Most Popular Q&As

I have a 3-month-old, 30 pound Doberman with whom we have used a harness and 6 foot drag line except when he is in his crate sleeping for the night (he also has a pen for daytime use when we are not directly training or playing with him). Over the past 10 days, have noticed that he will pull hard against the 6-foot line when I'm with him outdoors (as well as jump on my legs and try to bite) but not when I'm using the 20 foot drag line. Wonder if the amount of pressure exerted by the line ma...

15 months, Aussie, intact male. Hard Natured, stoic but sensitive. training since 9 weeks. In our training my dog no longer is as interested or driven to work with anyone, he still has a desire and seeks things to do but has no interest in the training and his body language is flat. I get some motivation but he will disengage and seems to act begrudgingly. I included more game-based but still seems bored. Trained with +reinforcement and limited corrections, herding weekly, trick and ...

Hi Cindy, I was very excited to start whistle recall training with my dog. I ordered an ACME dog whistle. I brought out high-value hot dogs and had the hot dogs in hand. Blew the whistle, and the dog tucked his tail under and ran away. I've never seen him so scared. Nothing would help bring him close to me, not even the hotdogs. It took a good 30 minutes before he would even be in the same room. I think I'll be returning the whistle as I feel it's damaging the trust I've worked so hard to ...

I have a pointer and when I walk her I can't let her off the leash in the woods. She becomes focused on smells in the bushes and not respond to commands. I know that her instinct is to hunt and she is so focused on the smells around her. We recently adopted her and she is 8 years old, so we don't know how much training she has had. She is very good with recall at home in the yard, except a couple of times when she wandered away and went to the woods which are across the street. She didn'...

My pup is now 10 months old (per DNA testing, 76% German Sheperd and 24% Belgian Malinois, adopted from a shelter at age 3 months). She has always had a great food drive. Her toy drive has kicked into high gear recently and her food drive and appetite has dropped off. Sadly, no vet near me has any experience with working dogs. She's not losing weight (just hit 63 pounds) and I don't want to bring up the issue with the vet for fear of the office wanting me to give her some drug to 'stim...

I have a 6-month-old rottweiler puppy who is well-socialized, and has the right amount of exercise, for his age, and we are attending obedience. 95% of the time he is amazing he listens and engages. However, he has no respect for our 5-year-old pug he jumps on her and mauls her. I use verbal corrections like " uh uhh" which is the word I have chosen to let him know he has made a mistake and "off" in a loud stern voice. He gets off but then 5 minutes later does it again...is my only option to ...

I have been clicker training with my dog for some time now. My dog responds very well and is ready to get her reward after the click. I was hoping to transition to the marker word “yes.” How would you suggest going about shifting from the clicker marker to the marker work “yes.” Should I just “yes” and reward several times a day to get her accustomed to the marker word or is there more to it than that? Thank you so much for everything you share. Have a great day!

Hello Cindy, I have a Labrador Retriever that I'm in the process of training, I'm having to use balanced training with him since positive reinforcement and food rewards aren't enough for my strong, stubborn working line Labrador. Here's my question, I have a nosey neighbor who gets in my business about how I train my dog using corrections with a prong collar, she tells me I'm abusing my animal and ruining my relationship with my dog by giving a simple correction with a light pop on the prong....

Hello! I have a 20 month old pit bull mix that I rescued. Her oral fixation is getting worse. Please let me know which course I could take to work with her. It is becoming a problem. Thank you!

My dog tugs/shakes aggressively and wants to run off with the tug and "kill" it. How do I get my dog to calm down a little around the tug and play nicely?

I have an 8-month-old GSD who is very sweet-natured and who I have been successfully working on engagement and luring training since I got him at 8 weeks. He has played successfully with several other dogs that I knew well enough to allow that interaction and had no signs of aggression. However, I started him in obedience and the other two dogs in the class were littermates belonging to a mother and daughter. They were reactive to my dog and began lunging and barking and he lunged and barked ...

Hi Cindy, are there any videos about training pet terriers?

Hello from Australia, I have recently purchased the Send Away DVD and am currently teaching my 17 month old dobe the send away. I have trained her to work from a touch pad and the touch pad was gradually replaced with a disc (water frisbee), which virtually sits flat on the ground. The cue to go to the touch pad/or disc is "step." My sendaway pre-cue is "where is it," then the actual send away cue is "go" followed by "step" - she is progressing well. Only still doing short distance...

I just got a male 10 week old GSD puppy 3 days ago. He has coccidia and I have started him on the medication the vet recommended. His appetite is decent not voracious. He is lively and healthy. However, I wonder if I should hold off beginning high value rewards for marker training until he finishes the medication? At the moment Zuke's small cookies do not interest him enough.

Hello, I read quite a bit of your Q&A about dog biting and nothing really applied to my situation. I have 2 Golden Retrievers just under a year old. They are from the same litter, sisters. They are the best dogs I have ever owned but the problem is when we put them outside, they wrestle around and play. They are in no way trying to hurt each other and they never do this in front of my husband or I. The issue we are having is when they wrestle, they grab at each other's necks. One of th...

Hello, I recently got a french bulldog puppy. She was picked up from the airport on Sunday night, she was perfectly healthy and went to the vet the next day, he also said she was perfect. She did not itch or have any skin issues other than a little dander. I fed her the last of her food they sent Monday and Tuesday I started her on raw. She has eaten mainly chicken necks and meat from leg quarter with a little yogurt, just enough to get her to eat her digestive enzymes and probiotics. She...

I've been trying to crate train my 9 month old collie mix. We've had him for 8 days. He was crate trained at the foster house he lived in before we adopted him, and would willingly go into the crate with or without being told. However, when we say, "Go to bed," he tries to get away, will roll over and play dead, or do anything that it takes to not go into his crate. I'm thinking about moving his crate into the family room and luring him in with treats to get him to start liking it again. We d...

Cindy, Thanks so much for what you and Ed produce. We've got a 9 month old Rhodesian Ridgeback that has been a great dog (so far). We (him and I) have been through the basic obedience and pack structure work and it has made him a great little dog (though he's 85lbs now). We got your e collar video and that has really helped me work with him (he now knows the difference between corrections and rough play). Last month he ate some Sago Palm seeds (highly toxic) which of course sent him ...

So sorry to ask you to respond immediately, but I was hoping to get your opinion on a german shepherd puppy that I may be bringing home tomorrow. Her breeding seems excellent for temperament and health (including hips, etc.). She is 3 months old. The only concern that I have is that she swallowed a sock last week and had surgery to remove it. The vet, who is supposed to be very good, had to cut open her belly (6 inch cut) to remove the sock which she swallowed whole. The stitches are inside a...

We have a 6 month old Portugese Water Dog (weighs 40 pounds). He's an awesome dog and did reasonably well in basic obedience training... but I'm having difficulty getting him to stop jumping and nipping on my 5-year old daughter, going after shoes to chew on, and chasing our cat. I've heard great things about your e-collar video -- before I order can you suggest the best e-collar to go with it? Regards, Eric