About Michael Ellis

By Ed Frawley  |  Last modified: April 12, 2022

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I admire and respect Michael Ellis as a person, a teacher, a mentor, a dog trainer, and a decoy. I consider Michael a friend. In my opinion, he is the best sport dog trainer/instructor in the world. It's one thing to train dogs and quite another to train people how to train dogs.

Michael is never arrogant, vain, rude, or forceful. He is a humble, patient, kind, thoughtful teacher who can communicate and invoke trust in just about everyone (and every dog) that he meets. It's a very refreshing trait that is seldom seen in people who give training seminars.

In 2008, Michael and Leerburg started to do training DVDs together.

Michael is an internationally renowned dog trainer and teacher with nearly forty years of experience in competitive dog sports and companion dog training. Michael started his career as a teacher of dog trainers in 1996, when he began giving seminars and clinics to training clubs and organizations around the world. Over the next thirteen years he taught extensively to a very diverse group of professionals and hobbyists, from competitive sport trainers, police departments, and the US military, to search and rescue groups, service dog agencies, and pet dog trainers.

During this period Michael taught over three hundred seminars in the US, Canada, and South America, that comprises more than one thousand days of lecture and practical work, not to mention many hours of private training and coaching. Michael's clear, concise, and patient style made him one of the most popular coaches of trainers in the country, and he did much to popularize the use of reward based techniques in the world of protection sports.

In 2008, Michael started collaboration with Leerburg Enterprises and Ed Frawley to produce training videos and online classes. These resources have helped the growth of many thousands of trainers and aspiring trainers around the world.

In addition to teaching, Michael has competed in, and done decoy/helper work, for multiple club and national level events in both IPO(IGP) and the ring sports (Mondioring and French ring). He was one of the first Mondioring decoys certified in the US, and one of the first members of USMRA. He has coached national champions in several disciplines, and many national and international competitors, but he is perhaps most proud of the now thousands of club level and beginning trainers that he has helped to improve their communication, knowledge, and physical skills.

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About Author

Ed Frawley

Ed Frawley is the founder and owner of Leerburg.com and has been producing professional dog training videos since 1982. Over the years, he has collaborated with some of the most respected dog trainers in the country. His body of work includes 194 full-length training DVDs and 95 comprehensive online courses. In addition to these, he has produced and published over 4,000 short training videos available free of charge on Leerburg.com and across the company's social media platforms.

Ed and his wife, Cindy—also a professional dog trainer—bred working-line German Shepherds and Belgian Malinois for more than 35 years. Although they retired from breeding in 2009, they had produced over 300 litters by that time.

Ed also served as a K9 handler for the local sheriff's department for 10 years, working in partnership with the West Central Drug Task Force. During his time in law enforcement, he handled multiple narcotics and patrol dogs and conducted more than 1,000 K9 searches. If you want to learn more about Ed, read about his history here.

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