Behavior Problems Q&As

Hi Cindy. I have an eight year old GSD who is housebroken and obedient. When I'm home he either goes tot he bathroom off-lead in my fenced in back yard along the fence-line, or on-lead when we're walking through the neighborhood. In the yard when I let him out he won't actually go in the yard and do anything until I walk out. The problem is when I travel, which is only once or twice a year, I have friends that were willing to watch him for me but every time they do he just goes to the bat...

Hello! I have a 20 month old pit bull mix that I rescued. Her oral fixation is getting worse. Please let me know which course I could take to work with her. It is becoming a problem. Thank you!

Hi! Thank you for great contents on YouTube! My 6months old mini Australian shepherd loves to chew on sticks and branches when tired after play session and that cause vomiting wood chips afterwards. Any suggestions to stop that behavior or is it ok for him to chew on sticks? Thank you!

Good morning, I've just recently adopted a 8 month old female husky. Her precious owners were Hobbie breeders, and she was kept in her kennel constantly. I have no other behavior issues with her beside when she is kenneled and I'm not home she becomes frantic and will try to destroy the kennel. What is the best way to recreate train a puppy that panics in their kennel? If I am in her eye sight she will lay in her kennel with the door open or closed with no issues. She will engage in relax...

I recently adopeted/rescued husky mix female dog from its owner in February of this year. She was I year old at the time. She is now 16 months and the one thing I havent been able to retrain this lady out of is her agressive attitude in open spaces with my 4 year old siberian husky. Everyone keeps telling me she is a puppy and thats how dogs figure out who is top dog, yet watching her pounce and attack from behind, chace and nip his hind quarters AND watching my 4 year olds reaction to th...

I have a 10 month old golden who has not been properly socialized. He is very reactive to people and other dogs. He lunges at them and jumps all over them wanting attention. He never calms down. High energy level no matter how much exercise he's had. He is not at all aggressive. I don't know how to teach him to be calm and not jump and lunge at people / other dogs. He knows basic commands, although he considers commands to be temporary and thinks its ok, for instance, to only sit or stay for ...

I have a 3yr old Dutch Shepherd that I adopted a year ago. No background info given. She is very anxious/fearful when hearing gunfire (large or small) from the neighborhood. She is non reactive in almost all other situations including trips to the military base at Ft. Bragg, NC. There the background range noise is 24/7 heavy artillery to smaller arms fire. No problem at all.. Have tried to desensitize with background noise online at home in calm settings, no reaction. Only reacts to live nea...

I did it. Went to a dog park. Against what was taught in the course. Everything was great for 2 months. My dog is a European Doberman, female, 1-year-old. Needs a lot of exercise. Today, she is great at the park until a woman shows up with a ball and a long stick for throwing it. My dog is excited, chases the ball, runs back to the lady, and jumps on her. She starts yelling and swinging the stick, kicking my dog. I'm running to grab my dog as she thinks the lady is playing. Not good, my dog ...

Hi Cindy! I have a 7 year old female fixed lab mix who is balanced, social, and all around great dog. I also have a 3 year old male hound mix (fixed) who has struggled with reactivity. I am very proud of our training with him - he is now neutral to dogs, people, and other previous triggers and his obedience is very strong. In this training, we did a lot of groundwork to provide structure and leadership in our home. However, infrequently (once a month or so), my younger dog will correct my ...

Hi Cindy, I have a 9-month-old GSD and I cannot get him to stop eating rocks. I have bought a muzzle from you and I was wondering if you have a plastic muzzle that I can feed food rewards through to him?

Hi Cindy! I have a 1 y/o Belgian Malinois. He has had a history of aggressive behavior, specifically biting, and has bitten me, my wife, and my trainer. I had him evaluated by Tarheel Canine Center, in Sanford NC. They are well familiar with working with Belgian Malinois and other shepherd breeds. To address the biting they recommended: 1 Plenty of exercise. He gets exercised 2 hours a day and 2. Obedience Training. He attended in-board basic obedience training for 5 weeks and advanced ob...

Hi Cindy, Would you please give me some advice? My 13-month GSD would bark like crazy and lunge at the windows from within our van ride at the passing by trucks, people standing at the crosswalk, people riding bikes! We popped her prong collar and told her “leave it” or “quiet” but she couldn’t stop as we saw her hair on her back standing up. It looks like she’s very panicky and scared. But when we took her out of the van and walked her, she’s totally fine with people, animals, ...

Hello. I have an intact male 18-month-old Golden Retriever. For a few months, I would take him on a long walk on a jogging trail using a 20 ft long line so he could run around and sniff and mark. NOW, I don't allow him on a 20ft line instead I only use a 6 ft line and I take him on "structured" walks and not free roaming walks. He marks inside a store if there were previous dog smells like a pet store. But he does not mark if I take him to dept stores or hobby stores where there are no dog sm...

Our 3-year-old border collie, who's always high drive, has taken to lurching out after vehicles. It started with rattly trucks with trailers, and not its even noisy vehicles. He can be fully engaged and still reacts. It seems to be the sound and motion. Is an e-collar the route to go? He'll also take off if there is a bouncy ball e.g. basketball or tennis going on too? I don't see how we can engagement train him off this and it's life-threatening for him as he reacts and chases the moving veh...

I have a new puppy. She is approximately 3 months old, HavaPoo. I have noticed in the last few days, she is showing some food aggression tendencies. I have a 15-year-old Yorkie/Poo and both are fed separately. Puppy fed in expen on the opposite side of the ex-pen from where the older dog is fed, which is outside of the expen. I want to thwart this immediately.

Hi Cindy. In one of the videos, Ed suggests giving your dog a "time out" by putting your dog in his crate when he has done something wrong. He said that it doesn't have to be a long time-out period. It can be only a few minutes to be effective. Even so, won't the dog start generalizing being put in their crate with having done something wrong? Won't it cause confusion when you send your dog to his crate to "go to your bed" at night?

Hi Cindy! Thanks so much for all the helpful info you've shared. We have a 2.5-year-old male GSD, Jake, who has always been a major barker when he hears someone outside our house – especially other dogs. We and our trainer have been trying to train him out of it and thought we were seeing progress up until recently. He developed a scary habit where upon hearing someone outside, he not only barks but quickly goes after our other dog (a 3-year-old malinois) as if she were the threat, even...

If a dog is known to chase cats, and the behavior is worked out with corrections (I'm thinking e-collar), can they ever be trusted with them when you're not there to correct them? The question kind of relates to the theme in the Dealing With Dominant and Aggressive Dogs video about how a dominant dog will respect family members while the pack leader is around but not necessarily when the pack leader isn't around. I've owned two other dogs that had strong prey drive with rabbits and squirrels ...

Which Michael Ellis DVD deals with dogs that are possessive with toys? My 8-month-old GSD won't play a two-ball game. He is quite happy to just possess one ball and isn't interested in the second ball.

Hello, I have a question regarding a 15-week-old female working line GSD. We are currently working on engagement on a leash, distraction-free. Although there is a slight glimmer of progress, shes got a ways to go concerning behavior on the leash, in public places. Next week she goes into Vet for her puppy shots. The last vet visit two weeks ago didn't go so well. She barked excessively at the receptionist as she kneeled to pet her. (let's see, the comment I got was, " what do your German ...