Every lesson, in the order you will meet it

Handler tracks are yours once and for all. Dog tracks are tracked separately for each dog you train.

The programme

Tracks
7
Modules
27
Lessons
120
Reading time
31 hr 12 min
You are seeing the full outline, not the lessons. Lesson content, the training journal, progress tracking and completion records open with enrollment. See enrollment.
Handler track 16 lessons 3 hr 56 min reading

Handler Foundations

How dogs actually learn, how to read the dog in front of you, and the mechanical skills that make every later lesson work. Most training failures trace back to something in this track.

    1. 01 Reinforcement and Punishment, Honestly 18 min
    2. 02 Marker Words and Why Timing Beats Everything 16 min
    3. 03 Food, Toys, Praise: Finding What Your Dog Works For 15 min
    4. 04 Thresholds, Arousal and the Point of No Return 17 min
    1. 01 Reading Canine Body Language 20 min
    2. 02 Stress Signals and Calming Behaviours 16 min
    3. 03 Telling Fear Apart From Defiance 14 min
    4. 04 The Warning Ladder and Why You Never Punish a Growl 15 min
    1. 01 Structuring a Five-Minute Session 13 min
    2. 02 Leash Handling and Your Own Body 18 min
    3. 03 Reward Delivery, Placement and Rate 14 min
    4. 04 Ending a Session Before It Goes Wrong 11 min
    5. 05 Keeping Records That Tell You Something 10 min
    1. 01 Why the Whole Household Has To Agree 12 min
    2. 02 Plateaus, Regression and Adolescence 15 min
    3. 03 When To Bring In a Professional 12 min
Handler track 16 lessons 4 hr 11 min reading

Preparing for a Puppy

Home, yard, routine, supplies, veterinary plan and emergency readiness — set up before the puppy arrives, not improvised around it.

    1. 01 Puppy-Proofing Room by Room 16 min
    2. 02 Fencing, Gates and Keeping Wildlife Out 18 min
    3. 03 Water, Feeding Station and Well-Water Considerations 14 min
    4. 04 Deciding Where the Puppy Sleeps 12 min
    1. 01 Choosing a Crate, Bedding and Ex-Pen 13 min
    2. 02 Collars, Leashes, Harnesses and Long Lines 15 min
    3. 03 Toys and Chews: Safe, Useful, and the Ones To Avoid 12 min
    4. 04 Building a Canine First-Aid Kit 14 min
    1. 01 What, How Much and How Often To Feed 18 min
    2. 02 How Much Sleep a Puppy Needs and Enforcing It 13 min
    3. 03 A House-Training Plan That Works 20 min
    4. 04 Crate Training: The Case For It and How To Do It Well 18 min
    1. 01 Choosing a Veterinarian and an Emergency Hospital 14 min
    2. 02 Vaccination and Parasite Schedule 17 min
    3. 03 When To Call, When To Go, When To Wait 15 min
    4. 04 Puppy First Aid: The Essentials 22 min
Handler track 12 lessons 3 hr 8 min reading

Choosing Your Puppy

Breed and line, temperament, health clearances, age, sex, breeder evaluation — and the honest case for an adult dog instead.

    1. 01 German Shepherd, Dutch Shepherd, Malinois: Honest Differences 20 min
    2. 02 Working Lines vs Show Lines 16 min
    3. 03 Matching the Dog To Your Actual Life 15 min
    4. 04 When an Adult or Rescue Is the Better Choice 14 min
    1. 01 Finding and Vetting a Breeder 18 min
    2. 02 Health Clearances and What They Do Not Cover 16 min
    3. 03 Temperament Testing a Puppy 19 min
    4. 04 Red Flags: Breeders, Litters and Contracts 15 min
    1. 01 The Right Age To Bring a Puppy Home 13 min
    2. 02 Male or Female: What Actually Differs 12 min
    3. 03 Spay and Neuter Timing in a Working Breed 16 min
    4. 04 Adding a Second Dog: Timing and Pitfalls 14 min
Dog track 17 lessons 4 hr 16 min reading

Arrival and Bonding

The first night, the first week, introductions to people and animals, the socialisation window, and building engagement before you ask for obedience.

    1. 01 The Ride Home and the First Hour 12 min
    2. 02 Surviving and Structuring the First Night 15 min
    3. 03 First Meals and Settling the Stomach 11 min
    4. 04 Introducing the Name and the Marker 13 min
    1. 01 A Realistic Week-One Schedule 14 min
    2. 02 House Training in Practice 18 min
    3. 03 Conditioning the Crate as a Good Place 16 min
    4. 04 Handling, Grooming and Cooperative Care 17 min
    1. 01 Introducing Adults and Setting House Rules 12 min
    2. 02 Children and Dogs: Supervision That Actually Works 18 min
    3. 03 Introducing a Resident Dog 17 min
    4. 04 Cats, Small Animals and Prey Drive 16 min
    5. 05 Livestock and Poultry on a Rural Property 14 min
    1. 01 The Socialisation Window and What It Really Means 16 min
    2. 02 Quality Over Quantity: Good and Bad Socialisation 15 min
    3. 03 Building Engagement and Play 18 min
    4. 04 Confidence, Surfaces and Novelty 14 min
Dog track 23 lessons 5 hr 54 min reading

Core Obedience

The foundation skills in the order they build. Each lesson teaches one skill, then proofs it against distraction, distance and duration before the next begins.

    1. 01 Name Response 12 min
    2. 02 Charging the Marker 11 min
    3. 03 Attention and Sustained Focus 14 min
    4. 04 Luring, Shaping and Fading the Lure 16 min
    1. 01 Sit 14 min
    2. 02 Down 14 min
    3. 03 Stand 12 min
    4. 04 Place and Settle 16 min
    5. 05 Duration, the Release Word and Implied Stay 15 min
    1. 01 Recall: Building It Right the First Time 20 min
    2. 02 Recall Under Distraction 18 min
    3. 03 Loose-Leash Walking 19 min
    4. 04 Heel Position and Movement 18 min
    5. 05 Long-Line Freedom and Boundaries 15 min
    1. 01 Leave It 15 min
    2. 02 Drop It and Out 14 min
    3. 03 Wait at Doors, Gates and Vehicles 13 min
    4. 04 Food Manners and Resource Guarding Prevention 18 min
    5. 05 Greeting People Without Jumping 14 min
    1. 01 Distance, Duration, Distraction 16 min
    2. 02 Generalising To New Places 15 min
    3. 03 The Canine Good Citizen Standard 18 min
    4. 04 Adolescence: When It All Falls Apart 17 min
Dog track 16 lessons 4 hr 39 min reading

Advanced and Applied Work

Scent work, tracking, searching, directed work and the task training behind legitimate service dogs — built on a proofed obedience foundation.

    1. 01 How Scent Works and How Dogs Use It 16 min
    2. 02 Imprinting a Target Odour 18 min
    3. 03 Building a Clear Indication 17 min
    4. 04 Search Patterns and Handler Discipline 16 min
    1. 01 Laying and Running a First Track 20 min
    2. 02 Track Age, Terrain and Weather 18 min
    3. 03 Corners, Articles and Article Indication 17 min
    4. 04 Trailing vs Tracking: Choosing an Approach 14 min
    1. 01 Article Search in a Defined Area 16 min
    2. 02 Open-Area Search 18 min
    3. 03 Building and Vehicle Search 17 min
    4. 04 Directed Search and Handler Signals 16 min
    1. 01 What a Service Dog Legally Is 18 min
    2. 02 The Public Access Standard 20 min
    3. 03 Training a Task: Retrieve, Brace, Alert 22 min
    4. 04 Owner-Training: An Honest Assessment 16 min
Handler track 20 lessons 5 hr 8 min reading

Health, First Aid and Local Hazards

Recognising illness, canine first aid, and the specific hazards of a rural Central Valley property — heat, wildlife, water and everything they carry.

    1. 01 Assessing an Emergency: Vitals and Triage 16 min
    2. 02 Bleeding, Wounds and Bandaging 15 min
    3. 03 Choking, Rescue Breathing and CPR 18 min
    4. 04 Bloat and GDV: The One You Cannot Wait On 14 min
    5. 05 Heatstroke and Cooling 15 min
    6. 06 Seizures, Collapse and Shock 14 min
    7. 07 Poisoning and Common Household Toxins 16 min
    8. 08 Moving and Transporting an Injured Dog 12 min
    1. 01 Knowing Your Dog's Baseline 12 min
    2. 02 Vomiting, Diarrhoea and Dehydration 15 min
    3. 03 Lameness, Pain and Orthopaedic Signs 16 min
    4. 04 Skin, Ears and Eyes 14 min
    5. 05 Risks Common in Working Shepherd Breeds 18 min
    1. 01 Valley Heat, Hydration and Working in Summer 17 min
    2. 02 Well Water: Testing, Risks and Safe Practice 16 min
    3. 03 Coyotes and Wildlife on the Property 18 min
    4. 04 Disease Carried by Wildlife and Standing Water 19 min
    5. 05 Foxtails, Burrs and Toxic Plants 15 min
    6. 06 Rattlesnakes, Spiders and Stings 16 min
    7. 07 Smoke, Dust and Air Quality Days 12 min

Ready to start?

Enrollment opens every lesson above, plus per-dog progress, the training journal and completion records.