Obedience Q&As

Hi, First off, I have purchased many of your videos, and I have learned so much from them. I watch them over and over to be sure that my mind has absorbed every inch of what you are teaching. I'm writing to you because I have an issue that I would so appreciate your expert advice on. I have a 6-month-old male Malinois and a 3-year-old female Chihuahua. I have had the Malinois since he was 8 weeks old and introduced the Malinois to the Chihuahua, and they get along well. ...

Dear Cindy, I know how busy you must be, but I need some help deciding. I have bought the DVD's on raising a working puppy and basic obedience training and I love them! Our puppy is a 5 month old Bouvier des Flanders. We are going to Estes Park Colorado for a family vacation for 11 days, flying out there and staying in a cabin that will allow for pets. I am highly concerned on whether or not to take our pup with us. I am afraid if I don't, it may effect her the rest of her l...

Interesting that the AKC has developed a working dog title. Didn't they previously have a policy that they would not permit any dog sport that 'allowed a dog to bite a human being'? I'm paraphrasing of course. I'm all for working dog titles and as soon as my breeder in Canada can produce a good working Black Russian Terrier male, I will be starting my dog down the Schutzhund trail. I might even take a look at AKC working title. Just finished your video on pups 8 weeks to 8 mon...

Hello, I have a 13 month old female GSD and I belong to a local Schutzhund club, recently they started obedience class with the younger dogs. I have your video on Basic Obedience and Building Drive and Focus and many more, my problem is she is distracted in the obedience class by other dogs, at home and alone her drive and focus is great. In your video Basic Obedience you say you don't care for these classes because they are crank and pull, should I discontinue these classes and work more...

Hello, I recently found your site and it is a wealth of great information. We are the proud owners of an eight-week old Bull-Boxer and I have been scouring the net for information on the best way to train her. I am certainly not a dog trainer, outside of training my dogs to hunt birds. It does not take a rocket scientist to train a Lab to pheasant hunt. In fact, I gave him most of the credit for training me how to pheasant hunt. My wife wanted a dog that could offe...

How can I divide obedience training in a puppy of 8 weeks and prey drive development using your DVD bite training puppies. What I am really asking is how can I do both things at the same time? Can you give me certain times in a day I can do obedience training and prey drive development?

Hi, my name is Jose and am very active in all the training products and information on the forum. I have a problem that I cannot seem to get the answer for. I have a four month GS and have been introducing the sit. My problem is that my puppy seems to sit away from me. I try not to reach out to feed him and have tried putting his rear up against a wall as well, but he begins to role his hip when up against the wall. I have also tried a short leash in an upward position to try to ge...

We decided on having my boy get a Rally, CGC, and/or CD titles. I am ordering the Basic OB/Pack structure combo. Will these 2 be good enough for the goal I have for my rottie? Also, I got the crate and its set up in the living room right by the back door. I'm being told to have the pup wander around and freely explore the crate on his own. What I gather from your Puppy DVD is to have him enter and close the door and let him learn that he has to be quiet before exiting. Am I correct? Should...

I live in Germany and have a 7 month Italian Cane Corso, I had to be very careful when selecting the breeder as I found out that this breed had a couple of standard controversies, causing many breeders ( for expo and other dumb reasons) to breed dogs without taking in consideration the character and temperament of the animal. This breed ( coming from the right lines ) is excellent for guard, protection, and also in SCH. Being a mastiff it matures slowly. My dog has been respondin...

Hi Ed- I have many of your DVD's. I am a member of your forum. I have a problem with this pup. I need some expert advice. I've owned working import bloodline Rotts and GSD my whole life. I am 60 years old and consider myself experienced with handling these type dogs. I used to be a Koehler type trainer but over the years have changed my methods to more middle of the road. I have a super hard male Dutch Shepherd pup. I've had this pup for two months. I am the center of this dogs life. I sp...

Hello, I have watched the video I purchased, Basic Obedience Training, over and over. The introduction on how the dog thinks was very informative for me. Even though we have had many dogs, I have tended to train them the same as I would my horses. Mistake. I own an 18 month old male Belgian Malinois. I can see why the breeder was so careful on "placing" him with us. They are wonderful smart dogs that could quickly rule the roost if the owner wasn't consistent. He i...

Hello, I recently purchased some of your DVDs; Building Drive and Focus, Bite Training for Puppies, and The First Steps of Bite Training. I plan to follow up with the first steps of defense and training personal protection dogs. I find them very informative and very well done. I have a couple of questions that I would like your insight on. The first is I have a GSD that is 20 weeks old. He is very smart, obeys commands sit, stay, retrieve, leads well sits in the kennel while I go out fir...

Dear Mr. Frawley, I am a long time member of your discussion board and have purchased items from your website. My question for you is about my 14 week old female rottweiler pup. I would like to know what you think of her nerves at this stage in her life. I have a fully protection trained male adult rott that we train with at a PSA club here in town that has such strong nerve I couldn't mess him up if I tried. We plan to protection train this pup as well. The pup comes from s...

I read about your natural diet which I agree with, but then you sell or support treats for (marking training) made with molasses. Should I use something else, like cut up hot dog? "Do not feed a dog any sugar. Sugar increases a dog's chances of getting cancer. Sugar is made when dogs eat things like sugar beets, molasses, grains or dairy products." Thanks, Mitch

Hi Ed and Cindy. Thank you for all the help. I have a question about engagement. I wish I could just buy the DVD: The Power of Training Dogs with Food, but I just cannot afford it right now. My question is: what am I looking for in my dog when he is engaged? Will he be focused on me and me only even in new environments? Or does engagement mean that he will cooperate just enough so that I can teach him a new position even though he may be a little distracted? And also ...

Hi Cindy, I've been working on engagement with my dogs after watching Michael Ellis' "The Power of Training Dogs with Food." They are all doing wonderfully and I'm very happy with the results. I've run into a small "problem" that I'm not sure how to resolve. The dogs are so engaged that when we go out for bathroom breaks, they will not leave me long enough to go to the bathroom. I certainly don't want to discourage their attention. Do you just not reward until after they've taken c...

Hi Cindy Love your website. It's very helpful and interesting to read. You guys are very busy and devoted to your dogs; that's why I hate to bother you with such a trivial question...But! I see on your website that you have several training treats available to purchase. My 1 1/2 year old, male GDS is on a raw diet. Is there a training treat that you prefer to use? So far I've just used string cheese or boiled chicken. We purchased the DVD package that contains the marker trainin...

Thank you Cindy for replying to my previous message. I purchased three of the six DVDs (puppy 8 weeks/months and both power of training with food & markers) you suggested and the training equipment/toys. They have been great!!! I love them and have learned a lot. The Power of Training with Markers is fantastic, but the one with Training with Food, wow! Fantastic, Michael had me realize I needed to put the brakes on my training and spend more time on engagement. I am also planning t...

I have bought a lot of your DVDs and soon will be buying (dealing with dominant and aggresive dogs and e-collor training and michael ellis playing tug with your dog). Ed's DVDs have been a big help. I had a question regarding corrections on a dominant dog and if you have time to answer I would appreciate it. I have a dominant 15 month female GSD who I have been useing mostly positive training methods such as marker training. I have been slowly adding distractions and corrections to her tr...

Dear Mr Frawley, Thank you very much for the HUGELY informative web pages helping us with dog training problems. I am I am training a two year old Samoyed male for obedience. He appears to want to learn the exercises we are training and definitely has enthusiasm for what we are doing. However, the heel work is not up to scratch. He starts off "alright" and very quickly tries to "change the subject." He will hang his head and trail along for a few steps, then decide to catc...