Great course, lots of good videos and demos. I have completed 18 training courses at Leerburg in the past 2 years since I got my dog. I wish I had started much earlier before bringing our dog home. I have made many mistakes, and only realized they were mistakes through the coursework at Leerburg.

Recall was one of my first big mistakes. I would call my dog and then when she came to me I would put her in her crate. She quickly learned that when I called her to come she was going in her crate which she did not want to do. I am still working to correct that. We don’t use the crate now unless the dog will be left home alone, so she doesn’t get much crate time, but still if I call her to come and she thinks I’m going to put her in her crate she comes but will maintain some separation just in case. You gotta laugh. I used to get mad but quickly learned that wasn’t helping. She is 30 months old now and has matured. I use a remote collar for a recall backup only when we are outside of our fenced yard.

I was pleased to see that my walks are pretty similar to the walk Cindy demonstrated in this course. I use a 20 ft Leerburg Biothane long line. I had a handle stitched in on mine but I don’t allow her to drag it. In Florida it seems like the line is always wet and it’s hard to hold onto when it’s wet. I typically do not ask for any behaviors outside of the basic obedience behaviors I need to control the dog around triggers and distractions. I want her to enjoy the walk and I allow her to explore as much as we have room for. On a given day we have 3 or 4 distractions. Deer, Turkey, squirrels, armadillos that run right at us as if they are not scared in the least of an 80 lb Malinois. The worst of all are the feral cats, since they hide in the tall grass and wait till the dog scents them then spring into the air and take off. I think they do it intentionally. Some have learned that a dog on a leash is no threat so they just sit off a bit and watch as the dog reacts twitching their tail as if to tease the dog.

I have struggled a little with the remote collar recall corrections trying to find the right levels for these various distractions and am likely guilty of nagging the dog rather than changing her behavior. That point was reinforced in this course and I have since made some progress on that issue. She is a reactive dog, inadequate socialization was another big mistake. I can fully relate now when Micheal Ellis says “ more restrictions in the beginning equals more freedom later. Unlike Cindy, we need to keep a little more distance from her triggers than simply moving off the trail and I am careful to always ensure I have room to provide that separation.

We are slowly overcoming her reactivity issues. I have been using the recall, place, and the heel command much like Cindy was doing in the video to redirect her when we have triggers approaching us. I have also struggled with engagement on command with distractions.

In a distraction free environment she will engage and remain engaged, but once there are distractions she focuses on the distraction and would not take food or redirect without forcefully turning the dog, so in the beginning I had no option but to reverse course. Now when I see the trigger I can position her and while she still watches the trigger most times, we can usually allow the triggers to pass us in almost any direction as long as the separation is adequate. The distance is slowing reducing.

This course has reinforced my management skills and strengthened her recall for sure. Our progress has been encouraging. We are not in a hurry. We enjoy our time out each day and I feel like we are making progress every day. Some days are better than others. Motorcycles are still a challenge. I can position her as they approach and she will be doing fine, then at the last minute she just can’t stand it any longer and reacts. It happens very quickly and it’s been hard for me to time her correction with the ECollar so I usually just end up forcefully restraining her and giving her a firm NO. I do think she understands that I am not happy with her behavior and the next time she might not react, but within a day or so she will again surprise me. It’s almost like she is planning it that way. She knows if she reacts early she will get corrected and possibly miss the fun of reacting at the last minute with more enthusiasm.

With another course behind me I am starting to feel like I kinda know what I am doing and I am gaining confidence in my ability to manage my dog effectively. Far from the perfection I see everywhere on line. I have learned so much in the past 2 years, but I still make real time mistakes. The difference is that now I can recognize that I made a mistake and plan for how I will do things differently next time while still maintaining a great relationship with my dog.

I recently made a significant mistake, but everything worked out ok. Our dog is not a door dasher, she will not rush out the door just because it’s open. However, if I am outside she will follow me out if she is accidentally given the opportunity via an open door and hasn’t been commanded otherwise. In this case I went out through garage door to retrieve the trash can after it had been emptied by the trash crew. The dog hates the trash crew for some reason. She hears the truck coming from blocks always and lets me know the trash truck is coming. The bad news is when I exited the garage door it did not latch behind me and of course she has learned to push the door to see if it will open, which it did, so out she comes looking for me, and there several houses away is the trash crew, so she takes off after them. I didn’t see her or even know she was out until I heard her barking and saw the trash crew running back towards the truck. As she went by me I called her to come and she turned right around and came back to me, but then she had no collar on so I had no way to positively control her and she was still very interested in the trash crew. I was standing in the driveway beside the truck so I asked her to load up in the truck, which she loves to ride, I guess more so than chasing the trash crew, so she quickly complied. Problem solved disaster averted. I know it could have ended with a much different outcome, and I felt so stupid for allowing that to happen. Once the dog was in the truck the trash guys went back to work and I apologized for scaring them. They laughed it off, but I know it scared them and me too. Thanks, Leerburg! I couldn’t have done it without you! Best

- Joseph P on 09/14/2024

The most important aspect of balanced dog training I have learned from this course would be patience. I have learned how important it is to be patient with your dog and not to rush how quickly you want them to learn to do something. One thing that I will always remember was when Ed says "when you get frustrated with your dog, put the dog away and ask yourself what YOU did wrong, because the dog did not do anything wrong". That changed my whole perspective for the better!

This course was very helpful for me and my 14 month old bulldog. We had gotten to a point where his recall was pretty good, but plateaued and just was not getting any better. I bought this course and started over with him going through the course. We have played all the recall games, we have worked on these at home and out at the park on walks, or at the pet store. I see a very noticeable difference in his want to come to me when called now. I now know where my initial mistakes were and have been able to identify and fix them with the help of this course. I have no doubt that he will get to where I want him to be with time now!

- lauren h on 09/09/2024

Thank you for for providing such a comprehensive course. I found the 14 modules incredibly valuable, particularly the “call away” concept, which gave me new insights into recall training. The use of touchpads in the training process was also very intriguing and something I’m eager to explore further.

The inclusion of student videos was a standout feature for me. Seeing the instructors review and correct common mistakes in real-time was incredibly helpful and made the learning process much more effective.

Overall, I’m extremely pleased with the course. Thank you for creating such an enriching and practical course!

- Michael K on 09/02/2024

I bought your video course Training Your Dog to Come When Called 2024 and it is literally the best course I have ever purchased and I train continually - online and in person (Agility, Rally-O, and Scentwork and Fenzi online).

I became re-acquainted with you, Ed, in recent years after growing up with German Shepherds and, in the last 17 years, Golden Retrievers.

You are such a great video trainer! I love the "tips" and "asides" that you add to the pure lessons. in a word: wisdom. SO much to digest! I will be watching this over and over to catch what I miss. Loved Cindy's 20 minute walk! SO valuable to watch her incorporate training throughout the walk. I could go on and on. But my reason for messaging is to THANK YOU for giving me an affordable lesson. One of my Goldies (the overly friendly one ) recently decided that visiting ring crew during his Agility Trials is more rewarding than running the course efficiently with me. After 2 years of beautiful agility runs! So we are taking a breather from trials while I go through the steps you lay out so clearly. Goal? Reflexive Recall 100% of the time. We will get there (with you and Cindy as guides, how can we not?).

Again, THANK YOU for providing this - it is THE BEST Training Value that I have encountered.

- Mary S. on 05/07/2024

It’s hard to express the most important aspect of balanced dog training I have learned from the course as all that has been taught has been super important. But if I was to single out a few key points that I have learned from the course it is the importance of balanced training and food rewards with games and training. I have my dog trained on a e-collar for recall but always felt there was more to it then just using the e-collar for recall. The games/training videos using rewards/food has been a real eye opener for me and I am looking forward to using and implementing this training to further progress my relationship with my dog and improving his recall skills.
Excellent course and look forward to further enhancing my dog training skills utilizing Leerburgs training experience.

- Jason H on 03/19/2024

This was a fantastic class. Every module showed me new and fun ways to play games with my dog that are actually building a behavior that I want. We are playing, having fun, and he is LEARNING! He is learning that being with mom is the best place to be. It is a challenge sometimes for me to get the timing right because it makes me so happy to see him learning that I get ahead of myself. Fortunately, since I now know that SHORT sessions are best, I can keep the mistakes to a minimum and reset for next time.

Our favorite right now is the food chase games. He is so food motivated. And today we got to do the call away exercises with a friend and he learned VERY quickly when she stopped interacting and I called him. She lured him over and over, and each time I was able to call him away. We were both amazed at how quickly it clicked for him and effective this is.

Thank you so much for putting so much time and energy and KNOWLEDGE into all these courses. I am hooked. On to the Marker Training 2024 class next, then Basic Obedience, Intermediate Obedience.

- Page B. on 01/19/2024