Behavior Problems Q&As

Good afternoon Cindy, Will you tell me if I can use the Bark Limiter while my dog has a prong collar on? My dog barks and pulls in reaction to dogs on the opposite sides of the fence, as well as dogs/critters that he sees in the distance. The prong collar and dominant dog collar are good together when he is in regular walking mode, but seem to have no affect when he goes into high drive. I was thinking that if we can have the immediate correction when he barks of the Bark Limiter, then ...

Hi, I have bought a number of products from you recently and was very happy with my e collar, etc. Now I need an advice on another issue- whining. My 8 months Doberman female has long whining sessions, that sometimes are difficult to ignore. We try to ignore her everytime when she is whining, but sometimes it is really hard especially when you are trying to work or talk on the phone, etc. She finds it hard to be left alone behind closed doors, I heard it is one of Dobermans' features, but ...

I just found your website but already can't get enough. I have a 6 month old Greater Swiss Mountain Dog who is happy and active. She loves to go out for walks and we frequent our local dog park often. She is already well behaved except she barks at individuals with darker skin. She never shows aggression towards them but does make a point of barking at them until we walk away or they do. We live in a city and this is very difficult because many people stop and want to pet her but when they do...

Hi Cindy, I would really appreciate your input on a concern we have about our 4 month old GSD puppy. We purchased her from a breeder who breeds working line GSDs. She is crated every night, exercised twice a day and I have been working with her on basic dog obedience. We have a 6 year old lab that she plays with. We have tried to socialize her but she has started to snap at people at the park and new people coming into our home. We have a 3 year old son and we are very concerned that she w...

Hi, I wondered what size heating pad you would recommend for a 6 pup litter of Boxers? I didn't want to order one too small. Thanks, Robin

I was wondering how you get all these dogs. My GSD is an American Bred. From what I have read you do not particularly like that breed but Tonka is beautiful; he's not quite two, he still has about eight months to go, anyway I paid $150.00 for him and would like to breed him, but I can't seem to find the right female for him. Tonka is a very smart dog, it doesn't take him long to pick up on things. It's very hard to keep him focused because he's always looking for a new adventure. Some people ...

How much should I increase the amount of food I feed my pregnant bitch?

Hi Ed, I have a 9 month old GSD male, we believe he is a dominant dog. I got him when he was 8 weeks olds, he snipped and bit our hand a lot when we handled him. Now even worst, he will jump up to us (my 3 kids, husband and me), bite our hands, our body. I watched your DVDs for "Establishing Pack Structure" and now I am watching the DVD "Dealing with Dominant Dogs." Last week, I tried to establish the pack leader. After several days later, I started to give him attention, his beheviour w...

Hi, Last year a family member rescued a mini-dachshund vet estimated him at 4-5 months old from an abusive situation. The people in the house were being rough and generally neglecting him, allowing him to run loose and get into garbage, he was regularly "spanked" and smacked upside the head. In short these people lacked all common sense. When I got this pup he was obviously extremely submissive, submissively urniated at the drop of a hat and flopped on his back if a person even stood up...

Hi Cindy, I have a 13 month old, 45 pound australian shepherd/border collie/lab mix that is great on walks during the day, but at night, he gets so scared and nervous! For some reason when night rolls around, he just shuts down and starts to cower, which I find odd. It all started on memorial day, when my family and I took him to the parade, he heard the guns and bands, and then he shut down. Whenever he heard a bang after that he freaked out! But I was able to get him out of that, wheneve...

Hi, First, let me say that your website has been a godsend to me and my family. Without you, I doubt I would have survived the last 8 weeks. A little background. My hubby and I love the boxer breed. We got our 1st boxer in 1996, and added a rescue boxer to the mix in 1997. Since then, we have had 5 boxers over the years. We lost our 1st female at 3.5 to a horrible accident, and from that point on, we have always crated our dogs when we are not home. Our rescue lived to be an old man a...

Hello, My name is Jennifer and I own an Aussie Mix that we adopted last June. She is very aggressive toward other dogs and people (i.e. nipping at peoples heels, showing teeth). We have enrolled her in obedience already but that dosent seem to help. Please help! Jennifer

Dear Sir, I have used your training videos and advice to start training my doberman who is now 9 months old. We rescued him and had a lot of issue but have worked through most of them. I tried search for a couple of questions I have on the forum but couldn't find the answers for the following questions. The dog has started marking his territory. Bad thing is he thinks that he gets to urinate on company when they come over and he almost did it to my son. I was thinking of having ...

Hi, I have been training dogs for over 40 years, both in obedience and in conformation for show and now I'm stumped. We have two dogs, a 7 1/2 year old Bullmastiff male and a 10 1/2 month old Mastiff male. Both dogs are still intact. The older one was recently diagnosed with first stage renal disease and neutering is not an option. The younger one is a very good show prospect so neutering him is also not an option. Neither one have ever been used as a stud dog. The older dog was trained...

I have a 9-10 month old beagle/pitt mix that I had rescued from the pound. He is a smart and fantastic dog, he is trained, and only eats up little things when were gone (we're trying to stop that). The real problem is after we find out he did it. We will go to correct him, and he backs into a corner, bares his teeth, and snarls at you while we are correcting him. This is the only time he showed any sort of aggression, until yesterday. He was sitting on the couch with my mother and when she we...

Hi Cindy, We've had a period of stress and instability the past 3-4 months... Having moved 2x in this span of time, our Border Collie mutt has gone awry. We just moved into a 2 bedroom apartment about 4 weeks ago. Initially it was great and our 2 dogs seemed happy and played together like normal. It's a nice quiet location too. This week I also started taking them for walks daily. We have a golden that is the alpha female of the two, both female, and they have been best buds since bring...

I hope you can help us. We rescued a 2 year old male dachshund a couple of months ago. He adores me, but is afraid of my husband. He has obvious issues with men. (We first realized it when my husband put his belt on in front of the dog, the dog howled, ran under the bed and barked). My husband says it's like our dog is a veteran with battle issues. He will let my husband pet him when I'm close though he seems a little tense. When I'm not around the dog paces until he's exhausted then waits at...

I have a male Rottweiler who is seven months old. I have started obedience training him since eight weeks old; for the most part he is well behaved and knows the basic commands. He seems to be testing me a lot lately and I usually show him who's by boss by pinning him to the ground by the scruff near is muzzle as well as firm pinching. I usually get a small whine and a submission after some time. I have your video on basic dog training and another on dealing with dominant and aggressive dogs;...

Hello, My family and I adopted a 9 month old GSD yesterday, though I didn't find your website until tonight. About him, I don't think he is a dominate dog. When we first met him he came up with his head down and ears flat to my hand. Since he's been here he does the same thing. My question is.... is it too late to start ground work/pack structure training if we've pretty much did the opposite of everything that was suggested? I've tried to do basic obedience training before I found ...

I bought your establishing your role as pack leader DVD and have a question. During the day, while I'm at work, where should I put the dog? I teach third grade so I don't get a lunch break where I get to leave, so I couldn't take him out of the crate to let him go out and two days a week I do after school tutoring so I'm gone for ten hours. I can put him on a tie-out in the yard or there is a small fenced-in pen, it's about 12x12 area, I'm just not positive he wouldn't try to dig out since...