Most Popular Q&As

I know you must get many letters so I appreciate you taking the time to read and answer my email. and I am writing to ask your opinion because I am at wit's end with my dog which is part Border Collie and part Australian Sheppard. I picked up the dog when it was 6 weeks old and met the mother, but the father was locked up because they said it would attack strangers (perhaps that should have been a clue - but I did not know it at the time). I trained her by positive reinforcement. The dog,...

Dear Ed, We have a 2 1/2 yr old female Rotti who was attacked a month ago by a female Pit Bull while my husband was walking her - luckily neither my husband or my dog were injured. The dog had gotten away from it's owner. Since then she has shown aggression towards dogs smaller than her and towards small children - but still very friendly to adults. Before the attack she had always been loving and friendly to EVERYONE especially children. She has basic obedience training. Please gi...

Dear Mr. Ed Frawley, I have a question concerning Displaced biting. We live in the middle of 20 fenced acres. Last night a car stopped at our gate about a quarter mile away that can be seen from our house. My seven year old bitch, Lady, became excited and grabbed my 15-year-old neutered submissive Rat Terrier that is half her size. I had two other dogs that joined in when the Rat Terrier was down, perhaps because he squealed. As Lady, who is a German Pinscher bitch, hung on ...

Dear Ed, Thank you for your very informative web site. I started looking for information due to a situation here yesterday. I need some advice. I live alone in rural Oregon. I am 58, female. I am caring for a small nine-year-old Boston Bull Terrier for a friend of mine who is currently unable to take care of him. Next door to me are some people who rent a mobile home, and they have two red dogs chained in the back yard. Last summer, shortly after they moved in, I got very fa...

Hi, My son has a staffy cross, not sure what the cross is, but she is mainly staffy to look at. He had two dogs, the dog that was attached by the staffy was a border collie named Jess, she was 17 years old. Molly, the staffy, is 5 years old. They were alone in the house together, when Molly attacked and so severely injured Jess that she had to be put down. Molly must have thrown and shook her around. The injuries that Jess received were horrific, to her throat, her lung was punctur...

Dear Mr. Frawley! I hope you can help me with a problem I am having - your advise on your web site. to new puppy owners has been excellent and seemed to help others very much. We have an adorable 3-1/2 month old cairn terrier puppy that we got at age 9 weeks old from a wonderful breeder who really took amazing care of her dogs. Our puppy has been doing very well but seems to have a problem with peeing in the kitchen where he is confined during his play time. I am home with h...

Dear Cindy, My Dogo (born May 2009) has a poop problem. I've tried many things but nothing seems to work. 1. After eating between 6-7 in the afternoon, I take her to walk for about half a mile and after that I let her play in the backyard for about 1.5 hours. At that time, her crate is quite big, 1.2m x 1.2 m. In the morning, about 5:45, she pooped in her crate. 2. After that I tried to put her in crate with the door opened. For a few days she didn't poop in the crate...

Hello I am a small Labrador breeder. I just had a litter of 12 pups to a mother with 4 injured nipples (hunting accident). I have been bottle feeding them with your puppy formula recipe. This formula is a lifesaver. They would not eat the powdered formula very well, but they love your recipe and are gaining weight like crazy and full of energy. My only concern is if the recipe has enough iron in it. None of the ingredients contain iron except maybe the egg yolks. Do I need to add s...

Mr. Frawley, I had to get my two cents in after reading all of the email letters and your replies that you have on your site. Our Australian Shepard had her puppies August 7th, 2009 after going to the vet because I was getting worried about Lady. She wasn't due until August 9th. The vet did his exam and did x-rays for me. And we estimated about 6 to 9 puppies. Lady was going through Stage 1 of labor since Wednesday night and easing off then, more Stage 1 of labor Thursday. S...

Hi, I have several of your tapes - they are excellent and I have learned a lot through watching them. I would recommend them to anyone. My question is on the recall. I have read your training articles on the recall and no one has quite the same problem as I have with my 8 month old male 27 kg Malinois. My problem is when I call him or even if he just sees me in the distance he will come at 100 miles per hour as fast - as he can and then doesn't stop in time and slams ...

Could you please give me some in-sight on the term HDD (handler dependent dog) My trainer in agility is throwing this term around and I believe she has the wrong idea on what in really means. I believe a team needs to build confidence in each others and in return that helps a dog not be so dependent on our every move. But she thinks it means that a dog should be able to work with any one and wants us to let some one else take our dog through the course. I'm not so ready to turn my leash over ...

This April, I will be getting a Doberman puppy. I have a Papillion right now who is very well trained and crate trained. The dogs will be separated most of the time, with visitation only when I am present. However, my boyfriend has a Rottweiler/lab, Scout, that comes to visit during his son's visitation. She is a nightmare. She is spoiled, aggressive, unruly, etc. I have taken her down a few notches with basic obedience training and leash work with a prong collar. Over the pa...

I have a almost 3 year old Yorkie/Pekingese mix, he is 10 lbs and his neck is measured at 11 inches snug ( his collars are 12-14 inches to fit with comfort). He pulls on walks every single time and it's worse when he sees a dog or squirrel. We have decided to finally try a prong collar since nothing else works with him. Which prong collar and size do you recommend for him? Thanks, Leticia

I have a 2 yr old male Catahoula that barks a lot at night. However, he is supposed to bark when treeing a coon or baying a hog. If a bark collar is applicable in this situation, how best to use it? David PS: I checked your Tritronics Q&A and did not find a situation like this. Thank you in advance

I have a 6 month old puppy (rescue dog) that is a house dog and I was considering getting her dew claws removed and was wondering what you thought about it. She'll always be a house pet and the only real motivation for removing them is the pain they cause when she jumps up on us. We're in the process of using the front paw pinching technique from your "puppy" video and we're having success but she's a fairly excitable dog. Is there any health reason not to have this done? Thanks, ...

I was introduced to your wonderful site per the Doberlist to which I belong. I own a male Doberman (from very good German lines) who is now 2 years old, (all 40kgs of him). Could you please offer me some advise as he very often attempts to mount my daughter (10 years) as well as most women who come to our home as well as my daughter?s friends, both male and female. This is to my mind an attempt to dominate and I would not favor having him castrated, I am also aware that male...

Hi Ed, We recently adopted a 2-year old female husky mix from a local shelter. Denali displays submissive urination whenever she is verbally corrected (not screamed at). This usually happens with me, and not my wife or older kids. While working on obedience training, any type of correction (verbal or physical with choke collar) causes her to urinate. I praise her consistently and keep her in my company as much as possible to strengthen our bond. I'm planning to purchase your...

Hi Ed, I have helped a friend who has a 5 year old Bichon go through basic obedience. We can do long sit and down stays inside and outside and at shopping malls. The dog also walks well on a leash. The problems she has is that first the dog was not letting anyone in the house. I solved this problem. But he goes nuts when people want to leave to the point of snapping and lunging. I tried to desensitize him with food away from the door, sits and stays away from the door...

I am hoping you can help me. My dog (miniature doberman) is a little older than 1 year old, we have never walked him. He has gone out a few times and has always run away. I would like to start walking him and taking him places on his leash. The problem is that he cowers when we put the leash on him and lays down. Is there something we can do to help him feel more comfortable? Thank You!

Hello, I was just searching your web site. and I was greatly impressed about your knowledge of dogs and your willingness to help people with problems they face with their own dogs. This is exactly why I am writing you. I seem to have a problem with my parents 9 month old purebred female Akita. I am not sure how much knowledge you have of this breed but from what I can tell on your web site, you definitely know more about dogs than I do. Here is the problem: At this moment in...