Years ago I worked as a private investigator. A guy I worked with told me an interesting story of a PI he worked with in New York City.
His friend was called in to help a group of store owners get rid of some drug dealers that had taken up residence on their block. This was a tricky case. They could take pictures of drug action but the dealers knew they were being watched and were very careful. The PI’s couldn’t use force because that’s illegal, not to mention dangerous.
This brilliant investigator came up with an ingenious idea to get rid of the drug dealers. His solution? Bird seed. Anyone that has been to New York City knows there are millions of pigeons.
Our hero walked up and down the street every morning spreading bags of bird seed on the sidewalk. Pigeons, given an unlimited amount of food, will eat as much as they can. All that food will travel through the pigeon’s digestive system and be returned to the earth in the form of… pigeon poop. The drug dealers were literally working under a rain storm of pigeon poop. It took about two weeks for them to decide a move was needed.
Once the dealers were gone the bird seed stopped along with the unending rainfall of pigeon turds.
Problem solved. No violence, no struggle, just a few hoses to clean up with after the drug dealers found a more suitable location to peddle their wares.
The investigator was brilliant because it was not his job to arrest them. His job was to get them to STOP selling drugs on this block, which he did without ever saying a word, without ever making a threat or spending thousands of dollars of man hours doing surveillance.
My job as a dog trainer requires me to help you train your dog. Your dog has to learn how to do behaviors (sit, down, stay, come, etc.) and how to STOP doing behaviors (jumping, chewing, biting, barking, etc.). To STOP a behavior requires using a negative consequence. Contrary to popular belief, that is how you get your dog to stop jumping, chewing, begging and so on.
But a negative consequence does NOT require harming or inflicting pain on the dog. Much like the private investigator above, using a negative consequence does not have to hurt but you do have to get your point across.
I wrote the book “The Deadly Dog Training Myth” because punishment and negative consequences is so misunderstood. And if you do not use or refuse to use negative consequences the dog is in danger. I’ll explain it all in detail and how you can get your dog to finally listen to you at the first ever, “Train Your Dog Workshop.”
The free workshop will be held on: April 26th at 6:00 PM at the Bristol Animal Shelter. If you want in I need to hear from you ASAP. We already have 57 people registered and only have room for a few more. Call 774-319-6351 to register for the workshop.