Testimonials

If you really want results with your furry friend whether its just help with bad habits, or for protection and security you can’t find a better place. We took both of our “Newfies” an they are so responsive to all our commands and as big as they are we have to have total control, I have sent various friends as well and they are beyond pleased with the results. Leonard Letoto is fantastic with the dogs he works with as well with all the people he meets…an all around great guy.

Worked with Chris, excellent trainer, goes above and beyond insuring that our stubborn bull dog embraces the a change, accountable on time and easy to communicate with and mediates between my GF and I when we have different thoughts on obedience training. After reviewing three other highly recommended trainers we decided to go with Chris due to their psychology aspect of training, not because of friendship, which I could say Chris is a friend now to us and to our Makamae. HIGHLY RECOMMEND them, you wont regret it.

My dog brought me to tears every time I took him for a walk. It was such a struggle! He isn’t my first dog, but certainly was a challenge. Exceptional Obedience changed that immediately, even before he left for a week of camp, he was listening and walking next to Leonard in a matter of seconds. I don’t regret calling Leonard and I highly recommend him! I love hiking and taking my dog…now dogs… for daily walks. We have learned much!

We worked with Chris and he was great with our dog. She learned quickly and we learned a ton!

We sent our dog King to Leonard at Exceptional Obedience for aggression problems and resource guarding. I am so thankful for the hard work Leonard put into training King! With a one year old son, I couldn’t imagine King behaving the way he used to in our house. We are so thankful to keep King in our family now that his behavior has been corrected and know that without Exceptional Obedience, this wouldn’t be possible. I would recommend Exceptional Obedience to anyone needing training for their dog! If you’re going to spend money on a trainer, you want to be sure it’s done right and worth the money. Leonard is definitely your guy for that!

After my son moved out we inherited his pit bull that required social behavior training. He had unpredictable aggressive patterns with visitors and on walks, when passing people and other dogs. In the the past, he nipped three persons and when I posted a “free dog listing” on Craig’s the response I had was very discouraging…..people wanting him for all the wrong reasons. In lieu of sending him to the pound and possibly having them put him down.. if no one took him, I decided to go with Exceptional Obedience. It was a 2 week stint at a hefty price but we are very satisfied with the results. I initially resisted the thought of the [remote] collar [they] are using. However, I learned when using it to refocus his attention on me and applying the simple training methods I learned from Leonard, he’s a different animal. His display of aggression has subsided and I’ve learned to properly introduce him to visitors and other dogs. Unfortunately he senses poor vibes from those that fear pit bulls and a wall is created. Otherwise he is now friendly and enjoys cuddling with visitors that are accepting him. Thank you Leonard for saving our dog.

We contacted Exceptional Obedience to help with our dog training needs. Leonard was very responsive. We were amazed at how well behaved his dogs were and wanted the same for our dog. He delivered as promised, but also went above and beyond. One night, long after training had completed our baby got sick and I checked online but couldn’t find a vet so I reached out to Leonard and he provided invaluable feedback on emergency veterinarian services. Our dog adores him. Leonard was next door working with our neighbor’s dog and our dog begged for his attention. I would recommend making dog training mandatory for all owners.

My wife and I chose Exceptional Obedience dog training because we wanted to address specific behavioral traits our dog Kona had developed as well as be able to let him off the leash once in a while. Kona is a sixty-pound mix with possible ridgeback, pit-bull, and boxer in his blood and is extremely energetic, powerful and, worst of all, stubborn.

When we started training Kona was around 2 years old and had already completed an eight-week group training program but was still showing signs of aggression around strangers, playing too rough with other dogs and not responding well to commands on or off leash in distracting environments. One of our friends had already had great success with their huskies and recommended Exceptional Obedience to us. Chris Koanui met with us for the first time at our house to answer questions and show us a quick demonstration. We were both extremely impressed not only by how quickly he was able to demonstrate control of our dog but also by the professionalism of the business. More importantly he laid out the training path specific for Kona’s needs and set the goals in performance that we wanted to see at the end of the eight weeks of training. Training progressed consistently starting with simple place drills at our house moving all the way to walking through a packed pet store. Every drill was taught with clear instruction and homework was assigned to allow us to continue training throughout the week.

Kona is now responding to commands at a distance with reasonable distraction but he is constantly improving as we continue to implement the lessons learned during training. One of the greatest parts of Exceptional Obedience is that even after completing the classes we are still in contact with Chris who helps us from time to time when we hit a roadblock in Kona’s progression. At last we get to enjoy hikes off leash, letting Kona interact with other dogs, and playing fetch to burn extra energy like we always wanted and Kona is also a much happier dog for it.

Leonard is awesome. He knows how to work with the dogs and the owners. He is more than willing to tailor his training to specific things that you would like to work on with your dog rather than just a generic puppy training program.

Chris was amazing to work with while training our dog. I would highly recommend Exceptional Obedience to anyone who needs help training beginner or advanced level.

Working with Leonard has been awesome (for our dog too!)

Roxy, is a cute little dog but she just wouldn’t stop barking. Her barking was so bad that we received a letter in the mail from a neighbor. They threatened to turn us into the Association if we didn’t get our dog’s barking under control. They even printed out info on dog collars as suggestions that could help us with the nuisance barking. Roxy was just a puppy and we loved her so we went to the Humane Society and bought a citronella collar. While that worked for a while eventually Roxy got used to it and it became nothing more than a collar.

Fast forward 5 years, the nuisance barking has been so irritating that was time to call in the reinforcements. After our initial meeting with Leonard, I was so excited about the training that I just couldn’t wait to sign up and get Roxy some help.

Roxy returned home yesterday and I wasn’t sure how our training would go. When Leonard arrived, he informed us that Roxy would stay in the van while we (the family) had our training session. At first I thought, “WHAT? When do we get to see Roxy and what kind of training do we need without her present!” Oh boy, was I schooled! Our training session without Roxy was so NECESSARY! If not for our training session (just the humans) we would’ve looked like idiots to our beloved dog. Roxy’s return home was full of distractions. She was tested by the dogs next door, the dog across the street, and the kids playing on the street. The fact that none of those distractions made Roxy bark is a major testament to the training she received from Exceptional Obedience. Our entire family was in awe and we couldn’t believe how disciplined she has become. Even the dog across the street was stretching his neck trying to get a look at Roxy (I’m pretty sure he was in shock by the new and improved Roxy).

It’s only been a day, but since Leonard left our home yesterday Roxy barked once and she listened to the quiet command when it was given. Her bark lasted maybe a couple seconds, not minutes! She spent her first night home cool, calm, and so quiet that I keep checking the garage to make sure she was still there. My only regret…that I didn’t contact Leonard sooner (like 5 years ago).

You can’t go wrong with Exceptional Obedience! Give them a call…you’ll be glad you did!

An amazing experience with dog training. Always brought the full potential with our dog. Exceeded expectations. Was able to teach us things that he didn’t have to. We noticed immediate results in our dogs behavior that we never thought would happen that fast. Chris provided an unbelievable amount of knowledge that helped out more than I could have imagined. Would definitely like to get some follow on training and possibly refine some of the things we learned.

If I could give Leonard 10 stars or more I would ! He is an AMAZING trainer ! Worth every penny. We have an Olde English Bulldogge and he was the hardest puppy I ever had personally . I have had dogs growing up 5 at a time from the puppy stage and never had I experienced a puppy like him. I am also a vet tech and of course always heard of the horror stories, lol.

We were truly talking about giving him back to the breeders after meeting with other trainers and the breeders themselves who have show winning dogs and train themselves had a puppy like him, lol. And they even were like, “We can’t help you, this dog needs A LOT of training,” etc. Then I met with Leonard and in the moment he stepped into our house my dog sat right beside him and listened very well. I was in shock, lol. Then Leonard brought along one of his own dogs to show what he can do which I really liked! I was like, “Dang he knows what he is doing.”

So we did the package where Leonard took him for a couple weeks and trained him . After that was over we met with him for 3 follow ups and [he’s available to] help throughout my dog’s life if we ever need it . I thank Leonard still till this day, he helped us keep our pup and changed him into a great dog ! My pup is now one [year old] and does great with walks etc. and we are saving money to send him back to mainland here in the next couple of months with us.

THANK YOU LEONARD ! We are furever ???????? grateful!

Exceptional Obedience was incredible with our family! We interviewed numerous dog trainers, one was too scared to even meet our female dog, and another trainer told us to euthanize her. Then, we met Chris, with Exceptional Obedience. He came to our house for our initial consultation, and blew us away. He was very professional, extremely knowledgeable, and wasn’t scared of our dogs at all. He actually had a lot of great things to say about them, and could tell that we loved them very deeply. He also knew that with three big dogs and two toddlers safety was our first priority. He met each of our dogs individually, talked with us about our day to day life, and asked about our goals for our dogs.

After much discussion, we agreed on a custom designed training plan, that was realistic for our busy life, and going to bring success and peace to our dogs and family. Chris kept us very well updated throughout all off our dogs’ training camps, and showed us step-by-step how to continue on with their training, and grow their skills on our own. He continues to be available to us whenever we need to ask him a question, or need a refresher training lesson.

Before Exceptional Obedience we couldn’t take our dogs anywhere, even for a walk, because they had no leash manners and lunged and barked at everyone and everything. Our female dog would consistently growl, and was extremely intolerant of other people and animals. Now we are taking our dogs on walks every day and often times the leash drags on the ground right beside us. Because they walk so nicely, we don’t need to hold onto it. We were able to get our family pictures done at a public beach without fear of a dog fight or our dogs running away and we’re looking forward to our dogs being able to join our children at school and sporting events in the future! Our only regret is that we didn’t reach out to Exceptional Obedience earlier!

Leonard did amazing things with our German Shepherd, Maya. She came back being the obedient, calm dog we needed her to be for our family. He was always available in case any other behavior problems arose to help us out. We can’t thank Leonard enough for all his hard work that he put into Maya. Even when we would go on vacation, Leonard would board Maya and Maya could not wait to go with Leonard. She would literally be running out the door. It put me at ease and was a good feeling knowing she loves being with him.

I am in awe of what good training can do. Bodhi and Keely are doing amazing and spend most weekends running at the beach, now that I know they will come when called. I use hand commands because of Bodhi’s hearing loss and both dogs respond immediately. Thank you for training me to be a good pack leader!!!

I’ve had the privilege of working first hand with Leonard and Chris as trainers.

My dog, Thor, is now 2 years old. I initially met Chris when Thor was 12 weeks old. Chris essentially educated me on how to train Thor on basic puppy obedience that will last Thor and I a lifetime. He established the groundwork that I needed to establish with my dog and it absolutely worked… almost like magic.

There is something incredibly special about owning, caring for and training a dog. The bond that you build almost can’t be described in words… at least for me I feel that way.

I then met Leonard two years later when Chris was on vacation and Leonard picked up right where we left off and gave me some great tips for helping me better communicate with Thor while on the walk.

I must say it made a great difference. I would absolutely recommend these two gentlemen as Exceptional Obedience Dog Trainers.

My 18 month old dog has been training with Leonard for several months now. Previous, we had a dog trainer that said he could only accomplish training if he was able to be hired three times a week, AND, at each lesson a minimum of 3 hours. The three of us, my husband, myself, and our puppy, was exhausted and reached a major saturation point after 1 hour. We did not see much progress in our dog. Shortly thereafter, we spoke to Leonard, co-owner of Exceptional Obedience. From the moment our dog met him, her eyes danced with happiness and she respected him. There has been definite progress. I, being and overly protective mother of children and my dog, as well as Type A personality, was reluctant for her to go to the 2 week ‘camp’ at Leonard’s house. In my mind this meant us not seeing our baby and not knowing if she would be in care as excellent as ours. Mind you, we never leave her alone or with even a family member. Worry wart mother here is always frantic that something will happen. So much trust has developed ,and, as I am writing this, our dog is ‘at boot camp,’ (lol) without us, at Leonard’s. Mommy and daddy’s girl did not even whine or bark when we said good bye to her. We know that she is excited to learn things from him, respects him, and if anyone could teach her what she knows it is him. My husband and I are professionals in our field and are leaving our dog to the professional in his field.

I had two dogs that I needed help with and it was very obvious right from the start that Leonard Letoto was trusted by them – something which had never happened before with any of the trainers we’d met. It was also very apparent how well he handled them (and us). We bombarded him with questions and he answered everything without hesitation. He demonstrated on our oldest dog who didn’t like to be handled and Leonard handled him like a dream. My dog never took his eyes off of him and followed every direction he gave. This was a dog who it took me and my husband months to gain his trust.

Our first meeting ended on a positive note. My husband and I were completely sold on Leonard’s recommendations. However, it did take us a few months to solidly decide we wanted to do it – this was more to do with finances than our impressions of Leonard and Chris. However, we decided to book with Leonard for more lessons. Leonard went above and beyond his trainer duties during our lessons/board. He sent me pictures of our oldest during his stay with Leonard so I could see how he was doing. He was very flexible with our lessons and I felt that he answered everything I asked and gave me a solid foundation to continue training my dogs to the way I wanted them to behave.

Our lessons were dynamic and he never stopped teaching me (and my dog). He didn’t mind if I called him with problems I encountered during my day to day training, which I felt was exactly what I needed. I encountered a few situations which I just didn’t know how to handle with my youngest and he stepped me through it. No question was ever too small. I learned so much from Leonard about how to read behaviors and handle problems when they occurred. My dogs are happier and so am I.

I highly recommend Leonard and Chris to everyone I can. Their experience and professionalism are by far the best I have ever encountered.