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Reviews
We have been working with Shannon and Jen at Zen dogs for over 7 years. It started with our highly dog reactive female GSD, Ebony. With private sessions, group classes, nosework class , and sessions of growl class we have a handle on this tough girl ( who is a sweetheart with people, children, bunnies, cats, coyotes! just not dogs). The packs walks worked amazing with Ebony. Four years ago I wanted to get another dog to be able to work with in competitive obedience. With Shannon's help I was able to add an 8 1/2 week old GSD puppy who has now just turned 4. The fear was we would duplicate the issues Ebony had but with careful work and attending classes with Moody this has not happened. Moody is a graduate of Zen Dog kindergarden, level one, nuts and bolts, circuit class, tracking class. Of course we still attend the pack walks. We know how to manage Ebony keeping her comfortable and Moody is a balanced happy boy who loves to work. Highly recomend Zen dogs, it will work for you as long as you listen to the trainers and put in the work.
Remy and I love coming to Saturday classes! Shannon is knowledgeable and kind. We trust her expertise. Saturdays are a wonderful way to supplement our own training and stimulating for my dog :)
My dog Leela and I had so much fun at Shannon’s Rally-O classes. We started with no previous experience and within 4 classes we were able to complete an advanced course off leash! Shannon is a phenomenal positive trainer, very knowledgable and patient with doggies and humans alike. Highly recommend!
Shannon is incredibly helpful and an absolute expert with border collies. She is kind, efficient, and thoughtful in her approach. In our private lessons, she took the time to understand my training goals and concerns, and provided a wealth of resources to support us. Shannon’s candour, practical insight, and depth of knowledge has made me well-equipped to use these skills going forward. I look forward to working with her again in the future.
We loved Shannon's Puppy Kindergarten and Puppy Grade 1 classes, and also adored her assistant Isabelle! Learned a lot and practiced a ton of socialization. Definitely stressful as first time puppy owners to try to handle your pup around other dogs in a class setting, but ultimately I think it made a huge difference in giving us great exposure and better tools to do so! Every time we doubted a command or trick and wondered if we'd use it, we'd end up realizing how right Shannon was a week or two later haha. Hope to continue taking her classes and have heard folks sing her praises around Vancouver for good reason! She's the best
We had a great experience training our nearly 1.5 year old golden retriever with Shannon. She was super informative and we saw immediate progress using the tips she shared, right from our very first session.
I’ve adopted and fostered multiple dogs in the past 20 years and taken them all to training classes, from many different companies. Shannon and Zendog are by far the best. Shannon’s decades of experience and incredible talent as a coach and dog trainer make her classes a joy to take. I learn so much every time and I know I can trust Shannon to meet every dog and handler wherever we are. She leaves nobody behind, provides twice ad much information as any other classes I’ve taken, and somehow ensures neither dogs nor humans get bored. I’ve done everything from puppy classes to advanced obedience to reactive dog classes to private lessons with Shannon, and referred many friends there over the years. Shannon gives an outstanding experience and excellent value every single class. It is especially important to get early training and socialization right with young puppies, and Shannon’s puppy classes are by far the safest and best place I've found to make sure that happens.
Shannon is great, and I love that she offers drop-in options for ongoing training as well as package deals. Monique has made so much progress since we've been working with Zen Dogs!
Had such a wonderful experience with the first couple of lessons we started with Shannon and our new rescue puppy. She definitely catered the training to exactly what she felt my dog needed and was extremely realistic and understanding with him. We will be looking to continue more in the warmer months, as well as attending group classes!
Shannon is the BEST trainer I have ever had the pleasure working with. Thanks to Shannon, I finally feel confident when it comes to understanding and working with my dogs. For the last three years, Shannon has been an immense help in training my Border Aussie through puppy classes, Rally-O, Skills & Drills, and private sessions. These classes have been fabulous socialization opportunities for my dog who sadly became reactive after a traumatic experience as a puppy. Thanks to Shannon's help and classes, she now also has more ease around other dogs. Shannon is like a human encyclopedia when it comes to doggie knowledge, is extremely patient, encouraging, and one of my dog's favourite humans. After working with Shannon, I am a better dog owner! Highly recommend her as an amazing dog trainer!!
We did Puppy Kindergarten and Grade 1 with Shannon at Zen Dog Training. Kindergarten was really fun and informative. It is more focused on training skills than socialization. We learned some key skills like sit, middle, heel, down, on your mat and touch. We also learned more important life skills such as practicing holds for when we go to the vet, learning back foot awarness, and leaving food alone if its on the floor. Overall it was a really great way to bond with our lab puppy and learn together.Grade 1 was outside at PW Mini School. There was about 7 other dogs in the class. We worked on recalls, loose leash walking, and built on some of the skills we learned in Kindergarten. It was so fun being outside and continuing to learn with some of the dogs from Kindergarten. All us dog parents connected and are in a group chat sharing the highs and lows of puppyhood.Overall, Shannon is incredibly knowledgable. She has a really great approach to training that is focused on connection with your puppy over discipline. She shows how practice, dedication and repetitive training can lead to a calm well behaved pet.Our puppy is almost 7 months old now and he is happy to come with us to park hangs, walks well on his leash, plays well with other dogs and is very bonded with us! Overall 10/10 would recommend Shannon and Zen Dog Training, you need to be ready to work hard!
It was so calming for my dog!
I can't say enough about Zen Dog training and Shannon herself. She really exudes sheer knowledge, wrapped in a comforting layer of reassurance and fun. My dog now behaves so well and is so much calmer in situations that used to be stressful. Thanks so much!
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Does your dog need some Life Skills? Our next Level One Obedience class is starting up June 30th. One spot is available. Come join us for some summer training fun!Life Skills is our recommended level one obedience course, incorporating both game-based and obedience-oriented exercises into the skills you will teach your dog, all using positive reinforcement.This five week course consists of five instructional group lessons held outdoors with access to a sheltered space on rainy days so we have plenty of room to work on big picture stuff. It is how dogs learn best and where they need to use those life skills most.In Life Skills we cover management and its importance in dog behaviour; leadership practices so the human steers the ship; reinforcement strategies using markers for clarity and precision; toy play for relationship building; engagement games for distractions; settling exercises for both inside and out; responsible leash walking concepts; and recall games.Whew! Be prepared to learn, work hard and have a blast!www.zendogtraining.com
Calling all puppies!!Join us on July 8th for our summer Zen Puppy Kindergarten course.The course features six one-hour lessons, and covers the basics of early puppy socialization, handling, skills building, body awareness, nutrition and wellness. We discuss toy play, enrichment, grooming, impulse control and early obedience exercises, all designed to start puppies off in the best way possible in a positive and supportive environment. In the first lesson we meet over zoom with foundation exercises to support the in-person lessons, and a discussion on puppy biting, crate and potty training, as well as management strategies to prevent unwanted behaviours from flourishing.The five remaining lessons are held at Simply Natural Raw Pet Foods in Kerrisdale with an interactive mix of skills building, puppy agility/body awareness, social play, and fun contests to win prizes! We set up a mini agility/obstacle course for the last class – one of the highlights, celebrating six weeks of hard work!The course includes a puppy pack of training goodies and supplies to assist puppy-human teams on their learning journey. Class size is kept to six puppies between 9 and 14 weeks of age at the start date of the class. All puppies must have age-appropriate vaccines to join.We promise this to be one of the most well-rounded and informative puppy classes in Vancouver.Reach out to us at zendogtraining.com for more details or call Simply Natural Raw Pet Food at 604.266.1125 to register.
https://www.zendogtraining.com/training/first-things-to-teach-your-puppy/
