DIYK9 Obedience 101 Review (2026): Is It Really Worth the $397 Price?

My dog knew “sit” perfectly.

In the kitchen.

With nobody else around.

The second we stepped outside, that same “sit” became a suggestion he was free to ignore.

A squirrel.

A neighbor.

A leaf blowing across the yard.

Any of it beat out whatever I was asking for.

I had a dog who understood the word and a dog who obeyed the word, and I was slowly realizing those are two completely different things.

That gap is what led me to this DIYK9 Obedience 101 review.

Same company as the Puppy Essentials and Perfect Walk courses I’d already gone through.

Same instructor.

But this one is built around the actual foundation most training skips past on the way to fixing bigger problems:

Real, reliable command response—not just command recognition.

What Is DIYK9’s Obedience 101, and Why It’s Different From Leashed

This DIYK9 Obedience 101 review needs to start with a real clarification, because DIYK9’s own course catalog has two $397 courses that sound similar and are not.

• Obedience 101 teaches core commands using food lures, hand signals, and voice cues. DIYK9’s own course page states plainly: “No Rough Stuff Here.”
• Leashed is a separate course focused on leash-pressure technique that explicitly markets itself as needing “no food luring.”

This one specifically covers the reward-based course, the one that matches a force-free training approach.

If leash-pressure technique is what you’re after, that’s a different product entirely, and not one this site recommends.

According to the ASPCA‘s official position statement on training methods, humane training makes primary use of lures and rewards such as food, praise, petting, and play, rather than methods that inflict unnecessary distress or discomfort.

DIYK9’s Obedience 101 is explicitly positive-only, using food lures, hand signals, and voice commands with no corrections, distinct from DIYK9’s separate Leashed course, which is leash-pressure-based and markets itself as not requiring food rewards.

What’s Actually Inside the Course

Here’s the honest breakdown of what $397 buys, based on the actual course content.

• Over 12 hours of video instruction, taught directly by Garret Wing.
• Core commands covered: sit, stay, heel, down, come, and crate, using the same lure-and-reward method AKC’s own training guides describe.
• Built for complete beginners. No prior training experience assumed.
• Focus on reliability across environments, not just performing a command once in a quiet room.

DIYK9’s Obedience 101 includes over 12 hours of instruction covering sit, stay, heel, down, come, and crate, all taught through food lures and hand signals rather than physical corrections.

According to the American Kennel Club, luring a dog into a down position with a treat, then gradually fading the lure into a hand signal, is a standard and effective technique for building reliable basic commands.

For the free foundational method that pairs with this course, read our guide on positive reinforcement dog training for beginners.

My Honest Take, What Worked and What I’d Skip

The core lure-and-reward method here isn’t dramatically different from a well-written free guide.

What justified this DIYK9 Obedience 101 review’s price tag for me was the consistency-across-environments framing, the part most free content skips entirely.

• The “kitchen sit doesn’t equal outdoor sit” problem gets addressed directly, not as an afterthought.
• Real demo footage across different dogs and distraction levels, not one polished, staged clip.
• The treat-timing instruction genuinely fixed a habit I didn’t know I had, rewarding half a second too late, every single time.

Where I’d set expectations lower:

A genuinely distracted, squirrel-obsessed dog still took more repetition in real outdoor settings than the course framing implied.

That’s consistent with what I found across DIYK9’s other courses too.

The method is sound.

Consistency on your end still does the actual work.

Pricing and the Guarantee

• $397 as a one-time purchase.
• Lifetime access.
• No subscription.

Payment plan options are available at checkout through:

• AfterPay
• PayPal Credit
• Klarna

These are the same options available across DIYK9’s other individual courses.

Code VIMLESH is confirmed by the site owner to work on DIYK9’s individual courses, applying 10% off at checkout.

Try it here too, though it was specifically confirmed for the $119-tier courses and Perfect Walk rather than Obedience 101 directly, so confirm the discount applies before completing checkout.

The course also comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee, confirmed on DIYK9’s own refund policy page.

DIYK9’s Obedience 101 costs $397 as a one-time, lifetime-access purchase, with a 30-day money-back guarantee and payment plan options through AfterPay, PayPal Credit, and Klarna.

Quick Comparison, DIYK9 Obedience 101 vs Similar Programs

For our full breakdown of the other DIYK9 courses, read our DIYK9 Puppy Essentials review and our DIYK9 Perfect Walk review.

Who Should Buy This Course

This DIYK9 Obedience 101 review points toward a specific kind of owner.

• Your dog knows commands at home but ignores them anywhere distracting, the exact gap this course targets.
• You’re starting from zero with a new dog or puppy and want a structured, beginner-friendly foundation.
• You specifically want food-lure and hand-signal methods, not leash-pressure or correction-based training.
• You’ve tried free command-training content and it hasn’t stuck reliably outside the house.

DIYK9’s Obedience 101 is best suited for owners whose dog responds to commands inconsistently outside controlled environments, and who specifically want a positive-only, food-lure-based method rather than correction-based training.

According to the American Kennel Club, obedience training teaches a dog appropriate social behavior, helps correct common problem behaviors like jumping and barking, and keeps a dog mentally engaged—benefits that extend well beyond just knowing individual commands.

Who Should Skip It

• You want leash-specific technique. That’s DIYK9’s Perfect Walk course, not this one.
• Your dog has genuine aggression or reactivity beyond basic disobedience. That needs an in-person certified behaviorist’s assessment.
• You’re looking for competition-level obedience training. This covers everyday reliable commands, not AKC trial-level precision.

DIYK9’s Obedience 101 is not designed for dogs with genuine aggression or reactivity, which require an in-person certified behaviorist’s assessment, nor for competition-level obedience training, which needs AKC trial-specific preparation beyond everyday command reliability.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

The Kitchen Sit, Final Thoughts

That kitchen-perfect, everywhere-else-ignored “sit” is what sent me looking for this course in the first place.

This DIYK9 Obedience 101 review isn’t going to tell you the method is revolutionary.

Lure-and-reward training isn’t new.

What changed things for us was the deliberate focus on proofing commands across distractions, treated as the actual point of training rather than an advanced afterthought.

Three things to take with you:

• Confirm which course you’re buying. Obedience 101 and Leashed are both $397 and both about “obedience,” but only one is force-free. Check before you click.
• The environment-proofing focus is the real value here. Teaching a command once is easy. Making it reliable outside the kitchen is the actual skill this course targets.
• The 30-day guarantee makes it low-risk. Confirmed directly on DIYK9’s refund policy page, not just marketing copy.

For the complete free foundation this course builds on, read our guide on positive reinforcement dog training for beginners.

Written by

Vimlesh Sharma

Vimlesh Sharma is a dog dad, lifelong animal lover, and the founder of PawWellCare.

He started this site after bringing home his first puppy and realizing how overwhelming it felt to find clear, trustworthy information — without wading through outdated advice or generic tips that didn't actually help.

Everything published on PawWellCare comes from real experience, hours of research, and guidance from trusted veterinary sources like the AKC, ASPCA, and AVMA. The goal is simple: give every dog owner the kind of honest, practical advice that a knowledgeable friend would give — not a textbook.

Vimlesh writes specifically for U.S. dog owners and covers puppy care, training, nutrition, grooming, and dog health. When he's not writing, he's probably on a walk with his dog or testing out the latest dog products so you don't have to.

Note: All content on PawWellCare is for educational purposes only. For medical advice, always consult a licensed veterinarian.

Vet-informed content Dog dad & lifelong animal lover