Most Popular Q&As

I have watched the video on training with food with Michael Ellis. The dogs follow the food with their noses and push into his hand but my 8 mo. old GSD bites and gnaws at my hand when I try to lure him. I have practiced holding the food in the correct way etc. but can't get him to stop biting my hand and instead just follow/be lured by my hand. Any advice? Thanks!

I have a 9 month old Lab that is super excitable and jumps all over anyone when they first come in. Family members, strangers, delivery men, it makes no difference. I've been trying to teach him to do a down stay when I answer the door but he is so hyper! He does pretty well when it's just me at home and we practice this but as soon as the kids come home from school he's all over the place! What do you suggest?

Cindy, hopefully you can help me with a simple question. I have two dogs, brother and sister, they are half American Bulldog and half Bull Mastiff. They are not aggressive towards people at all, as a matter of fact, they have never aggressed on a person. I currently keep them inside a six sided pen inside my house when I go to work. But, I want to start leaving them inside the house alone, but I don't trust them not to chew the furniture/walls once they get bored and figure out that I ...

Hi my name is Lisa and I live in Brooklyn. I have an intense situation that I would like your feedback on. I currently living in a household with a dog that I am fearful of. Let me give you some history. About 9 years ago my then boyfriend (Joe) purchased a male/American pit bull terrier (Gus). For 11 months before he matured I would walk Gus, feed him to help Joe out and even bring Gus up to my house where he socialized with other people. One day my grandmother approached Gus as h...

Hello, We are a British couple living in Thailand and we own a Thai Dog. We've had him since he was 10 weeks old and he is now 9 months old. After reading up on Thai dog breeds we learned that they are a very stubborn breed of dog and fail to acknowledge commands at times. We live on a gated estate where he is free to run around all day with his brothers and sisters but when he sees us leave the estate he tries to follow us down the road. (The entrance to the estate is on a blind corner to...

Hi, I was wondering if you could help me. I'm trying to teach my dog an emergency down from a distance and I'm having a hard time finding this in all your Q&As. So, I was wondering if you had maybe one of your short videos on your website on how to do this or if you could direct me to where to find it in your Q&A. I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks! Chuck

Hello, I am interesting learning tracking with my Wire Haired Pointing Griffon. She is 3. We do obedience work, but I would like to work on some tracking. I see several videos of yours. Can you recommend an order to this? And if there is any supporting material in the books? It seems there is a level 1 tracking but I cannot figure out how to match the video numbers. If you can give me a recommended viewing order based on video titles that would be great. Thanks, John

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.

I have watched Teaching Protection Skills without a Decoy and it is very impressive, but I have a question. Does all that training train into aggression when being an adult? I mean, does the dog learn with the target for personal protection as a threat not just a sleeve overtime? I'm a big fan :)

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...

My dog recently had a litter of pups which are all doing great. My only problem now is that they are turning 4 weeks old this Thursday and we have began weaning and an attempt at house breaking. Up to 3 weeks old they mostly urinated in their whelping box and the dam cleaned up the mess fairly quickly without us noticing. Now that they are teething, getting rougher with the dam and eating puppy mush she has been leaving them to themselves for longer periods. Unfortunately for my wife and I, w...

How long after a bitch gives birth can you breed her again? Is it unhealthy to breed her in her next following heat?? Or should you wait for one heat to go by before breeding again? Thank you for your time!

I am raising Toy and Miniature Aussies and I have a question for you. When do you start figuring the 6 months for the next heat cycle? From the last time the female was bred or after she has had the litter? Like my female was bred in May and she had a litter in July so do I figure from May or July? Thanks for your time. Patty

My 4 month old rottie might have picked up on his feeding schedule. He tends to make a big fuss 1/2 hour before feedings. Is there something I can do to have him wait patiently until feeding? He'll start whining non stop until I come out with his food bowl. Actually, another problem we're having is that anytime he catches the slightest glimpse of me he starts to whine. Last weekend I stepped outside to get something from our outdoor fridge at about 12:30 am. He started whining nons...

Cindy, Thank your for taking the time to answer these questions. I really appreciate it. My Mal is almost seven months and training in tracking and arson are going very well. I now would like to teach her to bark when she finds the Quarry. The Quarry and her play very well at the end but no barking. She will bark at home or in the car and I never correct her. I always acknowledge with a yes then calm her down and tell her that everything is ok. I don't want her to think barking is bad an...

I would like to get a German Shepherd, but I am out of the house for about 12 hours a day five days a week. I would have to leave him locked in a crate until he was fully house broken. What is the maximum amount of time a dog can be left in his crate? Thank you, Mary

Greetings; I have recently purchased a GSD puppy. I'm keeping him at the kennel I bought him from one month ago. He's now 5 months old. He's the alpha male of his litter, and very protective. Whenever any dog comes about 2 meters from us (him and I), he starts barking uncontrollably. I haven't trained him yet, since his breeder considers 6 months being the ideal age to start obedience training. He barks at any dog he doesn't know, big or small. Another breeder told me his barking reflects ...

I just read your article about breaking up a dog fight. I loved it and thought the information was wonderful. I wish I had read it 6 mo. ago. We had 2 sister females, had 2 terrible, terrible fights and finally had to put them both down for being too aggressive. The fight wouldn't have lasted nor been as traumatic to the family had we had your information. Aside from this, I'm hoping that although this has nothing to do with your web page, praying that maybe you can help. I cant find any info...

I am a 40 year old woman who has always had dogs - all kinds of dog. I particularly like dominant dogs in that I want protection (I live alone). My experience has been with Dobermans (females - love that breed). Recently I rescued/adopted an almost 2 year old Giant Schnauzer who was apparently left to his own resources for 20 months. He did not have proper human bonding, was belligerent and arrogant when first here but has come around somewhat. I have worked him daily with obedience; I pr...

I have a Dutch Shepherd and a Malinois that I train for usar and ring sport. Is the Educator ET300 appropriate for them? The picture of the bichon and the '5 lb and up' makes me a bit nervous that this model may not be the right choice. Can it be effectively used on large dogs? Thank you.