Obedience Q&As

My questions is, what if I've been using the clicking sound with my mouth as the marker, but want to change it to "yes." What is the best way to go about it or should I just stay with the clicking sound. It's that I feel that when we're at places where I need to get her focused, I want to call her in some way to get her attention. What do you suggest? Thank you in advance.

Hi Cindy, I have a small problem with my Doberman he is now 5 years old, when I give the command down or drop depends which word some handler use, he drops but starts to whine(cry) non stop, I tried everything used the e-collar he stops for a few seconds than he starts again, than I tried to release him the very moment he stops whining to give him the message that he will be released only when he stops this behavior didn't work either, and it is a problem when we are in a competiti...

Dear Mr. Frawley, Hello, I hope this message finds you doing well. I am writing with regard to Kona, a 7 month old female Vizsla my wife and I own. We clearly failed to establish pack structure with her. The situation now is that she she has had trouble with impulse control and often seems unable to calm herself. She also exhibits aggression toward the leash and sometimes her handler when on walks. This behavior is coupled with constant pulling and disregard for the handler. Taking note...

I have a Neapolitan Mastiff who hates water. We live in Phoenix and have a pool. I would like him to be able to get in the water to cool during the summer. I did get him a life preserver in the hopes he would feel more comfortable, but it doesn't help. Is there some way I can get him more comfortable with the water? Susie

Thanks for all previous advice. I am learning marker training, I started not long after you wrote the new article around Oct last year I think it was but didn't quite get it and long story short only started the system again recently, the dog and I are now figuring it out and we both enjoy it, he is much more handler focused and its very cool to watch him offer behaviors, so thanks for the direction on that. I have a question on nail clipping ear cleaning etc on dominant han...

Hello Ed, Thanks so much for building such a great and informative site. I have and train sporting dogs for show and field work. I never agreed with total compulsion training, but was against those clicker/positive only extremists as well. I'm glad to have found your site and videos that gives me a good middle ground. I am now rewriting all my former compulsive only methods of ecollar training and field work to inlude marker work to train the commands... but will still use the ecollar to r...

Hi Cindy, I have a question on training that I would like your advice on please. When say for example that you are correcting your dog for an unwanted behaviour like looking at another dog or chasing and barking at a cat and you put him a down stay and he complies but he will whimper and whine to express his frustration at not being able to do what he wants, should this verbalisation of his frustration be tolerated or should it be corrected at an appropriate level to stop th...

Cindy- I have a 5 month old lab that I am trying to get to retrieve a dummy. She seems more interested in everything else around her. She will go get the dummy then either not bring it back or drop it half way and go on doing something else. Is there an easy solution for this? Thanks, Shannon

I have a 5 year old Yellow Lab I got from an abused home. She has been with me for four years and has settled in nicely. She has learned a lot of obedience but refuses to return the ball or whatever we use for fetch. She wants to play keep away. I won't chase her around which is what she wants. I was told not to chase her by the dog trainer and eventually she will learn to bring it to me if she wants to play. Well that was three years ago and if I walk away and refuse to chase her she ju...

I have a male Aussie that has been training in agility for about a year. In the last few months I've been working on building a tug drive using Susan Garrett's techniques. Well he's got lot's of tug drive but he always wants to grip really close to my fingers and sometimes puts to much pressure and it hurts. How do I get him to grip lower on the toy without killing his drive? What usually do is say OWWW and Out and when he chooses a better spot to tug we go at it again. Is this a good method...

Hi Ed, My name is Mike and I'm a retriever trainer & competitor in Michigan. I just watched your marker training video and I am looking to bring more of market training into my field. I see a lot of applications. I compete with labs in retriever hunt tests (HRC, AKC) and 99.9% of the trainers are force & correction crazy. Do you have any other work (podcasts, videos, etc.) that may apply to retriever training? In the DVD you said that you have a new DVD coming out, when will...

Hi Cindy, I recently sent you an email about my 4 month old Dachshund absolutely refusing to wear his collar. I really do hate to write to you again regarding the same problem, but I really am pretty desperate right now. When the collar goes on him, he refuses to do anything. He won't eat, drink, pee, poop, play, or do ANYTHING at all. All he does when it's on is go in his kennel and lay there the entire time. You suggested that I handle this problem with "marker training." ...

Hi Cindy, I have a couple of questions I have been thinking about for a while and would appreciate your input. Firstly in regards to marker training - changing commands and relearning old commands. During the training with my dog I have indivertibly made commands which sound very similar and wish to change them, I have used "with me" as the command for my dog to follow me/come with me, and I have used "watch me" as a look command, obviously there is an area for confus...

Hi Cindy, Happy new year, again. You had shared with me that it will be down the road when you and Ed will do another DVD on the power of marker training. In the meantime, how would you use marker training in teaching the sit, down and stand during recall while being able to do this exercise from 50 yards away? Blessings, Ron

I have some basic to intermediate experience with dog training. I have never tried a remote electric collar before, and just purchased one locally, made by SportDog (I have no idea if this is a decent product or not). I just found your website, and would really appreciate some advise as I have a very unique dog. I am a veterinarian, and this dog came in on emergency one night after being hit by 2 cars. The history on this dog was minimal, he was seen by someone in the town being hit in th...

I have been a big fan of your work for the past year and a bit. I am hoping that in my club that I can show your article to a few of my friends stating its source and not taking any credability. Basically showing a print off. I don't know if I can. Please let me know. Thanks Also.... I have a dog that is very good, very trained and I love him but he has problems. What has happened and I repent everyday for it is that I have mis-timed corrections and severe corrections as in ...

Dear Cindy, I have written with concerns about my daughter's dog previously and you have always been very helpful, so I am coming to you again. This dog was the runt of his litter. He is smart, sensitive, very attached to my daughter and has more a Border Collie than a Lab personality. His fear of walking on ramps and over metal disappeared after observing another dog walking on the ramp. Following your suggestions, we've seen substantial progress in his overcoming his fears...

Hello Cindy, I just received the Marker Training video yesterday and I noticed how similar it is to Balabanov's training style. I'm new to all of these different training styles and to dog training in general. Kind of confusing actually with everything out there now.... Leerburg, Balabanov, Ellis, Dildei, etc. Can your training methods work with Balabanov's methods? Am I just keying in on the overall concept and not the specifics of how to use markers for your training methods ...

Thanks for putting this video [The Power of Training Dogs with Markers) out. I am waiting patiently and I am rejuvenated in my training aspirations. I have trained my GS in obedience and achieved a CD title in AKC. I now want to try Marker training and move up the ladder in AKC obedience. I trained my GS with high praise and yank and crank. I am really excited about trying this method. My question is, will this video explain how to retrain an already trained dog? Will it give me th...

Hi, I have a 4-year-old GSD who I adopted 2 years ago. He has been trained in advanced obedience, and is well-mannered when I am present. In the last year I have had a baby, and am now pregnant with my second. I admit I haven't been able to take him all over the place like I used to, and now he mainly goes on jogs and walks, and gets to play fetch 2-4 times a day. It never seems like it is enough though. He always seems deprived, and in the house he will spend a half hour whining o...