Most Popular Q&As

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. ...

Good Morning, My name is Jim Apgar and I am a patrol sergeant and K9 handler for the Pennridge Regional Police Dept. in southeastern PA (north of Philadelphia) and have been extremely impressed with all the articles authored by you that I have read. I am writing for some advice, if possible, with a problem I am encountering with my current K9 partner. Niko is a four year old Czech import GSD who is cross-trained and so far has been about the best dog you could ask for. He bites lik...

A friend of mine has a 2 year old shepherd that is stuck in prey drive. He bites nice and full but just doesn?t have the fight. He has always been worked in prey, would you suggest trying defense on him and trying to get him more serious? Thank you in advance, Officer Ammerman

I wasn't able to find where you may have addressed this question on your web page, but I may have missed it. Anyway, I'm training a puppy for police work and someone asked me if I had or will sensitize my dog for pepper spray. It got me thinking (yes, this is a dangerous thing) and this makes a lot of sense to me. During the course of my duties I've pepper sprayed many dogs (even a horse one time - it doesn't do anything to them! It was trying to eat my leather duty gear!!) with varying r...

I'm a deputy in a small town in Kansas. Just this last week we found a suspect under a trailer house. The K-9 failed to bark and hold on command on a passive suspect. He recalled on command but made me feel unsure of if I sent him to bite if he would. Any suggestions? I am doing muzzle with Tom at this time. Troy Haskell County S. O.

Mr. Frawley, I have thoroughly enjoyed looking at your web site and reading the articles... I have been selected to our department's K9 unit, and have been a handler for approximately 3 months. I have been given a 3 1/2 year old Malinois that has been KNPV trained and is PH1 titled. My issue is this, our department supplies the food for our dogs, but since I got him approximately 3 months ago, it has been an all out fight to get him to eat. I'm not sure if he is still adjusting or just pic...

Ed, I work for a Sheriff's Office in Utah as a K9 handler and I have great Malinois with plenty of drive. My problem with him is he tends to be handler sensitive and at times I struggle with getting him to range out and search without coming right back. Do you have any books, video, dvd, articles, etc.. that deal with this problem. I looked on your website, but I was unable to find what I was looking for. Thanks, Shawn

I have a four year old GSD. He is a dual purpose police k9 dog. We train every Sunday. When we are working a scene he will not work with multiple or strange people around in the area. Also if you can believe this he seems to be afraid of the dark somewhat. It seems that during times of need he gets performance anxiety. On training days he is quite the opposite and is nearly perfect. Also if this makes a difference, he supposedly has bad hips. I discovered this when he was two years old. H...

Ed, Just ordered your dominant dog collar and orbee ball. Headed off to K-9 school at IL. State Police Academy day after labor day. My dept. gave me a chain link kennel 4' x 12'. Have a dominant Malinois and was wondering if the steel mesh kennel would be better as he is pulling at the chain link on the gate. Also which is better 5' x 15' or 10' by 10'? Your dominant dog video was great! Thanks as always, Eric

Hi Ed Thanks for your great site. I am busy training two dogs for patrol dog and have some questions about the "out" command. I've taught the two dogs according to your dvd, building drive and focus. The dogs will not release the tug until I command them to do so. I have started them on the body bite suit and they bite the arms and do transfers to the legs. I'm going to teach them on the find and bite system. My questions are: When the dogs are on the body bite...

Hello! My name is Court. I am a small county Deputy Sheriff and am attempting to train a K-9 on my own budget and time to reduce start up costs, for a k-9 program to pitch to my Sheriff. I am and have been searching for narcotic scent permiated dog toys to work on scent detection. Do you or you company/business have or know where I can find such an item? If you know of any contacts or leads please let me know. Respectfully, Court

Hi, my name is Tracy. I am a new police K-9 handler. I have a great german shepherd, who is doing an outstanding job in narcotics, tracking and bite work. I have run into a small problem and I really need some help. The only problem I have is that my K-9 will not out the reward (rolled up towel) after a positive alert for narcotics. It has become a real problem. I really need some direction to get him to give up the towel upon command. I don't understand why he will not out when wor...

Hi there, my name is Emma and I'm sorry to be a pest,I have just bought 2 extra large prong collars for my great danes who are approximately 8 months old. The problem is I can not physically remove any more links without hurting my dog but when they have been wearing them a while out walking they slip down. Do you think it's best to swap them for the medium prong collar as my instructor has advised? This size seems to stay put better. Regards, Emma P.S. As I really want t...

I recently purchased the SS Buckle Prong w/ DD collar from your website. Before I ordered, I measured Sadie (a 15 month old Doberman) using instructions from your ebook on proper fit/position for a prong collar. Her neck measured 14 inches. I knew I would have to remove several links to get the correct fit since the collar measures 17 inches. I wanted the buckle collar because I have trouble with arthritis in my thumbs, so pinching the links to attach the collar is sometimes painful. ...

Hello Cindy, We are in the process of ordering a muzzle and I was speaking with the ladies at your office. They suggested I contact you about my question on collars. I have a German Shepherd and have just adopted a Ridgeback Shepherd mix. The German Shepherd is not accepting the new addition and has attacked him several times. She is wearing a cloth muzzle now when they are together, but we are ordering a plastic or wire for her. When she is in the house (which is ...

Hi Cindy, I just read the weekly newsletter published today and related to the Q/A on the guy who's dog whines and whimpers when she sees another dog and I do not allow her to go since I do not allow her to meet and greet other dogs. My dog (14 months old now) does the same thing, but she is very loud and it sounds like someone is trying to kill her. Her lunging at another dog (all of this occurs on sidewalks) has diminished where I implemented your earlier recommendations to me; h...

Hi I lost the prong collar I had for my dog, I believe it was a micro I had ordered from a trainer. She is a chihuahua/rat terrier about 7 lbs and neck is about 9.5" What is the difference other then price on the chrome and stainless steel? And what is the difference in the mm size? Is that the size of the prongs? Sorry to sound clueless. I just want to make sure I order the right one and fast as I am using a back up choker chain and don't like it, she walks much better with the pr...

I was interested in purchasing a couple of your dominant dog collars. I have three akitas, two males and one female, ranging from one-hundred to one-hundred and forty pounds (not fat). I have used metal choke collars for the last eight years of so with good results but of course, they tend to slide down the dog's neck and have to be re-set. In the last six months or so, I found your site and have been very happy with your training methods and products (purchased the leather leash and the ...