Behavior Problems Q&As

Dear Ed, I live in Shadow Hills, CA, a livestock/horse keeping area in northeastern Los Angeles City. This is a foothill area and there are lots of horse trails connecting through open areas. I have shown dogs, trained them, and bred a few litters so I understand the variations in the breed temperaments. I would like your opinion on this situation. Last year we suffered a dog attack on our rabbitry losing 20 animals. The dogs came over 2 fences onto our property. Within a few weeks our ...

Dear Mr. Frawley, I have purchased and watched both of your tapes (Puppies and Obedience Training) several times. I am having great success with training our 6 mo. old Lab (Jake) all because of your help. I am a great fan of yours. I have one issue with which I really need help. Jake jumps up on the counter and looks for food. Though we are careful not to have anything within his reach, this is very annoying, especially since I am having so much success with training him in every other ...

Dear Ed, I have 1 year old black lab. I live on farm and she chews on everything...I don't like the idea of having her chained up all the time but every time I come home from work she has brought stuff from the Machine shed out into the yard and absolutely tears stuff to shreds...even when the door is shut she finds things to drag out and chew on...how can I stop her from chewing on everything without chaining her up all day long?

Hello - I just adopted a 1 1/2 year old German Shepherd from the German Shepherd Rescue in Las Vegas. He is awesome! He gets along great with my other dog, and he is getting along with my cat very nicely. But we have 1 problems that I can not seem to fix or train out of him. The vet suggested to crate train him, and I have mixed feelings about that. Our other dog is not crate trained and he does just fine. The bad habits is that at night he grabs anything that I have left on the counter, ...

I've signed up for your message board, but as it takes a few days I wondered if you could get me started in the right direction. Our European bred Shepherd will be five months old on the 14th. We got her at 3-1/2 months. We are doing well socializing her with people, but when she sees another dog, she strains and lunges with all of her strength to get over to them while barking VERY loudly and aggressively. Our trainer (who uses many of your techniques similar to your puppy ...

I have a Dalmatian who is 8 years old. I think she's fairly neurotic and she's been neutered. She has dug holes into our carpet and I don't know what to do. If you give her a bone she tries to bury it in the carpet as well. This results with a bloody nose and blood all over the house. Please help! Thanks! Heidi

We have an 11month GS/rotti mix. She was a rescue and we have had her since she was 11 weeks old. She has completed basic obedience (prong collar was used) and did very well. I do, however, have one main concern in regards to training. When our dog meets new people, or our friends that she doesn't know well, she is relentless to get their attn. by jumping up on them and nipping at their hands and clothes. She has never hurt anyone, never even really nipped hard, but nonetheless it makes u...

Dear Ed, I'm using your basic dog obedience DVD for our five month old GSD. I love your training methods. Here's the problem. He is running and barking at the door whenever he hears the key or doorbell. I think he has weak nerves because his bark is fast and sometimes the hair stands up on his back. I have a prong collar that he wears on walks. I want this behavior to stop. Please let me know the proper way to handle this. Thank You, Patti

Hi Ed, Quick question. I have a 18 week pup GSD from Germany and he is always chasing and biting his tail and I'm not sure if this is play or something else going on. I have even switched his food to Fromm Nutritional 4 star food, having read once that this could indicate an animal protein deficiency. I don't know how grain based this food really is, but I'm hoping it's better than the Royal Canine he was on which he was getting yeast in the ear on. What are your thoughts on this? ...

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 nightmare. 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 h...

Hi Ed, I have purchased several of your training tapes and everything is going well except for one problem. Our dog (a 6 month old brindle boxer with a wonderful temperament) loves to rip down and play with plants my wife has planted in our yard. He loves corn stalks, decorative ears of corn etc. We have big fenced in yard and let him run around by himself although we are always home when we do. This usually happens during the day when my kids are at school, although my wife is hom...

Hello, My name is Deanna and I have a question about the dog my fiance and I have. He is a two year old mix breed, possibly has Lab and Springer Spaniel along with something else in him. He weighs about 80 pounds and for the most part is well behaved when we are home. We got him when he was approximately 11 weeks old from the Humane Society in Menomonie. We made the mistake of not kenneling him while we are gone. We close off a back porch where he stays and put his kennel back ther...

HI, I don't know if you can help me, but I don't know what to do. My husband wants to put my dog to sleep due to this. I have a 12-yr. old Australian cattle/spitz mix, Lived in my current house 2 yrs. Have a Golden 4 yrs old. The dogs are kept in basement when we leave for the day or a short time (which is fixed up lower level carpet patio doors, dog beds, water). They are played with daily. I have no kids; they are my kids. When moving in this house the 12yr old star...

I have a one year old GSD dog that seems to get scared very easy around certain objects and things. As a pup he never showed any signs of fear towards anything but all of a sudden he started getting scared of even coming in the house. As a pup he would always be inside but as he grew I had to make him a outside dog. He also gets scared around large objects. I'm concerned because I did pay a lot of money for this dog from a respectable breeder, at least I think I did. He told me that it is jus...

Thank you for taking the time to read my question. Here is a little background. My name is Dannie and I live with my husband and our 1 and a half year old son. We have a golden retriever named Dawson that is 2 and a half. We have been trying to train him out of a food aggression problem since he was 6 months old. We have seen 4 different dog trainers and have tried a number of different techniques. I have read your web site and can tell you a few things that we are doing right and ...

Hello, I was just searching your web site. and I was greatly impressed about your knowledge of dogs and your willingness to help people with problems they face with their own dogs. This is exactly why I am writing you. I seem to have a problem with my parents 9 month old purebred female Akita. I am not sure how much knowledge you have of this breed but from what I can tell on your web site, you definitely know more about dogs than I do. Here is the problem: At this moment in...

Hello, I have a question in regards to my 1-year old Aussie (maggie). Her name is Maggie. Can we help her? I will try to keep this brief but help you understand her behavior the same. Maggie was brought into our home at 12-weeks, she was/is very shy. We went through obedience classes with flying colors, although the social end didn't go so well. Maggie would show her teeth at the other dogs and sometimes growl, she would flip over on her back when people try touching her and...

Dear Mr.Frawley, I'm very sorry to disturb you because I know you are a busy man. I have your basic obedience DVD but now I have other problems with my dog. First of all I would like to thank you for the great job you are doing helping us with our problem and also for your time in reading this. My dog doesn't like to be in his cage, we have to pull him in the cage but I don't like doing this because it looks like cruelty to animals. What can I do about this? We let the dog out at n...

I meant to add this question to my last email training question....our 9 month old female Giant Schnauzer has developed a fear for traffic and loud trucks. Because we live in rural area, we rarely see traffic except for UPS or FED EX trucks. As of late, I have been taking her to our quaint downtown Main Street for walks in hopes of making her more comfortable with the loud noise. From the time we've had her at 4 months, we have expanded her "socializing" her via various situations such as car...

Mr. Frawley, Two training questions for you, first the background. We've had our GSD, Kaiser, for going on two years. Vom Haus Glitzernstern supplied your 8 weeks to 8 months video with the pup. We've used that and your basic obedience video to develop Kaiser into an excellent house dog who loves to please. He has very strong drives and has worn a path around the perimeter of our property that he regularly patrols. First question. We have a swimming pool that Kaiser is not a...