Last week I told you how I almost got arrested at a dog training lesson.

Since then, everyone wants to know why the cops were called on me.

If you remember, the guy that I was working with showed me the belt he used to hit his dog whenever she had an accident.

When I arrived, his dog would not come from under the table, a direct result of the dog being abused.

Seeing his dog, seeing the belt and the guy’s attitude after I told him he should never use a belt on his dog starting making my blood boil.

Then he did something to push me over the edge. He said: “The only way a dog is going to respect you is with a good swift kick in the #*%.

That did it.

I blew my top and verbally let him have it. He saw how angry I was and backed away. He backed all the way up to his phone and called the police.

He said I threatened him and he was nervous. I never threatened him, but I did make it very clear what I thought of people that beat dogs.

Anyway, that’s what happened. Another day in the life of the Amazing Dog Training Man.

As I think back on that incident, I’m most upset about the fact that he thinks the only way a dog is going to understand leadership is through force.

Good leadership is not achieved through force, intimidation and fear. Good leadership is accomplished through understanding and cooperation.

I want to make this very clear:

Dogs absolutely require leadership, but…

Provide leadership by teaching your dog to cooperate, forget about getting your dog to submit.

The mindset of forcing your dog into submission is the reason we have so many aggression problems.

Once we start focusing on cooperation instead of submission, we’ll all be much better off – especially dogs!

All the best,

Eric

P.S. If you’d like to learn more about leadership and how to do it, check out the Dog Training
Inner Circle.