Most Popular Q&As

Hi Cindy, I often see your husband refer to the use of a raised bed in the home, training, etc. on your videos. Comfort being considered, none of my dogs ever choose the raised bed over their memory foam bed if given an option when we are just hanging out for example in the garage watching television. My question is, what is your reason for the use of a raised bed specifically? Is it mainly for training purposes for the ability to attach a leash easier, will you transition off the raised bed...

Hello Cindy, I have been following your training advice with my 18-month-old English Lab, gently starting when he was 8 weeks old. He is doing pretty well and we continue to work on commands and manners daily. I don't like for visiting, screaming, small children to have access to my dog, and definitely don't leave him unattended should family members bring kids. In fact, I remove him from the chaos when the kids enter the house. Friends with bratty kids believe there is nothing wrong with ...

Hi Cindy, I have a 4 month Rhodesian Ridgeback (45 lb) who wants to sniff everything on leash walks, on public sidewalks and on my own acreage. I walk him 3x per day (10 min) before meals, in addition to various potty breaks. He eliminates on his own property (not on walks) and I would like walks to be steady. I try to redirect him to me, mark and move, followed by a high value reward. Often times he is not pushing for the reward and prefers his nose to the ground but will otherwise redire...

Hi Cindy, I will be getting a Malinois pup soon & have been researching best ways to socialize it with other dogs. I have a another dog already which was heavily socialized with other dogs & has excellent social skills with any size/type of dog (she has even been attacked by a dog as a puppy unprovoked, & never changed/became aggressive in spite of it), but she's too dog focused which I want to avoid this time. I would not expect the pup would not be as forgiving like if attacked. I read &...

Hello, I've purchased a 2 year old, fully trained dog who has already earned a BH, and who tried for an IPO1 twice and failed protection both times, but earned 72 and 93 in tracking, and 80 and 70 in obedience. Since buying the dog, I realized I was teaching him bad habits because when I first got him, he snapped into position really quickly, but I didn't know how to reinforce him because I knew nothing about IPO training until about a month ago, when I started showing up at Schutzhund Club ...

I have a GSD who can be quite reactive when on-leash and who tends to 'check out' on walks. I've used a number of Michael Ellis DVDs for training so far and off-leash he has good engagement, recall and is not particularly reactive around other dogs. It feels like I lose all engagement once he is on the leash. I am currently using a check chain, which is helping to a degree with his pulling but nothing I do (pop the leash, walk another direction, ask him to 'watch') helps when it comes to r...

Cindy, I'm new to the world of competitive dog obedience (getting ready for Novice A this spring) and have a question about the order of training. In my current routine, I take her to a local park where we train for about 30 minutes. After ending on a high note, I have been taking her for about a 40 minute loose leash walk around the park. I believe I heard on one of the videos something about putting the dog away after training so they could process what they learned. My question is should I...

Ed, Almost a year ago you provide some suggestions on me dealing with my leash reactive dog while on walks showing signs of whining/stress when seeing other dogs. I watched your "Dealing with Dominant & Aggressive Dogs" DVD, and could say that my dog is dominant and aggressive to some degree. Yet very trainable, and good at obedient skills. In your DVD, you have a session in which you provided strong corrections to a dog you are walking near a fence with other dogs (high distraction). T...

I read all about dog aggression towards other dogs. My 15 months old female GSD has most probably been exposed to an aggressive dog (not attacked) at the age of 6 months. An experienced trainer in Austria recognized the reason for her aggression towards other dogs and advised me to raise her up with her collar whenever she would bark aggressively or try to run towards other dogs. That would cause her discomfort and she would eventually stop the behavior. What is your opinion? He also exposed ...

Cindy, I put in "sick not growing puppies bacteria" in my search engine and your webpage came up as #1 at the top of the list and after reading much of your page on saving small pups, etc. I believe you may be able to help me. I have been a dog breeder since 1969 and have, at one time or another, had almost every disease a dog or pup can get, except rabies. Anyway, I now have something I cannot figure out. I currently have French Bulldogs (4 of them) and have been breeding them for ...

Hi Cindy, I have been teaching competition obedience, rally, agility and puppy foundation classes for 17+ years using mostly positive training methods (reward based) training. Over the years, I have had to take a client's dog and show them something; like a collar correction or how to help the dog into the down position (just to name a few things I've had to show the owners). I have had much success with mostly all experiences showing clients how to handle their dog better but occasi...

I currently have a 5 month old female French Bulldog x Min Pin (French Pin). I am trying to decide whether or not to fix her, not fix her, or potentially breed her with another dog. I would love to breed her with another healthy male but do not know what breed I would be looking for or how to go about caring for her through pregnancy. Would you suggest I take her to a dog trainer and have them care for her through pregnancy? And what breed of dog would you suggest I breed her with. Thanks

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...

Dear Cindy (and Ed), First of all, thank you so much for all of the information you have provided on your web page. I can't wait to order more of your articles and books. I've read through a ton of articles and q&a's, but frankly our problem isn't to the extent of what others have written in with, but I guess I am more so concerned with prevention of future problems. We have a 3-year-old mini Australian shepherd female. We adopted her over a year ago because her first owner didn't want ...

We have been using the Tri-Tronics G3 Bark Limiter on our 1 year old female German Shepherd with great success. Last night, the collar appears to have malfunctioned, zapping her repeatedly at a 4 setting until we could get the collar off. It has been set at 1, and she was sitting calmly and quietly when it started. She is now extremely skittish and requires constant reassurance from us. Where do we go from here? I have contacted Tritronics about the issue, but I don't think I will be comforta...

I just found your website but already can't get enough. I have a 6 month old Greater Swiss Mountain Dog who is happy and active. She loves to go out for walks and we frequent our local dog park often. She is already well behaved except she barks at individuals with darker skin. She never shows aggression towards them but does make a point of barking at them until we walk away or they do. We live in a city and this is very difficult because many people stop and want to pet her but when they do...

Hello Cindy, A quick question for you. Between the Verve and Embark, which would you start puppies out on after weaning with the milk formula and hamburger? Or,....would you simply start them on the Embark with a little of the formula? The litter is now 3 weeks old. By the way, I tried your formula for the first time today because I felt that the litter should be gaining better that they are (it was a litter of 10, lost 1) most of them weigh in at 2.2lbs - 2.4lbs and a couple at 2.6. I...

Cindy, What's the deal with having the dogs return on recall to "between the legs" facing forward? Is this a new fad or what? I realize in protection you don't want the dog to "front" and take it's attention off the decoy, but why not to heel position? Karen

Schutzhund over here in England is frowned upon by the establishment. My nearest club is about 1.25 hours away, but they are very friendly and welcoming folks. My question is this. How related are Schutzhund and personal protection? Will going through Schutzhund be of benefit to my dog as a protection dog or should I simply set down the path, at a suitable age of course, of protection training him? Although again over here finding good helpers will be difficult outside the Schutzhund establis...

I have been looking all over the internet and just found your site. WOW! You cover so much. I know it may be a while before you can answer me but if you can I would really appreciate it. We (myself, husband and 2 teenagers) just adopted a collie/shepherd 3-month-old puppy. He has been responding very well to the crate training and in just 2 weeks is "so far" housebroken. Our problem is that after a few days with us he has started this thing where he pees whenever my husband does anything ...