Most Recent Q&As

June 17, 2024

Recommended My 2 dogs do not get along and they have been in bloody fights a couple of times. Will muzzling them in the house allow them to get along?

I have two dogs that cannot get along: a 9 year old spayed female lab/shepherd mix, and a 5 year old intact female German Shorthair. The German Shorthair was 11 months old when I got her, and when I brought her home, the mix breed attacked her. She responded by attacking the mixed breed, and they have been enemies ever since. It got bloody a couple of times. Currently, the German Shorthair stays outside most of the time, and the mix stays in the house. I run them daily (separately), and when...
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June 16, 2024

Recommended My Dutch Shepherd pup climbs out of the ex-pen, should I get a higher one?

Hi Cindy. All is going well with the Dutch Shepard pup thanks to your support. In an early segment of the video you recommended. An ex-pen is recommended. Unfortunately the pup has been able to climb out so it keeps trying. Would you recommend an even higher one (ours is about waist high) or another method for keeping the dog around activity but not always trying to escape. Many Thanks,
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June 15, 2024

Recommended My German Shepherd whines a lot in the car, especially when we stop or slow down. Do you have any suggestions?

Hi Cindy - I have 2 German Shepherd dogs - a 20 month old recently neutered male that we got as a pup, and an 18 month old intact female we have had since September. Both get daily obedience training and play at home, and professional training (obedience and scent work). Plenty of exercise - between 3-6 miles of walking daily. Both are attentive, eager to please and have pleasant demeanors. Male is more boisterous. Dogs ride in back of our SUV in a 2 dog crate with a divider. The male l...
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June 3, 2024

Recommended What are your thoughts on keeping a dog with a retained testicle intact?

I've been exploring the benefits of keeping dogs intact and encountered a predicament with my 5-month-old blue heeler who has a retained testicle. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this specific issue. Local vet recommends neutering him, and I came across the Leerburg article Neutering Male Dogs: Should You or Shouldn't You, which supports neutering monorchid dogs. However Chris Zink cites a study only about 12.8% of dogs with retained testicles developed cancer in the retained testicle, t...
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June 1, 2024

Recommended My 10 week old Labradoodle is doing really well with engagement, when can I start luring and shaping behaviors like sit and down?

My puppy is 10 weeks old and is already engaging really well, even in new places and with small distractions. I plan to continue socializing him by going to new places and doing engagement, with progressively more difficult distractions. He's an Australian labradoodle and obviously doesn't focus as intently as the high drive malinois I've seen but I imagine it continually improves with practice. I'm wondering when I should start luring and shaping behaviors like sit, down, look, etc and in...
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April 7, 2024

Recommended My dog is bored by his food. How do I train a dog that isn't food motivated?

I have a 9-month-old male unfixed Australian Shepherd. Ever since we got him at 8 weeks, he seems bored by his food. Doesn't matter the brand. Once I tried a 'topper' and still no. His vet can't find anything wrong since he is still as energetic as always and will happily take any sort of treats. I tried eating puzzles which he loves, but he will just empty the food out of them without eating it. He eats enough to maintain his healthy weight as he's grown. I love dog training but I'm a lit...
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April 7, 2024

Recommended I have two questions on product recommentations. First, I need a leash to keep in my vehicle in case of an emergency and I would like to know what you suggest. Second, I would like to carry a stun gun or spray in case of being attacked by a loose dog. What do you recommend?

I have two questions for you on which products to order or your recommendations. 1. I would like to have a leash in my vehicle I can use in an emergency to get a stray dog safely off the road. I currently carry a regular dog leash, but if the dog is not wearing a collar to attach it to then it does not work out so well. Is there a good leash style that works even if the dog is not wearing a collar? 2. I would like to carry a stun gun and some kind of spray just in case I get attacked by...
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March 18, 2024

Recommended Our year old Dutch Shepherd mix takes soft toys and grinds them between his molars even though he has bones available. Is this normal?

Hey Cindy, We adopted a Dutch shepherd/mix back in July. He's a little over a year old now, and as more of a medium dog, I'm guessing he's mostly done growing. I'm planning to train him as a running partner in the spring, and at this point, he's doing very well with basic commands and leash manners. The problem I'm running into is that he likes taking the thin parts of his soft toys and grinding them between his molars. Our German shepherd did this with rope toys when we first got her (she...
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March 17, 2024

Recommended Why would my 15 week old setter puppy regress on her potty training?

Hi Cindy, My 15 week old red and white setter appears to be regressing with potty training (pee only). We’ve had her since she was almost 9 weeks old and she had little to no accidents in the house until recently (she was even beginning to signal when she needed to go). But for the last week or so she is having more and more accidents. When in the house she is either tethered to me or gated off in our small kitchen (it acts as her X-pen). She has no problem sleeping 9 hours thru the nigh...
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March 3, 2024

Recommended My young French Bulldog is marking on all the dog beds and she's trying to be alpha with my other 2 dogs. I need some advice!

Hi Cindy, I have three dogs and my nine month old French Bulldog is marking on all the dog beds. She’s doing great with potty training and their beds is the only place she pees so I know she’s trying to be Alpha. She does other things to prove she’s Alpha like cutting the other dogs off at the water bowl and snapping at them when they walk by. She also doesn’t understand polite play, she ignores the other dogs cues when they don’t want to play anymore. I intervene when I see it hap...
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March 2, 2024

Recommended My German Shepherd likes to play with an old garden hose and bites sections off of it. Will this impact her teeth or gums?

My GSD (19 mos, female, intact) likes to play with an old garden hose in our backyard for approximately 10 minutes at a time. She bites it like a tug and shakes it around hard. She bites/cuts off ~2' sections over time. She plays with it dragging the hose bundle up and down the backyard. It's good exercise, but my only real concern is whether this will impact her teeth enamel, gums, etc. She plays tug and fetch with me (fully engaged) using a ball on a string no problem. I can throw the...
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March 2, 2024

Recommended Will I always need to use food rewards with my 7 year old dog?

Hi again! I have a dog that is 7 years old. I trained him at Petco and he passed the Advanced Canine Good Citizen test 5 years ago. I was never taught how to fade food rewards. He now only really listens to me when I have food rewards and checks out after I reward him. In the Basic Obedience Course, Frawley stated that if I hadn’t moved to a variable and random reward schedule after 2 years of a fixed reward schedule, that I would not be able to fade the rewards. Will I need to use food r...
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March 1, 2024

Recommended What is the difference between the "stay" and "good" command?

What is the difference between "stay" and "good" command? I know we use "good" to give duration as per the article on Marker Training.
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February 13, 2024

Recommended How do I transition my dog from a clicker to the marker word "YES" ?

I have been clicker training with my dog for some time now. My dog responds very well and is ready to get her reward after the click. I was hoping to transition to the marker word “yes.” How would you suggest going about shifting from the clicker marker to the marker work “yes.” Should I just “yes” and reward several times a day to get her accustomed to the marker word or is there more to it than that? Thank you so much for everything you share. Have a great day!
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February 2, 2024

Recommended My dog insists on walking in front of me at the end of the leash unless I give her a treat. What do you suggest?

My dog insists on walking in front. Not necessarily pulling but taking every bit of leash to where it’s not really loose leash walking. We use a martingale or slip chain collar for walking. I stop and change directions when she moves ahead. Most of the time she notices that I have stopped before the leash gets tight and she stops and turns with me then She will follow until a treat is given then usually moves ahead again. She does pretty well if we are working in an area like around cones. ...
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February 1, 2024

Recommended My 16-week-old German Shepherd puppy barks at people and is scared of cars when we are out on walks. Do you have advice?

Hi Cindy, We have a 16 month old male GSD, (we picked him up at 12 weeks old), he’s great at home a great demeanor, playful. When we take him for walks, he barks at people. Strangely, in a couple of situations, when they came close with open palm and a non-threatening demeanor, his bark changed to a whimper, almost as afraid. We have been crate training Max and working on establishing the pack hierarchy. Please note, when we arrived at the breeder and initially met him, he did not ba...
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February 1, 2024

Recommended I have 2 dogs and would like to add a third dog to our family. What age and sex would be most compatible with my existing dogs?

Hi Cindy, I have an 11 yr old male Doberman and a 1 yr old female Malinois/GSD cross (neutered and spayed). Both have received their CGC certificates and get along well together. I would like to add a 3rd dog to the family. I was wondering if the sex of the 3rd dog was significant (which would be better) or whether the potential compatibility was more a related to the personality/temperament of the specific dog? Second question: Are there any recommended ages I should be looking for...
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January 2, 2024

Recommended My nosy neighbor is interfering with my training sessions with my Lab in my own yard. She tells me she's going to call animal services because she feels I am abusing my dog. What should I do?

Hello Cindy, I have a Labrador Retriever that I'm in the process of training, I'm having to use balanced training with him since positive reinforcement and food rewards aren't enough for my strong, stubborn working line Labrador. Here's my question, I have a nosey neighbor who gets in my business about how I train my dog using corrections with a prong collar, she tells me I'm abusing my animal and ruining my relationship with my dog by giving a simple correction with a light pop on the prong....
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January 2, 2024

Recommended My 3 year old dog tears up packages around the house when we leave her alone, what do you suggest?

Hello Cindy. I have a Bernese Mountain Dog who is reactive and you have helped me modify this behavior! Thank you. Now she (3 years old) has taken to tearing into packages around the house when left alone when we go out. It used to be about food but now she got into xmas ornaments. What do you suggest? I have done the following courses: Leash reactivity; remote collar training and marker training. Thanks
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January 1, 2024

Recommended Family members misused the remote collar on my dog when I was on vacation ! Is my training ruined?

I’ve followed your recall and remote collar program and my dog is near perfect on recall mostly. He was very well behaved off leash on our property. We are very protective of the collar training only me and my wife but we left the dog with family for vacation who used old school shock punishment style and made my cattle dog collar-wise. Haven’t been able to break it. He now won’t come without the remote collar on and will hide from putting it on. The no longer coming without ...
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