises. It's the city, so there are many of them, although he reacts most to hearing other dogs bark. When I hear the bark before he does, I tell him QUIET, and can often avoid barking. But I don't always get that chance. Saying QUIET, NO, etc. after he has star...

I have 6 dogs as we speak. 4 pugs, PPD Doberman, and a 14 year old GSD(extremely submissive to all dogs especially my pugs). All of them get long great. I am avid about kenneling them, ex-pens, there is structure in my home, and outside my home with these dogs. We have no issues with dog fights, etc. Everyone knows there place in the pack, knows I AM THE PACK LEADER, and things go pretty well. This being said, I have worked and trained with Heath Farthing of VFK9 for years. I have purchased a...

Hi, I am about to get a second dog and I was recommended by a trainer to train the second dog in a different language in order to avoid command conflicts. I would like to know how do you guys feel about it? Thank you for your time

Hello Cindy, After trying all training methods, at what point should an owner consider using a bark collar for a younger dog? The dog I'm considering on adopting is an 8 month old English Cocker spaniel. The current owner has allowed me to keep him for a trial period. I don't reprimand when he briefly barks for his dinner as he's a typical Cocker and loves his food or when he's outside and sees other dogs. However, I've filmed him while I'm at work and have observed him barking most of th...

Hi, I know you guys have a pretty strong opinion about people taking their dogs to dog parks. I thought I would share this story with you as a good example as to why you should never take a dog to a dog park. http://fox13now.com/2012/03/03/two-dogs-hospitalized-after-incident-in-dog-park/ Amanda

Hi Mr. Frawley, A week ago I adopted a 2 - 2 1/2 year old female Great Pyrenees. It's been an interesting week but the fact that I was online search for more help yesterday says it's not been ideal. I came across your website when searching for information on dogs being aggressive -- to other dogs and to people. I ordered your DVD on demand for establishing pack structure with the family pet and began putting her in the crate last night and it's been an uncomfortable experience. Is this...

Hello, I got a beautiful english lab at 7 weeks old. Now she is 7 months old. She is very smart, but dominant. Since she was a pup she keeps biting my hands, feet and jumps a lot. The biting has gotten worse. If my husband and I are watching television, she will growl and try to nip at us. We correct her but she then jumps back and growls and tries again to bite. Different levels of growling and running around our condo like crazy dog until she wears herself out. We have put a lea...