Most Popular Q&As

I have a question regarding my three and half year old Belgian Malinois. I got her when she was about two and a half years old wandering the streets. When I first brought her home over a year ago, she would urinate in my kids' bedrooms and my closet. I assumed house breaking issues so I purchased your eBook on housebreaking and followed the steps there several times, always having to start over. I recently got married and that has made the problem worse. My wife found that she had urinated ...

Can a dog get a blockage from raw legs? Someone I know has fed raw for years and her 10 year old male just got sick and died. Vet said it was a bowel blockage? I started feeding this way and now am concerned.

Hi Ed, I just ordered a dominant dog collar and a 3 series DVD that you had recommended in one of your Q&As. My question is, my husband doesn't like to have a huge crate hanging around in our house, is it possible to substitute the crate for a 6 ft lead tied either in the dining room or our bed post, to follow your instruction on establishing pack leadership in our house. The only other option is to have the crate in our daughter's bedroom. I want to start from scratch, even though w...

We have an 8 month old Golden Retriever that is training with a prong collar. We are happy with the training results, but hate the dark ring and the broken hair that results from this collar. I have been on your site and wanted to know if you think the curogan collar might be the answer for us. Thank you.

We have a 18 month old gsd that we have had since a pup. She has had training in puppy preschool and basic obedience since she was 5 month old. Our trainer follows the styles of Michael Ellis, Robert cabrel and Nino. Lots of movement and play, treats and timed corrections. My gsd struggles to focus when out of the house, at formal training she will not eat or play. Every noise or movement distracts her from focusing on me. At home I can get her to follow instruction, and she looks...

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, Would you please give me some advice? My 13-month GSD would bark like crazy and lunge at the windows from within our van ride at the passing by trucks, people standing at the crosswalk, people riding bikes! We popped her prong collar and told her “leave it” or “quiet” but she couldn’t stop as we saw her hair on her back standing up. It looks like she’s very panicky and scared. But when we took her out of the van and walked her, she’s totally fine with people, animals, ...

Hi Cindy! Thanks so much for all the helpful info you've shared. We have a 2.5-year-old male GSD, Jake, who has always been a major barker when he hears someone outside our house – especially other dogs. We and our trainer have been trying to train him out of it and thought we were seeing progress up until recently. He developed a scary habit where upon hearing someone outside, he not only barks but quickly goes after our other dog (a 3-year-old malinois) as if she were the threat, even...

Hi Cindy, I have an 8month old female Belgian Malinois. When I take her out of her crate to go outside, as I go to put on her harness or lead she jumps around and sometimes mouths my hands. I would like your advice on how to best handle this situation and if I need to put a slip collar on before she gets out of her crate? Thank you in advance :)

Hello! I love your videos and guidance. I do have a question though. My 14 week old Boston Terrier puppy ONLY jumps on my two year old nephew, and in her excitement, she scratches. It is hard to train her out of this because we see my nephew only every few weeks. I know we don’t use positive punishments, but in the moment she’s jumping, what can I do? I don’t want to put her on a leash and pull the leash and make her leash shy (we rarely use the leash and so she doesn’t have enough po...

First of all, I want to express how thankful and grateful I am with the content that I've purchased. It really improved my game and the bond with my dog. I have a question about luring; my dog keeps licking my hand extensively while luring him (trying to get the reward, or at least taste it, I think). How can I stop this behaviour without damaging the lure work? I would like my dog to just touch my hand with its nose during the lure without licking my hand. Many thanks in advance.

Hi Cindy, I don't mean to keep bothering you but I am having some problem with my pup. 1) I use a comfort flex collar and British slip lead at night when I take him to the bathroom. He pulls so hard on the leash that he chokes himself, I can't get him to stop pulling. He's 11 weeks should I use a pinch collar now or wait? This dog is very head strong and determined to go and get whatever wants. 2) I have problems with him peeing in his pen. He's great at night and no issues in the...

I am now working through the Michael Ellis puppy development courses but I would like to know where I can learn more specifically on socialization with other dogs. We are taking our puppy out for walks and a lot of dogs on leashes seem aggressive. He is supposed to meet other dogs but I don’t trust them. Is there a course on how to safely introduce him to other dogs and how to deal with neighbors who want their dogs to say hi to my puppy? I want him to socialize with dogs but I also don’t...

We just started putting our our 8 1/2 week GSD in the ex pen under supervision with toys and Kong to work on. Both times he eliminated (pee and poop one of the times) right on front of us and without asking to get out. We had taken him out to potty right before. Also we made the ex pen smaller by folding some of the slats, hoping to avoid this. Is it making him anxious, or is he too young or too small to expect potty success? Not sure why he would go in a fairly small place when he had just b...

Hi Cindy. I hope this question makes sense. I am looking for a little guidance on how to use what I've learned in Michael Ellis's e-collar course. I think I understand his process of introducing it: verbal command, followed by stim + leash pressure, escape upon compliance. However, I haven't really used leash pressure to teach any of the behaviors ME suggests using leash + e-collar for: foot targets, down, back. We taught those with luring and shaping only. I do use a prong and leash pressure...

Hi. Watching Power of Food. Watching Michael luring to a stand and then sit. I understand the lure and reward, but I don't hear him say sit, just the motions. Am I missing something or not hearing it? Thanks.

This is a follow up question to using a tug for reward. To this point, my 1 year old lab engages well, takes the tug on command and enthusiastically plays and outs well. The problem I'm having is the return. As long as she is on a long lead, she never bales but her returns are unenthusiastic. She will also try to play keep away or stand in place and shake the tug or drop it a few feet away from me. I tried to shape with food but the moment she realizes I have food she drops the tug. I have...

Hi Cindy, We have recently acquired a GSD girl who is 12 weeks old. She is a good girl and learning but becomes very excited and wants to play when my daughter brings her 8 month old spayed female dachshund over to visit. She also wants to play, but the GSD stands much higher than her and mouths her. I have kept her leashed and don't allow her to continue the behavior, but the dachshund bears her teeth. We want them to eventually become friends, just after some advice. We also have an olde...

I live in Maine and have a 22' x 32' indoor kennel building with concrete floor and walls. There are 12 individual kennels inside. The building is heated and has floor drains. I have found in the winter, I get lots of moisture build up inside. I'm wondering if you have experienced similar problems and how you have dealt with the excessive moisture.

I'm being considered as a new patrol K9 handler with my agency. I've never worked K9 but I do have a 7 year old retired K9 at home as a family pet. When I got him he was very anti-social and wouldn't let anybody get close to me. Now through extensive training he's adapted very well as a family dog and is great with my wife. One major issue with him is that he displays his type- A personality towards other dogs in an aggressive manner. My fear is that if I am to start working a new K9 dog, ...