Most Popular Q&As

Hi, Our un-neutered 2-year old female GSD is extremely aggressive toward other dogs. Thankfully she is not aggressive towards humans at all. It has gotten to the point that we can't allow the kids to walk her for fear of dragging them to attach another neighborhood dog, and yesterday she yanked the leash out of my wife's hand and attacked a dog. In my best estimation, the aggression stems from an abortive attempt to do Schutzhund training with her. Our training director, a ...

I have a problem I hope you can help me with. I have a 7-year old female GSD and a 14 week old male GSD. About 4 weeks ago my 7-year old attacked the pup over a rawhide and broke his jaw. I normally don?t give my animals rawhide, but the pup has a biting/mouthing problem and this helped. (He was taken away from the mother at 3 weeks of age by the breeder with a bad injury and left at an emergency vet. That is where I adopted him). My female showed no signs of bite inhibitors during this i...

Hello I have just found your web-site and am very thankful. My day began with a fight between two of our three dogs and foolishly and incorrectly I tried to separate them (not knowing anything about it until ten minutes ago) and I now have two nasty punctures in my hand for my stupidity. I am very upset and would be so grateful for your help as we are planning to put one of our dogs to sleep tomorrow and maybe you would feel it is not necessary. The dog we are most concerned...

I have a one year old New Guinea Singing Dog, and I'm having problems getting her to go from using her puppy pads to going outside. I have tried to move the pads outside but she still doesn't go on them. The longest, continuous training time that I have tried to house break her was a week. I just need to know if I need more patience, or is there a certain technique I should use. She very domesticated for her breed, she picked up using the pad in about 2 days when she was 8 weeks old. So I ...

I ran across your website and have learned a TON. We have a situation w/ an English Bulldog puppy maybe you could help me out with. Here's the situation: Our bitch had just one puppy. The first two days he fed very energetically. He would stay on the same nipple for up to twenty minutes and was a great little eater. We were thrilled, but a little concerned because after two days he stilled weighed the same as he did at birth (6.5 oz). In the past our puppies started gaining almost immediat...

Hi Ed, Quick question. I have a 18 week pup GSD from Germany and he is always chasing and biting his tail and I'm not sure if this is play or something else going on. I have even switched his food to Fromm Nutritional 4 star food, having read once that this could indicate an animal protein deficiency. I don't know how grain based this food really is, but I'm hoping it's better than the Royal Canine he was on which he was getting yeast in the ear on. What are your thoughts on this? ...

Dear Cindy, It's been a really long time since I have written for your advice, but I find myself needing your help once again. I'm not sure why I never asked for your help before, but I guess better late than never. I have a border collie female who is about 5 years old. We've had her since she was a 7 weeks old. Any how she barks incessantly on and off all day long. We've tried the bark collars, which I really dislike. I've tried exercise, spray bottles and shaker cans. She only d...

I have a 15-month-old male (not neutered yet) English Springer spaniel. This dog has been a sweet lovable member of our family since he was 8 weeks old. He gets a lot of exercise, love and kisses and attention and discipline. The last 3 days or so, we notice his intense need to get at the many squirrels in our yard, so much so that he has dug under the yard and escaped chasing the Squirrels down the street. He has done this several times in the last days or so. He doesn't seem interested ...

Hi, I hope you can answer this question for me. A little background about the situation.... I have a 4 and half year old pit/boxer/shepard neutared male (his name is Spencer). In the last month I left my abusive husband and have moved in with my parents (he never hurt Spencer). My parents have two chihuahuas. My dog and the chichis have met before and have gotten along fine, my dog and the chichis have never been left alone together. Also, my dog has been around cats and I ha...

My pitt bull is 6 years old, we got him right before my daughter was born, he was raised along side her. He has been an amazing family dog, never ever has shown signs of aggression towards us in any way. But for everyone else, he hates everyone, he wants to kill. and I mean KILL. We can't even take him for walks anymore because now he wants to kill everyone/dog we see and also cars??.... Its painful walking this terror on a lead. What do you do with a red zoned dog? We can't have him around a...

We have two dogs that have had issues for a long time. I understand the dominance issues from your article but at this point training won't cure. Our 4lb poodle female was killed by our 15lb peekapoo female. What do I now do about the dog that is living and what kind of future issues do I need to be worried about? It was a distinct relationship that these two dogs had but the peekapoo has nipped at people. I understand the dog that died may very well have caused the problem but do I nee...

Hi Cindy, I love your training principles, eBooks, podcasts and videos. I have encountered a couple of contradictions in the material. Mostly with meeting people and playing with toys. Are the rules less strict for non-working, non-agressive dogs? I'm trying to develop a training plan for a medium family dog (30-40 lbs) and I just want to make sure I'm doing a good job without overdoing it. Thanks Cindy, Matt

Hi, I have a yellow labrador. He is 2 years old and very friendly, but when he sees people, he takes off... Tried the Walmart e-collar and put it to the highest level but that won't stop him at all. So, you have so many e-collars, I don't know the right one for him. Please help... Thanks, Martha

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.

First, I have read your advice for hours and I have purchased a number of your DVDs and equipment. Your site is beyond impressive. In doing all my research on working dogs/pup selection, I felt like I found a solid breeder that had a certain pair whose litter would have the potential I desired. The litter was born in October and I've been investing and preparing for my pup's arrival. Unfortunately, I was just informed by the breeder that the litter as a whole developed a case of diarrhe...

Hi Ed, I have been reading your articles and been searching the discussion forum as well but I was unable to find the answer to a question I have about socialization. I have a GSD puppy arriving in a few weeks and have been watching your Basic Dog Obedience DVD. I have read your article on dog parks and am glad I did. I also read that you do not recommend having your dogs interact with any unfamiliar dogs along with very few people as well (Who Should Pet My Puppy?). Not knowing ve...

I have a one year old GSD. He has been obedience trained and is very obedient. My problem is that he is a little too friendly. I cannot tell you how many times I have walked outside or come out of a convenience store only to see groups of strangers by my fence or around my truck petting my dog. I do not want him to be "mean," but it would be nice if he would not make friends so easily. I know that protection training is the best answer, but I don't have several hundred dollars to spend. Do yo...

I have a three year old male doberman that is a fear biter. Not only that but he has always exhibited crazy behaviors. I love him to death but he is making life difficult. First of all he cries all the time and if he isn't he's barking. He hasn't been properly socialized. I thought that it meant that I didn't socialize him but from reading the different messages on your site I realize that the people we bought him from didn't socialize him. We have always had the crying prob...

I have a 10 month old GSD from a strong Czech and German working lines. She's doing quite well in her bite training. About two months ago my sons got some of those laser lights and started playing with the dog. The dog loved chasing the lights and would jump up and stomp on the light with both feet which everyone thought was funny. This went on for about two weeks and then I put a stop to it because the dog was becoming obsessed looking for the lights constantly. It's been at least two months...

The problem in a nutshell is aggression towards people. I need to decide how to try to handle it, or return the dog to the breeder. About a month ago my wife and I adopted a 2 year old female bouvier. She is the 3rd bouvier we have owned, all from the same breeder, all adopted as adults. This dog was originally in a home with 3 other bouviers, and reportedly had developed aggression towards the other dogs which is why the original owner gave her up. She reportedly had never exhibit...