Doggy Dan The Online Dog Trainer – Dog training can be a long drawn out process.

Enrolling your dog in a local training course usually take more than 12 consecutive weeks. Many of us don’t have the time or energy to commit to go home after work to take your dog and then going to those classes.

If you belong to this group like me, an online dog training course may be the answer. I browsed the internet and found this Doggy Dan Online Dog Training as the number one search result.

It was already very popular and had a lot of positive reviews. However, there were quite a number of reviewers who were skeptical of Doggy Dan’s ‘alpha training’ philosophy.

I have bought Doggy Dan Online Dog Training and analyzed it based on my personal research as well. I even contacted their customer support to get their clarification about these doubts.

I will share with you their answer and the result of my analysis in this review so be sure to read on.

Doggy Dan Online Dog Training Member Area

What is Doggy Dan Online Dog Training?

Doggy Dan Online Dog Training program covers everything you need to get your dogs to behave properly, from something as simple as toilet training to aggression and/or fear to people, other dogs, and/or objects.

It comes as an ebook, an audiobook, and videos that you can watch even from your mobile phone. This course is amazing for those who are time short. You can use any spare minute during commute or standing in the line at the supermarket to improve your knowledge.

Doggy Dan Online Dog Training Mobile App

The program constantly references to Doggy Dan’s 5 Golden Rules for dog training, which is based on on the idea of a wolf pack. It’s also called ‘alpha training’ or ‘dog whispering'.

Dan doesn’t use shock collars in his training, just verbal commands. This method is a more modern approach rather than the carrot/stick style of many other programs.*

When you enter the member’s area you are directed to a section on how to become the ‘pack leader’ in your dog’s life.

More on this at the next sections…

Doggy Dan Training philosophy

First of all, I’d like to mention that Doggy Dan Online Dog Training is fully endorsed by the Royal New Zealand SPCA – the country’s oldest and largest animal welfare charity.

In order to apply the alpha training, you have to be the ‘pack leader’. He/she is the individual the dogs have respect on record.

The basic idea behind ‘pack training’ is to constantly remind your dog that you are a higher ranking member of the pack.

The principle is that of not forcing them while teaching, but making them understand that they are cared for. Love and care are what they yearn for and attention from the master will make it even better.

Only when your dog understands this you can train them efficiently.

Doggy Dan is what you call a balanced trainer.  It’s a mixture of correction-style training with aspects of positive, no-force methods.*

The 5 Golden Rules

The 5 Golden Rules are the basis of ‘alpha training’. These are the rules that you need to stick to in order to maintain your status as the ‘pack leader’.

Due to the terms and conditions, I may not reveal the detailed information here. Here’s a glimpse of what the rules are called and why they’re important:

1. Body language: This is the solution for hyperactivity, aggression, jumping (on people and furniture too), not responding, anxiety etc. It mainly comprises of command and rewards training and is very useful for older dogs.

2. No force technique: This clearly states that you should not push your furry friend into anything. You must remain in control, but force should not be used to impose your alpha male character. Dogs are very intelligent and they know who is in control.

3. Puppy training: This is what Dan calls Project Moses, which is a part of training an eight weeks old pup from scratch. He has recorded all that for us to take lessons. The videos have it all, potty training, leash training and ultimate move from a crate to a bed.

4. Eating: It specifies that you must eat first and let your friend watch you. This way you will ensure that they clearly respect the pack order. The higher positioned wolves eat first, followed by the rest.

5. Understand: You must try to comprehend what your friend wants to tell you. Being a dog parent is no different than being a parent. Treat them like your baby and everything will fall into place.

Is Alpha Training dangerous?

As some of you may have encountered, I also happened to come across the issue of how ‘alpha training’ may be a myth. Some even claimed it to be dangerous.

I have done my own research and found this source from Time.com to be the most sensical, also coming from a credible source.

“As it turns out, this research was based on a faulty premise: wolves in the wild, says L. David Mech, founder of the Minnesota-based International Wolf Center, actually live in nuclear families, not randomly assembled units, in which the mother and father are the pack leaders and their offspring's status is based on birth order. Mech, who used to ascribe to alpha-wolf theory but has reversed course in recent years, says the pack's hierarchy does not involve anyone fighting to the top of the group, because just like in a human family, the youngsters naturally follow their parents' lead.”

Click here for the full article.

If you don’t have the time to read the long explanation below, just take note of the part I highlighted in bold.

And I also emailed Doggy Dan’s Customer Support for clarification, as I was sure that they are well aware of this issue. Turns out I got a reply from Doggy Dan himself:

“Hi there,

I think the best way I can explain how I view the type of leadership role I believe dogs need and indeed that I take with my own dogs and share with other people is to use the analogy of parents and children.

So with my children the role of my wife and I is to protect, guide, look after, love, and generally help them through life. This can often mean stepping in stopping unwanted behaviours, redirecting, guiding, taking control of the situation, and showing them what is acceptable and what is unacceptable behaviour, often through actions rather than words.  

Sometimes a bad behaviour requires a consequence such as a timeout, and sometimes I use positive reinforcement, rewards to motivate good behaviour.  At no time do I use aggression or punish my children physically, and so it is with my dogs.

With both my children and my dogs ultimately my wife and I make the decisions, as my children and my dogs are often pushing the boundaries to the nth degree! With both my children and my dogs my wife and I have to lay down the rules and ultimately we make the decisions otherwise chaos would rule.

As a parent of two young children and four dogs who share a house with a cat  and a bunch of chickens, I know the importance of ultimately being the one in control and that's how it works. For me there is very little difference when it comes to training my dogs and my kids, I love them all so much and I don't use physical force. However just like with my children were constantly trying to get their way (whether it's with iPads or eating sweets or manipulating what time they want to go to bed, or whether they have to go to school etc…the list goes on and on!), so are the dogs!

And when it comes to working with dogs or kids you do need to be the leader or parent or guardian or decision-maker or call it whatever you want. The bottom line is training just with food treats is not enough in most situations. So the method that I recommend focuses on how to get the dog to actually listen to you and then you can do the training.

The best way to explain the style of dog training that I use is by first describing the two most common methods of training, and then pointing out how they differ.

The first method is the oldest style of training. Where you force the dog to do what you want. It's a win at all costs sort of approach, often referred to as “Yank and Crank”. You ask the dog first and if they do not obey you apply force. Sometimes a yank but it can be many other things such as a water pistol squirt or a growl…the list is endless. Needless to say it is not a nice approach and most dogs and owners have moved away from it.

The second method is basically using treats. This is very common nowadays and unfortunately is little more than bribery! Often a “clicker” is also used, however the method is still just using food to bribe the dog. Long term it invariably fails.

So how is my method different? Well the key to my method, as I've described above, is getting your dog to Choose to obey you. It's based on understanding the dog's mind and using actions which your dog understands to win their mind, and then training the body is simple. So there is no force, fear or aggression required. It works quickly compared to many other methods. You also don’t need to spend hours “training” your dog as they essentially choose to follow you.

Its gentle, calm and powerful. That's why I call this approach the Easy way to an obedient dog.

Hope that helps.

Cheers, Doggy Dan”

From both sources, you can see that they actually agree on the same thing, which is to train your dogs as you would your children as parents.

Here we can conclude that Doggy Dan’s methods – although of the same term – are not so much the ‘dangerous alpha training’ philosophy that has become a controversy.*

What do you get by buying Doggy Dan Training?

There are over 250 videos (with more being added constantly) divided into 6 full courses:

1. THE DOG CALMING CODE

This is the start of your dog-training journey. Before you can teach anything, first you have to be able to calm your dog in any situation to strengthen your relationship.

2. EVERYDAY TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES

Here’s the most exciting part. It contains all the tools and techniques you need to train your dog proper behavior and tricks. Doggy Dan charges a lot to high-paying clients and celebrities to train their dogs using these techniques. You can get it here for a much lower price.

3. PERFECT PUPPY PROGRAM

An entire section devoted to puppy training. It is aimed at those who are brand new to puppy training.

It includes everything you need to know about training a new puppy from scratch, including the introduction to basic command training and dealing with bizarre puppy behavior.

You have to start here before going through the next section, Project Moses.

4. PROJECT MOSES

A video diary about Doggy Dan’s puppy Moses. Starting at an 8-week old puppy coming to his new home to 8-month old.

You can follow his journey from Doggy Dan’s documentation on basic obedience like sit, down, and stay to leash walking, swimming, desensitizing and socializing.

If you’re getting a new puppy, Project Moses will be a great benefit to you.

5. ALL DOG PROBLEMS SOLVED

Many dog owners struggle with adult dogs behavior problems. It is mostly caused by a lack of proper training when they were puppies.

This is especially true for those who adopted adult dogs from shelters. But these behaviors can be fixed.

This section provides quick solutions for dog behavioral issues from the most common to major issues such as fears and phobias.

Doggy Dan gives plenty of science-based training techniques and advice here.

6. DAN’S DOG TRAINING 101

The advanced training section, where you begin to seriously connect with your dog and turn him into a perfect pet.

FREE BONUS #1 – EXCLUSIVE COMMUNITY

The forum adds a lot of value to this program. You can tell that the forum is very active with members posting questions about training problems, with the latest posts within a week ago.

The best thing is that Doggy Dan answers the questions himself. I’ve found a lack of other online training courses where the creator gives time to answer questions the members have.

FREE BONUS #2 – WEEKLY VIDEO UPDATES

The videos are in bite-sized recordings so you won’t get bored.  After each video, there’s a written section highlighting just the important points.

There are also several PDF downloads of useful checklists and other information, which is nice for those who like hard copies.

FREE BONUS #3 – CONSULTATION VIDEOS

• Classic Consult Collection – this bundle contains Dan’s all-time best consultations to give you the skills, knowledge, and confidence to help the dogs and other dog owners.
• Full Consult Stella The Blue Heeler – An almost 3-hour long video about solving Stella’s dominant aggression, barking, lunging and leash pulling to demonstrate the power of The Dog Calming Code.
• Full Consult Maverick & Ruff – Another 2-hour video where Doggy Dan applies the Dog Calming Code in an in-home consultation to solve growling, lunging, and leash pulling.

Doggy Dan Online Dog Trainer Testimonials

Dave van Zwaneberg:

“As a Vet I now have somewhere to point my customers to – a solution to every dog behavior issue. Congrats Doggy Dan on putting together what is undoubtedly the best dog training solution in the world.”*

Ed on November 16, 2018:

“Everything that Dan has shown us has worked successfully with our puppies in his online dog training. They still have a ways to go to become ‘model citizens’ but with Dan’s advice, they’re getting there. Thanks Dan.”*

Robert Moffat:

“We had numerous “expert dog trainers” work with Mitsy, to no avail, so I was skeptical when Doggy Dan’s online training was recommended. But I can truly say that his simple method has won her over, and now I’m a total believer. Absolutely no aggression at all – Doggy Dan you’re the best!”*

Where to buy Doggy Dan Training?

You can start by getting a 3-day trial from his site for just $1 by clicking on the button below.

You can see the whole site, try some techniques and get a feel of the course before committing to any full price subscription which I think is a huge benefit.

Should you decide to stay after the 3-day trial, your subscription moves to a $37 per month subscription which you can cancel anytime. If you cancel before 60 days, there’s a guarantee that you can get a full refund with no question asked.

It might seem costly, yet still much cheaper than getting a professional dog trainer who charges up to $100 per hour.

Who is Doggy Dan?

Doggy Dan’s full name is Dan Abdelnoor. He is a long-time professional dog trainer, behaviorist, animal rights campaigner, and author from New Zealand.

He has 3 dogs and trains other dogs full-time himself, consulting and visiting dog owners in their homes and helping solve their issues.

His videos are made from these consultations so nothing is fabricated.

He’s a personality dogs clearly love to bond with and respect, proving how effective his approach actually is.

The Verdict

You have two options – take an online course or enroll in a local, in-person class.

If you’re into technology and are motivated and determined to train your dog properly, then I suggest you try Doggy Dan Online Dog Training.

Doing it online is much cheaper and you can learn at your own pace without having to make a time commitment for 3-4 months.

However, if you can’t discipline yourself because you don’t immediately lose money by skipping training sessions, you can cancel the subscription and opt for an offline class instead.

I recommend Doggy Dan because I think it’s filled with good information and I like the fact that Doggy Dan is active with his members.  It also deals with a lot of situations other programs do not.

Another thing that set Doggy Dan apart from the rest of other online trainers is he actually deals with the body language of dogs.

You can also use other science-based force-free methods that are scattered throughout the program.

Just remember that taking an online course means that not only your dog who needs to put in the effort but you do too!

Disclaimer

The information, content, and material contained is intended to be of a general nature only and is not intended to constitute professional advice.

Always seek the advice of a professional dog trainer, veterinarian or other qualified professionals in connection with the care, training, and handling of dogs.

Reliance on any information that appears on the site, whether provided by Doggy Dan, or others is solely at your own risk.