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.
December 8th, 2009
By Eric Letendre
Recently I opened my email to see that someone had left a response on one of my YouTube videos.
The description said:
“Heidi at 10 weeks showing off her potty training. I taught her from Eric Letendre’s (The Amazing Dog Training Man) Housetraining Handbook. She was perfectly housetrained and using the bell in exactly 7 days. I didn’t show her recall because she was heading back to her favorite poo poo place. To show the recall, you’d have to see the poo. I spared you that!
Here is the video:
July 22nd, 2009
By Eric Letendre
I was at the home of a new puppy owner and when I arrived, I saw that the puppy was under the table and would not come out. Most people will see a puppy like this and think that the pup has been abused. It is common for puppies to be shy and I know that they have not been abused. Some of the most gentle people in the world have dogs that are extremely shy and it is rare for me to come across dogs that are being abused.
You see, people that abuse their dogs don’t pay for training. They just beat their dogs – this was not the case with this puppy. The owner was more than willing to pay for the training.
However, I quickly found out that he was the exception to the rule. The guy that had this puppy was abusive. We were only a few minutes into the lesson and he showed me the belt that he used to beat her with when she had an “accident.”
As you can imagine, the lesson quickly deteriorated from that point on. By the time I left he was on the phone calling the police, I calmly waited outside and when the police showed up they were ready to arrest me. I explained my situation and informed them that he was abusing his dog. They let me go.
At the time I was working nights and weekends as an animal control officer and I had seen my share of abuse. Much of the abuse happened because of housetraining. Whenever I asked someone why they beat their dog, the answer was always the same: “My dog won’t stop peeing and pooping in the house.
It’s sad that some people think that beating their dog is training. Most people don’t know this, but the reason we have so many dog bites in America every year is the direct result of negative training techniques. Excessive use of prong and electronic collars, choke collars being used to choke dogs, Alpha rollovers, hitting, and smacking are all common techniques taught by a lot of trainers today.
There are still a lot of trainers that recommend hitting the dog. A very popular book on the market today recommends smacking for certain behaviors – this book was written by Monks. Sheesh, what happened to compassion?
Anyway, as a professional dog trainer, I know that the one behavior that makes dog owners see red is peeing in the house. They get tired of cleaning up when they come home, when they wake up in the morning, when someone comes over the house, etc. It’ a common problem but it’s also easy to fix by following some simple steps.
Housetraining basically boils down to three steps.
Manage your dog’s behavior when you can not physically be there with your dog. A crate or baby pen is a great way to restrict your dog’s access to the whole house. During the house training process you can’t give your dog complete freedom until they are completely housetrained.
Reward your dog for going in the right areas. Bring your dog outside on leash, don’t leave him on his own. When you go with your dog you can reward your dog the instant they go outside. This is crucial and a lot of dog owners miss this point. By rewarding your dog you are making the behavior stronger.
Negative association for going in the wrong areas. This has to be done as your dog is doing the behavior. Don’t punish your dog after the behavior has occurred. Walking into the room five minutes after your dog has peed on the floor and punishing your dog is not fair. Your dog will associate the punishment with you walking in the room, not a behavior that has happened five minutes earlier.
A simple negative association in this situation would be a loud clap or stomp on the floor. All you need to do is get your dog to stop from going. By making a loud noise, it is usually enough to stop your dog. At that point you can quickly bring your dog outside.
Managing your dog’s behavior is crucial if you want your dog to stop peeing in the house. If you ignore this step, it will take a long time to teach your dog to pee outside.
Don’t let housetraining get you mad or frustrated. If you need more help housetraining your dog, check out Housetraining Handbook because I developed it to help as many people as possible with this behavior.
All the best,
Eric
P.S. The Housetraining Handbook has a detailed explanation of how and when punishment should be used.
July 8th, 2009
By Eric Letendre
Woke up this morning and the weatherman said that it’s going to be about 94 degrees today.
That’s when I realized I wasn’t in Massachusetts anymore. You see, Rach and I are in Clayton, North Carolina attending her cousin’s wedding.
Her cousin has three dogs, and all week I’ve seen the Uncle Freddy Factor in full force.
The Uncle Freddy Factor happens a lot and it can turn a well-trained dog into a misbehaving dog faster than greased lightning.
And as they say down here, once your dog develops some bad behaviors you’ll be as "busy as a stump-tailed cow in fly time."
Anyway, the Uncle Freddy Factor is responsible for two big behavior problems:
1. Jumping
2. Begging
For example, Uncle Freddy comes over the house to visit and stays for dinner. While eating, he slips your dog a piece of his food under the table.
Any training that you’ve done to prevent begging has just gone out the window.
Step one when you are training is to make sure everyone is on the same page when it comes to training your dog.
Over the years, I’ve seen this as the main cause for a lot of behavior problems. The next time you’re trying to figure out why your dog is not responding to your training, think about the Uncle Freddy Factor.
Ask yourself:
"Is anyone sabotaging my training? Is the Uncle Freddy Factor happening?"
Don’t be surprised if there is an Uncle Freddy in your dog’s life that is contributing to her bad behavior.
All the best,
Eric
P.S. If you don’t want The Uncle Freddy Factor to happen with your dog check out Good K9 Manners.
January 22nd, 2009
By Eric Letendre
Monday night I was doing an interview with a good friend of mine.
The interview was on how to be your dog’s pack leader. One of the questions he asked me was how long have I been training dogs.
I told him my first job was way back in 1988.
Over 20 years ago!
I thought about how much dog training has changed and evolved since I began training dogs. Luckily some of the old myths are starting to fade away. Here is a top 10 list of them:
1. Never start training until your dog is six months old.
2. Never play tug o war with your dog.
3. Always use a choke collar to train your dog.
4. Never use treats to train.
5. If your dog does not respond to a command give your dog an alpha rollover.
6. Dogs learn that you are the pack leader by scruff shaking and growling at them.
7. Never allow your dog on the furniture.
8, Never feed your dog "people food."
9. You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.
And thankfully this last myth is going away…
10. Stick your dog’s nose in his mess when you find it in the house.
But…
Some old myths die hard.
Not too long ago I got an email from someone that was told to shove her dog’s nose in his mess every time he has an "accident." I decided that it was time to sit down and put together a complete guide on housetraining.
My new HousetrainingHandbook will show you:
Check it out:
All the best,
Eric
P.S. The "How To Be The Leader" interview is included with the Housetraining Handbook.
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.”
