Most Popular Q&As

when training my puppy what are some of the best training treats?

My local trainer is requesting I get a 6-foot leather leash. What width of a leash do you recommend for a male Shiba Inu? Thank you!

I am rehabbing a 10 month old Mal. She is doing great but after we go for a serious romp in the forest and she returns to her kennel, she pees and poos in it. We are out many times per day so she has plenty of opportunity to potty in the right spot but she seems to think the kennel is THE spot. How do I undo this?

I have an 8 week old Malinois who I plan on doing IGP with. I introduced a ball today to see his retrieving behavior in a small space with a small throw. He loved the ball but he immediately grabbed it, lay down facing away from me and started chewing it. It looks to me he is very possessive over it (you could see it in the eyes and him facing away). No amount of encouraging would make him move or come near me (I've never taken things away from him only redirected to not encourage guarding). ...

After many months of trying, my 14 lbs terrier mix is not consistently straight on a recall or being called front from heel. Do you have any advice? Thanks!!

I recently installed a doggie door and my german shepherd is afraid of it. I have been using luring to get her to go trough the door only when I'm holding the door up. Any thoughts on how I can get her to start using the door on her own.Thanks

Id like to ask a couple training questions: Can you use the clicker and 'yes' together to mark? ie. Dog's butt hits the ground, you "click", then say "yes" pause and feed? Is this ok? Are there there certain commands where the clicker is better than 'yes'? Can I mix up training during day - start sit, then move on to down, move on to - stand. Mix in 'nose' or 'place'...then go back - all while being different timings of trainings and not confuse the dog? If no, then how long do you stay at...

Can an ex-pen be used successfully with an adult dog that has never been in one? Our GSD rescue 1 1/2 yr-old neutered male loves his Vari-kennel, sleeps in it at night, and goes in to rest. I rarely leave him unattended in the house and never with our other dogs, but would like to be able to use an ex-pen instead of or in addition to the VK if we travel or have guests.

Hi! I have a 10 month old gsd and we have been working on our tug game to eventually incorporate it as an obedience reward. I have purchased the Michael Ellis dvd on the Power of Playing tug with your dog and I am continuing to study it. I am very pleased with the course. The issue I am having with my dog is he won’t bring it back and I have studied the video where Michael demonstrates to tug a few times, let him have it, and encourage him to take even 1 step toward you, mark and play ag...

Hello, I have recently rescued a German Shepherd. He is male and approximately 15 months old. I have had the dog for two months and we are bonding fine and he is responding well to marker training, however, he becomes aggressive when approached during feeding, and this morning he growled at me after being put in his crate. He had not finished his food, (unusual) and crated himself (he usually does this once he finishes his meal). When I went to pet him (while he was in his crate) and invite h...

Greetings, Most of the puppy toys are not made out of burlap, I assume not to associate possible tooth pain with the texture of jute. At what age should a Schutzhund puppy be introduced to burlap? Thank you much for all the great work you do!!!

Hello, my dog has a very high food drive, which has aided us in the obedience training we have been doing as he is very motivated by it, but often, particularly if I am using a high value reward, he tends to ?hand mug? or bite at the hand to get to the food. I have been teaching him by offering the food, saying ?no? and pulling it away repeatedly if he snaps and ultimately feeding him when he is gentle. It?s not been highly effective, though. What do you recommend?

Hi Cindy, FIrst of all, thank you so much for answering my previous question about multiple people in the household and inconsistencies when training a puppy! You were incredibly helpful. I've now purchased 3 of the DVDs from Leerburg (started with "Raising your Puppy" by Michael Ellis) and am now working on Ed's, "Basic Dog Obedience" DVD. Next will be "The Power of Training Dogs with Markers." I'm so appreciative of this material! Ok - so question is, my puppy automatically offer...

Hi Cindy! I'm excited to learn more about engagement! My question is in regards to using food/toys. I understand when first teaching engagement, it is necessary to use food and/or toys, but what do you do afterwards? If you're at an obedience competition trial, you can't use food/toys in the ring. How do you encourage and maintain engagement when you don't have food/toys? Thanks!!!!

Looking for information/article/video on teaching our dog to out an object. We have 3 dogs and 2 are great at releasing the object when given the command out, however our 1 1/2 year old Mal is not so good to be nice. Any help recommendations would be appreciated. Thank you.

I am using dog boots on my Border Collie. How long can I keep then on her without doing damage to her paws?

Have the Educator units held up well for you...? Are they rugged?

Cindy, I have recently purchased the videos "dominant and aggressive dogs" and "e collar training" from your site. I have a 9 month old alpha female Doberman and a 4 year old golden retriever. The Doberman shows handler aggression, aggression towards our golden retriever and toward her bones/toys. I have watched both videos and we have implemented the back to basics approach where we ignore the dog for 2 weeks, keep her on a leash with us in the house at all times, removed all of the toys...

Hello everyone at Leerburg! I feed my 2 1/2 year old doberman female raw (and kibble once in a while, due to limited storage capacity in our little house). The question is: is it OK to only feed the dog once a day, instead of 2 times a day? She is about 80 pounds and I feed her about 2.5-3 pounds of raw. Would it be too hard to digest all at once? I would like to do this to increase motivation during training. She is a crazy bitter and she loves tugging but at times I need to use f...

I have an 8 month old that HAD 1 testicle that never dropped. I do not want to get him neutered. Is there a test we could do to see if he only has 1? If I do not get him fixed after 2 years is it dangerous for problems to arise?