Well. Brief history since I haven't been on this forum in awhile, talking.

Found two puppies in front of my house way back in August. (They had been dumped...I live in the wilderness.)

Didn't know much about raising a puppy, having only done it once before and now, I had two. So I started looking around. I found this site and read until my eyes bled.

Ordered three different DVDs from the site and still, to this day, go back and refer to them quite often.

Since then, I have gone to other dog forums and have come to realize a few things.

Often times, I'll be reading about how people train their dogs, on those sites, and how they are so adamantly against this, that or the other thing. Sometimes I'll jump in to the conversation and tell them that maybe they could try, "this", (something I learned from Leerburg). I get told, "That is not the right way, why would you do that?"

Many times the conversations are about recall and I've done pretty much everything the Leerburg way and I can tell you, my dogs listen. Not 100% yet, they are just approaching a year old and I still have work to do but 95-98% of the time, they are back by my side, sitting at my feet, just like I asked of them.

The most difficult part for me was that initial, "no distraction" phase where you take them out, there is no conversation, there is just taking them out and you doing what you do, (this is on leash, of course), and the dog will eventually learn that the quiet leader is the leader to follow.

I'm so paraphrasing here but it's in one of the DVDs I purchased.

It's never quiet here. There is always someone out and about and they typically are loud about it as well. Because of where I live, I'm rather restricted to where I can find a place to take them....but we continue to work and I am most certainly seeing results.

But what I am hearing and seeing on those other sites, my first thought is, "Your dog doesn't respect you" and that seems to be what Leerburg was trying to teach in some of those DVDs I got.

If your dog respects you, your dog will do what you ask because it WANTS to.

But, again, when I share how I've done things in training, I am told it is wrong, it is totally wrong and who the heck am I listening to. To be honest I have not mentioned Leerburg simply because at one time, there was a thread on one forum about training and one know it all trainer stated, (I was just reading, not involved in the conversation), that Leerburg was full of it.

Really, I thought. Really? Because when I've tried methods their way, I don't get results. When I go back and do it the Leerburg way, I get results. Hmmm.

Just recently someone was talking about their dogs with high prey drive, taking off, not listening, they had to climb over mountains and trek miles to retrieve their dog and again, my first thought was, "Your dog doesn't respect you" but hey, they all think Leerburg is wrong.

I've never had to trek miles to get my dogs. The worst they have done in that 2% of the time they don't listen is when they have decided that they want to continue running around in circles and not come back to me.

They don't run off, even if they are chasing something, they might start a chase, I call them back and they do give up the chase.

But Leerburg is wrong. Ok.

Many of them do not agree that the human is the leader. Many of them believe that dogs will form their pack and work on which is dominant and that the people have no place in that pack and the word, "leader" is like a curse word.

Who do they expect to lead their dogs then?

They often talk about dogs tearing around the house and basically having terrible manners in the house and I think again, "Your dog doesn't respect you" but I've done things the Leerburg way, letting my dogs know, "Inside the house, this is the expected behavior" but Leerburg is wrong, according to them.

My dogs do not jump up and put their paws on the counter, they don't block the doorway, they don't tear my couch apart, they don't shove their nose in the fridge when I open it, etc. as I have seen written.

But Leerburg is wrong. Ok.

I have agreed with the idea that my dogs are not show dogs therefore I don't care if they heel just as long as they aren't pulling me down the street. But I'm told that is wrong.

Interesting. Meanwhile, I hear about their dogs going crazy on leash and all the work they have to do to get their dogs to walk right next to them and how it takes them a half an hour to go 100 feet because their dog is a foot in front of them or behind them.

I have one dog who walks behind me or next to me, her choice, and one dog who walks in front of me but is not lunging at the end of his leash, acting a fool. But that's wrong, too, they say.

I used Leerburg training when house training them. Stand like a tree, don't make eye contact, don't talk to them, etc. Certain amount of time goes by, they don't go, you walk them inside, put them in the crate, wait a bit, take them out, try again while you stand like a tree.

We even have a designated place where they go because I choose where they go, not them.

But that is wrong. In fact, one person actually laughed at me and told me a designated spot to use the bathroom was impossible.

Except, my dogs are doing just that, because I did it the Leerburg way. Leerburg apparently teaches the impossible.

I've been told crates are cruel. Which is laughable.

I've been told I'm wrong for saying dogs should be restrained in the car for their safety and yours. "You should never restrain a dog!!" Really.

I've used the methods on walks to help with distractions I know are coming, (and there are plenty here to practice with), and I've been told that method is wrong. Except, it works.

Every single thing I have tried their way, it doesn't work. And I have given those methods good, honest attempts. They don't work.

Every thing I have done the Leerburg way has worked. Usually, it works pretty quickly, too.

I have decided, after reading yet another story about dogs taking off and not listening, (because, see, there is no such thing as 100% recall, they say), that these people don't have a clue what they are talking about.

So, they think Leerburg is wrong and "brutal", (yes, someone used the word "brutal" and had other choice words about Leerburg), but Leerburg is the one who gets it right.

All the training I've used, NONE of it has been brutal but ALL of it has produced results, and, like I said, in a rather short period of time.

So, those people can say what they want but I know that when I tell my dog to sit, he and she will sit. When I tell them to stay, he and she will stay. When I call them back, like I said, 98% of the time they come barreling over, slam on the brakes and sit at my feet, looking up at me.

I can walk in circles, with my girl off leash and she will spend the entire time just behind my left heel, staring up at me.

Their dogs take off over hill and dale, repeatedly, and it's major drama to get them to come back and it's usually only when the owner catches up and takes them by the collar. It's blamed on high prey drive.

My dogs have a pretty high prey drive, the boy more so but if I call him, he comes back.

Because, ya know, Leerburg is "brutal" and "wrong".

The fact of the matter is, they have not learned the most basic thing and that is, you need your dog to respect you. Without it, you really don't have much. So they continue to train and work and chase and cry and train and work and chase and cry all the while talking about other dog trainers, Leerburg included, being "brutal" and "wrong".

Meanwhile, my dogs behave in the house well, they sit when meeting people, the recall is at a high percent and they do not run off through the wilderness, they listen, they focus, they pay attention.

Do we still have training to do? Of course. Everything in time, can't do it all in one day but doing it the Leerburg way, in the 8 months I've had them has produced much higher success rate and a "way of being" compared to "constant non stop training for the same exact issue over and over again" for the 2, 3, 4, 5 years they've had their dogs.

So, this is all to say, thank you to Leerburg for knowing what you're talking about, helping me train my dogs, having training that works and produces results to the point that I look like a freakin' professional, teaching me that the first thing is earning the dogs respect, first and foremost and that things pretty much fall in to place after that.

Thank you for the DVDs, thank you for explaining things even if sometimes I hear some of the same things on one DVD as I do on another, (apparently those things are needed and while seem like common sense, I've learned I guess they aren't to all), thank you for helping me have dogs who respect, dogs who want to do for me, dogs who listen and dogs who behave beautifully. Most of all, thank you for being consistent so that it is not confusing to me or my dogs.

I think I'll stick around here.