Most Popular Q&As

Hi, I hope you had a wonderful holiday. Is it common for a daughter of 18 months want to take over her dam's alpha position who is 4 yrs old? I thought 18 months was kind of young... but the daughter is bigger, more strong willed, and I saw this coming months ago but I don't if I could have done anything about it. How they started was I would run the 2 adults first, then the pups and the pups would sit stay and wait their turn. Well, when the daughter was about 12 months...

Hi, I have a male, deaf dalmatian that's seven years old. My boyfriend and I got him when he was a puppy - not knowing that he was deaf when we got him. This dalmatian has always lived with two other male dogs in the house. My boyfriend and I broke up a year ago, and he has had the dog. The dog is perfectly fine with either of us (other than some incessant whining). However, he is fearfully aggressive with kids and men. He is also extremely aggressive towards other dogs when he's e...

Hi I came across your web site while looking for information on prong collars. I actually have a question for you, if you have the time to answer it sometime it would be greatly appreciated. I will give you a little overview on her first and I do apologize if I ramble I am at work and writing this between calls so I keep losing my train of thought. I have a 5 month old american pit bull terrier named Loki. Sweetest dog and VERY obedient. I got her when she was 3 months old. The breeder ...

Ed, My family just recently got a 1 1/2 year old Sharpie/Retriever. He knows me very well because I'm home all day and we are constantly together, but now he is very protective with me. He will not let me out of his sight and is always keeping guard of the house. Now he tends to bark at my father who also lives with me but is gone most of the day, he doesn't like it when dad comes near me and always stands between us. He has never tried to bite or charge, if he thinks that dad is g...

Hello Mr. Frawley, I recently read your article on the web and found it very informative. I used to own a Polish Tatra and as you may know, are natural and determined guard dogs. I cannot tell you how much I miss that in an animal that offers that kind of relationship. It can be wonderful. I am writing you because I had a question about some information on your site. My wife and I have a male Great Dane/St. Bernard mix that will be 7 months on January 16th. You mentioned on ...

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 ...