The first time I stumbled across TrainPetDog, I was both happy and suspicious.
Happy because the program seemed to fulfill all my dog-training needs.
Suspicious because Google suggested the post-fix SCAM at the end of the search term TrainPetDog.
Giving the benefit of the doubt, I visited their website — and guess what I found?
Nothing but green flags at first; it's well maintained, presence of free courses, and they seem very open.
Except for ONE key issue — TrainPetDog isn't very open about how exactly they will achieve competency levels. They would point at an end goal but not disclose how they will do it.
However, I understand perfect products (or services) don't exist. That's why I looked at what TrainPetDog users had to say. Well, it was a balance between positive and negative comments.
So, I went ahead and bought it, and I have been using it for a couple of weeks with my German Shepherd.
If you're planning to buy the TrainPetDog training program, be sure to read every single word of this review before buying. I'm going to tell you EVERYTHING there's to know about the program.
Especially the things that only a program's user would only know.
So, without further ado, let's get started.
TrainPetDog is an online dog training program comprising comprehensive e-books and videos. The course is designed to train your dog from 0 to 100 within just 17 days.
That's less than three weeks.
While the offer sounds irresistible, I couldn't help but think how practical it would be because two weeks are barely enough to make the dog understand commands.
That's not all; TrainPetDog promises to provide breed-specific unique information and training techniques. In other words, if you own a Golden Retriever, the program will be BESPOKE to train a Golden Retriever.
That got me thinking; there are about 200 dog breeds in the US itself. Does that mean TrainPetDog has about 200 versions of its training program? If that's the case, why would they sell it for such a low price?
On the flip side, the website features a free mini-course on dog training which I thought was pretty nice. I gave my credentials and email, expecting a neat PDF file or at least a video.
What I got was a descriptive email that wasn't really helping.
I have a habit of doing a background check on the creators of whatever I buy. When I purchased a smart collar for my GSD, I was happy to see that the creators had years of experience in the world's leading tech companies.
That makes them well-experienced AND qualified because qualifications bring standardization.
However, Nancy Richards, the sole creator of this program, is NOT a certified dog trainer.
Some fields don't require theoretical knowledge but dog training is definitely not one of them. The program's creator is not so different from you and me in being dog lovers. But how can you prepare a training guide for a dog's formative years with no educational background?
I knew about Nancy Richards' background, but a part of me wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt. I expected at least a video of hers to pop up and justify.
Nothing.
There was nothing but their same early 2010s website.
But my objective was to train my dog. Now that I had the content in my hand, I was going to give it a go. Before I tell you what's included in the program, let me address the elephant in the room.
TrainPetDog's training style.
TrainPetDog's training philosophy is based on "Dominance training," another name for "Alpha Training."
I had already purchased and used the training content for a while.
But that's the problem! Ms. Richards doesn't let prospective dog parents know that Alpha Training is her training style.
As mentioned before, she stresses the goals but not how exactly these goals are achieved — it's high time these crucial details are shared with prospective customers.
That's why I highly recommend any dog owner to evaluate the exact training methods used in a training program and what style.
Alpha Training might make your cute little puppy obey the anger and loudness if you didn't know it already.
But did you know that dominance training actually traumatizes dogs, making them permanently anxious? It's these same puppies training with Alpha training style that end up as adult dogs with aggressive outbursts. I'm not saying that; these research findings do.
Using dominant training takes away that affectionate bond between you and your dog. It's like aggressively controlling a kid, only to realize they won't listen to you as adults.
How does alpha training really work?
You basically mimic a wolf; the actions of a wolf whenever you interact with your dog. If it's a really young puppy, you're the MOTHER wolf. I know it sounds a little… well, ridiculous.
Basically, you appear as the highest-ranking member of the pack, and the dog is a lower-ranking member. The method works to a certain extent but with severe consequences, and there's a big chance for the dog not to obey anyone as they leave puppyhood.
So, what's the solution to that? Love! And some decent amount of rewards. That's what you call positive reinforcement training, where treats come with praise and love. The dog doesn't obey because it's scared of you but because they're rewarded.
That's clever psychology for you.
Now that the training style issue is discussed let's look at what's included in the TrainPetDog program.
TrainPetDog is a one-time purchase of an all-inclusive ebook that is neatly categorized. But there are a couple of valuable features that help you with training.
Here's what the training program claims to cover,
So, imagine doing all of these tasks in the dominant training method. If not, for that, this program is quite impressive.
The first ebook is called the Dog Lovers Training Course. Almost all the fundamental training requirements will be completed by this book.
For starters, it's crucial to housebreak your puppy because if not, they'll pee and poop all over the place. Unless they're potty trained as puppies, they'll never change their dog habits. The course features six steps to fulfill housebreaking training.
All these steps are based on the alpha training philosophy.
Then there's obedience training that mainly focuses on biting and nipping. Socializing dogs at a young age is essential; doing that is impossible if they're not well-behaved. I noticed this section is also a 6-step based, and you guessed it right — alpha training method again.
You also get step-by-step guides to fix separation anxiety, digging, and chewing issues. It also features a 5-step guide for barking control when you're present around the dog and away.
You also get access to an exclusive members-only forum. This forum is incredibly helpful for finding dog owners of similar breeds. But even here, I noticed how most dog owners didn't seem to like the whole alpha training method.
Other than that, it's another excellent place to digest first-hand experience-based knowledge in training your dog.
The only non-alpha-training-based content in the Dog Lovers Training Course is proper diet planning.
That's accompanied by a book that provides what you should do to maintain your dog's overall health. Here you can read about,
TrainPetDog claims that only the first 100 customers of the day get the health book for free. But what's surprising is that everyone I spoke to in the forum happened to have the book for free.
That's when I realized that it's just a marketing trick that outlines exclusiveness. But this same exclusiveness approach is what shamelessly misleads you. I'll talk about that when I tell you about my experience with TrainPetDog in a moment.
The next most crucial element is the Elite Dog Owners Club.
For 30 days, you get free access to this club, followed by a $77 per month fee after the first month. As it's a cancel-any-time subscription plan, you should give your card details to access the club.
Here's what you're eligible for in the club,
All this extra content and one-on-one consultation are beneficial. I also went ahead and tried the Elite Dog Owners Club because I wanted some one-on-one personal consultations.
So, how do their prices change?
The TrainPetDog's training course comes at a one-time payment of $67. Remember that this price doesn't include any of the videos of consultations from professionals.
Nonetheless, it's not a horrible deal compared to the typical market price of online dog training courses.
While browsing their website, I saw some comments allegedly made by their customers. I know enough not to believe customer testimonials on a company's website. But I also wanted to give the benefit of the doubt.
To my (not so much) surprise, I didn't see any mention of the apparent problems I encountered.
It's not rational enough to say whether TrainPetDog was worth it without sharing my experience.
To be completely honest, I didn't feel like trying most of the training methods mentioned. The more I read about them, the more I felt like the course technically wanted you to put your innocent puppy through rigorous military training.
If you're an affectionate dog mum or dog dad, I guarantee you'll hesitate.
But let's assume that you were momentarily okay with it. But how about the quality of the content?
One word to summarize is BASIC.
Because I self-research, I'm aware of some training terminology and how training levels should always be structured. But even after reading everything TWICE, I failed to find any of these.
Not only that, but at least 70% of the content has to be fluff. The remaining content is focused on how to be a wolf-like taskmaster — all of it is so basic to the point where you can just google this stuff just like that.
Maybe I should have expected it after what happened when I gave my contact information for their FREE mini-training course. All I got was a long email that almost looked auto-generated with no value.
Now you're wondering whether any of these information and training guides BESPOKE for German Shepherds (my dog's breed).
Well, no.
None of it was.
They replaced the word where the dog breed's name is mentioned so that I feel like it's bespoke for my GSD. It might look clever, but that's just wrong, in my opinion.
At one point, I felt like a complete idiot who had fallen for a clever marketing trick.
I told you I tried the Elite Dog Owners Club. That was such a letdown.
Spending $70+ monthly for one year is $800+ annually. In ANY economy, that's a lot of money. I wouldn't have minded if there was value for it. But I had to reschedule three times for a 20-minute call, and the instructor's solutions were very vague.
The videos and audio recordings they upload aren't based on pinpointing objectives. All I felt was that the content was just about fun facts but not educational for training purposes.
The worst experience was canceling the subscription. I had to call them several times after sending three emails to get firm confirmation. Even after canceling, I read in the forum that some of them got charged even after canceling.
So, fingers crossed about that.
The forum, however, was very resourceful as I met a lot of GSD parents. There were instances when their help was more effective than what was on the course. Most dog owners had simply accepted the training methods, not knowing their consequences.
But I'm pretty sure that the ones who figured it out, like me, are educating their fellow dog owners within the forum — that's ultimately taking care of another clueless puppy who craves nothing but love from their owner.
TrainPetDog doesn't disclose the name of the world-class trainer who does those 30-minute videos. Why wouldn't they reveal the name so the dog's parents can feel reassured?
Eventually, I decided that this wasn't going to work. I had already spent $77 for nothing, but thankfully I got the refund eventually.
So, the answer to the question "Is TrainPetDog really worth it?" is that it really isn't.
There is absolutely no way that I will ever recommend the course to any dog owner. A dog is a long-term commitment; you can't mess up their puppyhood training. That risk is clearly there if you depend on TrainPetDog.
However, TrainPetDog is NOT a scam. It's just that its content is fundamental. The program also misleads you to believe you'll receive breed-specific training information.
What actually happens, as mentioned, is that they replace the word where the breed's name comes with your breed's name. If not, it's literally the same thing.
While it's not a scam, I'd like to define TrainDogPet as expensive bait.
I got into their Elite Dog Owners Club just because I KNEW I'd want professional help. Their one-time purchase plan doesn't offer any of that. While the consultations aren't all bad, I never met Ms. Richards.
None of the dog owners in the forums had met her either.
I'm sure this paints a clear picture of where this dog training course really stands.
Nonetheless, it's not 100% bad, and that's why we'll look at the pros and cons next.
I'll be honest, I tried to use the TrainPetDog content in a humane way, and it turned out horribly. I reached out to three personal dog trainers and the cheapest option was $250 per HOUR.
I aspire to be that successful one day.
Anyhow, my German Shepherd wasn't getting any younger, and I BADLY needed a training solution. That's when I came across a friend whose Golden Retriever was very bonded to her while being incredibly obedient.
That's when I was recommended for Brain Training For Dogs (known as BT4D in short).
Thanks for the horrible experience, I was extra suspicious of the program even before opening their home website.
I treated BT4D the way I treated TrainPetDog; by reading everything thoroughly and checking the customer testimonials after that. I expected a lot of convincing from the program.
But it took me only one scroll to see the first green flag.
Adrienna Farricelli prepares the program. She's a CPDT-KA certified dog trainer with about ten years of dog training experience. She also runs a successful cage-less board and train company while providing training to service dogs for military veterans.
So, I was delighted to hear that. That's the kind of reassurance all dog owners deserve.
Her training strategy is NOT Alpha Training but reward-based praiseful and gentle training. This means there are no superior ranking strategies but bonding with your dogs as they learn to behave well.
Adrienne reassures prospective customers how her methods develop the HIDDEN INTELLIGENCE of your dogs.
Dog training focussed on intelligence development?
I would have been sold if not for my bad experience with TrainPetDog.
It's not only the METHOD that impresses you. BT4D's content and content structure are so phenomenal that I realized I just might be on the right track.
Here are some of the crucial problems Adrienne's BT4D program fixes,
And this list goes on.
And all these issues relate to me.
The most crucial feature I noticed was how Adrienne's BT4D follows a step-by-step process. By 7 seven modules whose difficulty increases progressively, you'll be able to brain train your dog.
Most importantly, your dog won't do anything because it's scared. To be really honest, I don't even think my dog knew that he was being trained — all the methods are so fun and interactive.
Most importantly, you can do all of this at your own pace. No rushing, no dragging — just take as long as you want to let your dog catch up at their own pace.
But what exactly do you get?
When I was done reading all these, I was looking for a red flag.
I wanted to see a monthly subscription service, a massive one-time payment, or something else designed to deplete my bank account as time went by.
There was none.
Brain Training For Dogs had ZERO red flags. It does EXACTLY what it's been advertised for — increasing the intelligence of your dogs and training them in parallel by using reward and praising-based methods.
Of course, I bought it. It has to be one of the best investments I have ever made for my dog.
But guess how much I paid for ALL of this — just $67, and that's it. As soon as you pay, you get access to EVERYTHING just like that.
For that one-time payment, you even get one-on-one consultations with Adrienne herself. That's why the dog owners in her forum are constantly aware of what they do and happy.
The cherry on top is the 60-day money-back guarantee.
That's the peace of mind dog parents like you and I deserve.
So, what are the pros and cons of Brain Training For Dogs?
=> UPDATE: The Internet is filling up with scam courses and fake websites. If you're planning to get Brain Training For Dogs, make sure to get it from their official website. I have found a sweet discount link + Coupon if you are on the fence about getting BT4D. Get up to 40% off with promo code BRAINYDOG.
So, what would happen if we compared TrainPetDog and BT4D?
TrainPetDog is created by a person with no reliable professional qualifications. But Brain Training For Dogs is created by a CPDT-KA-certified dog trainer.
BT4D follows a completely dominance-free praise and reward-based training technique. That helps you train your dog while building a fantastic bond with them. TrainPetDog forces the dog parent to act like the highest-ranking person in a pack. Their training method is dominant, which is scientifically proven to induce permanent trauma in dogs.
TrainPetDog program's videos are only accessible with a $67 and a $77/month subscription plan. But Adrienne's BT4D lets you access ALL the content with a one-time fee of $67.
BT4D doesn't mislead you by saying the program is breed-specific because it would have cost much more if that was the case. TrainPetDog, on the other hand, misleads you when there is no breed-specific information at all.
In BT4D, all the training methods are well-explained, giving a clear idea about what's to come before the customers purchase. I'll bet you $100 that you can't even guess what EXACTLY you'll have to do to train your dog.
Not only that, TrainPetDog has a same-level training process. In other words, there's no step-by-step advance. But BT4D is very strategic — there are seven steps that gently get your dog to train. Each step is harder and more fun than the pressing one.
Almost all the TrainPetDog training methods are outdated — I only feel bad for the innocent dogs who had to go through hell just to learn how to sit and roll. BT4D, on the other hand, is exceptionally strategic, adhering to modern world methods.
The cornerstone of BT4D's training strategy is developing your dog's intelligence. But TrainPetDog scares your dog and doesn't really work on its cognitive intelligence.
All things considered, Adrienne's BT4D is miles ahead in dogs.
But most importantly, the program focuses on the single most crucial factor in training your dog.
Love.
Without love, your dog won't understand that you're trying to help them.
They'll only be terrified and anxious, like how they'd when you train your dog with TrainPetDog.
Online dog training courses are top-rated at present. That's why there are so many options, making it extra hard for dog parents to choose what really works.
But in this trainpetdog reviews let's be honest; you also want the BEST VALUE for your investment.
I cannot recommend TrainPetDog, given how it subtly tortures your dog's mentality. In addition, the whole program feels like bait for their monthly subscription program.
On the flip side, Brain Training For Dogs (or BT4D) by Adrienne Faricelli (CPDT-KA-certified dog trainer) uses a reward and praising-based strategy. Not only does this strategy increase effectiveness, but you'll also immensely bond with your dog.
After all, we all want our dogs to live peaceful, happy, and safe lives. For that, timely training is essential.
BT4D is the BEST way to do it.
I hope you like what you learned and make the right decision.
=> UPDATE: The Internet is filling up with scam courses and fake websites. If you're planning to get Brain Training For Dogs, make sure to get it from their official website. I have found a sweet discount link + Coupon if you are on the fence about getting BT4D. Get up to 40% off with promo code BRAINYDOG.
Alpha or dominant training where you pretend to be the higher-ranking pack member.
BT4D uses a gentle, reward, and praise-based approach that helps you bond amazingly with your dog.
No. You need to buy their $77/month monthly subscription for their videos and consultations.
No. The creator has no educational background in dog training.
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