Most Popular Q&As

Mr. Frawley, I just read your suggestions on how to break up a dog fight and found it very informative. My problem is that I would like to know what to do when a big dog (German Shepherd) attacks a small dog (Yorkie Terrier)? My husband was out with our son and our Yorkie, Hoss, when a large German Shepherd jumped over a 7ft wall and attacked our dog. The German Shepherd had just clamped its mouth down on our dogs back and was getting ready to "shake" him, when my husband pr...

Hello, I have a three year old American Pit Bull. He has had Schutzhund training with a trainer in my area. He was a very good trainer but now has retired.My dogs training is not finished and not many people are willing to work this breed in Schutzhund. He is a great dog with solid nervs and has done a lot of bite work. My problem is he will not guard the yard. He loves everyone! I have encouraged him to bark at the door when someond knocks and he does. It seems like the only time ...

I have a 10-month-old Beagle puppy. I got the dog from the SPCA when she was two to three months old. She is a terrific dog, very friendly with all people and other animals. I have trained her and although stubborn she responds very well and listens. My question - I have seen her on three occasions since owning her become somewhat aggressive and always under similar circumstances. Each time it involved her finding some candy or sweets and attempting to eat it. The first time she had a piece o...

Hi, I have watched numerous videos from your website, including the Michael Ellis videos. I'm new to this type of dog training and everything else was perfectly clear to me except the transition phase. Moving from continuous rewarding to a random/variable rewarding schedule when training with food. I'm using the 'yes' marker, because I prefer it over the clicker, but I just want to make sure that when I switch over to a random (and then to variable) reinforcement schedule, will I stil...

Dear Ed, I have 1 year old black lab. I live on farm and she chews on everything...I don't like the idea of having her chained up all the time but every time I come home from work she has brought stuff from the Machine shed out into the yard and absolutely tears stuff to shreds...even when the door is shut she finds things to drag out and chew on...how can I stop her from chewing on everything without chaining her up all day long?

Ed, Training my pup for a patrol dog. Do you recommend when doing the drive exercise that I use the bite command when the dog is chasing the ball and when I reward him for focusing on it? Rick

My husband and I just had to have our 3 yr old English Springer Spaniel put to sleep. This was one of the hardest things that we have ever had to do, but for the safely of our grandchildren and other family members it was necessary. Our dog was purchased at 8 weeks old and was a loved member of our family. As a young puppy he displayed a fear of the dark that we could not comprehend. I have never had a dog that was afraid of the dark. He also would aggressively attack the vacuum cl...

What was your opinion of the German Shepherd that was in Westminster last night (02-13-2001)?

Dear Mr. Frawley, I have a small (29 lb) Border Collie who has nipped several people when she's been off leash, and I obviously have to do something about it. I bought a shock collar for her, but that doesn't work beyond about eight feet. I assume I need a muzzle for her, but I don't know if that's the right way to go, or simply to keep her on a long leash. We have a nylon muzzle that we've tried, but she simply tugs and squirms until it's off. It's kind of like trying to muzzle a porpoise...

I have been reading your web site and everything else that I can find on aggressive dogs. Sassy just turned 2 and is a golden from very good show lines and also according to the breeder from good temperament lines. She has had some food aggression problems in the past that I have worked on with her since we had her. I thought we had it pretty much fixed. I took her to training at 10 weeks old because of this and we have enjoyed it and been in training ever since. She has passed her therap...

I'm pretty much at my wits end. I'm what I would consider an experienced dog person; my age, my life, etc. I have a foster Golden; 6 yr old, SF...she came to me with some serious issues. She is storm phobic, has "separation anxiety", etc. etc. A behaviorist nightmare. If left outside longer than she wishes, she will rip the siding off our house. The timing can be five minutes, or fifty...the trick is figuring out how long is too long...letting her in BEFORE the behavior starts. She h...

How do I get my high food drive GSD puppy to except food reward more gently?

Hello Cindy, I began feeding my dog raw food last April, in large part because of the wonderful information I found on the Leerburg website. The FAQ's are SO helpful and really convinced me it is the right way to feed my dog. So, thank you for all that information! I'm writing to you to ask if you think raw food could have some connection to recurrent giardia. My 17 month old American Bulldog has giardia for the 3rd time in 2 months. The vet prescribes Metronidazole and Panacur, which ...

I have an 11 month old husky puppy and am having an extremely hard time house breaking him. When we go for walks, he will not relieve himself until he gets to our backyard. Even when we take him out in our backyard a lot of times he won't do anything, but once we get into the house a couple minutes later he will pee in our walkway (one of two places that he will pee in the house). He knows he does wrong when it happens because he runs to his crate, no matter how many times we take him out thr...

Hi Ed, What is the difference between a dominant male alpha puppy and a high drive alpha male puppy? Thank You! Jerry

Hello, I got your email address from your website. My husband and I have a 4 year old yellow lab who recently started chewing again. We tried to keep her in a crate when she was a puppy, but when we would come home, the carpet was tore up, webbing and nose bleeding. Fairly painlessly she grew out of it for about 1.5 years. She then about 9 months ago started chewing the dining room furniture while we were away and the baseboards in the house. Bought a plastic crate so she couldn't...

Hi Cindy, Thank you so much for your very quick reply. No, the instructor does not allow prong collars in her class. She likes the gentle leader and feels she has had success with it. Her daughter is training her new dog in this class and she is using a gentle leader on him. I gather this is a personal preference issue among dog folks. But, I am more prone to your thinking. I think we will only have a problem if something excites Dante enough for him to lunge as he did yeste...

I have a 2 year old shih tzu who is can be unpredictably aggressive - she growls, shows teeth and then bites. she weights about 13 pounds. I was wondering whether a muzzle would be appropriate for her and, if so, which one should I use? Esther

I have a 7 month old GSD with loads of prey drive and is also displaying defense drive already. Training is going really well except for one area: Grip! I have inadvertently allowed him to have a chewy grip by throwing a ball for him as a reward during other types of training and allowing him to run back to me carrying the ball to commence a game of tug. During this run back to me he has been mouthing the ball, without me taking much notice and now that I want to do grip training I...

Can you tell us how to housebreak our puppy?