Obedience Q&As

Hello, I have a dog that has the largest prey drive and the strongest body I have ever had to deal with. He wants to go after every cat, squirrel and small yappy barking growling dog. He pulls all of the time not some of the time even with the prong collar on. I am not strong enough to hold him next to me and walk by me as I have buldging disks in my neck and back. When I try to resist him it hurts me. I have tried the halti collar and it did not work. I also have the gentle...

Dear Cindy, My wife and I have just adopted a rescue dog named Trouble. He is a 6 year old toy poodle. We also have another 4 year old toy. Trouble has bonded with my wife. He seems to be very cautious towards men. He is very scared of me and runs when ever I go near him. I keep a happy tone of voice when ever I speak to him. How do I gain his trust?

Hello. While searching the internet for "2 weeks after Neuter. my black lab is attacking me," I found your website and information on why dogs attack. I called one of your staff members today and told her my plight, she didn't know the answer so she guided me to your email address. Of all the websites I've searched, and all the phone calls I've made, some how, I've been lured to your site. Anyway, here is my story: 2 weeks ago, I went to the local humane Soc...

Dear Mr. Frawley: I have inquired with other trainers who have not helped me in my situation: One year ago I rescued a sweet 1 year old 100 lb. white Field Lab who is very, very laid back, sweet and wonderful. However, he does not get enough exercise even though I have a fenced in back yard. I take him to the doggy park but all he does is just lay on the cement and watch the other dogs. My problem is (I have a one story ranch) my basement is unfinished but I cannot get him to go do...

Hi, I was told about your DVDs by a dog trainer. We just adopted a 3 year old husky from the shelter, who counting us is now on the 5th home. She was given up by a couple in a divorce, given to a friend where she killed 2 cats, sent to the shelter and returned because of escape problems. I see no escape problems because I know she just doesn't know where she belongs and is scared of being left again. She did however in the first 3 hours of her coming home with us, she attack...

I have a two year old German Shepherd. This is a rescue dog that we have had a little over a week. It has jumped over my block wall several times. I have extended the wall height where I could. I would like to put an invisible fence on the wall. The German Shepherd Rescue of Orange County said you had a video on training for the invisible fence. I could not find it. I am assuming the Remote collar training is the one they were talking about. It is fine when we are around, but within minut...

Ed and Cindy, My name is Shona and I have been training SAR dogs for several years. We also rescue dogs, clean them up, put some obedience training under them and find them good homes. We were recently contacted about a pair of 8 week old wolf pups. When we went to pick them up the man told us he had given the pups an attitude adjustment. He also had the parents and a sister and brother from another litter. The male 2 year old was so scared he ran around trying to get away form eve...

I have read with interest your discussions on hybrids. I adopted a 6 month old male pup from our local SPCA in December. He was described as a ?White German Shepherd mix,? but looked pure bred to me at the time. I currently own a female GSD which I obtained from a breeder at 9 weeks of age. As Diablo (the male) has grown and developed the last 3 months, his body shape, fur, facial structure, some behaviors, and comments from other ?dog people? have led us to suspect he may be a low conte...

Good morning. I have searched the Q&A section and I have read about introducing a dog to the resident cats & your philosophy of dog training. I plan to do much more reading now that I have found your site. Here is my situation & I am hoping you can offer some advice? I am considering adopting a 6 month old Doberman Shepherd cross. She is in a shelter, found as a stray with her 2 sisters. She is good with other dogs & cats and unknown with young children. (I have 2 cat...

Hi Cindy, I have in the last 2 weeks taken in a rescue Aussie, I have my own Aussies. She was purchased at auction by Aussie rescue and was a puppy mill mom for an unknown amount of time. She is totally un social, doesn't care for or want attention. If given her own choice she would lay in a crate or dog house forever and not move. But I don't want that for her I want to at least make her secure or trust a little. Everyday it's like the first day she has seen me she cowers, ducks t...

You came highly recommended by a coworker and I could really use your advice. Last Saturday we picked up an 11 month old Australian Shepherd / Shih Tzu mix from the SPCA after being spayed. I have two girls one 8 and one 12 and a 13 year old cat. So far the cat and dog definitely do not get along and the dog has gone from constant submissive urination to becoming aggressive, hyper and even destructive. Unfortunately, I have had her crated all night and then again during the day while we w...

Hello, I've read your information on aggressive dogs, but I didn't find anything that quite matched my situation, so I thought I'd see if you could give me some advice. My husband and I adopted a rescue dog last year. The dog is neutered, about two years old now and weighs 40 pounds. Over the past year, our dog (a mix, the vet thinks he could possibly be a shepherd/beagle) has taken an obedience class and had to stay at a kennel for a weekend when we were out of town, and in...

Good Morning, I am hoping that you can help me with what I believe is an unusual situation. Almost two months ago, we found a Shiba Inu running stray in our community... she was in beautiful shape but very skittish, scared, impossible to catch. We called every agency, checked every website, nobody was looking for her. My teenage children and I set out to gain her trust - it took over a month, but we were able to catch her in a crate - we had anticipated a bad reaction, but she ha...

After finding your website today I have discovered I have been doing a lot of things right when training our new stray and I have even more to learn. I plan to order the basic training DVD as well as one of the books. I loved when you said "Don't take a completely untrained dog to obedience class!" I had planned to wait about a month, or until he masters sit, stay, come, lay down and leash walking with me in the house, neighborhood and yard, and many of your comments confirmed what I ...

I have searched several forums to find some info on aggression issues in shelter dogs and haven't found anything specific to a rescue dog. We rescued a Sheppard last May and he has aggression issues with my 14 yr old daughter. We are not sure why this is happening only with her, we also have a 12 yr old son whom he has no problem with. He has bitten her about 4 times up to now and he strikes without provocation. We don't have much history on this dog as he has been in & out of shelter...

Hi Ed, I have great respect for your knowledge on dogs and am learning much from your articles and DVDs. Since I moved to TN to care for my elderly mother 3 years ago, I have acquired over 40 drop-off dogs and various other animals. We live in the country and needless to say there are many drop-offs (abandoned, abused and/or starved) in this economically depressed area. Many of the counties here have no shelters, including this one. And the lack of education, exposure and wi...

We just adopted a GS who is probably About 5-6 mos. Old. She was a stray and had lived with a family for a couple of months and they wanted to give her up to a good home because they already had 2 dogs. We've only had her a day, but we want to start out right. She is very shy and timid. We finally coaxed her into her crate and now she won't come out. She has always lived outside. We would like for her to live inside with us and our other dog who is a 5 yr. old mix breed. We have a collar ...

I just found your site and read most of it. I think it's given me some hope with my dog Woo, but I still have some questions. Woo is a 2 1/2 year old (approximately) pit bull mix. I've owned her about a year. Her original owners abused her pretty horribly, and then her " rescuers" neglected her to the point of abuse. Her first owners set her on fire. Amazingly she survived, and was taken in by some acquaintances of mine who were running a dog rescue. They're good people, and meant ...

We just adopted a GS who is probably About 5-6 mos. Old. She was a stray and had lived with a family for a couple of months and they wanted to give her up to a good home because they already had 2 dogs. We've only had her a day, but we want to start out right. She is very shy and timid. We finally coaxed her into her crate and now she won't come out. She has always lived outside. We would like for her to live inside with us and our other dog who is a 5 yr. old mix breed. We have a collar ...

Two weeks ago we adopted a 3 1/2 yr. Golden Labrador dog for free, from a reputable kennel. Before deciding on the dog, we asked: - Is he well behaved around people, other animals? Since we have 2 children, 2 birds & a cat, the dog had to have an excellent temperament around other animals and children. - Knowledge of commands, what? - Name, Address & Number of previous owner. - Medical History, shots, neutered, dates shots were last administered. - Exact breed lineage. - V...