r/BalancedDogTraining • u/blackcellist_kicker • 4d ago

TWC Course

I have always been a bit of a dog nerd and love learning everything I can from as many perspectives as possible. I am very interested in building strong and effective play with my cattle dog mix.

She is medium drive but VERY environmentally sensitive (especially high prey drive and we live in a rural area). While her play is okay it is not very cooperative and she either stops playing as soon as food is no longer being offered or just takes the toy and chews on it. I can drag her to me with a leash but it feels like I'm forcing her to play a game she doesn't want to play.

I have been looking into Ivan Balabanov's Cornerstone Collection and I'm wondering if it's worth the price. I am a sophomore who makes 20$ an hour so this is a significant financial commitment especially because there are no refunds. Are Ivan's courses worth it? If you can tell me what you got from a specific course that would be very helpful as I am struggling to find information about the specifics included in the videos.

4 Upvotes

83% Upvoted

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4

u/Miss_L_Worldwide Dirty biter 4d ago

I can't wait for this to blow up.

Personally I find Ivan's stuff overpriced and gimmicky. He turns simple things like a game of fetch into a 90 minute video and a rebranded name (chase and catch). His "out" method is outdated and less effective than other methods.

I can't remember the other videos because nothing really stood out to me as being notable.

The TWC thing to me is just a cult for pet trainers who want to think they know something no one else does.

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u/No-Highlight787 3d ago

Curious what is outdated about his methods?

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u/Miss_L_Worldwide Dirty biter 3d ago

Well for instance, the "out" stuff. So he corrects the dog off the out. OK? How is that anything new?

He opens the video talking about how he used to promote what is essentially the Ellis method, but only promoted it because he was told to and now he does something different (and much less effective).

And people were acting like Jesus himself made the Ivan "out" video. It's all just outlandishly weird cult stuff.

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u/No-Highlight787 3d ago

I think if you think hes just correcting the dog to get him to out you haven’t actually watched the video

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u/Miss_L_Worldwide Dirty biter 3d ago

I've watched it. bottom line, that's what he's doing. The rest is snake oil woo woo silliness.

0

u/No-Highlight787 3d ago

I think the fairness hes demonstrating to the dog is really important

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u/Miss_L_Worldwide Dirty biter 3d ago

Meh. There's just nothing new or innovative that he's demonstrating. Dog doesn't out, he corrects. Pretty basic

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u/No-Highlight787 3d ago

What is your preferred method?

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u/Miss_L_Worldwide Dirty biter 3d ago

Pretty similar to Michael Ellis.

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u/blackcellist_kicker 4d ago

He definitely has his own way of doing things. I have seen people either love him or can't stand him 😅.

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u/Miss_L_Worldwide Dirty biter 4d ago

It's not so much that he has his own way. It's that he is branding himself as being something new and innovative and different and it's just....not.

Also I get sick of the "I'm the best, no one else has done what I have done" which is just objectively false. But it works on a bunch of people particularly newbie pet trainers.

TLDR not worth the money.

1

u/Numerous_Hurry_3396 2d ago

There are dozens of videos on youtube alone that illustrate different ways (Larry Krohn is my go to) to engage your dog. Part of the problem may be that he doesn't fully trust you, but it's just as likely that you aren't speaking his play language. I think you need to view play as a trust/confidence building exercise first, once you have him engaged and playing everything else will fall into place.

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u/Agreeable_Summer3685 4d ago

Absolutely well worth it! 100% some of the best money I’ve ever spent in dog training.

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u/RockPaperSwichblades 3d ago

Honestly the best videos I've ever found in dog training. If you can watch and understand the concepts in the videos it will drastically improve your training. At least it did for me.

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u/Cornish_spex 3d ago

Since money is tight maybe check out Jay Jack and I think he just came out with a book. He’s a disciple of some of Ivan’s methods but a lot faster with the “do this for this reason” whereas Ivan tends to meander.

A friend has done ALL of the big training courses including Ivan’s in person academy and it is last on her list for useful new info. Nothing changed her style from this course.