Professional, positive dog training on Vancouver Island

We had Dave over to our condo five times to help get our two dogs under control when someone comes to the door. We have a 5 year old Papillon and a 1 1/2 year old Yorkie. I immediately felt comfortable with Dave and appreciated his gentleness with Finn and Chewy. He always arrived exactly on time which made it easier for me to ready them for his arrival. They now sit quietly in their “place” while we eat as well as when someone comes to the door. I would highly recommend Dave to anyone having difficulties with their dogs.

While I have owned dogs most of my life so far, I have never had a young puppy. Wanting to do right by her, I researched training and socialization classes. Baby Dog was the one that was recommended over and over again without hesitation. We've now been going to weekly sessions for three months and my dog while having mastered what they teach loves the class so much that we just keep coming. When I pull up in front of the class she knows what we're there for and her excitement is off the charts. Aviva and her team run amazing classes and they should be the go to for every new puppy owner in Victoria. I studied to be a dog trainer 17 years ago when considering a career change. That said, I have learned a ton from Aviva while having our pup trained and her approach and explanations are much more effective and in line with what dogs need, than what I was originally taught. We are very luck to have Baby Dog as a resource.

I emailed Baby Dog as a desperate new puppy parent. The private training gave me confidence and tools to connect with and train my dog. Aviva is so personable and patient, really taking the time to help you understand why each step she teaches is important. My pup was troublesome at Puppy Socializations but it was invaluable in teaching him the right and wrong way to behave around other puppies. We also joined a small group for a 6 week intermediate training course. Dog trainers don't magically fix everything, the biggest piece of the puzzle is the owner. I am SO grateful for the tools given to us by Baby Dog and it's trainers.

Dave was such a huge help in getting our 8 month old Shiba's fear barking under control. Despite doing our best to socialize him when he was young, he for some reason developed a fear of people and would bark uncontrollably if he was surprised by someone. We read several books and watched tons of Youtube videos in an effort to address it, but couldn't get any traction. Dave was able to help us get it under control in just a few sessions. While he doesn't exactly "like" people, he is now a quiet and confident dog around them. What a difference! I'd highly recommend their puppy socialization classes at Bosley's as well.

Great dog behaviour knowledge, we learned so much about calming signals. Aviva is amazing. Can't wait to go back for more classes.

It was an absolute delight to work with Aviva to help 5 year old Happy, a Crested Maltese Little Man, to feel safe no matter who we encounter walking about and to more immediately respond to directions given. Aviva made it fun to learn for both Happy and me.

We signed our dog up for puppy socialization class and Mojo loved Tara so much we booked her for individual training sessions. We learned so much and got excellent tailored help for Mojo's needs, plus there is lots of ongoing support if we need more help later on. Highly, highly recommend individual training with Tara!

Babydog has been the most amazing resource for our family and our young pup with separation anxiety and other issues. TL;DR - We've tried a lot of different dog training services and Babydog is BY FAR the best. Babydog helped us with: - One-on-one puppy training - Puppy socialization - Group obedience class - Separation anxiety issues (this was a life changer) - Reactivity to other dogs - One-on-one training for our adolescent dog - Serious emotional support Writing that all out makes me realize how far Benson has come and very much thanks to Babydog. SEPARATION ANXIETY I can't stress enough that if your dog has separation anxiety, reach out to Babydog. Aviva helped us get our lives back. We went from not being able to leave him alone for more than 15 seconds to being able to go out for hours at a time without worrying. If you're going through this, know that it can get better! PRIVATE TRAINING We started out with private training for our young puppy and the support we received was amazing. Our dog was pretty challenging at first but the trainers we worked with were patient, helpful, accommodating and made a huge difference. PUPPY SOCIALIZATION We also took Benson to puppy socialization classes with Babydog where he learned to play appropriately with dogs of various sizes and breeds. He was pretty shy in the beginning but his experiences with Babydog's puppy socialization gave him more confidence and now he's a very social guy. GROUP OBEDIENCE We took Benson to both the beginner and intermediate group obedience classes. The support we got was excellent here and he did great in the beginner class and learned a lot. I think we pushed him into the intermediate class too soon (8 months old). He ended up just wanting to play with everyone so maybe timing is something to think about if your dog is a bit more rambunctious! ONGOING SUPPORT Benson is 1.5 years old now and we're still getting so much support and value out of Babydog's one-on-one training. Aviva has been a huge help and the classes are fun for us and Benson. The training support AND the emotional support have been truly amazing and I really don't know if we could have done it without the help. Thank you Aviva and team!