Most Popular Q&As

Ed, I have a question about rewarding dogs on an actual search. I know some handlers who will give a the dog the toy when the dog alerts on a vehicle in a real search. The toy is given at the time of the alert before any drugs have been found. I personally do not do this. I am afraid of rewarding the dog for an alert that might not be right and reinforcing an improper behavior. Part of me says 'trust the dog' and the other part says 'don't reward what you don't know'. In tra...

Dear Ed: I have a huge problem (or it is to me anyway). I have a 3 1/2 year old neutered Chihuahua who is marking my whole house. I assume that marking is different then just peeing in the house. It's not like a puddle in the middle of the room but rather on the corners of everything. I searched your site for an answer and could not find anything on the subject. 3 family members have acquired puppies (and live separate and apart from us) but frequently visit and bring their puppies...

My husband and I have a 5 yr. old Rhodesian Ridgeback that we got at 6 weeks of age. He has been a wonderful pet and friend to us but we are now faced with a difficult decision. For 5 yrs. it has only been the three of us. Both my husband and I have loved and treated Maxwell (the dog) as our child, a person more so than a dog. The only training that Maxwell has received was puppy training, but he has always been very well behaved for my husband and myself, though he definitely has ...

I have a 9 week old black lab male. I've had him for about 17 days. He's being crate trained and has been doing great. I've had several people tell me he's far too young to take out for walks, and that I should wait until he's at least 12 weeks old. And even then, no more than 15 minutes at a time. Do you agree with this?

Dear Ed, I have a 18 mo. old GSD. I'm so attached to him It would just kill me to have to put him down. Before him I had a pair of Dalmatians that lived for 14 yrs. Before that I had a beagle who lived for 9 yrs. All of my dogs were very well behaved dogs. However I didn't do enough research on German-Shepherds before I bought one. The one that I have has been very hyper from the very start, We thought this was cute. He has always been a little crazy. But he is also the most loyal,...

I'm working on building drive and focus with 1 year old German Shepherd. She has trememdous intensity. When we work with the tug toys we are at the stage where she will wait (sit) until I give a release command to try and grab the tug, and she will also out-it when requested. She will also stay seated as I walk away, and come to get it only when released. As I ratchet up intensity (by darting the tug in front of her so she has to work really hard to grab it) there have been one or two times w...

Hi Cindy, I recently boarded my dog at a kennel, and when I picked him up three weeks later, his voice had changed. He would normally greet me with happy, excited barks and roo roo roos. But instead, he greeted me with happy, excited squeaks. The kennel owner told me that he had squeaked that way for her and her husband since the first day. He continues to have a deep bark for strangers, but his happy bark is now a squeak. He also used to be very chatty, especially when he wanted attention...

Can you explain the different types of corrections used in dog training?

Hello Ed, I have started dog training and I am currently mentoring with someone with over 20 years in the business. Today I shadowed him whilst he did a 2nd home visit to a couple with a pitbull mix (PB mix) and a boxer mix, (Bmix) both females. The couple had recently moved in together. The man owns the pitbull mix who was seemed very friendly and wanted to play and the lady owns the bulldog mix who had started to attack the PB mix. The trainer had the lady play with the PB mix (not...

Hi Cindy just a brief question, I?ve read your advice and other peoples on your blog and such and am a little confused on the issue, you and some of the other people say it must be 100% compliance to the COME command, the only thing NEVER mentioned is the type of correction used, (this I find most curious as this is the most important part of it). If I punish or firmly correct my dog when he doesn?t come what motivation is it to come once he has disobeyed it and knows there is a correctio...

I have a 3 year old weim and my neighbors are giving me a hard time about his constant barking when he is in the back yard. Now, I don't really have a problem with his barking. I like a vocal dog. It makes me feel better when I am not at home to have a loud dog that distracts burglaries.. etc. I think it is safer for my family. However, back to the neighbors. I remember the way that we used to stop dogs from chasing cars by throwing a bucket of water out of the car. Would that work for th...

Ed, This may be a stupid question but I am wondering if I can purchase a "trained" dog for my family's protection. I live in a desolate area and worry about my family when I'm gone. I have two nice dogs but they won't even bark when people visit (they are lab and ??? mix). If it weren't for the deer that feed near their underground fence (by the way it works great) and geese that fly in to feed on acorns I don't think you could get a bark from them at all. I love them but travel wi...

Thanks for you wonderful website. I have a question about the dominant collar. My dog is a black Labrador. He is 10 month old. Since 3 months, we have been working with a trainer. Niki, that's his name, is VERY stubborn. It's taken time and hard work to "persuade" him do something. He keeps testing the boundaries every day. One problem we are having is that he pulls us (me and my wife) while walking him on a leash. It's even a bigger problem when he sees a cat/another dog/something he ...

Hi, my name is Michelle. I have a kind of complicated question to ask but I don't have anywhere else to turn to. I've been searching and went through a lot of different dogs trying to find the right dog to be a service dog for me because I have anxiety, depression, social phobia and I black out. For some odd reason most dogs I go around seem to perceive what I have as threatening. So my boyfriend saw this add online for a litter of rescued bottle feed 3 week old puppies and thought maybe me r...

Hi Cindy, Reading your website I see the importance of the dog having defense genetics, I have just received my third Bouvier (4 y.o.male) and am considering personal protection training for him, to protect our home. Do you consider the Bouvier Des Flanders a good breed for this?

I really admire what you do with your dogs. Your a great inspiration to anyone who loves this breed. I have several German shepherds and have decided to breed a litter (all my dogs have passed their health screening; meet the breed standard; have the correct dispossession and drive; and have exceptional bloodlines). My problem is that the two dogs I'm trying to breed are both, in lue of a better term, virgins. My female has been flagging our male for 2 days (days 7 and 8 of her cycle) b...

My wife and I have an 18 week old Bull Mastiff (our last dog was also a BM). We have had him for 8 weeks. We purchased your video on puppies from 8 weeks to 8 months as well as Michael's video on training with food. We also have your Basic Obedience video. All of which are excellent. I have watched and re-watched. Today I ordered Michael's Recall, Tugging and Motivation videos. I read your eBook on marker training and totally agree with the concept and have been trying to apply the principle...

I've had my 7 year old pitt mix since she was 4 weeks old. I took her through obedience classes and she follows commands nicely unless she is excited about visitors. She's never been aggressive towards anyone. The only aggression I've seen is towards other dogs who approach us while walking and towards a friends toy poodle who constantly harassed her. Up until now she's been great with my son who is 16 months. He loves petting and hugging her and I truly thought she liked it as she's a...

Hello, I have a five month old GSD that I got at eight weeks. On walks, if she is not pulling, is allowing her to walk in front going to be a problem in establishing pack structure? I find that once our walk gets headed back she likes to be in front and can be quite polite about it. The walk stops if she pulls. Thank you.

Hello, I was told that if I ask you a question you would answer them to the best of your ability. If I was told incorrect information please accept my apologize. My question is do you have any idea why when I try and put my dogs halter on him to go for walks he freaks out. He is a cocker spaniel and when we try he will run all over the house until we get him cornered and when we do get the harness on him he will try to rub it off. I have checked under his leg for soars and there is none af...