Most Popular Q&As

We have a problem with our 15-week old female GSD - or should I say, she has a problem with our neighbors pit bulls. Our little girl is a solid, stable, dream of a dog. She has displayed very sound temperament and good nerves from day one. However, I worry about negative effects from our neighbors pit bulls. We share our back fence with them, and at any given time, at lease one of their FOUR pit bulls is in the yard. We have never liked these dogs, as we were told horror stories about the...

I have reviewed your web site and hope you could share your insight and opinion about our ability to positively resolve this situation. I have a 12 month Brittany who was one of 2 puppies (both male) in a litter I bred. Parents and grandparents had good temperaments. We compete in field trials which require 2 dogs to be turned loose together and search for birds in 30 minutes to 1 hr braces. I have 6 dogs who are all house pets; 1 female (the puppy's mother), a 13 year old neutered...

I have been reading the question and answer section as long as I can tolerate sitting here. I am sorry to bother you, I recently had back surgery and cant sit here any longer. I have 2 dogs, 5 year old mushball of a Boxer and a young 1 year old American Bulldogg. I keep my dogs sleeping in a crate at night. During the day they are out on our 2 acres to run freely. They are contained with the Invisible Fence system. They are very people friendly. Problem is keeping a neighbor dog ou...

Hi Ed and Cindy: I am writing you for any information and advice you can give me regarding one of our dogs. We have 3 dogs; (Polo), a 6 year old male American white shepherd, (Bella), a 5 month old female lab/shepherd mix, and (Riley), a 4-1/2 year old female australian shepherd/cattledog mix. We got the puppy at 9 weeks old in June, and previous to that we had a 16 year old female black lab/shepherd mix. They are all spayed/neutered except the puppy which will be spayed on ...

Hi, I have a 3 year old labradoodle. I only got her at 4 months and I know she wasn't socialized to people or other animals before then. I immediately got her into training and we were working on becoming a therapy dog team. When she was 17 months old she was attacked by a 3 year old Great Dane. It ran up from behind us sunk its teeth into her hind quarter. When I freed her, the dog then grabbed onto her tail and began to pull her away from me. I did get her free but she was bitten...

Hi, I just spent the last two afternoons watching your videos that arrived on Tuesday: 'Dealing with Dominant & Aggressive Dogs' and 'Establishing Pack Structure with the Family Pet'. They are excellent! I have been doing everything wrong. I ordered these videos after my two German Shepherd bitches were in another fight this past Saturday. To give you some background, I have kept them totally separate for the past six months since their last fight. I was terrified Saturday ...

Hi there, We have a 16 month old Boerboel (South African Mastiff). We have been following your videos for puppies and he sailed through a local obedience class with flying colors. We are having a baby in September and countless people have expressed concern over introducing the dog to the baby and visa versa. I scanned your Q&A, but couldn't find something close on the subject. Is there a right vs. wrong way to introduce a dog to a new high ranking member of the pack?...

Hello Ed, I've always been a big fan of you and your website, and I do get your newsletters? thank you! Quick question: I thought I was done with parenting after my first daughter turned 16 and the other 12 so I got a beautiful German Shepherd with 100% german lines out of a Texas breeder. He is a wonderful, obedient, sweet dog with what I would presume a great temperament. No issues with aggressiveness at all; He is a bit of a baby who enjoys to play and be w...

I am inquiring about my sister's mini pin/ Chihuahua mix dog, roughly 2 years old. He is generally a sweet little boy, but rules the roost among the other (3) dogs. The other day, my sister witnessed severe aggression toward one of the dogs over a chewee, and tried to break it up using a spray bottle (no effect), a whistle (same deal), and yelling (well you can imagine). In the end he bit her. She really is at wits end. I wonder if you have any input on this situation. I worry, since she also...

Hello, I'm hoping you can answer a question for me. We have been taking our very sweet and gentle hound mix to the dog park for the last six months. However, in the last month there has been a change in her behavior. She is becoming more and more aggressive toward other dogs, in particular smaller dogs. Also, she is becoming more and more disobedient. We have cut the dog park out of her life now. I'm wondering what could be causing this to happen though? Thank you for any information...

I wish I had read your articles about breaking up dog fights and dog parks. I have a very well trained lab/shep and took her to the dog park yesterday, not knowing what I know now. She was immediately attacked by a dog as soon as we let her off her leash inside the fenced in area, six other dogs joined in. I had no idea what to do. FINALLY? the owners casually walks over to retrieve their dogs. We immediately left the park and will never go back. I had an idea though and wanted to...

Dear Ed Frawley, I have been to your website many times the past few months since I purchased a GSD puppy in January. He is 10 months old, a great house dog and is sweet to my Pomeranian and my two cats (never had problems before with them getting into actual fights, only play fights). I have been training him with a prong collar and using long leashes to teach him sit, heel, come. I am moving slow with his training but I am still trying to find a reputable obedience class in my ar...

I am wondering if you can help us or tell us where to look for more information. Our Scottish Terrier, Angus, is 11 months old. He is a male and we also have two female Labrador Retrievers, one 6 years old and one 12 years old. Angus of late has urinated on his master twice now once when he was in his rubber boots and once when he was in moccasins. Needless to say my husband is not pleased. Is this a dominance issue or is he marking my husband. My husband does most of the fe...

I have a 6-year-old lab/chow mix. He has always been a good dog, but not very obedient. Because of his behavior lately (eating food off counter, sleeping on couch) I locked him into my bedroom while at work. He destroyed my carpet trying to get out. So I went to the garage to retrieve the crate we used years ago for him. He refused to get into it, and when I tried to physically put him into the crate. He attacked me! It was much more than a snap, he grabbed hold of my arm, and star...

Hello! First off, I was reading about the prong collar and if I decide to try this I just know that if I were to go to PetSmart who probably sells it they will tell me how cruel it is. They always do that which makes me wonder why they sell the stuff if they want to make their customers feel bad about buying it. Ok, I adopted a dog about a year ago. He was then 1.5 years old. Now he's 2. He typically is a real sweetie, and he is neutered. A few months ago in my house the lit...

Hi Ed, I have a 7 mo. old Lab/Redheeler (and possibly German Shepard) mix. She was a stray that we took in when she was approximately 3 mo. old. We have a great vet for her and an appointment this week for her to be spayed. I would like to have a well trained family pet and also reliable protection (We live in a very shady part of town). I am a college student and stay-at-home with my 2 1/2 year old. We are also on a very tight budget and cannot afford professional training. I have...

Hello, I would really like your opinion on the following situation: Almost 10 years ago we decided to adopt a dog from a shelter. The dog was healthy, and we guessed he was somewhere between 4 and 6 months of age - he was loosing baby teeth. The shelter noted him as a stray and there were no other details. We visited him on two occasions at the shelter prior to adopting him. He had a lot of energy, like to play ball and seemed to be a generally happy dog. We could only guess at the bree...

Thank you for your site. I've spent hours poring over the material, and plan on purchasing some of your DVDs. First however, I wanted to contact you because my situation really is different from anything I've read. One month ago, I moved into a home with a 120 pit bull mastiff, who is completely blind. The dog is a foster dog and has been living with my two roommates for 6 months. He's very poorly trained, dominant, and shows aggressive tendencies (such as growling). After reading your ...

I had the awful experience of witnessing a dog fight between a Pit bull and a Rottweiler. The owners of this dogs were walking their respective dogs when they walked to close to each other, and WHAM! That is when the fight broke out. Despite the owners efforts in trying to separate the dogs, the fight went on for about 15 minutes until one of the dogs was nearly dead. I always though that pit bulls were the most powerful fighters in the dog world but in this case I am sad to say th...

I have a two year old belgian tervuren who I adopted at 4 months old from a household where the little boy abused him (he still has scars on his face). We've spent a good deal of time and training and socializing getting him over his, shall we say, dislike of small boys (never girls, just boys about the same size as his previous owner). Now, we used to go to the dog park for runs and a little bit of socialization, although we mostly went late at night because I didn't want other dogs hurt...