September 15th, 2011
By Eric Letendre
I LOVE getting emails like this:
“Eric,
Thought you might like to have a story
that has a happy ending. About a year
ago I adopted a Leash Aggressive, Dog
Aggressive, Man/Boy Aggressive Glen of
Imaal Terrier.
I joined the inner circle about a year
ago and have been reading and following
your advice.
He was certified AKC Canine Good Citizen
in August, has achieved his Rally Novice
title and we’re working on his Beginner
Novice title (we’ve got one leg).
I still have to manage his space and make
sure other dogs don’t get in his face. He
will never be a dog I can relax with when
out an about but he’s on his way to becoming
a calmer happy dog.
Positive training does work! This dog was
on his way to becoming another statistic
for unmanageable dogs that are put down
because no one wants to take the time to
look at the world from his point of view.
Thank you for the tons of good information
available on your site.
You saved my dog’s life!” Mary H.
Getting an email like this does not make my
day it makes my month!
Become a member today:
All the best,
Eric
April 25th, 2011
By Eric Letendre
New England is beautiful and a great place to live but sometimes the weather really SUCKS! Saturday morning we had snow. The next day, 70 degrees. Go figure.
Anyway. Saturday was cold, the book I ordered from Amazon didn’t come in, Rach was making cake pops for Easter and I was not feeling too good.
So…I decided I was going to plop down on the couch and watch a movie.
Lucky for me one of my all time favorite movies was on.
It is violent, bloody, but full of action. The movie… Keep Reading…
April 19th, 2011
By Eric Letendre
Woke up around 5:00AM the other day and heard a very interesting story on the radio.
A junior high school principal was having a difficult time with the girls in her school.
Every day, the girls in school would go into the bathroom, put on lipstick and then kiss the mirror leaving lip prints behind to get cleaned.
The janitor was getting fed up with it and approached the principal. The principal politely asked the girls in the school to stop kissing the mirror after applying fresh lipstick.
The next day – lip prints all over the mirror.
Again, the principal politely asked the girls to stop.
More lipstick prints.
Then the janitor came up with a brilliant idea.
The principal called the girls into the bathroom and explained how difficult it was for the janitor to clean the mirror everyday with the lip prints all over it.
To show them how hard the janitor worked at getting them off the mirror, the principal asked the janitor to clean the mirror for them to see. The janitor took his squeegee and plunked it into the toilet. He then took the toilet water soaked squeegee and washed the mirror.
No more lipstick prints on the mirror.
Listening to that story made me think of dog training.
You see, when it comes to dog training there are some trainers who preach that never, under any circumstances, are we to use any form of negative to train. Believe me, I am ALL about positive training and am EXTREMELY cautious when it comes to using any type of negative during a training session.
BUT…
…there is no denying that done correctly, negative consequences for certain behaviors can greatly speed up the process just as the story above illustrates.
I understand why trainers have developed such strong feelings against using any type of negative. Anyone who started training dogs before the 90′s has seen first-hand the brutal methods that were used on a lot of poor dogs.
A lot of dogs suffered greatly all in the name of ”training.”
I have just put up a new video on aggressive behavior on my Facebook page. It explains how a lot of the methods and equipment used actually develop aggressive behavior.
You can check it out here:
Amazing Dog Training Man Facebook Page
All the best,
Eric
April 18th, 2011
By Eric Letendre
March 24th, 2011
By Eric Letendre
Friday night I had just sat down and was getting ready to crack open a new Stephen King novel I just bought when I got a call from my good friend, Geoff.
Geoff invited my wife and me to a night out to the Paper City Brewery in Holyoke, MA.
Paper City Brewery is located on what feels like the top of the 80th floor of an old, dusty factory building. After walking up eight flights of stairs, you walk into a large room filled with old motorcycles, flags from different countries, a replica of a large great white shark and one bathroom for about 200 people.
Anyway, as I walked into the room to begin the night’s festivities, I accidently bumped into a guy and spilled his beer.
“What the !#$% is your problem dude?”
As I looked into the eyes of the guy standing about four inches taller than me, I quickly judged that he was not a student of, “How To Win Friends And Influence People.”
Between the tattoos covering his arms and neck and the steel earrings that covered his lips, nose, cheek, and I think I saw one on his tongue, I could tell he was not happy with me.
“Sorry about that.” I said.
“!@$% that, you got beer on my shirt, %@@*&%$.”
I thought the beer stain was an improvement, but kept that thought to myself and again apologized.
Standing there, I thought how interesting this situation was. You see, as a dog trainer, I have dealt with aggressive dogs for years.
I have studied aggressive behavior from every possible angle. I have volumes of books on aggressive behavior and have had some tough cases over the years.
The big mistake that I see beginning trainers make is trying to deal with aggression by using aggression – HUGE, HUGE MISTAKE!
When you use aggression to deal with aggression, it escalates aggression.
An inexperienced trainer will use a leash correction when the dog shows any signs of getting nasty. This usually results in the dog getting madder, which results in the dog trainer getting harsher, which results in the dog… you get the picture.
It can quickly spiral out of control.
Dealing with my tattooed, perforated friend was going to be tricky.
The first step with aggression is finding the trigger.
What is it that causes the dog to become aggressive?
A good dog trainer will find out what the trigger is and start the training process from there.
In this situation, I was the trigger. This dude was ready to brawl because I bumped his beer. I knew that if I said some choice words in response to his comments, it could quickly escalate into a real donnybrook (I’ve always wanted
to use that word in a sentence).
I wish I could say that he shoved me and I did my best Chuck Norris moves on his sorry butt, pinned him to the ground and forced him to say, “Uncle.”
But it didn’t happen that way.
My job was to diffuse the aggression and not escalate it. I apologized again and offered to buy him a beer.
I also offered to have his shirt dry-cleaned. I wouldn’t say we departed friends, but it never turned into a physical altercation.
As you can see, ego also plays a huge role in dealing with aggressive behavior. My ego was screaming at me:
“Tell this guy to shove it.” “Tell this guy the beer stain is an improvement,” ”Tell him to get stuffed.”
But…
…my training and good sense told my ego to take a hike. I have seen first-hand what ego can do in this situation.
In my next message, I’m going share with you the time I was attacked by a dog named Scar. It happened because a trainer’s ego got involved in the training process and I ended up paying for it.
See you then!
Eric
P.S. If you really want to learn about aggressive behavior check out The Dog Training Inner Circle.
Eric Letendre is a professional dog trainer from the United States. For more than 20 years, he has been developing dog training "hacks" that have worked for dog owners all over the world. Eric operates from a home office or a laptop while traveling and draws on his experience and passion for dog training to show others how to develop a dog that is truly “Man’s Best Friend”.
Eric is the author of numerous reports, the E-Book “101 Ways to Hack Your Dog’s Behavior,” “The Amazing Dog Training Man Book,” and produced and stars in his DVD “Secrets of a Professional Dog Trainer.”
