Recommended Q&As

Ed and Cindy, I have been following your books, DVDS, and podcasts for some time. I have followed your 8 weeks to Adult puppy video and have had much success. I only am experience one major problem. Our Whippet is very comfortable with her crate and never goes in the house when we are around. This year at 18 months I started to leave her out of her crate during the afternoons (six hours). She constantly goes bathroom on the carpet. Our first house was a tile floor and had no carpet. I hav...

Hi Cindy, I've been seriously thinking of rescuing a cat, there's so many homeless ones where I am. Would their diet be similar to a species appropriate diet for dogs, some meat, giblets, and bones? Can they chew bones?? I have no clue. Anita

I have a 5 month old Goldendoodle that picks up everything he finds. He swallowed a 12" long stuff-less toy about a month ago that had to be removed surgically. He loves socks and underwear, and yesterday he got ahold of one of my daughters headbands, but fortunately he vomited up this morning. We try to keep things picked up but he just seeks them out. What can we do? I don't want another $2800 vet bill. Thanks, Tim

We have a 6 month old Portugese Water Dog (weighs 40 pounds). He's an awesome dog and did reasonably well in basic obedience training... but I'm having difficulty getting him to stop jumping and nipping on my 5-year old daughter, going after shoes to chew on, and chasing our cat. I've heard great things about your e-collar video -- before I order can you suggest the best e-collar to go with it? Regards, Eric

Hi Ed, First I want to thank you for all the information you've made available here on this website. I've been through so many of your articles, videos, and even the discussion forum and have learned a lot. I recently adopted a 2 year old GSD a few weeks ago. I've been putting her though your pack structure program, and thing seem to be going pretty well. She knows that she has to wait to go up/down the stairs, in/out the door/crate until I tell her she can go, she's very responsive ...

My son and daughter train 3 year old border collies for 4-h they are starting their 3rd year. The dogs are from the same litter. My son has the female Ruby and my daughter has the male Zeke. Last year Ruby got bite by another dog and she has been dog aggressive ever since. Once she starts this behavior then Zeke also becomes aggressive. The volunteers at dog practice feel exposing them to the other dogs during a meet and greet exercise will help where my children need to correct their dogs be...

Hello, I have recently rescued a 7 year old Staffordshire Bull terrior/Jack Russell, her name is Penny. She is well behaved and has understood from the off that I am master. I was told she was dog aggressive and I am confident enough and usually able to distract her we she sees other dogs whilst out on the leash. However, yesterday as I walked round a blind corner another domesticated dog came with it's owner, Penny instantly lunged and bit the dog around the snout before I could react, th...

Ed, We have a 7 year old Beagle and a 14 year old Cocker Spaniel at home. We've had both since they were puppies, but we got the cocker first. They have gotten along up until about this past year. Lately, the Beagle has been attacking the Cocker Spaniel. She's a hunting dog, so she's fast and gets a good grip on the other dog. Out of the blue, she'll lunge at the other one and attack her, without ever letting go. When we try to drag her off, she takes the other one with her. It doesn...

I take in and rehab strays. I do a lot of trick training using clickers. However, I have a Blue Heeler who screams and tries to push himself under the bed or cram himself into the corner of a closet when he hears the click. Someone suggested using a retractable pen, but the timing with it is unreliable. The Heeler was not scared of its sound, though, so I am hoping a quieter clicker would do. I saw two in the Leerburg catalog that advertised as being having softer clicks. They were the i-Clic...

I recently purchased a couple of your training streaming videos (Your Puppy 8 Weeks to 8 Months and Dealing with Dominant & Aggressive Dogs). They are very helpful and we enjoy learning from them, and I'm sure I will be pursuing others over the next several months as we train our little guy. I recently received my new Malinois puppy and he just turned 8 weeks. He is a voracious eater and is guarding his food and growling. At 8 weeks old should this be corrected and if yes what would you re...

I am sending you this email from outside of my house. I'm so upset I can't go in right now. I have a 1 year old dog that is house trained and a week ago a friend moved in my brand new home with her dog. Her dog is not house trained and it seems the owner has no desire to train her dog. I am trying the crate training now but her dog and my dog cry all day and night wanting to get to each other. I am afraid my dog is going to start "marking" his territory again before I get her's house trained....

I have two maltipoo puppies. One is 7 months old, one is 8 months. I am still having trouble getting them house trained. They are in the crate at night and sleep all night without accidents. They are taken out first thing in the AM and usually both go pee and poop. Once they eat, they are taken out again within the hour. Sometimes they will both go pee and poop again... sometimes just one will. Here is the problem. They do NOT tell me when they have to go out. I have them confined to the fami...

Hello Cindy. Hope all is well with you. I emailed you from Afghanistan about my female Mal, who is now 14 months old, about her eating her poop. Thanks for the nutritional advice on that; your advice was spot on. Now I have another question. When I play tug with her, she bites my hands (I am sure inadvertently) right by my thumb and forefinger. I have tried widening my grip, but eventually she still bites it. I really do not think she is doing it on purpose. She is very intense about tuggi...

Hello, I recently used your videos to learn how to train my pit bull mix puppy (my first puppy). We adopted him from the shelter at 6 months old; he is 9 months old now. The videos were extremely helpful. My mom also has a puppy (going on a year old), and we have met 2 times, a month apart, to introduce the dogs to one another. I watched carefully the segment you showed on dog interaction hoping I could determine any warning signs ahead of time, especially since my dog is quickly outgrowi...

Good morning, I am needing some new ideas to help get one of my dogs through a particular situation. I teach puppy socialiazation classes and am very familiar with clicker training. I also show in conformation and this is the arena where I am having the problem. About a year ago one of my young females was terrified by a judge in the ring just as he was coming up to her for her exam. During this year I have used the clicker to help her with focus and to have people come up to her and pet ...

Hi, I feel terrible even writing this email, but I would like your advice on this. 2 weeks ago my fiance and I purchased a rescued 3 month old GSD mix. We were 3 weeks out from our wedding and about to close on a new fixer upper home w/ only floorboards in place. We thought this would be the ideal situation while puppy training. Well, the close on the house got delayed, so we are now 2 adults, 2 cats and an untrained puppy in my 600 sq/ft carpeted condo. The puppy naturally is having ac...

Completed the first two Michael Ellis DVDs and 11 month old dog is progressing great EXCEPT he has "sticky" outs. He understands to out but if it is a tug he will continue to teeth it. If its a ball after a retrieve he will come right to me and will out on command but then when ball hits ground will attack it. I have tried simply saying no for a period of time, have said no followed by continuous tension with the leash until he drops it but once it hits ground he is back on it. I have tried s...

Hello, I have a quick question. I am taking my 7 month old GSD/Mal mix through your Basic Obedience after completing the traditional classes. She did very well and continues to do very well. The issue I am having is she is very "goosey" (gets behind me, starts jumping around, hair goes up and doesn't really growl, but makes noise to get back) around people when they get within about 3-5 feet of me or her. I tell the people to ignore her, don't come any closer, back up and I put her in eith...

I have a cocker poo that we love dearly (weights 28 lbs) that eats paper and clothes. We have tried everything-behavior training, lemon juice, etc. If you leave something down for a second he is off and running. I use a walker so it is difficult to get to him. He is also bad when he goes with his dog walker trying to grab paper in the street etc. I even had a nutritional study done but he was fine. I am terrified that he will get ill. Recently a friend left her denim jacket on the couch for a...

I am very interested in your new leash for prong/dominant dog collars. Great idea! However, Please clarify: When you previously have discussed the proper fitting of the dominant dog collar, you have stated it should be worn high on the dog's neck just below the jaw. In the video for the new leash, you show the dominate dog collar being worn well down the dog's neck. Is it safe to assume this is for illustration purposes and that both collars should be worn as you have always recommended? Plea...