Obedience Q&As

Dear Friends, I was so happy when I found your web site. Our family recently expanded with a new member, our new "baby" GS puppy.She is beautiful and only four month's old.We love her so much, our Bella. When we brought her home both of her ears are fine and our friends kept teasing us that we have a new "satellite" dish.But, we don't know what happened and her left ear 'flopped' two days ago. Could you tell us if that is ok for now and when we should tape it? ...

Hi Ed, I recently found your website and am so glad that I did. Like so many other folks out there, I fell victim to the idea that puppies need to be socialized with other dogs when they are little to ensure that they get along with them in the future. In fact of all the web sites out there, yours is probably the only one that says otherwise. My puppy is currently 9 weeks old. He is the sweetest little guy and loves other dogs. But other dogs hate him. At first, because I th...

Hello ! We live in Finland, in an apartment and we bought a GSD male puppy which is now 3.5 months old, we got him when he was 10 weeks old. This puppy is wonderful, he is very alert has high prey and food drive, he already knows to sit, lay down, come and sit infront of us with an order and stay sitting in his crate until we allow him to come out (when we open the crate), he is a very smart puppy. We use marking training and he obeys the orders very fastly and alertly and I always teach h...

Hi Cindy and Ed, I love your website and training dvd's and free information as well as the quality products you guys sell over there. Is there a "proper" or "best" way that you can recommend to introduce a dog to a swimming pool? I have a year and a half old chow/lab mix that I got from the dog shelter 9 months ago. She swims just fine but does not like going in the pool. I have brought her in using chicken as a reward but she still doe not like it. She goes into the...

Hi Ed, I have been reading your articles and been searching the discussion forum as well but I was unable to find the answer to a question I have about socialization. I have a GSD puppy arriving in a few weeks and have been watching your Basic Dog Obedience DVD. I have read your article on dog parks and am glad I did. I also read that you do not recommend having your dogs interact with any unfamiliar dogs along with very few people as well (Who Should Pet My Puppy?). Not knowing ve...

Hello, Several weeks ago I was lucky enough to have come upon your website. I found it so fascinating that I have spent hours reading dozens and dozens of its articles. Your insight into the thinking dogs is in many ways unique and I have come to the conclusion, accurate although it differs from so many traditional views. I have already purchased several DVDs and books ("Your Puppy 8 weeks to 8 Months," "Basic Obedience," "Raw Dog Food," etc.) and consider them tremendously helpful...

It was recommended that I buy your videos by our breeder. I now have a pup who is being crate trained. He screamed for a few days. Now he is quiet intermittently. At what point do I start interacting with him? I think that he was dominant in his own litter and is pushy at 8 weeks. He is also quick to get snotty. I know, because when I first got him, I let him do too much socializing with the family. Then I started the heavy duty crate breaking. Now that he is quiet for most of th...

Hello, I enjoy your website a lot and I had a question. We just adopted a 4 month old golden retriever from the humane society 2 days ago. He was picked up as a stray. He seems to be healthy, energetic and very friendly. We've only had him for 2 days so I really havn't had time to do a lot yet, I've been keeping him in a the crate when I'm not playing with him and keeping him on a leash wherever he goes. I know its really early and he barely knows us but this morning he did somethi...

Hi Cindy.. Hope all is well. I have a nine week old puppy that constantly whines. If he is by me, he is quiet, but the instant I leave his sight or go to the store, it's constant whining. There are occasion that even when i am with him, he follows me around whining. His litter mates are nothing like this and only whine when their owners (my brothers and sisters) leave then they settle down. I notice he is not a confident as his littermates. Is this an indication of how he is going to be a...

Hi, I desperately need your help on how I should train my Sheltie, Koko. When we first got him, he was only 8 weeks old; and now he is 11 weeks old. We gave him crate training from the beginning, exactly like you suggested on how it should be done, and Koko learned it well and fast. Eventually we started to let him out on a leash in the kitchen and started training him to give us a "sign" when he needs to go out by sitting in front of the door. It worked out well, and he hasn't had any acc...

Hello, I saw your web site. and had a question. I just recently purchased a GSD pup 4 days ago. He is 8 weeks old. He is a male. He came from german champion lines, so both parents are Schutzhund trained. The question I have is this, at only 8 weeks of age he is dog aggressive with my pom. This bothered me because I would have not expected this behavior in such a young dog. Additionally, the pup growled and barked at my husband and son as they were practicing karate. Is this a concern bas...

Hi, You answered a few questions for me before, I was hoping I could bug you with another one :) Could you give me your thoughts on a puppy training question please. I was thinking about getting a puppy, however everyone in the home is gone during the day. Would it be ok for the pup to leave it outside in a secured dog run with a dog house during the day? Would it be too lonely? Should I leave it food and water while I'm gone? Should I avoid a puppy all together if no one wi...

Hello, My name is Gail and I purchased 'Establishing Pack Structure' from you recently. It was very helpful and I enjoyed it a lot. I purchased the video to help be more prepared for a puppy I had purchased online. The puppy arrived Friday night and he seemed way too small to me. He weighs 8.7 pounds at 2 months. One web site. with a growth chart on German shepherds suggests a puppy should be on average and approximately 19.9 pounds at 2 months. This is a HUGE difference. ...

Hello, I have a male German Shepard that is 5 months old. He weighs 40 lbs. How big should the dog weigh when he is fully grown? His paws are nice size but not very big. Please let me know. He eats three times a day. I give him natural ultra dog food for large breed dogs. Will he be 75 -80 lbs?? Fully grown? Thank you! Eddie

My daughter has 14 week old Black Lab/Border Collie mix pup that she adopted at 9 weeks from a shelter. He is the runt of the litter, a full 5 pounds smaller than his litter mate, adopted by my son, (separate households). Ruben is a very happy, curious, energetic, smart puppy who likes to please and has done well with the limited training he has had thus far. My question arises because of something said by the teacher of the "puppy socialization class" the pups just entered. When a...

Hi Cindy, My name is Nick and I have a 61/2 year old female boxer. I feed her raw beef, raw turkey necks, dry beef as treats and very little dog food(Canidae). Her stool is very hard (like golf balls), especially in the morning. How can I help her having a softer stool? Thank you, Nick

Hi there, I live in an apt. in New York City with 4 other people. I just got a boston terrier puppy that is 11 weeks old. I am very concerned about my roommates handling my puppy...I need to limit their interaction with him and I don't want to come off as selfish or over protective. I work during the day, but I am close enough to my apt. that I can run home and lunch time to take him out and feed him, and play a bit. But often I am not the first roommate home in the evening...do I ...

Dear Cindy, We have corresponded recently, and you have been very helpful. also, I have several DVDs from leerburg. I now have a mal pup 10 weeks, and am trying with all my might to train her. she is extremely protective already after 2 days and my question is: how and when should I teach her that she can stop barking/being protective when a visitor arrives, etc. also, when someone walks past my office she barks. So far I say shhh with a hand signal to stop the barking, and ...

Hi there. A friend of mine at work gave me the link to your web site. I have a long coated shepherd myself. He's 16 months old right now. I also have a black and tan standard coat, and a white shepherd. Chaos, our long coated shepherd is one of the best GSD's that I have ever owned. He is also my first ever show dog. I started showing him the end of April and he finished for his championship 2 days under a year old. We are now going for his grand, which seems to be a lot harder than i...

I have just found you web site. and absolutely love it. It is the most informative one that I've ever come across. I have a 4 month old male Rottweiler puppy. Let me first say that I have owned one other Rottweiler and had her for 8 1/2 years but unfortunately lost her to cancer. She was wonderful and the best dog that I've ever had. Our vet said that she was the best Rottweiler he had ever seen. I realize the importance of the pack leadership of these dogs. My question is my puppy is a v...