Recommended Q&As

Hi Cindy, I have a high energy 6 year old female GS. She?s gone through basic obedience but seems to have a growing issue with barking. My house backs up to a park and she often hears other dogs etc, which spurs the barking. I have heard the best way to control barking is to teach the dog ?when to bark? thus I would assume this works in reverse? If this is the case, can you give me some direction on how to control her barking when told?

I just got a male 10 week old GSD puppy 3 days ago. He has coccidia and I have started him on the medication the vet recommended. His appetite is decent not voracious. He is lively and healthy. However, I wonder if I should hold off beginning high value rewards for marker training until he finishes the medication? At the moment Zuke's small cookies do not interest him enough.

First, let me say all of your videos/articles on engagement have made my life much easier, but I've run into something where I'm stumped, as is everyone at the dog school where I take agility. My 2-year-old Pit runs great for me at home and everywhere, except our dog school, where she will run for everyone but me. When I walk in the main agility ring with her, she stops and looks like I'm about to beat her. I can do my engagement exercises with her and get her engaged and playing with me,...

My compliments to you both for such an informative website! I have a 6-month-old high prey drive GS female. I've been doing the marker training since she was 9 weeks old with excellent results. I've purchased several videos including the "Tug" and "Retrieve." I've used the food throwing and rewarding inside and outside with great results. She will bring the tug back promptly inside without a leash, outside on a long leash, but when off leash outside she will stop about 3 to 5 feet and ...

We have a no vac, raw fed male who is 4 years old. His Dad was no vac but his Mom was given vaccine. He is strictly a pet. We have one of your E-collars. Recently he decided he would NOT go for a walk with me. Only if my wife goes will he go out the door for a walk. If I try to take him, he flops down and no amount of stern commands, yanks on the prong or delicious treats will get him up off the floor and out the door. Would you recommend using the E-collar to break this habit? Put...

Hi Cindy, Your training DVD products look terrific. Let me give you our background (wife and I). We have had dogs in the past but never trained them to do any more than sit or fetch. Our shepherd mix is 13 and not doing well. We will probably put her down soon. I just got an 8-week-old Belgian Malinois girl. Her father was a police dog and mother a personal protection dog. I am in the military (guard) and my wife will be a stay at home wife after this school year ends. My desire is to ...

Hi, I have watched both The Power of Playing Tug with Your Dog and Advanced Concepts in Motivation. I am a couple of weeks into implementing the techniques with my own dog and I have a question about growling--is it good or bad that she growls when we tug? If it's a bad thing, how do I address the issue? When I release the tug and run away from her she comes charging back to at me--she will even jump towards me with the toy in her mouth. She growls while we are tugging, while she is jumpi...

Hi, I'm trying to find a answer to my GD that has decreased his like in eating raw. He is going to be 3 years old in June. I got him when he was 4 months old as a rescue. He had demodex mange and was yellow from all the mess they had him on trying to treat the mange and his GI problems. I put him on raw and has been doing great ever since. He was never a big chicken eater. I went through the necks, back, thighs, leg quarters stage. That is he would eat it for a while, then not like it a...

I have a mellow, neutered male 12 year old mix breed med sized house dog and recently acquired a JRT puppy. Is it alright to let the old dog correct the pup with growls and barks when she pesters him or jumps up on him? He wants nothing to do with the puppy and usually walks away from her. He is tolerant of sharing his bed if she lies quietly beside him. The pup is doesn't always get the message, however, and continues to bug him until he gets up and goes to another spot.

We have a rescued SCWT who, after a year of walking with the same group, is still agressive toward the others. I'm wondering if I try her with a muzzle, will that help her interact and realize that they will not harm her? Any thoughts or advice would be welcomed.

Hi Cindy, I love your training principles, eBooks, podcasts and videos. I have encountered a couple of contradictions in the material. Mostly with meeting people and playing with toys. Are the rules less strict for non-working, non-agressive dogs? I'm trying to develop a training plan for a medium family dog (30-40 lbs) and I just want to make sure I'm doing a good job without overdoing it. Thanks Cindy, Matt

Good Morning, We are raw feeding our 5 month GSD. He absolutely hates sardines. We have tried food processing, blending, whole frozen raw, chopped raw, and mixing them with all sorts of foods. No results. Any suggestion would be appreciated. Thanks. Ron

Cindy, I am currently feeding Honest Kitchen?to my adult dogs and recently contacted the company to ask what age I could begin feeding our puppies. I believe the gal I talked to was Kat and she suggested that I ask another breeder that was using the products with their puppies.?Can you give me any suggestions in regards to when to introduce the Honest Kitchen and any other information you think may be helpful. I just ran accross your website for the first time and will definitely mark it ...

About two weeks ago, I made the switch over to the raw diet for my 3 dogs. The two older dogs I switched cold turkey but the young Malinois, I am switching gradually. I am giving them raw veggies & fruits, ground meat, fresh chicken with bones, some yogurt, some cottage cheese, occasional egg. Plus I bought the Honest Kitchen product you add meat to. They love me!!! I have never had this much excitement at meal time. My question is with regards to possible low blood sugar. My two older do...

I recently joined a Schutzhund club with my dog. Although I love the sport, some members have recently suggested withholding food from him except for out of my hand and he works for it. They feel he needs work on his focus. My concern is that he's a 90-lb. dog, and the most I've been able to hand feed him doesn't even come close to what he eats a day. One of the other members has a dog he's been doing this with for about 2 months and the dog looks like a Holocaust victim. I'm not finding ...

I want to train my new puppy in Schutzhund (would rather to Mondio but can't find any help locally). I have started with bite work on my own and the basic obedience. Last Saturday, we went to a Schutzhund club for evaluation and instructions. I was told I should not be doing any obedience training whatsoever, just work on tugging and getting him to hold the bite. I was told to just let him be a puppy and let him be with no corrections, letting him be the boss of the house, and let him think h...

Cindy, I bought your Nosework DVD and I trained my dog. He did well in the first session, but the second session, he started using his eyes to search in the drawer spots. For example, when I put the food in spot 3 after several times in spot 1 and 2, he just immediately went to three using his eyes and not his nose, then after that he lost interest. What should I do?

Would your service dog vests work as a safety belt type harness? I can see this would be handy when I hike our farm up north, especially in orange. The handle would be perfect when we stop to talk with neighbors. I use a SAR harness now for that. Although I know it is somewhat controversial not to crate a dog in the car, I want the contact with my dog and the security she provides by her presence, so I buckle her up when we drive somewhere. Thanks for your advice!

Hi Cindy, I was watching Michael Ellis' Focused Heeling DVD and it raised a question for me. In many pet obedience situations, we try to fade the lure as quickly as possible. I understand the reasoning for maintaining the lure for muscle memory, especially in heel work. I was wondering, in competitive training, if you prefer to do the same when building muscle memory for downs, sits, and other commands. I could see the benefit in the repetition for building better responses, then naming wh...

Hi, I have a question that I hope you can guide me to the correct source... I have a question about training my new GSP puppy (4.5 months old) from getting kicked by my gelding. My goal is to go riding with the dog on trail. Do you have a reliable source as to how to properly approach this topic? My horse isn't a kicker--and my pup does respect him (the horse). But, all my work thus so far has been done on leash (introductions, etc.). I'm thinking about purchasing a Dogtra ecollar (...