This morning I had a meeting with a potential client
and met him at the trendy $5.25 cup of coffee restaurant
when I witnessed something that shocked me.

I had just ordered my coffee and I knew the women serving
me was new. She was very polite but messed up my order.

I told her it was no problem and took a seat to wait for
her to make a new cup.

As I was sitting there, she told her boss that she had messed
up – this is where it got interesting.

The “Boss” started to royally chew her out. She ripped into
her telling her all the mistakes she had made that day. The
boss added that she had better “get it together – FAST!”

I felt bad for the lady and asked her how long she had been
working there. She told me that it was her first day.

I handed her a very generous tip and walked away.

As I sat at the table, I thought about an email that I received
a few days ago.

In the email the person said that she had recently adopted
a dog and she was having a tough time. She said that she
went to a trainer who informed her that he never uses treats
and the dog learns who the leader is.

The email went on to explain how her dog is now starting to
show signs of aggression.

I’ll never understand why anyone would think negative motivation
would work better than positive motivation.

The employee serving me the coffee is eventually going to
become aggressive with her boss. She’ll put up with it for
a week, maybe months, but eventually she is going to give
the one finger salute and scream some words unfit for this
Rated G family friendly email.

In short, she is going to hit her level of tolerance and become
aggressive.

Every person, every dog has a tolerance level. My wife has a
much longer tolerance level than I do.

She can get cut off while driving, sit through rude behavior at a
restaurant, long lines at the department of motor vehicles and still have
a smile on her face.

I run a little hotter.

My tolerance level is much shorter.

When it comes to training, if you use negative motivation it is
just a matter of time before your dog hits his tolerance level
and becomes defensive and aggressive.

It is much better to approach training with a positive attitude.

I’ll never understand why anyone would think treats would be a
bad idea when it comes to training.

I’ll guarantee this – using treats will NOT put your dog in a bad
mood. Using force, pinch, shock and choke collars will.

Anyway, start using positive motivation to train your dog. You
won’t have to worry about your dog going to the dark side.

All the best,

Eric

P.S. One last thing – When a dog does go to the dark side, it can
be verrrry difficult to bring them back. If you want to make sure
your dog never goes to the dark side check out The Dog Training
Inner Circle.

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I want to share a little secret with you.

Every day I get email from all over the world asking me training questions. There is a common question I get all the time. The question usually goes like this: “I have a boxer and I know they need to be trained differently than other dogs. Do you have any boxer training tips?’

A lot of dog owners think that training is breed specific. Here is the secret:

Training is NOT breed specific. In fact, it isn’t even animal specific.

A dog, cat, horses and even chickens are trained using the same principles of behavior. Check out this video on chicken training. Please leave your comments and questions below.

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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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