Most Popular Q&As

Hello Cindy. I really hope you can help us. Less than a week ago, we got a 9-week puppy cockapoo. He is wonderful in many ways, but he really bites when putting into a crate. He also very nippy and saying ouch does not work. Today during playtime outside, when the puppy was on dog run, he started to run around like crazy and growl. Could you please advise me on how to deal with this behavior. I worry for my children. Thank you

Hi Cindy, About a month ago I adopted 10 month old intact male Min Pin. For the past month I have worked on just like trick training for fun and stuff like that to build a positive relationship. He is exceptionally food motivated and catches on to things very quickly. However I'm really struggling with loose lead walking (flat collar). He is very inquisitive and has a ton of energy. I don't have a large yard for him to run prior to working with him. Should I carry him to the park and exerci...

Our German Shepherd pup is 14 weeks old, now, got her at 8 weeks. Bought the Leerburg Come When Called video, and your puppy video, 8 weeks to 1 year. Recently , off leash, mainly outside with distractions and around our horses, puppy is ignoring the come when called command. Suggestion? Too soon for off leash? Goal is a family pet, that comes when called.

I have two dogs that cannot get along: a 9 year old spayed female lab/shepherd mix, and a 5 year old intact female German Shorthair. The German Shorthair was 11 months old when I got her, and when I brought her home, the mix breed attacked her. She responded by attacking the mixed breed, and they have been enemies ever since. It got bloody a couple of times. Currently, the German Shorthair stays outside most of the time, and the mix stays in the house. I run them daily (separately), and when...

Hi Cindy. All is going well with the Dutch Shepard pup thanks to your support. In an early segment of the video you recommended. An ex-pen is recommended. Unfortunately the pup has been able to climb out so it keeps trying. Would you recommend an even higher one (ours is about waist high) or another method for keeping the dog around activity but not always trying to escape. Many Thanks,

My puppy is 10 weeks old and is already engaging really well, even in new places and with small distractions. I plan to continue socializing him by going to new places and doing engagement, with progressively more difficult distractions. He's an Australian labradoodle and obviously doesn't focus as intently as the high drive malinois I've seen but I imagine it continually improves with practice. I'm wondering when I should start luring and shaping behaviors like sit, down, look, etc and in...

Hi again! I have a dog that is 7 years old. I trained him at Petco and he passed the Advanced Canine Good Citizen test 5 years ago. I was never taught how to fade food rewards. He now only really listens to me when I have food rewards and checks out after I reward him. In the Basic Obedience Course, Frawley stated that if I hadn’t moved to a variable and random reward schedule after 2 years of a fixed reward schedule, that I would not be able to fade the rewards. Will I need to use food r...

Hi, Cindy. I know you guys bred GSD for many years. I have your Whelping video and I am watching it again. I am building a kennel and training facility and I would like to ask for your advice. How important is it that the Dam be completely separated from the presence of all other dogs during whelping? What I mean is, can she be in the same structure and within earshot, but totally separated and secured from other dogs or do you still feel this is too stressful for her? It would be...

Hi. I'm trying to choose a tug toy for my 8 month old GSD. He is a tough tugger. I want something strong, yet small enough to stick in my pants pocket to have on me during training. He has a pretty good grip. There are so many to choose from!

Hi Cindy, We have been primarily using prong collars with our pups since early spring. We live in Canada, and a part of Canada that gets extremely cold. One of our dogs is a big powerful guy, who we are working through reactivity with. The prong has been a great tool. I was thinking today that cold metal might not be the best idea in the winter, and I believe a plastic pinch may become fragile in our temperatures as well - probably not good for our e-collar batteries either (ca...

Cindy we got a German Shepherd puppy at the age of 4 weeks we were told he was 8 weeks old back in August of last year every time we correct the puppy he pees on the floor as well as now is chewing up items that does not pertain to his toys what could be the cause of this. I have a feeling it is separation anxiety. He only choose things that have our scent on it. He is now 11 months old will be a year next month on the 26th what can we do to prevent this from continuing any suggestions or ide...

Hi - I have a 1 yr old Brittany and she digs on her bed -most dogs do the scratch n circle and then lay down - but she scratches/digs and doesn't lay down. This is worse when she is overly tired. How do I help her / correct this behavior? Currently if we go to her and hold her paw and calm her she finally relaxes. Thank you

I have a now 4 month old (European) Doberman puppy. We have done a fair bit of crate training, and he sleeps in there at night, and readily jumps in with a treat. He doesn't "hate" the crate - but since day 1 when he came home at 10 weeks old, he HATES being locked up and not being right by you or what interests him. Barking and throwing a fit since the day he came home unless he's flat out exhausted, and sometimes even then. There is plenty of play, exercise, training, enrichment, etc. H...

Dear Cindy, we have 2 dogs (a 5-year old Beagle/GSD mix and a 4-year old Australian SD/Lab/Black retriever mix, both males) which have been exhibiting increasing aggressive behavior issues over the last 3 months. I am not sure how to identify what type of aggression it is (fear, frustration, or simple prey drive) and therefore what type of training/counter conditioning would be the most suitable one. Indeed, I suspected fear aggression. However, I learnt in one of Michael Ellis' videos that ...

Hi, we have an 13 year old terrier who is diabetic and blind. Recently we visited a family member with her. Also living there is a sister who has 2 large rescue dogs, both with bite histories. Their owner trains them daily. They are mostly leashed when outside, except when she is out with them. When we arrived for the visit, both of these dogs were off leash but I didn't see their owner (she was around the corner at her car). The female dog was wearing a cloth muzzle. I walked to the hous...

I am watching your tug videos. Michael Ellis says that letting your dog carry and keep the toy will build possessiveness. Mark Keating seems to say the opposite. I have a 3.5 year old shepherd mix we adopted. He seems mostly motivated to take whatever toy we tug with to keep and chew. If I give him wins, he keeps walking away and when I bring him back, he gradually loses interest. The other day I thought I would try just tugging and outing, never giving the tug to him completely. Now h...

Hello! I'm training my older dog for Mondio, and am wondering about the order of training the send away and the jump pattern with touch pads. I'm not sure if this is mentioned at all in the DVDs, as I do have the Jumps DVD and Send Away DVD, and am still working through watching the Send Away DVD. My dog has a decent understanding of touch pads, but I haven't taught either of these exercises before. Since both use the touch pad as a target, is it better to train one exercise first, then move ...

Hi Cindy, Trying to work on a stay with my 7 month old Australian Shepard. When I get out the long line, my puppy seems to think it’s time for her to go crazy and she starts grabbing the long line and biting it. I have been having no success stopping this behavior and just end the training session. Looking for any advice you might have on how to stop this behavior. I’m starting to think I’m expecting too much to fast with this puppy. I’ve owned golden retrievers in the past a...

I have a 8 month old Plotthound which is trained quite well for a hound breed I think, meaning she can focus well on me when I demand it. I do however rely heavily on treats during dog training - my dog gets all her meals during training. Some "friends" have told me, my dog should work for me even without treats (to which I usually answer, that they should work for their employer without pay), and while I do sometimes demand small "rows" of commands before giving the reward, I still pretty mu...

My 5 year old GSD had a seizure a month ago and was fine but had 3 today. I called our breeder who feels this in environmental since he has never had one before. We are remodeling our bedroom there is drywall dust, old paint. It has been quite a long process since our house is so old. The men working here today were doing some demo and kicked up a lot of old dust from our walls. Could this be the problem? They only lasted about a minute each one and he snapped out of it and was fine. They hap...