April 25th, 2011
By Eric Letendre
New England is beautiful and a great place to live but sometimes the weather really SUCKS! Saturday morning we had snow. The next day, 70 degrees. Go figure.
Anyway. Saturday was cold, the book I ordered from Amazon didn’t come in, Rach was making cake pops for Easter and I was not feeling too good.
So…I decided I was going to plop down on the couch and watch a movie.
Lucky for me one of my all time favorite movies was on.
It is violent, bloody, but full of action. The movie… Keep Reading…
August 5th, 2010
By Eric Letendre
I was sitting at home yesterday when I got a phone call from the local new station. They were calling to ask if I would be willing to go on the afternoon show and talk about dog training.
Never one to turn down an opprotuinty to go on TV, I agreed to be there on Friday. I’ll let you know how it goes.
They asked me to share with the audience some tips on dog training and behavior. She also asked me to send some key points on what I was going to talk about, so I decided to share with you first what I am going to talk about.
You see, I have been teaching for years that the focus should not be on the dog. The real focus has to be on the owner.
Years ago while attending a seminar, the great dog trainer John Rogerson stated: “If you want a good dog, learn how to become a good dog owner.” That one simple statement changed the way I looked at dog training.
I had been taught that the dog was always at fault if the training did not go well. Your dog won’t sit, down or stay?
The dog is being stubborn.
Your dog is pulling on leash or won’t come back when called?
The dog is being dominant.
Your dog won’t pay attention?
The dog is neurotic.
Everytime the dog did not perform, the dog was blamed.
Here’s a question for you.
Is it the dog or the trainer?
I was orginally taught a dog training method that was very popular in the 1950′s. Put a choke chain on the dog and give a correction. If dog does not respond, increase the intensity of the correction. If correction does not work, increase the intensity of the correction, If the hardest correction you give does not work, label the dog as dominant, stubborn, neruotic, genetically defective, or make up a label.
As you can imagine, this led to a lot of problems; dogs that developed aggressive behavior, dogs that became scared, dogs that developed destructive behavior and dogs that simply shut down.
The amazing thing is that there are still trainers out there training the same way.
Anyway, I am going to share the four steps to becoming a good dog owner on the show.
The four steps are:
1. Good management skills
2. Exercise
3. Leadership
4. Train using positive reinforcment
I will expand a little further in my next email. I’ll also let you know how the TV show goes, so stay tuned…
All the best,
Eric
P.S. If you really want to learn how to become a great dog owner, check out: The Dog Training Inner Circle
June 28th, 2010
By Eric Letendre
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
October 7th, 2008
By Eric Letendre
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From The Desk Of
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Turn up the speakers on your computer, click the play button and listen to my message about choke collars…
This text will be replaced by the flash music player.
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September 25th, 2007
By Eric Letendre
The Truth About Dog Training
A while ago I put up a series of videos on how to choose a dog trainer. What a lot of people don’t know is that there is no regulations for dog trainers. Anyone can say that they are a dog trainer.
That’s why i put up the video series – to help dog owners find the right dog trainer for them. One of the most important points that I make in the videos is that using negative reinforcement can backfire on you.
One of the big problems with prong and choke collars is that cross asscoitations can happen. Here is an email I just recieved about this problem:
Hi Eric,
Love your web site!
Your video clip #3 in the Truth About Training explains my situation perfectly.
I listened to bad advice about training at the time my 5
month old male border collie who was pulling like crazy on
the leash.
I used the pinch collar for about 2 weeks. What
started happening was redirected aggression, he was
biting me when he saw a dog because I was essentially
biting him with the collar.
I stopped using that collar and started to go to a
private trainer that used positive reinforcement.
I have seeing the trainer for about 2 months now and
we are working on obedience and dog behavior.
He has aggression toward other dogs, as explained in your
video, and he is very interested in cars and has
chased 2 of them but not in a few months.
He is doing great with obedience. He can do all the basics,
sit, stay, down, come, back, etc.
My question to you is what is your technique for
correcting a dumb training mistake that you refer to
in clip #3, cross associations that come about because
of negative reinforcement?
Thank you so much,
Laura
Whenever a dog makes a negative association we need
to spend time training your dog to make a positive
association.
This is done by rewarding your dog in the presence of other dogs.
At first it may be a little difficult and you may want to use a gentle
leader to get some control over your dog around other dogs.
Given enough time you can start to change your dog’s behavior. If
there is a good positive obedience training class in your area you
may want to attend the class with your dog.
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 techniques 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.”
