Most Popular Q&As

Where do I start. Maxx is a Black Cocker Spaniel that I rescued when he was 6 months (now he is 23 months). I rescued him from being put down. Maxx is very aggressive and I don't know what to do. It seems like he doesn't want to be around anyone by me. He is very selfish and doesn't even want anyone or another dog to touch him. Examples: When I put Maxx out to go to the bathroom (he is very Obsessive Compulsive) he always goes to the bathroom in the same place in the yard which is a good ...

Hi Cindy, I have a 4 1/2 year old GSD that I got as a 2 1/2 year old. She absolutely goes nuts over the vacuum cleaner. thought she was afraid of it until I read on the site that her behavior is likely due to prey drive. That makes sense because she has a very strong prey drive as evidenced in play and her interest in chasing squirrels (which she doesn't get to do because she isn't off leash anyplace we might encounter them). Do you have any suggestions on how to train her to know the vacu...

Hi Cindy, Any time my dog gets approached by an off leash dog during our walks, he wants to run away. Whether it's a small poodle or a large dog, my 1.5 year old male German Shepherd with no training always wants to run away from off leash dogs. How can I teach him to hold his ground? It's so embarrassing, and I don't want to hit other dogs.

Hi Cindy, About a year ago we adopted a 1 year old Plott/Sheppard mix. We decided at the time to raw feed and bought an assortment of books. Since we raise our own poultry, chicken was the natural choice for protein. We would grind the chicken along with the bones, and add some carrot or other vegetable, a touch of molasses and a little vinegar. After 2 or 3 months (it was March) on the diet we noticed Zoe shedding a lot. Since she was new to us we weren't sure if the shedding was natural ...

Cindy, I've made great strides with my dog, thanks to your advice. She displays only brief, calm interest or indifference towards the chicken coop and defers to the cats in the home if they growl, hiss, or run away - no chasing, fixating, etc. Thank you! A new issue has cropped up: yesterday she began to guard high value treats from me (bison or beef bones), growling if I approach, and even snapping to deter me. These treats are new, but 1 week ago I could approach or pet her when she wa...

Hi Cindy, I have many of your videos including "playing tug." My 3 1/2 month pup and I are playing tug. This has went along pretty good at first, but now he wants to lay down as we play. To counter this I move the tug toward him and up as to not push the tug back into his mouth. The forward pressure gets him back on his feet, but when I start pulling away from him he will lay back down and try to hold onto the tug. Is this a problem at this stage and if so what should I do. Thank you

Hello, Can I use the pager/vibrate feature on your ecollars as a clicker? Thank you in advance.

I have a 4 year old dog (Buster) who has always showed aggression over food, mainly anyone besides myself and my husband who enters the kitchen when I am in there. I have no problem taking away his food or holding his bowl when he is eating. Last week my friend came over to visit and her girls stayed overnight. I was in the kitchen when one of the girls who is eleven came in, I immediately knew by the look on his face he was going to growl so I said NO!!!! He then jumped at her and...

I have an 11 month old GSD that hasn?t been socialized much. He is a rescue; I got him at about 4 months old and have had him out in public, but he needs obedience training. He is non-reactive to other dogs, cats, children etc. I want to try and train him to be a service dog (I suffer from PTSD) as he appears to have a very good temperament. I purchased the Michael Ellis self study Training with Food. He is too old for the puppy video you have and was wondering is it too late to train him for...

I have a one year old Belgian Malinois that I want to work with for protection training and bite work. I am fairly new to dog training and would like to know which courses and/or DVDs I should watch, and in what order should I take them to develop a good protection dog. Thank you!

We rescued a Black lab about 2 or 3 years old, when we rescued her she was brought in with another female dog. We have introduced her to other dogs and she is very aggressive, always growling, showing her teeth, and this one time went after the dog. She is very dominate and other dogs are scared to death around her. We are not sure of her past or know what has happened, but we need to find out a way to snap this behavior fast. Is there anything you can recommend? we need her to be able to be ...

I learned the "European methods" of working dog training in my early years, and now reading the articles and seeing the videos of your methods of dog training, I need help in how to fix the bond damage caused by them. I had learned from trainers I observed to use the leash end as a whip. If the dog doesn't respond to a command, you issue a "correction" lash to their behind and then repeat the command. I respected these trainers and they had great dogs, and even though I didn't like this metho...

This is mentioned in the tug DVD with Michael Ellis. There is a trainer, Rhonda, I believe, that has a 7 month old female that will not play with her with the tug but engages when she slips on the puppy sleeve... Ed mentions that Rhonda was able to correct this with some hard work.... but it's never revealed what that actually was... I have the same problem that I created out of ignorance (this is my first dog) and I'd like to work on correcting it. Thx

I have an eleven month old German Shepherd female that chews everything imaginable in our yard and now has an obstruction. What kind of muzzle can I get to stop her from chewing?

Hi Cindy, I am interested to hear how you are balancing treats with food keeping Stella's desired weight in mind. I find I am having a very difficult time keeping my Cavalier's weight down. I train with her so I have to balance her meals with training treats. She is down to bare minimum with her kibble (grain free) supplemented with training treats throughout the day and I still have issues with her weight. She is quite the active dog and gets her share of exercise in each day. For tra...

We have a part german shepred part wolf dog. She has started chasing cars or runs right toward them like she is going to hit them and then stops inches from them. She acts like she enjoys doing this. We have tried getting after her, that does not work. Any ideas how to handle this? We have had dogs all our life and never had this happen. Thank You for your time and help. Janell

I have heard that you should NEVER feed your dog chicken bones! One of the foundations of your feeding program is chicken! Aren?t you afraid your dogs will choke or the bones will splinter?

First let me tell you what an inspiration your website has been to me, a new breeder of Australian Labradoodles. I am trying to decide if xraying my bitch at 45 days is safe. If not is there another way to tell if the puppies are there and everything is ok for delivery. Thank you and thank you for your years of experience you share with your site. Cathi

My fiance and I have a dog that is wearing on our patience as he is incredibly destructive and does not deal well with being kenneled. He has actually broken out of two steel kennels. The ones with the thin bars of metal. Now we keep him and our other dog in a room in the basement, and as you can see from the attached photo, he is slowly destroying it, day by day. That is an older picture and since then the damage he has done has tripled. I've heard so many things about muzzles and my main...

We have a police dog in our small town. My question is: Every time the police car drives around the corner of the intersection or is waiting for the red light to change the police dog is barking furiously at cars or people around him. Also we walk our two little dogs. One day the police car was parked across the street from where we were walking and the police dog started barking aggressively. Is this proper behavior in any of the cases? Just curious, Kathy