Behavior Problems Q&As

Mr. Frawley: I have read your website (very helpful!) and am considering an aluminum crate for my adopted dog of 4 weeks. Shaggy is a 6-yr old, male beagle mix shelter dog, and is very well behaved (he listens, does not need much discipline, heels nicely, barks like a normal dog). However, he does have SEVERE separation anxiety, and has begun chewing the wires off of his crate, to the point of near escape (and scrapes to his snout and forehead). He previously damaged my kitchen doors t...

We recently took in a stray female dog that we think is a short haired golden retriever, or a golden retriever/lab cross. She is house trained and is the most even tempered and sweetest dog that I have ever met. But there is one problem with her. Every time we leave the house we have to put her inside because she will climb our 4 and 1/2 foot to 5 foot privacy fence. We think it is because she gets lonely or was left alone a lot before we got her. We live close to the highway and I am scared ...

Hi Cindy, I have a question about canine anxiety. I have a 3 year old female malinois who is crated every time I leave the house for anything longer than five minutes. When I am home, she has the run of the acre+ backyard. The problem is that every time she is in her crate, she begins panting excessively and drooling all over herself. When I get home, she has covered her feet with drool. She doesn't do this when she is out running around or at night when she is in the house. She sl...

I volunteer at a shelter. Three weeks ago, I brought a semi feral pup into my home. Two weeks ago I brought home her brother because he was going to be euthanized. They are about 5 to 7 months old. The female at this point lets me pet her, takes food from my hand, I got a collar on her, she even lets me rub her belly if I am on the floor or bed with her. If I pick her up ( I have to sneak this) she will let me, but is very stiff. If I try to crate her, she will put her mouth on...

I have a 1 year old Springer spaniel with severe separation anxiety. Every time he is put in his kennel he will defecate, urinate, hyper-salivate (puddles of saliva), howl and bark (non-stop) and he digs at the cage like he is trying to escape (he has destroyed a metal cage). We always come home to a poopy wet mess. He has never liked being in the kennel, even as a new pup; but has always stayed in it when we are gone. We have tried the kennel in every room in the hou...

Hi, My sister and I each have a german shepherd. I have a male dog and she has a female. They are now almost two years old and have been together forever. I'm moving away and would like to take my dog with me. I will still be in the same city so the dogs could see each other. Do you have any advice how to proceed with the separation? Thanks, Merima

My 4 month old rottie might have picked up on his feeding schedule. He tends to make a big fuss 1/2 hour before feedings. Is there something I can do to have him wait patiently until feeding? He'll start whining non stop until I come out with his food bowl. Actually, another problem we're having is that anytime he catches the slightest glimpse of me he starts to whine. Last weekend I stepped outside to get something from our outdoor fridge at about 12:30 am. He started whining nons...

Hi Ed, I've searched your website looking for some help. I have a rather unusual problem. I have a 5 year old black lab mix (I think she is part pit bull but she is mostly black lab.) She has recently begun chewing on my walls. Yup, chewing holes in the walls. She only does it when I am not at home and I don't know how to correct this behavioral problem. I've tried getting up early to take her for walks in the morning before I leave for work, and leaving toys and treats for h...

Hi, I can't tell you what it means to me to have the invaluable free information on your website. Some dog owners just don't have the funds for purchasing training tapes and videos and what is out there on the market is usually garbage anyway. Thank God there is someone who knows dogs that we can all turn to. I know you must have saved thousands of dogs just by having it there. We humans just have no natural instincts for raising pack animals. We need to be taught. I ha...

Hi, I purchased a 4 year old Sch.3 female GSD from a very reputable kennel last March. The dog is wonderful, very obedient, works well for me on the Sch. field and really is about the sweetest dog. The problem I have is that she is very clingy and follows me from room to room when in the house. She will obey my husband and plays well when I'm not home. When she is in her crate she screeches if she hears my voice in the house. When letting her out of her crate she gets very vocal (s...

Hey Ed, I was looking at your separation anxiety page, and, forgive me if I missed it, but I don't think I found an answer to this particular question. What do you do with a dog that, when kenneled or left alone, is so panicked that he injures himself? I fostered a rescue dog at one point that would bloody himself trying to get out of a crate, and when left loose in a room alone for no more than 30 minutes, he went straight through an interior door and put gouges in the soli...

I'm pretty much at my wits end. I'm what I would consider an experienced dog person; my age, my life, etc. I have a foster Golden; 6 yr old, SF...she came to me with some serious issues. She is storm phobic, has "separation anxiety," etc. etc. A behaviorist nitemare. If left outside longer than she wishes, she will rip the siding off our house. The timing can be five minutes, or fifty...the trick is figuring out how long is too long...letting her in BEFORE the behavior starts. She ha...

Hi. We have a 6 year old Chow named Otis. He's been a very sweet loving affectionate dog with no problems all his life until recently. We moved into a new house about 6 months ago. The first thing we did was get an invisible pet fence and collar for him. That works great. When we're not home we leave him in the basement. It's never been a problem before, but about a month ago he started chewing up the basement door and frame. So we looped the wire for the invisible fence around the door. ...

I read your pages about dealing with an aggressive dog and what to ask you about my situation. I have a three year old Lab/German Shepherd mix dog. She is a very loving dog to my roommate and me. She does a have very bad dependency problem which has cost me a lot of money. Most of the time when I leave her, she tries to break out of the house. She will chew on the fence, chew on the front door or anything else that could possible get her out. I have tried giving her a lot of exerci...

Hi Ed, I am a professional dog trainer of over 20 years here in Morrison, Colorado. I specialize in behavior issues, mostly aggression rehabilitation and training owners. I have read every page and every article regarding dog aggression on your site and I am so happy to read that you are also a 'reality' trainer. No fluff, no clickers, no treats, etc., just real training/behavior modification. I also send many of my clients to your site, since I just haven't taken the time that you...

Greetings! I have a 3 year old dobie female that has incredible drive (ball, food, prey) and loves praise. She received her CGC, ATTS, 1st & 2nd leg in herding, going for her AD this year and maybe her BH. I built her confidence throughout the last year or more on the sleeve. When she first started out, she was very defensive and now we both work as a team and she loves it. Even though I still get a reminder how fast she is with her excitability and get it in the leg sometimes. ...

I have a 2 year old Border Collie mix rescue that is extremely nervous and fearful. I got her at one year old, and have been working with her for the entire year we've had her. We do not have any history of her before we got her, other than she was very underweight. She now weighs a healthy 65 lbs, and is on a raw diet (with Honest Kitchen). While we have made some really positive progress, and she has gone from a dog that was almost impossible to live with to a (mostly) very enjoy...

Hello, I have a 10 month old Pembroke Welsh Corgi male that seems to be doing very well. He was neutered around 6 months and is usually very obedient. He's been crate trained since 8 weeks old and generally spends 4-6 hours out of the crate over the course of the day in 1-2 hour periods. To me he feels like a soft dog where only a verbal correction is necessary to get him to respond in most cases. A smack on the butt is usually more than enough to correct other more persistent things such ...

I have just googled for information on how to train puppies to not be afraid of some people, and one website made reference to your website. I am so hopeful that you can offer advice for our beloved puppy. We have a French bulldog/Pug mix that will be 1 year old in January. We bought him when he was 8 weeks old and he has been a wonderful puppy, maybe sometimes a bit hardheaded, but the sweetest most loving and personable dog we?ve ever had. He started out very friendly to everyone...

Hello Ed, I want to see if you can give me some advice with an american line GSD. I know you do not prefere American line GSDs and it is not what you specialize in but I respect your many years of exprience and would like your opinion on something. I am the owner of a 3 yr. old male american line GSD that is a SOFT dog. He is not a fear biter, but becomes "nervy" and has a problem with submissive urination. I have read about submissive urination and it doesn't seem to be very commo...