East Coast Canine Dog Training

08/03/2025

🚨 One space remaining in Puppy Manners starting this Tuesday! 🚨

6 weeks - $300+tax

Classes are held at A Dog's World Inc. (1147 Torbay Road) - puppies should be under 16 weeks on starting night.

Send us a message for details or visit the website to register! 🐶

08/03/2025

Have you ever worn a pair of pants that dig in at the waist?
Had a sock slide down into your shoe with every step?
Or spent the day fidgeting with an itchy label that wouldn’t sit right?

Not painful.
Just annoying. Distracting. Enough to put you in a bad mood.

Now imagine you couldn’t take it off.
Imagine no one noticed.
And instead of helping you, they told you to behave better. Focus more. Stop overreacting.

Discomfort changes everything.

It affects your tolerance. Your patience. Your ability to cope.
And dogs feel it too—even when they don’t show it in ways we expect.

Dogs are bred to be stoic.
They push through. They keep going.
But just because they can doesn’t mean they should.
They’re not robots.

If something in your dog has changed—if they’re grumpier, less focused, slower to respond, more sensitive—don’t assume it’s a behaviour issue.
Start with kindness.
Start by asking: Could they be in pain? Could they be uncomfortable?

Especially if you already know they’ve got allergies, or arthritis, or another health condition.
Discomfort doesn’t always shout. Sometimes it just whispers.

The good news is: pain and discomfort can often be fixed.
And when we fix that, everything else gets easier.
It’s the little things that make life better—for them and for us.

Let’s start by fixing what we can fix.
Because that’s the kindest way forward.

08/03/2025

As I was sharing a sunset moment with my boy tonight, my heart was with my reactive clients.

It takes time to love your difficult dog. It takes time to learn how to manage them, train them, meet them where they are, and above all accept the role you were given in their guardianship. But I can promise you, it is so worth it. I give Denzel a hard time when I talk about him - but underneath the jokes about what a 💩 he can be, is the sweetest most sensitive boy that I share the deepest unspoken bond with.

Tonight I drove Denzel down to the point, because he can’t walk down that far anymore. We used to walk the entire Mad Rocks trail, then swim, then do some sniffing or puzzle toys at the end to decompress. I took those days for granted.. boundless energy, always ready for an adventure, always asking for more.

I’d give everything for more time with this dog.

After his salty swim, he was prancing around in the long grass in the golden hour, and I thought of his rainbow bridge. It isn’t coming for him yet - but when it does - I hope that’s how he feels. Fresh, free, and full of zoomies. For now, I’ll keep on appreciating the dog that I raised and shared so many beautiful evenings with.

Spend time on your reactive dog now, so you can enjoy your time with them for longer. ❤️

08/02/2025

Congratulations to our latest Puppy Manners graduates! One of the sweetest little groups I have had the pleasure of teaching - it was bittersweet saying goodbye after graduation, but I’m looking forward to seeing how they all grow and progress through the next stages of their training! So incredibly proud of you all!!

We have a new course starting on Tuesday - the Puppy Manners program is suitable for puppies up to 16 weeks old on starting night. Send us a message for more info, registration is open on the website! 🐶

07/27/2025

Happy 1st anniversary to my best friend, and the best dog dad a girl could ever ask for. What a year it’s been. We love you forever 🥰🐶

07/25/2025

Wishing Charlie and her human the best of luck on their next adventure - sometimes you meet a student who really steals your heart, so it’s extra bittersweet saying see ya later at grad tonight. These two have made SO much progress in their classes and I’m so incredibly proud and privileged to have worked with them. You will always be a part of the East Coast family! ❤️❤️

07/24/2025

🐽 SCENT DETECTION CLASSES 🐽

We have opened another Intro to Scent Detection class!

Wednesday 6th August: 6:45pm *FULL*
Wednesday 6th August: 8pm *JUST OPENED*

Thursday 7th August: 6:45pm *FULL*
Thursday 7th August: 8pm *FULL*

🐶 Week 1 orientation for all Intro sessions will be on Wednesday 6th August at 6:45pm 🐶

Not feeling sporty? We still have some availability for Tuesday evening’s Puppy Manners (7pm) and one space in Adult FUNdamentals Level 1 (8pm).

07/24/2025

Here’s a little game we like to play in Puppy Manners called “Who Do You Love The Most?” 😈 it introduces a little competitive spirit for couples and families, and is always guaranteed to garner a laugh (or a divorce 😜). The winner gets bragging rights for the night - but they also have to pay for the next vet visit 😅 Opie had a blast!

07/22/2025

Star employee, Leeloo, here with an important announcement for group class availability!

She’ll be earning her hours in August and September so she can go back to claiming her treat stamps, teaching 3 scent detection courses:

Wednesday 6th August: FULL
Thursday 7th August @ 6:45pm: (Intro to Scent) 2 spaces remaining (currently open to waitlist students, will open to new enquiries tomorrow evening)
Thursday 7th August @ 8pm (Trial prep course): FULL

In addition to scent detection, our regular offerings are open for registration:

Tuesday 5th August:
7pm: Puppy Manners (2 spaces remaining)
8pm: Adult FUNdamentals Level 1 (1 space remaining)

Wednesday 13th August:
8pm: Adult FUNdamentals Level 1 (2 spaces remaining)

And by the way - WE HAVE AC!!!! Perfect for those hot summer days! 😎😎😎

Classes are held at A Dog's World Inc. on Torbay Road - shoot us a message for more info, or sign up on the website!

07/21/2025

Way to go Walter and Richard Coombs! 🤩

07/21/2025

🐽 SCENT DETECTION INTEREST POST 🐽

We have a CKC trial coming up at the end of September in Flatrock (registration opens on Sunday via DogShow) - we will be offering a trial prep class on Thursday evenings leading up to the trial, tentatively beginning August 7th for 8 weeks. This course is suitable for anyone who has prior trial experience with CKC or SDDA - the dogs currently registered range from Novice to Masters level, and our searches can easily be adjusted for any skill level. Our priority is to provide a fun, supportive environment for teams to dust off the Q-tip cobwebs and get those sniffing muscles ready to compete! We may also offer an introduction course on the same night if we have enough interest - if you’ve been wanting to get involved, now is a great time!

For the intro course, we’ll take a maximum of 4 dogs, and they should be comfortable with a kennel. The dogs get out one at a time to work, sniffing and learning is exhaaaaauuusting for them so we don’t make them work for the full hour non stop! In the intro class, you’ll be given all the supplies you need, and our focus is to prepare your pup for fun searches at home, or the Instinct/Novice (CKC) or Started (SDDA) levels. We have had a few students be VERY successful in trials this year - it doesn’t take much to get them ready to compete! If your dog isn’t suited to a group environment, we’ll also have auditing spots where you can attend without your dog and bring the exercises home to them.

If you’re interested in trialling - pups already registered with the CKC will be able to register on Sunday for the NKC trial in September, but for future trials you’ll want to get your dog registered with the CKC first as it can take some time. For the SDDA with YQX Dog Sports in Gander (trial coming up November 29-30th) registration is much faster, so it’s a great goal for beginners to aim for!

Leave a comment or shoot me a message if you’re interested in getting involved! If my sweet little tripod can do it - your pup can too! 🐶🤩

07/16/2025

Tune in to the CBC Newfoundland and Labrador Morning Show tomorrow (Thursday) at 7:20am to hear me talk all about this study!

✨ NEW STUDY ✨

- Gut microbiota composition is related to anxiety and aggression scores in companion dogs -
Pellowe, S.D., Zhang, A., Bignell, D., Peña-Castillo, L., Walsh, C.

“This study adds to the growing area of microbiome research as it relates to animal behaviour, and provides novel insight into the links between behaviour and the gut microbiome in family dogs.”

“In particular, the genus Blautia was consistently identified by our analyses as having a close relationship with anxiety in pet dogs.”

“Given the current knowledge that dietary changes in dogs can alter both gut microbiota and behaviour, and that the composition of the gut microbiota is linked to behaviour, there is an early promise that modifying the gut microbiome via dietary changes or supplementation with probiotics may be beneficial in the treatment of behavioural issues in dogs. However, given the limited basic information available to date, any direct translation of this research for therapeutic treatment in dogs will first require a more thorough description and understanding of the core microbiota populations that exist in domestic dogs, and what their relationships with behaviour might be.”

Link to our new study available via open access at Scientific Reports in the comments! 👇👇