Published by: Julia
Brandon’s techniques are simple, fast, and effective. In his Masterclass course, you will develop trust and control with your dog and learn the basic 7 commands – sit, stay, no, down, come, heel, and stop.
No matter how naughty your pooch is Brandon McMillan´s Dog Training Masterclass is the answer. He trains you first, which enables you to then train your dog.
During this masterclass, you learn how to read your dog and the best way to respond to their body language. Then how to fix common problems. For example, inappropriate barking, chewing, or a tendency to fight.
This is the simplest, fastest, and most complete dog-training system you will ever find.
By the way, we recommend purchasing Masterclass for more than just one single course. The value comes when you take several. If you want to read our review of the whole platform, check out this Masterclass review article.
If you want to just find out what some of the best masterclasses are, this is the article for you.
Your award-winning dog-training instructor
If you have never heard of Brandon McMillan, you soon will. For decades he has been rescuing owners who are at their wits-end with their dogs.
It does not matter whether your Alsation is walking you, your Jack Russel won´t come back when you call him or your Labradoodle is just nuts, Brandon has the answer.
His training just plain works. And it does so regardless of what breed of dog you live or work with. Your personality and theirs do not matter either. Provided you follow what he demonstrates in this course, you will come out the other side with a far more obedient dog. Your relationship will greatly improve as a result.
Brandon started training dogs because he wanted to rescue them. He would adopt so-called untrainable dogs from the shelters and turn them into pets that could easily find permanent homes. In 2012, he was asked to host a dog-training show on CBS Daytime, the show was called “Lucky Dog”. It was so well received that he won a Daytime Emmy.
So, when you take this masterclass, you know you are learning from the best.
There are no untrainable dogs, just untrained humans. It´s that simple.
Brandon McMillan – Dog Training Masterclass
Start by building a strong relationship with your dog
The first step is to understand your dog. Who he or she is. What their natural tendencies are. In this section, Brandon explains how the following variables potentially affect your pet and their personalities:
- Age
- History
- Breed
- Previous training
- Gender
- Imprinted DNA
That sounds like a lot of variables to take account of. But, don´t worry in just 8 minutes Brandon explains it all. By the end of it recognizing your dog´s tendencies is not actually that difficult.
Building trust with your dog as a groundwork for training
Before you start the training process, your dog must be able to trust you. In this video, Brandon shows you how to having fun with your dog, and socializing them can be used to do that.
Most importantly of all, he shows you how to lead your dog, rather than trying to dominate him or her. He also explains the important role exercise plays in the process of getting a dog mentally and physically ready for training.
Preparing yourself mentally for training
The biggest mistake people make is giving up on training their dog because they have a bad training session. Brandon explains that you are going to experience ups and downs. He describes the training as being a bit like a game of chess, initially your dog will try all kinds of things to get out of being trained. So, you have to be mentally ready and prepared to persevere.
He also explains what the three mechanisms of training are and how to get them right. Namely, control, train, and treat.
Mastering signaling commands and leash techniques
Brandon always teaches a hand signal alongside a verbal command. I can vouch for that working particularly well.
Although you need to be a bit careful about which hand signals you teach your dog. I taught my dog one for crossing the road that I sometimes use while talking to friends while walking along. Big mistake. So be sure to use the hand signals Brandon recommends.
Before taking this course, I had not realized that I was holding my dog’s leash in a way that made it easy for him to tug it out of my hand. He is a little dog, so that is not likely to happen. But, I do occasionally walk my neighbor´s Alsation, so I actually needed to be made aware of this potential danger.
I had also learned a safe and effective way to subdue a big dog while walking one. Brandon´s body anchor technique is definitely the best answer to this issue.
Using an anchor leash to help you when teaching certain commands is extremely helpful. Again, something I had not seen taught before.
Discovering the 7 main dog-training commands
Brandon spends a total of 1hr 41mins showing you how to teach your dog the 7 most important commands. Below, I list out each one, and for some of them explain some of the new things I picked up for each one.
I liked the way Brandon explained the mechanics of each technique. When he did that everything made far more sense.
In most cases, Brandon is using the rules of physics and the way your dog´s body naturally moves to get him or her to assume the appropriate position. In time, they will associate that position with your verbal commands and hand signals. I´ve not explained that as well I had hoped, but you will soon see what I mean when you treat yourself to this masterclass.
How to teach your dog to sit
This is a great first command, it is really easy to teach and from the sit position, you can easily get them to go down and stay. The technique Brandon shares gets your dog to look up and hold their head back. That automatically leads to your dog assuming the sit position.
You will see what I mean when you watch the video. It really is one of the easiest ways I have seen to teach a dog to sit.
Teaching the down command
I don´t use this command much with my dog, but will in the future because as Brandon explains it gives a much better level of control. His tip to use a picnic table to train this position was great. It was helpful to see the dog he was training for the down resisting his efforts to do so. This helped my confidence and enabled me to pick up a few extra tips.
Getting your dog to stay
This was a great lesson. I learned a lot from this one. For example, starting your training in the corner of your yard or garden. When he showed us this in the video, it was obvious that it was the best approach. It gives you so much more control.
His inflection tip was also very helpful. Until I took this lesson I was not able to master this command. My dog would stay sometimes, but dart off at other times. Often, in those potentially dangerous situations when I was desperate for him to stay. This was my favourite lesson. The one that was most useful for me and my dog.
As you can see from the photo above, Brandon is very clear about what equipment you need for each exercise. An example of his attention to detail, something that makes his masterclass stand out from some of the other dog training that I have seen.
Successfully teaching your dog to respond to the no command
Being able to stop your dog doing something it shouldn´t is extremely useful. You can use it to stop them from investigating something on the ground that might hurt them. Or, make them realize they can´t get on your parent´s sofa like they do in their own house.
You can also use what Brandon teaches in this section to train a “leave it” command as well if you want to. But, for most situations, the no command works just as well.
I don´t ask him, I tell him no. Because I want to make sure that this is a firm assertive command. This is a command that could save his life one day.
Masterclass.com – Brandon McMillan
What is the off command? and how to teach it to a dog
Before I took this course, I had never considered training my dog with the off command. I think that this is because I have never had a puppy. The dogs I have owned have all been abandoned and have come to me as adults.
Plus, most of them have been quite small, so I have never had a dog that is so big that it is dangerous when it jumps up at people. However, I now realize I should have still trained my dogs not to do that. After all, if you are not the dog´s owner, that behavior is not welcome. Plus, it can be dangerous if they do it to a toddler or a frail person.
So, I am in the process of training my 11-year-old dog not to jump up and am proud to say that with Brandon´s guidance we have nearly got it down pat already. We had to use the penny bottle technique, but once I did that he got it very quickly.
Train your dog to come when you call
I am lucky my dog already comes well and does so even when he is distracted. Even when he is about to take off and chase something. Provided I catch his attention before he actually springs off, I can stop him using my voice. He is a clingy dog by nature, which helps a lot, he does not like to be far from us.
Other dogs are more independent. Training a dog like that to come is a bit more complicated. It is a gradual process. These are the stage Brandon suggests that you use :
- On a short leash
- At 6 feet
- At 10 feet
- Add some distractions
- Off the leash
- When to use an assistant to train the come command
How to get your dog to walk to heel
Teaching a dog to heel makes your life a lot easier. It is far more comfortable walking with one that knows how to walk properly alongside you. Plus, there is no risk of them tripping you up.
At 20 mins long, this is one of the longest in the masterclass. But, it is well worth watching it from beginning to end. I picked up quite a few things I had never heard of before. Here are just a few examples:
- How to place your dog´s collar to make it easier to train them to walk to heel
- Why you should use a Martingale collar
- Why you should train them to heel by building up one step at a time
- The difference between training a large or medium-sized dog to walk to heel and training a small dog
Housetraining your dog using a crate
This is a very important part of the course. Housetraining is easy to get wrong. Brandon explains how to housetrain mature dogs as well as puppies. As you will see, there are some significant differences.
Brandon´s approach is to use a crate to help you to housetrain a puppy. Again, not something I have ever done. Nor, is it something I like the idea of doing.
However, watching Brandon´s video I realized that it is not cruel at all. It is actually a super fast way to house train a puppy 100%. Importantly, the quicker you complete this process, the faster they can gain the freedom to fully enjoy their home.
This section of the course is an overview of Brandon´s house training triangle. That includes how people who live in apartments can do this even if they have to use piddle pads.
He also demonstrates a cruelty free way to deal with accidents. They are going to happen, so it is important to know how to handle it in a way that enables you to use it as a teaching moment.
Brandon also explains what to do if you have a mature animal that cocks its leg in your home. Using a very simple technique you can break that happen in less than a week.
How to break bad habits fast without being cruel
Once you’ve trained your dog, you’ll have a best friend who trusts and loves you—and will be there for you through thick and thin—for the rest of their life. I can’t think of anything more rewarding.
Dog Training Masterclass.com – Brandon McMillan
Like us, dogs can pick up bad habits and can potentially do so at any stage of their life. So, it is important to know how to recognize the early signs that this is happening. This will enable you to nip things in the bud.
Brandon explains how to do this. As well as how to successfully deal with the following behaviours even if they have become entrenched:
- Door dashing
- Digging
- Chewing
- Inappropriate barking
- Peeing indoors to mark their territory
Why I recommend Brandon McMillan´s dog-training masterclass
I cannot praise this course enough. This is hands down the best dog-training course I have ever taken. It is also going to the top of my top 50 masterclass.com courses.
Here is why:
- The class is far more focused than his TV show – there is no fluff – the full course is spent teaching you technique
- It is super easy to follow
- Brandon anticipates what you may do wrong with each exercise and explains clearly how to correct those mistakes
- His dog-training workbook PDF makes it extremely easy to find anything you need to double-check and go back over again
- It is amazing value for money – it would cost you hundreds to learn this using physical training classes
- Anyone can do this – you do not need any fancy equipment and it explained so clearly that my eight-year-old nephew was able to teach his dog the basic commands with very little guidance from us
So, if you have a dog, my advice is to buy it. I promise you even if your dogs are already relatively well-behaved, you will still learn something that can improve your relationship with them.
If you have a friend or family member that has just got a dog, this course would also make a fantastic present.
The only drawback is that I want more from Brandon. For example, how to keep your dog calm at the vet’s, how to help a dog through the ageing process, and guidance on the very few things he did not get a chance to cover in this excellent course.
