Recommended Q&As

We got our toy poodle from an experienced breeder at 9 weeks in late 2020. Due to COVID, she wasn't well socialized, although she was well behaved (in spite of no formal training). She was exposed to my wife, myself & my 36 year-old son most of the time. I have 2 married daughters, and they now have little kids (1-3 years old). Our dog is generally OK around them, until they cry, screech or run. This excites the dog and until last week wasn't much of a problem. Last week she nipped at a...

Hi there. Is an agitation collar purely a personal preference in terms of width? My dog weighs about 70 pounds and the 2 inch collar I got looks big. I did not consider finding more about best practices for fitting a collar before I ordered. To be honest. I am beginning to learn more about protection sports, not sure which I have more affinity for and I’m just kind of dipping my toe in so to speak.

Hello Cindy! I recently ordered a couple french linen tugs and round from you guys and couldn't be happier with them. Though, I was curious how best to clean them after they collect some sand/dirt/leaves/ect from use in the yard on a line? I'm concerned with the sand building up and grinding my girls teeth down and just want to keep them clean overall. Also would there be any difference in cleaning jute or other types of synthetic training toys? Thanks so much!

Our Golden Retriever is 6 mo old now. She is very sensitive and smart. My husband got frustrated when we were potty training her and yelled once - loudly. It scared her badly. Now, she submissive pees infront of him all the time. He has learned by his mistake, but not sure if it can be remedied. He never yells now and is careful not to react when she does sumissive pee. He just cleans it up. He can tell she is going to pee because of her crouching. He now doesn't want to interact wit...

hello Is there any advice on what to do when riding through countryside or anywhere and having dogs start to chase the bike other than to stop but some dogs are really scary and huge and some very aggressive

Hi, my dog recently started having seizures. He is 7 years old and is e-collar trained. His last Seizure was 2 months ago and he is not on any medication for them. Should I stop using the e-collar because of this?

I just want to say thanks! You have put a lot of work into Leerburg University and it’s awesome. I really love how there’s video and text, and how it’s broken up into segments. When my brain is spinning that makes it so much easier to get back on track and focus. I went through several samples of your courses and all of the instructions are actually good at instructing. I like how you can go over the basics for the new trainers without boring the rest of your audience. I love that peopl...

How to clean my dog's stainless steel HS prong collar? Just recently the collar has been turning our yellow lab black around his neck. I have tried cleaning with dish liquid but still have the problem. Any suggestion would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Is the dominant dog collar guaranteed to not snap/break if my dog pulls? I have a nine year old Mastiff mix, I’ve been dealing with issues with him since he’s been a baby (got him when he was five weeks old, he was taken from his mother way too soon). He’s always had an attitude. We’ve finally got to a point where he will mind me only, but not other people. He is also sometimes reactive to other dogs and does a lot of posturing, like kicking his feet while staring them down after goin...

Hi Cindy, I have a 7 month old male GSD puppy. He's very large, over 75 lbs. I struggled with leash pulling and reactivity to other dogs while on the leash. It started because my neighbors have two fence fighting dogs that love to bark @ my puppy whenever we are in the backyard. I'm now using a HS prong collar and it's been a game changer. He no longer pulls my arm off when we go on a walk. His training has been limited to a puppy class he took several months ago. It was really more to social...

Our 6 month old malinois won't consistently sleep through the night without having a barking fit. He is fine some nights and is relentless other nights. Once he is quiet and I let him out he is incessantly wanting his food. Both of our older dogs have always loved their crate and the puppy/crying stage lasted a few weeks or less and then was over with forever. Our new dog, however, is working hard to get us up and will start barking and not cease. The barking, digging, whining will last fo...

Hi Cindy, I have an 8 week old puppy and when I take him out to potty he is focused on eating grass and also likes to chew on his leash. Any tips?

Hi Cindy and Ed, My housetrained 5 month old Cane Corso urinates whenever visitors come. Once she is used to the person it seems to be less but if its a new person or it's been a while since she has seen them she urinates quite a lot. On one instance it was three times in a row with the same person during the same visit whenever she used a high pitched (excited) voice. I have suspicions she will grow out of it but not sure. What's the best course of action? Kind Regards

Hi Cindy, I will be getting an 8 week old golden retriever puppy and he will be a family pet. I plan on using a harness at the beginning to take him outside, explore etc., but wondering at what age range you recommend beginning formal loose leash walking on a collar. Do I even need a flat collar at this point? Thank you!

My sister has 2 Boston Terrier's. The older female is smart and has an excellent temperament. They purchased a male when he was 4 months old, he is now 2. When they first got him he would run up to people and was very playful, then around 1 he still comes up to people all excited but the second he gets close he snaps, growls and barks. They've tried everything including medication. Yesterday my daughter 12, was over and she was laying on the couch watching TV and he managed to escape his cage...

We have an 11 week old mastiff puppy and we are struggling with him biting the leash (he wants to hold it in his mouth or tug with it) and he wants to play with us by biting. We have tried redirection with toys and food. He is not food motivated at all so we have struggled to even be successful with engagement. He is under weight and even with deprivation he is not interested in training with treats. Redirecting with toys almost seems like it is a reward to him so he goes back to biting and...

hi, my 3 year old spayed malinois is fear reactive. I have the courses of Ed about dominant dogs and the course of Michael and Tyler about reactive dogs. My question is: she also does this behavior at home behind the fence towards dogs and people. And of course, these dogs or people disappear, which gives her a feeling of victory. How do I fix this problem? because this is the behavior that she also does outside the house towards dogs and sometimes people. So is my work outside perhaps for no...

Hi Cindy! I'm training my dog on the recall command. I'm also working on getting him more comfortable outside as he can be skittish. For a while, my dog would hide underneath the dining table if he anticipated that we are going out for a walk. I believe he's slowly making progress and he's getting more comfortable outside. When we go out for walks, I would let him know ahead of time that we are going out for a walk and then I'll give the recall command to put the leash on him. Sometimes durin...

I have a 2 year old Rottie. He is being trained to be my service dog for PTSD. He has been going with me to work and everywhere since he was 6 months. He has been in professional training since 3 months old, first in basic, then advance, has his CGC and is ready to start the disability training. I could take him anywhere. He would just lay down, and people didn't even know he was there. He has started to bark at people in my office, especially when they rise to leave. I used to take him to re...

I have a 9 month old Pointer puppy. I did lots of desensitization with her as she grew, and up until a couple months ago, she was perfectly fine with other dogs and people. When she hit her fear period, everything was scary, but we worked through it for the most part, and she was good up until offleash dogs rushed us on a walk. Ever since then, she's been terribly reactive to dogs, and even, sometimes, people. My goal is to get her back to being neutral with other dogs, but in all honesty, I'...