I'm a big fan of learning anything I can from anyone I can about dogs...especially working dogs. I was hesitant to buy this course because of the word "Basic" in the title. Boy was I wrong. There's something in this course for everyone no matter how well versed you are in training dogs.
Take for instance Chapter 10 of the Week 1 Segment 6 video titled "Establishing Pack Structure with the Family Pet". On first glance I thought this was going to be very basic in nature. That is until I got to Chapter 10.
Watching the two dogs interact with each other while setting their pack order was priceless. Thank you Ed for sharing your keen experience. Without your narration, I would have missed a lot of learning during this 17 minute segment.
- Joey L.
I have gone through your basic dog obedience course, The Power Playing Tug with Your Dog and many of your online free videos/Articles. I could have never gotten this much useful information from any other source. I would like to thank you very much!
- Tim A.
Thank you for this course! It is great to 'get back in the saddle' again and actively start training my new adult dog. Even my other older dog loves to be involved in training again! Love the approach to marker training as it has been key to engaging and bringing out positive interaction with a hard to engage dog. He coming out by leaps and bounds and am now looking forward to the Engagement course which I have signed up for. Love the online courses! Keep up the good work and Thank You!
- Maggie, Rocco, & Rusky
This is a great course! I had started a local obedience course with my 5 month old high-drive Doberman, thinking that the socialization would be good for him. However, the instructor was 90% punishment based - which did not seem to work for this puppy. I began your course concurrently and saw massive engagement in the very first training session! I quickly realized that the other 'in-person' program was negative training for Drago, so I dropped out (it was better to lose the money, than to lose the engagement of my dog!).
Though I have trained many dogs in the past, and also train horses and falcons, the Leerburg program has already given me many new tools and perspectives. I appreciate the balanced training approach and will continue on with other courses.
- Crista & Drago
Great course! I plan on getting my first german shepherd puppy in the upcoming weeks and really think this training course has given me a great starting point. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and life long work!
- Chris P.
The information in this course was easy to understand and gave me all the tools necessary to teach my dog all the basic commands. The segments on pack structure were especially helpful in understanding how the dog thinks and reacts to his surroundings. I am looking forward to future courses. Thank you so much for your efforts in producing such top quality videos. Please keep them coming.
- Janet S.
I was struggling with finding a training system that I was comfortable with. 100% motivational just got me so far. So I guess the most important thing I learned from here is when in training is it appropriate to use corrections, and the importance of engagement.
I am very pleased with having taken this course, and I hope you guys keep making more awesome courses like this one. Ed does a great job explaining everything, it's also great to have someone with so much experience explain things.
- Giovanni
This was a good foundational course. It covered many interesting topics. I enjoyed learning about how pack animals respond to the alpha. I thought it was a very balanced course that while emphasizing reward based training, still covered other aspects of training. How to handle food, timing of giving food, engagement, and using these training tools to begin to teach your dog basic obedience-like look, touch, sit down- was well taught and covered. Overall it was a thorough introductory course, that I enjoyed very much.
- Stuart
As I look back over the course materials it gives me great hope that I can be a better owner for my dogs. I realize that it is more of training myself than the dog. If I do the fundamentals correctly my dog will learn quickly and feel like he is making me happy.
My dog is in puppy level two obedience training, I wish that we had known about the Look and Hand Touch, I think this would have helped him tremendously.
I am so glad that you mention on your website about not raising two puppies at once. I found it very interesting that dogs do not need other dogs to play with.
I will definitely be implementing the "place" command with my pup. We have actually started that with his trainer. I am also very lucky to have the trainer we have as many, many things she has taught us you also use and recommend.
In week 4 the last three questions on the test are not plain in the material. I felt the questions were maybe worded different. Or just not plain to me. Again it could be just me. I feel a controlled environment would be a fenced in environment which is mentioned in the videos.
Overall I am very pleased. I have bought many things from your website and will continue to do so. I think your information is great. I think your love for allllll breeds is great and you and your employees/facility are doing a great job.
- William
The most valuable discovery to me in both the online course and the practice that I've been doing with my dog is the overwhelming power of engagement. When my dog wants what I have and wants to be with me then he is so excited to learn and can learn anything I feel. It becomes as rewarding to me as it is with him. I am someone who is a very analytical thinker and I love philosophy. My favorite thing about the structure of this course is the weight given to truly explain the "why" and not just the "how". I respect balance in all things in life and the approach to this system seems quite logical and very fair. I enjoy the "old school" approach that is very conversational in the teaching style. It is obvious the training is built off of many years of experience. Thank you for making this available.
- Cathy