604-541-8120
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. 
Canine Skills
Canine Talents
Foundations
Canine Skills Foundations focuses on 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. 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 4 months. 

This course is 8 weeks and $240
10% off for our regular daycare dogs.
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Next Sessions: January 10th at 6:30 pm
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Explorations
Canine Skills 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. 
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This course is 8 weeks long and $240.
10% off for our regular daycare dogs.
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Next Session: January 10th at 7:45
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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.
Kindergarten


If you do one thing for your dog, let it be puppy class! 
A good puppy kindergarten is an absolute essential for any new addition to the family. Join us in learning modern methods of building mentally strong and healthy dogs. 

For puppies 8-20 weeks old. Puppies must have the vaccines appropriate for their age.

6 weeks and $185
​Next session: Nov 7th at 6:30 pm.
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: January 9th at 7:45 pm
Adventure walks 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.
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.
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.
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.
Private training
Are you dealing with behavioural issues that such as potty training or leash reactivity, looking for training that is outside the scope of one of our regular classes, or just prefer one on one instruction? Dog Utopia and Gals and Pals Dog Training both provide private sessions. 

Unsure which of these businesses are best suited to address your training question*? Contact Dog Utopia and we will help streamline the process for you.
*Please note that all cases involving a bite incident, separation anxiety or any behaviour that could be considered a risk to human or canine mental or physical safety will be referred to Ocean Park Dog Training.