Most Popular Q&As

Ed, I have read your Q&A section but can't seem to find anything related to my situation. I have a 4 1/2 mo GSD puppy (German lined!) who is having a hard time with traveling in the car. He begins drooling heavily before he even gets into the car. We have been trying to take things slow with him by letting him sit beside the car (drool, drool), letting him sit in the seat without the car running (drool, drool), having him in his crate in the car (drool, drool) and even placing bits of hot...

Sir, I'm writing you today on a recommendation from a friend who trains military working dogs. I have a 11 week old female GSD. My wife and I purchased her at 7 weeks. Every night for the last 4 weeks, I have been up with her multiple times at night, trying to keep her quiet. She has food and water, and is outside with an adult female GSD (they get along quite well). Sometimes I'll bring her in and put her in a playpen with bedding (continues to whine). I've been spanking her consi...

Hi Ed, I just bought a 4 month old male American Bulldog. I have been checking out breeders since 1998, this pup came from one of the best performance breeders in this country. I told the breeder I wanted a dog to be a family dog and he was to be trained in personal protection. I bought the pup in late March when he was 10 weeks old, and it took the breeder 2 months to ship the pup to me. When I got the pup he seemed a little nervous, but I knew he needed time to adjust. I spent the fi...

Hate to bug you, but I keep hearing conflicting information on free feeding our pup. Have a 7 month old Pit and he's on Wysong - Growth, the bag says to free feed all puppies, the vet says no. The bag states for his size 50 lbs he should be eating only 2 1/2 cups PER DAY, (for older/nursing/pregnant dogs) but that puppies should free feed. Problem is that this guy LOVES this food and I am putting down 6 cups a day, (according to the bag an 80 lb dog only gets 5 cups per day), 2 cups 3 tim...

Hello ! We live in Finland, in an apartment and we bought a GSD male puppy which is now 3.5 months old, we got him when he was 10 weeks old. This puppy is wonderful, he is very alert has high prey and food drive, he already knows to sit, lay down, come and sit infront of us with an order and stay sitting in his crate until we allow him to come out (when we open the crate), he is a very smart puppy. We use marking training and he obeys the orders very fastly and alertly and I always teach h...

Hi Cindy, I plan on getting a puppy some time in the next 2 to 4 months and have been searching the web for training DVDs and have decided to get some of the ones Leerburg sells. I guess my main question is which ones do you think are appropriate for me? We (me, my girlfriend and currently 20 month old son) are most likely going to adopt a puppy from a local rescue so I'm not sure exactly which breed/mix or what exact age he or she will be, but we'd like a puppy that will be...

Hello Cindy, First, I want to thank you for your time. I have extensive experience with German Shepherds. Soon I will be purchasing an 8 week Doberman Pincher. My first one. In the event this puppy should display any aggressive behavior towards me, I realize this behavior must be addressed within a split second it occurs. Please, explain, briefly, how and what do I do? Second, how do you recommend I address aggressive behavior towards new people during the socialization pro...

Cindy, I've read all of the articles on your site and have viewed the "Your Puppy 8 Weeks to 8 Months" DVD. My puppy has been through groundwork, is crated, and is always on leash. I always make him/wait sit before we go thru doorways BUT... Lately, he has been going wild on me when I take him out to my yard. After he does his outside potty business he will run at me at top speed and bounce off me. Sometimes he will come with mouth open and clamp on my arm (but not hard). ...

Hi, I would like to ask you a question about my dog. I don't know if it is okay with you but I need your experience. I have a dog who is 15 weeks old and I don't know why, but when she eat a lot of protein like hot dog sausage for treat or other treat, my dog have diarrhea few hours later. Do you know why or what can I give for my dog for treat? The vet. don't know why and she's only thinking the dog have fragile intestine. My dog is a female Amstaff. I will appreciate a lo...

I got this puppy in July. He was 3 months when I received him. I work 2 full time jobs therefore,leaving me with little time to train him properly so, I FOUND A TRAINER FOR HIM. HE WAS AWAY FOR THREE WEEKS IN TRAINING. I want to know if that was a good idea. He learned the very basic: sit, stay, down, and recall. The trainer instructed me that I'd need to work with him still. I was under the impression that if I sent him to be trained that this would do it,however the trainer said that my dog...

Hello, I have an 8 week old puppy. I want to get your DVD Basic Dog Obedience - Video # 302, but I am not sure what program to put him on first. I do not want to make the same mistake that most inexperienced owners/trainers make by teaching him too much too soon. At what age do I initiate the crate training to show who the pack leader is? What puppy DVD is right for me? At what age do I initiate your Basic Dog Obedience Training? Finally at what age do I initiate advanced training?...

My 8 month German Shepherd accidentaly fell in my swimming and I had difficult time pulling him out of the pool. Can German Shepherds swimming and I had difficulty time pulling him out of the pool. Can German Shepherds swim naturally or must they be taught to swim. Thank you. Joe

Hi Ed, My wife and I acquired a black lab / beagle mix (Shadow) from the humane society about six months ago. Shadow will turn two next month. We thank you for so much info on your site, and we've purchased the puppy DVD, basic dog obedience, and all of us have been learning a lot. It helps that Shadow is the smartest, most engaged dog I've ever had. His sit / down / sit&down stay / heel, and come have been great. We've even been doing some agility training with h...

Hi Mr. Frawley I was wondering if you could tell me how the pronged collar works? I have been taking my yellow lab to obedience classes as he has an issue, which is another story, and they suggested a pronged collar. I tried one and it works well. He no longer pulls on it. Before my hands were so sore after the class. He is 18 months old. He does all the basic commands, but he has a problem with barking at strangers and lounging at them. So far, no bites, but I have been wo...

Hello Cindy/Ed I have several of you DVD and products and I find them very useful. I have recently bought a one year old female working lines GSD, she is trained in basic obedience and she has started her protection training. She is trained in German commands and I would like to switch her over to the English commands. How do I do that? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Hi, I have a question for you, in January I bought a female German Shepherd, that I wanted to breed, she will be two years old this coming April 22nd. I usaully buy pups and then raise them and give the obiedence training myself as I am raising them. But for some reason or other this one caught my eye, and there seems to be something I believe is special about her. Her father's side isn't any thing magnificent, but on her mother's side she comes from a line, of German imports and s...

Good afternoon! I found an automatic ball launcher for my crazy-ball-drive 14 month old male GSD, but am hesitant to purchase it before I receive expert feedback regarding the safety of using regular size tennis balls. I order the Orbee balls from you guys, preferring the ones on a string because it's easier to throw, and I can use the smaller ball without worrying about him swallowing when he catches them. I have read enough horror stories about tennis balls to be wary of u...

Hi, I have a 4 year old dog who has lived with us for about 2 years now. Due to issues with strangers, other dogs, and anxiety we have found a wonderful trainer and have been actively involved in obedience training for several months. The trainer has also assisted us in making changes in our home to establish pack order. He's made huge gains and we no longer consider rehoming him as we did when he first arrived. My question now is that we need some ideas for "playing." He loves to...

I just finished with the new Tug DVD, which by the way is terrific. I have a 2 year old GSD that I started tugging with and she loves it. The only problem is that she wants to put her paws up on my arms while she is tugging. She puts a lot of force behind it, so it can be quite painful, plus takes some of the fun away from it. How can I correct this? Thanks, Melissa

Hi Cindy, I have received all 5 videos Michael Ellis. Very nice, I enjoyed them very much. Thanks. I have a question, I hope you can give me some advice. My female pup, 6 months old, has crazy ball drive. After watching the video, I tried to train with tugs, as advised by Michael. At first, my female was not so interested, but eventually she started to want to play, though not as high drive as with balls. I always train without leash when playing with ball or tug. ...