Brain Training for Dogs is a popular digital dog training course, and if you’ve searched anything related to reactive dog training, you’ve probably seen it recommended — often glowingly. Here’s an honest look at what it actually is, what it covers, and — importantly — what it doesn’t, so you can decide whether it fits your situation before you buy.
What it is
Brain Training for Dogs is a self-paced online course created by Adrienne Farricelli, a CPDT-KA certified professional dog trainer. It’s built around 7 modules containing 21 “brain games” that progress from basic to advanced, delivered through a mix of instructional videos, written step-by-step guides, and access to a private member forum for questions and support.
The course’s core premise is that many common behavior problems — barking, destructive chewing, aggression, hyperactivity — are at least partly rooted in understimulation, and that structured mental engagement addresses that root cause rather than just suppressing the symptom in the moment. That’s a reasonable and well-supported general training philosophy: a mentally engaged dog is often a more settled dog.
Price and guarantee
The course is a one-time payment of roughly $67, not a subscription. It’s sold through ClickBank, which means it comes with ClickBank’s standard 60-day money-back guarantee — if it turns out not to be a fit for your dog, you have a real window to request a refund. Worth knowing upfront if you’re wary of buying training content sight-unseen, which is a reasonable thing to be wary of.
Be honest about scope: this is not a reactivity-specific program
This is the most important thing to understand before buying, and it’s easy to miss given how often this course gets recommended specifically for reactive dogs: Brain Training for Dogs is a general obedience and behavior course, not a program purpose-built for reactivity.
It does include some relevant content — a commonly cited case study walks through a rescue dog worked through lunging, reactivity, and resource-guarding, and the course covers impulse control and aggression at a general level. That overlap is real and useful. But it isn’t structured the way a dedicated reactive-dog protocol is — you won’t find the kind of granular, reactivity-specific sequencing you’d get from threshold distance work built specifically around trigger exposure, or a program designed the way the leash-vs-off-leash breakdown on this site is: diagnosing frustration versus fear first, then building a plan around that distinction.
If a site describes this as “the reactive dog course,” that’s overselling it. It’s a solid general-purpose foundation course that happens to touch on reactivity-adjacent skills, not a specialist tool.
Who it’s a good fit for
- Owners who want a structured, affordable, at-home program they can work through at their own pace
- Dogs whose reactivity is mild to moderate — noticeable but not escalating, no history of actual bites
- Owners who want a general obedience and impulse-control foundation that happens to include some genuinely relevant exercises, used alongside more targeted reactivity work
Who it’s not a good fit for
Say this plainly: dogs with a bite history or severe aggression need in-person professional behavior modification, not a self-paced online course. This isn’t a caveat to soften a sales pitch — it’s a real safety line. A general course, however well-made, isn’t equipped to assess your specific dog’s body language, risk factors, or the nuance of a serious case in real time the way a certified trainer or veterinary behaviorist working with your dog in person can. If that’s your situation, start with the professional-referral guidance on the reactivity guide instead of a course purchase.
A transparency note on reviews (including this one)
It’s worth knowing that a large share of the glowing reviews for this course online are written by other affiliates — people earning a commission on the sale, same as this page would if you bought through a link here. That doesn’t automatically make a positive review wrong, but it’s a real incentive worth weighing when you read any review of this course, including this one. We’re disclosing our own affiliate relationship here for that reason: read this assessment, and every other one you come across, with that in mind.
The honest recommendation
Brain Training for Dogs is a reasonable, affordable supplementary tool for a dog with mild-to-moderate reactivity and no bite history — worth using alongside the reactivity-specific exercises already covered on this site, like threshold work, the engage-disengage game, and muzzle conditioning if relevant to your situation. It is not a replacement for professional help in serious cases, and it’s not the reactivity-specific program some reviews make it out to be. Go in with that framing and it’s a genuinely useful addition to a training routine; go in expecting a dedicated reactivity protocol and you’ll likely be disappointed.
When to bring in a professional
If your dog has a bite history, if reactivity is escalating despite consistent management, or if you feel unsafe on walks, work with a certified force-free trainer or veterinary behaviorist in person rather than relying on any self-paced course — this one included.
Related reading
For how this course compares to other online options, see online reactive dog training programs compared. For how to vet in-person help if you need it instead, see how to vet a force-free trainer.
