A Note From Ed:

Maybe you don't know this, but I do. You are not a normal dog trainer, you are different. You have the fire in your belly that makes you want to have a better relationship with dogs.

I say this because you did the research to find this course and then you bought it. The average person who owns dogs will never do this. 

50 years ago, when I was 26, we only had books, and not very good ones. There were no VHS tapes, no internet, no DVDs. It was all "yank and crank avoidance training". The only thing I learned was what "NOT TO DO". If I had known the information I am sharing in my courses, if I had known about reward-based training, if I had known about engagement or understood how the rate of reinforcement maintains engagement I am not sure where I would be today. I do know one thing, I would still be involved in dogs.

Here is what I would like you to take away from my courses.  Learn how to get your dog to be interested in you, learn how to put that interest on cue, and then learn how to maintain that interest. When you can do that, you and your dog will have a cool relationship. Once you have that kind of relationship, you are going to find out that training becomes fun for you and your dog.

Just keep this in mind. Learning to train dogs is a process. The world is filled with old-wives-trained and inexperienced people who want to give you advice on how to train your dog. Don't buy into any of it. Just smile and say Thank You.

When you get frustrated, and you will, put your dog away and think about what just happened. Think about the mistakes you made, not the mistakes your dog made. When I started to get really serious about dog training I made the mistake of thinking it was always the dog. I thought I just needed to find that perfect dog to train. My wife (Cindy) is one of the best dog trainers I know. Over the years of watching her train her dogs, not just for dog sports, but to enjoy live with  I realized that every dog can reach some form of perfection. It just takes time and the love of being with your dog.

You can do these things, if I can do them you can do them. I believe you can become a damn good dog trainer.