Behavior Problems Q&As

Our 7-yr-old black lab passed away a month ago. We are thinking about adopting one of my brothers puppies. They are black lab and golden retriever mix. We would like to do inside at night and outside during the day (like our last dog). We have a 20' x 20' kennel. My only concern is if we do put her in there if it would have a negative effect on her behavior skills? Also how much time would you recomend for her to run around outside supervised? My husband and I really want another dog but ...

I have always had dogs, usually strays, but never trained or had one as a puppy. I would like to know from A-Z what books or dvds to start with. I am trying to do my homework before we get my first puppy. I have children at ages 2, 2 and 9. We currently have a Great Dane, age 6. I would like to get a German Shepard probably in 1 year or maybe 2. My goal is to have a well trained dog to protect the family, stay in our 1/2 acre yard and be good with the children. What are the ...

Hi Cindy! What a great site you have. We have recently adopted an adult female GSD. She came from a very loving family going through a divorce that did not have time for her. She is well trained--electric collar, but missed out on much interaction with people outside of the family and very little if any socialization with other dogs. She has bonded with us well--I have a 16 year old son and 18-year old daughter. She does not obey them or my husband as she does me, but so far...

Hi: I have a sweet 12 year old mini poodle, who is starting to feel his age, with poor vision and hearing, but he remains sweet and funny. He?s about 30 lbs. I have a chance to get a little 1 year old female poodle and would like to, but my husband says it may break the older boy's heart. Any words of wisdom? Diane

Greetings from Norway. My name is Kenneth, I am 22 years old and I am used to having a dog in my family. My mom has a dog, and my sister has a dog. But I have never had my own dog. I loaned a couple of your movies from a friend, and they are very good. The dog race I want to buy is an English bull terrier, I've heard they are quite stubborn and often dominant. I have seen your DVD on dominant dogs. But I dont really know what I am getting myself in with buying a bull terrier. Do you hav...

Hello, I'm having trouble with my 6 month old siberian husky. I recently bought a german shepherd/husky mix about 6 months also (new puppy). At first everything was fine my husky loved the new puppy they played forever. Finally when things started to settle I took out toys for both of them I gave the husky her toy and the new puppy his, as soon as my husky saw this she took the bone and growled at the new puppy. Now anytime the new puppy comes near her my husky growls at the new pu...

Hi Cindy, I have an urgent dog question I was hoping you can help me out. I have purchased and watched the Leerburg puppy training DVD and went through a few podcasts regarding introducing dogs. Yesterday I brought home a 3 month old German Shepherd puppy and in my home I already have a 2 year old Yorkshire terrier. I introduced them in my front yard with both dog on their leashes. However the problem I'm having is that my terrier is really scared of the German Shepherd puppy and s...

I had a question about introducing our new puppy to our older dog. We recently got an 8 week old female Rottie. We currently have a 3 year old female Lab. How do we go about socializing the two? Is there a certain age the puppy should be? Eventually we want to put two in the kennel together. (Our kennel is large...20 ft by 40 ft.) Any suggestions? Jacklyn

Hi, Yesterday I bought a 2.5 month czechoslovakian wolfdog. I have a 6 months female Husky and she knows that me and my boyfriend are the alpha pair. She never had growled at us, but today, when we gave the food bowl to her, I did something that I always do to her when she is eating: I pet her. She began growling at me and I said no to her. I've continued to pet her and she tried to bite me and same with my boyfriend. She has never done this to us. I think that she is trying to be...

Hi, I just opened the DVD sales newsletter e-mail on defense drive and it made me continue my thinking on this subject. I have a very weak-nerved dog and if I try to leave him for an out of sight stay he has a look of discomfort/stress and I realize he is not going to get very far in training if he feels this way - therefore, my thinking is he needs to feel different about the exercise... so I have been thinking if I could switch him out of pack drive (which is where I suspect he is since ...

Hi, I have a beautiful 2 1/2 year old male Sable German Shepherd that I truly love; however, he has issues that I desperately need help with resolving. Bandit has gone through basic obedience training and I continue to work with him with what I know. He is very smart but based on the pod casts from your web site I believe he has weak nerves. He is very nervous around strangers and any quick moves from anyone other than me he reacts as if he is going into fight or flight mode. I have h...

Hello, I need help with my 15 week old dachshund. I am having the hardest time getting him to wear his collar. I've had dogs my whole life and have never encountered this problem before. As soon as the collar goes on he transforms into a completely different dog. He lays in a corner and whines the entire time it is on him. He does not move! He won't eat, pee, or poop while it's on him. From previous experience, I decided to just leave it on him and he would eventually get used to i...

Your Q&As are extremely interesting and helpful. We have a three year-old male neutered white GSD named Trigger.? He can be a bit fear-based dominant and aggressive (I have your DVD). We are working on this aspect of his personality and making good progress. We would appreciate your advice on one small issue. Our bedroom is a duplex. There is an open staircase from the first floor where we have our home office and the second floor where the bed is located. By open ...

Hi, My husband and I really enjoy watching and reading your various articles on dog training. We currently have two GSD (1 male, 1 female). The female is the newest in the family and the two seem to get along quite well. The question we have is this... the female is very submissive and the male very dominant. We give them their own time to play with us and we also allow them time to play together. The problem (we think) when they play together is that the female just runs after the...

Hi, I am very impressed with your website and have referred to it for advice many a time, but I cannot find the answer to this question: I have a six year old, well trained, docile dachshund female. She comes to work with me every day as a therapy dog, and has met thousands of people. She also has several "dog friends" that she interacts with calmly and non -aggressively. if a large dog gets too "physical" in play, she runs to me, and asks to be picked up. She is crate trained. ...

We have a 12 week old German Shepherd male and have introduced him to our older 2 year old GSD female. When they are together, occasionally our puppy will grab onto the nape of the neck (whale blubber) and hold on and not let go. The 2 year old doesn't do much about it, but what is the puppy doing? I have your videos and have learned a lot. I can only assume this is establishing pack, but it seems really weird to grab a hold and just hang there like a tick. He will hang there until the ol...

Hello, I've been reading your articles on your website about adding a new dog to your home, but I'm still having trouble. I have two female Standard Poodles, and am thinking of introducing a new male standard into our home. My girls are 6 and 3, the new dog is about 7 months. My eldest dog, Tasha, is sweet, even-tempered... we say the younger one, Maya is a toddler... full of mischief, into everything, but so, so loving and fun! They get along sooo well... they are actually ...

Hello, I just read your article about introducing dogs. I was glad to hear that I'm proceeding in the right fashion. Just one problem I have is my resident dog (15 year old pom) Is stone deaf and has only 1 eye. My new dog is an 18 month old pom. NO commands are not heard. Any ideas for this delicate situation? They are separated. They bark hysterically at one another upon sight. Thanks. Cathy

Hello, I rescued and 8 yr old Akita from the animal shelter about a month ago. The first week was perfect and he was a great dog. After that, he has started to tear down my vertical blinds in my front picture window. I believe it is due to the mailman walking in front of it to get to the next house. In the process he has also knocked over an antique lamp which was my grandmother's and broke it. That was my fault though for not moving it. I am trying different things to prevent this...

Cindy, I am writing to see if I am going in the right direction. I was walking my blue heeler/ border collie, Blu. He was wearing his tri tronics bark collar. He's been using it for over a year.We had just seen 5-6 does on our last walk, he was pretty excited about that. Next walk, two little shi tzu puppies approached from about 25 feet away. Blu began the long howling barks, you could hear each time he barked the collar set at 4 shocked him, and he just kept going off. This was the 1st t...