Aggressive Dog Training Santa Monica | Dog Trainer Los Angeles | Dominant Dogs

We had a 2-hour consultation with Leonard for our 6-year old black lab mix and it was such an enlightening experience. Our dog Ella has had some behavior issues, and within 20 minutes of being with Leonard, she became a different dog. Leonard is truly a dog whisperer and understands them at a much deeper level than I ever thought was possible. He really delved into the psychology of our dog and why she behaves the way she does and helped us understand what we can be doing to help correct for her issues. We are really excited to try out some of the techniques Leonard taught us!

We had a great experience having Leonard train our dog. We have an eighteen month old German Shepherd/Corgi mix (yep, you read that right!) and he was a total nightmare to live with. Very stubborn and bullheaded. He thought that we were living in HIS house instead of the other way around. The older he got, the more aggressive tendencies he was showing. If we tried to take something from him ( a toy, shoe, remote control) he would get aggressive and nasty. If we wanted him to come in, or go outside, he would get aggressive and nasty. It was turning into a real issue and then we found Leonard. Within the first 30 minutes, our dog literally acted better than he ever had - it was truly amazing to see. We decided to go ahead with the 3 week training and when we got him back, he was a very well behaved dog who was still very playful and goofy, but listened when he was told to drop something, moved when we asked him to, everything was improved with his behavior. It's still a work in progress, mostly for me, not the dog - it's definitely necessary to be consistent with the techniques that were taught, but it is awesome! After we brought him back home, Leonard came over to our house and spent more than two hours teaching us how to properly do the commands and stayed until we were comfortable with everything. I definitely recommend Leonard and Dominant Dogs as a trainer - you will have a great experience!

My 1.5-year-old lab/greyhound mix Jack was afraid of pretty much everything. A skittish, watchful temperament, paired with a rough start in life (rescued on the streets of Tijuana after getting hit by a car) and his large size made him prone to completely uncontrollable meltdowns both in and out of our home. On walks this meant shoulder-wrenching lunges and desperate attempts to run away if he heard a loud sound, and at home this meant growling and vicious barking at anybody that came near the house, and hostility towards my guests that resulted in a couple non-serious but scary bites. After searching Yelp, I gave Leonard a call. He very generously spent about a half an hour on the phone with me, getting a sense of my dogs and my life, and I was confident enough in his approach that we scheduled an in-person evaluation and training session. He let me bring both of our dogs to the evaluation (an exception to the usual one-dog rule) so that he could see how they interacted, and almost from the moment that we arrived, he started going to work...on me. That was a legitimate surprise! He asked me a million questions about my life, my relationship, and my mindset, pausing along the way to draw my attention to the effect my changes in emotion were having on the dogs. Other reviewers have noted the fact that Leonard is incredibly direct and unvarnished - brutally honest at times - which can be jarring at first. Get past your defensiveness and stick with him... he knows what he's doing, and his approach gets results. I knew it would take somebody like Leonard to be able to work on Jack's fear, so I decided to make the investment in the three-week boot camp. I had to wait a few weeks before Leonard could take Jack for boot camp, but he gave me some techniques to implement at home in the mean time to help shift the energy and keep things under control. When I dropped Jack off, we spent a couple hours working with him and away he went! While Jack was gone, Leonard gave me lots of updates on his progress, sending pictures and video as well. Leonard said we were waiting for "the lightbulb to go off" in Jack's mind, and once it did, the work would pretty much be done. It made intuitive sense to me, and when I went to go visit him at the two week mark, I was pretty amazed at his progress. We walked Jack around a busy parkway full of noise and people in Santa Monica - the kind of place I would have avoided at all costs with Jack before. Jack's obedience was amazing (walking by my side, checking in with me), and although we'd never correct or punish his fearfulness, his brand new e-collar made it possible to control the bad behavior that the fear triggered (lunging, pulling, growling). I left the session feeling truly hopeful about his progress, and the kind of life we could live if Jack's behavior was under control. When I picked him up a week later, and spent another couple hours working with him, Jack was even better than before. The fear still flared at times, but it took a lot more to rattle him, and the complete meltdowns had suddenly become manageable and correct-able. Jack seemed so much happier and more relaxed than we've ever seen him - much more responsive and attuned to us, and less reactive to every little thing . Jack's been home for about two weeks, and things are going so well! He was a complete angel for the first week back, and when he started testing limits and boundaries in the second week, we were prepared to address it. He has his moments and his slip-ups but we're following all of Leonard's recommendations, and working to cement and build upon his progress. Leonard has been so good about checking in, and has made himself so available when questions arise. Leonard has helped Jack live a happier, more relaxed life, and has helped us completely reframe our relationship to our dogs. If you're feeling overwhelmed, hopeless, or lost with your dog, give Leonard a call!

I have a 2-year-old rescue dog (a black lab mix) named Koda with aggressive behavioral issues towards people and other dogs. I’ve been to three different trainers in the year that I’ve had her, and none had made any impact on her aggression. I was feeling confused and frustrated because these trainers had all promised results through positive reinforcement training, but none of the techniques they taught me were helping at all. And none of the trainers could clearly explain why she was exhibiting aggressive behaviors in the first place. I live in San Diego, but when I found Leonard’s website and watched some of his videos, I knew I had to set up a session with him. I was desperate to find a trainer that was able to show results and Leonard did not disappoint! He was immediately able to explain the why behind her behaviors and body language, and how my body language was encouraging and enabling her bad behaviors. He showed me the subtle ways I need to be communicating with her through my body language, and how to get her to respect me. I hadn’t realized until meeting with Leonard how much I was accommodating her and allowing her to be the dominant one in our relationship. Leonard showed me how to adjust my behavior so that she will respect me and know that I am in control of our surroundings, so she doesn’t need to be on high alert and protective of me. Within 20 minutes, Leonard was already able to have her walking down the sidewalk with another dog walking by, without her reacting. Previously, she would always go berserk when another dog approached on a leash, lunging and barking. And the fear of that happening was controlling my life and the places I felt like I could take her. Through one training session, Leonard has already changed my life in that I now don’t fear taking her on walks anymore. I will be bringing Koda to Leonard for boot camp, because I know after one session with Leonard that I can trust him completely with her training. And I look forward to learning much more from him!