Most Popular Q&As

I am not sure when to release the puppy tug or puppy sleeve after my dog counters.

How do you know that a particular pup will make a patrol dog, taking into consideration the dog will have proper training?

Hi Ed,You were right about trying to work prey drive after a dog has had defense work at too young an age is truly hard. (an editors note here : see the article I wrote titled Training Defense Before Prey is STUPID!!!).I also found a local training place that has your philosophy in mind while training dogs. But since I have made so many mistakes with my 4 year old Root I feel that I need to start over with a puppy. This fact was sadly made evident to me today. They invited me to their fac...

I really enjoyed reading your site, & like everyone else, have a few questions. (I hope you don't mind) I had my GSD obedience & protection trained at the Guard Dog Training center, Berkshire Park, NSW Australia, by Fred & Lewana Osmani. When I first approached them Lewana talked to us about dog training, but every question I asked she seemed to cut me off & asked me to buy their video showing what you get. We did & were impressed with what we seen. After 2 weeks (in which they said it wo...

Last week I received a rescued Golden Retriever - age 6-7? Still has a lot of puppy in him. He needs proper training but is a wonderful dog. His name is "Boy." is it too late to change his name in some way? All I know is that he originally came from a pound in GA and the family moved to PA but were told to give him up. Boy is the only name he knows so I understand keeping that but, I think, he deserves something a bit more like him. And yes, he is a boy. Eager to hear your suggestions o...

Dear Mr. Frawley, Recently, I decided that I wanted to learn competition obedience, and had a Schutzhund instructor recommended to me. I took two 4-year-old males that I had taken through several obedience classes. One male is extremely pain sensitive, and I have always been very careful since he would yelp with a light pressure pop on his choke leash. My previous instructor had never taught me to teach my dogs to focus, and I wanted to teach my dogs this skill when heeling....

Cindy, Hello, first of all great info I have received from your newsletters and the question and answer part of the webpage. I have a 10 month old rottweiler that I am training with Michael Ellis methods. I have the 3 DVDs and I have followed them through. I have two questions on them. When I am asking my dog positions, sometimes he makes a mistake or just stares at me, this is usually when I am 2-3 feet away in front of him. Should I correct with an e-collar or a prong collar when he d...

Its hard to add a feeding schedule when I work away from home. Do you think adding it to kibble is a bad idea? I don't have an reservations about feeding the Honest Kitchen with additional meat. However, what meats would you add that would be easy? Also, I have three Great Danes; wouldn't it get quite costly to do the meat add ins? Thanks, Amy

I am a raw feeder for my dogs. I have recently took up raw eating for myself too and have learned if things are dehydrated at higher then 118 degree it begins to kill enzymes and is no longer considered raw. So I am wondering if your raw dehydrated dog food list what temperature it is dehydrated at as I would like to buy some if it is truly raw? Thank you, Robin

Hi Cindy, I have two small yorkshire terriers who have been eating Honest Kitchen for about 18 months. They are doing fantastic. I feed Preference and supplement with meat protein, fish, turkey, etc. The older one (12 years) had continuous tummy upsets (continuously soft stool) for the first 10 years of his life. Since eating Preference we have not had one instance of runny, soft stool. The younger one (2 years) was raised on it from the time he was 12 weeks old. Their coats are beautiful ...

Hi, My husband and I really enjoy watching and reading your various articles on dog training. We currently have two GSD (1 male, 1 female). The female is the newest in the family and the two seem to get along quite well. The question we have is this... the female is very submissive and the male very dominant. We give them their own time to play with us and we also allow them time to play together. The problem (we think) when they play together is that the female just runs after the...

My husband found a small puppy sitting in the middle of the road a few weeks back. The puppy seems to be a pit bull, I don't think he's more than 12 weeks old. This puppy is both blind and deaf. We kept him because I felt if we took him to the shelter no one would want him. We are having a hard time house breaking him and I'm trying to see if there is some way I can do this. We keep him outside during the day, and bring him in at night due to the cold. Do you have any suggestions? He's a ...

Hi Cindy, A couple of months ago, I sent you an email about my 11 yr. old German Shepherd who has arthritis in her hips. I have switched her, as well as the rest of my dogs, to the raw diet and all are doing very well on it. Their excitement at meal time is unreal. Thank you so much for advising the switch. I have a few questions that I couldn't find the answers to on your site. One is a feeding question and the other three are about medications/vaccines. 1. We've ...

Dear Cindy, My dog is only a 6 months old GSD but with drive like I never seen. Her parents were both German imports from working lines. Setting my transmitter at #100, I barely get a reaction... and I mean barely. I made very sure the electrodes make good skin contact. The transmitter only goes up to #128, although I haven?t gone higher yet. Should I consider returning unit for a slightly more powerful unit? Aloha, Capt. Howie

Can you tell me where to buy and how to store my pseudo drugs?

What is your position on this puppy narcotics training program being promoted in Texas by the Texas Police Canine Association?

Hello Ed, I am a out of K9 school for just over 1 year. My dog is a German Shepherd patrol/narc dog. I am having a problem with him alerting, scratching AFTER he locates the narcotics. I am reading him to the point where I know when he locates it. After he locates it, he walks away from it and shows little or no interest in scratching so I do not give him his reward which is a towel. I've heard that putting the towel (reward) in with the find will increase his scratch? What do you think...

My dog, which is now 4 years old, is a lab mix whom we adopted from a shelter. Since she was a puppy (Mattie) she has exhibited signs of weak nerves. We always attributed her aggression toward people as acts based out of fear or lack of trust. She has also exhibited problems wanting to dominate relationships with other dogs and, in doing so, displayed signs of aggression. As far as we were concerned, we had raised and trained our dog very well. She follows all commands with the occ...

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...

Dear Ed, Hello there from Australia and thank you once again for your invaluable advice and information provided through your web site. A while ago you advised me (via email) about training my German Shepherd. Upon purchasing your Basic Dog Obedience video and applying the training techniques within, I am thrilled to report overwhelming improvement in the discipline and relationship with my dog as a direct result of that video. Thank you 1 million times over!!! Zach is just over 2 ...