Most Popular Q&As

I just read the question on the dog outing the sleeve when the motion stops - I am having the opposite problem where my dog will not out the sleeve after carrying it. I have worked all her foundation with an excellent helper and we have tried almost everything to get her to out on command. He even had a very experience & good handler handle her to see if I was the problem but she did the same thing to him. She has an extremely strong grip and does not want to give the sleeve up. I ...

I have a 12 month old GSD female that I am gearing up for Schutzhund work. I refer to your excellent DVD's for inspiration, especially those by Bernhard Flinks, that I consider to lay the state-of-the-art ground rules for us. My female, aka Chinook, is coming along very nicely except in one area: bite-work. Her tracking is very, very good. Her obedience is as good as I can expect in a 12 month old bitch, but her bite-work is worrying. She goes in very fast, whether on a cushion or...

Mr. Frawley, I wrote to you about my 6 month old Rott. Thanks for your advice. Just finish watching your (Bite Training Puppies). My question now is that I just got the pup when it was already 6 months follow your videos, my pup has no play drive. I tried playing with the sack, but he has no interest in biting the sack. How should I start his play drive with his behavior? He has a lot of avoidance when I try to follow your instructions on the video. What should I do?

Mr. Frawley, The breeder from whom we purchased our dog, suggested we check out your site or contact you about a problem we are encountering with our pup, Jake. I have been a reader of your site and have gotten a lot of wonderful info from it. Background. Jake's dad is from a Czech line. We obtained Jake when he was 11 weeks old. We were unable to make the trip until then and the breeder agreed to keep him for us. When we went to pick him up he seemed a little shy but not mu...

I have just purchased your DVD's on Basic Obedience, Raising a Working Puppy, and Training Focus and Drive. I have previously owned a working line GSD, but had adopted him at 6 months old, well after he had been started in training towards Schutzhund titling. Due to unfortunate personal circumstances, he had to go back to my co-owner and was later placed with a disabled man for personal protection. Therefore, I haven't learned everything I need to know to title my new GSD puppy, who is a ...

Dear Mr. Frawley, I recently purchased and watched your DVDs, Your Puppy 8 Weeks to 8 Months and Establishing Pack Structure with the Family Pet. I also was on your website and read an e-book on socializing puppies. I am left with an unanswered question, which is why I am hoping you will respond to my e-mail. I have a 17 week old female German Shepherd puppy. I purchased her at 8 weeks of age from a breeder in Ohio who also does a lot of work with breeding and training dogs ...

Hello Cindy I have two questions: 1. My nine week old puppy acts like he is scared of walking on the leash. He will walk for about a minute then sit and won't go anymore. He would rather let the chain choke him then come. If I pick him up and walk a few feet and put him down he will again walk for about a minute then do the same thing. He has a lot of energy and I want to drain some by walking but I get no where. When I'm in my back yard and I let go of the leash, he will fo...

Hi, I have a quick question... I really value your advice! I have a 14 week GSD puppy named Leo that I've had since 9 weeks. I'm following all your advice and it's going great. He's very outgoing, LOVES people, very very mouthy, extremely smart... learns QUICK! I take him for walks on busy streets and he's great, ok with trucks, Harleys... random noises. Sometimes when he sees something he doesn't recognize he'll get cautious, but then plug forward bravely to check it out. I'll dro...

When entering the house through the doorway, Should My wife let the dog in first? or the Dog to Follow?... same as walking up and down stairs. Bill and Rita

When I play tug with my 10 month old German Shepherd, she is starting to yelp and whine while holding on to the bite toy. She is pulling stronger than she ever has. Her prey drive is at its highest point also. So I do not know if she is whining because she wants the toy badly or maybe she is in pain. Is this common? Is it a good or bad thing? Sincerely, Sven

Mr. Frawley, Let me start by saying "Great job" on the police tactical deployment and muzzle fighting videos. These were both great, and helped our unit a lot. I am a police K9 handler and trainer in Fl. I am a big fan of your site and your videos. I have been involved in police K9 for 6 years, and have prior Schutzhund experience. I have been handling a very tough german shepherd for the last three years. He has very high drives and is very hard. He was almost washed out of...

Hello Ed, Warm greetings to you all and thank you for your wonderful visual website about the pinch/prong collars! Five weeks ago my husband and I adopted our first dog from a rescue group. She was sentenced to death because she was too fearful while waiting in the shelter. Thanks to Hopes Haven in Salem, Oregon, her life was saved and she is very affectionate toward all people & animals and very submissive. However, we turned out not to be the strongest pack leaders so on the walk...

Afternoon, I have purchased 3 of your DVDs and am very pleased with them. Question I have is the proper fit of the prong collar. I have a 16 month old 90 lb spaded female Shepherd and have been working with her since I got her at 2 months old. My question is that I know the collar is to fit snug behind the ears but to get the collar so it stays up there, it seems like the collar is to tight on her. Its like I can't place my fingers under it. I have the large collar so would that ...

I'm sorry if this question has already been answered somewhere in your vast amount of information. I searched in your articles and on your Q&A, but my eyes are starting to cross from all the reading! I started training Spencer (2-year-old Dobe) with a prong collar about a year and a half ago. It was a life-saver for him because I wanted to wring his neck every day. There are no trainers in our area who will use a prong collar (they all favor the Gentle Leader, which Spencer hates), so had...

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....