Obedience Q&As

I have a purebred GSD that is 11 months old now. he went to puppy classes at 10 weeks old and has been going to socialization classes and walks with the class and he is fine around the other dogs and people. He wears a pinch collar and a choke collar when we are at home and he wears a Halti collar when we walk with the class. we bought the Halti collar because he went after a strange dog on the trail one evening. Last night my wife had him out and he went after a dog that he has been aroun...

Hello Ed, Our Golden Retriever who is almost two is still biting...we have tried everything! Sometimes it seems as though she is very serious and uncontrollable. In addition, she hates to walk. Whenever we attempt to go on walks, she jumps up over the leash and bites at our hands and refuses to walk as we try to fix the problem. Also, she is very timid around other people and especially other dogs. She does not show aggression, but puts her tail in between her legs. When attempting...

Hi Ed. Thank you for the continually informative web site. I'm currently doing obedience work with my 7 month old GSD female. She's a fast learner and eager to please, so I don't have much trouble with her. I do take her to training, but I've also ordered some of your videos. She passed her 100 yard down, stay & recall test with flying colors to graduate from puppy class. There is only one problem that I'm encountering that has me puzzled. When off lead, like doing the long ...

I was wondering if you could help me. I am having my dog trained by a very reputable trainer in my area. The pup is 5 months old and when the trainer works with the dog he does everything. When we work him we are causing marks on his neck. Some are scabbed over. It seems like we are not having great success with using corrections on this dog. We are using a choke collar and our trainer says that we should give him a good correction instead of many little ones. We are afraid to hurt him an...

Dear Sir or Madam: After reviewing your web site I learned that I should have contacted you guys about getting a German Shepherd dog to train in Schutzhund as my next purchase. I have had my German Shepherd mix that I adopted as a rescue from the local humane society. He is highly intelligent and has been trained by me and behaves perfect when on the leash. However, when off the leash he tends to want to do his own thing but obeys nearly 70% of the time. He's smaller than most Germ...

Hi Ed, Having some problems handling my 7 month old and I wonder if you can explain them. 3 things happened today 1. He's almost always on a leash, but sometimes I let him walk along as I'm going to the car or garage. I had him outside with me today for a minute as I went to grab something out of the garage- next thing I knew I heard a lady yell out --- hey!!! She was walking a dog and mine went over to see it. I walked over calmly and then grabbed him by the back of the neck and car...

I have a Yorkshire Terrier that is VERY hyper. What do you suggest to correct a small dog?

Hi Ed, I've read about not staring into the eyes of your dog, as it's suppose to be a dominating factor. In your opinion is this true and does it have any bad effects on a dog? Especially a GSD. Thanks, Peter

Hi Ed, I have a 16-month old Boston Terrier and I bought your basic dog obedience training video. My BT obeys my commands very well when he is off leash at home and on leash on the street. He can stay on the street for 10 min. and the distance between he and I is about 50 feet, but I have a problem when I bring him for a walk and try the off leash work. My BT tried to run away. I trained him with a 20-feet long leash before and reduced the length of the leash to 3 feet and at last ...

Hello Ed, I have searched your site this evening trying to get help with training my shepard not to eat antifreeze. We have horrible neighbors that just poisoned another neighbors dog with it. Alex is just like one of our children. My husband has done some training under a man in Oklahoma City and purchased Maxwell Rude Von Raughlen a Rottweiler. ( I'm not sure the correct spelling). At any rate, when Max passed away we got Alex. He done some training with him but was unable to spe...

We just adopted a 2 year old lab mix, un-neutered male. He is a very sweet dog, EXCEPT...the second he is free (outside), he bolts for the road. If we can immediately go after him, he will come to us when called. The problem is, we sometimes have to chain him up. He maneuvers out of his collar, digs under the fence and is gone! So far, he has returned a few hours later, but we can't keep this up! How can we train him to stay home? (He will get neutered later this week). If this a h...

Ed, Quick question. I have a 9 mo GSD Male about 80 lbs. He has been great, very good with our 1 year old and very out going, has not shown signs of bad nerves, etc. Recently though he has been getting a bit possessive of his kennel I think. He has snapped at my wife twice when she has tried to reach in and pet him in his kennel and he gas growled at me twice (never snapped) and yesterday he barked and snapped at my sister when she tried to pet him when he was in his kennel. He has...

I adopted a almost two-year-old, White German Shepard Dog from the local Humane Society. He has not been a problem dog as yet. However, after reading much of your site I found that I am in the process of "grooming" him to be a problem dog. I now firmly believe in basic obedience training for all dogs as well as owners. Here are some questions I have before purchasing advice. 1. So many sites claim White German Shepard Dogs are different than regular German Shepard Dogs and need to ...

I have your Basic Dog Obedience Training video which is great and we are SLOWLY proceeding with our mix golden retriever/yellow lab. now 18 months-neutered male. I have to use a leash from house to car and back as I can't trust him not to bolt if he hears a dog, and he usually hears one somewhere. Also I would like to control his barking at dogs when in the car. I've been told a remote training shock collar will work. . He did learn quickly not to try to jump the back fence. Took only 3...

I am in a desperate need for a help with my dog. I was reading your article on internet and thought you would be able to give me some suggestion. I have a male pomeranian. It is one year and six months old. I've had him since he was three months old. Since little, he is very very shy and intimidated around other dogs. Every day I take him to park where 20 other dogs are running around off leash. First few months he was just scared that he would be on my lap. After getting used to t...

Hi, I have a deaf australian shepherd and she is really a good dog except she can't hear. So I keep her on a reel leash or a run line. Am afraid she will get hit by a car or truck as she can't hear traffic. My problem is that when she gets out of the truck(on a reel leash) she takes off running so am wondering if a choke lease collar would be a training tool for her. She pulled me out of the truck onto the ground and am recovering from bruises. Did not beat the dog! H...

I have a 2 year old black lab mix that chases any thing that moves and will take off and not come back until he is ready. I do not want to use a prong collar. I think it is cruel. He doesn't pay attention when he sees a bird or anything else. HE listens to come when leashed but when unleashed he doesn't. What can I do.

I am having some problems with my GSD. He's five months old and showing almost every sign of aggression and dominance listed on your site. Even as I am typing this he is giving my husband a hard time(growling and barking because he has been forced into a down position and wants to get up). I made the HUGE mistake of buying him from a woman advertising puppies in our local paper ....I didn't know I was making a mistake then...but I have certainly learned a lesson. This may seem leng...

Hi Ed, I have a problem with my 2 year old male GSD which I bought approximately 3 months ago. We started obedience training approximately 1 month ago but I am still having problems getting him to heel in direct alignment with myself he always wants to be approximately 1-2 foot in front of me. I started using right about turns which made him take notice of me then It was almost like he had eyes on the back of his head he could tell when I was turning so he turned. So I said fine le...

Ed: First thank you for your great web site and training tapes. I have purchased your basic obedience tape and will be purchasing other tapes in the near future. The advice on the tape has helped greatly with the training of my Kangal. (I own several other breeds - 3 kuvasz, 1 landseer newf (old) (water rescue trained) and one very young sweet golden retriever, who will be using your training method on agility etc. of course on a very light level 1 correction - unlike my Kangal (al...