Recommended Q&As

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'...

Our high drive border collie is scared of noisy things that are new like trashcans, shopping carts, skateboards, etc. She has always been a little jumpy/noise sensitive and highly reactive even for the breed (we are experienced past border collie owners). I am able to get her comfortable with objects by playing frisbee around these objects working them into games (jump over the trashcan, get the frisbee from my hand while i am skateboarding), but then a new object later will trigger her ag...

My 5 month old Aussie puppy is obsessed with my 4 year old Aussie. It’s not aggression—just the opposite: she is demanding to play. But it not like a polite request. Instead she grabs a mouthful of the older dog’s fur and won’t let go. If she gets anywhere near the older dog, her eyes light up and she pounces, jumping and biting. On the other hand, she is very uninterested in me and no treat or toy can get a rise out of her. The older dog puts up with her for the most part but sometim...

My 10 month old male wl GSD has started to show signs of resource guarding his cot and beds from anyone outside of his family. He is perfectly fine with me and my husband touching him/being around him no matter where he is or what he is doing but he has started to guard them from strangers. A little info; he is my service dog in training and I have had him and have been working with him since he was 8 weeks old. He has completed both basic and advanced training. He has been socialized (no...

Hi Cindy. I purchased your video: Your puppy 8 weeks to 12 months. In module 4 segment 3 Ed talks about taking puppy to different locations and doing engagement exercises for one minute and then take it to another place and do some more engagement practices and so forth. My questions is: do I need to be concerned with my 5 month old Rottweiler puppy jumping in and out of the car due to its growth plates? Will this affect his bone development? Thank you for your reply. I so respect what ...

Hi Cindy, I have a 13 month female GSD. She has been in Shutzhund training for 9 month and she is doing exceptionally well. Her barking during protection is very aggressive and I am happy with that. However, away from the training field she barks at new people, not a I’m going to bite you bark but more like a hey I’m not sure about you bark. New dogs however she has a violent bark until quite some time has gone by and they get comfortable with each other. My question is how can I fix the...

Hi Cindy, I have an 8 month old working line GSD that I would like to do agility with. We are working on loose leash walking and engagement games. And she is smart as a whip! I would like to take her for longline sniffs walks but am afraid she will not want to focus on me if I allow her to just do her own thing on the longline. I have numerous dvd's from Leerburg so if the answer is in a dvd would you point me in the right direction? I should also add that I am 76 years old and have...

I have a 3-month-old, 30 pound Doberman with whom we have used a harness and 6 foot drag line except when he is in his crate sleeping for the night (he also has a pen for daytime use when we are not directly training or playing with him). Over the past 10 days, have noticed that he will pull hard against the 6-foot line when I'm with him outdoors (as well as jump on my legs and try to bite) but not when I'm using the 20 foot drag line. Wonder if the amount of pressure exerted by the line ma...