Dog Sports Q&As

Hello Ed; Thank you for producing such informative videos, the information you present has not only helped me to understand the drives and drive developement for protection work but has also saved me thousands of dollars on worthless trainers. It has given me a better dog, I have owned protection dogs before but he is by far the best. Jasper is now 20 months old and nearly finished with his training, he has a strong prey drive and a solid defensive drive with good nerve. The tra...

Hello Mr. Frawley I got "First steps of Defense" awhile ago and I have begun training a new dog with your techniques. His first session was away from home, a totally new place, and lit up on the decoy right off the bat. All forward motion, deep defensive bark, very focused. I was very happy. The next session I used the same decoy, and used the same distance (about 30 yards) with the same body language and verbal threats. The difference was this time I chose a spot about 10 yards fr...

My name is Kearney. I have a 3 year old male German shaped I had some Schutzhund obedience training. He is the son of Yanku von wilhendorf Sch1. I want to learn how to go about car protection. And he is not lifting his leg when urinating. He is a housedog. He has good drive, I want to do more with him can you give me some advice. he's a wonderful dog one of the best I have ever had, and have had German Shepherds for 16 years.

Mr. Frawley, I know this is going to be hard for you to answer without you seeing what is going on but I am going to try to explain clearly. Cyric my 10 month old is doing something very strange in his bite work. Just before he takes his bite on the chase he will hackle up just in the crop area in front of his tail. Now he doesn't show anything else that would suggest that he is afraid or intimidated as a matter of fact he commits very well and bites full and hard. I was won...

Dear Mr. Frawley My name is George and I e-mail you from Greece. I work as a decoy for more than two years and I met a problem with a soft temperament GSD I started to train her on tugs, sleeve, jan biere, and body bite suit (only a few bites). I have to admit that I even pushed her a little inside her home yard in order to give me a more defensive bark but the things became worse than before. This dog is over socialized handler addicted. Now I work her in spooky mode with me cover...

I just read the question on the dog outing the sleeve when the motion stops - I am having the opposite problem where my dog will not out the sleeve after carrying it. I have worked all her foundation with an excellent helper and we have tried almost everything to get her to out on command. He even had a very experience & good handler handle her to see if I was the problem but she did the same thing to him. She has an extremely strong grip and does not want to give the sleeve up. I ...

Mr. Frawley, I seem to be having difficulty with my dog not wanting to hold the prey. When I try this with a puppy sleeve or with a tug she still stops playing as soon as there is no movement. I purchased your video on The First Steps of Bite Training; however, I had already created the problem. As puppy, we played retrieve with her constantly. She will hold on the sleeve and pull hard until the sleeve is slipped, as long as the sleeve is moving. She loves it when we challenge her ...

I was wondering what your opinion is on the idea that a canine should take out the weapon hand when confronting an armed suspect. I live in a neighborhood where two rival gangs live; the "bloods" and the "cripps," and there have been times when the chased suspects have run through our back yards. Some have been armed, some have not. Do you have any videos showing how to train a canine to take out the weapon hand and then bite strategically to disable the intruder. Here is a senerio: An armed ...

Dear ED, I have a question about socializing guard dogs. Can you over socialize? My friend has a 3-year-old Doberman Pincher. He bought him from a family that was afraid of him (because he is an aggressive and dominate dog) and left him in his kennel a lot. The dog was 11 months when he got him and vary aggressive. He had to chain him up when people came around in fear that he would bite someone. In the past two years the dog has had a lot of socializing. He works in a shop wer...

I really enjoyed reading your site, & like everyone else, have a few questions. (I hope you don't mind) I had my GSD obedience & protection trained at the Guard Dog Training center, Berkshire Park, NSW Australia, by Fred & Lewana Osmani. When I first approached them Lewana talked to us about dog training, but every question I asked she seemed to cut me off & asked me to buy their video showing what you get. We did & were impressed with what we seen. After 2 weeks (in which they said it wo...

I have purchased your puppy tug, bamboo whip, first steps in bite training video, and now your soft sleeve. I have an 11 month old English Bull dog. He weighs 80lbs. My question is this. Even though he is extremely aggressive towards the tug and the sleeve, I can't seem to get him to bite with a full mouth. He constantly tries to bite with just the front part of his mouth. Is he still too young? His mouth seems to be big enough to handle it. Any suggestions on how to make him grab ...

Hi, I was wondering if you can help me. I have a 3 year old American Bulldog that won't protect the house when I'm gone. But he does when I am there. When I am home he won't let anyone come in. He will protect me but when I am not around he doesn't do anything. Can you tell me what I should do? Dawn

I know you are busy but I would appreciate some feedback from you regarding treat rewards. I am currently training my two year old rott/shepherd mix, a family pet, and will soon start training a GSD for police work - I'm a deputy sheriff in Oregon. I've done my homework on many different types of training methods. Most seem to be useless for my purposes. I doubt a strong tempered/dominate dog would really respond to those types of training which are geared for the politically corre...

I am interested in becoming a trainer. I used to go with a family member every week while he worked his GSD, so I am not new to the sport but I am a new to training. I own an American Bulldog from good lines now and I am working him, and I have a female puppy coming as of June this year and she is from excellent lines and I am going to work her. I am interested in becoming a trainer/agitator for other people. What advice would you have for me? I live in Weymouth, Ma. Scott

Last night at our Schutzhund Club practice here a member brought by a 15 month old bull mastiff. I have a rottweiler of the same age, and because neither were trained or worked with earlier, neither have much prey or any defensive drive. Do you have any videos or books or advice that deal directly with this problem? Some people do not have the ability or desire to purchase another dog/puppy, but desire to work with the dog they have. Is there anything that they can do? Mike

I have a male GSD that I have started trailing work with for SAR. I would also like to get into one of the Protection sports, such as NAPD. My questions is this: Can a protection dog be used in an SAR environment? People have hold me that he would be fine for trailing, but could not be trusted, due to his bite work, in air-scenting, when he is running free.

My husband and I are opening a shop. My husband wants to get a dog that will offer some protection when we are not there. He is talking about "perimeter training" the dog. I think by this he means that the dog will guard the property in the night. He says to train a dog to do this, the trainer uses vinegar and sprays the dog with it. He says this is only done at night, so that when customers come into the shop during the day the dog will not attack. Is this the proper method to use? And c...

Will it be a problem using a friend of mine as my dogs helper for bite training, concerning being around my dog when we are not working? Thanks, Sean

I've been doing agitation work, and training my dog for the past 6 months now. To better my knowledge as an agitator, and trainer I've recently purchased a couple of your training tapes, and numerous books on the subject. I've come to the conclusion that I've been caught up in a bit of a scam. It's a combination obedience-protection class. One Hour of obedience (mostly healing) immediately followed by bite work. The class contains approximately 15 dogs. All dogs are present during ...

I have a 10 1/2 month old female German Shepherd. Is it possible to over socialize a dog? If so, I think I did this. My dog LOVES everyone. I take her to meet a lot of people, and there're are a lot of family and friends coming to our house on a daily basis. She does not bark when our doorbell rings, and when it does ring she runs to the door tail wagging and ears pinned back. My problem is that I do want her to start protecting the house w/o being a killer dog. (I have 3 children). She t...