Sherbert Service Dogs

02/28/2025

Client spotlight: Sherlock! ✨

I first met Sherlock and his family back at the end of October. They were struggling with Sherlock getting really excited and refusing to move if he saw another dog, people or animals. The biggest concern was he took this excitement and started biting and pulling at the leash.
We addressed his exercise needs, desensitized to more dogs at a distance, taught him to walk on a leash, and tried different harnesses and equipment to find his perfect fit.

In the last month we've focused on him working with his handlers and then feeling confident with Sherlock's skills, and the tools in their kit for making walks enjoyable for all!

Being a young golden retriever, Sherlock still loves life, but this week on sessions he was calm and collected, responsive to his cues, and didn't redirect his arousal to myself or his handler! 🥳

*I've attached videos of when he first started with me, and this week's session videos*

So so so proud of this team for all the work everyone has put in over this time, and can't wait to see their progress 🫶

Photo + video descriptions:
Image: a golden retriever wears a black and red face halter, he sits in front of a green bush, and looks at the camera.

Video 1) a golden walks around a gravel trail. He sniffes around and is pulling on the leash. He scratches at the beginning.

Video 2) a person in jeans walks alongside Sherlock the golden retriever. Sherlock wears a neon yellow rain jacket and black face halter. They walk together, and Sherlock looks up at his handler.

Video 3) Sherlock walks on a sidewalk. He wears a black and red face halter. He looks up at the camera, and sits.

| Reactive Dogs | Dog Training | Dog Trainer | R+ dog trainer |

02/25/2025

Hudson visits .bubbletea for a training evening! 🧋

7 month old Hudson came out to train at our favourite bubble tea place. Shops like these are great exposure for service puppies because they have:
• loud noises
• seats to practice tuck
• lots of people coming through
• different smells & sights

Go puppy! 🦮💖

Photo & video descriptions:

Image: Hudson; a cream standard poodle lays underneath a seat, and between legs with black pants & brown boots. He wears a burgundy leash and collar, and teal vest.

Video: Hudson lays tucked under a seat, and between legs with black pants and brown boots. His ears twitch at a sound to his right, and his head is down on the floor.

| Service Dogs| Owner Training | Dog Trainer | R+ Dog Trainer |

02/22/2025

*courtesy post* adopt Pip! ❤️‍🩹 Pipsqueak is a 3 year old Pomeranian looking for his forever home.

"I took him in after he was dumped at a vet to be euthanized with the intention of giving him a chance to find the right home. Now it’s time to start looking for his proper home."

About Pipsqueak:
He’s 3, almost 4, born April 21st, 2021. He was vet checked as healthy and sound before I picked him up. He’s neutered. He’s 8 lbs and very fluffy. He does have alopecia on his rear end. There has been some improvement while living with me.

He was initially brought to the vet for nipping at his owner. The Vet refused to put down a young healthy dog.
For the most part I’ve found him to be a sweet, fairly well behaved rambunctious Pom.
He’s playful, likes to fetch and play tug and has been discovering the joys of sniffy games.
Out on walks he likes to greet people.
In the house he can be quite quiet when his needs are well met, though I have encountered some demand barking for things such as being brought up on the bed for bed time.
He will also bark rapidly when you try to close a door between you. (Seperation anxiety)

The only times he has nipped me has been while grooming him. He’s very sensitive to his hair being pulled.
With a dedicated loving person and a trainer all of these things can be worked on and he would be a wonderful companion.
I do think he’d thrive best in a peaceful single person household with an active person who would take him on long walks and adventures together.

Pros:
-He’s very friendly to people.
-He walks well on leash
-He knows basic commands like “sit” “down” “on your mat” and “paw”
-He’s intelligent and is easy to train but can be stubborn
-He likes to sit on your lap and get pets, belly rubs, and snuggles
-He’s very sturdy and has a lot of endurance and loves being outside

Cons:
-Pip has reactivity around being groomed. He will nip.
-He has some resource guarding tendencies
-He has separation anxiety
-He’s reactive towards large dogs
-He demand barks
-Only mostly house trained, will use a p*e pad instead of going out if allowed.

Email us at [email protected] and we will connect you with his foster home.

Pip will come with some complimentary training from myself as I had the honour to work with him.

02/18/2025

A tale of two service brothers 🦮

Bucky (first slide) and his brother Prince (second slide) have both been training for service work with me since they came home, and are now approaching completion of training 🥺

They are both 18 months old now, and are hopefully getting certified later this year! Here's what they're both working on:

• longer stays and settling in different situations
• tasking in busy shops
• school visits
• working around different dogs
• new tasks

Super proud of these teams for their hard work and dedication paying off 🎉

Photo description:
Image 1) Bucky; a small black poodle sits in front of a colourful grid background. He wears a teal service dog vest.

Image 2) Prince; a large black poodle sits in front of a floral display and grey shelf. He has a dark red leash, and yellow collar.

| Service Dogs| Owner Training | Dog Trainer | R+ Dog Trainer |

02/13/2025

Service puppies in training Athena (Poodle) & Charlie (CKCS) sporting our newest gear from .doodle ! 🌞

I love customizable gear for my service dog. He has everything from a program vest, a stardew valley setup, to a Disney purple vest. But having a sharp professional option for my clients to choose from is important ❤️‍🩹
Currently the gear options I offer are:
1) a leash wrap (mandatory for SD clients)
2) new branded patches (optional)
3) full program vests (optional)

At 4.5 and 5 months old, these puppies are working hard in their training! Both are working on their basic obedience and some public access (pet friendly, and non pet friendly with permission)

Photo description:
Image 1) Athena, a black poodle puppy lays on a brown carpet. She wears a red vest that has white and teal patches. She looks at the camera.

Image 2) Charlie, an orange and white spaniel sits and looks up at his owner. The photo is taken from the side. He wears a red vest with white and teal patches.

| Service Dogs| Owner Training | Dog Trainer | R+ Dog Trainer |

02/11/2025

Congratulations to team Theo 👏🥳

Yesterday was a private session that marked the end of Theo's Reactivity Relief program, and it's safe to say he and his mom crushed it! Over the span of 8(ish) weeks, this team went from explosive frustration and excitement, to calm & easier to redirect reactions. They both put in lots of work in and out of our sessions to get Theo to this point, the biggest reason for success!! ❤️‍🩹

Yesterday we challenged Theo by taking him to the dog park he used to visit, and worked outside the park. He had some zoomies, and a few small reactions, but didn't let that stop them from their walk, and kept going.

Reactivity is a lifelong journey with ups and downs, so I don't believe in "curing" reactivity, but that dogs and their human counterpart have tools in their kit to set them up for long-term success! Let's leave a kind comment for someone navigating reactivity. 🫶

| Reactive Dogs | Dog Training | Dog Trainer | R+ dog trainer |

02/08/2025

In Training Puppy Hudson is looking for his Valentine ❤️‍🩹🐩

This super baby visited Indigo, Homes Alive Pets, and did a drive-thru during his dayschool session to give his puppy raiser some puppy free time. He got to work on confidence, obedience and ignoring distractions (people right now) and he was a superstar! 🙌

Photo description:
A cream poodle puppy wears a grey bodysuit and sits in a pink box that says "kissing booth. Kisses 5¢ with lots of pink hearts.

| Therapy Dog | Service Dogs | Dog Trainer | R+ dog Trainer |

02/04/2025

THERAPY DOG AVAILABLE 🐩

Hudson is a 7 month old purebred cream standard poodle. He has been training in Sherbert Service Dogs to help someone with a disability since September 2024. Through no fault of his own, he has not been able to find a home as a service dog, so at this time I am offering him as a therapy dog for a working professional.

About Hudson:
He's a social and playful dog. He is often described as ferret or cat like because of his energy!
He is social to dogs, cats and children. he has met horses and a variety of farm animals, and can be aloof, but quickly is comfortable with them.

He has been training since he was born, and then had daily work here with myself (a certified trainer) and my team for the past 5 months! He is confident, and comfortable in a variety of public settings.

He is extremely cuddly, without excessive licking, a great option for animal assisted therapy! He is training in item retrieval and deep pressure therapy to assist in emotional and physical therapies.

He can get mouthy if excited or played too rough with (a common issue with poodles), but is quick to respond to verbal corrections and redirect his chewing to a toy. This is a behaviour he will likely outgrow in time.

He is being placed for therapy work by day, and awesome pre-trained dog by night! At this time because of all the resources and time, he is being placed for $7️⃣,0️⃣0️⃣0️⃣

This price is based on our time, experience, energy, resources spent, and training. Hudson would be ready to pass therapy certifications once adjusted to his home & would come with a therapy dog vest.

If you are interested in Hudson for your workplace, please email us at [email protected]

| Owner Training | Service Dogs | Dog Trainer | R+ dog Trainer |

01/30/2025

Leash walking with Trigg! 🌞

This young gentle-pup and his owner have started with us to get his leash walking and engagement!

We got him started on:
• Focus games
• Leash pressure
• Heel foundations
• Sniffy walk time
• Timing of rewards

His owners have been fantastic at their homework keep up! (The real reason training works 😉🌟) His owners have goals of visiting bigger parks like Campbell Valley and Derby Reach! He's a 13 month old Lab mix, so everything is a big excitement and potential for a friend to Trigg 😂

Follow along to see this awesome team grow 🌞
Thanks to the awesome for getting videos!

| Owner Training | Service Dogs | Dog Trainer | R+ dog Trainer |

01/23/2025

Upcoming speciality classes at Sherbert Service Dogs:
1) Service Group Skills at FanExpo Vancouver 🥳
• Meeting outside the convention to warm up
• walking around for cosplay and busy environment training
• end outside to decompress and reward our dogs

2) Reactivity Relief in SQUAMISH for the hot chocolate festival ☕
• meeting location TBD when the map is out!
• walking around downtown Squamish, and visiting 2-3 locations during training
• bonus skills such as hands free walking 🫣

I cannot wait for these special classes coming up, and hope to see y'all there 🌻

*Please note: for the fan expo class, this outing is an advanced outing for seasoned dogs and/or older puppies*

| Service Dogs| Reactivity | Dog Trainer | R+ dog Trainer |

01/12/2025

Training a service dog is a big process, one of the biggest things being; how do I know they're ready for public access?
A few things I look for when working with SDiT's:

🐕‍🦺: are they fully potty trained and free of accidents?

🐕‍🦺: do they have solid obedience in a variety of settings?

🐕‍🦺: have they started task training?

If the service pup meets those standards, we start with *short* outings around 5-10 minutes and leave. This helps build resiliency & keep it positive for the dog. However, if the business asks us to leave we do. But why? The dog is training to be a service dog? I'll let the GSDSA explain it:

"Under the Guide Dog and Service Dog Act (the Act), dog-in-training teams have the same public access rights as anybody else. The Act defines dog-in-training teams as dog trainers who are certified and train on behalf of schools accredited by Assistance Dogs International (ADI) or the International Guide Dog Federation (IGDF).

However, the Act does not offer access protections for self-trained dog-in-training teams. If you would like to expose self-trained dog to situations that would help with the public access test, the program recommends that you have conversations with the locations you hope to access to come to a mutually agreeable solution. Businesses are not contravening the Act if they refuse these requests."

Looking to get a strong foundation on your service pups training? Reach out today, we offer ongoing enrollment 🐕‍🦺

| Owner Training | Service Dogs | Dog Trainer | R+ dog Trainer |

01/06/2025

Hudson learning lots this week! Thanks to tatertot.ca on instagram for this awesome training tool!

01/04/2025

When is a service dog ready for busy stores? 🦮
The answer varies from dog to dog but generally is when:
• The dog is potty trained
• Has had consistent obedience training
• Task foundation work at home

In BC service dogs in training do not have access rights the same as fully trained dogs do. So when you see service dogs out, they have had extensive training to be there!
We are fortunate that many stores are pet friendly, so are suitable places for new pups in the program can get exposure and training!

You've seen our newest program pups Charlie, Vesta, Athena and Amara out, but they are all only in pet friendly shops until they're ready for non-pet friendly spaces, and let me explain why.

1) It sets the in training pups up for success

2) Builds a positive association with public spaces + is more lenient for learning dogs & mistakes

3) Shows positive representation for service dogs to the public.

If we're training in a non-pet friendly location, it is generally one we have an established relationship with and have permission to train there. And if any of the pups are done or get excited that's our cue to leave.

| Owner Training | Service Dogs | Dog Trainer | R+ dog Trainer |

01/04/2025

"small dogs don't need lots of exercise!" ~ something I've heard before. So let me introduce to you; Gracie! ✨
Gracie is my smallest client, a wonderful Yorkie. And don't let her size fool you, she walks farther than most of my larger dogs, generally clocking 4-6km in an hour 🤯

We want to be careful about not creating a canine athlete who can run for hours that we can't keep up with, but ensuring our dogs physical needs is a huge part of seeing desirable behaviours occur regularly!
So how much is the "right" amount of exercise? Well, it's complicated and varies between breed, age and individuals!
Generally though, we're looking at:

For puppies 3-12 months:
10-25 minutes of exercise & 5-10 minutes of mental exercise in multiple sessions

Adolescent dogs 12-18 months:
25-60 minutes of exercise & 10-15 minutes of mental exercise in multiple sessions

Adult dogs 18-24+ months:
60+ minutes of exercise & 15+ minutes of mental exercise in multiple sessions

All of these will differ from breed to breed and individual dogs needs, but are a good guideline. So what about you? What does your pup's workout routine look like?

| Owner Training | Service Dogs | Dog Trainer | R+ dog Trainer |

12/31/2024

Hudson update from his puppy raiser 🥰

Sweet Mr Hudson did amazing at Starbucks this morning!! I unfortunately injured my shoulder two days ago, so I wasn't able to handle him during my session with Annika from Sherbert Service Dogs, but Annika was extremely understanding of that fact & was more than happy to do the handling/training with Hudson again today.
We got coffee at our favourite Starbucks (where we have permission to train) & then went to Home Alive Pets to get some equipment to further Hudson's training, along with some wet food so I can make some high value treats for Hudson at home.

Hudson will be staying with Annika over New Year's as I'm celebrating at my grandparents today & tomorrow & am unable to take Hudson along with me.
He'll be coming back home to me tomorrow afternoon & we'll likely start implementing some new training goals to continue getting him ready for his placement in February.
**fypuppy **f

12/31/2024

We've been force free at SSD since March, but let me share how we got there.. Like many, I was frustrated and confused why my dog Albert's reactivity wasn't improving. He could pass dogs at a distance sometimes, but if the dog reacted, was too close or rounded a corner we were done for. I wanted him to have a sustainable job as my service animal, but how?

I had been looking at 's website for schools and came across . I compared them to many other programs, talked with graduates of Dogma, and decided one night to just try it out. Throughout my time in the program, I have learned countless skills, had support on cases, and a place to discuss and ask questions without judgement.
|
Like the first two slides say, force free doesn't mean without stress. We want to lessen the stress our dogs experience, but small manageable stress creates resiliency in dogs. Something that is vital to service dog training!

If you're looking for coaching and guidance on training your service dog, reach out as we have rolling acceptance!

| Owner Training | Service Dogs | Dog Trainer | R+ dog Trainer |

12/24/2024

Happy holidays however you choose to celebrate the season! 🎇🐾

Today was spent training Hudson and his raiser on cafe etiquette in our fave .starbucks and then delivering client goodies with my pups 🎁

We'll be back to regular work on Monday January 6th 🥰

| Owner Training | Service Dogs | Dog Trainer | R+ dog Trainer |

12/18/2024

Very thankful for Hudson's amazing puppy raiser who stepped in for the remaining 8 weeks of his journey here at SSD before he goes to his forever family to continue his service dog journey 💜 highly recommend following them for regular/daily updates on Hudson's shenanigans!