May 10th, 2011
By Eric Letendre
What a beautiful Sunday we had here in Western, MA. The sun was shining, Rachael’s parents and grandmother came over for Mother’s day and. . .
. . . the Red Sox won!
Anyway, before Rach’s family got here, I sat outside and finished reading “Marley and Me.” Great book about a journalist who gets his first dog as an adult. Very successful book that was made into a movie a few years back.
I loved the part where they took Marley to an obedience class. Marley quickly made anyone who grabbed his leash look foolish. He dragged both of his owners around the class until finally the instructor took the leash and was almost pulled off her feet. I won’t ruin what happened next but it is a great read and I highly suggest it.
After reading about the obedience class, I went to Facebook and posted: Keep Reading…
June 30th, 2010
By Eric Letendre
Some of you know that I had an extremely tough time in school.
Getting a C on my report card was a big deal. Most of my grades hovered around D’s and F’s.
Thinking back on my scholastic career, I think I suffered from having a Grasshopper Mind. You see, I had an extremely difficult time concentrating on anything longer than a few minutes.
If I was bored with the subject or the teacher, I was gone mentally.
I’m sharing this with you today, because not too long ago I was working with a dog that had a grasshopper mind.
I learned about grasshopper mind a few years ago after reading a business article. In the article, the author stated that:
“The Grasshopper Mind is an ancient concept that likens the actions of a grasshopper flitting through the grasses to the mind that flitters around from one idea to the next. It’s unfocussed. It’s tenuous. It’s temporary.”
I think a lot of the readers of this would agree that their dog has a grasshopper mind. That they can’t get their dogs to focus on them and follow through with commands.
If you think your dog suffers from grasshopper mind, I’m here to help. Here are three steps that will help overcome this common dog problem:
1. Pay attention to your tone of voice and body posture. Dogs pay very close attention to the sound of your voice and posture. When you lower your voice, it can put your dog in defense mode. A perfect example is when the owner calls his dog to come. If the dog does NOT come, the owner will often lower his voice and firmly state: “JUNIOR, I SAID GET OVER HERE NOW!!!” This is a sure fire way to get your dog to switch into grasshopper mind and ignore you. (Watch my video on Dog’s Body Language for more info)
2. Use a strong reward to teach your dog to pay attention to you. Dogs spend a lot of time under some type of confinement. When they are out on open ground, or if there is something interesting in the area, they will ignore you. When you first start working with your dog, you have to teach attention just like any other command.
The first thing I teach new puppies is attention. Spend time teaching your dog his/her name and use a strong reward.
3. Become interesting. Dogs that get loose will avoid their owners and run up to complete strangers. This happens because the stranger is someone new and interesting. You can become fun and interesting to your dog by moving faster, don’t run towards your dog, get her attention and run away from your dog. Doing this will make you much more interesting and appealing to your dog.
There you have it. The three steps to overcoming Grasshopper Mind in your dog. Spend some time following the three steps and give me an update on the results.
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
March 12th, 2010
By Eric Letendre
Your dog is always trying to communicate to you through his body language. It can effect the training that you do with your dog. This video will show you what to look for when you’re training. Please leave your comments and suggestions for other videos.
January 7th, 2010
By Eric Letendre
Waaaay back in 1994 I was asked to set up
a K-9 Unit for a security company at World
Wide Plaza on West 44th St. in Manhatten.
To say I was excited was an understatement.
Food, hotel, cab fare all paid for, not to
mention the cashola they were paying me to
do the work.
When I landed at LaGuardia Airport I was picked
up by a limo and they drove me to meet the client.
I learned a very valuable dog training lesson as
we drove into Times Square to pick him up.
Here’s what happened:
As were driving through Time Square he wanted to talk
over the details of training the staff and dogs. He
also wanted to discuss dog food, vet care and training
equipment.
In most situations I would have been all ears…
…but I just could not focus on what this guy was
saying. In fact, I was silently wishing he would
shut his pie hole so I could concentrate on what was
going outside the limo windows.
You see, I had been to New York many times as a kid,
but this was the first time I was there on my own. I was
young, I had a pocket full of money and all of the
Big Apple was calling for me.
Have you ever been in a situation like that?
Here is the dog training lesson I learned. Most dogs
can do their obedience commands when there is nothing
going on around them.
Most dogs come to their owner when they are in the
house. Take them outside and with all the distractions,
your dog’s obedience goes out the window.
So the question of the day is…
“How do I get my dog to respond to the commands when
there are distractions?”
That question, my dog loving friend, will be answered in
my next message, so stay tuned.
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.”
