Follow The Leader K9

If you're looking for a dog trainer or boarder in Santa Barbara, Follow the Leader is the absolute best and will completely change how you interact with your dog! We first met Eric when we were searching for a trainer who worked with foster dogs. Eric immediately understood our foster and helped us understand all of the behaviors that we had been naively reinforcing. After seeing the incredible results that we had with our foster (who was adopted shortly after Eric fully trained him!), we signed our dog, Roscoe, up for training and boarding with Eric. We had worked with two other trainers in Santa Barbara before to varying degrees of success, but Roscoe remained anxious, unable to handle change, difficult to manage on leash, and reactive to motorcycles and buses. We had resigned ourselves to building a routine around these behaviors, but Eric showed us why this wasn't helping anyone and how we could better communicate with Roscoe to have the fully trained dog we had only dreamed of. Roscoe is now calm around distractions and off-leash trained, and we understand how to communicate with him so that he understands our expectations. Our lives are so much calmer, quieter, and easier, all thanks to the amazing FTL crew. We also now have a trustworthy and loving place to send Roscoe when we travel and know that he'll come back with in the right mindset. The magic that happens with FTL is undeniable and will make you question why it took you so long to start training.

Eric is an excellent dog trainer. I rescued a three-year-old male husky, Yukio, who had been in the shelter for five months and came with some behavior issues. Having trained horses, I thought I was pretty well equipped. But, I quickly realized I needed help! Eric gave me the education, practical tips, and confidence to really work with my dog in a way that made a difference. He broke things down in a way that was easy to understand and apply. It was all about training me and then creating time to make training Yukio a hobby. I only wish I had started this work with Yukio earlier! Yukio is now seven years old—well behaved and sweet. I’m very grateful for Eric’s help and would absolutely recommend him!

We adopted our German Shepherd, Henri, from a shelter. He is a very sweet dog, but he struggled with anxiety and reactivity toward other dogs. Before finding Eric, we worked with two other trainers, but they weren’t the right fit for Henri or for us. Eric is incredibly intuitive and truly understands that every dog is different. Henri is a sensitive dog, and we needed someone who could guide us as owners, not just train the dog. There was a point when we honestly didn’t know if we would be able to keep him, but Eric gave us the patience, instruction, and confidence we needed. After completing the 10-day training program, Eric and his team have continued to support us as we grow alongside Henri. Katia has been amazing—she has worked with us with patience and clear guidance, and Henri absolutely loves her! We are very grateful for Eric’s guidance and the ongoing support from his team. We highly recommend Eric to anyone looking for a thoughtful trainer who truly understands dogs and support owners along the way!

We highly recommend Follow The Leader K9. Eric and his team have truly changed our lives for the better. With Eric’s guidance, we’ve watched our cattle dog gain confidence and transition into a much better state of mind. She is able to focus better, listen to commands, and make better decisions even with distractions around her. She has become a much more happier, playful dog and will even play with our friends and family, which is a huge change from the scared dog she was before. The progress has been incredible and everyone around us has noticed the difference. Eric continues to work closely with us, tailoring his training to fit both our dog’s unique needs and our daily lives. As our dog grows, the training evolves too, helping us navigate new challenges and build on our progress. The Follow The Leader K9 team is outstanding. We can’t recommend them enough. Reaching out to them was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made.

I’ve known Eric from Follow the leader k9 for years now. I’ve adopted a little deer headed Chihuahua name cinnamon about 6 years ago. She was skittish all the time and had really bad anxiety I couldn’t take her anywhere. Me being disabled with a rare skin condition I was hoping to get cinnamon approved to be a service dog. With some tips and tricks and watching FTLK9 videos on Instagram slowly but surely I was about to train cinnamon to be cool calm and collective. It took a lot of time and patience to get her to where I can take her anywhere and everywhere. With Eric’s help I can now take Get to the Santa Barbara bowl for shows places to eat the beach, camping. You name it she there by my side ask the time sitting on my lap as I’m on my wheelchair. I use to take cinnamon to the vet to get her nails trimmed and they would charge me $60 every time. I mentioned that to Eric and how much they charge me telling him it’s hard for me to keep paying that much for nail trim. He offered me free trimming any time she needs it which is a huge blessing. Eric’s groomer Alondra has such an amazing gift with the animals and cinnamon. Cinnamon really hates getting her nails trim, it took maybe 3 sessions of Alondra coming over to trim and took a while to get all 4 paws done. Now it takes about 5 minutes for Alondra to trim her nails. You can notice that Alondra really cares about the dogs and shows compassion and love towards them. Alondra will trim one paw then give cinnamon a few treats then do another paw then treats and do the same thing till she’s all done. I’m very blessed for Follow the Leader K9.