LIFE SKILLS
- Level One

This crazy urban world DOES ask a lot from our dog.

Both on and off the leash, indoors and out, our dog is required to filter out many distractions to be their best self. A leisurely walk through the neighbourhood or an off-leash run through the woods requires skills we need to build together as a team. Interactions with other people and animals require manners we need to create and reinforce. In a nutshell, the more we can prepare our dog with usable skills that translate into real world situations, the more places our dog is welcomed.

The Zen Dog Approach

Life Skills is our premier level one obedience course, incorporating both game-based and obedience-oriented exercises into the skills you will teach your dog, all using positive reinforcement.

This six week course begins with a Zoom class and then we move to four instructional group lessons outdoors with access to a sheltered space on rainy days so we have plenty of room to work on big picture stuff. It is how dogs learn best and where they need to use those life skills most. Our sixth class is a field trip! We meet in a fun urban area, work on all of our skills in a practical setting so you can see how the training applies to real world stuff!

In Life Skills we cover management and its importance in dog behaviour; nutrition and wellness for mental and physical health; kind leadership practices so the human steers the ship; reinforcement strategies using markers for clarity and precision; toy play for relationship building; engagement games for distractions; settling exercises for both inside and out; responsible leash walking concepts; and recall games.

Whew! Be prepared to learn, work hard and have a blast!

The course is designed for dogs 8 months and older. We keep the class size to 6 dog/handler teams.

This course is not suitable for fearful or reactive dogs.