My husband and I adopted a dog from the Prison Canine Companion Program in Colorado - Nephin is such a lovely dog and the prisoner trained him very well. I am now having problems walking the dog (I know I am the problem) and I do not know how to get the dog to walk properly on the leash anymore. The problem is squirrels! I can walk or jog wonderfully until Nephin sees a squirrel. I have read Cesar's books and watch the show - but I still do not know how to get him to not chase (and kill) squirrels. I am willing to put in any time it takes -We love this dog - he is a Black Lab\Border Collie mix - very luvable! I need to work on being a leader - but I wish I knew techniques to get rid of his squirrel obsession.
PS - My husband and I take him on a two mile bike ride everyday too, trying to get rid of pent up energy - but he is still mad for the squirrels. Help.

Katie,
We had a Rottweiler with dog-dog aggression (recently died), but we learned a lot from going through a training program with her with our excellent dog trainer. It sounds like the shepherd is insecure. Cesar had an episode last season where this dog was food guarding, and he basically practiced taking the food away from the dog to show the dog that HE, and not the dog, is the pack leader. When the dog learns to accept that you are the pack leader and that everything around him, including his food, belongs to you and not to him, then he calms down and takes the submissive position.
We were taught by our trainer to make our dog sit and not let her take her food until we say it's ok. So, she had to sit quietly before the bowl was put down. Then we would give her a pop on her leash and say wait if she went for the food. And do it until she stops and realizes she has to wait. Then, when she became calm, we would say "take it" and she would.
Somehow, for a dog, knowing that you are the one in charge makes them secure. It was hard for me to get used to the idea that the food was mine to give to her as I please; I felt mean. But somehow, it really worked and she ultimately became a balanced, happy dog. Of course a lot of other training went into it, but the food thing was something that really worked.
As for the excitement, try to stop him before he escalates to a high level of excitement. When he starts to get excited, then tell him no, stand over him, and make him sit. We did a lot of leashwork, so you might want to keep him on leash and use it to communicate to him what you want. He wont calm down immediately be persistent until he relaxes.
These are just suggestions, hopefully they might help.

Annie,
Thank you so much for the info. I had another question that maybe you can help answer, the same two dogs (the shepherd and the lab) are also having problems when I play with them. For instance, if I throw a frisbee to my lab my shepherd will sit and wait for the opportune moment to "pounce" on him. She (my shepherd) will not out and out fight its more of frustration between the two of them. My lab, seeing it as a game, almost enjoys it until a fight occurs. I try to get her to play with the lab but she is often un-interested. Any suggestions?

my bullboxer is trying to bo domanant over our household we've tried just about every humane thing we know to stop his biting, can anyone help????

Hello my name is Sam. My girlfriend has a miniature shetland sheep dog. She is a little over a year old. The problem we have with the dog is that it does everything wrong. We tried for a year now to get the dog to use puppy pads. She will not use the pads and she only goes to the bathroom when we are asleep. When we wake up and walk in the room she runs and hides because she knows she has done wrong. She also likes to tear everything up. If we are awake or home she will not use the bathroom on the floor or tear anything up, but as soon as we leave or go to sleep she does her business on the floor and tears and chews on everything she once chewed a hole through the wall. As soon as one of us walks into the room she runs and hides. I don't know if there is any hope I have almost given up all together. I am asking someone to give me some advice please we need the help.

I have a great Jack Russell. I love him to death expect some few problems he's developed over the years. Jack (the Jack Russell) and Lucky (a ten year old Border Collie mix) started out fine but now the can be in the same room with one another. Jack will constantly growl, and there have been three bad breakouts. One of the worst fights ended in Jack bleeding.
Another problem is that Jack is very territorial. If some one walks in front of the house Jack is barking up a storm, there have been situaitions where Jack has chased the person back home. He has even bitten them. He has been threatened of being shot!!
Jack is also very aggressive towards other dogs. If I introduce a dog or puppy to Jack he will growl and try to bite the other dog. He will sometimes run under my bed if he feels threatened.
I want Jack to be able to be free to roam in the nieghbor hood with out a chain on his coolar.
We have tried putting him in our back yard but he digs under the gate and harrases the nieghbors. every time we open the door Jack tries to run out the door, We need your help!! Love the Harvey's

I have a one year old male english bulldog, he is everything to us and we love him more than words can define this is why my husband and I are so heart broken by his agressive and excessive biting behaviour. We follow your show and try your techniques but nothing phases him, I try to concentrate on the pack leader mentality and projecting the right energy but this is not taking hold. I know I must be doing something wrong I feel like a failure, Angus has everything a dog could want in a home he is like the child we waited to adopt for years he wants for nothing so why is he reponding to us like this? I wish I had a dog whisperer here in toronto to spell out a resolution to bring preace and harmony to the household.