"Go Anywhere, Do Anything Dogs!"
At Dog Utopia, our goal is to empower all dog owners. Our training program utilizes only science based methods, and all trainers are highly experienced and committed to continuing education. Our Canine Skills program, taught by Liza Rader, focuses on building a strong and reliable foundation for you and your dog. Canine Talents by Sam Cassidy of Gals and Pals Dog Training, takes this foundation and builds on it with games, sports and tricks to increase fun and engagement.
If you are unsure which class is right for you, or if you have any other questions, please contact us.
At Dog Utopia, our goal is to empower all dog owners. Our training program utilizes only science based methods, and all trainers are highly experienced and committed to continuing education. Our Canine Skills program, taught by Liza Rader, focuses on building a strong and reliable foundation for you and your dog. Canine Talents by Sam Cassidy of Gals and Pals Dog Training, takes this foundation and builds on it with games, sports and tricks to increase fun and engagement.
If you are unsure which class is right for you, or if you have any other questions, please contact us.
Kindergarten
If you do one thing for your dog, let it be puppy class!
A good puppy kindergarten is absolutely essential for any new addition to the family. Join us in learning modern methods of building mentally strong and healthy dogs. Kindergarten sets you and your puppy off on the right foot. Establishing good habits early on in life saves owners a lot of trouble later on. There are certain skills puppies can only learn before the age of 18 weeks, so it is important to start class early. Our group classes help your puppy to learn how to do behaviours such as sit, come when called and walk on a loose leash in a busy environment, not just in your living room. Your puppy will also get many opportunities to play with their classmates, which offers incredibly important learning opportunities.
As well as her years of dog training experience and continuing education, trainer Liza apprenticed under a master breeder for over 10 years, which included invaluable and rare experience with raising and socializing puppies. This experience is a huge asset to our training program, as Liza is uniquely equipped to assist families with the challenges of raising puppies.
For puppies 8-16weeks old. Puppies must have the vaccines appropriate for their age.
6 weeks and $185
Next class: May 29th at 6: 30pm
A good puppy kindergarten is absolutely essential for any new addition to the family. Join us in learning modern methods of building mentally strong and healthy dogs. Kindergarten sets you and your puppy off on the right foot. Establishing good habits early on in life saves owners a lot of trouble later on. There are certain skills puppies can only learn before the age of 18 weeks, so it is important to start class early. Our group classes help your puppy to learn how to do behaviours such as sit, come when called and walk on a loose leash in a busy environment, not just in your living room. Your puppy will also get many opportunities to play with their classmates, which offers incredibly important learning opportunities.
As well as her years of dog training experience and continuing education, trainer Liza apprenticed under a master breeder for over 10 years, which included invaluable and rare experience with raising and socializing puppies. This experience is a huge asset to our training program, as Liza is uniquely equipped to assist families with the challenges of raising puppies.
For puppies 8-16weeks old. Puppies must have the vaccines appropriate for their age.
6 weeks and $185
Next class: May 29th at 6: 30pm
Foundations
FULL
Foundations focuses on all the basic canine life skills such as loose leash walking, sit and down, leave it, and most importantly recall. Handlers learn to understand their dog's body language and to build calm and reliable behaviour. Your dog will learn self control, how to be polite around dogs and people, and that learning is fun. As well as training many fun and useful behaviours, we also address issues such as jumping up, destructive chewing and mouthing and lack of impulse control, As Canine Skills aims to teach dog training from a relationship based approach, we will touch on handling, feeding, exercise and other foundation behaviours. This class is a fun and positive way to continue on from puppy class or to start training with any dog over 5 months.
Please note that this course is not appropriate for dogs exhibiting fearful or aggressive behaviour. If you are unsure which class is suitable for you and your dog, please contact us!
This is a semi private class with a maximum of 4 dogs.
8 weeks and $250
10% off for our regular daycare dogs.
Next Sessions: May 23rd at 6:30 pm FULL
Foundations focuses on all the basic canine life skills such as loose leash walking, sit and down, leave it, and most importantly recall. Handlers learn to understand their dog's body language and to build calm and reliable behaviour. Your dog will learn self control, how to be polite around dogs and people, and that learning is fun. As well as training many fun and useful behaviours, we also address issues such as jumping up, destructive chewing and mouthing and lack of impulse control, As Canine Skills aims to teach dog training from a relationship based approach, we will touch on handling, feeding, exercise and other foundation behaviours. This class is a fun and positive way to continue on from puppy class or to start training with any dog over 5 months.
Please note that this course is not appropriate for dogs exhibiting fearful or aggressive behaviour. If you are unsure which class is suitable for you and your dog, please contact us!
This is a semi private class with a maximum of 4 dogs.
8 weeks and $250
10% off for our regular daycare dogs.
Next Sessions: May 23rd at 6:30 pm FULL
Explorations
Canine Good Neighbour
Explorations takes the skills learned in Foundations and builds on them, adding real life practice scenarios and working through common distractions. There are also new behaviours learned and handlers will learn more about solving behavioural problems and interpreting their dog's body language. This course is perfect for any dog who has completed Foundations or who has a comparable level of positive reinforcement training.
Dogs who complete this course will be able to complete a Canine Good Neighbour test. The CGN is a Canadian Kennel Club test that is open to all dogs of any breed or mix. Dogs are evaluated on their ability to perform basic exercises as well as their ability to demonstrate good manners in everyday situations. This is an excellent way to prove your dog is a Certified Good Dog, which can be great for bringing dogs to work and applying for housing.
The components of the test are:
This is a semi private class with a maximum of 4 dogs
8 weeks and $250
10% off for our regular daycare dogs.
Next Session: April 16th at 7pm
Dogs who complete this course will be able to complete a Canine Good Neighbour test. The CGN is a Canadian Kennel Club test that is open to all dogs of any breed or mix. Dogs are evaluated on their ability to perform basic exercises as well as their ability to demonstrate good manners in everyday situations. This is an excellent way to prove your dog is a Certified Good Dog, which can be great for bringing dogs to work and applying for housing.
The components of the test are:
- Accepting A Friendly Stranger
- Politely Accept Petting
- Appearance and Grooming
- Out For A Walk
- Walking Through A Crowd
- Sit/Down On Command and Stay In Place
- Come When Called
- Praise/Interaction
- Reaction To A Passing Dog
- Reaction To Distractions
- Supervised Isolation
- Walking Through A Door/Gate
This is a semi private class with a maximum of 4 dogs
8 weeks and $250
10% off for our regular daycare dogs.
Next Session: April 16th at 7pm
Cooperative Care
All dogs must go to the vet, get their nails trimmed, be groomed either at home or the salon, and be handled by people they don't know. We have a choice, let these experiences be stressful and frightening, or proactively train cooperative care behaviours.
This six week course covers everything from safe nail care to vaccinations and other vet procedures. Using methods developed for animals that cannot be subjected to force, such as hyenas, dolphins and big cats, your dog will learn they have a choice in what is done to them.
Take steps toward a fear and anxiety free world for our pets!
This course is 6 weeks long and $180.
Next Session: to be announced
This six week course covers everything from safe nail care to vaccinations and other vet procedures. Using methods developed for animals that cannot be subjected to force, such as hyenas, dolphins and big cats, your dog will learn they have a choice in what is done to them.
Take steps toward a fear and anxiety free world for our pets!
This course is 6 weeks long and $180.
Next Session: to be announced
Adventure Walk Training Club
Held at different locations around the peninsula, these walks are a more relaxed way to continue training your dog. Each handler and dog team have different goals and needs, and the classes are designed to provide direct trainer support to all.
$200 for 8 walks, must be used within 12 weeks.
This class is ongoing. Please contact us if you are interested.
$200 for 8 walks, must be used within 12 weeks.
This class is ongoing. Please contact us if you are interested.
Playschool - puppy socials
As well as Kindergarten, we offer puppy socials, for extra socialization! Puppy time can be stressful, and getting all the socialization in can be hard! Let us help you!
Puppy socials are $15 per half hour. Suitable for dogs under 20 weeks.
Puppies must have vaccinations appropriate for their age and not be participating in high risk activities like visiting dog parks or pet stores.
If you're interested, please RSVP by noon the day of!
Puppy socials are $15 per half hour. Suitable for dogs under 20 weeks.
Puppies must have vaccinations appropriate for their age and not be participating in high risk activities like visiting dog parks or pet stores.
If you're interested, please RSVP by noon the day of!
Private Training
Can’t make your schedule work for a class? Need some one on one time to help with certain issues that may be too much for a class room setting? Private sessions are a great way to get training for your dog when a group setting is not ideal for you. We can work in your home to work on the issues that you are having.We also offer private sessions around the city, so that you can work around real-life distractions with someone there to offer tips and tricks to help with the issues that you are having.
We can work around your neighbourhood, in parks or anywhere you and your dogs are having problems.
We can work around your neighbourhood, in parks or anywhere you and your dogs are having problems.
Rally Obedience
Rally Obedience is a dog sport that helps you bond with your dog while utilizing the skills and obedience that you have been teaching your dog. In competition, you would go through a course designed to see how well you and your dog can perform certain tasks together.
These sessions will go over the rules of CARO Rally Obedience, the signs that you will need to know for a Novice course, the basic obedience commands you will need, and setting up courses to practice on. Please let me know if you are interested in these drop in sessions and I will contact you when the next date is available.
These sessions will go over the rules of CARO Rally Obedience, the signs that you will need to know for a Novice course, the basic obedience commands you will need, and setting up courses to practice on. Please let me know if you are interested in these drop in sessions and I will contact you when the next date is available.
Nosework
Give your dog a job and have fun while doing it!
Nose work is a wonderful and easy dog sport that you can do with your dog that utilizes their natural instincts to sniff things out. We start with getting your dog to find a reward (yummy treats) and then we pair it with odour (essential oil). Then we challenge them to search for it in different environments. This will tire your dog out mentally and is very easy to practice at home. There are many competitions around the city that you can enter as well once your dog is imprinted on different odours and you can get ribbons and enjoy a supportive community of people that love to do the same thing with their dog. Please let me know if you are interested in these drop in sessions and I will contact you when the next date is available.
Nose work is a wonderful and easy dog sport that you can do with your dog that utilizes their natural instincts to sniff things out. We start with getting your dog to find a reward (yummy treats) and then we pair it with odour (essential oil). Then we challenge them to search for it in different environments. This will tire your dog out mentally and is very easy to practice at home. There are many competitions around the city that you can enter as well once your dog is imprinted on different odours and you can get ribbons and enjoy a supportive community of people that love to do the same thing with their dog. Please let me know if you are interested in these drop in sessions and I will contact you when the next date is available.
Tricks
Teach your dog new tricks and build your bond with your dog with fun games.
Those who say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks are wrong; a dog can learn at any age. In these sessions, we go over a few simple tricks to teach your dog and play some fun games to practice the obedience your dog already knows. Your dog will learn tricks like bow, shake a paw, spins, targeting and much more! Have fun with your dog and challenge them by teaching new and fun things that you can do together. Please let me know if you are interested in these drop in sessions and I will contact you when the next date is available.
Those who say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks are wrong; a dog can learn at any age. In these sessions, we go over a few simple tricks to teach your dog and play some fun games to practice the obedience your dog already knows. Your dog will learn tricks like bow, shake a paw, spins, targeting and much more! Have fun with your dog and challenge them by teaching new and fun things that you can do together. Please let me know if you are interested in these drop in sessions and I will contact you when the next date is available.
