Thank you for giving me the opportunity to spend some quality time learning about the aspects you hold dear to your heart and the training methodology you use.

Balanced dog training: In my opinion it is critical to improve our understanding about all the aspects of a dog, it’s not just about how a dog learns, but how we must learn how to educate ourselves, in order to understand the dogs’ mind, how and why the dog displays certain behaviours. The cause and effect we can and do have on that process.

A dog is a dog, it is an animal and we have to respect it and treat it as such, it is hard wired and has instinct and genetics, as do we, but we and they are different in many aspects. My motto is “Training dogs is or can be simply but it is not easy”

I have been training dogs for many years, but will never know all that there is to know, and have to modify my thoughts and processes along the way with each and every dog that I come into contact with. This course has given me the opportunity to put into practice those learnt theories i now better understand.

I am a firm believer that in order to progress ourselves and our dogs we have to make daily advancements in all that we do with them. This course has given me that opportunity to do just that, by better understanding what I am doing, why I am doing it, and how it can change or modify the manner in which I do things for the better.

By having a balanced training ethos, it can only be for the good of the dogs and us. By better understanding the critical periods of the dogs’ development and by undertaking a study course, helps to embed the importance of such learning, that we and the dogs’ need to go through in order to achieve that status-quo.

By understanding classical and operant conditioning, and how this can and is used by the balanced dog trainer, the terminology and explanations given in its use and meaning makes training techniques more understandable, they can sometimes be confusing until understood properly. This course is a good grounding for both the inexperienced and experienced dog trainer/ instructor to better understand what we are doing, why we are doing it, and how it can be improved upon.

Yours and others (within the content of the course material) experience and knowledge speaks volumes, the weekly sessions (and segments) flow logically in content, each and every part is explained in detail, so the learner can fully understand what it is that is being said, or demonstrated in the video clips.

For me the words that have now been embedded in my mind are:

Management
Engagement
Pack structure
Marker training
Stressors
Distractions
Corrections

I have learnt a lot from taking part in the learning process, some I already knew, but other parts I was unclear on, by having the opportunity to do the study programme at a time convenient to me with the ability to review and reflect on areas that I was unsure of, has now helped me to better understand what I am doing, why I am doing it and the benefits it has for both me and the dogs.

I look forward to participating in future courses with you and thank you for taking the time to make this facility available to everyone interested in bettering their knowledge and understanding in canine training.

- Colin

I think it's learning to be fair, fair to the dog by opening up yourself to learn, learning to understand how a dog thinks, reacts, learns and then teach yourself how to teach the dog! I found Ed and Cindy's acting on how to train dogs using people entertaining ... and I tried it on my 27 year old daughter, and it worked! That in itself taught me volumes. I actually think practicing on people has real value, understanding how to figure out what the other wants without words and TIMING ... from Yes to waiting 1.5 second and then reward ... that's tricky and it was difficult for me initially. Understanding management of the dog and how the behavior of the dog is greatly impacted on what kind of a teacher you are, and the philosophy that motivates your training. And, finally being fair in correction; making sure that you have fulfilled your responsibility in being educated, patient and consistent in training, that the dog 110% understands what is expected of him, then and only then correcting as necessary, not fueled by emotion.

I have studied your website for months, read, read, read, and read, submitted questions and received valuable answers, I've gained a tremendous amount of knowledge just by reading your site, I didn't expect so much more information in this online class, I am already revisiting weeks 1-5 just to take notes and I just purchased a streaming video .... the years of knowledge you make available for dog owners like me is truly a gift.

The video of Cindy in the Mondio Ring (2) with Rush, was incredible, thank you for sharing that ... although that is not a goal of mine, you could see and sense Cindy's accomplishment, her efforts and talent, that was a incredible to watch.

- Kathy

Oh my. Hopefully I am allowed quite a bit of space for my answer. First, some background. My husband had German Shepherds and Dobermans growing up. I never had a dog... We both wanted a dog for years, but did not do so due to our careers, until 1.5 years ago when I retired at age 55 from the Corporate world and had the time to commit to the responsibilities of owning a dog. After much research we welcomed 4 month old Ruby, German Shepherd female, home in June 2012. To be clear, I had zero dog training skills, and would describe myself to be a 'soft' person (it's those eyes....).

Ruby and I went to a number of puppy & training classes, I read at least a dozen books, and watched dog 'behaviour' episodes for hours. I have to say that none of it really resonated with me. But in the absence of knowing better alternatives, I took it for what it was. After all, I knew nothing and they were the experts.

On July 1, 2013 we welcomed Coco, then a 4 month old German Shepherd into our home. We wanted to have Ruby for a full year prior to deciding on a 2nd. I discovered Leerburg about 2 months ago when I was looking for vests for both of them to wear and be a visual 'keep away' message to strangers. Boggles my mind that people approach wanting to pet them. Thank goodness for some common sense on our part as in saying 'no' as I now know this to be 'Management'.

Upon surfing your site, I watched a couple videos and then ordered the dominant dog collar and the double hook leash. I already had prong collars for both. Coco, my 10 month old developed a 'thing' for cars about 2 months ago. She is obsessed with them and lunges for them when in my truck, and when out for a walk. If she got got away on me for any reason when out for a walk, I know she would be hit, so the dominant collar and double hook leash were a welcome safety measure. Question for you on this later.

I just completed your 6 week Obedience course. And FINALLY - I truly feel like I have found the real thing. Which translates to knowing that I have pretty much done most everything wrong from day one with both Ruby and Coco. I believe that we have 2 basically good (but not well trained) dogs because of the amount of exercise they get (2-3 hours every day); and from applying a bit of common sense. It certainly is NOT because of all the things I have tried with other professional help in past. Not blaming, just stating facts. I now know better, and therefore now have the opportunity to do better.

My learnings from this course are many. First is knowing that I need to become their pack leader. I knew that this was required before, but now have real, practical and doable actions on exactly WHAT to do in order to accomplish this.

I consciously decided to take the entire course first prior to applying the learnings. Part of my challenge is working with both of them at the same time on my own as I am currently at our winter home while my hubby is working hard back at home. (Yes, a nice problem for me to have). Today, I begin the next chapter with Ruby and Coco with real knowledge as learned from your course. I will begin with Charging the Mark, rewarding the Mark, and Hand Touch. Then will continue with Look, and on from there. In parallel, I need to take Learning to play w Tug. Ruby LOVES to play, and I now appreciate how engaged she is and wants to be. But the toy(s) are currently HER toys, and will out maybe 2 out of 5 times upon request. So we won't be playing Tug any more until I take that course... But I digress.

QUESTION re Coco and her car obsession. Given this is of life saving importance, I have tried methods learned in this course to redirect her, but have not found any method, or anything of higher value that works for her. FYI, I didn't expect this to be covered in the entry course. I have Dogtra e collars for both of them, but have not really used them as I felt I didn't know enough about them to use them properly. Another Leerburg video on my list to take...

At one point, you discussed the 'have to stop the behaviour in its tracks' or something like that. Where can I find more about this specific issue? As to what I can specifically do?

THANK you both so very much for making these on line educational courses. I truly believe that we have inadvertently held back both Ruby and Coco in their abilities because I/we did not know what and how to work with them. Learning is a life long journey - thank goodness - and I look forward to have meaningful learning from Leerburg going forward. It isn't too late - and I know I have just barely scratched the surface!

- Carol

I am very glad that I took this course! Despite previous contact with several instructors who used marker training, the explanation from this course was the most complete and valuable ever. Thank You! Ed Frawley's sincere regard for dogs and his sincere desire to be a great teacher is evident throughout the course. I also appreciate having the two videos included in the course (pack behavior and using food rewards). Yes, some of it was redundant, but there is so much valuable information that it was worth powering through it. The most valuable part for me was learning about engagement. I spent once a week all last summer with a Schutzhund trainer teaching my dog controlled healing without ever having my dog really engaged with me... an extreme waste of everyone's energy and definitely not fair to the dog. What a difference with my new 8 month old GSD now that I have her engaged with me. We are breezing through the exercises in your course and have moved on to The Power of Playing Tug (and having so much fun).

You could make the course better if you would review the test questions and answers. I think I have a clear understanding of the course material, yet I agonized over several of the questions/answers - an example would be the question where the correct answer was "touch" but not clear (at least to me) from the question if you meant hand touch or touch pad.

Also, a very clear, detailed picture was given in the beginning of the course of the active vs. reactive dog resulting from training methods. However, in Week 5 this became way too muddled when talking about corrections. Thank you again for an overall great course!

- Anne

I have learned so much about Pack structure, I have owned "good" dogs all my adult life. They were easy learners and offered little training challenges, plus they were natural pack members. I somehow manuevered myself into a situation of pack leader, but I have learned a more direct method from your class. I wish I had follwed your program when we first adopted our Stella two years ago. Our new girl is a definte challenge! She would have adjusted much more quickly to us and our environment if she could have done so from the safety of her crate. She came with a lot of inappropriate behaviors due to her fears of people and situations. She is a "hard" dog who is also extremely energetic.

Although, I had a little knowlege of clicker training, your DVD has helped me so much to refine my technique and make it work for Stella. She is an eager learning, but I wasn't delivering the message. I can see all kind of possibilities for her as we now share a common language. Ready, Yes, No, good and done!!!! Five simple words! Motivation and drive techniques were appreciated too. My timing and hand positions are areas that still need further refinement, but I know what to do now!!

Carefully, I followed your instructions on using a prong collar, especially helpful to someone who was not familiar with how to use it. Now, I know how to correct, by stopping, and rewarding her when she looks back at me. I never pull her leash, but use verbal commands to change direction. I want you to know she is so much better. As a rescue, she had an large audience--her former foster was absolutely amazed at her progress when she walked back to her doggy play group a week ago. She remarked to everyone, Stella is a different dog!!!! So, thank you so much!!!!

My self confidence is so much more, because I feel I have learned so much. I know what direction to take, and can offer solutions to a problem. Thank you for offering this class. And once again, thank you for helping so many dogs avoid the tragedy of being put down and surrendered, you are performing a great service.

- Sharon

I am a manager and certified counselor at a doggy day care and boarding facility. I can't thank you enough for the useful information contained in your course. I have been wanting to expand into training for a better understanding of dogs. The most important aspect of balanced dog training that I learned was how to be more in control of the environment and distractions in your dog's environment. Also this course has made me understand the extent of the communication barrier between humans and dogs. I loved the videos on clicker training your friend. It really opened my eyes and made me feel foolish for getting upset when telling a dog a command and expecting him to understand. After taking your course I applied the simple techniques to see if I could train a friend's dog. I couldn't believe the results I achieved using this course. It works! Thanks again Leerburg.

- Hana

Thank you so much for this course! I have learned so much and proofed what I already knew. I work my dogs every day in engagement games and so they are always Ready! I want them to have fun while they are learning and this course really made that point for me. Dog training is not just an obedience class you take for 6 weeks and then expect the dog to get it, so many people don't get that. I trained my 2 year old GSD as my service dog and she is a working dog with tons of energy so we are constantly playing ball or working obedience. She loves it all. Thank you, Cindy for responding to my email question about Border Terriers because I now have the puppy I have wanted for twenty years and I have been training him along with this course! Wonderful material! Thanks for everything!

- Kathy

In my opinion the most important aspect of balanced dog training is forming a bond with your dog though Marker Training and once you have got that when all the training learned from this course will fall into place and the bond will become even stronger through trust and direction while working with your dog. Sure you can train a dog without a bond but it is a fear based training then it isn’t trained out of trust and devotion. I want my dog to want to work not only for me but with me. And you must make it enjoyable for your dog because that makes it happen. Dogs want to please. I have been done with this course for almost a week now and have found the tests to be much easier than the essay. I can’t seem to find how to put into words what I feel I have learned from this class.

I can say back in my earlier years I was a crank and yank trainer of my dogs and I find the Marker method to be so much more effective and a much quicker achievement of the asking task you are training your dog to do. This course has helped me to lay out the foundation for my own training schedule and steps of not only to train my dogs but to help others to train theirs. And when you say you hope those who watch this get the bug for more well I have the bug and am hoping there are more courses for me to take so I can continue to learn as much as I can.

I feel I learn everyday either by trial and error or from other dog people and I find knowledge as power and I want as much knowledge on dog training as I can get. A person does not realize how much engagement is the utmost important thing to get and once you have worked with it you realize how much harder it is to work without it. I strive to get engagement with my dogs before the session begins ALWAYS and if I can’t get it I learned to wait until later when I have it. It works so much better when the engagement is there.

I know I need to work on the actions of my motions since during this course you said physical outweigh verbal. And oh how true that is now that I pay attention to it, which makes 100% sense when you think about it. I did do the trick of turning my back on my dog and telling her to sit and realized she didn't understand right away. We since worked on that and now does it whether I am facing her or I have my back to her. Thank you for that tip. I will never forget the ones I got wrong in the test they will be forever remembered. I learn kind of the same way. I don’t want to be wrong I want the reward so I will always remember that the size of the treat matters need to be small and easy to eat so they can get back to training and management is what you do first to try and stop your dog from pulling and not every dog will need a correction.

I hope after taking this course and am confident it will give me the ability to be the best not only dog trainer but dog owner for my own dog and for other dogs. Thank you so much for this course and am looking forward to more. Again Thank you for sharing your Knowledge I am always wanting to learn when it has to do with dogs and training. I truly enjoyed the course hope there are more to come.

- Shantelle

Your online course is amazing, I didn't realize I'd learn so much every week! I love the philosophy and training skills I'm learning! Who knew at 47 I could learn so much!

- Cathy

Leerburg has a good course here. I have only been training dogs on my own now for 3 years, and this course [Basic Dog Obedience] is very informative. I hope Leerburg continues with this online course training. I take classes as my work schedule permits, and taking this in the evenings after work was perfect.

- Tim