Behavior Problems Q&As

Hello, I have an 8 month old akita. I was reading the article about Dog Parks and completely agree. I would not take him to one. I was wondering if you have the same feelings about doggy Daycare. We have considered trying a half day a week. it seems to be well run. They bring in new dogs into a separate area and introduce one new dog at a time starting with the dogs with the best temperament. Eventually they will be in the general area if all goes well. Our puppy has had have very little inte...

My apartment is right in front of the elevators so people constantly come and go in front of our door. My pitbull always barks and growls at the door when he hears things outside but he is very human friendly and loves people. How do I get him to stop barking every time someone passes by our door?

My 17 month old dog has travel anxiety, she pants and won't relax in the 2nd seat of our SUV. She is in a safety harness and can lay down. I tried a name brand herbal calming product which did not seem to help, I'd like to avoid Benadryl or vet Rx. Chew toys or treats are ignored. Would it be o.k. to use the e-collar to break her thought process, say as part of saying down, (she ignores commands when so agitated) or would a tap or click make things worse? She didn't have any trouble tra...

Hi Cindy! I've emailed before for help with my Belgian Malinois pup and your suggestions have been helpful, particularly in regards to puppy biting. A new problem has arisen: he barks, and it appears to be motivated by him seeking my attention (there is also the possibility that the attention seeking barking behavior may result from anxiety - anxious about me leaving - but I'm not sure.) Question: Any suggestions to curb/minimize the barking behavior other than ignoring the behavior?

Hi Cindy, I looked through the barking Q/A and didn't find anything on young pups - 12 weeks. Initially, regardless of how often I would take him out, my dog would poo while in the crate as he caught on that it would get him out. After isolating him for 24 hours and only taking him out for potty breaks, he figured out to poo outside with lots of praise and fun accompanying. I brought him back out into the living room to be part of the pack and he has been fine about this since. Recently...

I have an 11 month old GSD that hasn?t been socialized much. He is a rescue; I got him at about 4 months old and have had him out in public, but he needs obedience training. He is non-reactive to other dogs, cats, children etc. I want to try and train him to be a service dog (I suffer from PTSD) as he appears to have a very good temperament. I purchased the Michael Ellis self study Training with Food. He is too old for the puppy video you have and was wondering is it too late to train him for...

Hi, we have a 9 month old Berger Blanc Suisse. She is so smart and we are just in love with her. It is our first Shepherd, and our first herding breed, so we are learning a lot! We are struggling with her confidence and building it up. We will be moving in a couple of weeks, so are excited to finally have that whirlwind over and get settled and really hone in on training. Not that we haven't been doing anything with her just not as much as we anticipated with everything going on. Is the Raisi...

My dog obsessively marks outside when we go for walks. I?ve been able to minimize the behavior with focused leash training. However, when I take him for a walk somewhere new, he will do anything he can to mark even to the point of loose stools. He does not mark inside. Any suggestions?

Hi Cindy, Any time my dog gets approached by an off leash dog during our walks, he wants to run away. Whether it's a small poodle or a large dog, my 1.5 year old male German Shepherd with no training always wants to run away from off leash dogs. How can I teach him to hold his ground? It's so embarrassing, and I don't want to hit other dogs.

I have a 9 month old Lab that is super excitable and jumps all over anyone when they first come in. Family members, strangers, delivery men, it makes no difference. I've been trying to teach him to do a down stay when I answer the door but he is so hyper! He does pretty well when it's just me at home and we practice this but as soon as the kids come home from school he's all over the place! What do you suggest?

Dear Cindy, I may need a bit of encouragement here on a 6mos GSD we have. FYI, He is our fifth German Shepherd so not new to the breed. Anyways, he is very leash reactive, more so than any of our other GSDs in the past. I have Tyler Muto's Leash Reactivity DVD. I take him to parks, pet stores, walks in the neighborhood, etc. he seems most fixated in our neighborhood environment. He’s not mean at all he would just sniff the dog if given the chance and prob play -also people he would lic...

We've had our new puppy for a week and she is being crate trained; spends all her time either in her airline crate (at night), in the wire crate in our living room when we're watching TV, or in an ex-pen (that's been closed up a bit since I don't have enough room in my office to fully open it). My office is carpeted and not very comfortable (cheap carpet) so I have a fleece blanket set up in the bottom of the ex-pen with the blanket past the edges of the ex-pen to help keep it in place. So...

I have an 11 year old altered female Sheltie. I've had her since she was a puppy. Over the last two years, she has become increasingly yappy. Even more so since we adopted an altered 4 year old female German Shepherd. The Sheltie is the alpha of the two. Sheltie pretty much announces every move the shepherd makes, as well as most movements my husband and I make. Should we considered a training collar, or is there something else we should try? Patience is wearing extremely thin. Thank you.

We have an almost 7mth Malinois who when we drop off at daycare, is showing separation anxiety. He tries doing these little nips at the staff when they put him in the runs in the beginning of the day. They said the rest of the day, he is perfect; it's just right after drop off happens. He starts crying when we pull up to the clinic not wanting to go but then they say he does excellent all day long! We don't get it. Just want to address the nipping issues because some techs are starting to get...

Hello Cindy, I have a 14 month old male german shepherd that travels around in the car with me all of the time. He is very good in the vehicle when I am present, but when I leave him unattened he barks ferociously at everything that moves within his view. I am considering putting a bark collar on him whenever I require to leave him in the vehicle alone. My concern is that I don't want this to inhibit his protective instincts in anyway. Your insight and suggestions would be much appreciated.

Hi! At the present time I'm actively working with my puppy on marker and engagement skills. I'm having a great time and we are having tons of success. However, when I'm taking Alice (15 weeks doberman x Dutch Shepherd) on leash to the back door to go outside to the bathroom, she will see our adult min pin and try to jump and pounce on her. I engage her in that situation and it works but it's every time she sees the min pin its always the same behavior. I understand she is just dying to pla...

Hi Cindy, I have used some of your videos and they are great. I have a 3 year old Shiba Inu and I am having problems with putting flea treatment on him. I know that you are not advocates of flea treatment, but I haven't been able to control the fleas through other methods. Last time I put frontline on his neck he was very distressed, snapping and crying. I think its fear rather than aggression. Overall, he is a well trained dog, very polite, and a pleasure to live with. He was stubb...

Our brother-in-law does Schutzhund training with his 2 year old GSD. The dog lives in the home with the family which has 6 and 8 year old children. The dog and the other family dog live in the house, sleep with the mother and father and plays normally with the children and the other dog. When we visit we are asked not to pet the GSD. The dog wants to be pet by us and repeatedly comes for attention only to be growled at by the owner because when she is pet by us she pees. His opinion is that w...

I have a 10 month old GSD from a strong Czech and German working lines. She's doing quite well in her bite training. About two months ago my sons got some of those laser lights and started playing with the dog. The dog loved chasing the lights and would jump up and stomp on the light with both feet which everyone thought was funny. This went on for about two weeks and then I put a stop to it because the dog was becoming obsessed looking for the lights constantly. It's been at least two months...

Hello, I have a year old while German shepherd dog. I got him as a 9 week old pup. We also have an adult Beagle, and 2 cats. Sax GSD gets along with everyone in the home. He is extremely loving and playful and has lots of energy. He has not been neutered yet but we do plan to do that this month. He has always been fearful of strangers out side the home. If someone comes into the home he is better after he gets to know them. However, when we are walking it is hard to go a block before ...