Recommended Q&As

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, ...

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, 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 ...

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 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 ...

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...

Hello Cindy. I really hope you can help us. Less than a week ago, we got a 9-week puppy cockapoo. He is wonderful in many ways, but he really bites when putting into a crate. He also very nippy and saying ouch does not work. Today during playtime outside, when the puppy was on dog run, he started to run around like crazy and growl. Could you please advise me on how to deal with this behavior. I worry for my children. Thank you

I have watched the course on how to establish pack structure and have a question regarding dog behavior during play. I am researching as much as I can on the subject of dog body language and signs that could prevent a dog fight. In the situation when a female and male that meet on a regular basis, have structured walks and play, is it possible that neither of them be dominant over another? The GSD female is 3 years old and the GSD male is 4 years old. They no longer play as much with each ...

Hi Cindy, About a month ago I adopted 10 month old intact male Min Pin. For the past month I have worked on just like trick training for fun and stuff like that to build a positive relationship. He is exceptionally food motivated and catches on to things very quickly. However I'm really struggling with loose lead walking (flat collar). He is very inquisitive and has a ton of energy. I don't have a large yard for him to run prior to working with him. Should I carry him to the park and exerci...

I have a 9 month old male GSD, he is from German show lines. He has a really nice temperament. But at this age he is fresh, he thinks its fun to jump on me. He rarely did this when he was 5 mos. old. I know he is just playing with me but its annoying. He's very gentle when he puts his feet on me, he jumps back then barks at me. I don't want him to think this is OK to do. I have tried the squirt bottle and the sports drink bottle with water it didn't work so I added a little bit of vinega...

I have a long line which I've used with my (now 7 month old) puppy, which I clip onto the back of her harness. This weekend we took her to an off leash dog beach. The beach is very big and wide, so I was planning to avoid other dogs as much as possible and let her play in the water. However, there was an incident where an off leash dog ran to my dog and away again and my puppy spun around and ran after it, straight into the long line, getting the line wrapped after her leg and neck. I r...

Hello, I just got my puppy at 9.5 weeks, I put her in the expen so I could make dinner but she is crying so much and climbing the walls to try to get out. I don’t want to reward this behavior and want her to see the expen as a good thing. How do I stop this? I gave her toys and food in the pen and put her in when she was napping but she’s still fully freaked out. I had her in there earlier playing with toys and food to familiarize herself with it but I’m not sure how else to acclimate h...

Dear Cindy - I purchased a puppy in hopes of getting a companion who would also be a deterrent to intruders. I spent a whole lot of money on him and was able to watch both parents do protection work. My breeder assured me that he would be an excellent candidate for protection work but not sport since he’s a little sharp. (Though I don’t really want to do protection work, I just want a companion/deterrent dog.) My concern is that he isn’t very good at being a deterrent. Lol. It seems lik...

Hi Cindy, My 9 months old 60lbs goldendoodle when he gets overstimulated (e.g. by dogs or pedestrians during walk) or frustrated, he redirects (jumping and biting) me and my daughter which each time caused multiple bruises on our hands and legs. We don’t reinforce excitement. We work on exercise to establish leadership role everyday. We tried redirect with toys, used bitter apple spray as suggested by a trainer, all worked only for few days. May I ask what other methods that can help corr...

Our German Shepherd pup is 14 weeks old, now, got her at 8 weeks. Bought the Leerburg Come When Called video, and your puppy video, 8 weeks to 1 year. Recently , off leash, mainly outside with distractions and around our horses, puppy is ignoring the come when called command. Suggestion? Too soon for off leash? Goal is a family pet, that comes when called.

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...

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,

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...

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...

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...