Let us introduce you to
Our unique online training course that will take your dog from annoying to amazing!
Take a moment now to imagine your dog that:
can be calm around you and visitors
walks nicely on leash
comes when they are called
knows how to switch off at home
can stay calmly on a mat when asked to
wants to please you
listens to you even around distractions!
That's what we call Life Skills. These simple skills can transform any dog into a dog that you are proud to own and enjoy doing things with!
This online course will teach you all of the same exercises, skills and concepts that we teach every one of our private training clients to help them change their dog's behaviour from the bottom up.
Our unique approach starts with leadership, calmness and communication. Then we move on play to ensure that we are meeting the dogs' biological needs.
We then move into our core skills. These 3 skills are the only 3 skills your dog really needs to know to be considered an excellent companion! These 3 skills are recall, place and loose lead walking.
We won't waste your time teaching you things you'll never use or might not need. And we'll teach you exactly how to do each thing with detailed notes, videos from your trainer explaining the concepts, demonstration videos of a variety of different dogs to show you how to do each skill plus trouble shooting sections and lessons on how to extend and build on each skill.
Our foundation principles are all about teaching your dog to be calm when you need them to be calm. We also introduce some very easy to apply leadership rules to ensure that help your dog to recognise that you are someone worth following, trusting and working with!
Next we look at play, mental stimulation and biological fullfillment. We find that so many dogs aren't getting the right games or enough games/activities that meet their needs. Many unwanted behaviours are caused by the dog's needs not being met!
How awesome would it be if your dog could come when you called it every time? That can now be a reality! We take you through our system on teaching, training and practicing for a super reliable recall even when around distractions like other dogs, food or people!
We move back to calmness work and begin teaching the place exercise or mat training. Here we help you teach your dog to stay calmly on a mat for a reasonable length of time. This exercise is especially helpful when you have visitors, are cooking/eating or trying to do house or yard work! It's also fantastic for cafe visits and park trips!
Our final peice of the Life Skills puzzle is the elusive loose lead walking exercise. We take you through our exact training process to begin teaching this exercise, we explain the ongoing training process and break it down into stages for you to work on until your dog can do this anywhere and around anything!
Each week you will recieve access to another module or section of the course. This allows you to work through the content, begin the training exercises and work on those elements each week before moving onto the next section.
The course is self paced so you can take your time working through the sections. If you find that you need more time between sections you can take that time and stay working on your current section for as long as you like before beginning the next sections' content.
Each section has a homework lesson, giving you a short list of things to work on for the week. These homework lessons tell you how often to do each exercise, how long to do the exercises for and which exercises to prioritise if you are short on time!
Synergy Dog Training is based in Brisbane's Northern Suburbs and is run by Nicole Leyden. We picked the name Synergy because we think that the teamwork and relationship between dogs and their owners is a beautiful example of 'SYNERGY' - the team (you and your dog) is stronger than the individuals in it!
Nicole Leyden has owned and loved dogs her whole life and has trained her own dogs for obedience, show and agility for more than 20 years.
She has a Certificate 3 in Dog Training and Behaviour with the National Dog Trainers Federation (NDTF), is a qualified dog obedience judge, breeder of Border Collies under the "Lifesong" prefix. As a former Animal Management officer with a local Council, Nicole has had extensive dog handling experience including working with dangerous and nuisance dogs. Nicole attends regular seminars and workshops to continue to further her skills and knowldge.
Nicole has been trained by Steve Courtney from K9 Pro (- The K9 Professionals- in Sydney and has been training with him for over 15 years. She continues to train and be mentored by Steve and uses K9 Pro's methods in her behaviour modification and competition training programs. K9 Pro are industry leaders in resolving serious behavioural problems and also exceptional at training competition dogs using their legendary "Training In Drive" program. Nicole is proud to use their methods and be assoicated with K9 Pro.
About our methods
We are balanced trainers - this means we use both rewards and some consequences to help dogs learn to behave differently. We believe that dogs behave best when they know what we would like them to do, understand how to earn rewards and know avoid consequences. We understand learning theories and use a range of techniques, tools and methods to train our clients. We are open-minded and progressive and have the dog's (and their owners') best interest in mind during the entire training process. Every dog is unique and so every training program is also unique to that specific dog. We aim to educate dog owners and empower them to make the best choices for their dog. We are also happy to answer any questions and openly discuss our methods with clients.
Is Your dog hard to live with?
Maybe they are overly excited around you, visitors or other people out on walks?
Perhaps they are perfect at home but totally stop listening to you when away from home?
Do they react inappropriately towards other dogs or people?
Are they unpleasant to walk due to excessively leash pulling, sniffing, marking or trying to go over to every other dog or person?
Or are they destructive at home and you are tired of cleaning up their latest masterpiece?
We can help!
You've got questions. We've got answers.
Right away! Once you've signed up you'll be sent a link to log in to our online learning platform where you can start working through the course immediately!
We have included both video and text instructions for all of our lessons. This means you can watch the video and listen to the instruction as well as read the instructions. We've included demonstration videos to help show you what to do and how to do it and in many of the lessons there are multiple demonstration videos.
There are modifications included for a range of different situations to help you adjust and tweak the program to suit you and your dog.
We also have troubleshooting sections to help you solve issues if you are encountering problems while trying to train your dog.
You have 1 year from the date of your sign up to work through the content. After a year there will be an offer to extend your access if you wish to keep access to your course.
Each section includes video lessons and written content. You should be able to view and read the entire sections' content in less than 30 minutes. Our goal is to keep the content short and easy to digest so that you can get stuck into training!
In most cases we suggest doing two training sessions daily of about 10 minutes per session. We have a handful of exercises that are longer but we offer suggestions on how to fit those in while doing other things to help you muli-task and be efficient! We don't expect anyone to be spending hours training their dogs each day!
No, we don't. Unfortunately, every dog is unique and so is every handler. As this is an online course the content is designed to be general in nature. Clients who follow the instructions carefully and are consistent and dedicated to making the suggested changes will be highly likely to be successful in changing their dog's behaviour.
Yes! We use this exact same formula and system with all of our in person private training clients and see amazing results every week! We've used this system on human aggression cases, dog reactivity or aggression cases, fearful dogs, puppies and everything in between! We know it works and we are confident that you will see a better dog too!
Yes. There isn't an app yet, but the online learning platform we use to host the course is extremly mobile friendly and you can easily navigate the course from a mobile device.
No, this course is designed for one person to work through. The course will track your learning as you work through the lessons so each time you open the course it'll take you back to where you last were. The price and design of the course is for a single user. The online learning platform also has a two stage sign in process where you sign in with your email and password and then will be emailed a code to complete your sign in.
We welcome all feedback (even the not so great stuff). If you are unhappy or struggling with anything please get in touch directly with us and we'll work with you to resolve the issue!
Get started today!
My dog Aspen used to lunge and bark at dogs, bikes, scooters and was hard to control on walks. I avoided taking her out at busy times and places, but now that has all changed. Mt. Cootha walks on busy Saturday mornings, or doing place training with other dogs around (like the photos attached) no problem! I wish I had found Nicole and Synergy dog training sooner because it has really changed my life as it’s so much less stressful to handle Aspen and I have such a better relationship with my dog and how to manage her with training. Nicole has an amazing understanding of dog behaviour and takes time to understand each individual dog and owner to help them overcome any issues they are facing. I have seen not only my dog improve greatly but countless others at the group classes. I cannot recommend Nicole highly enough she is the best dog trainer I have met and will continue to work with her in the future!
My 3 year old high energy and highly strung dog maverick has been dog aggressive when walking, and in all other situations with dogs, he's been unable to meet with other dogs at all. Maverick is a rescue and was attacked by multiple dogs before being rescued. It's been six months using Nicole's training with Maverick and he has now been able to walk and run with me lead free and remain by my side with a variety of distractions including wild chickens roaming free where I live as well as lots of cats, lead free dogs and other small farm animals. He's also been able to meet several other dogs lead free in a variety of places now including in his own home . He's also been a calmer dog around the house and now he always listens to me
Don't expect these results without putting in the work, but I can highly highly recommend Nicole and her program which she tailors to you and your dogs needs. Following her guidance maverick is a new dog with very few reminders of who he once was. If I could give Nicole 10 stars I would.
Let's face it, who doesn't want their dog to be the best it can be. I have learnt so much by completing Synergy Dog Training online courses, and continued my learning by participating in individual and group classes. I interact with my dog somewhat differently to my previous pooches, and have the ability to confidently work through minor issues. Nicole kindly provides ongoing guidance and support and the opportunity to attend further training. I greatly appreciate Nicole's assistance as my dog is still young and I do not claim to be an expert. It has been a positive experience for my dog and my family.
The course is waiting for you!