Obedience Q&As

My name is Rusty, and I have ordered and received your training tape on basic obedience training for our german shepard...AND I think it is one of the BEST tapes I've ever seen for (Like Me) a beginner!!..I have only one question, that I didn't see addressed on the tape?..Is it advisable for both the wife and husband to work together in this "Basic" training? Or is it better for one to handle this? until the dog is trained...IF one trains her? will the dog Then listen and obey the other? ...

Hi. I have a problem while I walk my 9 month old dog Annie. I do not want her necessarily to heel the whole time I just want her to walk on a loose lead. When I walk her because she knows where the dogs in the neighborhood live she will pull harder near a dogs yard until we get there then she will bark at the dog. Then when I finally get her away from the dog she pulls until the next dogs yard. We live on a street with many dogs so there is no avoiding them. She basically just wants to sa...

We have a gorgeous black and white german shepherd. I suspect it was the runt of the litter, but she's gorgeous. She is neutered and five and a half years old. She's terrified of thunderstorms and fireworks so we have to drug her. However, that's not our major problem. She gets out of the house and we can't get her home unless I drive our van around the block until she gets tired. She has never attacked anyone but we have a new neighbor with small kids that has called the police on us for bei...

I'd like to know if you personally would train one of your working dogs with and electric collar. I'm also curious how you feel about them in comparison to traditional correction with prong or slip collars. If e-collars are the most humane, what is all the fuss about? If anything, what don't you like about this type of training, even in the hand of an experienced e-collar training?

Let me start off by saying that I'm glad with the way you handle some of the questions, sometimes you're very blunt and that's needed to make sure even the clueless get it. You seem very knowledgeable in your field. Now to my story. I have a 6 month old GSD male. we got him when he was 8 weeks and did a good job of socializing him with people and other dogs. He would run up the stairs, play in the pond being out house, sit, lay, walk with us off leash on the golf course staying nea...

Dear Mr. Frawley, I have a 2 year old German Shepherd, just became 2 this August. My dog has undergone training in obedience with several trainers whom I paid for but I was never satisfied. Recently I hired a private trainer which according to him he had experience in dog training and would like to try it on my GSD. Although there was some improvement, I noticed that the dog is still disobedient, when I walk him off leash, he would run away and will not listen to my callback. When ...

What is the best way to teach a puppy the "stay" command?

Dear Ed: I have purchased your basic dog obedience tape and it is great. However, I still have a couple of questions if you don't mind answering. My GSD (8 months) knows the sit, lay and stay commands as well as the come command (without the sit. Just started working on that). And you were right in your tape that the lay was much harder for her to comply with. However, now when I ask for the sit she will either sit or lay and it is usually lay. Do I need to work on that a...

Dear Ed, First thing I wanted to say is thank you for an excellent training aid. I recently purchased the Basic Obedience training video and found it to be an inspiration. Already my dog is doing the sit - stay (with level 6 distractions) on a thirty foot line after about a week of training. I have one question. Normally when I issue a correction, the dog responds in the normal manner - I correct and then order the sit - stay command and 99% of the time there is no problem. ...

Can you explain the different types of corrections used in dog training?

Hello Mr. Frawley, I wanted to know what your opinion on the product below was, is it worth buying. The new Pro Trainer Plus is an electronic pet training aid that uses sound, not shock, to teach your dog or cat to behave. The Pro Trainer Plus gives you four different training tones. Three obedience tones are provided to teach your pet specific behaviors such as Sit, Come, Heel, etc. A rapidly pulsating, irritating "NO!" tone is provided to deter barking, jumping, digging an...

I have a redbone coonhound pup. She is 9 months old. She has done quite well on her obedience training. We belong to Evergreen Search Dogs, (Vancouver, Wa.) My problem is she will not come after one or two finds. She starts running. I use treats on her returns, however, after one or two finds she's in la-la land. Any help would be appreciated. Dale

Dear Mr. Frawley, Recently, I decided that I wanted to learn competition obedience, and had a Schutzhund instructor recommended to me. I took two 4-year-old males that I had taken through several obedience classes. One male is extremely pain sensitive, and I have always been very careful since he would yelp with a light pressure pop on his choke leash. My previous instructor had never taught me to teach my dogs to focus, and I wanted to teach my dogs this skill when heeling....

Mr. Frawley I have a 2 year old female rott, she is trained for basic obedience on and off leash, but there is one problem I have with her, I can not for the life of me get her to jump, all I am really wanting is for her to jump up into my truck, she loves going for rides and gets excited at the mention of the word "ride" but it is very annoying to have to lift this 130 lb k-9 every time, she has no problem getting out but going in all she will do is put her front paws on the seat ...

Dear Ed, I received your Basic Obedience tape a couple of days ago and was eager to start training. I had already been to my local obedience classes, so she knows sit and down, but performs only when I have a treat in my hand. She is very soft, so I used an extremely gentle leash correction and she became scared. She froze and put her ears down. I praised her greatly, but when I stopped she tried to run. I stopped and tried again after a few hours with similar results. I ado...

Ed, I bought your basic obedience video. Great video!!! I have a 13-month-old female Rottweiler. She would be considered a soft dog. She is very submissive to any other dog or person. This is not a problem. What concerns me is that when I raise my voice or grab her by the collar, she cowers away and usually rolls over. I have never hit her, but have never hesitated to grasp her by the collar or scuff of the neck to correct her when nipping or swatting at me. Is there any type of ex...

Hello I just came across your site. I find it very interesting and informative. I have two wonderful dogs, one is a 2 1/2 year old Border Collie female (have had her since 10 weeks), and the other one is a 4 (?) years old German Shepherd mix (adopted her a year ago). I am in the process of training them ...I haven't been such a good trainer or alpha leader in the past, but I am learning greatly from books I've purchased and articles on the Internet. I have a few questions, but first I nee...

Ed, greetings from Miami. I need your advice on an issue that's driving me crazy. My GSD is now 11 months and is very playful and his prey drive is very high. My concern is that when we are in the backyard he becomes unmanageable with the way he plays. He jumps up and bites your hand and runs away like a speeding bullet and comes back and does it again. He doesn't get the message when I correct him and I do correct him hard. He has a prong collar and I sure yank the hell out of him and te...

Hi, you helped me once before when I had a puppy with severe hip dysplasia. He was put down at six months of age. I am hoping you can help one more time. Two issues. First - 9 month old East German male, great dog, high drive for prey and reproduction. I have no idea if he has any defense or not, he is so bomb proof with nerves, he may show it later in training. Right now he is extremely good in area and article searches both on and off line. He is a great little tracker, still learning c...

I have been training my dog with your tape for three months now. My dog learns fast, but the problem is that when I tell him to stay, no matter the position, he gets up and runs away when I turn my back. I sit him down and correct him for not staying, but its like he doesn't even care. I have bought him a prong collar. He still doesn't care. What can I do so he listens?