Obedience Q&As

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...

Forgive me if this question has been answered on your web site - I couldn't find it. I have a 16 week old German Shepherd from German working lines. I have trained her to ride beside my bike (at a pretty slow pace). She seems to enjoy the experience, but now I have heard conflicting advice on whether it is hard on her hips and according to some I could cripple her by putting stress on her growing joints. Her vet didn't have an opinion. We only ride for about 20 minutes (at a time) ...

Hello, This is in the comment section of my order I placed earlier today but I was not sure if it would reach you, so am cc'ing it to you both as well. I also wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for your extremely informative site, I have been reading articles and watching the streaming videos obsessively ever since I stumbled across it! I am purchasing the Bernhard Fink dvd's to help me begin training with my new Doberman puppy towards Schutzhund. The pup is 4 months old. ...

Hello Cindy! I just got almost $500 worth of your good DVDs. I have seen 2 of them and they are the best. My question for you Cindy is: I have a 2 story house and is it OK for me to let my 8 week old pup go up or down the flight of stairs (about 20 of them) on leash - will this have the potential to mess up his hips and elbows? Or should I just carry him up or down until he is a little older? If this is the case, how old should he be until I let him up or down by himself? Also, is it OK to le...

I recently purchased your Establishing Pack Structure with The Family Pet DVD. I am a bit confused compared to what I was told by others for Schutzhund Sport Dog. I was told don't control the young dog until it is 1 year old because it will suppress the drive. When a young dog comes out from the crate, should I play with the dog to imprint the bite work so that when the dog reaches maturity and it is ready for the formal protection training, the performance will be better? However,...

Hello Cindy, I will be bringing my working puppy home next weekend. I know you should not leave toys with a working dog according to the "Raising a Working Puppy" video. Can you tell me a few items that I can leave with the puppy while he is in his crate or kennel for a few hours at a time? I believe Ed mentioned giving a Knuckle Bone. Thanks.

Hi Cindy, I have a dobe pup 8 months old that has just started her first heat cycle. For the last 2 weeks or so her behavior has completely changed. I have been working on attention and the beginning phases of heeling and she was doing great. Now and for the past 2 or 3 weeks its like I've never taken her out of the yard. All she does is sniff the ground and look everywhere but at me. Is this normal for their first cycle or is she going through something else. I have cut her feedin...

I purchased "How to raise a working puppy." I want to build their drive; I'm concerned that the "Drive & Focus" video won't help. The pups are ~6mos. I've started to seperate them over the past few weeks (especially in the yard), they do alot of whinning. What am I not doing? Or what should I be doing? One is food motivated the other isn't. I take them to the local bus/subway station and playground to expose them I even have them watch schutzhund bitework. Can you help? Thank you, ...

Hi, I have to Presa Canario pups ( 5.5 month - female, 6.5 month - male) that I want to train for protection. My female is more timid than the male. I need to know the basics on how to get them acclimated to increase there drive and educate myself on how to schutzhund train. I have done it with other dogs but I'm a novice and need formal training. What do you recommend from your video line? Patrick

Hello, My name is Kipp, I am about to get my very first Doberman Pincher puppy. I have had 2 puppies in my life both being min pin, this will be my first large dog which I have wanted since I was young. I have spent the last 2 years or so doing research on the breed and finding a good breeder and resources. I myself am a police officer who is currently in between departments and I have the hopes of hopefully being a K9 officer with a Doberman (even though I know this is rare). With...

Hi Cindy or Ed, First I want to thank you for all the great info and products available via your website and secondly thank you for taking the time to answer the numerous emails I am sure you get. I am pretty sure I have answered my own? but want to run it by you before moving on. I have raised quite a few young dogs, conformation, herding, and more recently a great group of sighthounds. I have only had one dog that I had wished to pursue sch. work with but I had made the de...

I have a 9 month old Staffordshire Bull pup, spayed F. She has taken puppy class, 3 competition obedience classes, rally lessons, and foundation agility classes. She got her CGC at 5 months. I got her as a 14 week pup from a shelter already spayed. She is highly social with people and dogs and has been everywhere. Problem: Occasionally she gets freaked out about stupid things. Today, it was a leaf stem with cotton on it. She barked and growled at it and circled it for a coup...