Behavior Problems Q&As

We have a spayed female shepherd/lab mix named Sandy. We got her from these people at 1 year old, now she is 3. Every since we got our 7 month old husky puppy, Zoe, she has been acting weird. When we first got her, she ran away a lot, but was friendly to dogs. Now she runs away and picks fights. Her last fight we saw. We witnessed her in a yard and the dog that lived there sniffed her for a greeting and then Sandy just started fighting. She came home with a bitten ear and now she is starting ...

I just want to say, like everyone else who logs in on your web site, how informative your site is. Just received your catalog the other day and I'm interested in purchasing a training video but don't exactly know which one I should order. I have a 14 month old male neutered boxer that has gone through basic obedience classes with a passing grade. He has no problem with the "sit," "down," "stay," "leave it" commands but needs a little work on his "come" command. A couple of b...

Hello. I know that you have a lot of mail so I'll try to make this as short and sweet as I can. We have a 6 month old male, black lab and golden retriever mix pup. This dog loves garbage!!! He refuses his dog food even after several brands have been tried. We have tried every thing. Taking trash out before we leave the house, tying him up, putting gates up so he can't get into certain rooms and the cage. Nothing works. He chews through the leash, destroys the room he is in and jumps the g...

Hi Ed, I have helped a friend who has a 5 year old Bichon go through basic obedience. We can do long sit and down stays inside and outside and at shopping malls. The dog also walks well on a leash. The problems she has is that first the dog was not letting anyone in the house. I solved this problem. But he goes nuts when people want to leave to the point of snapping and lunging. I tried to desensitize him with food away from the door, sits and stays away from the door...

Hi Ed, We recently adopted a 2-year old female husky mix from a local shelter. Denali displays submissive urination whenever she is verbally corrected (not screamed at). This usually happens with me, and not my wife or older kids. While working on obedience training, any type of correction (verbal or physical with choke collar) causes her to urinate. I praise her consistently and keep her in my company as much as possible to strengthen our bond. I'm planning to purchase your...

I was introduced to your wonderful site per the Doberlist to which I belong. I own a male Doberman (from very good German lines) who is now 2 years old, (all 40kgs of him). Could you please offer me some advise as he very often attempts to mount my daughter (10 years) as well as most women who come to our home as well as my daughter?s friends, both male and female. This is to my mind an attempt to dominate and I would not favor having him castrated, I am also aware that male...

Hello I was wondering if you could give me some advice. We have an 8-month old neutered German shepherd mix (lab and husky we think) and I am having trouble controlling him. We have a three-year-old daughter, so I know it is imperative that he listens and behaves. He has a habit of picking up her toys and chewing them -- sometimes swallowing them. No matter how I handle the situation, he will not drop the item in his mouth. Yesterday he got my mop cover and started chewing h...

Mr. Frawley, I have a 6-year-old German Shepherd named Caro. About a year ago, we sent him to be professionally trained over the course of a month. When Caro came home, his behavior was excellent. We also got two other dogs a few months ago - a Lab mix and an Italian Greyhound - both are puppies. Lately though, Caro has been up to his old tricks again - only at a worse level. He likes to run around and bark at trees, but sometimes he will bite the bark off. Recently he de-ba...

You have a very informative site. Thank you for your open and honest opinions. I will implement some of your suggestions if I ever find myself a witness to another dogfight. I notice that you seemingly have little hesitation at telling people to kill their dogs when you have no other remedy for their situations. Have you any experience with natural medicine, i.e. herbs and homeopathic, in treating some of the symptoms and causes of those symptoms, such as fear? For the patient and consistent ...

Hi Ed, I finally got to read the Q&A on your web site and realize you are an expert on canine behavior. So I am going to ask for your advice on my German Shorthaired Pointer. He is a wonderful soul "after" I took him to behavior training. "Before" he did not respect me as a pack leader, for good reasons as I had no idea I was supposed to be one, and small dogs have attacked him before when he was a puppy. When he was an adult, he would bark and go submit a small dog. He woul...

I was reading your article on aggression in dogs and I have a question for you. I recently purchased a Beagle/sheltie mix. Well, that's what the mother was in the shelter I got it from. They couldn't tell me what the father was. My question is this; he has a bad habit of biting and nipping at my wife and me. He will be playing fine, but every once in a while he will start barking at us and lunging at our feet, hands etc. He also has a fear or other dogs I think. When I take ...

We recently purchased a male GS. When we visited the dog, he seemed very confident and outgoing. However, when we brought him home, he has latched onto my husband. He gets upset when he leaves, he has to be constantly with him. When he leaves, I try to bring the dog out by playing with him, etc., and he just goes back into the porch to wait for my husband. He's a very soft dog, so I don't want the corrections to be to harsh, but he just doesn't engage in anything when my husband is gone, ...

Hi good day!!! I just have a question regarding my 4 month old german shepherd. He was barking at someone and the one handling him pulled his leash to prevent him from attacking the person he was barking at. But instead of stopping he bit the one holding him. The dog didn't have any attack training or have any advance training. He has just been trained at home with basic training by me which is only my first time to train a dog. Thank you and more power!!! G. S.

I love your web site! But I have a question for you about one of your products. I have a new GSD, approximately fifteen months old. He's from working lines, and has never lived in a house before. Everything is going very well, except for one thing. He barks! I'm crating him while I go to school, and this is when the problem arises. He likes his crate very much and enjoys being in it when I'm with him. But as soon as I close that door and leave, he barks all day long. According to m...

I read your pages about dealing with an aggressive dog and what to ask you about my situation. I have a three year old Lab/German Shepherd mix dog. She is a very loving dog to my roommate and me. She does a have very bad dependency problem which has cost me a lot of money. Most of the time when I leave her, she tries to break out of the house. She will chew on the fence, chew on the front door or anything else that could possible get her out. I have tried giving her a lot of exerci...

I came across your site on the Internet and found it very informative. I was wondering if you might offer me a suggestion for my scenario. I have a 9-month-old female Weimaraner that I just recently had spayed. I have taken Sierra just about everywhere that I can. Since she was 8 weeks old (she recently completed her CGC training...which turns out to be ironic). Sierra is very protective of my home and barks when she sees anything close to our yard. Recently I have trained her to bark onc...

I have an eight-month-old male American Bulldog puppy. I know Bulldogs aren't your breed of preference, but after reading several of your articles, I would very much value your insight. He is a well behaved puppy (sits, comes, etc.) but whenever I take him away from our house, he is terribly shy. He was from a litter of eleven. I met both of his parents, and neither one of them were in the least bit shy. He trembles badly, won't eat treats (especially from strangers) and tucks his tail. A...

I have a 6 month old puppy (rescue dog) that is a house dog and I was considering getting her dew claws removed and was wondering what you thought about it. She'll always be a house pet and the only real motivation for removing them is the pain they cause when she jumps up on us. We're in the process of using the front paw pinching technique from your "puppy" video and we're having success but she's a fairly excitable dog. Is there any health reason not to have this done? Thanks, ...

Our 8 year old pomeranian eats the "personal" items our of the bathroom trash can. Is he too old for this and is there something we can do?? Please help.

First of all, thanks for your email advice from your last note. We did have our pups checked for worms, and sure enough, they had them Since treatment our male pup's energy has gone up noticeably. He is now enjoying the ball-on-a-string game. Here's my question: Our pups are pretty quiet most of the day and night, but sometimes during the evening they start a barking fit loud enough to wake the dead. They can see us moving inside our house in the evening as we pass in front of the ...