Behavior Problems Q&As

Hi Cindy, I just re-watched (for the third time) Ed's video on electric dog collar training, and I have a question: Can my "small-dog aggressive" dog be trained not to bother small dogs? He's a two year old Lab, and recently started "attacking" small dogs on leads (which doesn't sit well with their owners--to say the least). Up to this point he's been responsive to my commands and friendly towards other dogs, but "loses it" when he sees a small dog. We live in an area where most o...

Dear Mr. Frawley, It is with much sadness that I write to you today, in search of professional guidance, to better understand what has occurred to me this past Sunday. I'd like to begin with a bit of history for your better understanding. We have a 2 year and 7 month old German Shepherd, named Tango, that we have had since he was seven weeks old. At that time, we purchased some of your videos, which we have found truly fascinating and appropriate, as listed below: ...

I have a 12 month old Boxer (neutered) who is extremely dominant/aggressive towards other dogs. I have just watched your DVD on this matter and am anxious to start applying your techniques. I have a prong collar (which I found out I was putting on the wrong way) although he still accepted it well. I also just received the dominant dog collar from you. Here is my question. I am a small woman and my Boxer is about 55 pounds but seems like an elephant when he sees another dog. The prong help...

Hello, I'm hoping you can answer a question for me. We have been taking our very sweet and gentle hound mix to the dog park for the last six months. However, in the last month there has been a change in her behavior. She is becoming more and more aggressive toward other dogs, in particular smaller dogs. Also, she is becoming more and more disobedient. We have cut the dog park out of her life now. I'm wondering what could be causing this to happen though? Thank you for any information...

Hi, Thank you for putting all the great information on your website. I have two male unaltered Malamute/German Shepherd dogs that my husband picked alone and brought home. It seems for a while is my job to take care of them as my husband is most of the time away from home. I am trying my best as I don't want anything bad to happen to them or to anybody. One of them (Sam) is the boss of the other one (Labus), his brother. Sam is obedient, comes when called even from the distan...

I have a nine month old Boxer-Lab mix, Zachary. He is fun loving - loves dogs and people, but I am wondering if I am making mistakes with him. I have been taking him to a local dog park since he was 4 months old. He loves it. This dog is fun loving and loves to play and romp with all dogs. But he is full of energy and he is very strong and some dogs don't want to be bothered. He will usually learn which dogs want to play and run and wrestle with him, but occasionally he will be too much f...

Dear Mr. Frawley, I was wondering if you could offer any suggestions for me. My 3 year old dog Kraemer, an Australian Cattle dog and Rottweiler mix, has started to develop aggressive behavior toward other dogs at the leash-free dog park. When we enter the park through the double gates and if there are dogs to greet us, he'll charge out of the gates and bark and chase the dogs away from us (me and my other dog Annie). He loves to smell the other dogs and literally gets urina...

Hello Mr. Frawley! Unfortunately I read your article on dog parks too late and now I'm not sure what I should do with my dog. I have an 8 month old GSD puppy named Shaman. He got sick when we just got him and he did not get his shots until he was 5 month old, so he did not have any experience with other dogs. I slowly introduced Shaman to my friends dog (girl shiba-inu, his age) and it took him a while to get used to her but now they are best friends and play very nicely. S...

Hello, My husband and I have a 13 month old rottweiler who is very well behaved, and enjoys going to the dog park to play and socialize. Lately, though, he has begun peeing on the other dogs, and twice he has almost peed on people. He is not a dominant dog, but this behavior is awful, and the only thing we know to do is catch him in the act and take him home. We want him to understand that behavior is unacceptable. What can we do? Thank you.

I have been reading your Q&A section, and have found several articles very useful for our problem, specifically the one about the dog that wouldn't come when called. Our problem is this: We take our Kimba, a neutered, 1 yr old male Rhodesian Ridgeback, everyday to an off-leash park to run/walk/play (I know that you are not an advocate of dog parks, but please hear me out). We often walk with friends who also have two RR's - Rio, a female litter mate of Kimba's, and Rocco, a 4 yr ol...

Hello Mr. Frawley, I recently discovered your list of articles on the internet and have enjoyed reading several of them. The article about 'Dog Parks' caught my eye as I am a frequent user of a public dog park here where I live in Florida. I have two Dobermans, a 3 year old American-bred male from show and obedience lines and a 10 month old bitch I imported from Holland at the age of 10 weeks. My male has an excellent mind for a non-working Dobe. He has good confidence, is p...

Hi Cindy, First I want to thank you guys for your wonderful web site and all the invaluable training information it's provided to me and my currently 12 month old GSD Max. To give you a little background, I've had Max since he was about 18 weeks old. I purchased your marker training, focused heeling, and Power of Tug videos and have completely used marker training with Max from day one. Currently, (thanks to the marker training) I have had very few corrections with Max. He is a house d...

I have a one year old New Guinea Singing Dog, and I'm having problems getting her to go from using her puppy pads to going outside. I have tried to move the pads outside but she still doesn't go on them. The longest, continuous training time that I have tried to house break her was a week. I just need to know if I need more patience, or is there a certain technique I should use. She very domesticated for her breed, she picked up using the pad in about 2 days when she was 8 weeks old. So I ...

Hi, My name is Lisa and I have been training dogs for about 40 years, I'm 48. This is an issue I can't figure out and of course it's my own dog. We bought our Mal 2 1/2 years ago. Great dog. very high drive, sweet temperament. Great at obedience and agility. Here is the crazy part. We bought new furniture 2 weeks ago, the day after I got home from the hospital having surgery (I was in hosp. for a week). We got a couch and 2 recliners. Dirk (our dog) is terrified of the noise the recliners...

Hi Ed, We purchased your puppy & obedience tapes before we even got our dog. We have followed them very closely with very good results. Our dog is crate trained and loves his crate. About 4 months ago we have been leaving him out of the crate, and he has been perfect ....until today. He tore up some boxes and papers in the basement (that he knows he is not allowed to touch). I came home to a mess and corrected him harshly. Problem is I don't know if that was the right reaction and ...

I searched your site and couldn't find anything close to my situation. My 4 year old Irish Setter has automobile anxiety. She pants, whines, whimpers, drools and is generally anxious and overly excited in the car. She loves to go on car rides and gets very excited when she knows we are driving and even leaps in the car at the first chance. The problem is that she is nearly unmanageable when on board. I have tried letting her roam, as well as hooking her up on a short lead to the c...

I have an 8mo GSD - really a calm, well behaved dog, except for one bizarre problem. Every time I reach for the garage door opener in my home (or open the garage door otherwise) he runs as fast as he can to the door and attacks it. It is a detached garage. When this behavior first began, he would run to the door, and go into the garage without harming the door. And then he would attack the lawn mower - it is electric - and it had never run in his presence. I managed to demon...

I need help teaching my wirehair pointer not to eat "food" encountered on his runs. He runs free on the ocean beaches. He is a beautiful dog with excellent manners thanks to your help and suggestions. The beach abounds with crustaceans, dungeness crab parts, partially eaten razor clams. He slyly mouths something, I yell "no" and he walks up to me chewing on the item and I extract the remains from his mouth. His vet thinks a recent bout of diarrhea was due to his appetizer consump...

Cindy, I am considering the purchase of a Leerburg Rubber Kennel Mat for my 1 year old German Shepherd but before I place an order I would like to ask a question. Can you please describe the durability of this item? While my dog pretty much outgrown her puppy chewing stage, I just want to make sure that it is ?tough? enough to resist any biting temptations. I made a mistake four months ago of purchasing a dog bed only to wake up one morning and find that it had a large hole....

I just read the article on dog bites where the person sending in the picture got bite while putting a rescue GSD on their side. I have little expertise with dogs much less GSD's. I have a 15 month old GSD who is on the large size and very powerful. What teaching I do with him is what I am picking up at the local Schutzhund club. Ever since he was an 8 week old puppy we do "inspection" which means lay down and roll over at what time I look over his belly and groin area for ticks (we li...