Leerburg / Dog Training Articles / Leerburg Articles / The Story of Leerburg

The Story of Leerburg

By Leerburg

URL Copied!

In this video, Ed Frawley talks about how he got started in dog training, how and why he started videotaping dog training, how that led to the creation of Leerburg, and the experiences he's had along the way.

The video is over 2 hours long, but we have broken it down into chapters. If you are logged in, you can view the chapters here. Doing so will allow you to stop viewing the video at any time and pick up where you left off on any other device.

From the very beginning, Leerburg has built a reputation by providing quality products and the best training information available. Our customers are dog trainers that insist on quality products that work and last. We have built our business based on a policy of only selling quality products that we use with our own dogs. Rather than trying to compete with the big box retail stores or the pet food warehouses of the world, we chose to fill that niche. The training material that we put out in our DVDs, streaming videos, and online courses has been developed by some of the best trainers in the world and is based on countless years of experience.

Leerburg Enterprises, Inc. is a family-owned business that was started in 1980 by Ed Frawley, who has owned and trained dogs since 1960. Ed purchased his first video camera in 1978 for personal use and began producing training videos in 1982. He also began breeding dogs in 1978 and bred working bloodline German Shepherds for 35 years. Ed retired from breeding a few years ago in order to devote more time to Leerburg.

During the 1980s, Ed competed in AKC obedience, tracking competitions, and Schutzhund where he titled a number of dogs. In the late 80s, he started training police service dogs, and in the 90s, Ed was a K9 handler for the local Sheriff's Department, during which time he also worked as a K9 handler with a regional multi-department drug task force.

In the early 2000s, Cindy Rhodes joined the Leerburg team. Cindy began training dogs when she was 13 and has bred Dobermans and Malinois under the kennel name Kaiserhaus since the late 80s. She has competed in AKC & CKC obedience and Schutzhund (IPO). In 1990, she competed in the USA Schutzhund III Nationals with a Doberman female she raised from a puppy. Her sports of choice now are Mondioring and Agility. Cindy was also a professional dog groomer for 15 years and has raised and trained dogs of many different breeds. This experience has given Cindy a wealth of information on training and managing dogs of all breeds. If you have never utilized the Ask Cindy section of our website, we at Leerburg highly recommend taking advantage of this free service.

After serving 8 years in the United States army as a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne, Jeff Frawley came home to work for the family business. The skills that Jeff learned leading soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan allowed him to easily transition into the role as Vice President here at Leerburg. Jeff grew up at Leerburg and has lived with dogs his entire life. When Jeff was 8 years old, his first “job” was at Leerburg for $1 per hour as chief socializer of puppies (although Jeff swears it was only $0.50 per hour). When he was 10, he began helping Ed in the kennel, and by the time he was 14, he had helped deliver more litters of German Shepherd puppies than we can remember. During his high school years, Jeff also went with Ed as a cameraman and filmed a number of training seminars and dog shows.

In 1994, Ed took Leerburg online. Leerburg.com was one of the very first dog-related websites and has since grown to become one of the largest dog training websites. Throughout the years, Leerburg has continued to produce over 950 dog training videos, including 800 free streaming videos; all of which are available on Leerburg's Video on Demand. The website also has a free training forum with nearly 20,000 registered members and over 380,000 posts.

One of our goals has always been to stay ahead of the times, which is why recently, we launched Leerburg Online University. For a multitude of reasons, we feel that online training is the future. Through interactive features such as livestream chats and student video uploads, we are able to put the best dog trainers in the world directly into your living room or backyard. Just as important is the ability for students to absorb the information through a series of organized short videos, rather than watching a 3-hour DVD. Students are now able to watch the course material, practice at home, upload a short video of their progress directly from their smartphones, and receive feedback through the discussion forums and live chats.

Being a small family-owned business, we feel that quality products and information combined with the best customer service in the industry are the most important things we can focus on. The equipment we sell is designed by and used by professional dog trainers who are out there in the field, training dogs every day. Whether you are competing in high-level sport work, police K9 training, or you simply want a well-mannered member of your family, we can help provide the toolset necessary to achieve your training goals.

Shop Training Supplies

Enroll in Training Courses

About Author

Leerburg

Established in 1982, Leerburg is a family-owned business that first started as a video production company. It has since expanded and now curates quality dog training equipment, online streaming services, and online courses led by expert trainers like Michael Ellis. Leerburg caters to trainers from all walks of life, whether they are a beginner with a new puppy to an advanced dog trainer competing in protection sports. Learn more about Leerburg here.