Obedience Q&As

What are the best toys for puppies?

Hi Cindy, I have received all 5 videos Michael Ellis. Very nice, I enjoyed them very much. Thanks. I have a question, I hope you can give me some advice. My female pup, 6 months old, has crazy ball drive. After watching the video, I tried to train with tugs, as advised by Michael. At first, my female was not so interested, but eventually she started to want to play, though not as high drive as with balls. I always train without leash when playing with ball or tug. ...

I wanted to ask about the out command. I will give you a brief history about my dog. I adopted a german shepherd @ 7 months old form a humane society, which, in return saved my dog, Mason, from death row at the local animal shelter. I soon realized that I did not have an ordinary house dog, and was soon at the end of my whits with him (one of many things he did was bite himself out of the plastic airline kennels). I then had the opportunity to watch an S.F. K9 demo and realized the similariti...

Hi, I looked through your Q and A and did not find the exact answer I am looking for. I will try to be quick. I have a 4 month old aussie/BC cross who I will be training for agility (and life skills in general). Right now we are just playing. She is not overly driven but does enjoy tugging, etc. The problem... and I do not really see it so much of a problem but she really prefers tugging on the sleeves of my sweatshirts over any toy that we play with. I tried using a glove.....

Hi Cindy, I have a semi-stupid question for you. I can also ask next week but it is really bothering me. It has to do with the power of playing tug. I am a little stuck. Both my dogs like to play tug but they like other toys a little better. I know I can manipulate what they play with. On a normal day I will do a couple marker training session for behaviors with food and that is all fine. During separate sessions I use the tug working on having them drive it back to me. So i...

I just finished with the new Tug DVD, which by the way is terrific. I have a 2 year old GSD that I started tugging with and she loves it. The only problem is that she wants to put her paws up on my arms while she is tugging. She puts a lot of force behind it, so it can be quite painful, plus takes some of the fun away from it. How can I correct this? Thanks, Melissa

Hi Cindy, My 2 1/2 year old, 105 lb. rottie injured her cruciate ligament and through months of confinement to the house except to go potty she is back to about 80-85% of what she was doing prior to the injury. Now that summer is back and the pool is open I'd like to get her in it. However, she will only sit on the steps with her front feet and chest in the water. I have seen videos of your dogs in the pool and I'm curious if they were naturally fans of the water or if you had to g...

Cindy, I have an 80 lb GSD. I would like to purchase a bite tug to use as a reward for basic obedience training. Can you recommend something? Thanks! Jeff

Just watched the DVD, great stuff! Already notice a HUGE improvement in my dogs "out." One question, if you get to the point where you say "yes" and they aren't that interested, does that mean you "outplayed them" with it? Meaning, I should have stopped the game much sooner? Thank you.

Hi, I looked through your Q and A and did not find the exact answer I am looking for. I will try to be quick. I have a 4 month old aussie/BC cross who I will be training for agility (and life skills in general). Right now we are just playing. She is not overly driven but does enjoy tugging, etc. The problem... and I do not really see it so much of a problem but she really prefers tugging on the sleeves of my sweatshirts over any toy that we play with. I tried using a glove.....

Cindy, I'm amazed by the focused heeling video that Ed just sent out. I have a few questions. My dog has only food drive, though it's a very strong food drive. Will this be a problem for that training? Will tugs be involved in the focused heeling training? The site has jute tugs that you can put food in, would that be a good to teach my terrier mix to like tugs? I'm also wondering if the DVD would be good for dog owners not engaged in any competition training. Thanks. -Ben

Hi, I have a 4 year old dog who has lived with us for about 2 years now. Due to issues with strangers, other dogs, and anxiety we have found a wonderful trainer and have been actively involved in obedience training for several months. The trainer has also assisted us in making changes in our home to establish pack order. He's made huge gains and we no longer consider rehoming him as we did when he first arrived. My question now is that we need some ideas for "playing." He loves to...

Have not used a toy like this as a reward. As a matter of fact I have not used a toy at all to reward for bringing me back something I have tossed out. He loves to bring any ball i throw but not as a reward. So how do I break him away from just wanting to chase and bring back his ball to throwing something else entirely and then rewarding him with this throw ball I am now purchasing. He is around three (3) years old and has a very high prey/play drive so I think changing him from just ret...

Hello Cindy, I have a question about playing tug with my dog. When I play tug, he gets really excited which I like, but when he jumps up for the tug he swings his front legs at me. One at the hand holding the tug and one like he is trying to push my body away even when I hold the tug as far out as possible and when he does hit me with his paw it hurts. Also when I reward him with the tug he is fast and can jump rather high so there are times he gets close to getting my hand. Any advice you...

Hi, Cindy, I have a 15 week old GSD. I am struggling to get his prey drive going. He isn't interested in ragging on a towel or chasing a ball. I have seen both parents and they have high prey drive but my pup just isn't interested. Could it be his age as I have been told to give him time and he will develop his drive? Thank you for any advice, Steve

I have an 8 months old American Staffordshire Terrier... He knows basic obedience (sit, down, beg, stay) but I don't really know how to make him release the Frisbee once he got it? I have tried to throw one Frisbee while keeping another one with me to lure him to me. Once he got to me he released the one he just got to get the one with me and then I would throw the other one... This does not seem to be working. What is the best way to teach a dog to bring things to you and 'Aus' th...

Hi Cindy, We have a 4 year old German Shepard. We took obedience classes with her when she was young and did agility with her as she grew up. We have a bit of an attention problem in that when she get excited about an activity she feels she no longer need my guidance. I am trying to be polite but actually she is not. She blows me off. I tell her she is being rude and that is not acceptable. If we are doing agility lets say we will start off okay, but she get excited and runs her ow...

When I play tug with my 10 month old German Shepherd, she is starting to yelp and whine while holding on to the bite toy. She is pulling stronger than she ever has. Her prey drive is at its highest point also. So I do not know if she is whining because she wants the toy badly or maybe she is in pain. Is this common? Is it a good or bad thing? Sincerely, Sven

Hi Cindy, I have a 7 month old German shepherd from working lines. He was playing tug and with balls, but the last two weeks he is not keen to play with any toys with me. He will hold the tug in his mouth for a second and take it off. Please can you advice. Kind Regards, Hemant

Cindy, What is the deal with the tug with food inside? Does the smell of the food make the tug more appealing? Is the dog supposed to open the tug during the game to get the food? I assume the food can not pass through the leather like a permeable membrane/osmosis. Thank you for the help, Mark