July 30th, 2012
By Eric Letendre
“Are some dogs un-trainable?”
That is a common question that I get. Some people really believe that their dog is un-trainable.
I have never come across a dog that was un-trainable.
I have come across plenty of dogs that were very difficult to train but not un-trainable.
I am going to share a big secret with you if you are having a difficult time training your dog.
You see, in most cases if the dog is really giving the owner a hard time, I can bet you that it is NOT a training problem.
It is probably an EXERCISE problem.
I know when I was in school I had a very difficult time in class because I wanted to move. Still happens to this day.
My wife bought me a DVD on yoga and I can’t stand it. Moves way too slow for me.
Anyway, many obedience and behavior problems can be solved with a good dose of exercise on a regular basis – key word regular.
Once your dog’s energy needs are taken care of, obedience and behavior problems are much easier to deal with.
BUT – all the exercise in the world won’t stop a dog from stealing food off the counter, stop jumping on everyone that walks through the door, stop begging at the dinner table.
If your dog is stealing, begging, jumping, or barking and nothing has worked so far, head on over to the Good K9 Manners course and END these annoying behaviors today:
All the best,
Eric
March 12th, 2010
By Eric Letendre
Your dog is always trying to communicate to you through his body language. It can effect the training that you do with your dog. This video will show you what to look for when you’re training. Please leave your comments and suggestions for other videos.
October 14th, 2009
By Eric Letendre
One of my first "dog" jobs was patrolling the streets of a very tough neighborhood with my dog Jocko.
Jocko was a long haired German Shepherd that was one of the best dogs that I ever worked with. Jocko literally loved working. Once you put his leash on and hit the streets his entire attitude changed.
He was upbeat and would completely focus on and do every command without hesitation. Jocko was extremely focused because every chance I got I would work on distraction training, or what dog trainers call proofing.
Distractions are one of the main reasons why dogs don’t listen to their owners. When practicing your obedience you need to start adding distractions. When you start training with distractions you need to make sure that your dog has a good understanding of the command and you need to start with small distractions.
If your dog goes bananas over tennis balls, don’t start training with them right away. Start off with a small distraction and work your way up to tennis balls.
When you are doing distraction training, you need to use all of your dogs senses. I use sight, sound, smell and touch distractions to get my dog to work through it.
So here is your homework for today. Before your get up from your computer, think about something that would work as a distraction on your dog. Nothing major, just a small distraction that your dog can work through.
When you do a training session today, put your dog into a stay command and introduce the distraction. If your dog breaks the stay because of the distraction, start over.
Be ready to give your dog a verbal correction if he breaks the command. Only reward your dog if he does the command successfully. Once he can easily work through the distraction, make it a little more difficult.
Try to spend more time rewarding than correcting. Try it out and please let me know how you do.
All the best,
Eric
P.S. If you’d like more instructions and video examples slide on over to The Dog Training Inner Circle.
October 12th, 2009
By Eric Letendre
In my last email I said that I was going to share 9 reasons why your dog doesn’t listen to you.
In this email I’m going to share the first two reasons why, but first…
…a quick story.
If I was still in high school, I would be on drugs. There would be no doubt about it, some guidance counselor would have suggested and strongly recommended that I be put on some type of drug therapy to get through high school.
You see, I barely, and I mean barely, squeaked out with a diploma. I was really just pushed through my junior and senior year of high school. When I look back on my school days, I was really just pushed through most of my schooling.
I was “diagnosed” as having a learning disability in the third grade. Today I would be classified as ADHD. It’s not that I couldn’t learn, I just had a very active brain and I was BORED out of my mind. I could not concentrate on what was being taught, but when I had a subject and a teacher that was interesting, I was at the top of my class.
So why do I share all of this with you?
Simple…
Training your dog boils down to getting your dog’s attention and keeping him interested in the training. Over the next few days I’ll share with you the nine reasons why your dog doesn’t listen to you. Today I’ll talk about the first two:
Reason 1
Short sessions: Dog training is best when you do it in short sessions. I always recommend that the sessions should not last more than 10 minutes. When you train longer than that, your dog loses attention and won’t listen to you.
Reason 2
Exercise: Dogs, like kids, won’t listen if they have too much pent up energy. Most of the time when I go to help a dog, I know within the first five minutes that the dog does not suffer from behavior or obedience problems, the dog has exercise problems.
This is especially true with young dogs. Make sure your dog is getting enough exercise and obedience will be much easier.
Coming up…more reasons why your dog doesn’t listen to you.
Reasons like:
All the best,
Eric
P.S. If you really want your dog to listen to you, check out The Dog Training Inner Circle.
September 10th, 2009
By Eric Letendre
Had a great labor day weekend up at Sebasco Bay in Maine. Nothing like taking a few days off and relaxing on the coast of Maine.
What a beautiful place.
The problem is when you come back. Email, phone calls, meetings, it all takes a few days to catch up.
Anyway…
While going through hundreds of emails, one stuck out like a sore thumb. "Army Dog Swallows Bomb…And Survives" Talk about getting your attention.
I had to stop what I was doing and read the story. Turns out an Army dog named Toby ingested a toxic substance when sniffing out Taliban improvised explosive devices on the front line, he was picked up by a medical emergency helicopter and whisked back to Camp Bastion.
The story went on to say that Toby is fine and in great spirits – Thank God.
This story got me thinking…
Eating, chewing and destructive behavior is a big problem for a lot of dog owners. I know, because I been working with dogs for 20+ years and chewing is at the top of the list.
Coming when called, walking on leash, jumping and housetraining are also at the top of the list.
That’s why I put together the "Back To School" special which includes…
The Back To School ends tomorrow. So don’t delay go to Back To School!
All the best,
Eric
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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.”
