Most Recent Q&As

Hello Cindy: My 12-month spayed Beauceron pulls on her leash to greet/play with other leashed dogs. For example, we are enjoying breakfast at an outdoor coffee shop and a well-mannered dog will walk by, causing our dog to jump up and playfully lunge towards it. Can you recommend a video so that I can teach her to remain calm and ignore other dogs (unless it is play-time) ? Thank you. Cindy

Hi Cindy. I have an eight year old GSD who is housebroken and obedient. When I'm home he either goes tot he bathroom off-lead in my fenced in back yard along the fence-line, or on-lead when we're walking through the neighborhood. In the yard when I let him out he won't actually go in the yard and do anything until I walk out. The problem is when I travel, which is only once or twice a year, I have friends that were willing to watch him for me but every time they do he just goes to the bat...

I have a now 4 month old (European) Doberman puppy. We have done a fair bit of crate training, and he sleeps in there at night, and readily jumps in with a treat. He doesn't "hate" the crate - but since day 1 when he came home at 10 weeks old, he HATES being locked up and not being right by you or what interests him. Barking and throwing a fit since the day he came home unless he's flat out exhausted, and sometimes even then. There is plenty of play, exercise, training, enrichment, etc. H...

Cindy, again, thank you so much for your availability. This is a terrific help, and I love Leerburg. A question please... I'm interested in getting a new dog for AKC Obedience and Rally. Several professionals have recommended choosing a young adult such that the dog's potential is more readily assessed, stating that there are too many unknowns with puppies even when well bred. Others have said that getting a puppy is best to form an early relationship and to begin early luring and attent...

Hello! I have a 20 month old pit bull mix that I rescued. Her oral fixation is getting worse. Please let me know which course I could take to work with her. It is becoming a problem. Thank you!

Hello Cindy I have a 3 year older female Border Collie and am hoping to get a new puppy in the future. Do you have any advice on how to introduce them successfully? For example, should I keep them separated in the house for the first few days so that my adult dog realises that she is not missing out on anything and can gradually get used the idea of sharing the home? My adult dog ignores strange dogs outside, except when they come rushing up to her or me, in which case she charges at ...

Hi! Thank you for great contents on YouTube! My 6months old mini Australian shepherd loves to chew on sticks and branches when tired after play session and that cause vomiting wood chips afterwards. Any suggestions to stop that behavior or is it ok for him to chew on sticks? Thank you!

Hi, again. I'm hoping you can direct me to one of your courses to help me out. I have watched your basic and intermediate obedience videos and Relationship Games 1 plus parts of some others. My 15-month-old Parson Russell terrier is doing very well with all the food exercises. He is very good at "leave it / yuck" until he gets hold of a ball or frisbee or tug. I would love to eventually have him reliably retrieving, but while he will sprint after anything I throw, his next instinct is to dest...

I have a 5 yr old female German Shepherd that is still intact and has never been pregnant. Is there a danger to her health in not getting her fixed and is she too old to have a litter? Thank you

Hi. My 5 month old boston terrier bit my mother monday because she wouldn't let her keep jumping on the couch. last night i was petting the dog on the floor and she was sniffing in my pockets for treats. i didn't have any and she got frustrated and nipped me. i am shocked and horrified! Do you think this is a result of poor training (I have been training her since she was 8 weeks old) or a personality issue? If it's training, would I be able to rectifiy it? I am really the only person that tr...

Hello! I wanted to say first thank you for answering a previous question I had sent to you. We just picked up a 17 week old puppy today. Our puppy ended up lunging at our toddler three times and one was at the face. We’ve never encountered this before and don’t know what to do. We have a crate for their space and keeping him on a leash (which I’ve seen done on leerburg videos). Is there anything specific or tips you’ve found helpful that we can start right away? Plan is for our pup t...

I’ve been working on the forced retrieve with my terrier for the past 2 months. I started from the very basic. From take, to hold and now bring. I also used a starter kit similar to the one sold at Leerburg. Which includes a pvc section as well as a dowel. He’ll pick up and bring the pvc and dowel. He just will not pick up the dumbbell. What did I do wrong? Also, what can I do to resolve issue? Thank you in advance for your response.

Hi Cindy - I am a new student of Michael's videos for my puppy I pick up on Monday. He is a 10 week old German Shepherd. Should I buy him a Kuranda bed he will grow into or start small?

Good morning, I've just recently adopted a 8 month old female husky. Her precious owners were Hobbie breeders, and she was kept in her kennel constantly. I have no other behavior issues with her beside when she is kenneled and I'm not home she becomes frantic and will try to destroy the kennel. What is the best way to recreate train a puppy that panics in their kennel? If I am in her eye sight she will lay in her kennel with the door open or closed with no issues. She will engage in relax...

My 15 wk GSD is confused and I know I caused it. She takes the down as I am trying to use spatial pressure to push her into ‘back up’. I don’t name it til I love it, so I have successfully Named/marked ‘Down’ with her . It’s just the movement toward her that I think confuses her. What or where should I ‘Go back’ and focus on to truly distinguish this for Her.

Hi! I love your website and refer to it often. I have a 15 month fully intact male GSD. He is our first GSD so we are learning

Dear Cindy, we have 2 dogs (a 5-year old Beagle/GSD mix and a 4-year old Australian SD/Lab/Black retriever mix, both males) which have been exhibiting increasing aggressive behavior issues over the last 3 months. I am not sure how to identify what type of aggression it is (fear, frustration, or simple prey drive) and therefore what type of training/counter conditioning would be the most suitable one. Indeed, I suspected fear aggression. However, I learnt in one of Michael Ellis' videos that ...

Hi Cindy, I‘m about to get a male puppy in 2 weeks and the breeder told me now that the pup has a small umbilical hernia which is not congenital. Would you still consider getting the puppy or not?

I am watching your tug videos. Michael Ellis says that letting your dog carry and keep the toy will build possessiveness. Mark Keating seems to say the opposite. I have a 3.5 year old shepherd mix we adopted. He seems mostly motivated to take whatever toy we tug with to keep and chew. If I give him wins, he keeps walking away and when I bring him back, he gradually loses interest. The other day I thought I would try just tugging and outing, never giving the tug to him completely. Now h...

Hi, I've been watching your videos and they really helped me to realize what is normal with puppies. We have a 6 month old female Rottweiler we also have 5 children ages 15 to 6. We did puppy kindergarten at 8 weeks and then at 16 weeks we did a 4 week training class where we dropped her off 4 days a week and brought her home every night at 4pm. We still go back for training 2 times a week together for a half hour. My problem is when her leash and prong are off she forgets all her training...