December 22nd, 2011
By Eric Letendre
My wife has repeatedly told me that I have a
problem.
You see, she thinks watching an hour and a half of Seinfeld re-runs every day is not a good thing. I can’t help it. I never get tired of watching the show and it still makes me laugh.
Anyway, George’s ather, Frank Costanza, decided to develop his own holiday.
If you’ve never seen the Festivus episode, you can watch the highlights of it on YouTube – damn funny
stuff.
One part of Festivus is “The feats of strength” where George has to wrestle his father Frank. Frank is quite the hot head and even talks about how he came up with Festivus after “raining blows” upon the man that tried reaching for the last doll that he was going to buy.
Frank is the last guy in the world to have a dog because he only deals with problems by yelling, screaming and hitting.
The sad truth is that there are a lot of Frank Costanza’s out there training dogs.
I came across a Frank Costanza type just the other day. I was watching this guy work with his dog and when the poor dog did not respond the way he wanted, he got mad and took it out on the dog.
The best thing to do around Frank Costanza types is to run. There is no reason to hurt a dog during training.
If the dog does not do a command, don’t blame the dog.
Look at the training method and evaluate the situation to see if you can make changes to help the dog understand the training.
Sound good?
If you like to learn the opposite of the Frank Costanza method, check out:
Ultimate Online Dog Training Course
Remember to use the promo code 10-OFF to get $10.00 off the price.
All the best,
Eric
December 19th, 2011
By Eric Letendre
Tug games are great to play with your dog IF you follow some simple rules. Always win the tug game, never let your dog put his teeth on your skin, and use one tug toy. I go into detail in my Ultimate Online Dog Training Course.
Remember, we have extended the special discount on The Ultimate Online Dog Training Course. Use the promo code 10-OFF.
Ultimate Online Dog Training Course
All the best,
Eric
December 12th, 2011
By Eric Letendre
Last night I picked up a book that I read about ten years ago. The author is one of my favorites, he’s the kind of rare writer that will have you laughing your head off on one page and on the next have a tough guy like me almost in tears.
The author’s name: James Herriot. His real name was James Alfred Wright, and he wrote about his experiences as a country vet in England. Keep Reading…
September 25th, 2011
By Eric Letendre

If my wife Rachael had it her way we would have a complete zoo in our backyard. Goats, cows, horses, chickens, you name it and she would bring it home. At one point we had four dogs, a Great Dane, Belgian Malinois, a pit bull and a sheltie and she brought another dog home. Don’t get me wrong, I am a HUGE dog lover but we had quite the pack.
This time of the year is a big deal around here in Western MA. The Eastern States Exposition, also known as the Big E runs for three weeks and my wife loves going to it. I spend most of my time watching her go to each animal exhibit and pet as many of them as she can.
Anyway, always a good time and looking forward to the dog shows coming up soon. I’ll keep you posted and get some more pictures and videos.
All the best,
Eric
September 6th, 2011
By Eric Letendre
One of the great things about running my website AmazingDogTrainingMan.com is that I get emails from people all over the world.
People write to say how much they love the site, to ask questions about training and behavior and to add input.
This week I received an email from Jacob who asked about what words a dog should understand.
That was a great question and got me thinking. I sat down and came up with a list of 17 words every dog should understand.
Here they are:
1. Name/attention/watch
2. Sit
3. Down
4. Stand
5. Stay
6. Come
7. Heel
8. Lets go
9. Wait
10. Drop it
11. Leave it
12. Off
13. Jump/Hup
14. Speak
15. Quiet
16. Back up
17. Break/okay – release word
In this week’s video newsletter I discuss these 17 words and demonstrate with one of my dogs.
If you own the Amazing Dog Training Man on-line Course all 17 words with explanations and video clips on how to teach each one are now up and on the website.
To watch this week’s video newsletter:
All the best,
Eric