Most Popular Q&As

Hi Cindy! I've emailed before for help with my Belgian Malinois pup and your suggestions have been helpful, particularly in regards to puppy biting. A new problem has arisen: he barks, and it appears to be motivated by him seeking my attention (there is also the possibility that the attention seeking barking behavior may result from anxiety - anxious about me leaving - but I'm not sure.) Question: Any suggestions to curb/minimize the barking behavior other than ignoring the behavior?

Hey guys, I am feeding my two German Shepherds a raw meat-only diet. I would just like to check this is healthy. Should I be varying their diet more is it ok to only feed them raw beef? Any help would be great. Thanks Ed and Cindy, and keep up the great work you are doing at Leerburg.

Is there a certain age where you should stop allowing people to approach and pet your puppy if you want this dog for police work or personal protection. My puppy just turned 6 months. I am not sure if you should continue to allow people to pet him and play with him. Thank you very much for your time. I have purchased 6 or 7 videos from you and they are very educational.

We live in a small town and I can't find anyone to train us, mostly my husband and I. Laney (1 year old part chow part Shepherd) has many annoying habits: constant licking or jumping up on us. She can never just sit or lay by us while we watch TV or talk. She also play bites my husband, but never me because I have been firmer in the past with her. Last, she is too smart for us, we can never get her to come or leave the room, go to bed, go outside... When we try she always lays down, rolls on ...

Hello: Thank you for delivering this valuable information about vaccinations. My question is two part: 1. If you live in a state like we do, N. Carolina, that requires rabies vaccinations, how do you get around that so that you can still take your dog to the vet for other needed services? 2. Do dogs have to be vaccinated to protect from worms and parasites or does that over the counter stuff at Pet Smart work? Thank you, Linda and Brad

We have an 11month GS/rotti mix. She was a rescue and we have had her since she was 11 weeks old. She has completed basic obedience (prong collar was used) and did very well. I do, however, have one main concern in regards to training. When our dog meets new people, or our friends that she doesn't know well, she is relentless to get their attn. by jumping up on them and nipping at their hands and clothes. She has never hurt anyone, never even really nipped hard, but nonetheless it makes u...

I have an 8 month old rottie. He is a good dog, however, I have some problems making him give me something (anything) he has stolen from me. He just looks up at me and curls his upper lip. I don't think he wants to bite or harm me, he is usually a very gentle dog. I can put my fingers in his food bowl, and even put my hands in his mouth, however, when he takes something he will not give it back. What do I do?

If you have time I would appreciate your opinion on the following. This was about 15 years ago. Our son, Derek, was nine. We had a GSD I had trained in basic AKC obedience. I would have trusted her with the boy anywhere, anytime. When people came to the house she would stand between them and the rest of the house for about 30 seconds. When she walked away it was OK for the people to come into the house. If anyone tried to walk past her before she moved away the dog would act very u...

Hi there... Love your website and everything you do and also as a customer please keep it up... I have a problem with my 11 months German shepherd, he is embarrassing me by humping on my leg or jump and hump on me or even sometimes with other family members especially while we are out for a walk in the beach or other places. Please let me know the correct direction on how to deal with it :(

I have an 8 month old Rottweiler, who has an extremely good temperament. He is good with kids and people etc. I have been doing obedience classes with him with great success. At the classes I use a Herm Sprenger Fur Saver, which I bought from you. My question is: when I walk him, he tries to pull a lot and when he sees other dogs and people walking. He wants to go to them and play. It's not that he's aggressive, it's just that people get scared, and I want to stop that. I wanted to k...

I have an 11 year old altered female Sheltie. I've had her since she was a puppy. Over the last two years, she has become increasingly yappy. Even more so since we adopted an altered 4 year old female German Shepherd. The Sheltie is the alpha of the two. Sheltie pretty much announces every move the shepherd makes, as well as most movements my husband and I make. Should we considered a training collar, or is there something else we should try? Patience is wearing extremely thin. Thank you.

I have two questions. I have trained and field trailed bird dogs since being a young boy. I now would like to get into Schutzhund. I am concerned because I have kids and did not know if this makes a dog mean to where it would bite or if they just do it on command as part of the game. The second question is that I have an eight week old shepherd. I just finished watching the ME video of training with food. Can you tell me which videos I need to do next and do I need the tug video if I...

Our male 10 months old GSD was standing up on our couch barking loud and hard out the window at a white plastic bag which was floating around in the wind. I tried to stop him and pull him down from the couch put he turned on me as if fighting with another dog and just touched me a few times with his teeth but did not bite hard but it was a bit of frenzied attack, he would not come down on command. So I tried to pull him down, and this was a bit of a shock to me because, I thought I had establ...

Dear Mr. Frawley, Please forgive me for taking up your precious time but I think that I'm in over my head and don't know which road to go down with my Mason who is trained to be a Home & Personal Protection Dog. I purchased this dog from a company located in Petersburg, Michigan thru the internet solely on the owners word that the dog came out of a very good breeding, trained in humane obedience and protection program for 6-8 months, and properly socialized since birth. ...

Hi. When I order your Nosework Scent Kit and I run out of the pre-prepared swabs, how do I prepare new ones? I've heard to put a drop of the scent directly on each swab or put a drop on a cotton ball and put the cotton ball and new swabs in a container for 24 hours. Which method do you think is best? Thanks.

Hi Cindy, I have a doberman raised on Leerburg. So my dog and I are well trained on the Leerburg method as of 1 year. We are new and doing great. We were walking on a forest trail yesterday when our leashed dog was attacked by a dog whose owner was irresponsible and completely without any control. The dog was on a harness which was useless. My husband and I had to kick the dog repeatedly in the head to get him off. He was sinking his teeth in our dog's back and side, while our dog was ...

Thanks for a great informative site! With that said I have the DVDs on The Power of Playing Tug with Your Dog and The Power of Training Your Dog with Food. I have a 6 month old GSD I am training for Schutzhund. When I tug back and forth for a bit and then let him have the tug, he runs away with the tug and is possesive of it. I tried putting a leash on him, and giving him small pops back to me, but Michael Ellis, in the video, was telling the trainers not to do that. How do I get the dog...

I have a Doberman puppy that came from a litter of 6. He was born by C-section, as mom was having problems getting the first puppy out on her own. All the pups were pretty uniform in size for the most part at birth. This one particular male has not grown much at all in comparison to the rest. At 4 weeks of age the others' average weight was 10 to 11 pounds and this little guy only weighed 4 pounds! I took him to our vet and had a full blood panel done and nothing looked abnormal, not even...

Hello, I am trying to determine wether I should breed a healthy German Shepherd female we own. We have bred German Shepherds for 20 years but only have a litter every few years. We have an excellent female we have raised since a puppy from excellent German working lineage. Time has gotten away from us and by the time she will be whelping her puppies she will be 7+ years old. She is third generation from our breeding program and if not breed we will loose that lineage. She has never before...

Hello, I found your website while searching for a holistic vet. I adopted a Chihuahua Yorkie mix, but he is a biter. We started crate training him, but inconsistently. He had trouble getting house broken, and we discovered he had a bladder stone. Next came surgery, then the diagnosis of liver shunt. We searched for nutrition answers and found your site. We spoil the dog now, because we expect him to have a short life span, but he does have aggressive tendencies. My concern- after reading t...