Obedience Q&As

Hello, I have recently registered for the web board, but have not been approved and desperately need advice. The GSD I am waiting for is 4 weeks old and the mother has disappeared. The puppies are eating cat food (current owner is not a professional breeder, just a complete wastrel who happened to have a couple of GSD's) and drinking water and would probably survive but I am planning a raw diet. Should I take the puppy now before current owner ruins them or would more damage be do...

I'll try to keep this short. I have read your article on Dealing with the Dominant Dog and wanted to clarify one thing before I work on this with my pup again. I took him to a friend's house to socialize him. He found a rawhide strip and having never had one before went to his crate, which I brought with us, to chew on it. I don't let him play with toys at his own leisure at home. After about ten minutes I decided he had had enough and reached in to take it away and he growl...

Hi there. I have an 11 week old female GSD. I have purchased your 8 week to 8 month video and have been following it. Everything has been going great, however today I noticed a peculiarity. My yard is about 1/3 grass and 2/3 pebble gravel. I have seen her picking up and playing with the gravel. I have tried to get her to stop, but never worried about it too much. Then today I came across a couple of stools that were filled with the gravel. Is there any concern that this might hurt...

Good day, It's been some time since I wrote to you. My pup is doing phenomenal, I love my dog. He is going to be 5 months on the 17th, but we still have a problem with submissive behavior. Every time I get home I have to ignore him to avoid having him pee the floor when I hug him and I call out his name with joy. How is this going to last? Another thing is on his feeding? I know you like a natural diet, but I cannot keep up with that option so I feed him Nutro (Lam...

Hi Cindy, Thank you so much for the DVD and replying to my email, I know how busy you all are and I really appreciate it. I have a question to ask before I purchase the obedience DVD; My male french bulldog is now 13 weeks old. I take him for short walks to a big patch of grass 3 blocks from my apt in Manhattan (I take him out morning, lunch, and dinner) He does not like to walk away from the direction of my apt, he will just sit on the ground and stare at me and sometimes...

Hello Ed, I have you 8 weeks to 8 month and the Basic Obedience Video as well as other videos I bought in the past. I have a quick question though my puppy is going to be 18 weeks old and he is very Food Driven. I am training him as per your videos rewarding him right at the moment he performs the action, but I see a huge difference in how he follows the 'Sit', 'Come', and 'Down' commands when I don't have a biscuit to reward him. He quickly knows if I have or not a treat...

I noticed on your web site that you state that once the initial puppy shots are done, one should not vaccinate again. My question is, how do I get my dog into dog shows, boarding kennels, and vet offices? They all require up to date vaccinations. Barrie

Can u please explain to me what "puppy rushes" are??? I have a Chihuahua (going on 4 yrs. next month) & when he gets excited he tends to start running around the house VERY fast, I was wondering if that's what it was.... Sorry if this is a silly question. Thank you

Hate to bug you, but I keep hearing conflicting information on free feeding our pup. Have a 7 month old Pit and he's on Wysong - Growth, the bag says to free feed all puppies, the vet says no. The bag states for his size 50 lbs he should be eating only 2 1/2 cups PER DAY, (for older/nursing/pregnant dogs) but that puppies should free feed. Problem is that this guy LOVES this food and I am putting down 6 cups a day, (according to the bag an 80 lb dog only gets 5 cups per day), 2 cups 3 tim...

Ed, I recently purchased a Mal Puppy from John Browne on long island. I can't be happier with the pup. She has great prey drive, great nerves, and so far a great temperament. My situation is this; I have had her for about 2 weeks. She has been doing great with the crate training only one accident which was my fault. During this accident, I tried to stop her from going, so I screamed PHOIE grabbed her and brought her outside. I screamed way too loud, it was just instinct and she cow...

Hi! I just got an 2 Month puppy (Golden Retriever/Lab/Cocker Spaniel mix) from the Humane Society. I live in an apartment with a roommate and our puppy doesn't have access to a yard. We take her out once a day, but that is about all we can do and it isn't like a huge green area. So we are trying to train it with the potty pads which I read you are against, but its the best we can do. So do you have any advice on training a puppy with the pads? We are also doing the crate training as well, but...

I have just purchased your DVD's on Basic Obedience, Raising a Working Puppy, and Training Focus and Drive. I have previously owned a working line GSD, but had adopted him at 6 months old, well after he had been started in training towards Schutzhund titling. Due to unfortunate personal circumstances, he had to go back to my co-owner and was later placed with a disabled man for personal protection. Therefore, I haven't learned everything I need to know to title my new GSD puppy, who is a ...

Mr. Frawley, The breeder from whom we purchased our dog, suggested we check out your site or contact you about a problem we are encountering with our pup, Jake. I have been a reader of your site and have gotten a lot of wonderful info from it. Background. Jake's dad is from a Czech line. We obtained Jake when he was 11 weeks old. We were unable to make the trip until then and the breeder agreed to keep him for us. When we went to pick him up he seemed a little shy but not mu...

I have a 9 month old Doberman. I am training her to run the house while I am away. She gets on the bed and chews the blankets. She does not touch anything else in the house and she knows it is bad. She truly does nothing else wrong, no trash, furniture, shoes, nothing. My last dobe did the same thing with our bedding for almost a year and a half before finally quitting. They sleep on the bed, so they are not jealous. She gets a treat every time she is good. Do you have any ideas. Thanks

Dear Ed, I am a first time dog owner who recently purchased a toy poodle puppy at 8 weeks old. She is now 12 weeks. I got a toy breed because I live in an apartment and because this is my first dog. I chose a breed in which I thought would be easy to train and be a good house pet. Even from 8 weeks, I started doing basic training at home, and she very quickly learned to sit, down, stay, and come (although she really only comes consistently when she knows I have food). She seemed li...

Ed, Received your DVD 8 weeks to 8 months, really enjoying it. Two questions: 1) I have half cocker spaniel and Chihuahua that is 14 weeks old. I've had him now for 6 days and started crate training him, he is doing quite good with the exception of peeing on himself when he sees me, I know he is excited. Any thoughts? He does potty and pee when I take him outside. He only pooped once in the crate and the pee is fresh from excitement. 2) My puppy is very moody about eating, sometime...

I have read a few of your articles on dominance in dogs, but I did not see one on dominance in puppies. My female is 4 months old. She is very high drive and has, over the last few weeks, become extremely dominant over her litter mates (I know you do not like the idea of raising more than one puppy at a time but everyone is afraid to buy the remaining puppies because they are afraid that they are "mean"). I do not kennel them together, but I have allowed them (there are 4 total) to...

I have an 11 month old Schnoodle. I'm a first time dog owner. I love my dog, but I really wanted to be able to 'let her out' and she would walk in the backyard and go to the bathroom. Therefore, I had the invisible fence installed. I should mention that before I installed the fence, I would take her out 3 times a day... in the morning, after work and before bed. I would walk with her after work and the other times take her in the backyard or to the curb. Now that I installed the fe...

We have an 11 week old cockapoo that we picked up when he was 7 weeks. Early on he was showing signs of aggressive behavior, we didn't really think anything of it, just a playful puppy. Early this week the pup found a balloon and when my wife tried to get it out of his mouth he growled and bit her pretty hard, viciously. The next day he found a napkin on the floor. I tried to do the same and he really went after me and bit me very hard also. We called a trainer referred to us by ou...

First of all, I really love your advice!! It's put simply, and it's very reliable! I have used used your web site for most of my dog training needs, and it has worked fantastically well! But there is one question I still have. I haven't found any mention of this on your site. (If it is on your site, then my apologies, I must not have looked hard enough) My 12 week old puppy refuses to go anywhere with me, or anyone in our family. We try to take her on walks, but she always pulls the other way...