Most Recent Q&As

I learned of Leerburg from a breeder’s website . I spent considerable time reading your material and viewing your content. I’m impressed with your knowledge, expertise, and emphasis on building relationships/engagement with your dog. I'm a 50-year-old interested in becoming a first-time dog owner with no dog training history. Your training courses are appealing. I’m seeking a big dog that has high loyal tendencies. I want to be good for the dog and the dog good for me. With work and...

Hi Cindy, so my working line GSD he is 5 now. He’s is trained, I would say intermediate level/ But he has this issue when we are at home only. He will grab a rock in his mouth from the backyard then goes and place it in positions all around the back lawn and digs. Some of the trenches are 500mm deep. The only way I stop him from doing this is by locking him in the laundry when I'm not home. Although he is less likely to do it if I am not home. But if I get home let him out the back ...

Hello, I have a question about 2 female rescues we adopted a couple years ago. They are supposedly littermates, and at the least have been together since they were puppies. They've had a history fighting, but lately they have become much more violent. A fight yesterday required a trip to the vet for wounds. I've read on the site that adopting two dogs from the same litter can be problematic. But given we are already in the situation, is it worth trying to go through the "Groundwork to beco...

Good evening We have a 10yr old Golden retriever that we've had since 3months old, and our problem is with resource guarding. We can feed her food by hand and she'll wait between portions. But if she finds food first–either in home or outside–she will lunge and bite at us if we attempt to remove it or her. She has bit multiple people over the years, and mostly associated with food. She's a Jekyll and Hyde character: Completely sweet Golden when food isn't present, and defiant and aggr...

Hi Cindy, I recently acquired a German Shepherd pup at 7 months of age. He was started in obedience work and drive development from the kennel I purchased him from. He was originally being developed for police work or high level sport. I just want him for family companion / protection work. Unfortunately I didn’t have the opportunity to develop this pup from 8 weeks old into my training and drive development or capping where necessary. When I received him he didn’t have bite inhibition o...

My 3 1/2 year old labradoodle is not neutered. He catches the scent of an in heat dog and it’s off to the races. We walk on the beach daily and folks bring their in heat dogs on vacation. He will follow a weeks-old scent. He’s been off leash since he’s been 8 weeks old. Will a remote collar work?

I recently got a male Doberman and he's 3 months old now. Yesterday I got a golden retriever (2 months) but my Doberman keeps standing over him and biting him. My golden retriever and Doberman seem to be fighting over food as well (even though I give them both separately) I don’t know what to do and he (my dobie) doesn’t listen when I tell him to stop. Please help.

We started with a new training program for our 10 month old rescue puppy last week. It's with an e-collar and several coworkers recommended it. It's a drop-off one-day-a-week situation; they work with us & our dog every other session. My concern is the trainer told me when giving directions on how to use the stim that I shouldn't worry if he yelps, I'm not hurting him. She said that for him it was a discomfort like having the music too loud in the car. I'm having a hard time believing this. H...

Will neutering my 3 year old Belgain Malinois protection dog make him less protective? Thank you!

My pup is now 10 months old (per DNA testing, 76% German Sheperd and 24% Belgian Malinois, adopted from a shelter at age 3 months). She has always had a great food drive. Her toy drive has kicked into high gear recently and her food drive and appetite has dropped off. Sadly, no vet near me has any experience with working dogs. She's not losing weight (just hit 63 pounds) and I don't want to bring up the issue with the vet for fear of the office wanting me to give her some drug to 'stim...

I have a 7 month old Labrador puppy. He is doing very well on most obedience and is comfortable loose leash walking in the neighborhood as well as dog friendly stores. My back yard has a chain link fence and I like to leave my back door open when the weather is nice. My pup will go in and out and is used to one of my neighbors who is out all the time. When any other neighbors come out or that same neighbor is in their front yard and he is alone in the yard he will sometimes bark and sprint ba...

I have a 6-month-old rottweiler puppy who is well-socialized, and has the right amount of exercise, for his age, and we are attending obedience. 95% of the time he is amazing he listens and engages. However, he has no respect for our 5-year-old pug he jumps on her and mauls her. I use verbal corrections like " uh uhh" which is the word I have chosen to let him know he has made a mistake and "off" in a loud stern voice. He gets off but then 5 minutes later does it again...is my only option to ...

Hi Cindy, I've reached out in the past about my GSD puppy developing dog reactivity around 6 months. She is now 1 year, 4 months, and is doing great- she is no longer dog-reactive (unless charged by an off leash dog) and is fully e-collar trained and her obedience is extremely reliable. My question is about other off-leash dog encounters - almost every time I go out on trails we are approached by an off leash dog. I shout "NO" and use a walking stick/air spray, which has caused arguments with...

Hello Cindy I lost a german shepherd to bloat in the past. She was not a well dog and developed chronic issues including heart failure and perianal fistula. I am going to have the undescended testicle removed in my 2 year old german shepherd. We will keep him intact. Should I consider doing a stomach tacking (gastropexy) at the same time? He is on raw diet and we never exercising him for few hours after feeding. Thank you so much,

Hi Cindy, My dog is a 3-year old high energy border collie who is trained in obedience and has solid heels and loose leash walking and a bullet-proof stay. I now want to build an equally bullet-proof way to walk with me even under any distractions. My question is, should I 1) build on her loose leash walking, or 2) teach a contact heel, or 3) use a second command for loose leash, or 4) anything else? Since we live in a big city we use loose leash a lot, either on narrow sidewalks, ...

My Mal was rescued and wasn’t crazy socialized. He is fairly nervy outside, but getting better at least walking. Amazing food drive indoors but will not even try to open his mouth for food outdoors. My hope was IGP for this dog but I don’t think that can happen. I do want to be able to work flashy obedience with the dog. However, I don’t know how to do so outdoors if the dog won’t work for food. My dog is 1.5 and I’ve had him around a month at this point. I know it can take a dog...

Hello-I have a 4 month old GSD and I am very aware that they can be vocal/whiny/barky however, I am determined to prevent this behavior via management and controlling his environment. When he sees certain dogs in the neighborhood (large, fluffy) he does a bark when he is not engaged in something/activity. most of the time he sees a dog, looks and easily can move along, but certain larger fluffy dogs can elicit a bark. So far the bark doesn't turn into anything more(it's a bark or two and I ca...

Hi Cindy, Becoming a dog trainer here using very much relationship / engagement-based training approach. I can imagine I'm going to run into clients who absolutely don't want to give their dog treats directly from their hand (since I know owners like that already). Apart from offering to show them how to do so safely and encouraging them to do so for the more direct connection to you, how absolutely necessary or unnecessary is that delivery when it comes to food rewards? Is placing it ...

I have an 5 yr old rescue with the impulse to ingest inappropriate things he finds - like bark mulch chips, etc. He has puked up sticks the size of my thumb and I am worried he will cause himself a lethal internal injury. I have tried the standard "leave it" and now he just swallows faster. How can I get him to understand that this is undesirable/unacceptable behavior? He is muzzle trained so that I can permit him some off-leash time but other folks treat him like he is Hannibal Lecter. Ot...

Hi there, we have a 11 mo puppy we have had him for 4 months now. He was in a shelter for 4 months before we got him so he just knew to potty anytime anywhere. We got him to learn the dog door and he has been great. All of a sudden after a camping trip and weather turning he wouldn't go out the dog door, would go inside. I guess maybe he really doesn't know how to tell us he just uses the dog door anytime! He relapsed for a few weeks and is back on track but if the dog door is closed he ...