Most Popular Q&As

Hi Ed, I have a 16-month old Boston Terrier and I bought your basic dog obedience training video. My BT obeys my commands very well when he is off leash at home and on leash on the street. He can stay on the street for 10 min. and the distance between he and I is about 50 feet, but I have a problem when I bring him for a walk and try the off leash work. My BT tried to run away. I trained him with a 20-feet long leash before and reduced the length of the leash to 3 feet and at last ...

We have a wonderful, caring 4 year old male Belgian Sheepdog. I've done obedience training with him professional trainers over time for general commands (heel, with me, etc.). He can be oversensitive to stimulus. He is great with adults and now is dealing with his first exposure to a young infant (our grandson). He is becoming quite protective as he darts at our other dog if he goes near the baby. He even darted toward me while I was shaking a rattle in front of baby's face. He was going...

Dear Cindy, I hope this email finds you well. I am inquiring on the concept of full crate submission. I recently adopted a 3 y.o cattle dog mix this past April. He has come a long way with his training but still has a long way to go. Every morning before class, he gets fed and we go on a 25 minute walk. When we get back, I make breakfast for myself and watch some TV before class. Right before I leave for class he gets put in his crate. Because of this routine, he knows when he will be p...

My 2 y.o. German shepherd female is getting bored when at home alone... even if just for a few minutes. She gets plenty of exercise and eats well. She is a very high drive working dog. Any thoughts on things I can do to curb this undesirable behavior? I have taken video while I'm gone and some of the things she does : she dumps the laundry, chews on a brush, takes a kids permission slip, and chews a couple foam ornaments.

I've watched the DVD on The Power of Playing Tug with Your Dog. I have a 5 month old dog and I use a tug to play with him. He sits, outs, and listens while playing. However, when I tug back and forth for a bit and then let him have the tug, he runs away with the tug, sits and tries to just chew on it. I tried putting a leash on him, and pulling him back, but Michael Ellis in the video was telling the new trainers not to do that. How do I get the dog to bring the tug back once I let him have i...

We have a spayed female shepherd/lab mix named Sandy. We got her from these people at 1 year old, now she is 3. Every since we got our 7 month old husky puppy, Zoe, she has been acting weird. When we first got her, she ran away a lot, but was friendly to dogs. Now she runs away and picks fights. Her last fight we saw. We witnessed her in a yard and the dog that lived there sniffed her for a greeting and then Sandy just started fighting. She came home with a bitten ear and now she is starting ...

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...

I have a year old German Shepherd, and seems to be aggressive towards little kids. I have had him since he was 7 months old. There are no children in the house, just 3 adults. He has not been professionally trained, just basic trained.. like "No," "sit," "shake" etc....He has never showed any aggression towards adults, just kids. He will bark and try to bite kids. I hate locking him in a room while little kids are around. I think it might be the voices of the kids, that he doesn't like. He is...

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...

Dear Ed, I am writing you because you understand police K-9s and I want to know if my fears are ungrounded. I have a 4-1/2-month-old bijon-peke and I live next door to a police officer with a German Shepherd police K-9. He has had the dog 3 years. I have seldom seen the dog because it has been trained not to bark and I don't know when it is out in their yard. However, since we got our first puppy, I've been in our backyard more often than before playing with the puppy and...

I have a dog that panics during lighting storms, to the point you will never get her attention, you can tell by the look in her eye, like a drunk that has blacked out. I put her in a crate, but she has chewed the bars on the door, broken a lot of them off as well, her K-9 teeth are broken, mouth gets blooded from chewing on the inside corners off the create and bars. She digs in the crate as well during the storm, she shakes so bad her teeth rattle like a very cold dog, maybe she is in sh...

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

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...

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...

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 ...