Skill Level: Beginner
Length: 6 Modules
Access Period: Unlimited
Price: $65.00
141 Videos
8 Hours
This course has been 36 years in the making. While I produced my first VHS obedience video in 1982, I never stopped thinking about how I could make it better.
Over the years I redid it again and again, right up to this 2018 version. The fact is, I have continued to add material since the course was originally released. A recent example was when I added the following line as the opening to my segment on "walking on a loose leash":
"The most important part of applying pressure is not knowing how much pressure to apply,
but rather knowing the exact moment to release the pressure."
In 1993, we saw the introduction of reward-based dog training (marker training). Since then, that system has been tweaked and improved to the point it is today. Marker training is simple but it is not easy. Explaining this training system to new (and even experienced) dog trainers is what this course is about.
We are going to show how our training sessions look more like playing games with our dogs than the old formal training classes. Unlike the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, today's goal is to build engagement so our dog looks forward to the next training session to continue their learning.
In our course, you will learn a communication system that tells the dog to understand exactly when they are doing something correctly and exactly when they need to try again because they didn't quite get it right. Our system produces dogs that want to do what we ask rather than feeling forced to perform.
This Basic Obedience course has 6 modules. Each module is divided into a number of segments. The course outline is:
Module 1 | ||
Segment 1 | Ed Frawley's Resume | |
Segment 2 | Our Terminology | |
Segment 3 | Understanding Management | |
Segment 4 | The Basics of House Breaking | |
Segment 5 | Becoming a Balanced Dog Trainer | |
Segment 6 | Why train with Food? How to fade using Food. | |
Segment 7 | How to split Exercises into Small Parts | |
Segment 8 | Theory of Corrections | |
Segment 9 | Build Your Dog's Training Plan | |
Segment 10 | Training Equipment for the Course | |
Module 2 | ||
Segment 1 | What is Reward based Training - Marker Training | |
Segment 2 | How to Deliver a Food Reward | |
Segment 3 | How to Start Training - Charge the Mark | |
Segment 4 | Why Engagement is So Important | |
Segment 5 | Putting Engagement on Cue | |
Module 3 | ||
Segment 1 | Gestures / Lures / Adding the Command | |
Segment 2 | Training the Sit | |
Segment 3 | Train the Down | |
Segment 4 | Adding Duration to the Sit and Down | |
Segment 5 | What a Good Training Session Looks Like | |
Segment 6 | Why the Stay is also an intermediate Command | |
Module 4 | ||
Segment 1 | Walk on a Loose Leash | |
Segment 2 | Training the Yuck or Leave-It | |
Module 5 | ||
Segment 1 | The Recall Is Your Most Important Command | |
Segment 2 | Rules of the Recall | |
Segment 3 | Restrained Recalls | |
Segment 4 | Food Toss Recall | |
Segment 5 | Long Line Recalls | |
Segment 6 | Hide and Seek Games Build Drive | |
Module 6 | ||
Segment 1 | Our Intermediate Online Course | |
Segment 2 | Leerburg's Recommended Advanced DVD's | |
Segment 3 | Dog Sports - Are They For You? | |
There are many advantages to utilizing an online course over watching a DVD. The course contains far more information than the time constraints of DVDs. It is also far easier for a student to review topics in a course than in a DVD. One only needs to try and review a specific topic in the middle of a DVD. Spending time going fast forward and rewinding takes so much time. Finding a topic in a well-laid out course takes seconds.
I was born in 1947 and have been training dogs seriously since I started high school. I have been producing and selling dog training video tapes since 1982.
When I was young, I wanted to be a veterinarian. I worked for a vet during college and went to my first dog training Schutzhund (IGP/IPO) seminar in 1974. I decided I like training more than the thought of being a vet.
I have competed in AKC obedience and Schutzhund (IPG/IPO). I was an AKC sheep herding judge and a K9 handler on our Sheriff's department for 10 years. I also bred working bloodline German Shepherds for over 35 years.
When I started going to professional dog training seminars (back in 1974), I was blown away by the amount of good information that could be learned from reputable dog trainers. These were people who didn't have secrets, they were professionals who wanted to help people become better dog trainers.
That's when I decided these were the kind of people I wanted to learn from. As the years passed, I became addicted to learning as much as I could about dogs and training. I also decided that I enjoyed passing on good information to new trainers who were just starting out.
I was first introduced to the internet in October 1994 by a good family friend named Joe Brown. Joe was the chief information officer (CIO) for the University of Wisconsin - Stout. I can still remember that Saturday morning when Joe came to our house and insisted I come down to his office at the university. He had something to show me called " the Internet".
At the time, I was a K-9 handler on our Sheriff's Department. Joe showed me how we could go into a library in Australia and read articles on training police service dogs. This blew my mind. I was instantly hooked. This was before Google, Yahoo, or Internet Explorer.
I went home and tried to find a college student that knew HTML computer code. The Internet was so new there were none at our university, so I bought books and taught myself. Within 4 months, I had my first little dog training website up.
Once on the Internet, I started writing articles and expanding Leerburg.com. Today if we were to print Leerburg.com it would be over 20,000 pages. Leerburg has between 12,000 and 30,000 unique visitors every day and over 1,200 training videos (most of which are free).
I sincerely hope that I can justify your trust by sharing what I have learned. With luck you will learn from the many mistakes I have made in the past 50 years.
8 min 28 sec
TARGET AUDIENCE
The course is designed for 3 types of people: new dog owners who have never trained a dog before, dog owners who have owned a dog but never taken formal lessons, and dog owners who have taken formal classes by unqualified instructors but are now frustrated with the results.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
None
MODULE 1: Your Foundation
When we make the decision to train our dogs we need to find a way to communicate with them. This module will help you learn where to start.
SEGMENT 1: A Note From Ed
No summary available
SEGMENT 2: Keep a training diary and use it to create your training plan
It is impossible to put a generic step by step training plan together for you and your dog, every dog is different. Training plans vary by the age and temperament your dog. In this segment we will teach you how to put your personal training plan together and how to abandon a plan that is not working.
SEGMENT 3: Terminology
It is important we all use and understand the same terminology when we talk about training our dogs. That is what this segment is about
SEGMENT 4: Good management is your key to success
Management is often more important than obedience training.
SEGMENT 5: Housebreaking
Housebreaking is more about management than obedience training. This segment explains why that is the case.
SEGMENT 6: Becoming a Balanced Dog Trainer
No summary available
SEGMENT 7: Why We Train With Food Rewards
We are going to teach you how to train with food rewards, we will also teach you how to stop using food rewards.
SEGMENT 8: Reward Schedules
No summary available
SEGMENT 9: Fading the Use of Food Rewards
No summary available
SEGMENT 10: Splitters & Lumpers: Chaining Behaviors
In this segment you will learn how to break a behavior into small parts that can then be trained and linked together to create the more complicated behavior.
SEGMENT 11: Theory of Corrections
The purpose of a correction is not to punish our dog, the purpose of a correction is to get a behavior change.
SEGMENT 12: Training Equipment
Training equipment are tools we use to communicate with our dog. Using the right equipment for a specific dog is important.
MODULE 2: Reward-Based Training
We discuss Marker Training, how to start it and how it leads into Engagement with our dogs.
SEGMENT 1: Reward Based Training - What is Marker Training
No summary available
SEGMENT 2: How to Deliver a Food Reward
You will learn the correct way to deliver food rewards without getting your fingers bit.
SEGMENT 3: How to Start - Charge the Mark
The first step in marker training is called
SEGMENT 4: Why Engagement is so Important
Engagement is the key to a reward based training program.
SEGMENT 5: Putting Engagement on Cue
Putting engagement on cue is a skill every dog trainer should learn.
MODULE 3: Lures - Gestures & Training the Sit & Down
In this module you will learn what a lure is, the difference between a lure and a gesture, and then how to use these tools to teach our dog to sit and down.
SEGMENT 1: Teaching Lures/Gestures & the Voice Command
In this segment you will learn how to train with lures and gestures. You will also learn how to fade gestures and then fade those tools and add a voice command.
SEGMENT 2: Training the Sit
Training the sit with lures and gestures.
SEGMENT 3: Training the Down
Training the down with lures and gestures.
SEGMENT 4: Adding Duration to the Sit & Down
Adding duration to the sit and down, and why the long sit/down is an intermediate exercise.
SEGMENT 5: Fun Games Training Sessions for the Sit & Down
You will see what a fun training session can look like between you and your dog.
SEGMENT 6: Why Training the Stay or Wait is an Intermediate Training Level Command
Training the stay command when the handler is not near his dog is a intermediate exercise.
MODULE 4: Training Loose Leash Walking
This module will show you how to stop your dog from pulling on the leash during a walk.
SEGMENT 1: Walk on a Loose Leash
In this segment we will show 3 different styles of walking your dog. You will learn how loose leash walking is the preferred method for pet owners.
SEGMENT 2: The Yuck or Leave-It Command
One of the most important commands that we can teach our dog is to spit something out when asked.
MODULE 5: The Basic Recall
Training your dog to come when called is the most important command you can teach your dog. This module covered the foundation to a recall.
SEGMENT 1: We All Need & Want a Solid Recall
No summary available
SEGMENT 2: Rules on Training the Recall Command
Knowing the rules of the recall will help establish the foundation of your recall.
SEGMENT 3: Restrained Recalls
Restrained recalls are the first step in the foundation of a dog's recall training
SEGMENT 4: Long Line Recalls
Long line recalls are the first step in layering in corrections for your recall.
SEGMENT 5: Food toss recall games
Food toss games are a motivational method used in the learning phase of the recall.
MODULE 6: Where to Go From Here
SEGMENT 1: Intermediate dog obedience course and DVD
No summary available
SEGMENT 2: Hiking with Your Dog
No summary available
SEGMENT 3: Q&A
No summary available
SEGMENT 4: Dog Sports - Are They for You?
No summary available
SEGMENT 5: Advanced Training
No summary available
SEGMENT 6: Michael Ellis's DVDs
No summary available
"I thought this course was excellent. I am hoping for more to come. I don’t know what to tell you on how to improve but I can say videos are the easiest way for me to learn so I appreciated all of them. And I did practice on my dog after watching some of them. Thank you again I Loved the course and am hoping for more. Thank you very much for the opportunity to take this and to learn from your knowledge."
- Shantelle
"I have learned so much from your online classes! I thought I was going to prepare for a new puppy...wow was I in denial! I learned that my pack of little darlings were disrespectful , rude and out of control. Luckily the breeder I am working with to purchase an American Bulldog from understood I may have to wait until next year's breeding to get my pack under control. He felt the additional training would help us select a better match. Again, thank you to you and your wife. "
- Joy Hutsenpiller on 03/22/2016
"Phenomenal course, I run a dog sports (Agility, disc, scenting and obedience) club and I am now going to have every one of my instructors take this course. It was easy to understand and is BY FAR the most reliable course I've come across. "
- Monica Wall on 05/11/2017
Training a dog and training a human are two different skill sets.
The reason for this is simple. Dogs do not learn like humans learn. Dogs are visual learners. From the time they are puppies, they learn to read their owner's body language, even though they don't understand a word their owner is saying.
Just because a person can train a dog to do very complex behaviors does not mean that the same person can teach another human how to train a dog to do the same complex behaviors.
This course allows new dog trainers the ability to learn from a professional dog trainer (Ed Frawley) who has spent his entire career (since 1982) teaching people how to train their dogs.
The advantage of Ed's online course is it has 8 hours of video that is organized in a very logical order. You can review the outline below in the course description.
Students can move through the course at their own speed. If they want to quickly skim through the content they can, if they want to spend a week on each module they can, but they always have the option to come back and quickly review the course content. The structure of Leerburgs' online courses allows this.
This is one of the reasons Ed constantly tells potential students that the online course is far better than taking a local obedience course in which students come for a one hour class once a week. They listen to a lecture, work their dog for 10 minutes, go home and then can only remember about 40% of what the instructor said.
What's the difference between this course, the DVD, and the stream?
DVD: 3 hours 5 minutes (physical copy)
Stream: 3 hours 5 minutes, lifetime access, stream from anywhere
Online Course: 141 videos (478 minutes), additional text content, lifetime access, stream from anywhere