Archives : 2009 : August

What's The BEST Pet Urine Eliminating Product?

I need your feedback!

With all the new companies who’ve created the so called “Final Cure” for completely removing pet urine… I thought it was time to get the strait truth from people who REALLY know what products workbest …. YOU!

If you’ve used a Urine Eliminating product recently and it’s either worked for you or NOT worked for you, please leave a reply at the bottom of this post sharing your *honest* opinion about the best or worst pet urine removing product you’ve tried.

I’m really looking forward to your feedback!

-Chet

Keeping Your Dog OFF Your Counter Tops

*** Question From A Reader ***

Good Morning [Chet],

Your information has been so helpful.  I have a six month old, 50+ pound female German Shepherd and she has recently started a really bad habit.  In the morning before I leave for work I gate her to the kitchen.  Once gated I like to give her a Happy Hips treat.  She is very much aware of the routine and from where and when I get her little treat.

Typically I take it out and set it on the table or counter while I close up the container and prepare to gate her in.  Recently she has decided that she’s going to help herself to the treat that is on the table or counter.  Additionally, I keep her lead on the Bombay Chest near the front door. 

When I reach for it she jumps up on the chest with anticipation to go outside.  Once given the “sit” command, she patiently waits for me to prepare her for going outside but I don’t like that she jumps up on things the way that she does. What can I do to deter this behavior?

Irritated with the behavior!

Veronica D. Greene

p.s. this dog has been diagnosed with Hip Dysplasia so her jumping is detrimental to her well being.

>>> My Comments:

Glad to hear my information has been helpful Veronica, and I’d be glad to address your issue of unwanted jumping on counter tops.

In my Hands Off dog training program I show a training video of how I got an 11 week old puppy to stop lunging for food I dropped on the floor within a matter of minutes.

And I show you exactly how to teach a dog to have what I call “urge-control” and be able to resist things he really wants — life food on the floor or on counter tops.

And it’s NOT done by punishing or telling the dog “No”… at least that’s not how I did it.

Here’s what you need to understand…

The reason a dog will lunge for food dropped on the floor, or jump up onto the counter to get a treat is because the act of misbehaving is IMMEDIATELY rewarded by food.

And when you reinforce a behavior, even accidentally, you increase the likelihood that the behavior will increase in frequency.

So how do you tackle this problem?

First you have to STOP the behavior from being self reinforcing in the first place.  Meaning you need to make it so even if he jumps up on the counter another 100 times over the next few weeks, not ONCE will he find a treat or anything rewarding.

It sounds like you’re TRYING to do that by telling your dog to sit, but the problem with your dog only behaving when you TELL him to is that the dog tends to always want to misbehave first, and you always have to reprimand him.

In Leslie McDevitt’s great book, Conrol Unleashed she talks about a great approach to fixing this problem that she calls “Environmental Cues”… or cues that your dog recognizes in his environment instead of ones you have to verbally say.

For example, if you have a dog who likes to run out the front door when it opens, she talks about how you can train a dog to not walk through ANY open door… because dogs are capable of learning that an OPEN door is actually a cue to stay.

Well the same goes for food left out on the ground or on counter tops.

You can teach your dog that the environmental cue of open access to food, means he’s supposed to do a behavior (aka. sit and look you in the eyes).

And you do this by first BLOCKING access to the dogs reward, and then secondly waiting for the dog to “Self Correct” himself and do ANY other behavior then trying to get at the food.

In your case, if it was my dog jumping onto the counter, I would place the treat on the counter where I knew my dog would try to jump up and get it.

When he got ready to jump up, I’d quickly take my hand and cover up the treat so the dog couldn’t get it.

He might try to lick at my hand or dig under it to get the treat, but I’d just continue to block the dogs access to the reward until he gave up and got off the counter.

But here’s the KEY part…

Many people would advice you to click the second the dog jumped off the counter, but I would suggest waiting ’til the dog got down AND…

Looks you in the eye!

That way you, you can then click your training clicker and reward your dog with a treat for having all four feet on the floor and looking you in the eye when he wants a treat.

It works GREAT!

And here’s another thing…

I would recommend rewarding your dog with a food item that’s BETTER then the one he’s trying to get at.

This will help him learn that if he constantly resists his urges to get at food, no matter where it is, he’ll very often earn a SUPER reward for his good behavior.

If you’d like to see a video of me teaching this to my own puppy, read this:

http://thedogtrainingsecret.com/tips

Hopefully that helps!

-Chet

Control Unleashed: What I Think Of This Book

If you’re thinking about picking up a copy of Leslie McDevitt’s book, “Conrol Unleashed” I thought you might want to know what I thought of her book…

Simply put, if you have a dog who does not ALWAYS obey you, Control Unleashed gives you REAL, strategies for getting your dog to focus and obey in situations where he normally might fly off his hinges, get overly excited or is simply uncontrollable.

The training strategies, or what she calls, “Games”, are unique, and easy to use… and you certainly won’t find them in any other of the top 10 books on dog training at Amazon or your local book store.  I personally found her “Look at That” game a simple to teach game that really helped my own dog to remain much more calm when out and about in public places — even when aggressive dogs violently lunge at him through fences on walks.

I recommend Control Unleashed to EVERY dog owner I talk to!

However, I thought you should know what this book WON’T teach you…

Control Unleashed does not go into detail on how to teach your dog basic obedience skills (which is fine ‘cuz it never claims to be that kind of book). Instead it does what no other books talk about and shows you what to do IMMEDIATELY after you’ve trained your dog basic obedience skills — so you don’t end up with a dog that KNOWS basic obedience commands but never feels like obeying them

So when you pick up the book, don’t expect to find tips on puppy potty training or how to stop leash pulling — it’s NOT that kind of book.

If you’re looking for beginner training tips you might want to first pick up another basic obedience course, like my “Hands Off Dog Training” program for example… teach your dog the basic obedience skills, and THEN go through Leslie McDevitt’s Control Unleashed book to give you that Dream Dog you’ve always wanted.

But if you’re NOT a beginner… just do yourself a favor and pick up the book & DVD she offers immediately.

Leslie wrote Control Unleashed to help her advanced students with having more control for agility, and sport competitions.  So the dogs would be less nervous and more responsive while doing competitions, and gives PLENTY of examples that will satisfy even the most advanced dog trainers appetite for knowledge.

So do your self a HUGE favor and  Buy Control Unleashed today — you won’t be sorry!

You can buy Control Unleashed by visiting ClickerTraining.com and browsing through their dog training book section.

Click here to by Control Unleashed Today — you won’t be sorry!

If you’ve already read the book, please leave a comment on this post so that others can get a better feel for if this book can help them with their dog or not.

How To Calm A Dog Down

>NOTE: If you’d like to learn more about training your dog to calm down when he sees people he likes instead of get overly excited, check out my new program here:

How To Calm Down HYPER dogs

*** Question From A Reader ***

My 1 year old pup, Indo is very hyper.  I am still having problems with jumping on people and just going bonkers when she sees anyone or any other animal. As far as the people go, she just loves people and I did not train her properly about jumping up when I first got her at 4 months old.  Then I found the clicker…and positive reinforcement really works…but I am still going through the training and I still cannot control her, especially when her favorite people come by. 

I live where I work, so my Dad and all of my coworkers are considered her family. And everyday, she goes nuts when everyone comes to say hello to her or come near her.  She will sit, then they get to pet her, but then she jumps up and freaks out, lays on the ground at their feet and kicks like a cat….goofy thing!!  Do you have any advice for an older dog that was trained poorly?  Any tricks beside repetition, cause we are doing that! 

 Thank You  Meredith 

>>> My Comments:

You’ve got a SUPER common problem Meredith, and one that can easily be fixed.

First lets talk about WHY your dog is hyper, and then I’ll address how to fix it.

You see, there is a law in training that not many people talk about that says, “When you train a behavior, you ALSO train the dog to feel the emotions he felt while you trained the behavior.”

And whether you like it or not, ALL daily interactions with your dog are training sessions.

He’s either being trained to ignore you, being trained to get excited, or being trained to do a hundred thousand other things.

But he’s ALWAYS being trained.

So when you say that “she goes nuts when everyone comes to say hello to her or come near her.”  That tells me something.

BECAUSE your dog *really* likes people, it’s an exciting thing for her to interact with them… maybe more exciting then anything else. 

Heck it’s probably SO exciting that it’s worth getting yelled at or swatted, or ignoring your “OFF” commands for just a few seconds of interaction with people.

Which means we have a problem…

We have a SELF reinforcing behavior.

Meaning that we have a behavior (greeting strangers) that is so rewarding, every interaction with strangers is being rewarded.

And another proven dog training LAW says that any behavior that is rewarded will increase it’s likely hood to continue.

So knowing this law, the only way to fix your problem is to completely cut off your dogs ability to get at it’s reward… (aka. people)

I’m not saying we cut your dog off from the world by isolating them, but we need to set some new rules for your dog that withhold any interaction with people, until she’s behaving calmly– so that the dog learns the only way to get what it wants is to stay calm.

Whereas right now, the best way to get what it wants is to get excited.

So how can you teach your dog this behavior?

I did an entire interview with a dog training expert in my interview series called “The Greatest Minds Of Hands Off Dog Training”, which you can add to your order in the checkout process when buying my “Hands Off Dog Training Program”, here:

My “Hands Off” Dog Training Program

It’s a GREAT interview and one worth listening to as it address all the different techniques for fixing your type of problem.

*** Question From A Reader ***

Hi [Chet],
 
I have watched your videos with enthusiasm… thanks. I have a PROBLEM. I recently (last week) bought twp German shepherd pups brother and sister. They fight each other a lot; viciously and I have to stop them with water. I feel really awful doing it. Today I gave them both a bone and they went mad for each other again. I took the bones away. Now they are in separate corners of the room looking sheepish. I have to go to work soon and am worried what state they will be in when I get home. The little girl doesn’t leave the poor boy alone. They are 10 weeks old.
What shall I do???

Thanks Nicola

>>> My Comments:

Nicola, this is a CRITICAL stage of life for your pups, where they will acquire many of their behavior characteristics and learn what is appropriate and inappropriate behavior.

And the answer to your problem, as much as it pains me, is NOT in my training course, or at least not yet

Because the hands down BEST thing you can do for your dogs right now is get them to interact with other, what I call “Mentor” dogs. 

A “Mentor” dog is an older dog who can teach your pup what is and what is NOT appropriate behavior.

Normally this is taught to a pup like yours by its mother and other litter or pack mates — or at least that’s optimal way.

I made sure my own Golden Retriever was purchased from a place where all the pups, along with their Mother, and two uncles.  It was a good mix of older dogs who can teach them what is and isn’t ok in the “dog to dog” etiquette world.

Some things are best taught by other dogs, and taught at a young age.

So what I did, when I took my Golden Retriever away from his Mother and litter mates at about 10 weeks old, was I immediately introduced him to every “WELL SOCIALIZED” dog on the planet.

And more importantly, I found a good Doggy Day care that I could take my dog to where *pre-approved* to be good players, were all allowed to interact freely with each other in a HUGE play yard.

In my case, I was able to put my little guy in a pen with tons of nice German Shepherds, Rottweilers, Labs and tons of other breeds of dog, who taught my dog how to play nice.

And you need to do the same.

Do whatever it takes to put your dog in an environment where he can play nicely with LOTS of dogs at the same time, and let those dogs teach him the ropes.

Nobody can teach a young pup to behave nicely with other dogs… then other nice dogs.

-Chet

P.S.  Do you have a question or success story you’d like me to share or address in this newsletter?  If so please email your questions or stories to info@thedogtrainingsecret.com and I’ll try to answer your question in one of my upcoming newsletters?

 

Submit Your Speed Of Implementation Videos:

Please click this link to be directed to the place where you can upload your videos for our speed of implementation contest.

Upload Your Videos Here

Reprogramming Your K9's Mind

I’ve got some exciting news!

I’ve just finished writing a New “Special Report” that you’re going to want to read right away. It’s called “Reprogramming The K9 Mind” and you can download it by clicking below:

>>> Reprogramming The K9 Mind <<<

In this report I talk about what I think is keeping you from having the dog of your dreams. And it’s something I rarely hear other trainers talk about.

And when you get this one thing right, you can finally have a dog who can…

	Greet ANY stranger in a friendly manner
	Sit calmly every time someone tries to pet him
	Behave Perfectly on walks, whether on or off leash
	Remain calm walking through a crowd of people
	Stay in one place when you REALLY need him to
	Finally be NICE to other dogs
	Pay attention to you… even in chaotic situations
	Behave himself in your home when you're NOT there.
	And Much, Much More!

So please do yourself a favor and go read “Reprogramming The K9 Mind” right now… then come back and share any takeaways you had while reading the report.

 

I’m really looking forward to your feedback!

Sincerely,

Chet Womach