Most Popular Q&As

Dear Ed: I have purchased your basic dog obedience tape and it is great. However, I still have a couple of questions if you don't mind answering. My GSD (8 months) knows the sit, lay and stay commands as well as the come command (without the sit. Just started working on that). And you were right in your tape that the lay was much harder for her to comply with. However, now when I ask for the sit she will either sit or lay and it is usually lay. Do I need to work on that a...

I have your Basic Dog Obedience Training video which is great and we are SLOWLY proceeding with our mix golden retriever/yellow lab. now 18 months-neutered male. I have to use a leash from house to car and back as I can't trust him not to bolt if he hears a dog, and he usually hears one somewhere. Also I would like to control his barking at dogs when in the car. I've been told a remote training shock collar will work. . He did learn quickly not to try to jump the back fence. Took only 3...

Hi Ed, Having some problems handling my 7 month old and I wonder if you can explain them. 3 things happened today 1. He's almost always on a leash, but sometimes I let him walk along as I'm going to the car or garage. I had him outside with me today for a minute as I went to grab something out of the garage- next thing I knew I heard a lady yell out --- hey!!! She was walking a dog and mine went over to see it. I walked over calmly and then grabbed him by the back of the neck and car...

Dear Cindy, My blue heeler is a challenge as I am a first time dog owner. She's 18 mos and very alpha. I'm getting burnt out trying to figure her out. I'm in a rally class and can't get her motivated. She crawls through the course, but when I play with her alone, she runs like a bullet. She has a lunging problem so I started using a dominant collar. She won't engage with me anymore unless were training at home with toys. When I'm in rally she ignores me and I have to drag h...

Hello Cindy, I have watched the marker training video several times and there's something I'm not grasping. When you are marking something and the dog is getting it 8 out of the 10 times, as you start to add the command, do you hand signal first then try to say it. I see you hand signal on the video when teaching the look. For example training the look, once the dog understands, how would you go about getting the dog to do that with hand signals or saying the look command? I don't ...

Hi Cindy, Ed & Michael, We bought 4 DVDs from Leeburg: The Power of Training Dogs with Markers, The Power of Training Dogs with Food, The Power of Playing Tug with your Dog and Focused Heeling and we found them to be very informative. We have watched the first two DVDs and we have a few questions for you, which we hope you will be able to clarify for us. We use "Yes" to mark the behaviour and "Yes" to release the dog, as per your DVD. We have trained our dogs to do the touch comman...

Hi Cindy, My name is Chris & I would like to gradually switch our 8 & 1/2 year old dogs to this diet. Hobie is a male border collie/shepherd mix & Molly is an Australian Shepherd. Both dogs currently are eating Canidae chicken & rice ( canned) & Molly eats California Naturals lamb & rice kibble as well. About a year ago we added Hill's RX Diet "WD" to Hobie's meals, as he seemed to have recurrent problems with diarrhea ( unless I added loads of rice to his food & I was afrai...

I have purchased a packaged training video from your company and would only trust you folks for advice on hair loss. We have a 4 month old blue APBT that is well on her way in training. We follow everything your vids. say to do and its WORKING out great!!! But, we have a problem with her patches of hair loss around the right eye, chest and front legs and sides. We have tried borax and now Nu Stock. It seemed to be working a little with the Nu Stock. The hair looks like it is growing back ...

Hello Ed: I hope you don?t mind but I need some advice and always enjoy reading your advice. I have a 1-3/4 year old male German Import out of "Negus Holtkamper See." I imported him at 7 months and for the first time, he is exhibiting fear of thunder. I dealt with this for years with a German Short Haired Pointer and it was a living hell. What do you suggest to strengthen his mind to overcome this fear of thunder? I want to nip this in the butt before it become...

My 8 month old Blud Brindle Pitt is in her 1st heat, is there anything I can do to make her more comfortable? She is very nervous and spooked. How long do the heats last?

Dear Cindy and Ed I am writing to give you an update and ask a health related question concerning Taiko Vom Leerburg, CD, SAR (Ron x Ida; 10/30/99), call name "Grace," who will have her ninth birthday in a couple of weeks. I obtained Grace from Leerburg in January of 2000 for the purpose of training her for search and rescue work with Missouri Search and Rescue K-9. http://www.missourisearchandrescue.com/ "Taiko" was chosen because she came from a "T" litter and is Japanese ...

How close is the scent of pseudo drugs to that of narcotics?

My question is how do we cause our k9 to alert with more intense excitement on drugs, he alerts but with a ho-hum attitude. I would like to see him fired up! During his find. I don't mind if he scratches a vehicle, It is ours by then anyway. Sonny, our K9 is very sharp but I would like to see him with more drive on alert. Thank you in advance. Rick Asst. Chief

Hello, I wrote to you a while ago asking permission to use some of your web site info for a term paper for school ( which by the way I got a B on. So, thank you). My reason for writing you today is, I work for the Oneida Police Department in Wisconsin and our K-9 officer is trying to research if there is any K-9 case law with regards to: Property damage that sometimes occurs when a dog "alerts" on a vehicle ..for example..the dog scratches on the exterior of a vehicle and causes sc...

Dear Ed, We got a 4 year old Great Dane/Boxer cross a year ago from a lady who rescued him from the SPCA. She and her 7 year old son had him for about two weeks. She claims the Dane attacked her dog, but we feel it wasn't an attack but probably just some barking, etc. As a result, she felt she had to give up the Dane. We took the Dane from her last year. The first two weeks we had him, he was around two small children in our home, without incident. Since then we have noticed...

Can my dog's remote collar accidently go off from a radio signal other than my transmitter?

Cindy, I recently purchased the E-Collar for Pet Owners video. My plan had been to use an e-collar at about the one-year mark, after achieving a firm foundation in basic obedience. However, when reading the Discussion Forums a user alluded to a difference in the way an e-collar is used for a pet and protection work. I plan on training my dog in protection work and would like to understand what (if any) are the differences in the way an e-collar is used for pet owners as opposed to ...

I possess a 280 Platinum Dogtra Collar. Is there any significant advantage in going in for a more advanced model like the 3500, for instance? I need the collar for a Police service / Protection dog. Thanks.

Dear Cindy I have a 7 month old female GSD which I am trying to train by your excellent videos. Most of the problems I am having with her (biting, jumping) are handler problems. I can still hold her, but soon she will be stronger than I am! I have free range chickens, and since this dog was first acquired at 6 wks, she has been fascinated with the chickens... not to watch, but to CHASE! I keep a 20 ft leash on her, but at times she gets away from me. Recently she chased a ch...

We have a 6 month old spayed female Brittany that we selected (at 10 weeks) from a litter of proven hunters. Bea is a house dog first and will get ample opportunity to bird hunt. Bea has done well in our basic training but is very stubborn at times, occasionally sitting and looking at you when you say 'come' (most of the time she runs to you at full speed) and an insistent desire to nibble or gnaw our hands despite our 'NO BITE' response. Our biggest concern is her apparent fight for domi...