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?
Remy and I love coming to Saturday classes! Shannon is knowledgeable and kind. We trust her expertise. Saturdays are a wonderful way to supplement our own training and stimulating for my dog :)
Game Changer
Shannon is amazing and has been KEY in the behavioural success of my rescue dog Freya (GSD/Rottie/Presa mix). With the help of her growl program and numerous behavioural consultations, Freya’s reactivity levels have become completely manageable. I am now more than confident handling anything my teenage tyrant pup throws my way. Thank you Shannon!!!
Shannon is a fantastic instructor with the experience and resources to help puppies truly thrive. As first-time puppy owners, her support and willingness to answer questions outside of class has been invaluable. We started with a private session, continued into Kindergarten, and are now beginning our third course with her. We can’t imagine training our puppy without Shannon!
Shannon is incredibly helpful and an absolute expert with border collies. She is kind, efficient, and thoughtful in her approach. In our private lessons, she took the time to understand my training goals and concerns, and provided a wealth of resources to support us. Shannon’s candour, practical insight, and depth of knowledge has made me well-equipped to use these skills going forward. I look forward to working with her again in the future.
Shannon is a professional, understanding and extremely knowledgeable trainer! I’ve had dogs my whole life but didn’t realize that there was so much more to learn about bringing up a well behaved and happy dog. My dog has learnt many useful habits from her class and he loved every second of it. Highly highly recommend!
Shannon is the best! We have worked with her and our 2 dogs on and off for over 10 years. Our dogs are super content and always have so much fun in class. Highly recommended!
Shannon is such a warm and knowledgable trainer. As soon as she met him, she totally got my dog. Working with her was great. She helped me teach my dog important life skills. More importantly, she taught me the skills I needed to be a better dog dad.
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.
I have worked with Shannon for 13 years! From help with my reactive rescue GSD, to my baby GSD boy ( now 10 years old!) and my rehomed to me at 5 months old Belgian Malinios girl. Currently taking Rally-O classes with my 10 year old GSD. He is loving it! Lots of incredible feedback. Highly recommend Zen Dogs Canine Training
Zen Dog Training has made life with our reactive dog possible. We didn't know the extent of our rescue dog's issues when we adopted him and were totally lost when the problems surfaced. Shannon was patient and efficient in teaching us the basics and Jenn has been a complete savior with her Growl classes ever since. She has a wonderfully clear and direct way of teaching us and helping us communicate better with our crazy pup. Her hard work has taught us how to communicate with our dog and build a relationship that keeps us all safe and happy. I truly can't thank her enough.
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!
I’ve adopted and fostered multiple dogs in the past 20 years and taken them all to training classes, from many different companies. Shannon and Zendog are by far the best. Shannon’s decades of experience and incredible talent as a coach and dog trainer make her classes a joy to take. I learn so much every time and I know I can trust Shannon to meet every dog and handler wherever we are. She leaves nobody behind, provides twice ad much information as any other classes I’ve taken, and somehow ensures neither dogs nor humans get bored. I’ve done everything from puppy classes to advanced obedience to reactive dog classes to private lessons with Shannon, and referred many friends there over the years. Shannon gives an outstanding experience and excellent value every single class. It is especially important to get early training and socialization right with young puppies, and Shannon’s puppy classes are by far the safest and best place I've found to make sure that happens.
