Most Popular Q&As

Dear Ed, I have a question regarding our German Shepherd. He's 2 years old now and weighs 108 pounds. He wasn't socialized as a puppy, so we are taking him to a trainer because of fear biting and aggression with people in the yard and house (he hadn't been aggressive toward my husband, our children, or myself.) The trainer has been helpful, and we've seen a lot of improvement. The last time we went for a session, she told us that our dog sees my husband as a leader, but doesn't see me as o...

We had a very unfortunate accident happen last Sunday evening. Our neighbor's dog bit my husbands face. I would like to give you a little history first. The dog is a German Shepherd. She is 3 or 4 and has been spade. They have another dog that is younger than she is and is a male. He is part lab, part chow. I should also mention the German Shepherd has been to obedience school. Last November the wife was home alone and asked me to come over to see some new furniture she just...

Hi Cindy: We have a 2.5 year old male Belgian Malinois (neutered), who comes from a line of fairly high drive dogs (several of his siblings were sold for police work). Our dog has had very extensive training. We've purchased many of the Leerburg videos dealing with drive, focus & motivation, conflict, to name a few; we have put him through all the obedience classes from Basic through Advanced, worked privately with a very good trainer, and also with another trainer, a retire...

We currently own a 120 lb 9 month old Boerboel we got in South Africa. Over the last month he has been showing signs of aggression towards children (growling). We just had him neutered this past week to hopefully help eliminate the aggression. We also were looking into obedience training. However, while we were out at the park this weekend our dog bit a 3 year old boy. The attack was completely unprovoked and happened very quickly. Luckily the boy is fine and while the dog did break skin ...

Hello Ed, I've read through all of the Q&A on crate training and didn't see this specifically addressed so my apologies if it is, perhaps you could direct me to where it's already been answered. I'm sure you receive a million questions! We have two dogs a 4-month old Cairn terrier, who is doing VERY well. We've had him almost 4 weeks. We're crate training, and he makes it through the night, goes outside on command, and is just bridging the gap between knowing that he's supp...

Hi Ed, I would like to know what your opinion is on using an e-collar in my situation. My dog is 9 months old and is extremely people aggressive. He hates absolutely everyone but my husband and me. We got this puppy at 4 months of age. He's always been shy and a little strange around people. He got quite sick for a while, and ever since then, he's been very aggressive towards people. He will bark, growl & nip at anyone who even looks at him the wrong way. He's terrified of everyone...

I have a one year old GSD dog that seems to get scared very easy around certain objects and things. As a pup he never showed any signs of fear towards anything but all of a sudden he started getting scared of even coming in the house. As a pup he would always be inside but as he grew I had to make him a outside dog. He also gets scared around large objects. I'm concerned because I did pay a lot of money for this dog from a respectable breeder, at least I think I did. He told me that it is jus...

Dear Mr. Ed, I bought the DVD 'drive and focus' and it works fantastic I have only a small problem, I'm at the focus part and hold the ball above his head for 3 sec. later 5 sec. and so on and he is doing great now I try to keep the ball longer than 5 sec. He tries to jump and I do exactly as shown on the DVD I just lift my arm higher he starts to bark and bark, I think by giving him the ball would only mean to him 'ok, I bark and I get the ball' and not to give him that idea I must stop p...

Hello, I have a 13 month old female GSD and I belong to a local Schutzhund club, recently they started obedience class with the younger dogs. I have your video on Basic Obedience and Building Drive and Focus and many more, my problem is she is distracted in the obedience class by other dogs, at home and alone her drive and focus is great. In your video Basic Obedience you say you don't care for these classes because they are crank and pull, should I discontinue these classes and work more on ...

I have a question concerning your video on building drive and focus. I was watching your video on electronic collar training and it mentions using this video. I was reading about it on your web site and it sounds like it is meant for younger dogs. My dog is almost 2 1/2 yrs. old. I have worked with him since I brought him home as a 7 1/2 wk old pup and he is an amazing family pet. By the way, he's a neutered male Rotty. I've owned Rotty's exclusively for the last 25 years and love ...

Hi, I have a 7 month old German Shepard and I messed up some of his training. I just watched the building drive DVD and realized that it goes against everything I have done so far playing with my dog. His mother was a highly energetic ball nut, and none of the kids would play with her because she would nip at the toy. I could tell the pup had a high prey drive and did not want issues with the kids. I taught him to NEVER touch a toy in my hands and once retrieved, to drop it ...

Hi there, I read through a lot of your Q&A articles, but did not find anything that fit to my situation. I have a 3 yr old black lab that I found at a Lab Rescue organization. He is a wonderful dog and is very smart. He has trained well and is very obedient. When we first got him, he had separation anxiety. We have been working with him on this for about 7 months. He was on a 3 month course of Clomocalm which has seemed to really help along with the training that goes with it. We c...

Hi. We used to foster through our local shelter, and foster failed with the last puppy. Lucy, the new addition , is around 9 months old and spayed. She was brought into the shelter with her litter mates at 14wks, and all were very timid. We worked a lot on obedience and commands, building trust, not rushing her - luckily she's very treat motivated. Lucy gets plenty of exercise everyday - we own a gym, and I work from home, so it's usually play with toys, the other pups, or a long trail walk w...

I have a 4-year-old male large 80-pound dog that I tried to use Pure positive (I know better now) trainers and behavior vet. He has a very high Prey drive and is selectively reactive to certain dogs and people. He was pushed by a intact Samoyed at age 1 yr (he was intact at the time) dog got into his space he attempted to warn the dog to back off and a fight ensued. He has since been highly reactive with select Dogs and some people. He also has an insane high prey drive and has taken both mys...

I learned of Leerburg from a breeder’s website . I spent considerable time reading your material and viewing your content. I’m impressed with your knowledge, expertise, and emphasis on building relationships/engagement with your dog. I'm a 50-year-old interested in becoming a first-time dog owner with no dog training history. Your training courses are appealing. I’m seeking a big dog that has high loyal tendencies. I want to be good for the dog and the dog good for me. With work and...

Hello Cindy I lost a german shepherd to bloat in the past. She was not a well dog and developed chronic issues including heart failure and perianal fistula. I am going to have the undescended testicle removed in my 2 year old german shepherd. We will keep him intact. Should I consider doing a stomach tacking (gastropexy) at the same time? He is on raw diet and we never exercising him for few hours after feeding. Thank you so much,

I have a 9 month old male GSD, he is from German show lines. He has a really nice temperament. But at this age he is fresh, he thinks its fun to jump on me. He rarely did this when he was 5 mos. old. I know he is just playing with me but its annoying. He's very gentle when he puts his feet on me, he jumps back then barks at me. I don't want him to think this is OK to do. I have tried the squirt bottle and the sports drink bottle with water it didn't work so I added a little bit of vinega...

Hello, I just got my puppy at 9.5 weeks, I put her in the expen so I could make dinner but she is crying so much and climbing the walls to try to get out. I don’t want to reward this behavior and want her to see the expen as a good thing. How do I stop this? I gave her toys and food in the pen and put her in when she was napping but she’s still fully freaked out. I had her in there earlier playing with toys and food to familiarize herself with it but I’m not sure how else to acclimate h...

Hi Cindy, I have an 11 yr old male Doberman and a 1 yr old female Malinois/GSD cross (neutered and spayed). Both have received their CGC certificates and get along well together. I would like to add a 3rd dog to the family. I was wondering if the sex of the 3rd dog was significant (which would be better) or whether the potential compatibility was more a related to the personality/temperament of the specific dog? Second question: Are there any recommended ages I should be looking for...

Hello Cindy. I have a Bernese Mountain Dog who is reactive and you have helped me modify this behavior! Thank you. Now she (3 years old) has taken to tearing into packages around the house when left alone when we go out. It used to be about food but now she got into xmas ornaments. What do you suggest? I have done the following courses: Leash reactivity; remote collar training and marker training. Thanks