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

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My dogs are dragging their butts today.

It’s hot, humid, and all they want to do is lay on the cool, tile floor.

I can’t blame them. I feel like doing the same, but instead  I am sitting here tapping away on my keyboard to share another entertaining, information packed nugget of training that will help you with your dog.

Just the other day, I was working with a dog that had developed a problem with other dogs while out for walks with his owner.

Spending a few minutes with the owner and dog, I quickly discovered the problem and informed him how to fix it.

Check out this video to discover what happened:

All the best,

Eric

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Watch what this dog does after he is helped…

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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.

Cotton Anniversary Special

This won’t last much longer, so don’t delay.

Check it out here…

All the best,

Eric

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Two years ago I did something that I thought I would never do.

Everyone I knew was convinced that I would never do this because
I told everyone every chance I got that I would never do it. Even
my Mother was shocked when she found out and I think secretly
wasn’t sure if I was going to go through with it.

I’m talking about marriage.

You see, I think I decided when I was around twelve years old
that I was going to stay single my entire life. I don’t know
why I thought that way, but I did.

I think it had something to do with my defiant nature.

All of my life I always felt compelled to go against the
grain – not always the easiest road to take, but definitely
interesting and not without some wisdom.

Have you ever read or listened to the great Earl Nightingale?

Mr. Nightingale literally started the self help movement in
America. Not the rah rah, walk on hot coals, pump em up fake
stuff.

I’m talking about the stuff that helped literally millions of
people.

Anyway, I started reading and listening to his tapes years ago
and he said something that was very profound and stuck with me
for years.

He said the best way to get good at anything is to find a mentor
and let them help you. He then went on to add “If you can’t find
a mentor, look at what everyone else is doing and do the opposite
– you’ll probably be right.”

Those words proved to be extremely correct.

When I started in dog training back in the 80’s everyone, and I
mean everyone, was using choke, prong and harsh methods to train.

I decided to do the opposite. I got rid of them, stopped using the
harsh, forceful methods and selected to a much more positive approach.

THANKS EARL!

One of the best decisions I ever made – for me and a whole lot of dogs.

I guess that is why I decided I would never get married. Everyone does
it and it was expected of me to do the same – NO THANKS BUBBA, I’ll stay
single, thank you very much.

WRONG!!!

Okay, I did wait until I was 40, but I also discovered that marriage is
a great thing and that’s why I’m doing something else I almost never do…

…I’m running a BIG SPECIAL!

Starting today, you can take advantage of THE COTTON ANNIVERARY SPECIAL!

You’ll be able to buy all the Q-Tips you need with the money you’ll save
with the Cotton Anniversary Special.

To show how happy I am, I have taken an unprecedented 50% off.

Cotton Anniversary Special

Run there now as this event may create a tsunami of orders that cause
us to end it early.

Go to Cotton Anniversary Special and get your
goodies now.

All the best,

Eric

P.S. I don’t do this often, so it may be our silver anniversary before it
happens again

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