June 30th, 2010
By Eric Letendre
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
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.”
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.”
