Most Popular Q&As

Hi Cindy, I have two dogs - west highland terrier and pit-bull-coon hound mix (88 pounds). I use the gentle leader and pretty much it works and one time he got loose I think because my husband didn't attach it right, fortunately it had a second mini leash that connected to his collar and I held on to it. Because of that I always have this fear now and it makes walks torture. The little dog Snowflake, gets Bear more excited by her behavior. He does occasionally try to lunge at the c...

My goal overall is to have a well-rounded dog, as most people. I have seen sport dogs that have obtained titles, and wanted to know realistically, if you have a good sport dog do you not have a "protection dog" as well? I always thought that a protection dog was a dog that basically stays with you or in your vehicle to keep the "bad guys " away. The way I have seen some protection dogs trained here, I would not trust them to come off a leash. I have seen Schutzhund dogs, and Ring dogs bet...

Dear Ed, I received your Basic Obedience tape a couple of days ago and was eager to start training. I had already been to my local obedience classes, so she knows sit and down, but performs only when I have a treat in my hand. She is very soft, so I used an extremely gentle leash correction and she became scared. She froze and put her ears down. I praised her greatly, but when I stopped she tried to run. I stopped and tried again after a few hours with similar results. I ado...

Hello, First I would like to say your site has helped me so much. Also your DVDs are great. I have my little 5 pound yorkie on Embark. She seems to be itching a bit less than she was on kibble. This and her general health was my reason for changing her diet. I feed her embark alone, no supplements. My main question is that she is having three BM's a day, She had less than that on kibble. I thought it would be less than on kibble. Is this normal or is this not the right Honest Kitch...

I had my 6 month old German Shepherd spayed a month ago and she died on the table, before they made an incision. We believe it was the vets fault (we are having them investigated), but my question is when should a female shepherd be spayed? I got another pup from the same breeders and I am terrified. I have switched vets, but they also recommend spaying at 6 months like the other vet. They say it helps prevent some kind of cancer. I want to do what's safe for the pup. I am not going to tr...

Hi, I am contacting you as a last resort before we have our German Shepard, Thor, put to sleep. We purchased Thor at a pet store for $300.00. Thor is 17 months old and a male. Thor's birth date is 9/9/02. We bought Thor at 3 weeks old 11/5/02. We moved from California to Florida December 2003. In California we lived on a fenced acre and Thor was able to run freely at all times and had numerous sheltered areas such as the carport and front and back porch. Thor often laid on t...

Hi Mr. Frawley, I have been watching your DVDs and making some good progress with my fun-loving big labrador (he's 18 months almost). He is now quite good on walks when other dogs are leashed, he is able to control himself well in stores like Pet Smart, etc. But I also love letting him run free on the trails. We have some beautiful trails around here where all the dogs are off leash and the people are friendly, dog-loving types. Everyone gets to know each other, and the dogs kee...

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...

Dear Mr. Frawley, I have an older (humane society dog, do not know his exact age) cross-breed, he is at least eight years old. He is part Husky and possibly GSD. I also have a two year old GS female. I go for walks often, I try to go early in the morning so I do not run across other loose dogs. Mine are ALWAYS on a lead. My dogs have been attacked several times by other dogs running loose. My male (he is neutered) is an Alpha male (or least I thing he is), he was dog aggressive unt...

Hello, I have 2 young basset hound/golden retriever mix dogs, which are brother and sister from the same litter (They will be 2 March 20, 2002), and they have begun fighting with each other. This has been going on for about a week. One is male (BG); one is female (Penny). They have a large lot in which to run. I bought each one a chew toy (a green one and a blue one of identical shape & size) and it seems that the fighting started after that. The male is shorter, looking like a basset houn...

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? ...

Hi Cindy, First off, thanks for all the great information on your web site and videos. I bought both Basic Obedience and Your Puppy 8 weeks to 8 Months and found them very helpful. Looking for some advice about by Doberman puppy. She's 16 weeks old and starting to show "stranger anxiety." If she is in our fenced-in yard off leash, and someone walks by the house, or she spots one of our neighbors, her hair stands up and she barks like mad. Even though she is a puppy, she ...

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...