Obedience Q&As

Can a dog be reconditioned to enjoy working through marker training if its previous owner used compulsion training? I have an adopted dog who I believe was trained using compulsion and is very timid or cautious when training, I can tell she is afraid to make a mistake. I adopted her at about 1 year old, she looked pretty neglected, but is smart as a whip. Thanks, Sharon

Cindy, I have written to you in the past about my high drive Doberman who last summer fractured his patella while hiking with him in the woods. I had asked you about what to do about him chasing everything that moves. I do use an e-collar with him for previously he had gotten into the habbit of chasing bikers and joggers in the woods. That has ended. You had told me to use the leave it command for ANY chase behaviour which I can control at this point. But I feel like I am always saying it,...

Dear Ed, I wrote to you before sometime ago about herding GSDs. I have a very young bitch who is quite promising in herding with strong schutzhund lines and herding lines in her pedigree. She is working a two sided border rather independently on a long line, but from time to time she is still breaking in on the sheep. In herding, it is acceptable for a grip on the sheep when appropriate, the problem we have is, Janna our girl has a great grip and in the proper places on the sheep. She is a...

I was told that if you feed dogs raw meat, they will become vicious and kill animals. Is this true?

Cindy - I first started feeding a raw diet to my black lab based on what I read from your website. I recently started feeding a raw diet again, and have a question based on what I've seen so far. I just started and am on the 5th day. What I have been doing is feeding the remaining dry dog food in the morning, and then cut up deer meat in the afternoon. The dogs stools are REALLY foul smelling and come out in a big blob of gelatinous looking material. Today, I looked closer, and t...

Hi Cindy: We are breeders of Labradors and are planning to build a kennel and expand. I am very interested in going all natural with the dogs as we have with our cattle but don't know where to begin. Can you recommend and resources to me?

I have received the products that I ordered. I have been reading the Natural nutrition book since yesterday and I am anxious to get started. My two year old lab is on antibiotics and steroids because of severe itching. He is on the last few days of this and I want to get him onto the natural diet as soon as possible. I do not want to have to use this course of action again! Do you have a suggested source for the digestive enzyme for dogs and for the non-dairy probiotic? I want to help my w...

Hi Ed, I have been reading about natural food options for our canine pets on your web site with great interest. My house and work dog both appear healthy and happy but I see little things that bother me about their commercial food diet. With that in mind I wanted to share a little insight that I have. While in college, I, like most students, would work anywhere to make tuition money. A job that I held for nearly 5 years was in a medium size slaughterhouse. On any given day w...

Dear Mr. Frawley, I have combed through and searched information on my specific question over your website, and I have not found one that deals with this question, I even looked up some that may go over a similar scenario and answer this, but I haven't found it. I apologize if you have encountered this before. I have a year old german shepherd that i purchased naively from a so-called "breeder." I was new to the GSD world, and it is as much my fault for not being more inform...

Cindy, I am soon, be getting a GSD pup which I intend to train and use for SAR work. I am receiving conflicting information as to how the dog should be raised on a day to day basis. People who have a large number of dogs, ie. (far too many to keep them all in the house) say that after the initial socialization process, I should kennel my dog, taking him out 3-4 times a day to train and play, followed my an hour or so in the house, to learn indoor manners. I'm told that this ...

Cindy, I have had a German Shepherd for 8 years and thoroughly enjoyed him, and have loved training him. I have been able to put a toy or food over to the side and he will focus on me and work like crazy, knowing that he will eventually get it. Showing that he can engage and refocus even when there is something he wants, and he knows its just 10 feet away, in clear view. He has been un-demanding in the house, waiting until I can go out, play or train. I guess you would say he is n...

Hi Cindy, I have a 13 week old female German Shepherd. I have the Michael Ellis DVDs, and overall she is doing great with them. Currently we are on the engagement stages still, and she is doing better and better, but still has some focus issues. She stays focused most of the time, but I have to watch her closely or sometimes she will check out and it takes direct interaction to get her back (Eg, food passing nose, small pop on leash, etc). Note that this is in familiar environments...

Hello, We bought a 3.5 month old GSD pup for the purpose of training for narcotics detection/tracking work. When we chose her out of her litter we checked temperament and drives. She is a very bold, strong headed, intelligent girl. She had somewhat a short attention span but was very enthusiastic over treats, toys and handler praise. She loved to hoard her toys, chase them and tug a little. We tested with and without her littermates and breeder around. I have been working on...

Cindy, I spoke with Dona today concerning what direction to take in the training of a boxer puppy. My wife and I have no children, live in a house in TN, and both work full time. This will be our third boxer with Kasha passing at 13 in Oct of 2009 and Magnus is 9 and has excellent health. We own several retail furniture stores and Magnus is a regular 'employee' at the stores. I personally trained both dogs using a book that advocated the same techniques Ed uses for obedience and pr...

Hi Cindy, First I want thank you the hard work you, Ed and the rest of your team all the long hours you must put in to make this world a better place for dogs and their handlers. I was lost trying to do training with the new fad of trainers using halties and other training methods that were not working. I had a young mal and she was a handful. I stumbled on your site and was saved from daily frustration. Between you and Michael Ellis, I now have a wonderful SAR wilderness dog. My ...

Cindy, My husband and I are working with our GSD who is still just a young puppy on things like beginning bite work, basic obedience etc. We intend to work with a professional in the future on protection work. However, right now I have one question as I am not new to training but new to protection work. We are using English words for come, down, sit, and stay. We plan to use german commands for bite, watch/guard, etc. My question then is that I am not sure if the speak comm...

Hi Cindy & Ed, I purchased a german rottwieler pup to raise for personal protection. She is just over 7 weeks and I've had her for 6 days. I studied the video your puppy 8 weeks to 8 months before I got her home and been doing much of the training shown in the video with moderate success. I have established a value for yes, and the pup is consistent with the touch command. I am an amature handler under the supervision of my husband who has a great deal of training experience. My co...

Cindy, What's the deal with having the dogs return on recall to "between the legs" facing forward? Is this a new fad or what? I realize in protection you don't want the dog to "front" and take it's attention off the decoy, but why not to heel position? Karen

We are getting a puppy next month and plan to eventually do protection work with him--this will be our first time. We have watched the following DVDs: Your Puppy 8 wks to 8 months, Basic Dog Obedience, Pack Structure for the family pet, Raising a working puppy, Building Drive & Focus, and the First Steps of Bite Training. I have spent a lot of time on the website reading and trying to put it all together but I am still so confused! For example, in one of the Q&As it says bite work can ...

I have an alaskan husky who is 17 months old. He is a sled dog from racing lines- leaders bred to leaders. I am training him to skijor, and one of the most important things a skijor dog must do is be willing to lead, pull steadily, avoid distractions. I know many trainers say you should always walk in front of your dog to show you are the pack leader. What's your take on this, when I've been training my dog to pull in front, but still respond to my commands from puppyhood? Do you a...