July 7th, 2011
By Eric Letendre
Someone asked me yesterday how long have I been training dogs. Without thinking I said, “I’ve been training dogs since 1988.”
She smiled and said, “Wow, longer than I’ve been alive.”
I added that it has been a very interesting 23 years and I’ve seen a lot of changes since I first starting working with dogs.
It got me thinking about all the expert “advice” I got as a young trainer just starting. So much of the advice that was given 20 years ago is still floating around today, doing more harm than good.
Here are a few such myths:
1. Push your dog’s nose in his mess to teach housetraining.
2. Never play tug o war with your dog.
3. Always use a choke chain to obedience train.
4. You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.
5. Never allow your dog on the furniture or bed.
6. Never give your dog “people food.”
And the all-time worst myth:
7. Wait until your pup is six months old before training.
This advice has done more harm to dogs than anything IMHO (little texting lingo for an old guy, I think it means “In my huble opinion.”).
Puppies are like sponges and waiting until six months old is like a child waiting until he is 15 years old before starting school. Any child who starts at that age would be at a HUGE disadvantage compared to a child who started when they were five or six years old.
But the myth lives on…
…and the list goes on and on…
Anyway, these myths (especially #7) can harm your dog’s training and your relationship with your dog.
And if you believe them, you are not going to get maximum training results.
Take it from a guy that has been training dogs longer than some people have been alive.
All the best,
Eric Letendre
P.S. If you’d like to learn more about dog training myths and how to avoid them, check out my book, “The Amazing Dog Training Man,” where I cover this topic and a whole lot more to help you train your dog:
The Amazing Dog Training Man Book
Eric Letendre is a professional dog trainer from the United States and has been training dogs for over 20 years, teaching regular, average, every-day owners all over the world how to get the training results they want as fast as possible. Eric is also the author of numerous reports, the E-Book “101 Ways to Improve Your Dog’s Behavior,” “The Amazing Dog Training Man Book,” and produced and stars in his DVD “Secrets of a Professional Dog Trainer.”
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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.”
