September 13th, 2012
By Eric Letendre
I LOVE football.
And Sunday was a great day to watch football. The Patriots looked fantastic and The Giants lost on Wednesday night – all is right with the world again (for now).
Sports are a funny thing. I know a lot of guys that have rituals and do funny things before, during and after a sports event.
My brother actually made his wife leave the room during a Red Sox play-off game because they started to lose when she walked in.
This is called Superstitious Behavior.
It is EXTREMELY common in with we humans and dogs also definitely develop superstitious behavior.
Look at all the superstitious behaviors we develop. Crossing our fingers, not walking under ladders, being very careful with mirrors, avoiding black cats, the list goes on and on.
Dogs and other animals develop superstitious behaviors when they are inadvertently reinforced for a certain behavior.
I once worked with a dog that would raise his paw before doing the sit command. When the owner was teaching the dog to sit, he raised his paw first and then sat. This became part of the command for the dog.
It also works the other way. I have also worked with a dog that was afraid to drink from his water bowl. The dog was about to drink when someone in the house had accidently stepped on his tail.
It all has to do with associations and timing.
When training a dog, it is very easy to make accidental associations and the way to overcome it is to get good with your timing.
One of the best ways to improve your timing and your training is by using a clicker.
Clickers will improve your timing better than anything else you can do. The problem with clickers is that many dog owners are confused by them.
Once you start using a clicker you’ll be amazed with how fast your dog learns.
All the best,
Eric
P.S. I look at clickers as a another “tool” to use when you are training your dog. Some people love using them and others are confused by them. It’s the reason I break down exactly how to use them in The Dog Training Inner Circle.
You can learn how to use them here:
August 27th, 2012
By Eric Letendre
Today I decided to do a little Q & A.
I get sometimes get between 300 and 500 emails a day so it is impossible to answer them all.
Here’s a question I recently got:
“MY dog loves to beg and it has become embarrassing whenever I have guests over for dinner. I love to entertain but I haven’t recently because my dog will paw, whine and beg for food when we sit at the table. Can this be stopped?”
My answer: YES! This is a very easy behavior to stop and I am going to share with you how it is done.
Two things need to happen:
1. Everyone in the house has to be consistent. Dogs usually learn to beg from one or two people that feed from the table.
2. Turn the consequences around.
Let’s begin – Instruct family and guests that no one is to feed the dog from the table. You can’t get mad at a dog that is being rewarded for begging. This is a learned behavior and in order for it to stop, everyone has to agree to stop feeding from the table.
Next – dogs learn to beg because it is a POSITIVE consequence. They beg and someone hands them a yummy piece of chicken or steak. Dogs beg because it works.
The next time the dog begs, the food being handed to the dog should NOT be tasty. It should be something the dog really dislikes.
Think about it from the dog’s point of view. Imagine you’re the dog and someone hands you a tasty morsel from the table, not the boring, crunchy, dry food that you eat every day. Of course you would repeat this behavior every chance you got.
Now I want you to think of the food you HATE the most – liver, broccoli, kale? Now imagine the food you hate is handed to you from the table. You are not going to repeat the behavior.
It’s as simple as that and I show real life examples of how to do this and the EXACT “mixture” I use to stop this behavior forever.
Check it out here:
Best,
Eric
August 22nd, 2012
By Eric Letendre
I was a private investigator in my younger years.
For a couple of years, I worked undercover at different companies and I would follow people that were cashing in on insurance policies to make sure they were legit.
I was thinking about this yesterday as I was reading an article about a club at Boston University that gets together to watch people. The club’s mantra: ”We’re not creepy, we’re just interested.”
A long time ago a dog trainer that I greatly respect told me that I could learn more about dogs by just watching them than by reading all the books in the library.
The funny thing is that I love watching dogs. I especially love watching a group of puppies interact and have learned a great deal by doing just that.
Maybe I should start a dog watching club?
Anyway, it is some of the best advice that I can give to you. Much of the information presented to dog owners is very confusing.
Dog trainers all seem to have their opinions on the best way to train. For example: A certain group of individuals with some very popular books have recommended the “Alpha Rollover” for years.
They have advised dog owners to flip their dogs on their backs and pin them there whenever they misbehave, backing up this advice with the observation that that is what dogs do to each other.
My robed friends need to observe dogs a little more closely.
You see, dogs do NOT force other dogs onto their backs, a dog will voluntarily roll over to show submission but it is NEVER forced.
I think this advice has become very popular because the ultimate question for many dog owners is:
“What do I do when my dog does_______________?”
Dog owners want to know what to do when their dogs misbehave which is a totally understandable question.
How do you stop jumping, biting, stealing, barking, digging?
The answer is simple my friend. It is all about consequences.
When your dog does something you do NOT like you apply a negative consequence, but here’s the rub.
The negative consequence cannot be associated with you.
It’s really not difficult and The Good K9 Manners course will help you solve your dog’s biggest behavior problems.
Check it out here:
Good K9 Manners
All the best,
Eric
July 23rd, 2012
By Eric Letendre
Many of you know that I was not the brightest bulb in the tanning bed when I was in school.
I wish I had put more effort into learning, because after high school I did continue my education by going to school to learn how to train dogs.
There was a lot to learn and I was in trouble every time there was a test.
Luckily, I came up with a way to help pass tests.
I didn’t cheat but I did use acronyms to increase my ability to pass tests.
I continued coming up with acronyms when it came to dog training and I developed one that I have been teaching to dog owners for years and I am going to share it with you today.
The M.U.T.T. Method is what you can use whenever you have a behavior problem.
Here’s how it works:
When you have a behavior problem, the first thing you have to do is Manage the behavior.
The next step is to figure out what the Underlying problem is.
Next, you need to Teach your dog new behaviors and the last step is
Time.
For instance if your dog digs, the first step is to manage the behavior by not allowing the dog outside by himself.
The next step is to figure out what the underlying problem is.
Is it breed specific?
Is the dog bored?
Frustrated?
Once you determine what the underlying problem is, you can now start to teach a different behavior.
One of my dogs loved to dig so I built him his own sandbox. He could dig as much as he wanted because I would fill it back up.
It took me about a week to teach him that was the only place he was allowed to dig.
Following the M.U.T.T Method can help you with ANY behavior problem.
Try it out and see for yourself, and if you really want to learn more about fixing behavior problems, you’ll want to dig in to the Good K9 Manners course
You’ll be able to stop begging, jumping, stealing and more.
All the best,
Eric
June 27th, 2012
By Eric Letendre
Being a dog trainer is interesting.
We get to work with a lot of different people and dogs.
At parties, people like to talk to us because most people are dog lovers. People wonder how we became dog trainers. Dog trainers are asked a lot of questions and we get emails like this:
Should I stop my dog from humping the pillows?
My answer: “Yes.”
I think dogs should be taught to walk on leash without pulling, to greet with all four paws on the ground, to be friendly and to pee and poop outside.
BUT…
…that is MY idea of a well behaved dog and I want to make this very clear. Dogs do NOT have behavior problems.
All dog behavior is very normal and natural to them. Chewing on your table is no different than your dog chewing on a stick. It’s all wood to the dog. The only difference is your table has value to you and the stick doesn’t.
A behavior problem is also what the owner determines is a behavior problem.
I know a lot of dog owners that don’t care of their dogs jump. An owner of a junk yard may want an aggressive dog.
Some people want their dogs to bark. Some people want their dogs to pull on leash. I know a person who rollerskates with her dog and she loves to have her dog pull her around.
Don’t let anyone tell you how your dog should behave. If you like your dog jumping up to greet you, if you like your dog pulling, if you want your dog to sleep on the bed, go ahead and let your dog do these behaviors.
But, I do want to make it clear that the behaviors you like may not be appreciated by your friends and family. At some point you may want them to watch your dog when you are on vacation.
So it is a good idea to have a dog that does not steal food off the table, that greets without jumping and stops barking on command.
The best place to learn about stopping unwanted behavior is The Good K9 Manners course. With the summer months in full swing, this is the best time to train your dog and you can take advantage of the discounted price for the next two days.
Just use the coupon code 10-OFFK9MANNERS
Stop unwanted dog behavior today:
All the best,
Eric
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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 techniques 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.”
