Feeling overwhelmed with a new puppy in the house?
Or have an older dog that could use a training transformation?
I offer custom-tailored, private training sessions for you and your dog. Whether you want help raising your puppy positively or need assistance fixing your dogs behaviour & obedience issues- let me help!
No matter how much you love your dog, it can be incredibly frustrating when they just don't seem to understand what you want.
real talk:
Let me help you achieve your goals!
I will tailor a plan for you & your dog to solve your obedience or behavioral concerns.
Assessments are typically 90-120 minutes and occur in your own home!
Investment $150
Assessment
During the assessment I provided you with a plan for addressing your dogs concerns and what to work on.
Follow-ups build on that success until the issue is resolved!
Follow-ups are typically 60 minutes either in your own home or in a location where we can continue your dogs progress.
Investment $100
Follow-ups
I'm here to help!
If you have questions between our sessions I'm available by phone & email to offer support.
Support between sessions included free of charge!
Ongoing Support
The most effective dog training starts where your dog is most comfortable: in your home. Therefore, I'll come to you! I offer both virtual and in home consultation!
I will work with you to assess your goals, develop & implement a realistic training plan to achieve your goals, and guide you throughout the process with ongoing support!
I do not believe in or support force or intimidation based training. We will train your dog with positive reinforcement and verbal cues that will develop rather than destroy your bond as you train.
I don't just train your dog; I teach YOU how to be the trainer.
I want to help you build a trusting relationship with your dog that will last a lifetime.
Training isn't just what, it's also when!
Timing and consistency are so important to get the best results. Sometimes it only takes the smallest change to have a huge impact.
In my 20's I rescued a senior dog I later named Burrito. The shelter was going to put him down due to age, behaviour and health problems.
I met him and we had an instant connection. I knew I wanted to give him a good last few years of life.
Burrito came to me with a whole set of problems:
Dog aggression, extreme resource guarding, pulling on the leash, separation anxiety and messing in the house.
Burrito is important to mention because he gave me so much insight and understanding into what I imagine are the same emotions and struggles you'll go through training your own dog.
Burrito challenged me more than any dog I've ever had.
Outdated training methods focus on alpha theory & punishment based training.
Unfortunately, a lot of trainers still continue to use these methods. They focus on intimidation or force based training despite research proving there's better ways.
At best these methods make your dog obey you out of either fear or avoidance of pain. They can also make your problems much worse!
Your dog deserves better than that.
Therefore, I do not support the use of:
- Prong/choke/shock collars
- Force or intimidation based training
When there's better options that do not emotionally or physically harm your dog, why WOULDN'T you choose them?
Steph is patient and kind (my dog loves her!)
Her training is fun, easy to follow, and most importantly it works!
I've learned so much within a short period of time through these personalized training sessions at home.
All her tips and tricks are helping improve our dog's quality of life. Great experience all around and I highly recommend booking an assessment and training with Steph.
Praise
We have learned calm ways to interact with Milly, who thrives on the positive reinforcement techniques. Basic commands have progressed well indoors, and we have moved on to
outdoor loose-leash training for the walks that Milly craves. Stephanie's background knowledge and training are a real benefit!
Praise
Our puppy is very nervous with new people and refuses to walk on leash with them. Once she is comfortable with you she pulls like crazy however! She’s 70 lbs and was getting hard to control.
We previously worked with a trainer who suggested a slip lead to get our pup walking nicely, but we did not find this helpful and our puppy would just sit and refuse to move on walks. Stephanie very patiently spent our first 4-5 sessions building trust with our puppy and then was able to walk her and see how bad her pulling was.
After another few sessions our puppy was walking much better and no longer yanking off our arms!
Stephanie taught us how to progress and keep working on loose leash walking without her which has been going very well. She also worked with our pup on “focus” which has been helpful for centering her and calming her down on walks when something scary passes by.
Praise
Her recall was not great, and we didn't really trust her off leash.
It has been great working with Steph because she really got to the root of what made it so hard to train Lily's recall. Steph was able to explain to us why Lily behaves the way she does because of her breed, and provided us with daily play and training we should be doing to work on her impulse control.
With that in mind, it helped us train Lily's recall and loose leash walking (that was a bonus!).
Thanks for all your help Steph!!
Lily was just over a year old when we started working with Steph.
Praise
Stephanie was so great with both us and our new pup.
She helped us better understand the way our puppy communicates with us and discover her needs based on her breed and personality.
She helped give us a tons of encouragement and really useful and effective techniques for training.
She was non judgmental, really kind and super knowledgeable.
We will continue to keep Stephanie in our back pocket for future follow up sessions through out our pups life I am sure!
Praise
Stephanie is the one to help you and your fur babies with gaining confidence with helping them conquer their fears.....
Very down to the point, no reading between the lines, and always up front with you...
Praise
We wanted a dog from Mexico and because a home visit was not possible, we knew there might be some challenges integrating him into our family. Stephanie gave us the strategies and understanding we needed to communicate with our newest addition and bring peace to our home. She made our dream of rescuing a Mexican street dog a reality.
Praise
Reliable Recall
There are so many sights, smells, and sounds competing with you for your dogs attention when they're off leash. How can you train a reliable recall with that much distraction?
If you want a dog that will come back when called (regardless of what's happening around them), grab this guide!
info@happyhoundsdogtraining.ca