Most Popular Q&As

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

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...

Hello, I have a male GSD that has just turned 3 years old last month. He has been worked by me as a Police Dog for the last 1.5 years and has proved himself in all areas of Police work other than actually biting anyone. He has had a number of opportunities to bite both on and off the lead but on each occasion has not taken the bite. He has jumped up and investigated the arm of a feeing criminal and has barked aggressively at an approaching criminal but failed to move forward and bi...

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 have a Australian Shepard/Rottweiler mix dog, he was born without his right eye. I picked up from the pound because the previous owners other dogs were too aggressive towards him. I was married when I got him and my ex-husband was not very nice to him, I never saw him hit Jack but Jack would stay down stairs until I got home. Shortly after my husband left me Jack started nipping at peoples ankles. He would sneak up behind them nip and run with his tail between his legs. When I'm not hom...

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.

Dear Cindy, I have been reading your Q&As about fearful dogs but still need help! My dog suddenly became extremely fearful. I don't know if its a "fearful stage" but he is definitely going through something. (6 mo. old) He has become SO fearful that even walks to go potty are a hassle. He tries to back out of his collar or run away when he sees cars driving by, hears voices, hears a radio, sees a person far away, loud noises. I am trying to just ignore it and trying to reinforce confidence...

I currently use a prong collar with my german shepherd and it was in the back of my mind that these could come apart. I saw your video. I also saw the video on fitting the dominant dog collar. My question is, in using the two together, in case the prong should separate, would you get a dominant collar that was a little larger, since it is being used as a backup and not for correction? Or is there another type of collar that could be used? Thank you, Kathy

We have a two year old dachshund spayed female named Frankie. We rescued her from a dog breeder when she was 5 weeks old. Her mom died suddenly when the puppies were just 2 weeks old and the owners did not care for them properly. The littermates all died but Frankie and her brother. She weighed under a pound when we got her. The owners got tired of feeding the puppies canned food and they were going to put the remaining two puppies to sleep. I heard about this situation and took both of the d...

I have a 6 month black lab that I want to train for Schutzhund and police work. Would you recommend against a second handler for the Schutzhund only? The second handler would be my wife. Would this cause a problem? re-enforce her role in the "pack" order (above the dog)? Is two handlers in Schutzhund a bad idea?

One of the dogs that I have, a German Shepherd/Husky breed named Tera (approx 2 yrs old), is always looking for an opportunity to get loose and take off. I have taken her to obedience school. She does respond, inside and when on a leash, to the command "come." However, when she is off of the leash she takes off. Eventually she does come home. I thought, at first, that it was because she knew there where cats that lived at a neighbor's house, which is true. When she does take off that is u...

Dear Ed, I have a Pit, Shar Pei mix that I rescued who is about three years old who is still intact. My wife wants me to get him neutered because she is afraid that he will urinate (mark) in the house and on the furniture. Would getting him neutered prevent him from marking in the house since he is already in the habit of marking? Kind regards, Frank

First let me thank you for opening our eyes to a whole new way of looking at our dogs, training and leadership. After a lot of work we still have a problem I would like your advice on. We have two Portuguese Water Dog males (10 and 3yo) We have had aggression problems with the young male (Pete)since he was about 1 1/2yo. These include fights with the older dog, aborted attacks while on leash on walks and biting us (mainly my wife). Things are MUCH better after buying and applying y...

Hello, Cindy. I have a 14 months old GSD. He is usually very playful. Loves training and engages fairly well at home. About 6 weeks ago we moved out from our house due to remodeling. His normal routine used to be spending all day next to me while I worked at my desk, play in the evening. Since we moved it changed. At first he was fine with our moving. In couple of weeks he started to get cranky and edgy, even snaped at my son. I corrected him very strongly. By slapping him on his muzzle and p...

Dear Cindy, I feel hopeless. I have a 5 year old Dobe that is completely disengaged in me when we show/match and most of the time when I train if he can help it. I'm willing to do the time to retrain but there is so much information out there, I just don't know where to start. Where would you suggest. I'll try anything. I'm tired of him avoiding me. I know it's due to my stress in the ring partially but no more excuses. If I want to be a great trainer, I need solutions. Thank you so much f...