Most Popular Q&As

Do you have an opinion on the best type of response (passive or aggressive) to use in narcotic detection?

Ed, Again I need your advice. I am training my GSD to detect narcotics. He's kept in a kennel in my fenced back yard. He works great on a scratch box and has alerted on marijuana. He has a very high ball drive. Problem is that his ball drive seems to disappear outside the back fenced yard. When I take him to K-9 training he isn't interested in playing with his ball. If I put his scratch box on the parking lot where we're training he will about tear the box open scratching an...

My name is Brian and I am a Deputy at a Sherrif's office in Texas. I am currently assigned to the jail division, but hope to train my schnauzer to be a narcotics dog. I have yet to use the scents but have trained him to look for his toy and wait for me to throw it patiently. I am thinking about purchasing some pseudo-scents of course as I don't know how my department feels about this yet. A lot of people look at me like I'm crazy for working with my Schnauzer. Please write me back ...

We have two dogs, a 7 1/2 year old female rottweiler mix (neutered) and a 7 year old male rottweiler (not neutered). We have had both since they were puppies and both were raised as outside dogs. The male is very dominating toward the female and will push her out of the way any time we try to pet her. He is also very aggressive towards our neighbor's dog (a toy poodle) and rushes the fence when it barks at him. He refuses to mind anyone but my husband and is therefore very difficult for m...

The issue at hand is my roommate and I have 2 different views of dog training. I see it like "the dog does what I say or deal with the consequences" and I can be rough. I don't mean to be rough but it has always produced good dogs in the past. His view is "let the dog do what it wants without consequences" when it involves others. He views it as good socializing and the dog will get better in time. We don't listen to each other re:dog training because we differ at the very basic philosoph...

Hello--I learned a lot from reading your web site. My dog and I need help. I think my dog has "fight drive," to put it nicely. He otherwise is a very good, well-trained, obedient, Rottweiler, but when he gets angry he is practically unstoppable. It's a problem for me, mainly because he attacked me yesterday. I was picking some dried scabs off his face ...I know it didn't hurt him because the scabs were practically falling off. He was growling, and I was warned, but I couldn'...

Ed, Hey I love your Leerburg site. It's one of the best information tools online, hands down. I need some information. I have a 5 month old American Bulldog in the house along with a 3yr old & 8yr old. My problem is the dog is constantly challenging my 3yr old. How do I stop it ? He does not do it with anyone else in the house. Other than that he's a perfect dog. I would appreciate any info pertaining to this. Thanks, Jon

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...

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'