Most Popular Q&As

How tight should the remote collar strap be on my dogs neck?

Hi Ed and Cindy: I have two dogs, a 40 lbs. Chow mix and a 35 lbs. Border Collie mix. I wish to take their training (obedience even around distractions) to the next level. I have never used an e-collar before and have a couple of questions: My dogs are used to wearing a dog harness as their only leash attachment device (not a sled pulling harness or 'no pull' harness, just a simple harness like pet stores sell). They have never worn a simple collar. I'm concerned that conditi...

Hello, I receive your monthly email and order things from your company and enjoy your website so much. This months email hit home with one of the questions and answers regarding the Pit Bull. This question and answer also hit home for my best friend who I train with. We each have the opposite problems. Mine is lack of respect from my dog on the "recall" when distracted and hers is "prey drive." I'm taking private lessons regarding my recall issue using a pinch collar and my friend ...

Hi Cindy, I wanted to get your opinion, and Ed's on my two females who hate each other (the mother/daughter). I updated you previously that they get along as long as we are outside and are playing ball. As soon as I ignore them to do something else, they will start circling each other and then I have to get their attention with the balls again. In the trailer, they will fight between closed doors; the daughter will now ignore the mother when I call her when her mother is ins...

We have a 6 month old goldendoodle male dog. He is a relatively good natured dog, with many puppy characteristics still; i.e. barking at new people, jumping up at new people, nipping. He has also within the last month or so been bearing his teeth more, mainly at my 8 year old son, but also at the rest of the family, sometimes my husband and myself included. Never where I feel like he is just going to necessarily bite, but it is a behavior I don't like. So we are exploring the d...

Hi Cindy, Your advice worked out very well. My GSD pup is now 16 weeks old and I have come back to you to ask for your gracious help with another problem. The pup is very "mouthy" on me and on inappropriate objects, i.e. he trys to eat sticks, rocks, grass, and even dirt! I judge him to be of extremely high prey drive. I have been studying your DVDs ("Your Puppy 8 weeks to 8 Months," "Basic Obedience," "Establishing Pack Structure For the Family DOG") and learned that you often move...

Cindy, I have a 2y F GSD. I sent her to basic obedience training at around 10months. She has done well and follows her commands on and off leash. My big problem is with recall especially once I start to play with her and she isn't focused on training. Once I stop working her and just play, she will often see another dog and run across the park. I will yell here (I know she hears me but decides to ignore). As you can imagine the other owner isn't to pleased and I know it can become ...

I'm just looking for some quick guidance on the electronic dog collars. I will be ordering your training video and the collars from your web site. However, I'm not sure if I should buy two separate units (one for each of my dogs) or one two-dog model. I have a male 100 lb+ Pit Bull mix and a female Border Collie mix. Both are rescue dogs and both have become very aggressive when they see other dogs. My dogs never fight with each other during rowdy play or over toys or food. Howeve...

Hi, I would like to clarify a couple of points. 1. Is the 280NCP suitable for a German Shepherd Dog? 2. After successfully training an exercise will I be able to wean the dog off the collar or is this a permanent part of training? I look forward to hearing from you. Regards, Matt 'All the way from the UK'

I have a high drive intact GSD that I am training for SAR. I have been working with him since he was 10 weeks old and I have most of your DVDs and I have followed them while raising my working pup. I recently purchased your E-collar training video and I wanted to purchase one. I was looking at the Dogtra 280NCP Platinum Electric Collar. Do you think this would work for my needs and would I need to order the longer contact points for a GSD? My dogs hair length looks exactly the same as your do...

Hi, I purchased a collar a couple months back and it has been so cold and snowy here I had not had a chance to use it. I charged it and put it on my dog and went out with horses and it didn't seem to work. The dog did not respond at all to it. I don't know how to test it. Any suggestions? Thanks, Karen

Hello Cindy, I bought your DVD on e-collar training and loved it. Now comes the training, and I have a question. I am using the Tri-Tronics Sport Combo G3 collar for Becky, my 3 year old border collie, who weighs 35 pounds. I have set the collar intensity the way you suggested, and got her "look at the leg or ground" response at a very low setting, less than the number 1 on the dial, when she was relaxed in the house. Outdoors it was a different story when she was "focused" ...

Dear Mr. Frawley, I hope that you can explain to me what is happening in my house with my dogs. Until three years ago I had four dogs - two Bichons and two Lhasas. The Bichons were two females who were six and seven years old respectively when the Lhasas were brought into the household at 10 weeks old. The Lhasas are male and female litter mates. All four were neutered/spayed. The 6 year old Bichon had a problem at first with the Lhasas but after about two months she warmed up to t...

I stumbled upon your website while trying to learn more about dog on dog aggression. I have found it very informative and helpful. However, I am still at a loss as to what to do with my specific situation. I have one male 10 month old, one female 14 months old, and one female 18 months old. We have just had to move to a new house due to hurricane Katrina, which I am sure adds stress to the dogs. It is my two females that I am having problems with. The 18 month old is a chow mix who went t...

I read through the questions on dog fights and found quite a few answers but I do have a little twist to my scenario. My dogs are 6 year old female, husky/healer, litter mates (boy do I wish I had found you 6 years ago!). Needless to say, we have of course had difficulties establishing our dominance and pack order, it is something we work on constantly. Usually, "Mai" is more dominant but every fall "Blixa" decides to test her and we end up with a bloody battle. Somehow, it's been ...

My problem is my aggressive mastiff mix. She is dog aggressive because her first owner trained her to fight other dogs. She is stout, with short nose, broad muzzle, strong body. She weighs about 90 pounds and I am short 5'3" and 115lbs. Her body type is more like a small bull mastiff. I am interested in the following: Stopping her aggressive dog behavior.purchasing the following with your recommendation:Collar: prong or dominant collar? Which will give me the best contr...

Dear Sir: I have a female German Shepard about 2 years old, who has been spayed. She has always been a lovable dog and still is, but in the last 2 weeks she has become aggressive toward my 9 year lab, who is also a female and has been spayed. She never offers to fight with this dog when they are eating, in fact, if the lab goes over to the shepard's pile of food she will move to the other pile of food. The shepard has acts like she is trying to dominate the lab. She will go up ...

Hello my name is Alicia and I raise boxers, And I have a question for you. I have a female boxer that is aggressive towards my other boxers and does not want to go anywhere near them and if they come toward her she will fight them. What can I do to help her? or to help her join the pack. Thanks, Alicia

I'm about to delve into some problem solving with a client's S&R dog. This particular dog has a great deal of talent and truly excels at his work. One problem though. He is aggressive to other dogs on the search. Do any of your materials address this issue? He is 3 yrs old and intact. Susan

Hi Ed, I found your site online and I wish I found it earlier. After reading some of your site I realize I didn't know the importance about properly training dogs from the start and it clearly wasn't a smart thing to do when I stuck my hand in the middle of my fighting dogs - but it already happened and I want to try and figure out what to do now. Basically I tried to break my dogs up during a fight that took place indoors, and I was in the middle of them from the get go so...