February 24th, 2011
By Eric Letendre
In my last blog post I showed you where you can get a FREE clicker app for your phone (See below).
In this video I discuss how to use clickers. Clickers are extremely effective and you can teach your dog very fast by using one. The clicker is a tool that you use to communicate to your dog and it can cut the training time down fast.
Here is a video explaining how to do clicker training.
BTW, if you want more in depth information on clicker training check out The Dog Training Inner Circle.
February 21st, 2011
By Eric Letendre
NEWSFLASH – More snow in Western MA.
What else is new? I really don’t mind the snow too much, it’s just that we have so much of the stuff there is not too much you can do outside.
Surfing the web yesterday, I came across an article about dog training and phones.
The article showed how you can use your phone as a clicker to to train.
One of the most effective ways to train is to use a clicker.
Let me explain how clickers work.
Most folks have heard of Pavlov, the Russian scientist who became famous for his dogs and bells. He discovered that if he rang a bell and quickly fed some meat powder, the dogs would become conditioned to the sound.
After repeating the process (bell followed by food), the sound of the bell would elicit a physical response. The dog would drool, expecting food after the sound of the bell.
This has become very popular in the dog training world. Clickers are used the same way the bell was. To clicker train, you would click and then quickly give your dog a treat.
At this point you are not teaching any obedience commands – you are classically conditioning your dog to the sound of the clicker.
Once your dog has associated the sound of the clicker with food, you switch to operant conditioning. Now you would click when you want to reinforce a behavior. For instance, you induce your dog into a sit position.
Once your dog is in the sit position, you would click and then reinforce the behavior.
The problem is that most people don’t carry a clicker around with them.
But…
…they do carry their cell phone around.
Now there is a clicker app for your phone and it is FREE!
Check it out:
All the best,
Eric
P.S. I’ll be discussing more about clickers, but if you really want to learn how to clicker train, check out: Dog Training Inner Circle
July 6th, 2010
By Eric Letendre
I want to share a little secret with you.
Every day I get email from all over the world asking me training questions. There is a common question I get all the time. The question usually goes like this: “I have a boxer and I know they need to be trained differently than other dogs. Do you have any boxer training tips?’
A lot of dog owners think that training is breed specific. Here is the secret:
Training is NOT breed specific. In fact, it isn’t even animal specific.
A dog, cat, horses and even chickens are trained using the same principles of behavior. Check out this video on chicken training. Please leave your comments and questions below.
December 17th, 2009
By Eric Letendre
Went for a walk with my pups this morning
and all I can say is, “IT’S COLD!”
December mornings here in chilly Western
Massachusetts are not fun. Maybe I’ll take
my Mom’s advice and go visit her in sunny
south Florida soon.
Won’t she be surprised when I show up with
Jimmy, my German Shepherd, Izzy, my pitbull
and Martini, the maltipoo – haha!
Anyway, as I was walking around this morning, I
thought back to when I used to do K-9 patrol
in Hartford,CT.
I used to work 8 to 9 hours outside with my
partner Jocko, a long haired German Shepherd
who never seemed to mind the temperature.
Back then I started giving it some thought
to becoming a full time dog trainer. The
thought of working all day long in a nice,
heated room working with dogs seemed nice.
What I didn’t know was that becoming a dog
trainer was like entering a life in politics.
Dog trainers are very opinionated about the
right way and wrong way to train dogs.
Spend some time on the Internet or watching
some of the popular dog training TV shows
and you’ll see what I’m talking about.
One trainers says to use a choke collar, the
next says to never use a choke collar, never
use a treat, always use treats, and on and on.
The problem for the new dog owner is that they
become confused, frustrated and in some cases
depressed.
I know, I have talked to thousands of dog owners
over the past 20 years.
It’s one of the reasons I have put up so many
videos on YouTube and articles on the Internet.
It’s also the reason I developed the Dog Training
Inner Circle. I wanted a place where people could
go and get quality information and a place where
you can go and ask your questions.
The forum has over 1700 pages of questions asked
and answered. The forum is a dog training encyclopedia
all by itself!
Add to this, The Good K9 Manners course, The Housetraining
Handbook, monthly video seminars, breed of the month
profiles and your dog training and behavior problems are
SOLVED!
If this is the kind of information you’d like to get
your hands on…now you can.
All the best,
Eric
P.S. You’ll be amazed at how simple and easy it is to apply
all of the dog training techniques.
August 28th, 2008
By Eric Letendre
Every day I get over 100 emails asking me dog training questions.
When I first started my website I could answer them all. I would get 2 or 3 emails asking me questions and I could easily answer them.
Not anymore – as much as I like to, I just can’t answer them all. It’s one of the reasons I started the forum on my website: Dog Training Inner Circle.
Anyway, when I checked my email this morning this subject line caught my attention: "Dog rescued from volcanic eruption"
Here is the email and advice I gave, I also included a video:
Hi Eric: I’m writing because I have a problem. I’m from Chili, the little town of Chaiten. Recently a volcano erupted near the village and destroyed it. I was away for 5 years in another city studying veterinary medicine and returned to my village on vacations from school.
In Chaiten I had a dog called Nalón that is 7 years old. I was able to rescue it a month after the eruption because we were not allowed to enter in the village before then. I brought him to the city with me, but I live in an apartment, and I am only allowed to have him (tied) in a field of the university. Every day I go to see and feed him, I let him run in the field, and according to the weather, I bring him walking with a leash in the city.
In Chaiten he did not receive any type of training and Nalon was never tied out, and he was accustomed to go out to the street (as all the dogs there). Now that he does not have such freedom, when I put him on the leash for a walk, he pulls strongly and sometimes I fall down, until he gets tired and stops pulling and walks at my side.
When I teach obedience to him, he sits down but gets up rapidly and begins to jump to take the prize from me. In addition he chases all the dogs that he sees, disobeying me.
It is a dog of 25 kg, a crossbreed of mother Samoyed, and very crazy. I have bought a clicker and will try to begin tomorrow with this training. He is my friend and I love him so much, because of it I did the almost impossible thing of saving him. I’d like to know your opinion and some help that you could give me. I need a lot of help right know.
Thanks, Andrea
My response:
Hi Andrea, Thanks for your email. From what you wrote I think one of the reasons you’re having a difficult time is that Nalon probably spent the first part of his life off-leash. I would think that he was never put on a leash and that is why you’re having a difficult time.
The first step I would recommend is bringing him to places where you can let him just drag the leash around; a big, open area where he won’t get caught up on anything. By letting him drag the leash around, he will get used to the feel of it. This is the same thing we do with puppies.
When you are teaching him obedience you can use the leash. When I’m working with a dog that likes to jump and grab the treat I step on the leash, this keeps the dog grounded and it allows you to get a little control and prevents him from jumping up and grabbing the treat.
The clicker is a good idea. It is a great way to communicate to your dog. Here is a video I did on clicker training.
Good luck! For more videos, dog training advice and more go to: Dog Training Inner Circle Join today! All the best, Eric Letendre http://dogtraininginnercircle.com
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.”
