Obedience Q&As

Hi Cindy, I have several Michael Ellis DVDs purchased from Leerburg and really enjoy them. My problem is I have been working on the retrieve and send away (Michael Ellis way)?but recently, when I tell my female to "bring" the dumbell, she thinks all she has to do is go out and touch it (like in the send away) and come back for a tug reward. She was doing good until now. I think I will quit working the send away until she gets the retrieve down better but I am looking for help to solve ...

Cindy, I have a client who just purchased a super nice male pup from us. They have 25-30 chickens and want to introduce him to the chickens... What would you suggest as the best way to do this? Thanks in advance.

Hi Cindy, All my training and rehab experience has been with dogs over eight months. I have the opportunity to add a 5-month-old working Malinois to our pack. My question regards standardized leash work and pack walks. We walk twice daily on average, a minimum 3.5 miles or 7 miles daily. With a pup under eight months, how much walking exercise can they handle? Not ruining growth plates, or hips in early development? I need advice on daily exercise.

Cindy, Can you tell me how you set up your training sessions? For example, do you work on only one exercise at a time? Do you go over learned behaviors and then teach new behaviors? As a trainer, I do the familiar exercises, then the new stuff, then go back to an exercise the dog does really well, so we can end on a positive note. How do you set up your sessions? How long do they run? How many minutes do your sessions run? How frequently? 7 days a week? 5? 3? Thank you for your input.

First, let me say all of your videos/articles on engagement have made my life much easier, but I've run into something where I'm stumped, as is everyone at the dog school where I take agility. My 2-year-old Pit runs great for me at home and everywhere, except our dog school, where she will run for everyone but me. When I walk in the main agility ring with her, she stops and looks like I'm about to beat her. I can do my engagement exercises with her and get her engaged and playing with me,...

My compliments to you both for such an informative website! I have a 6-month-old high prey drive GS female. I've been doing the marker training since she was 9 weeks old with excellent results. I've purchased several videos including the "Tug" and "Retrieve." I've used the food throwing and rewarding inside and outside with great results. She will bring the tug back promptly inside without a leash, outside on a long leash, but when off leash outside she will stop about 3 to 5 feet and ...

Hi Cindy, Your training DVD products look terrific. Let me give you our background (wife and I). We have had dogs in the past but never trained them to do any more than sit or fetch. Our shepherd mix is 13 and not doing well. We will probably put her down soon. I just got an 8-week-old Belgian Malinois girl. Her father was a police dog and mother a personal protection dog. I am in the military (guard) and my wife will be a stay at home wife after this school year ends. My desire is to ...

Hi, I'm trying to find a answer to my GD that has decreased his like in eating raw. He is going to be 3 years old in June. I got him when he was 4 months old as a rescue. He had demodex mange and was yellow from all the mess they had him on trying to treat the mange and his GI problems. I put him on raw and has been doing great ever since. He was never a big chicken eater. I went through the necks, back, thighs, leg quarters stage. That is he would eat it for a while, then not like it a...

Hi, I have watched both The Power of Playing Tug with Your Dog and Advanced Concepts in Motivation. I am a couple of weeks into implementing the techniques with my own dog and I have a question about growling--is it good or bad that she growls when we tug? If it's a bad thing, how do I address the issue? When I release the tug and run away from her she comes charging back to at me--she will even jump towards me with the toy in her mouth. She growls while we are tugging, while she is jumpi...

Good Morning, We are raw feeding our 5 month GSD. He absolutely hates sardines. We have tried food processing, blending, whole frozen raw, chopped raw, and mixing them with all sorts of foods. No results. Any suggestion would be appreciated. Thanks. Ron

About two weeks ago, I made the switch over to the raw diet for my 3 dogs. The two older dogs I switched cold turkey but the young Malinois, I am switching gradually. I am giving them raw veggies & fruits, ground meat, fresh chicken with bones, some yogurt, some cottage cheese, occasional egg. Plus I bought the Honest Kitchen product you add meat to. They love me!!! I have never had this much excitement at meal time. My question is with regards to possible low blood sugar. My two older do...

Cindy, I bought your Nosework DVD and I trained my dog. He did well in the first session, but the second session, he started using his eyes to search in the drawer spots. For example, when I put the food in spot 3 after several times in spot 1 and 2, he just immediately went to three using his eyes and not his nose, then after that he lost interest. What should I do?

I got a 6-month-old male German Rottweiler I got from a good breeder when he was 10 weeks old. We set up a crate that with a doggie door that goes outside. So basically, he is in and out all the time. I try to put a collar on him (since we got him) but he fussed too much. He runs away, uses his mouth to warn us... does a hand bite but doesn't bite down (I yell loud no). Since he goes in his crate, it is not a good idea to have his collar on him all the time (strangulation) so we take it o...

Hi Cindy, I have been teaching competition obedience, rally, agility and puppy foundation classes for 17+ years using mostly positive training methods (reward based) training. Over the years, I have had to take a client's dog and show them something; like a collar correction or how to help the dog into the down position (just to name a few things I've had to show the owners). I have had much success with mostly all experiences showing clients how to handle their dog better but occasi...

You had stated that to train puppies to do protection/Schutzhund, play is important. Tug-of-war and fetch ball are recommended. Now it is said to play tug with them and let them "win". But isn't it a contradiction because if you let them win, then in their minds, they just became Alpha. How can you become pack leader and let them win and play-train for protection? Thank you

Hi, I have a question that I hope you can guide me to the correct source... I have a question about training my new GSP puppy (4.5 months old) from getting kicked by my gelding. My goal is to go riding with the dog on trail. Do you have a reliable source as to how to properly approach this topic? My horse isn't a kicker--and my pup does respect him (the horse). But, all my work thus so far has been done on leash (introductions, etc.). I'm thinking about purchasing a Dogtra ecollar (...

Hi Cindy, I was watching Michael Ellis' Focused Heeling DVD and it raised a question for me. In many pet obedience situations, we try to fade the lure as quickly as possible. I understand the reasoning for maintaining the lure for muscle memory, especially in heel work. I was wondering, in competitive training, if you prefer to do the same when building muscle memory for downs, sits, and other commands. I could see the benefit in the repetition for building better responses, then naming wh...

This is mentioned in the tug DVD with Michael Ellis. There is a trainer, Rhonda, I believe, that has a 7 month old female that will not play with her with the tug but engages when she slips on the puppy sleeve... Ed mentions that Rhonda was able to correct this with some hard work.... but it's never revealed what that actually was... I have the same problem that I created out of ignorance (this is my first dog) and I'd like to work on correcting it. Thx

I spent a lot of time training my 20 month old German Shepherd in AKC Novice obedience. I felt we where ready for the ring. Ugly 2 days, would not sit on the stops, did not heal close, left me on the about turns. It was like she was in another place. She did stand, long sits and downs. On the recall she which was one of her strongest-came sat off to the side and did not finish. I took her out this morning and she did great. I already ordered the DVD on jumps thinking we where ready too move o...

Hi Cindy, I'm a bit confused about the rules on puppies with toys. Ed says in several of his videos that the toys are his, and that he doesn't allow the pups to keep them. Yet in the ex pen video, there are toys in the pens that he says he rotates every 2 days. Can I get some clarification on this? My high prey drive GS pup is really getting bored. She's 9 weeks old. I am on steroid inhalers for asthma and the skin on my arms is very thin. Due to my pup being so mouthy, my arms are band...