Behavior Problems Q&As

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...

Cindy, We are almost at our wits end and need some help ! My 1 year old female AB "spayed" will at times tear up our throw rugs. She's been disciplined numerous times but nothing seems to work. She only does this when we're gone to work (9 hours). So I never caught her in the act. First let me give you a bit of back ground. We have a very stable male AB 7 years old and they get along just fine. She's been obedience trained "your DVDs." She's completely house broken. W...

Hi Ed, Is there a specific training video of yours that addresses how to train a dog to stay in his own yard (not to jump a fence)? I have a 1 year old (neutered) Lab-Mix, that loves to visit the neighbor dogs, chase squirrels, turkey, deer, etc. Our 3 acre back yard is fenced in by 4 foot fence - He leaps over it as if it's not there. We've installed an electric fence and he's not fazed by it. Currently he is on a leash and/or lead run. But I'd love to find a way to correct...

Hello Cindy, Will make this short and sweet as requested. I rescued a 1 1/2 year old female blue pitbull from being put to sleep. Sweetest dog I have ever had. She responds well to training as she loves to please. I used to train and show dogs but have forgotten how to stop her from jumping on people. The old methods are no longer used and I think they used to suggest putting your knee in the dogs chest when they jump up to greet somebody. Any suggestions?? Thank you, Jeannie

I have a dog that panics during lighting storms, to the point you will never get her attention, you can tell by the look in her eye, like a drunk that has blacked out. I put her in a crate, but she has chewed the bars on the door, broken a lot of them off as well, her K-9 teeth are broken, mouth gets blooded from chewing on the inside corners off the create and bars. She digs in the crate as well during the storm, she shakes so bad her teeth rattle like a very cold dog, maybe she is in sh...

Hi: My Griffon does well outside in the 10x10 kennel. I have kept her in the house during single digits but she would rather be outside. I felt guilty during the cold weather so I purchased a insulated dog palace, Kind of spendy but did not have time to make a wood house. She has eaten the door off and consumed the Styrofoam beads. I have sprayed hot sauce on the house. Not sure if the Stop Chew liquid used for horses would work. It did not work for the horses. Bryan

Hi Cindy, I've emailed you previously and you have been very helpful. I have become partially disabled over the last several years and would like to teach my dog to assist me. I have a wonderful, 65 lb. female, rough coated Collie who I adopted from a breeder. My dog was bred previously. She was born and raised by her breeder who also did quite a bit of helpful training. I, too, have done training with my dog and this, I believe, solidified our bond. My problem is that my dog will not pla...

Cindy, You helped me with a previous question about training and I appreciate it. We were about ready to get rid of our rescued mutt, but your advice helped. I have another question. Our Terrier mix mutt has turned into a very good dog based on some of your advice, however, she LOVES to roll in really bad things? cat droppings, raccoon droppings, dead mice etc. Hardly a week goes by that we aren't bathing her multiple times. We want her to be able to be outside alone in our nic...

Cindy, I follow leerburg web site all the time I have even bought some of your dvds love them you and Ed have given me a lot of useful stuff I train dogs and do some rehab. but this one has gotten me pulling my hair out what little I have left any way. with that said I have four weims three of them are rescues no matter how much exercise I give them a couple of them eat there beds and blankets they do it when I am not home I would love to buy them real nice ones but there is no ...

Hi Cindy, I was wondering if it is possible to train a lab to stay out of the pool. My chocolate lab is a year and 4 months old and I cannot keep him out of my pool to save my life. The main reason I don't want him in the pool is because when the kids are in the pool he wants to swim with them and of course he usually ends up on top of them creating an unsafe environment. And of course when we chain him up while the kids are in the pool, he whines, cries and barks. If you ...

Dear Cindy, Thank you for the web site and all the information that is available. It has been very valuable and helpful in training our dogs. I have an unusual problem with my dog. Here is a little background on our situation. We have a 13 year old lab/border collie mix and a 2 year old Black Mouth Cur. Our concern is with our BMC. He is a hunting breed and is a very dominant and stubborn dog. We have established the pack leaders in our house as my husband and me and he has ...