Get to know more about Shannon Malmberg
As an avid runner, Shannon began her dog training journey in 1988 by volunteering with Project Safe Run, a personal protection-dog organization for women athletes, while she completed degrees in journalism and political science at the University of Oregon.
Upon graduation Shannon moved to Vancouver and worked as a civilian decoy with the Vancouver Police Dog Squad from 1991 until 2003: a “hired bad-guy” to assist in the training of young patrol dogs in tracking and criminal apprehension. Hiding in dumpsters, running down dark alleyways, and getting bitten by German Shepherds gave her an insight into working with high drive dogs and dog aggression.
It was here Shannon truly got the dog training bug.
She founded her company Zen Dog Canine Training Ltd. in 2002, teaching dogs and their people across Vancouver and the lower mainland. To date she has worked with close to 10,000 clients on a broad range of issues from puppy raising to behavioural cases, and all things in between.
As a professional dog coach, Shannon is enthusiastic and creative, committed to teaching in a way that is positive for both humans and dogs. She has a gift for bringing dogs and their people closer together while meeting the needs of each client she works with. Shannon stays current with science-based methods and is a lifelong student in all things dog.
My Great Dog Story
She tirelessly attends multiple seminars and on-line coursework a year, getting the opportunity to work with some of the world's leading dog trainers in developing her own craft. Shannon is driven by her passion to learn more and do better by the dogs she lives and works with. She also has a keen interest in building relationships through toy/tug play, and understanding canine nutrition, fitness and body conditioning, rounding out her understanding of dogs' needs.
Shannon is recommended by breeders, veterinarians, rescue organizations and related industry peers for the work she does. She currently shares her life with two amazing border collies and can be found in the agility ring or out in nature.
About the company
The company targets specific classes and personal coaching for rescue dogs, as well as reactive dogs, puppies, adolescent and adult dogs, honouring their unique stages and transitions in life. Zen Dog is committed to positive reinforcement-based strategies when working with clients and their dogs and seeks to engage the learner with effective game-based methods so that learning is fun for all.
What do Dog Owners think?
Shannon at Zen Dog has been amazing helping me train my young black lab. She’s so thoughtful and really took the time to understand my pup’s needs. It can be tough sorting through all the online training advice, but Shannon made everything so clear and easy to follow. The 1-on-1 sessions were super helpful, and the Saturday group classes have been a great way to keep building on our progress. I’m so grateful for her guidance and highly recommend her to anyone looking for a kind, knowledgeable trainer!
Zen Dog Canine Training is one of the best I experienced with my reactive dog. Shannon is a great trainer, knowledgeable, patient, and very supportive. Her classes are always fun for dogs and their people. I learned a lot from the training sessions as well as from the private classes. . I can always count on the constructive feedback from Shannon, and support in sometimes hard reality owning a reactive dog. I am very happy that I found the Zen Dog Canine Training and will continue to work with Shannon.
Wonderful Training Experience with ZenDog
I adopted Benny, a rescue Husky-Border Collie mix, when he was about a year old, and as my first big dog, I knew I needed support. Working with Shannon and Isabelle at ZenDog has been such a gift. They are incredibly knowledgeable, patient, and kind, offering thoughtful guidance not only for dogs but also for people learning how to support them. They’ve helped me learn how to communicate clearly with Benny, set healthy boundaries, and reinforce positive behaviours in ways that really work for both of us. I’ve gained so much confidence as a dog guardian thanks to their guidance. Right now, we’re taking their Rally-O classes, which are so much fun, not just for Benny but for me too. I highly recommend ZenDog to anyone who wants to build a stronger, more connected relationship with their dog.
We had a great experience training our nearly 1.5 year old golden retriever with Shannon. She was super informative and we saw immediate progress using the tips she shared, right from our very first session.
We had a great training experience with Shannon! Our focus was to work on mild reactivity, focus and recall, and most of all to build a stronger bond with our rescue dog and explore awesome things we can do together. She taught us what we needed and more, is very thorough and a wonderful teacher! Highly recommend
Amazing and Patient Trainer
A friend referred us to Zen Dog Canine Training, and we are so glad they did. We took the Growl program for reactive dogs. Shannon taught us and our dog so much in just two lessons. As first-time dog owners of a reactive rescue dog, we were so overwhelmed, and Shannon was patient and understanding with all of us. We learned ways for Bailey to be less reactive on walks and for my husband and I to be more confident. I can't thank Shannon enough.
Shannons Saturday morning group classes are engaging & fun & i find the exposure to other dogs in this controlled environment are really helping my reactive dog. He is becoming calmer, more focused & happy & I’m confident Shannon’s training methods & exercises we do are helping to achieve this.
The "kindergarten" is an excellent course: thoughtfully designed, thoroughly prepared, and effectively delivered. Our puppy learned a lot while enjoying herself beyond belief. We did too, because Shannon teaches the owners how to work with their dogs. We will absolutely take our puppy to other courses offered by Shannon.
Absolutely cannot say enough great things about Shannon! She’ll work magic with your dog and teach you how to do the same.Her Rally-O classes are a nice addition to regular obedience training. My dog absolutely loves the fun brain game aspect of it, not to mention it’s social and fun for the humans too! 10/10 recommend and will be returning for more Rally-O
We have learned so much with Zen Dog, so happily. The classes are effective, with an outstanding trainer (Shannon) guiding our dogs to learn very happily. Everything is based on positive reinforcement and it all works so well. You will enjoy the training and your dog will thrive.Our Aussie Mountain Doodle puppy came home at 5 months. She is our first dog so we were a bit anxious about how to get it right. We quickly gained confidence with the Zen Dog JumpStart programme. It was astonishing on the first day to find that Indy could do so much already... when Shannon worked with her. Then we took over and things fell apart. It dawned on us that Shannon was actually training us, not the puppy! We applied ourselves, began guiding Indy better, and saw really rewarding results. Grade 1 was a great experience, too. We have made notable progress and, most importantly, now have considerable confidence as to how to proceed. We'll be back for Grade 2 with Zen dogs!
We highly recommend Shannon and are thrilled with what she has taught all of us!!! We were having issues with Vinny, our French Bulldog, being reactive on his leash which made walking pretty stressful most of the time. Shannon worked with us and provided us with a “tool kit” to handle whichever situation comes our way. Our little guy is like a brand new dog, we are more relaxed with him and our walks are so much fun now!
I met Shannon when I was in desperate need of a trainer to help my reactive GSD get over himself. Shannon helped him and, more importantly, helped me to deal with him. She has taught me so much about the many roads you can take to develop a mutually fabulous relationship with your dog. I can't say enough good things about her and Zen Dog.
