I love finding clear dog training information that is suitable for both adults and children and that uses pain-free methods. The economical Train Your Dog DVD: The Positive, Gentle Method, succeeds admirably in about 90 minutes.

It covers a lot, and it is easy to use and learn from. You can watch a short lesson once or twice, try it yourself at home, and go back to pick up any pointers you missed before you actually tried the methods out with your puppy or dog. With the menu system, it’s easy to go back and find any particular topic.

The DVD demonstrates with both puppies and dogs, of many breeds and mixed breeds. Mostly they have not been trained to do the exercises before. Sometimes that’s hard to believe, as they often learn quickly. That’s what dog training really can be like, when you know what you are doing as dog trainers Nicole Wilde and Laura Bourhenne obviously do!

What is in the program? It starts with the basics:

Sit, Down, Stay, Come, Heel.

Then it moves on to some other extremely useful things to teach a puppy or adult dog:

Leave It, Give, Wait, Gentle, Touch, Go To Bed.

Further sections cover

Housetraining, Potty Training, Door Behavior, Crate Training, Ring Bell, Nipping, Jumping Up, & more.

The bonus section includes:

Training, Play Toys, Training Treats, Leadership, Car Safety, Rewards & Consequences, A Day at the Park.

As I watched each section, I was evaluating it for how well it explained what you need to know. I was consistently impressed and I even picked up some tips that I hadn’t known… a bit to my surprise! Many dog owners — both adults and kids — have sung the praises of this excellent program.

As a former librarian in public libraries, I would recommend this to libraries as well as to people, for a top choice for mastering the essentials of dog training.

Who is This For?

Keep in mind that this is a program for beginning dog training, not a compendium of esoteric fine points. Train Your Dog is chiefly for beginners of any age. It would make an excellent gift to a person or a family who is getting a puppy or dog.

Tips for Learning Dog Training from a DVD

How can you best learn to train your dog from this DVD? Here is a suggested approach, which of course you can adapt to your needs.

1. Sit down and watch the whole program in one or two sittings. It’s about an hour and a half. Warning: if you do this at bedtime, you might be so enthused that you’d be up training your dog at midnight!
2. Go to the first section that you want to do with your dog. It will just be a few minutes long. Watch it once or twice, until you have a good sense of what to do.
3. Practice training your dog on that topic. It may go great, or you may discover some questions.
4. In either case, then watch that segment again. You may well pick up some tips. For example, the section on how to stop a dog from pulling on leash has all the essential points there, but they go by fast enough that you could miss some.
5. Keep training! The dog learns by repetition, and you learn how to teach by repetition too.

How does watching this DVD compare with taking a dog or puppy training class? Ideally, you would do both, because in a class your dog learns a lot about being around other dogs. If you find a good trainer who uses positive, gentle methods as the DVD does, it’s well worth the trouble. But you can do it all with this DVD, if you don’t find a great class or it doesn’t fit your schedule.

About the Dog Trainers

Nicole Wilde is a Certified Pet Dog Trainer, a member of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers, a popular workshop speaker, and the author of several books on dog training.

Laura Bourhenne runs a dog training company handling all aspects of dog behavior. Laura is a member of the Association of Professional Dog Trainers, and she earned a degree in Exotic Animal Training, including clicker training.

In short…

The publisher’s blurb for Train Your Dog says, “This DVD makes dog training easy.” I was skeptical when I read that, but after watching the program, I have to say it’s true!

Click on the image below to find out more about this award-winning program at Amazon: