Dominant Dogs Santa Monica - Dog Aggression & Separation Anxiety Dog Training Specialist - Santa Monica, California

Benjamin Ellwood

Leonard saved our dog! We got our one year old Cattle dog cross from the pound and after some time aggressive behavior started to show. Defensive of the home, charging at dogs in the street, snapping of her mouth at anything. After just the consultation there was a dramatic shift in her temperament. We then went on to complete four sessions of one and a half hours each where Leonard showed us how to have a right relationship with our dog, calming her disposition and allowing the real obedience training work to begin. We can not thank Leonard enough for his service and will continue to recommend him to friends.

Carissa Ellis

Leonard is the best trainer! This is our second dog we sent to him because of the success we had with our first dog. Both our dogs are very different, so it is a true indicator that Leonard is equip to train all types of dogs. Leonard trained our 7 y/o yorkie to follow commands, walk on a leash, as well as helped with ease his anxiety. Our dog had eye problems and would constantly lick his feet. We had to put socks on our dogs feet to keep him from licking. The vet put our dog on a daily allergy medication. It was expensive and had residual side effects. Through the training, all the health problems went away and he is no longer on the allergy medication. Our dog returned from his 3 week training with Leonard a much happier, well-trained, and relaxed dog.

Noellie Fantino

It took me a minute to write this review because, it takes a minute to fully understand the experience of working with Leonard and the after, and put words onto it. My dog has been reactive with other dogs ever since she was a tiny puppy, and was starting to become really agressive, dominant and bit a couple dogs pretty bad, and was even over protective of me with some people in certain situation. It was affecting my life and my sanity. I tried every possible way and worked with different trainers which were great, the truth is now that I think of it, some of them were trying to teach me some of the same stuff Leonard taught me but the understanding of it wouldn’t get to me, they knew what they were doing but did not know how to transmit the message to someone who doesn’t understand. So I kept on making the same mistakes until I had lost control and was hiding to take my dog out and making it even worst. Leonard has a straight forward way to work with you and your dog but really mostly with you, that gives you no other way than understanding through doing, he is a NO EXCUSE type of guy and that is the best way to learn what you need with reactive and aggressive dogs. I went there and just chose to trust him and take his full guidance. He works with body language with the dog but also with you. He pointed at my weaknesses and made me address them, it all gave me a lot of confidence even in everyday life and the way I approach other life situations too. I thought I had a great relationship with my dog, but he showed me that it wasn’t the case, and that outside of love there wasn’t respect, and when you have an animal like those, you need to start with a 100% respect from them to you in every situation. You HAVE to be the leader and then you can be the mum, but always a leader first and Leonard teaches you how to do so. We did 5 private sessions, and people in my everyday life noticed right away how much she had changed throughout the process, not even knowing about the training I was doing. We are both different and are both happier in our life and we are so grateful for that. Is she completely non reactive, no, because that’s a long time work and Leonard gave us the tools to continue this work. But she’s made massive progress and keep making progress every day, and I’m confident and knowing exactly how to stay calm and do the right things and make the right decisions for us to have a good experience. Thank you so much Leonard for the peace of mind, the honesty, the knowledge and the massive CHANGE you did to our life. Sometimes when friends are struggling with their dogs they ask me for help and since my experience with Leonard, those dogs respond to me in a very different way, I know how to lead them and show them they have to respect me, it is such a powerful feeling. THANK YOU Leonard ?

Ryan Feick

II brought my 9-yr old, lab-mix rescue to Leonard for consultation prior to boot camp. Within the first 15 min of the visit, I could already see my dog transforming into a dog that I had not previously experienced. My dog had been showing fearful/anxious signs around other dogs and people and I was skeptical that Leonard would be able to change his behavior. During the visit, Leonard was able to build trust and relax my dog quickly. He was also able to point out some of my behaviors that needed to changed in order to allow for a happy, healthier dog. In just an hour of training, I could see a sizable difference in my dog's behavior.

After the initial consultation, I booked the 3-week bootcamp. Leonard was extremely responsive and consistently gave us updates throughout the entire process. We met together w/ him and the dog at the end of week 2, week 3 and again after the program for one-on-one training.

During the stay, Leonard was able to reset my dog's balance; overcoming years of unstable anxious behavior... as well as reset the relationship between me and the dog. When I got my dog back, he was much calmer, responsive, and relaxed. I'm glad I took the next steps in the training process w/ Leonard. Well worth the investment.

Robin Felice

I have had dogs my whole life, ranging from German and Australian Shepherds to small dogs. I had always heard wonderful things about Doberman's and always wanted to own one, so I decided to finally get one. Everyone that has ever owned a Doberman will tell you they are extremely stubborn, a little quirky, and too smart for their own good, which makes them difficult to train. How true that is! By the time my Doberman was nearing 2 years old, I decided I could not get her under control by myself because she was extremely smart in manipulating me. I searched for a trainer for several months before I found Leonard with Dominant Dogs, who came highly recommended to me. I had an initial interview with him and he determined that we were a good fit. Leonard does not take any dog; he interviews with you to determine you and your dog's mindset and then determines if all three of you will be a compatible fit. I was grateful that he took my dog and I can tell that on my initial interview, I knew my dog would be in good hands. I gave Leonard my dog for 3 weeks. Leonard stayed in constant communication with me, providing status updates on my dog while in his company. When I was ready to pick up my dog, I could not believe it was the same dog; she was so respectful and mindful. Now comes the hard part; that is transitioning my dog so that it obeys me like she did Leonard. This is where I was even more impressed with Leonard. He followed up with me periodically after I returned home. He saw me three times over the course of a couple of months to ensure that my dog was on the right path and spent several hours with me each time. I can tell you one thing, I have many friends who have sent their dogs to trainers but most of them do not follow up, and for those that did follow up, it certainly is not to the extent that you will find with Leonard. The "following-up" after training is probably one of the most important parts of training a dog. He made sure I was on track with my dog. In fact, I had many pillow talks with Leonard in the beginning and he was always there for me. He truly cares about your dog and is personally invested in your dog because he puts in so much time that he does not want all his training to go down the tube. He is direct and you know where you stand with him at all times. When you feel it's not going so well in the beginning when you first get your dog back and you are really putting in a concerted effort with your dog and listening to his instructions, Leonard will not abandon you...trust me, I was there. It has been 3 months now and my dog is transitioned fully. And Leonard was there every step of the way. Today, everywhere I go, people comment on what a well behaved dog I have. I attribute this 100% to Leonard and his tenacity to make sure you do not fail when transitioning your dog to listen to you. Leonard made every decision with my dog's best interest in mind and I have learned several things about myself during this process as well. One piece of advice I will dispense: no matter who you do business with, let the experts do their thing. Don't try to tell them how to do their job; they know best. Whether you go to a hair stylist, attorney, accountant, dog trainer, etc. you are paying that person for their expertise; they are the masters, not you. I am so thankful for Leonard and I am so glad I blindly put my trust in him. He definitely earned my respect and trust and that of my dog.

Anna Parker

Leonard has an amazing understanding of, and way with dogs. You will see just from the first interaction he has with your dog that your dog trusts and respects him. What's more, he'll teach you how to achieve that relationship as well.

We worked with Leonard to help address issues that our 1 year old Frenchie was developing: leash pulling, resource guarding, general disobedience and other bully-like tendencies. For example, walking on leash was an issue we really wanted to address because our dog would pay attention to anything but us: sticks on the ground, other people, other dogs -- walking him had become a real source of stress for us. We decided to do a 3 week training with the lifetime option and our dog has come back truly changed. On walks, he now walks right next to us on a loose, long leash and is way less distractible and reactionary. This is just one example of the amazing transformation that Leonard was able to help our dog with.

Leonard was very easy to work with, too. He's very responsive to texts, phone and emails, and best of all is a straight shooter, he does what he says he will do, and so far all of his advice about how to be around our dog has been spot on. You can and should take him at his word.

I highly recommend working with Leonard in any capacity to help you with issues with your dog. Thank you, Leonard!

Maia Kazin

We've had our dog back from Leonard's boot camp for about a month now, and are so excited about where she is. She's a totally different dog. Leonard spent hours with us, explaining her stress, helping us reconnect and bond with her in a healthier way that would relax her and keep her from her aggressive behavior. He focuses a lot on body language, which I really appreciated. It helped me understand how to read her messages instead of just enforcing what I think she's supposed to be doing. It's now much more of a conversation, and I feel like I can actually respond to her concerns and show her that I'll take care of them! Her behavior is much better, and I feel more bonded to her and like we're building a relationship that is fun and trusting. It's very comforting that we got another check in with Leonard after two weeks to see how everything was going, so he could help correct any habits we fell back into, and make sure we were staying on track. I feel so lucky that we found him when we did-- now our dog can have a happier, easier, more playful life, which is all we want for her!

UPDATE:Our dog did Leonard's three week bootcamp about 8 months ago. She's been hugely improved but we were seeing some regression to her attitude and aggressive behavior with dogs over the past month. We went back for a check up session and Leonard got us right back on track. We're so relieved that he was able to remind us of everything we had forgotten and give us encouragement about how far she's come. We were only supposed to meet for half an hour but he gave us 2 hours and we even had her hang around other dogs! Thanks Leonard.

Tracy Schwartz

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!