Recommended Q&As

I have a 9 week old male Belgian Malinois and have had him for 10 days. We have purchased the Leerburg DVD Your Puppy 8 Weeks to 8 Months. That DVD recommends that young puppies are on lead with a harness (not a no pull) instead of a control collar. We are having a problem with this. The puppy, Eli, has learned to lie down in order to avoid following the lead and given the chance, he will grab the leash in his mouth without ever getting up. As a result, we are having a difficult time co...

I have a Cocker Spaniel who is 4 years old, I was previously living with my parents who had other animals and another dog that used to urinate in the house. So of course my dog would go and "mark his territory" where the other dog went. My dog is trained to go outside and also use pads, our vet recommended the pads because Cocker Spaniels drink a lot of water and if they need to go at night, they can. When living with my parents he used the pad at night when he had to until my boyfriend came,...

Cindy, I always feed my puppy who is 18 weeks old now, from my hand during his training sessions. I use kibbles. Once in a while I pour wet food (high value food to him) to his bowl but he growls at me when I stick my hand in it. He does not do that when I pour kibbles to his bowl. Should I interrupt his wet food meal and feed him again after he stops growling?

We are getting 2 BC litter mates. I've read Ed's cautions on doing so. We are both experienced dog trainers/handlers and will be training the pups separately, one for each of us, etc. Question: We have outdoor pens for our present 3 BC's and also for the two pups (the latter on our patio under cover as the summer temps here are 100+ daily). Should we put a screen up between the two pups' pens which are next to each other to discourage them from becoming "doggy" or is that taking it too far i...

Somewhere in your DVDs or written word, I read that one should not jog with a dog younger than 12 months of age. My German Shepherd is 4 months of age and I was wondering if it would be alright to have him walk quickly alongside my bicycle as I ride at a slow speed for short distances? My thought was that it would be good to have him get used to this at a young age so as not to pull me off my bike as he gets older and stronger. I have thoroughly enjoyed your tapes and your written training ma...

Good day, I searched the site and founds lots of interesting information. My question is about my new 3 1/2 month old Belgian Mal. Understanding that she is not in control of her bladder and bowels yet, I have trouble crating her overnight and leave her outside. If left in the crate she makes a huge mess and acts like she is being tortured. For whatever reason, she is happy going into the crate and sleeps in it outside. But, while in the house, if I place her in a crate or expen, even w...

I adopted a puppy at ten weeks, she is now about 4 1/2 month old Aussie mix, smart, driven, and loving. I've worked hard with her on basic training and socialization letting her interact only with dogs that are proven puppy friendly. Here's my dilemma. We take our older lab mastiff mix to get groomed at a place where they offer dog "socialization" (dogs pre screened and vetted). Elvis thrives in these types of places. I am much more cautious with my puppy, because she is a puppy. Today the ow...

I have a two year old Havanese. I have a few titles on him, but have problems with him staying with me off lead in the ring. Suggestions and when we are out side, he will not come to me. I need to put a leash on him at all times. Help!!! Thank you

I have two questions. I have trained and field trailed bird dogs since being a young boy. I now would like to get into Schutzhund. I am concerned because I have kids and did not know if this makes a dog mean to where it would bite or if they just do it on command as part of the game. The second question is that I have an eight week old shepherd. I just finished watching the ME video of training with food. Can you tell me which videos I need to do next and do I need the tug video if I...

I recently bought Michael's DVD on teaching the retrieve. She's all about retrieving, but she chews on the dumbbell. I switched to the PVC pipe like Michael suggested in the DVD. I've been working with her for two weeks using the PVC pipe and I'm not seeing any change in the chewing. I've tried reinforcing the hold by giving the command again and using my hand under her chin to hold her head up. She still continues to move it around in her mouth. Also, she's a maniac when she runs out to retr...

I have a 6 months old GSD Working Line puppy, at 8 weeks he was very good biting, but now he doesn't have any interest on biting tugs, a towel or something else, I have been using the techniques on The Power of Training Dogs with Food and he is chasing the food very nice and no issues with the food, tones of food drive, what should I do differently? Should I forget about him been a Sch Dog as the protection work might be an issue? I watched a video from Michael Ellis saying that some dogs sho...

Hello. My 12 year old Border Collie has been getting peri-anal tumors for the last two years. I don't know what to do to help him. He is slim, doesn't like to eat, very energetic, but tires sooner than before, alert when awake, but like his naps now that he is aging. What can you recommend? We tried Darwin's raw food, but he did not eat at all for days and he is underweight, so I gave him his cooked hamburger, chicken, plus kibble earthborn. I really need help please. Thanks.

Hello, I have a question regarding marker training and feral dogs. Do you think marker training can be used in rehabilitating extremely afraid feral dogs? Thank you!?

Hi, I am looking for a video on how to teach a dog to fetch (retrieve an object, bring it back to me and drop it in my hand). I hope to be able to teach that dog to retrieve all kinds of objects, even a set of keys. Would you have that?? Thanks

Hi Cindy, My husband and I have a spayed female mix, approx. 1 - 2 years old, we adopted 5 months ago. We have a dog door that gives our pooches 24/7 access to our fenced backyard, so they are able to go out to do their business as needed. Our two older dogs never defecate or urinate in the house, and this younger one does not about 95% of the time. It's that other 5% that I'm trying to figure out how to resolve. It would seem she knows she's supposed to do her business outdoors, as that'...

Hi Cindy, When I throw the dumbbell and she runs out to get it but doesn't pick it up, I either will race out there with her and give it a little kick and repeat bringand "usually" she will pick it up or sometimes. I may go pick the dumbbell up and put it in her mouth then I run backwards a few yards and tell her to bring and she will normally do this with a front sit (she doesn't hold the dumbbell tight, which is another whole different topic). She likes to retrieve but she is just a ...

I recently started playing tug with my four month old BC. Outside of food it seems that's when I get the most focus out of her when training. It has helped me out tremendously in working on recalls, getting a solid out and building a retrieve (she does not like balls). The problem is now she is teething. Is there a soft enough tug that I can use if I lessen the intensity of the game or any other form of play that you think might be as useful? Thank You

Hi, My husband and I will be training a yellow lab puppy (later this year) to ultimately do therapy dog work. We've been educating ourselves about proper training techniques through your videos, articles and Q&As, as well as with service dog trainers and materials. My question is this: You stress the importance of engagement work while socializing a puppy and young dog. The dog should view other people as "furniture," as you've said. This makes perfect sense to us. However, if we ult...

Hi, I have an apricot coloured GSD, she will soon be 7 years old. She is adorable with people, in fact so much so that I have to pen her when we have visitors after a while, as she wants a fuss all the time? My problem is I can't trust her with other dogs when we go out to the local woods for a walk. She lives with a greyhound, and I lost my male GSD a year ago. She is wonderful with them, and is very good with a stray cat that has adopted us, although I keep an eye on her with the cat, as...

Hi, I have just recently discovered your training techniques for my 7 month old husky female. We got a prong collar on her a couple months ago, as per suggestion of our trainer to correct her pulling, but made a huge mistake in not correcting when she would not come when called. We thought that if she didn't listen, but then eventually came to us, we should not correct her because she is after all coming to us. Writing it now, I know that was the WRONG choice. So now we have a pup that ...