Hot Diggity Dogs

01/04/2026

Zoey graduated puppy class on Saturday! This sweet, smart little pup was such a social butterfly. She just loved all of the dogs and I’m looking forward to watching her grow up. 

01/01/2026

Wishing everyone a very Happy, healthy and joyful New Year! As we enter the beginning of 2026 I look back and reflect on when and how I began my journey in this incredible profession of dogs. In May of 1998 I went to school, I was 38 years old and took out a student loan. It was for computerized sales and marketing! While doing this, I had to leave my then 11/2 year old dog Kailey at home. I had her go to one of the first dog daycares and walking companies when I was gone for the day. Kailey had a lot of issues like separation anxiety and a lot of over arousal which brought her into conflict with other older bigger dogs. She was a shepherd cross and around 70 pounds at that time. Her behaviour was not always great when greeting other dogs and even people, she liked to jump up on them. So, while taking this course and seeing how my dog was doing in daycare or walks, it got me thinking. And thinking.... not realizing that this was a life changing moment. At the course I was taking, we were told to set up a mock company and do a business plan on it. So I initially made mine for a dog walking company but then I thought "I can't own a dog walking company if I don't know enough about dog behaviour" Which then made me realize to dog walk or board or daycare, I needed to educate myself even more. I needed to understand my own dog first. So, I made my business plan based on me being a Professional Dog Trainer. I realized that I could actually make a living doing something that I loved! Dogs! So, still in school and broke... :) I started another business course and also entered a dog training school. By late 1998 I started Hot Diggity Dogs services and the rest as they say is history. I had my first employee with in 6 months and a dog daycare with in a year. I couldn't believe how busy I was so quickly but there was a need for it and I was one of the first in Vancouver offering all of these services. I loved the daycare but boy was it a lot of work, mostly the staffing and making sure that they followed the philosophy of Postive handling and love for the dogs. I was also working hard with my own girl to make sure she was getting some good guidance. She became the dog that I wanted but it took some time and a few changes in her environment but she got there.
As time moved on and things changed, I found myself restructuring and down sizing to fit my life and age. At this time, I only offer group classes and in home training sessions and plan on hanging around for a couple more years at least. I have to say that I still love, love, love what I do after all of these years! I have the best clients and my biggest rewards are the dogs and how they love me back. So there it is, a bit about me. I hope that we get to know each other more in the future with you and your pups/dogs and that I can help you to have the best life ever together! Pictures of Kailey RIP girl you taught me so much and I thank you. Blossom my sweet girl... RIP

12/23/2025

It came so fast this year..... Christmas in two sleeps. Hot Diggity Dogs wishes you and yours and your pups the best Christmas and holiday season ever. We will be back to working with our puppies and people Saturday Jan.3rd.
This was my girl Blossom... RIP girl... I miss you. 💔

12/21/2025

3 beautiful pups graduated Saturday! Tika,Raya and Flora. ❤️❤️❤️ These fun, confident pups were so smart!

12/14/2025

These 4 youngsters graduated from Basic Obedience Training! Wow what a fun and smart group! They all loved each other and made for some fun moments! I’m going to miss them! ❤️❤️❤️❤️ Mocha, Blue, George and Willow

12/07/2025

Chompie and Trixie graduated Puppy classes! Omg! Look at these two beautiful pups! I hope to see you in the New Year for Basic classes. ❤️❤️

11/30/2025

Adi graduated Puppy classes ❤️ She is so beautiful in and out!

11/23/2025

I love using hand signals! I teach them and like it when my clients use them. They can help advance your teaching far better than words.

Dog's can respond better to hand signals than verbal cues, meaning dog sign language is a viable option for training any dog.

11/23/2025

Puppy class grads!!! Ollie, Maple and Hazel!❤️❤️❤️ These 3 are so sweet and smart. I can’t wait to see them grow up! Missing Trixie and Champie 😢

11/10/2025

So true. I really enjoy Whole Dog Journal, always has great dog articles to read.

The time to start training a puppy is immediately as soon as they arrive in their new home, the second best time is right now.

11/08/2025

An interesting situation has come up with a one-year-old golden retriever who is a normal exuberant one-year-old pup, is looking for a home. If you know someone that has been looking for a golden, not spayed. I don’t know a lot other than she was taken from a reservation and there were a lot of kids around and she did a lot of mouthing so was left outside a lot. please let me know. Contact me at my email if you are interested in knowing more. [email protected]. 

11/02/2025

This lovely group of dogs graduated from Basic Obedience yesterday! I will miss them. Pinto 🫘 ❤️ Goose 🪿 ❤️ Honey 🍯, Poppy 🌺 and Benson 🐶