Most Popular Q&As

Dear Ed, I recently read your article on hard surface tracking with the Dutch police dogs. Well I thought I would let you know that we at the RAAF security police military working dogs have been working with scent discrimination for quite a while and in the early nineties we decided to get the defense science and technology institute involved to find out exactly what the dogs were tracking and we found out that the dogs could pick up skin rafts (dead skin cells) and not only distinguish th...

First I would like to say how useful your web page has been for me. I wish I would have found it long before I purchased my pup. I currently have a 3 1/2 month old German Shepherd Dog, I bought from a friend of a friend (I know that may have been bad now). She a full blooded all black, and is calm for the most part unless she is at home around the kids, then she just loves to play. I would like to train her in Tracking and Search and Rescue. I have done a lot of research on the topic an...

I have an eight week old GSD puppy that I would like to train as a police service dog. I have tested him according to your procedure and found him to be excellent. The dog has a great prey drive at this point. My question is when, and how, do I begin tracking training with him? I purchased your video on Tracking through Drive for my current police K-9 and found it to work well. Thanks, Scott K-9 Handler

Mr. Frawley, I seem to be having difficulty with my dog not wanting to hold the prey. When I try this with a puppy sleeve or with a tug she still stops playing as soon as there is no movement. I purchased your video on The First Steps of Bite Training; however, I had already created the problem. As puppy, we played retrieve with her constantly. She will hold on the sleeve and pull hard until the sleeve is slipped, as long as the sleeve is moving. She loves it when we challenge her ...

Dear Mr. Frawley My name is George and I e-mail you from Greece. I work as a decoy for more than two years and I met a problem with a soft temperament GSD I started to train her on tugs, sleeve, jan biere, and body bite suit (only a few bites). I have to admit that I even pushed her a little inside her home yard in order to give me a more defensive bark but the things became worse than before. This dog is over socialized handler addicted. Now I work her in spooky mode with me cover...

I am a novice canine handler from a mid-sized police service in Ontario, Canada. I was interested in introducing my dog to muzzle fighting to help increase his fight drive as this was somewhat lacking. I purchased a muzzle, read several training articles, and purchased your training video on muzzle fighting. The introduction period to the muzzle went fine and I began the work in a circle with other canine unit from the area. His initial hits were fairly good, high and more or less in the righ...

Dear Mr. Frawley, I was wondering if you "believe in" the z PS line of a dogs as one of the better line of police service dogs to select in choosing a patrol dog. Additionally, though I understand that all dogs mature differently, is it unrealistic to receive a police prospect at 6 months and expect him to be operational at 11 to 13 months??? I ask this specifically because I was just informed that a local (Georgia) agency currently utilizes a 10 month old dog for patrol wor...

I have learned so much viewing your web site and that is why I am seeking advise about kenneling my dog while I am on vacation. I am a police K-9 handler and I have been a team with my partner for a year now. I am taking my first vacation with my family for six days and I am leaving my dog in the care of another police K-9 handler whom I work with and my dog as a lot of positive interaction with. He will be caring for my dog at his house because he will be able to monitor him frequentl...

Our pup is 4 months old. She is almost impossible to walk down the street because she pulls so hard. She also wants to chase cars. Are these things she will get over or do I need to take corrective measures to stop them? I am just concerned with not wanting to make a mistake.

Dear Mr. Ed Frawley: I found your website on the internet, and I was hoping you would be willing to help with some advice or maybe a referral to someone who would be able to help us. I am sorry to say that we are having a problem with our Jack Russell Terriers. We have a 5 month old male Jack Russell Terrier who we bought from a friend who bought him from a pet store called "Just Puppies." We have had our male dog for about 1.5 months. My husband bought me a 12 week o...

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, My name is Gail and I purchased 'Establishing Pack Structure' from you recently. It was very helpful and I enjoyed it a lot. I purchased the video to help be more prepared for a puppy I had purchased online. The puppy arrived Friday night and he seemed way too small to me. He weighs 8.7 pounds at 2 months. One web site. with a growth chart on German shepherds suggests a puppy should be on average and approximately 19.9 pounds at 2 months. This is a HUGE difference. ...

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...

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?...