Most Popular Q&As

We have an 8 month old female pug (Dande) and a 7 year old female pug (Daisy). We are having difficulty house breaking her. Our vet indicated she was closer to 7 or 8 weeks of age (instead of 10 weeks as told when we purchased her) and this may be our problem. Dande is crated during the day when we are at work and other times when she will not potty outside. Our biggest problem seems to be getting her to let us know when she needs to go out. She is very skittish about everything - empty b...

Hello! I am hoping you can help me with our Puppy? I have purchased the books, and taps and read all the articles you on your site. We have had our pup for 8 weeks now and things are going well. The biting is calming down unless she gets in a hyper mood. Which is usually when we get home and let her out of the crate. The house training is also going well? Except that after a few accidents, I did what your site recommended. We stopped putting her nose in her mistake, and I wo...

Hello, I want to thank you for the helpful puppy video. It is great! I do have two questions regarding our puppies. They are both going to be 6 months old and are both crate trained. We have to kennel them for almost a week and I'm wondering if this will undermine all of our housebreaking and crate training? Next, our male puppy has started not eating out of his bowl. He will only eat if the food is on the floor. Any suggestions why and how to deal? Thank ...

Is it possible to transition a dog from grass to gravel? We just rescued a 5 month old Airedale and he knows to go outside, but doesn't like to use the dog run. He prefers the grass of our yard. Any suggestions on transitioning him to the gravel? Thanks, Aileen

Please help! Our Boxer puppy is 5 months old and we have had him since he was 10 weeks. We bought him from a breeder and we visited them a couple times, he was kept in a clean kennel with a doggie door to outside. He has ALWAYS peed and pooped in the house, we cant get him to stop! We take him for walks, take him to the dog park, take him out every 1/2-1 hour. He will go outside and go to the bathroom and then come in and go to the bathroom. I have been keeping him in the kennel fre...

I am so glad I found the crate training solution for our 8 week old lab pup. We have been doing things wrong for our first 3 days but I feel they are correctable, all except one problem that I have not found any comments on at all. Our pup has started to eat its poop, and we find this to be quite disturbing, and we would like to correct this as quickly as possible. I think he was probably allowed to do this in his first home, with a litter of 8. If you know, could you please answer our questi...

We have a 16 week old puppy, who has just become house broke; however, she will only "do her business" outside if we are standing out there with her. We also have two small children who can't be left alone while we are outside with our puppy & it's too cold to take them out with us. If we put our puppy outside by her self she just stays on the steps & whines. She will not step foot onto the yard unless we're with her. We've even thrown toys & treats out for her, but nothing seems to work. ...

Hi! I have a male Black Lab (3 years old). I'm trying to train him to go poop in a certain area of the yard so my kids (ages 4 and 1) don't step in his messes when they are playing. I've tried a lot of positive reenforcement when he goes where I want him to. I've even tried putting a temporary fence around our yard so he only has access to the areas I want him to go. The positive reenforcement worked when I could take him to the spot, but the first chance he got to go in the yard, ...

Hi Cindy, I really enjoy the newsletters, but have a question I have not seen addressed before. I currently have a Great Dane, my 5th of the breed and the 4th that I got as an adult from rescue. Now that I am working a business from my home, I am thinking that when my dog passes (he is very sweet, but 6-1/2 with very poor conformation, a crooked back, and cardiomyopathy, and they generally average only 7 to 9 years) I may see about getting a puppy. I have not used crates for my big...

Hi! I want to thank you, your "8 weeks to 8 months" video has worked great for my newly adopted 6 month german shephed pup. I saw changes in days with the in-home leash training! I am the first to admit it is me who needs more training then the dog, and that is why I'm coming to you. My dog I working on potty training. I say "working" because she will not poop in front of anyone. I was having problems with her going in the house right when I got her in sneaky places where I couldn'...

Hello, Your website is fantastic and full of so much information. I have many of your DVDs and have looked through many articles. You must be very busy but I was hoping you could help me with what seems like a very simple problem. I have a 6 month old mix and have had him since 12 weeks. He has been crate trained and has no problem going to the bathroom outside on command. In the past 3 weeks he has suddenly been going (once or twice a week) to the bathroom by the back door which h...

Hi Cindy, My puppy, born Feb 3rd is a Rat Terrier. She can't seem to get through a meal with out having to go outside to do her business. I take her out before she eats. She starts eating and then has to go poop again in the middle. It's very frustrating as I have to stand in the area waiting or she'll go in the crate. She is on a raw food diet with Kibble on the side. She'll eat her meat, go the the bathroom and then want to finish her meal. I realize that she is s...

Hi Cindy, Thanks for all the great DVDs and advice. I wrote to you not too long ago praising how our dog had no problems or accidents in the house because we have been following your training DVDs religiously. We have a 5 month old Boxer that has been PERFECT (and I mean PERFECT). He is trained to go to the bathroom (on leash) on command in a specific area in the yard and has done so for the last 3 months without a hitch and will sometimes goes potty on walks, but not often. Yester...

I have spent a very large amount of time searching for answers to this particular issue, and so far I have not found the answers I have needed. I am hoping you can help me. I have 2 dogs that are approximately 3 years old. We adopted them about 6 months ago, and as far as we know, they have always been together, and it seems like they have very similar issues. They are fearful dogs, but once we started crating them and keeping them on a leash otherwise, they have started to become a littl...

Ed, Great website. I have a question that I did not see covered in the Q&A section. My fiance and I have a 10 month old King Charles Spaniel. Before recently moving in with me she lived on the 3rd floor of an apartment complex and worked long hours. Therefore she trained our dog to pee on the pads. Now they have moved in with me and while my backyard is somewhat small it does have grass and I would prefer the dog use the backyard rather than the pads. Also, the dog poops on my rug ...

Hello Ed, I had a few questions about e-collar training. Do you think it is a good idea to use an e-collar to house train a dog? Would you simply correct the dog with the collar when they are actually in the act of using the house to potty with a stern NO! command and then place them outside in the area they need to go potty (then reward when they do go in the right place)? I am figuring that this would teach the dog, if you go potty in the house, you will get a shock.

Good morning, Ed. I read your site, and especially your article on crate training. I bought a dog 3 weeks ago - she was a rescue. Overall, I think her training has gone pretty well. She doesn't go to the bathroom in the home, but I believe that's mostly because I've been watching her constantly when she's not in her crate. I put bells beside the door, and have been training her to tap them with her nose when she needs to go to the bathroom. She's doing that MOST of the time ...

I have two pomeranians female & male around 5 months old. The male uses pee pads most of time-he's more calm & listens better than female. She uses pee pads sometimes but loves to chew them up. I went & bought natures miracle brand which did help her to pee on pad more but still they want to chew them up. I'm very tired of this. I've told them 'no' firmly & corrected them over & over & over! What can I do? I have used the treat method also. I'm exhausted. I've never had this type of pro...

Hi, My puppy is six months old, we got him over the summer and did not get a crate since I am off at that time. We used puppy pads and now I have a monster, he will go outside but not to potty. It don't matter how long I stay out, nothing happens, but as soon as we come in, on the pad he goes. Those pads cost a lot after a while, especially when the puppy already weighs 50#. Any ideas on where to start undoing this mess I made? Other than this bad habit, he is well behaved, just tr...

We have a 6 month old black lab that weighs 75 pounds. He has a habit of snapping. He has always been somewhat nervous for a lab but he seems to have adjusted well to us. We do have 7 and 9 year old sons. The dog seems to be playing but it is very difficult for me to tell. The hair on the back of his neck does not stand up as far as I can see. How can I break him of this habit? And/or, how can I determine if I need to get rid of him for another dog? When should he grow out of this habit? Than...