Most Recent Q&As

I have a 10 month old golden who has not been properly socialized. He is very reactive to people and other dogs. He lunges at them and jumps all over them wanting attention. He never calms down. High energy level no matter how much exercise he's had. He is not at all aggressive. I don't know how to teach him to be calm and not jump and lunge at people / other dogs. He knows basic commands, although he considers commands to be temporary and thinks its ok, for instance, to only sit or stay for ...

Hello! I'm training my older dog for Mondio, and am wondering about the order of training the send away and the jump pattern with touch pads. I'm not sure if this is mentioned at all in the DVDs, as I do have the Jumps DVD and Send Away DVD, and am still working through watching the Send Away DVD. My dog has a decent understanding of touch pads, but I haven't taught either of these exercises before. Since both use the touch pad as a target, is it better to train one exercise first, then move ...

Hello, I’m working my way through Michael Ellis’ focused heeling video and I’ve gotten to the part where I work on leash pressure with my mal. He’s awesome with the forward leash pressure and immediately gives. When I pull straight back to attempt to get him to give backwards he constantly drops into a sit. If I keep applying pressure backwards he drops into a down. What can I do to help him learn what I’m asking? Should I just keep applying steady pressure backwards? I’m using a...

My 80 year old aunt adopted a baby Rottweiler. When he got to be about five months she couldn’t handle him anymore (Da). I thought I was doing her a favor and I took him in but he had already developed bad habits and I think he is dominant. I’ve taken him to two trainers and finished basic obedience. Things are going pretty well. The other day I took him to the vet to get neutered and he attacked the vet and all the staff. I’m sure he was just scared and they were trying to tell them w...

I have a 3yr old Dutch Shepherd that I adopted a year ago. No background info given. She is very anxious/fearful when hearing gunfire (large or small) from the neighborhood. She is non reactive in almost all other situations including trips to the military base at Ft. Bragg, NC. There the background range noise is 24/7 heavy artillery to smaller arms fire. No problem at all.. Have tried to desensitize with background noise online at home in calm settings, no reaction. Only reacts to live nea...

Hi Cindy, I'm a veterinary technician and have a solid foundation of canine behavior but I happen to be out of town right now and have a puppy coming in ~3 weeks. I would consider myself skilled in Fear Free and balanced approaches to training...but my question is regarding the quantity of food rewards for a puppy. The back of my brain says their metabolism is so high at that age that you can use treats without discretion (for the most part) and it is only when they reach adulthood that you m...

Hi Cindy, I have an almost 5 month old female golden retriever puppy. We got her 3 weeks ago. She pulls on the leash when we walk outside and I just started training her to walk on a loose leash this week. We started in doors and progressed to the backyard. She’s making some progress. My question is, at this stage can I still take her for longer walks before she masters loose leash walking? E.g. a walk in the park or in the neighborhood? If she can’t manage to walk properly with the di...

Hi Cindy, Trying to work on a stay with my 7 month old Australian Shepard. When I get out the long line, my puppy seems to think it’s time for her to go crazy and she starts grabbing the long line and biting it. I have been having no success stopping this behavior and just end the training session. Looking for any advice you might have on how to stop this behavior. I’m starting to think I’m expecting too much to fast with this puppy. I’ve owned golden retrievers in the past a...

I have a pretty well-trained Belgian Malinois. He does explosive detection and tracking very well. He is also very obedient. He has no aggression toward dogs, territory, toys, people, etc. But for some reason when my dog has any sort of pain whatsoever, he becomes highly aggressive only toward me. I have been reading and have been familiarized with a lot of your training methods at Leerburg since I left K-9 handler school. But even in your literature or the schools, I can’t find anything th...

I have a 8 month old Plotthound which is trained quite well for a hound breed I think, meaning she can focus well on me when I demand it. I do however rely heavily on treats during dog training - my dog gets all her meals during training. Some "friends" have told me, my dog should work for me even without treats (to which I usually answer, that they should work for their employer without pay), and while I do sometimes demand small "rows" of commands before giving the reward, I still pretty mu...

Hi, my dog is fearful around strangers and will become aggressive when they get too close. What training program would work best for him? I'm stuck between two types 1. Board and Train (4 weeks at facility with field trips and at home follow up session) 2. Hybrid (9 week home self-study, coaching at a facility, Group Classes). My concern for option 1 is that he he may not listen to me or will revert back to his over protective habits because I wasn't the one training him while he was away. M...

Good morning, Cyndi. First, thank you for the wealth of knowledge you share! We have an 8 year old male GSD and will be getting a female GSD puppy in the spring from the same breeder. We have purchased an extra crate, ex pens, and other items necessary to keep the dogs separate in the house until they can get along (with the knowledge it may never happen). Almost everything I have read online at other websites states that it is necessary to introduce the dogs on 'neutral' ground...

Good day Thank you for all the excellent training content. I have been training my pup since eight weeks old to do footstep tracking and he does it accurately and at a good pace. Not quite a tracking thru drive pace, but the dog is focused. I have been doing tracks in the country about 4-5 days per week. I was told that is too much tracking and should back off to 2 per week. However, my dog loves to track and I don’t think he’s being overworked physically by any means. ...

I did it. Went to a dog park. Against what was taught in the course. Everything was great for 2 months. My dog is a European Doberman, female, 1-year-old. Needs a lot of exercise. Today, she is great at the park until a woman shows up with a ball and a long stick for throwing it. My dog is excited, chases the ball, runs back to the lady, and jumps on her. She starts yelling and swinging the stick, kicking my dog. I'm running to grab my dog as she thinks the lady is playing. Not good, my dog ...

Hi Cindy, In the Your Puppy 8 Weeks to 12 Months video, it is described to use the exercise pen for the puppy. At what age is too old for the pen? We used ours up until 4 months of age and then stopped but started again 2 days ago. What age is it recommended for while in the house? We are having considerable issues with hierarchy struggles with our puppy and lunging/biting. (Puppy is 18 weeks old now). Thanks!

We have a 18 month old gsd that we have had since a pup. She has had training in puppy preschool and basic obedience since she was 5 month old. Our trainer follows the styles of Michael Ellis, Robert cabrel and Nino. Lots of movement and play, treats and timed corrections. My gsd struggles to focus when out of the house, at formal training she will not eat or play. Every noise or movement distracts her from focusing on me. At home I can get her to follow instruction, and she looks...

We are working on hold. I like the size of the dumbbell I got from you & it is the hard plastic one. Is the wooden one better for teaching this? And the plastic is better for when she has it down solid. and it’s not possibly clanking against her teeth? It seems harder to grip. Gets slippery. Not that’s it’s an excuse for mouthing it! I just wanna be fair to her and she’s learning. She can when she wants to though.

If I have two dogs and separately they know their names and respond to commands, how do I get them to respond to commands when together depending on whose name I called out? For example, if they're in a sit and I say "Lexi, come" I only want Lexi to come and Roxy to stay seated. They're getting confused when I attempt this. I want to keep the motivation high and not use "no" every time the wrong dog responds.

Do you have a recommendation for protective boots THAT STAY ON the dog. I have a 78 lb, 12 year old GSD female who is "toeing under" and needs protection for her right back foot. I know several other owners that have had this problem and have had trouble finding a comfortable boot that will reliably stay on the dog. Any help you can give will be much appreciated. (I own a boarding and grooming operation and would love to be able to recommend a product you may carry that works...preferably ava...

Cindy, I've made great strides with my dog, thanks to your advice. She displays only brief, calm interest or indifference towards the chicken coop and defers to the cats in the home if they growl, hiss, or run away - no chasing, fixating, etc. Thank you! A new issue has cropped up: yesterday she began to guard high value treats from me (bison or beef bones), growling if I approach, and even snapping to deter me. These treats are new, but 1 week ago I could approach or pet her when she wa...