Recommended Q&As

Hello Ed & Cindy, I'm writing today regarding my mother's year old spayed female GSD. She was purchased by my 18 year old brother who didn't do groundwork before leaving for college. She is loving & intelligent, but extremely stubborn and dominant. I've never had a dog this frustrating to train. She is teetering on the edge of needing to find a new home because of her behavioral issues. I'm hoping that you can suggest specific DVDs and articles that are most fitting for her issues. ...

My ten year old Keeshonden bit me and tore my lip. This happened on the same day that I had been playing with another dog up close away from home. I was behind her head and she turned and bit my lip off. I believe it was because I had the smell of the other dog all over me and my dog wasn't looking. The only other time this had happened was a couple of months prior when my dog bit my daughter on the lip (not as hard) after she had been playing with a dog earlier that day at a friend's home. M...

Hello, Can I use the pager/vibrate feature on your ecollars as a clicker? Thank you in advance.

Hello! I have a 10 week old female lab (born Aug 26th). When she is playing hard with other dogs and I need her to calm down and listen I try to stop her by holding her back, or grabbing the scruff of her neck. Sometimes she will stop other times when she is really wound and I stop her by getting a hold of the scruff of her neck and pick her up by the scruff of her neck she will twist around and snap at me or my husband. We pick her up and hold her in that position close to our bodies unti...

How do I get my high food drive GSD puppy to except food reward more gently?

I saved a starved, mixed breed, 8 week old puppy out of a ditch about 4 months ago. Now he's a healthy 40lb, 6 1/2 month old, super smart dog. He can sit, fetch, shake, high five, lay down all kinds of things. He would be such a smart, obedient, well behaved dog, if I could get him to STOP tearing up EVERYTHING! He is an outside (half Acre to play on in the country guarded by a wireless pet safe fence) dog with my 4 year old, rescued Bull Mastiff female, who doesn't tear anything up. He is pl...

Hi Ed & Cindy, I am new to training and have an awesome 3 year old GSD. I have recently purchased The Power of Training Your Dog with Food DVD and had a question concerning treats. It mentions using treats that your dog considers high value. I see a big reaction with my Shepherd with hot dogs, so I have begun using them starting this training. My question is, is there ever a time you would go back to lower value treats during training? Or do you always use what would be a high value reward...

We have a dominant/agressive 16 month female doberman. We have purchased and implimented all of your training videos and hired several local trainers. The latest trainer, has instructed us to do an alpha roll with a muzzle 2 times a day as an excercise not as a correction. Our doberman growls and freaks out when we do this but eventually calms down. We are rolling her on her side only not on her back. Should we stop doing this? I know your other articles are adamant about not using alpha roll...

Hi Cindy, Thank you in advance for your advice. I very much appreciate the help. I have a 4 month old border collie/aussie and I am thinking about purchasing some tugs for her to play with. She loves to chase a long rope and catch the end of it, and she is very quick, but it is hard to get her to out the toy. Would you recommend using the furry fleece tug (she loves furry animal toys), the synthetic puppy tug or the leather puppy tug? Thank you.

I am training a Redbone Coonhound. While working on obedience, he is responsive to the "here" command but is easily distracted by other dogs. Using an ecollar gets his attention and he will come most of the time. Lately, and quite often, he gets confused with the ticks from the e-collar when he hears the "here" command and gets a correction. This repeats several times. He sits and stays, I call "here" and he stays. I have to bend down and say okay go or praise him. I have probably been too co...

Can a dog get a blockage from raw legs? Someone I know has fed raw for years and her 10 year old male just got sick and died. Vet said it was a bowel blockage? I started feeding this way and now am concerned.

Please help me! My husband and I have consulted our trainer who has suggested things that just don't work and I have yet to find an answer that really relates to our problem. We have a 7 month old Boxer mix (we think--we adopted him from a shelter at 2 months). He is such a good dog! He has been in obedience classes since he was about 4 months old and does amazing everywhere but in our backyard. Even then the only issue (but a big issue) is that he will attack our coats and shoes when we are ...

Hello Cindy, We have a 1 1/2 year old Australian Shepherd who is aggressive when on leash with other dogs in a classroom situation and walking around our neighborhood. She does not show any aggression while on leash walking around at dog shows which deal with conformation and obedience. We have her in an agility class where all the dogs are crated and one dog works at a time on the course. When it is her turn she has recently taken off and runs over to where the other dogs are crated and b...

Hi, Can you point me to any articles or eBooks, or give me some advice on how to handle a young female in heat. This is her third heat and we've handled it so far, but we just got turned on to your videos and methods and philosophies and we would like to learn how to handle this right. We have chosen not to have her spayed, as we plan on getting one litter out of her, probably this time next year, when she'll be two and a half years old. Thank you for your time, and thank you for the gr...

Cindy, Need a quick answer if possible. Is the "Finishing Work" video used after training all behaviors, ie: basic obedience, heeling, retrieve, send away, etc. Or is it used after training each behavior? Thanks, Bob

Cindy, I have a 5-month-old 2-1/2 lb male Yorkshire Terrier. I attended a local puppy kindergarten 8-week session for obedience training, and am planning on attending additional obedience training sessions with him. Everything with that is going fairly well, but after spending the last 2 months with my puppy, there are a few behaviors he refuses to listen to me concerning, namely barking and staying away from the cat food. I have been very consistent with him in teaching him "no" and even...

Hey Cindy, You were very helpful with me previously in the past with my boxers aggression issue. She just had 2 mass cell tumors removed that were cancer. She now has 20 staples in her back as well as stitches above her rear leg. She loves to play as all dogs do. We have historically played with her in the morning, afternoon and night. The stitches and staples will not be removed for another 2 weeks. The vet said to keep her calm, no jumping etc. Any advise on how to keep a dogs energy lev...

Hi Cindy, I have several Michael Ellis DVDs purchased from Leerburg and really enjoy them. My problem is I have been working on the retrieve and send away (Michael Ellis way)?but recently, when I tell my female to "bring" the dumbell, she thinks all she has to do is go out and touch it (like in the send away) and come back for a tug reward. She was doing good until now. I think I will quit working the send away until she gets the retrieve down better but I am looking for help to solve ...

Hello, My wife and I bought and have watched the basic obedience video, on recommendation from a previous trainer, and absolutely love it. We noticed a number of little problems with our own behavior and have since begun implementing the techniques. I was hoping I could get a little advice on the place command. We have a rescue dog (4 or 5) which we have been crating since she came home. She has always shown strong anxiety while in the crate. She tore her way out of one, and will not...

I have a 1 year old female black mouth cur who had 12 pups on 02/20/12, 1 was still born and 2 more have since died. Can you tell me how many normally survive in a litter this large with a first time mom?'