Liv Better Dog Training

Liv 🐶 She's deaf. She's blind. She has dementia. She's been living with a terminal diagnosis for a year and a half. But she's still git it!! 💚🩵💜 #livbetter #livbetterdogtraining #littleLivie #seniordog #dogtraining #mygirl

🎉 Home, sweet, home! 🎉 After three months of renovations, city inspections, many, many setbacks and delays, and more scrambling and tears than I’d care to admit, WE'RE HOME! 🥹 we still have some renos to do in the spring, so things are a little rough at the moment, but we have our occupancy permit back in hand with a greenlight to resume regular business!  Losing a whole quarter for a small business is HARD, the hardest thing I've gone through as a business owner to date. So we're coming back hot, opening the books for all of our programs, and planning some new classes to make up for our absence. I have daytime availability for private lessons and I've just opened a new Puppy Preschool class, two new High School Hounds classes, a new Canine College class, AND I brought back the OG, highly requested Loose Leash Walking class - all set to start later this month and early March! Cannot wait to get back to a regular routine and snuggle all my furry buddies who I have missed SO MUCH! Send us an email at [email protected] for more information! 💜💙💚

Hey friends, Just an update on our training facility at 40 O'Leary. As you know, the building we lease had a pretty big leak which caused significant water damage to our unit. Unfortunately with so much water coming in, there were some electrical concerns and power was shut down for the entire building. All the tenants in the building also lost their occupancy permits which sadly means we have not been allowed onsite. All group classes have since been suspended, and private lessons have been moved to in-home wherever possible. I have been working day and night to find a solution to limit the interruption, but sadly nothing has panned out the way I hoped. We have had many gracious offers from other businesses to rent their spaces for classes (all the appreciation to Amy Walsh and The Pawffice, Newfoundland Athletic Dog Association, and Pet Zone O'leary), but the use of those spaces required some flexibility on my part for scheduling and being so close to the holidays makes that quite challenging for many of my students. Some students have also voiced their concerns regarding the upper respiratory illness that has been circulating and their hesitation to visit new facilities that would have higher volumes of dogs onsite regularly. These are all valid concerns and I completely understand and appreciate everyone's individual situations. With that understanding though comes the realisation that my options going forward are very limited. Yesterday the other businesses in the building thankfully had their occupancy permits reinstated. Liv Better sadly was not given permission to reopen for business. My unit has been damaged pretty significantly and will need to have the affected drywall and insulation torn out and replaced before our permit can be reinstated. Today I learned that the general contractor thinks the job will take 2-3 weeks. After 2 weeks of taking this day by day already I can't tell you how devastated I am. I am still looking into my options but as it s

🐾 We love a good field trip!! 🐾 This week, our Canine College students visited Bowring Park! We had a chirping squirrel harassing us from the trees, children playing at the park close by, a flock of ducks waddling around, plenty of other dogs out for walks with their humans, and even one offleash dog playing near by to use as distractions. They handled the challenges with ease and made me and Miss Amanda SO proud! It's only week two, and they certainly have plenty more to learn, but we're all about celebrating those small victories around here and I just couldn't resist giving them the pat on the back they so deserve! Keep up the great work, my friends, the skies the limit! 💚💙💜

A little update from our Wednesday evening Puppy Preschool kiddos! 🐶🐶 They've been focusing on their socialization lessons and staying calm and polite during greetings. I've introduced some handling techniques that will make their next trip to the vet and groomer more comfortable and we've also started working on some soft mouth exercises to teach the puppies to take treats gently and to have a little more bite inhibition. The pups also had a chance to navigate a few different obstacles, and each of them are doing really well with nose targeting! They've progressed quite a bit already, but we're only halfway through the program, so still plenty to learn - stay tuned! 💙💚💜 #livbetter #livbetterdogtraining #puppytraining #puppypreschool #puppyclass #positivereinforcement #forcefree #fearfree #ccpdt #cpdtka #mustlovedogs #supportlocalnl #stjohns #yyt #dogsofyyt #dogsofnl #puppiesofnl #smallbusinessesofnl #certifieddogtrainer #professionaldogtrainer #lovewhatyoudo

Come on a hike with us! 🐶🐶 #livbetterdogtraining #livbetter #livbetterfam #dogtraining #gooddogs #dogsofnl #dogsofyyt #explorenl

💥 Reactivity 💥 We hear the word thrown around a lot in dog training, but what does it really mean?  Reactivity is a complicated behaviour issue that has many contributing factors. Any dog can become reactive to any object, sound, or situation, but other dogs, people, and vehicles seem to be the most triggering. A reactive dog will overreact to a stimulus, which results in barking, growling, or lunging when they're over threshold. This can look a lot like aggression, but often isn't. Reactivity is due to frustration, fear, overstimulation, excitement, anxiety, pain, illness, and more. It is caused by genetics, lack of socialization, insufficient training, lack of impulse control, a frightening experience, etc. It does NOT mean the dog is trying to dominate, that they're stubborn, that they are untrainable, or that they're a bad dog.  Most reactive dogs don't do well in a group environment, which is why we always start with private lessons! Theo, Della, Henry, and Ruby have all built solid foundations with me privately before moving onto semi-private lessons as a group! There are no quick fixes here. Good training sessions are actually pretty boring. We focus on safety, engagement, and keeping the dogs calm, comfortable, and low stress. We keep training sessions short, and we cater lessons to each dog's individual needs. It's not going to get us all the social media engagement, and it won't make a great TV show, but it'll get results, and that's what really matters! Keep up the great work, guys! 🐶🐶🐶 #livbetter #livbetterdogtraining #dogtraining #reactivedog #positivereinforcement #forcefree #fearfree #behaviourmodification #ccpdt #cpdtka #certifieddogtraining #misconceptions #misunderstood #dogsofnl #dogsofyyt #dogsofig #yyt #supportlocal #supportlocalnl #lovewhatyoudo #dowhatyoulove #smallbusinessesofnl #smallbusiness

A little update from our Wednesday evening Basic Obedience kiddos! 🐕🐕 This week, we focused on Hand Targeting, building consistency with their Place and Wait cues, and introducing Recall. All five teams are making beautiful progress and have been doing a great job working through the kinks. I love seeing the wheels turn and that 'aha moment' when everything just clicks and comes together! The pride on the dog's faces, the handlers' newfound confidence, and the support from their classmates is seriously wholesome ❤️❤️ We still have some work to do but I wanted to take a minute to pat them on the back and celebrate those small victories! Keep up the great work, pals! #livbetter #livbetterdogtraining #dogtraining #positivereinforcement #fearfree #mustlovedogs #dogsofnl #obediencefun #trainingisfun #dogsofyyt #gooddogs #dogsmile #dailydog #basicobedience #supportlocalnl #supportlocal #responsibledogowner #smartypants #smallbusinessesofnl #smallbusinessowner #ccpdt #cpdtka #yyt #stjohns

Who doesn't love a good field trip?! 🐾🐾 This week, our Intermediate Obedience class visited a few pet friendly retailers as a practical test for their skills. I set them up with a mini video scavenger hunt where they had to perform and record a variety of their skills in various sections of multiple department stores! I am beyond proud of how they handled the challenge and couldn't be happier to have them representing Liv Better Dog Training! A big thank you to @homesensecanada and @petsmartgalway for being so welcoming to our students! 💚💙💜 #livbetter #livbetterdogtraining #dogtraining #obediencenerds #obediencetraining #positivereinforcement #fearfree #dogsofnl #supportlocal #supportlocalnl #fieldtrip #dogsofnl #dogsofyyt #dogsofinstagram #gooddogs #smallbusiness #smallbusinessowner #cpdt #cpdtka #stjohns #yyt #certifieddogtrainer #professionaldogtraining #lovewhatyoudo #explorenl #Newfoundland

A little update from our Wednesday evening Puppy Preschool kiddos! 🐶🐶 They've been focusing on their socialization skills and staying calm and polite during greetings. I've introduced some handling techniques that will make their next trip to the vet and groomer more comfortable, and we've also started working on their Leave It, Drop It, and Wait cues! We still have a couple of classes left, but I'm already extra proud of all they've accomplished! ❤ #livbetter #livbetterdogtraining #puppytraining #puppypreschool #puppyclass #positivereinforcement #forcefree #fearfree #ccpdt #cpdtka #mustlovedogs #supportlocalnl #stjohns #yyt #dogsofyyt #dogsofnl #puppiesofnl #smallbusinessesofnl #certifieddogtrainer #professionaldogtrainer #lovewhatyoudo

Our newest Tuesday evening Puppy Preschool students are here to steal your hearts and bless your social media feeds! 😍 Introducing Olive, Sadie, Leo, Hank, Rosie, and Macy! 💚💙💜 Our Puppy Preschool program teaches owners to use science based dog training to begin their furry little turnips lifetime of learning. We started with engagement exercises to help the puppies focus on their humans and introduced some simple skills like Sits, downs, and Stands! Next week, we'll build on the new skills they've learned and jump into some socialization lessons! Stay tuned! #Livbetter #livbetterdogtraining #livbetterfamily #dogtrainingfun #puppypreschool #puppiesofig #puppiesofnl #dogsofyyt #dogsofnl #dogsofig #fearfree #socialization #supportlocalnl #stjohns #supportlocal #yyt #ccpdt #cpdtka #puppies #responsibledogowners #babymuppets #lovemyjob