Most Popular Q&As

We breed Coton de Tulear puppies. We have the mother and father. We also have a boy from the first litter. The female is in heat. We were keeping the boy separated but mother and son locked last night. The sire has locked before and after. When the female and sire mate they usually do several times. Is the litter not viable? What do I do???

Hi Ed and Cindy, I read your article on why not to get two puppies. Very informative. Unfortunately I have done this. I got one puppy first, waited until he (male) was 6 months, and then adopted an almost 3 month old puppy (female). They are both maltese/yorkshire terrier mixes. Almost everyone I talked to said this would be a good idea. I was wondering if you had any extra tips as they are not the exact age and not from the same litter or parents. You mentioned in the article to never lea...

Good Morning Cindy, My 2 year old female was bred to my male (1 tie) and she had a false pregnancy. Vet said I could try again she is in good health otherwise. I have been researching the issue and have read conflicting information, some say yes it is safe to try again, others saying false pregnancy will happen again. My female has Leerburg breeding on her 5 generation pedigree stormfront on her 3rd. Have you ever experienced false pregnancy and if you have, have you had success in a secon...

Cindy, I'm interested in purchasing The Power of Playing Tug to help grow my training with my cattle dog. However, he is 7 years old, had been in an accident with his previous owner, and has a somewhat bad hip. I was wondering if playing tug is hard on the joints? Thank you! Ellen

I have a 11 week old GSD that comes from strong working lines. So far he's one of the best puppies I've ever had. Super smart and catches on to everything very fast. I see you have a ton of videos... And I'm interested in purchasing whatever ones I need, but I'm a little confused on where to start. I was thinking your video "Establishing Pack Structure with Your Puppy." I did notice he's a little more "nippy than other puppies I've had." Can you recommend the videos I should start wi...

Hi Cindy, Thank you in advance for your advice. I very much appreciate the help. I have a 4 month old border collie/aussie and I am thinking about purchasing some tugs for her to play with. She loves to chase a long rope and catch the end of it, and she is very quick, but it is hard to get her to out the toy. Would you recommend using the furry fleece tug (she loves furry animal toys), the synthetic puppy tug or the leather puppy tug? Thank you.

My dog got spayed about 3 days ago. While she was being spayed, the vet said that she was in heat and had to get her hernia repaired. She also got her rabies vaccination. Is it normal for her stomach and chest to be swollen up?

Cindy, I have a client who just purchased a super nice male pup from us. They have 25-30 chickens and want to introduce him to the chickens... What would you suggest as the best way to do this? Thanks in advance.

I am referring to Ed's article, What Would I do if Attacked by a Dog? After you pepper-spray a threatening, loose dog from charging at you and your dog, what if its owner denies his dog was unleashed and accuses you of animal cruelty?

I have read your article about introducing dogs and babies and I found it helpful but I still have a question. We have a dog who is about ten years old, Lady. Lady has never shown signs of aggression towards anyone until recently. My son is now 11 months and Lady has suddenly started growling at him almost every time she is around him. When she isn't growling it is like she completely ignores his presence, she even jumped on top of him when getting into the car one day. We don't want to resor...

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Frawley, Firstly I would like to give my thanks for your website. The free articles and videos have been an immense help in training myself and my dog. I was clueless about training dogs, and my dog took full advantage of my weakness in that area. After reading your Q & A sections and your training videos, I immediately set down rules and began to enforce them. I noticed a significant change even after the first day and the improvement since then has been nothing short of...

Cindy, I have read the article about introducing new dogs into the home. At the current time, my girlfriend and I have two adult cats, and an 18 month old male collie. The collie is playful and energetic and not dog aggressive. I am considering getting a male GSD puppy around 8 weeks old to add to the mix. Would you anticipate the same rank structure problems with this age difference between the two dogs, or am I going to have to get a female? Thanks, Jeff

I recently purchased a couple of your training streaming videos (Your Puppy 8 Weeks to 8 Months and Dealing with Dominant & Aggressive Dogs). They are very helpful and we enjoy learning from them, and I'm sure I will be pursuing others over the next several months as we train our little guy. I recently received my new Malinois puppy and he just turned 8 weeks. He is a voracious eater and is guarding his food and growling. At 8 weeks old should this be corrected and if yes what would you re...

I have a pure bred beagle that got an english bulldog pregnant, which belongs to someone else. I would like to have one of the puppies since they are also my beagle's puppies. The owner of the bulldogs has told me that they are going to sell the puppies and will not be giving me one. Do I have any rights to the puppies?

We are working on hold. I like the size of the dumbbell I got from you & it is the hard plastic one. Is the wooden one better for teaching this? And the plastic is better for when she has it down solid. and it’s not possibly clanking against her teeth? It seems harder to grip. Gets slippery. Not that’s it’s an excuse for mouthing it! I just wanna be fair to her and she’s learning. She can when she wants to though.

Hi Cindy! I have a 7 year old female fixed lab mix who is balanced, social, and all around great dog. I also have a 3 year old male hound mix (fixed) who has struggled with reactivity. I am very proud of our training with him - he is now neutral to dogs, people, and other previous triggers and his obedience is very strong. In this training, we did a lot of groundwork to provide structure and leadership in our home. However, infrequently (once a month or so), my younger dog will correct my ...

Hi, We need guidance. Our lab is struggling with leash reactivity (due to frustration), and we are trying to set him up for more successful approaches/greetings with other dogs/people. Off-leash he is much better but those off-leash environments are few and far between where we live. Please recommend a DVD or academy that addresses this topic. Thanks.

I have had my rotty male puppy for 1 week now. He is 9 weeks old. His puppy biting is getting more vigorous and when you try and calm him down he comes back even harder. To me he is showing a lot of prey drive but how do you think I should control this biting. Will most probably do Schutzhund with him. Over the years I have purchased dog tugs, etc from Leerburg which I still have. At night around 6 pm is when he gets out of hand. I redirect which works but then he gets fixated on bare hands a...

Hi Cindy, we have spoken before. We are getting a Malinois puppy probably the first part of March. I am interested in ring sports, mainly mondioring. What characteristics should I look for when being first introduced to this or all puppies? Not all dogs are suited for this type of sport, thus my question.

I have 3 yr old shepherd, in April our 12 year old Belgian Shepherd passed away. Since then our 3 year old has had increased anxiety and is aggressive toward outside people coming into the house (not family). At one point, she did not walk any further than 5 houses away on our block. I have gotten her back into walking. Prior she was great personality, friendly to people coming and going (comfortable in her fur). She has anxiety attacks. Any suggestions would be great. I had 4 prior shepherds...