Most Popular Q&As

Hi Cindy! We rescued a dog about 6 months ago when she was 3 years old. We think she is a Lab/Shepherd/Pit mix? We have no knowledge of her past. She is a great dog, we have done the pack structure ground work process, as well as I am now training her through the Michael Ellis videos. She has been doing amazing and is very engaged with me and I feel we are creating a good bond. My concern is that when we go on walks through town on sidewalks, on a busy street or not, she is so stressed see...

Sir I just recently acquired a great dane dalmatian mix. He is 9 months old and he weighs about 67 pounds. He is a very sweet dog, he likes kids and he adores me. I could do anything to my dog and he wouldn't even bat an eye lash. However, I picked him up from the pound and I believe that he either was abused by a male or he has never been around them. He wags his tail at every kid and female but he starts barking and acts like he wants to bite every guy that walks into the house o...

Hello, I know I write an awful lot but this has been the biggest problem I have ever dealt with. I have had other dogs (old and passed away now) and I have never run into this problem... My GSD pup (13 weeks old) has been peeing and pooping in his crate ALL THE TIME. He is in the crate when I leave my house, and I saw in one of your articles to crate train a dog you should place the dog in the crate a lot until he gets used to it. WELL, my pup will not stop peeing or pooping in his crate....

Brutus, our 2 ? year old male mixed breed dog (he weighs about 30 lbs and looks somewhat like a coonhound) is quickly becoming a problem with his growling and snapping. He is neutered. If he is in bed or resting and someone comes up to pet him he may growl or snap. He has growled at me while I was sleeping with him for moving and or petting him. He is growling at my husband frequently for petting him while he is resting. Last night my husband walked into the bedroom where Brutus was sleep...

Cindy, First let me say I have enjoyed the Leerburg DVDs I have watched and I have learned a lot from them. My problem is something that has just started occurring. I have a 2.5 year old GSD and just this morning when I went to feed him he growled and barked once. He was in his crate and he hadn't eaten since the morning before. He has never shown any signs of aggression over food or anything else. I have been established as pack leader but it felt different this morning. I want to m...

Hi, I just wanted to let you know I read almost all of your site. I was trying like mad to find out what to do after our dog nipped our neighbor. Our dog was a 2 1/2 year old cattle dog. She was a humane society dog and took to us right away. We extensively researched the breed before adopting and were prepared for all possible problems. I'm a decent runner and jogged the dog about 12-15 miles a week. We have a fenced yard and did a stint of organized training. She has never been g...

I have a 13 year old lab called Flossy who is deaf and suffers from separation anxiety at night. She paces the floor and scratches at my bedroom door until I can't stand it any longer and I let her in. I have adopted a 2 year old lab/cockerspanial as companion to Flossy hopeing that this would fix the problem, but unfortunately it hasn't. Please can you help as I am getting very little sleep and it is effecting my health.

I need help with Protection Training! I have briefly reviewed your web site and downloaded your podcasts but I was hoping you could suggest some training or DVD so my new GS will Bark at the door, strangers etc. My previous GS was fabulous and performed all these functions perfectly with little training from myself. Unfortunately he passed away from Cancer this past summer and I am trying to train a new GS. The GS I have now I adopted so I do not know what happened in...

We've enjoyed your Puppy video as well as Basic Obedience 302...and still need a little help with "Come." We live on 5 acres and our 10 month old male GSD is very responsive and obedient while on the leash, whether it's the 6 foot or 20 foot line. But once we take him off the lead and go inside and then outside later to call him in or call him to stop barking, etc., he ignores me. The property is too big to have him drag a line around in case we need to call him, so we let him off once we go ...

Can I purchase an additional strap for my Educator collar so I can switch the receiver between collars to use on a 40 lb. dog or a 100 lb. dog?

Hello, I found your article on how to break up dog fights very very useful. I recently started working in a dog boarding and daycare facility. Some days there are as many as 125 dogs in the yards.?There are multiple yards and we do our best to divide based on temperament but yesterday was my first dog fight. I have lots of experience with big animals (steers, sheep, etc) but none with such sharp teeth. I ended up with a relatively minor bite, two teeth puncture wounds but no tearing. I use...

Hi Cindy, You have always been so helpful in the past. I attribute my dogs wonderful behavior to your DVDs and informative website. I purchased a Dogtra 280 ecollar and have used it training my dog (boxer-chow mix) with recalls since he was 1 year old. He responds well to the collar and marker training and is extremely well behaved. After my dog turned a year old he developed a shyness toward people (mainly men). He warms up after being ignored and approaches on his own terms and eventual...

Hi Cindy, Hope you are well. Just wanted to run 2 questions by you and Michael. 1. Deep Bark - in prey drive? I train Sch and would like to do as much as possible with my young dog in prey drive only. He has fantastic drives and a lovely friendly temper and I would like to keep it that way and continue training in prey drive only. This is why I like Michael's system so much. My only concern is the barking at the blind - at high level competitions it is desired that the dog shows what pe...

Mr. Frawley, I have a 10 week old Rhodesian Ridgeback puppy, who has been crate trained since we brought him home at 8 weeks. We don't take him out when he is crying except at night and when we let him out he goes to the bathroom then he gets put back in the crate. However, he still continues to whine for a half hour or so in the crate when we put him in during the day. Shouldn't this start to get better soon? Thank you for all your time and energy, Matt

What are your thoughts on the Solid Gold WolfCub food? I pick up my puppy on March 20th, and the breeder was pushing that stuff pretty hard. However, I've heard that Solid Gold practically gives the stuff to breeders to get them to recommend it. So, I'd like a second opinion on what I should be feeding the puppy. I asked him about Innova and some other brands, and he said those were good. But, he said he feeds the Wolf Cub to puppies to prevent their bones from outgrowing their joints. ...

Mr. Frawley, I have a question about bite work and the times when a dog may show aggression towards it's owner/handler. I am currently training a Dutch Shepherd in Schutzhund. I have been training for only a year. I have very little experience. I have two very good people teaching me all phases of the sport. One day while I was watching one of these guys do an exercise where they had their dog on a leash while the helper teased the dog. The dog wanted the helper bad, but this was an exerc...

Dear Mr. Frawley, You have been helping me previously so I dare to ask for your time again: My now 4 year old GSD, Harry, is very high prey orientated. My previous question was how to slow him down on a sport track. I followed your advise and those problems are gone. Thank you. I have never used food on the track, Harry is not fond of food, he'll leave his bowl for his ball only too willingly. He has done so many tracks, I train him since he was a pup. I did IPO, Int....

Hello, My partner is a 1 year old Blood Hound used for tracking. My dept. is just getting started with the K-9. I am just trying to find out any info on if you have to mark your K-9 vehicle with police K-9 or any type of warnings? just wondering if you can help. Thanks, S. B

Is there a thing as a "fear period" that puppies go through or is it just a way to justify weak nerve? A six-month-old pup that has always been friendly and inquisitive all of a sudden-without any bad experiences becomes hesitant about meeting people. He still is inquisitive with things, but hesitates when meeting new people. Once he has met them and accepted them he is his old friendly self. Karen

Hello Ed. When is the most appropriate time to start Training a golden retriever basic commands? I have read a lot of your articles on training and don't want to do any damage to her personality. We have been working on getting her to walk beside us during short walks around the block but we were told to invest in a choke collar to get her to stop pulling on the lease. She she is now 16 weeks is it to early for all of this? Thanks in advance. Lisa