Obedience Q&As

My puppy is very mouthy. It grabs my kids, my arms, my pants. What should I do to stop this?

Hello Ed, I've read through all of the Q&A on crate training and didn't see this specifically addressed so my apologies if it is, perhaps you could direct me to where it's already been answered. I'm sure you receive a million questions! We have two dogs a 4-month old Cairn terrier, who is doing VERY well. We've had him almost 4 weeks. We're crate training, and he makes it through the night, goes outside on command, and is just bridging the gap between knowing that he's supp...

Hi Ed: I've been raising English Mastiffs and doing rescue for the last 17 years so I am not new to puppy training to say the least. I completely agree with your method of training so this was the first place I came now that I am having some issues with our new puppy, a rottie named Odin. Odin is 10 weeks old, I've had him for 2 weeks now. He was with his mother and siblings up until I got him. I introduced him to the crate day one. He goes in for his naps and at night or when we a...

Hi Cindy, Thank you for all the great training advice you have given me in the past. I have another issue regarding my 2 year old female GSD. I raised her since she was 8 weeks old and followed Leerburg's protocol on making sure she is crated when not attended to. Thanks to this great and simple advice, she has never destroyed anything in the house. Now at 2 years old I would like to start leaving her out of the crate overnight and possibly while I am at work. What I have done up to thi...

Hi, We got our German Shepherd puppy 2 weeks ago while my girlfriend was on break from school vacation. He has learned to go to the bathroom outside, but has an occasional accident. The question I have is that he will be left in the crate from 8 am to 3 pm Monday to Friday. Should he have access to water while we are not home during this period of time? We have heard several different opinions, but it seems a little cruel to leave him without water for that period of time. Obviousl...

HELP! I am at my wits end! I have been trying to crate training a 4 month old male miniature Dachshund for 4 weeks now and I still have problems with him barking continuously at night. I do all the things the cd says to do but he still barks. I don't not keep him in a crate during the day since I am gone for nearly 10 hours to work. He is kept in a small doggy play pen. When I get home I play with him in the kitchen while I am working on Supper and then in his crate while we ea...

My son and daughter-in-law are both active Air Force stationed in Ramstein GR. They have a 8 month old Malamute who is a crate escape artist. They have crate trained him since the day they brought him home since my son's older Mal (who died last fall at the age of 12 ) was also an escape artist, they knew they had to teach him from the start. He was fine for the first 7 months (even flew 12 hrs on the plane in his crate) but now good old Champ has decide he doesn't have to stay in a cra...

Hi Cindy, We have a 5 month old German shepherd puppy named Gunnar who we are currently crate training. We have your DVDs on establishing pack structure and basic obedience training as well as the Common house breaking mistakes eBook. Using this information we were able to train Gunnar fairly quickly using a small crate. We only had to clean it up twice due to accidents in the first month. However when we moved him to a large crate when he no longer fit into the small one he has be...

Hi Cindy, I have a lab pup that is nine weeks. I got her one week ago. For the the first 1-2 days, she stayed in her crate all the time except to potty. She was/is a screamer, so I needed her to get used to crate. She's calmed down a little, but still screams when she sees me to get out. I never open crate until she is quiet. After potting or playing in kitchen, she will follow me in to eat when I rattle liver treats. She will fight like a tiger if I just put her in with no ...

Hello, I just adopted a very mellow and sweet Rottie from the pound. He is about 5 years old. I had a question. We live in Southern California(great weather), have a covered patio and 6 foot fencing around my whole yard. I plan on having him as an outside dog for the most part. So my question is: From reading your articles. Would substituting the crate for the back yard work? Is the back yard not restricting enough? I am talking about the initial conditioning to estab...

Hi, Absolutely love your work! Thank you so much! I have a new Siberian huskie mix that is 10 weeks old & we crate him every night. I have been getting up after about 4 hours to let him out to pee & poop outside in our back yard, but I would much prefer to sleep through the night. I'm a diabetic with a bad cold, & this has exhausted me. My question is, when do you think I can sleep through the night & just let him out in the morning? Thanx!

This April, I will be getting a Doberman puppy. I have a Papillion right now who is very well trained and crate trained. The dogs will be separated most of the time, with visitation only when I am present. However, my boyfriend has a Rottweiler/lab, Scout, that comes to visit during his son's visitation. She is a nightmare. She is spoiled, aggressive, unruly, etc. I have taken her down a few notches with basic obedience training and leash work with a prong collar. Over the pa...

Dear Cindy, Our Keeshond has been crate trained for 2 1/2 years, he caught on right after we got him; he is now 3. Recently, he will not enter the crate for my wife- he will run away and try to hide if possible, and if she grabs him by the collar and puts him in, he screams as he enters the crate. He seems afraid and acts flaky, as if he is conflicted. He will not go in for a treat. However, I still have no problem with him, he crates fine for me. Once he is in the crate, he behave...

Dear Mr. Frawley, I've been studying the DVDs you've made with Mr. Ellis, I'm missing the two last one's that I'll be ordering by the end of this month, but I'm a bit stuck. Can you direct me to a training schedule, or better said a training sequence, to work with the dogs from scratch? I know that there cannot be a rigid sequence and that all must be adapted to the animal itself, but thinking about a perfect world what would it be the best sequence to train a dog. I ...

Hi guys, Love all your DVDs and especially Michael Ellis, hope you can help with a huge problem that has emerged with my almost 3 year old male (neutered) German Shorthaired Pointer. He has his CDX title, (not sure how that equates in the USA) exercises are heel free stand for exam, drop on recall, retrieve on flat, retrieve over the high jump and distance control (change of positions). Because it will be a while before we are ready for the Utility Class and I love competin...

Hello Cindy, I've watched the "Focused Heeling" DVD and am incredibly impressed. I've fixed a problem that I had been having for months in about 20 minutes! I have a question though on the leash pressure section. I show my Rottweilers (one 3 1/2yrs old and one 10 months old) in sieger shows and am unsure I really want to train the leash pressure because I need them to lean into the leash while stacking them. I use the pressure to change footing to get the best stack. I was wonderin...

Hi, I and my 17 week old GSD pup are in obedience class. I have been working with him in healing as well as trying to get him to keep his eyes on me. I have been using bits of hotdog and dropping them from my mouth when he looks up at me, as well as saying "watch me." He does this more when not moving, but not all the time on a heel. What do I need to do different? Or do I need to continue this as I have been doing. Thanks, John

I have a 3 year all black German shepherd that I am training for competition obedience. We have a CD and am working on her CDX. However, I am having problems with her and hope you can give me some insight. I have always trained with food and toys. She has high drive but is very soft and she is a whiner. When we are training, we have no problems. It's when we step into the ring, and the leash comes off. When we are training and does not have a leash on she heals beautiful. But once we cross ov...

Cindy, I have written you several times about my GSD, and my distraction problem with him away from home, when we try to work and I am working on this. He will do some very low key obedience away from home but with none of the energy or drive he shows at home. We were doing a little obedience work this morning in a pet store and he was his usual distracted self. I tried something just to see how he would react, here's how it went. At home I have done a lot of scent work with him, not track...

Cindy, sorry this is so long, I just felt a background is in order. I am very new to training/dog sports (11 months, first dog ever) and now I have to face the facts and gather your opinions. I have a very shy female GSD (20 months old, we got her at 8 months old from a local breeder) I have found out through time this dog was never socialized in the first 8 months of life, all she knew was the breeder, his wife and the other dogs. I have been doing everything in my power to...