diff --git a/modules/objdetect/src/_lsvm_error.h b/modules/objdetect/src/_lsvm_error.h
index 7de5448e0b6fc4a2758ecb1c7edaad265fd651cd..1d6fb633b80187c795f61012e68e93757774f232 100644
--- a/modules/objdetect/src/_lsvm_error.h
+++ b/modules/objdetect/src/_lsvm_error.h
@@ -12,5 +12,6 @@
 #define FILTER_OUT_OF_BOUNDARIES -7
 #define FFT_OK 2
 #define FFT_ERROR -8
+#define LSVM_PARSER_FILE_NOT_FOUND -9
 
 #endif
diff --git a/modules/objdetect/src/latentsvmdetector.cpp b/modules/objdetect/src/latentsvmdetector.cpp
index add81acbf2ab7705474e654eb20479d0c65fc76f..336a360f2ca65aaa4f8cae1b73ec301d6311eeb4 100644
--- a/modules/objdetect/src/latentsvmdetector.cpp
+++ b/modules/objdetect/src/latentsvmdetector.cpp
@@ -22,8 +22,10 @@ CvLatentSvmDetector* cvLoadLatentSvmDetector(const char* filename)
 	int* kPartFilters = 0;
 	float* b = 0;
 	float scoreThreshold = 0.f;
+	int err_code = 0;
 
-	loadModel(filename, &filters, &kFilters, &kComponents, &kPartFilters, &b, &scoreThreshold);
+	err_code = loadModel(filename, &filters, &kFilters, &kComponents, &kPartFilters, &b, &scoreThreshold);
+	if (err_code != LATENT_SVM_OK) return 0;
 
 	detector = (CvLatentSvmDetector*)malloc(sizeof(CvLatentSvmDetector));
 	detector->filters = filters;
diff --git a/modules/objdetect/src/lsvmparser.cpp b/modules/objdetect/src/lsvmparser.cpp
index 72b9dcb5c8487f6e6703a2d1601f7da6fb80bda9..a87416fdb584e276e71426bf88febc62f9b428f8 100644
--- a/modules/objdetect/src/lsvmparser.cpp
+++ b/modules/objdetect/src/lsvmparser.cpp
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include "string.h"
 #include "_lsvmparser.h"
+#include "_lsvm_error.h"
 
 int isMODEL    (char *str){
     char stag [] = "<Model>";
@@ -736,7 +737,7 @@ int LSVMparser(const char * filename, filterObject *** model, int *last, int *ma
 
     xmlf = fopen(filename, "rb");
 	if(xmlf == NULL){
-		return -1;
+		return LSVM_PARSER_FILE_NOT_FOUND;
 	}
     
     i   = 0;
@@ -767,7 +768,7 @@ int LSVMparser(const char * filename, filterObject *** model, int *last, int *ma
             }
         }        
     }
-	return 0;
+	return LATENT_SVM_OK;
 }
 
 int loadModel(
@@ -789,8 +790,8 @@ int loadModel(
     //printf("start_parse\n\n");
 
     err = LSVMparser(modelPath, filters, &last, &max, &comp, b, &count, &score);
-	if(err != 0){
-		return -1;
+	if(err != LATENT_SVM_OK){
+		return err;
 	}
     (*kFilters)       = last + 1;
     (*kComponents)    = count;
diff --git a/samples/c/000028.jpg b/samples/c/cat.jpg
similarity index 100%
rename from samples/c/000028.jpg
rename to samples/c/cat.jpg
diff --git a/samples/c/latentsvmdetect.cpp b/samples/c/latentsvmdetect.cpp
index 76c9840452607353bb56467df9b317d640efa206..b683d93e2063e4f9a47bd64671eb15f8413ac9c3 100644
--- a/samples/c/latentsvmdetect.cpp
+++ b/samples/c/latentsvmdetect.cpp
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 using namespace cv;
 
 const char* model_filename = "cat.xml";
-const char* image_filename = "000028.jpg";
+const char* image_filename = "cat.jpg";
 
 void detect_and_draw_objects( IplImage* image, CvLatentSvmDetector* detector)
 {
@@ -35,8 +35,26 @@ void detect_and_draw_objects( IplImage* image, CvLatentSvmDetector* detector)
 
 int main(int argc, char* argv[])
 {
+	if (argc > 2)
+	{
+		image_filename = argv[1];
+		model_filename = argv[2];
+	}
 	IplImage* image = cvLoadImage(image_filename);
+	if (!image)
+	{
+		printf( "Unable to load the image\n"
+                "Pass it as the first parameter: latentsvmdetect <path to cat.jpg> <path to cat.xml>\n" );
+		return -1;
+	}
     CvLatentSvmDetector* detector = cvLoadLatentSvmDetector(model_filename);
+	if (!detector)
+	{
+		printf( "Unable to load the model\n"
+                "Pass it as the second parameter: latentsvmdetect <path to cat.jpg> <path to cat.xml>\n" );
+		cvReleaseImage( &image );
+		return -1;
+	}
     detect_and_draw_objects( image, detector );
     cvNamedWindow( "test", 0 );
     cvShowImage( "test", image );