Most Popular Q&As

Hi, I have two German Line dogs, one a Tom Vant Leefdaalhof grandson and one with Fero Hemmelreich, Troll and Xato Nachbarschaft and others. Because I made many errors before getting your videos and attending a Flinks seminar, I am hoping you might have a suggestion on refocusing my dog's prey drive to the sleeve. When they attended the Flinks seminar at eight months and 13 weeks Flinks said the Leefdaalhof grandson was a great, great puppy and could it was up to me how far I took hi...

I have purchased your puppy tug, bamboo whip, first steps in bite training video, and now your soft sleeve. I have an 11 month old English Bull dog. He weighs 80lbs. My question is this. Even though he is extremely aggressive towards the tug and the sleeve, I can't seem to get him to bite with a full mouth. He constantly tries to bite with just the front part of his mouth. Is he still too young? His mouth seems to be big enough to handle it. Any suggestions on how to make him grab ...

Hi Cindy, I have read your information regarding dog muzzles. I am confused whether I would like to purchase the plastic one or fabric for my Lhasa Apso, Rocco. Rocco is my 6-year old dog, 17 lbs, and he does not allow me to touch and treat his infected ear. He is so smart that he runs when he hears the word "ears" and growls at me. He is quite aggressive when it comes to touching his face or ears. He also hates taking a bath, so I just have a groomer give him a bath, which is...

Hi Cindy- I have a 5 month old dog who eats just about everything that comes in it's path-- mulch, insects, stones etc. I have taken him to a doggie day care one day a week to get him used to it in preparation for boarding there the last week in May for our vacation. When he comes home he has diarrhea for 2 days and stool specimens indicate a parasite that he's getting from drinking standing water. This last time his stool was full of pebbles-- so apparently he's eati...

I have your videos on Pack Structure, Puppy 8 weeks to 8 Months, and Basic Obedience, have read your articles and tried to find this on the discussion board but have been unable to do so. First, I am a former math teacher and have had a lot of experience with teenage boys and a normal amount of experience with dogs. Your training methods for dogs are just what I applied in the classroom. I am retired and spend most of my time with the dogs. My husband is a pack member but he doesn'...

Cindy, We are planning to add to our family. Currently, we have a 3 year old, spayed female GSD who we purchased from the breeder when she was 9 weeks old. Raven is very sweet and 'soft' in temperament ? definitely not an alpha female. With the increase in home foreclosures, loss of jobs, etc., we feel as though it would be more socially responsible to adopt a rescue dog. My question is this: is it a myth that the best pairings are male-female rather than adopting a dog o...

Here is the history. I've had Yorkie's in the past and they are the very sensitive, loyal, and loveable dogs. As a breed, I don't feel they are the most brilliant, but smart enough if you work with them to catch on to basic tasks and potty training. A couple of months ago, I was in a store and overheard a man talking about a breeding kennel that had a little Yorkie that would not breed and they were getting rid of her. I could tell by the way he talked that she needed a home immediately. ...

I have made almost every mistake possible buying a new puppy. Here is my story. I can hardly believe it's 3 a.m. and I've been reading all you have to say! Such a wealth of information! I can see many places that I have gone wrong. First, I didn't buy a Leerburg pup. I can clearly see that was the first mistake! In fact, I got Gatsby (sort of black & cream American) from a fairly respectable breeder... to our dismay we found that she had a heart defect (valve didn't close af...

I have an 11 month old female shepherd named Tasha. I have never owned a dog before and I've been very surprised at how much work she has been the entire time. At this point Tasha is not very trained and is in her adolescent stage. I've gotten very frustrated with her and I'm looking for your advise because I'm at my wits end now. First let me start by saying that I've not taken as much time with her as I'd imagine I should have. I am a mother of two girls and have only so much tim...

Let me start off by saying that I'm glad with the way you handle some of the questions, sometimes you're very blunt and that's needed to make sure even the clueless get it. You seem very knowledgeable in your field. Now to my story. I have a 6 month old GSD male. we got him when he was 8 weeks and did a good job of socializing him with people and other dogs. He would run up the stairs, play in the pond being out house, sit, lay, walk with us off leash on the golf course staying nea...

I'd like to know if you personally would train one of your working dogs with and electric collar. I'm also curious how you feel about them in comparison to traditional correction with prong or slip collars. If e-collars are the most humane, what is all the fuss about? If anything, what don't you like about this type of training, even in the hand of an experienced e-collar training?

We have a gorgeous black and white german shepherd. I suspect it was the runt of the litter, but she's gorgeous. She is neutered and five and a half years old. She's terrified of thunderstorms and fireworks so we have to drug her. However, that's not our major problem. She gets out of the house and we can't get her home unless I drive our van around the block until she gets tired. She has never attacked anyone but we have a new neighbor with small kids that has called the police on us for bei...

I have a Yorkshire Terrier that is VERY hyper. What do you suggest to correct a small dog?

Hi Ed. Thank you for the continually informative web site. I'm currently doing obedience work with my 7 month old GSD female. She's a fast learner and eager to please, so I don't have much trouble with her. I do take her to training, but I've also ordered some of your videos. She passed her 100 yard down, stay & recall test with flying colors to graduate from puppy class. There is only one problem that I'm encountering that has me puzzled. When off lead, like doing the long ...

Hi Cindy, I have a couple of questions I have been thinking about for a while and would appreciate your input. Firstly in regards to marker training - changing commands and relearning old commands. During the training with my dog I have indivertibly made commands which sound very similar and wish to change them, I have used "with me" as the command for my dog to follow me/come with me, and I have used "watch me" as a look command, obviously there is an area for confus...

Dear Mr. Frawley, Hello, I hope this message finds you doing well. I am writing with regard to Kona, a 7 month old female Vizsla my wife and I own. We clearly failed to establish pack structure with her. The situation now is that she she has had trouble with impulse control and often seems unable to calm herself. She also exhibits aggression toward the leash and sometimes her handler when on walks. This behavior is coupled with constant pulling and disregard for the handler. Taking note...

Dear Ed and Cindy, I have most of your DVDs and I just bought training with markers and training with food. I read that they both work very well together. The question I have is, which do I watch first? Is there one that will help make the other one make more sense to me? I think I will watch both before I do anything with them, but I just wanted to know if there is one that goes before the other to help it all make more sense in the whole scheme of it all. My other questions is ab...

Hi, I just ordered the Basic Dog Training DVD. Our Rottweiler pup is 6 months old we have had him since 12 weeks. We just finished group obedience classes. He learned a little and does follow me around the house and obey some commands " when he wants to." However I don't feel we are developing that bond I had with our last Rott. My wife and I were my old dog's world. He never took his eyes off of us. He always knew where we were and he followed us everywhere. I want to develop that...

Dear Cindy, Wow great web site and great information. I have read, watched and learned so much from all of you. Thank You! I have most of your videos in my collection and watch them over and over. Because of your company I felt confident enough to take on the task of training my own Service Dog. In the past I got Service Dogs from a company that trains them but I never felt that they were the dog they could have been. I use an electric wheelchair because of Muscular Dystrophy. I ha...

I have just one other question regarding the raw diet. As I mentioned in my other email to you, my 18 month old mainly likes seeing chicken in her bowl. Sometimes when I put red meat in the bowl she doesn't eat all that much of it whereas when its chicken she eats it all. Because of this I thought I might try HK just to make sure she got all the important stuff to keep her healthy and add the chicken to the HK. Am I right to think like this or is chicken every night o...