Most Popular Q&As

I have a one-year old German Shepard. He is well trained to sit, down, come, etc. I can work with him at a strange location on a 30 ft leash and he still obeys. The only problem I have with him is a come when he is off leash and he sees another dog that he wants to play with. At that point I lose control and he won't come. I have tried a throw chain to get closer to him, but he could care less about that. He is also quite dominant in his play so I can't allow him to play with a smaller do...

Hi Cindy, I am hoping you can help me. I have a now one year old Plot Hound that I rescued at 8 weeks. Without going into endless repetition, all I can say is that training her has required a lot of patience but with one exception is paying off. She has a strong prey drive but now is easily controlled with birds and squirrels. She responds well to commands, and shows absolutely no signs of aggression to people or dogs. The difficulty stems from her wanting to be with ...

My pup will play with her tug like crazy at home. When I take her to the training field or down the street she ignores it. What should I do?

I saw a Q/A that you had on fear biting and I was hoping that you could help me out with something... We adopted a female (2-3 years old) lab/boxer (or pit bull not sure) mix. She is a well tempered dog, very loving, plays well with other dogs (from what we can tell) and with cats. She has not exhibited aggressive behavior with the exception that she barks a little at strangers. The thing is that she is very timid. Numerous times she will roll on her back and freeze. We thou...

Dear Mr. Frawley: Today I killed my dog. Abby, our sweet, bicolor GSD, lived with us for six of her eight years. I adopted her from the Humane Society. The worker there later told me Abby had been seized during a raid at a dog fighting ring. They'd tried to use her as a guard dog. They also had bred her continuously and used her pups as bait. It took her two years to learn to wag her tail. She craved attention, and I was her person of choice. Our other GSD, Griffon, d...

Hi Ed and Cindy, I have a question I haven't seen addressed on your website (even though it may very well be there) concerning what to expect from my dog after beginning e-collar corrections. I have a 9 mo old yellow labrador that we purchased at 8 wks of age. He is a really great dog and very smart. I started training basic commands as soon as we got him and he really likes training sessions. He took one obedience class for distractions. (I wish I had spent that $200.00 on ...

My Japanese chin puppy is 11 weeks old. I am trying to teach her to eliminate outside. So far she is doing OK when I am with her as I take her out every 1-2 hours and after her naps. She will go when I am outside with her. At night, we have to go outside once every 2-3 hours as well. Can she hold for more than 1-2 hours at her age as I read several advices that she should be able to? If I leave her in the crate for more than 2 hours, she will eliminate in the crate. I left her in the garage i...

Can I add drive to my dog?

A situation happened to me and my family a couple of weeks ago that has me puzzled about law enforcement. It started with my wife my, two children, and myself walking our 2 GSDs. We live in a small town and about 1 block from our house our neighbors 2 labs rushed us. They were both snarling with their hair raised up on their backs. We were on a public sidewalk and I grabbed my kids and put them behind myself and my big male GSD. My male did not growl or snarl and the hair never did raise ...

Dear Ed & Cindy, Today I went to choose the puppy we want out of a litter that I put a deposit on (GSDs). The website was detailed, reviews and references were all good. After my visit, I am not sure about them. 1) They live in a trailer in the middle of nowhere with the dogs in outside kennels (We live in SC). 2) I asked to go see the puppies and she said she would bring them to me because I would upset the moms and other dogs. 3) She said I would have second pick out of a litter of ...

We plan on getting a schnauzer puppy in April. I have received 3 of your DVDs to help prepare myself for house training, etc. the puppy. One breeder told us to get a belly band for the puppy in the house while house training--even in the crate. I haven't seen you mention anything like this. Is this a good idea or something to disregard? Thanks.

Hi Cindy! We are a young couple who will be getting a miniature poodle puppy and we are wondering if it is a good idea to let the puppy sleep in our bedroom in his crate for the first couple of nights so that his transition to his new home is easier. Would that be spoiling the puppy and making it want to sleep in our room for ever or would it be easy to move the crate to another area of the house after the puppy has settled in its new environment? If so, do you have any suggestions for th...

Two weeks from now, my 6 week old Dobe, is scheduled for ear cropping. The Doctor who will perform the surgery, is well known for his skill, but following the procedure, they plan to send us home with Rimadyl, for pain control. I know that you do not approve of Rimadyl, so do you have an alternative, or other advice for pain control; if necessary at all! Thank you in advance

Hi Cindy!! Well, Dexter loves his walkeez harness!! I may have to get one or two more in different colors!! :) We just started in nosework--we've had two whole classes! I was wondering what you guys think of using one certain piece of equipment just for nosework (say a particular collar or harness) that tells the dog "when you wear this you are working." I've heard guide dog and tracking people say that they only use a particular harness when the dog is working and they get the idea tha...

Hi, I'm trying to find a answer to my GD that has decreased his like in eating raw. He is going to be 3 years old in June. I got him when he was 4 months old as a rescue. He had demodex mange and was yellow from all the mess they had him on trying to treat the mange and his GI problems. I put him on raw and has been doing great ever since. He was never a big chicken eater. I went through the necks, back, thighs, leg quarters stage. That is he would eat it for a while, then not like it a...

Ed and Cindy, My wife and I got our first GSD 4 1/2 years ago (I got her BH last year and I've done some SHZ with a local club) and we are in love with the breed and will forever have a GSD. She is 4 1/2, our only pet, high drive and very obedient that primarily stays outside but a huge part of the family! We've trained her to be very calm in the house and has her "place" as you call it (dog mat) in the house where we allow her to come in the evenings, but she isn't allowed anywhere else i...

Hello, I have a question regarding a 15-week-old female working line GSD. We are currently working on engagement on a leash, distraction-free. Although there is a slight glimmer of progress, shes got a ways to go concerning behavior on the leash, in public places. Next week she goes into Vet for her puppy shots. The last vet visit two weeks ago didn't go so well. She barked excessively at the receptionist as she kneeled to pet her. (let's see, the comment I got was, " what do your German ...

Hi Cindy, We have a GSD puppy, now 15 weeks, got her at 8 weeks. We bought an expen from you, and the video by Ed on raising puppies. We had a previous GSD male who we lost to a brain tumor at age 8 last year. However, we got him at 4 months so did not experience some of the challenges with a younger puppy. 1. She gets quite aggressive late in the afternoon, about 4 pm, and is all over my wife when they go out for potty, etc. she bites, grabs legs with both paws, etc. Dinner is about 5p...

Not sure If I should call it defiance, but my 5 month old Malinois puppy has gotten defiant and bit and growled at me when I tried to correct him with a verbal "nope" command when I went to pick up a bag of trash. Typically the "nope" command works well. He started to drag a bag of trash that was sitting inside the fence that I was about to take out. I think he may have just gotten amped up into thinking it was a game of play because it seemed like he thought it was more of a fun game like tu...

Hi Cindy, I looked through the barking Q/A and didn't find anything on young pups - 12 weeks. Initially, regardless of how often I would take him out, my dog would poo while in the crate as he caught on that it would get him out. After isolating him for 24 hours and only taking him out for potty breaks, he figured out to poo outside with lots of praise and fun accompanying. I brought him back out into the living room to be part of the pack and he has been fine about this since. Recently...