Behavior Problems Q&As

Hello Cindy/Ed, I hope you had a great holiday. Recall I have a 3 1/2 month old doberman puppy and a two year old female doberman. I listened to the DVD's and am following the instructions and tips the best I can as I found them most helpful. I'm the only handler to my dog, my wife only takes him outside to do his thing and places him back in the crate trying to be neutral as possible. I don't allow our older two year old female to play with him although she doesn't show any dominant te...

I adopted a 3 yr old cocker from an animal rescue center. I have learned that she has had 3 litters of puppies in two years. She is very timid. She walks on leash ok and can stay inside without being crated all day with no problems. The issue is: When we enter the home, she looks to see what the noise is and then runs to the opposite end of the home to hide. When we enter the home from being on a walk, she runs to hide. I have purchased toys that she will not play with during the day,...

I read a little about dog fights because of an incident with my dog this afternoon. I have a 1 1/2 year old female Rott. .."Sunny"....she is very gentle with my three little boys. She has been a little aggressive on two occasions with repairmen that have come to the door....snapping and hair standing up on back, otherwise she has basically licked to death anyone who comes to the house. We live across the street from my brother who has two female Dobermans. Sunny plays very hard with the young...

I have a basic question for you, and your response will be so much appreciated. My parents have a White German Shepherd named Zeus. Since Zeus was 9 weeks old, I have been a part of his life, visiting my parents 3-4 times a week and interacting with Zeus. Zeus is 6 years old as of this past May. When he was a puppy, I regularly picked him up, but he never wanted to stay in my arms for long, and would squirm and act restless. I'd end up putting him down sooner than I wanted. Other tha...

I have a Boxer that I rescued. The previous owner was terminally ill and had to give her up. Or that was what I was told. She seemed to be fine with all the other animals and then she got into a fight with one of my older dogs and that dog died from it. Since then she has killed one of my baby goats and attacked an adult goat through the fence. I have been watching very closely and yesterday I saw him grab the male goat by the face and would not let go until I hit her with a stick. My daug...

Hello, I know that you are probably very very busy and don't have that much time answering personal emails but I thought I would give it a try. I have two male dogs, Ace who is 1yr and 2 months old and is a complete mutt (not sure what he is possibly puggle with something else that makes him a bit bigger), and Tyson who is 8 months old and is a pit bull/lab mix. Ace is about 48 pounds and Tyson is probably around 50 and an inch taller than Ace. I have read every book possible to make...

Great Site. Began buying equipment from you just recently. Thanks. 1 year old male GSD. Very good. Very obedient. Somewhat dog aggressive; but, we are working on that. My partner plays "chase" with Kipp. She tosses a toy. He runs after it. Waits. She chases him. (I searched your site for answers to this one and wasn't successful yet ... so I'm writing). Seems to me that this is a back-asswards game. Yes/NO? Should I allow her to continue (and things are OK)? Or, should I...

Dear Mr. Frawley: I have a one-year old German Shepherd from pure German imported parents. He is very lovable and he is moderately friendly to people, but very hyperactive at home where he lives in our house with a 6-year old female German Shepherd and an 8-year old male. If you try to brush him, he tries to bite the brush. Whenever you put the leash on him he tries to bite the leash and he is very excitable about most things. When he is taken for a walk he is very quiet and docile unless ...

I have a 6 year old un-neutered male black lab. He has started becoming very aggressive in the past year. He has never liked me being around any man but my husband, and he would get very agitated at the unknown male, such as a repairman. This past year he has bitten my cousin, not badly, just enough to make her scream and make the attack worse. He also snapped at the vet, which in turn made the vet muzzle him and refuse to treat him unless he is restrained and doped up on medicine. The v...

I have 2 female red poodles (sisters) who are 10 months old. One is 6 pounds, the other 11 pounds. It's not just the larger one picking on her little sister, the little one is just as feisty. They recently have been getting into some pretty violent fights with each other - over a toy or food or jealousy. What's the safest way to break them apart and how can we keep them from fighting in the first place? Thanks much, Joe Boca Raton, Fl.

I read your comment about not having time for people who did not read the information provided already on your web site So I read many postings before sending you this request for information but perhaps being both hopeful and confused I think I need a straight forward answer. We had one female spayed doberman we have had since 10 weeks old who we have taken through beginning obedience training at 16 weeks old. Several months later we rescued her litter mate, also female. Due to her agg...

Hi there, I am writing this to you in a state of high distress. My doberman who is 2, we have had him 6 months, just bit my 5 year old son requiring many stitches. This is the 2nd incident and I believe it is a dominance pack issue thing as it only happens if he is alone with my kids, something I try desperately to not have happen. I don't know what my son may have done to provoke it but it would likely have been trying to hug the dog he said he had rolled onto his back and he went to pet his...

Ed, I got your name from a woman Cynthia from Trinity Croft. She recommended you to me because I have an aggressive dog, who seems to be getting worse. When she was about 3 mos old I took her to a place called K-9 Guardian and we were asked to leave because she was so aggressive. For a long time I thought I could handle her but she got worse. Last March I hired a dog trainer from ?Who?s The Boss? and he worked with us until just recently and is still consulting over the phone. She...

I had emailed not too long ago about having sent my Golden to training and it being the worst thing I could have done. Well, I did order the basic obedience video (coming in the mail soon), I got a prong collar, and an electric collar. I read the information in the web site and tried to do what it suggested. I used to just give him his food, but I started asking him to down-stay and wait until I release him and give him the okay to get his food. The first day was almost a complete disaster...

I have attended 2 different schools to become a dog trainer. Basic Obedience, behavior and scent work. Somehow I got involved in schutzhund and I like it a lot. I like challenge. So not knowing anything about the sport, my husband decided that we should buy a green dog from Slovakia and he would be my challenge and my project to achieve. My husband is from Slovakia. He found this gorgeous dog Donnie with an incredible pedigree. It cost me money. The entire time I knew I did not want a gre...

I recently adopted a 9mo. old female Dogo Argentino. Sol was an owner surrender, the reason for this is complicated but I'll try to explain as briefly as possible. Sol's former owner runs a dog rescue agency in West Va. In addition to this the woman has four small children and a few animals (cats and dogs) that she keeps as pets obviously over-extended! One of her pets was a Dogo that she adopted. She loved the breed so much that she thought it would be a good idea to breed them. Thank ...

Hi Ed, I have written before and hoped you may be able to help me again. I have a 16 month old English Pointer bitch who has really come along well with her training. I had a problem with her recall which is loads better although I know I have to work with her more. I admit I have been a bit slack recently. My problem is this. Myself and my partner are separating shortly and the dog is coming with me. She has been a bit spoilt recently and that's down to all of us, (probably more me!!) I...

Dear Mr Frawley, I am extremely concerned about my dog as I have been told by our head Schutzhund trainer that my dog is a risk to my small children and people in general. He is 9 month old black and tan from very good show lines. The problem is that for the past few months he has become extremely aggressive. When walking on the street he barks and has tried to bite a few people. I am trying to correct it and have been told that he is "high in the nerve" and I will only achieve limited ...

Dear Ed, I have your puppy video and your Basic obedience training videos. They have been very helpful - since before these I was pretty clueless on how to train my dog on anything. Crate training was a breeze with your advice we only had one accident, which was my misreading his whining - he had diarrhea - which I didn't expect and I mistook it for wanting attention and he had an accident in his crate. But that is it. He goes into his crate on command and now the only time he ...

My fiance and I have a dog that is wearing on our patience as he is incredibly destructive and does not deal well with being kenneled. He has actually broken out of two steel kennels. The ones with the thin bars of metal. Now we keep him and our other dog in a room in the basement, and as you can see from the attached photo, he is slowly destroying it, day by day. That is an older picture and since then the damage he has done has tripled. I've heard so many things about muzzles and my main...