Most Popular Q&As

Dear Ed, Our family is in a terrible position and we have a very difficult decision to make. We have a 5 year old Wheaton terrier, Reilly, that is a sweet and very loving dog with our family. We have 5 children ranging from 9-19 and she has been incredibly docile with them. She was the tiny one in her litter and very scared of her siblings. In retrospect we should have known that this could become a problem. She has a very weak stomach and requires special food. We tried to board h...

Mr. Frawley, I sincerely hope this email reaches you. I have been an avid reader of your web site. and have purchased some of your material in the past. I have a problem. I am a dog trainer of six years, I have experience dealing mainly with working dogs. Sled dogs, some entry level sport, and personal pets. My problem lies with a female Malinois I own from an irreputable breeder from Oklahoma. I have raised this dog as of 5 weeks of age, the dog is now approximately 16 months old....

Dear Ed/Cindy, First I would like to say that I love your website. I have bought several of your DVDs and products and have always been very satisfied. More important than just a supply store is that I have come to have a deep respect for your thoughts on dog training methods/philosophy (I read many of your eBooks, even the ones that don't really pertain to my situation). I even feed completely raw, and it has been great fun. So on with the problem. I have always grown up wi...

Thank you for taking the time to read my question. Here is a little background. My name is Dannie and I live with my husband and our 1 and a half year old son. We have a golden retriever named Dawson that is 2 and a half. We have been trying to train him out of a food aggression problem since he was 6 months old. We have seen 4 different dog trainers and have tried a number of different techniques. I have read your web site and can tell you a few things that we are doing right and ...

Ed, I have a 2 1/2 yr. old male rott. that has been neutered, and I adopted him from a humane society. He had toy aggression, food aggression, and just overall dominance. He had bitten me several times (a couple over toys, and a couple because I touched a sore spot on him that hurt him). I then bought your dom. dog collar, which worked like a charm, and some of your training vids. I believe that that is why he is still alive today. Anyway, he has done very well in the past 6 m...

Overriding instinct: making coming to me better/stronger than chasing a squirrel. When I train recall, my pup will come when she knows I have food/ toys. How do I transition to train without food and toys?

Hello Cindy: My 12-month spayed Beauceron pulls on her leash to greet/play with other leashed dogs. For example, we are enjoying breakfast at an outdoor coffee shop and a well-mannered dog will walk by, causing our dog to jump up and playfully lunge towards it. Can you recommend a video so that I can teach her to remain calm and ignore other dogs (unless it is play-time) ? Thank you. Cindy

Hello, I have a question regarding marker training and feral dogs. Do you think marker training can be used in rehabilitating extremely afraid feral dogs? Thank you!?

Hi, I have just recently discovered your training techniques for my 7 month old husky female. We got a prong collar on her a couple months ago, as per suggestion of our trainer to correct her pulling, but made a huge mistake in not correcting when she would not come when called. We thought that if she didn't listen, but then eventually came to us, we should not correct her because she is after all coming to us. Writing it now, I know that was the WRONG choice. So now we have a pup that ...

Hi Cindy, A prominent dog trainer recently said that if a male owner who had a male puppy he couldn't raise himself the first few months of the puppy's life, has the puppy raised by a female, this would cause later problems when the puppy comes back to live with the male owner He said that if she raised a female puppy for the male owner, there would be no such issue He said that if a male raised a puppy for the male owner, there would be no such issue regardless of whether the puppy is a m...

Hi Cindy! Wondering if there are any videos or instructions on how to wean a dog from a raised target to a flat target? I am using raised target for an easily aroused dog in agility with good success, however am struggling with the transition to a more flat target. Maybe I am just transitioning too quickly to a lower target?? Thank you for your valuable information. Take care.

I have a 10 month old Greyhound puppy who is on a raw diet much to the chagrin of my vet. I have two questions, he has a very hard time having a bowel movement and is very gassy. He gate chicken backs, veggies and some fruit, I also give him flak seed oil as his skin is quite dry. I have been giving him about 2 cups of kibble and has helped with the constipation but I am wondering if that is why he is so gassy. Thank you in advance

I recently joined a Schutzhund club with my dog. Although I love the sport, some members have recently suggested withholding food from him except for out of my hand and he works for it. They feel he needs work on his focus. My concern is that he's a 90-lb. dog, and the most I've been able to hand feed him doesn't even come close to what he eats a day. One of the other members has a dog he's been doing this with for about 2 months and the dog looks like a Holocaust victim. I'm not finding ...

Hi Cindy, I train my dog with German commands. I use platz for down in training. If I am at home and just want to call my dog over to come and lay down by my side, what German words should I use? It seems platz should only be used in SCH training. Thanks.

Good Morning! We have just ordered the "8 weeks to 8 month" training tape to help us in training our 11 week old male Yorkie. We have read many of the free eBooks on your site and are very pleased with the progress we have made as trainers! We had a puppy two years ago and failed miserably as handlers. That puppy went to live and be well trained by a woman who knew her stuff. The obvious issue there was our poor training. We certainly don't want history to repeat itself here. ...

Hi Cindy, I will be getting a Malinois pup soon & have been researching best ways to socialize it with other dogs. I have a another dog already which was heavily socialized with other dogs & has excellent social skills with any size/type of dog (she has even been attacked by a dog as a puppy unprovoked, & never changed/became aggressive in spite of it), but she's too dog focused which I want to avoid this time. I would not expect the pup would not be as forgiving like if attacked. I read &...

Hello, I've purchased a 2 year old, fully trained dog who has already earned a BH, and who tried for an IPO1 twice and failed protection both times, but earned 72 and 93 in tracking, and 80 and 70 in obedience. Since buying the dog, I realized I was teaching him bad habits because when I first got him, he snapped into position really quickly, but I didn't know how to reinforce him because I knew nothing about IPO training until about a month ago, when I started showing up at Schutzhund Club ...

Hi, I have a 14 week old Rottweiler puppy. She has a bone and when I went to pick it up, she went after me. I thought she was kind of young to do that. What would be the best plan to handle this?

I have a GSD who can be quite reactive when on-leash and who tends to 'check out' on walks. I've used a number of Michael Ellis DVDs for training so far and off-leash he has good engagement, recall and is not particularly reactive around other dogs. It feels like I lose all engagement once he is on the leash. I am currently using a check chain, which is helping to a degree with his pulling but nothing I do (pop the leash, walk another direction, ask him to 'watch') helps when it comes to r...

Cindy, I'm new to the world of competitive dog obedience (getting ready for Novice A this spring) and have a question about the order of training. In my current routine, I take her to a local park where we train for about 30 minutes. After ending on a high note, I have been taking her for about a 40 minute loose leash walk around the park. I believe I heard on one of the videos something about putting the dog away after training so they could process what they learned. My question is should I...