March 17th, 2011
By Eric Letendre
Snow is finally melting here in Western MA and I CAN’T wait to get outside and do some hiking and biking.
Anyway, in my last message I shared with you a simple solution I came up with when my zipper got stuck at a most inopportune time (if you missed it you can get the full story below this post).
A big problem for many dog owners is the hectic, crazy dog. The dog that literally blows a gasket every time he sees another dog, person, bird, squirrel or leaf blowing by.
When it comes to calming the hectic dog, it’s important to understand how reinforcement works.
Webster defines reinforcement as: An event, a circumstance, or a condition that increases the likelihood that a given response will recur in a situation like that in which the reinforcing condition originally occurred.
Basically, when we reinforce a behavior, the behavior gets stronger.
What most people don’t understand is that reinforcement comes in two forms:
Intentional reinforcement and UN-intentional reinforcement.
A lot of the behaviors that we don’t like have been unintentionally reinforced by the owner. For example, the dog starts to bark and pull and become uncontrollable. The owner starts to pull back on the leash and starts to say things like:
“Stop that,” “Stop pulling,” “Bad boy,” “No,” “Don’t pull,” ”Quit it,” and on it goes.
Same thing happens with jumping. The dog jumps and gets some form of attention. Barking is often reinforced by the owner shouting at the dog.
My friend and psychotherapist, Gena, tells me often that negative attention is better than no attention.
So we have to be very careful about unintentionally reinforcing the behaviors we don’t like.
When I walk into a classroom full of dogs and their owners, the first thing I have the owners do is to stop talking to their dogs UNLESS the dog is doing exactly what they want the dog to do.
If their dog is standing politely at their side and there is no tension in the leash, if they are not straining and barking at the other dogs, then and only then do they talk and pet their dog. If the dog pulls, I instruct them to simply pull back on the leash and to put some slack into the leash. Pull back and get the leash to go slack.
The amazing thing that happens when you do this is that the less you struggle, the faster you gain control.
So your homework is to go to a park or a place that is not too busy (you don’t want to make it too difficult in the beginning) and practice with your dog. Find a spot and just stand there with your dog. When your dog becomes excited and starts to pull, don’t say anything, don’t get ruffled and simply pull back on the leash and put some slack into it.
Repeat this and in a few minutes you’ll see a big change in your dog. Once your dog relaxes, then and only then do you turn on the verbal and physical praise.
Give it a try and see for yourself.
I guarantee you’ll be impressed with your dog and yourself.
All the best,
Eric
P.S. I got a nasty email from one reader this week saying that I should not promote my Dog Training Inner Circle in the P.S. That I should just come out and ask the readers of this blog to buy it without “dangling a carrot(?)”
P.P.S. I do like to help as many dog lovers as I possibly can and offer a lot of advice at no charge, but this is how I make my living. So if you’d like to become a member of the Dog Training Inner Circle and get the really good stuff please consider joining The Dog Training Inner Circle.
P.P.P.S. If that offended anyone please let me apologize in advance. I still hope you find my email newsletter informative and fun to read. Even though it is free, I do put a lot of work into it.
February 16th, 2011
By Eric Letendre
Yesterday I posted a video on this blog. You can watch it below this post.
The video was from the 1930′s Little Rascals.
When I was a kid, I would watch The Little Rascals every morning after I did my paper route. LOVED that show and found some old videos on YouTube.
I laughed at the way Spanky grabs the other kid under the table like a dog and gets a dose of Tabasco.
Taste deterrents are used in some situations – chewing, begging, etc.
You can find commercial taste deterrents in most pet stores. They come flavored as bitter apple, sour grapes,
etc.
In the dog training world, there are STRONG opinions on using any type of aversive in dog training.
What I have found in 20+ years of training dogs is that there are times when you use positive reinforcement and there are times when you can use a negative consequence to get the desired result.
Now, before I get a flood of hate mail, please let me explain.
Using a negative consequence does NOT mean you hurt or harm your dog. For instance, I have used breath spray for years to teach dogs to stop barking on command.
Would you think breath spray is harmful to a dog?
NO, it is not, but it is a negative consequence and the dog quickly learns to stop barking on command.
And that is what dog training comes down to. TEACH your dog by positively reinforcing behaviors. Sit, down, stand come, etc, are ALL taught by rewarding the behaviors. These commands used to be taught with a choke or prong collar which is wrong, wrong, WRONG!
You stop behaviors (jumping, barking, begging, chewing) by using a negative consequence.
A negative consequence is NOT hitting, slapping, shocking, choking or anything harsh.
A negative consequence can be water, sound, spray, etc.
You can apply a negative consequence that will stop the behavior without hurting your dog.
Here is the last bit of advice I’ll give you on applying a negative consequence. The negative consequence should NEVER be associated with you.
All negative consequences come from the environment, everything positive comes from you.
I discuss this much more in depth on the Good K9 Manners website.
You can get $10.00 off the regular price by using the coupon code: 10-OFFK9MANNERS
You can think of it as a late Valentine’s gift from your friend, The Amazing Dog Training Man.
All the best,
Eric
October 16th, 2010
By Eric Letendre
Tiny Dog Has Been Barking Nonstop For 6 Years
Funny little video a friend sent to me. My friend sent it to me because he has a little eight month old beagle that likes to bark all the time. He sent it to thank me because I helped him bring his dog’s barking problem under control.
You see, when he contacted me a few months ago I sent him to the Good K9 Manners course which has a section on how to fix any barking problem. Barking is no longer a problem.
In case you missed it you can still get the Good K9 Manners course for less than you think.
Go to Good K9 Manners and type DOGTVMANNERS to get the complete course at a special price but it won’t last much longer.
October 14th, 2010
By Eric Letendre
Get this… Hungarian scientists are working on computer
software that analyzes dog barks so people can better
recognize their emotions.
It’s true.
And get this… the researchers tested the software in 6
situations: when the dog is alone, when it sees a ball, it
fights, it plays, it encounters a stranger or it goes for
a walk.
But here’s the best part: The computer correctly recognized
the emotional reaction of the dogs based on their barks and
yelps in 43 percent of the cases. People had judged correctly
in 40 percent of cases.
Scientists said the software could be improved.
Why is this important to you?
Imagine if your dog could let you know that they need to go
outside to pee, or if your dog could let you know that they
are pent up and need some exercise before they chew your shoes.
Unfortunately, we have to make do without the software and we
have to communicate what is acceptable and un-acceptable behavior
in the house.
It is one of the reasons I developed the Good K9 Manners course.
The course will help you communicate to your dog that:
* Chewing
* Jumping
* Stealing
* Unruly Behavior
* Barking uncontrollably
are all un-acceptable behaviors.
In case you missed it in yesterday’s Train Your Dog TV, you
can get the Good K9 Manners course for less than you think.
Go to Good K9 Manners and type DOGTVMANNERS and you’ll
get the reduced price.
This won’t last long.
Good K9 Manners and don’t forget DOGTVMANNERS.
All the best,
Eric
June 7th, 2010
By Eric Letendre
Saturday night my sweetie tells me that we
are going to her folk’s house for her Father’s
birthday.
“No problemo,” I tell her and off we go. I was
not expecting to walk through the door and get
attacked – not by a dog, by a person.
The person was Rachael’s cousin’s wife, Mary Ann.
Ryan, her cousin, and his wife, Mary Ann, had come
up from New Jersey to attend the party and they brought
their new little dog, Lucy, with them.
Lucy had a few issues that Mary Ann wanted me to help
with and was anxious to get started. I had barely walked
through the door when the questions came at me faster
than bullets coming out of an M-16 on full auto.
Lucy is a great little dog and Rachael’s cousins were in
luck because I was going to compress six weeks of dog
training lessons into one hour.
I was going to show them how to stop the jumping, walk on
leash, come when called and show them what to do for the
separation problem they were having.
I think they were skeptical that I could accomplish such a
feat, but only because they had never seen me work my magic.
One hour later, Lucy was a different dog and Rachael’s cousins
had a better understanding of dog training. You see, I had
shared with them the secret to dog training.
It is a secret that I did not learn from any of the dog training
“gurus.”
You see, I learned it from one of America’s founding fathers – Ben Franklin.
Ole Ben was a master of persuasion. I became very interested in persuasion
and started to think about it and teach dog owners to use it instead of force.
Here is the definition of persuasion: “The state of being persuaded or
convinced; settled opinion or conviction, which has been induced.”
I especially like the last part, “which has been induced.”
The best way to train is to induce your dog into doing the commands.
For years force was used and it has backfired tremendously.
Don’t believe me?
Take a look at the statistics – 4.6 million reported dog bites last year. That
number probably doubles if you were to add the unreported dog bites.
Man’s best friend?
Not according to the statistics. Listen, I have been in the trenches training
dogs for a long time and I have seen first-hand how negative training methods
have caused a lot of aggression in a lot of dogs.
Anyway, as I said earlier, I don’t see her cousins too much and compressed
the six week course that I teach into one hour, but I told them they had to
continue their training using the Dog Training Inner Circle website.
They agreed and went home happy. Another day in the life of your friendly,
neighborhood Amazing Dog Training Man.
If you’re ready to learn more about training dogs Ben Franklin style, you’re
in luck because you can still take advantage of the Cotton Anniversary Special.
You can get my dog training products at an incredible half off.
This won’t last much longer, so don’t delay.
All the best,
Eric
Can you let your dog off leash?
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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.”
