Your Happy Dog Coach

08/23/2025

BEAUTIFUL post!

08/22/2025

Oooh I've been nominated as a Pet Training (in Halifax, although I'm far from there... I wonder if they have a South Shore Region 🤔 If not, they should!)

If you feel like I'm a good Pet Training choice, feel free to give your vote. :) I think you can vote every day, too!

Official 2025 Community Voting Awards Platform for Halifax, NS. Where the community votes for their favourites every year.

08/21/2025

Kelsey over at Companion Theory Dog Training has a few spaces left in next week's Sensory Room! Hurry and book your dog's spot, you'll both be happy you did :)

August Sensory Room!!

🕰 When: Tuesday August 26th
🗺 Where: The Glenwood/Argyle Hall
🐶 Sessions available for 6 dogs
💲Cost: 70$ per session, 20$ deposit required to book.

Each session includes:
-Up to 45 minutes for your dog to explore the room (and eat lots of tasty treats)
-While your dog is exploring, I will share my observations (about their movement, behavior, the choices they make, and so on)
-Your dogs session will be recorded, and afterwards I will email you a link to the video, as well as some of the important observations that I noted during your session if there were any

The sensory room can be a great experience for all kinds of dogs. It provides them with the opportunity for some slow and precise movement (kind of like a doggie yoga session), and lots of mental stimulation, especially through sniffing! A sensory room session is best suited for dogs 5 months and older, but if you have a puppy that is under 5 months, we can discuss tailoring a session to fit their needs.

If you would like to book a session or have any further questions, please send me a message right here on Facebook, or you can email me at [email protected] 🐾

08/21/2025

Luna is having a slow, interactive breakfast this morning, eating her dry kibble out of her new Kong (from her new Pawrents).

She takes her time, carries it a bit, chews it, tosses it in the air and uses her nose to find the pieces that fall out.

When it's empty, she brings it to me for a refill (it takes three fill-ups to eat her cup of breakfast).

Rather than gobbling up her food quickly out of a bowl, doing this allows her to ingest it slowly, giving her stomach more time to take it in. It also gives her time to use her nose and her brain to figure it out.

Feeding your dog doesn't need to be boring for them (or you - it's highly entertaining for me to watch her eat this way!)

08/21/2025

Finding a Vet is really tough these days. There aren't enough of them right now for the volume of pets that need care.

That said, if you can find one that is Fear Free, it can make a huge difference in how your pet feels about going to the vet.

Not only have I taken my own dogs into our vet for "Fun Visits", but I've working with clients whose vets are more than welcoming of Fun Visitis.

What is a Fun Visit?

It's simply a visit to their Veterinary Hospital where the pet can explore the waiting area and exam room, practice getting on the scale, practice being on the exam table, practice being touched in the environment, always paired with something wonderful, so that when they do need to be there, it's not new, scary, and over whelming.

As a FearFree Certified Trainer, I also help you and your dog create patterns of behaviour before even going for a Fun Visit that you can proof and use while at the Fun Visit, which then can also be used during appointments.

Vet visits don't need to be stressful for you or your dog. We can work together to help them feel great about going to the vet.

Even if they aren't a Fear Free Certified Vet or Hosptial, you can ask your vet if they allow Fun Visits to help your pet feel safer and more relaxed during their actual appointments.

Contact me for more information.

08/21/2025

08/20/2025

📢🚨 ANNOUNCEMENT

If you are affected by the evacuations happening in Annapolis County, please know that you can use their Animal Care Facility as a safe place for your pets!

1-833-806-1515 is the number to call to talk about the needs of your pets!

08/20/2025

Learning to "just watch" is another skill that looks super boring but is a really useful thing to practice.

It's especially difficult for a guardian breed dog like Luna (Rottweiler) who have been genetically manipulateed over hundreds of years to herd cattle (true story) and guard their humans from thieves and danger, and then, later on, to also protect and serve as police, military, and service dogs.

Being hyper-aware of their surroundings, and barking at things that they perceive as danger to let their humans know, are traits that we, as humans, have literally bred into them. So being able to "just watch" is a lot more work than you would think.

Luna did pretty great, though. Not surprisingly because she's a pretty amazing girl!

08/19/2025

I've briefly mentioned before that Luna is on antibiotics for a severe UTI and that her vet wasn't able to help her.

I just want to give a few more details on this as I think it's important for Pet Guardians to know that they have a course of action if they believe their pet has not received the level of care they are deserving of. In fact, I didn't even know this was something I could do until a friend and colleague helped me figure this out (from the other coast of Canada, no less!)

This has all been a learning curve for me and when I learn something, I want to help others learn it too.

Here's Luna's Vet Story:
🐾 Luna was relinquished to me Sunday Aug 3rd. I immediately noticed blood in her urine.
🐾 Monday, the 4th, was a holiday.
🐾 I went in person on Tuesday, with signed relinquishment papers from her previous guardian in hand, along with the vet records her guardian was able to pass along. The Vet office told me that the original guardian needed to phone them themselves, and that once they did so, they would call me
That evening, the OG (original guardian in this case) confirmed with me that they had done so.
🐾 Wednesday afternoon, I called the vet, reiterated my concerns about Luna's health, asked what else we needed to do to get an appointment for her. They created a file for me on the phone but said that that specific administrator could not transfer the dog to my file, only the other admin could. They said they would call me.
🐾 Friday afternoon, I called them again, asking for an appointment and stressing my concerns. I had now seen Luna squat for 3 full minutes after urination, showing that she was in pain/discomfort. They created an appointment for the following Friday the 15th, 10 days after me first contacting them.
🐾 I collected morning urine myself on Monday morning and drove it to them, with Luna with me. I paid for the urinalysis and weighed her and then they told me they "would call in a few hours, definitely by end of day" with the results. I asked them to also email me her file to have a copy to pass along to potential adopters.
🐾 At closing, they emailed her file (she's been with them since she was 8 weeks old) with the EA results included. Words like "crystals" and +'s next to "bacteria" concerned me so I went back to them in person on Tuesday morning, and asked if someone could explain the results to me because I wanted to start Luna on meds asap if needed.
🐾 I was told that the doctor didn't get to look at them yet and that they were in surgery... they'd call me.
🐾 At this point, I just really wanted to ensure Luna had the medical care she needed as soon as possible, so I called my own personal vet and explained the situation, hoping they could squeeze us in.
They were able to see me within 45 minutes, during which time my vet said "With these numbers, it's a significant UTI. She'll need antibiotics for a minimum of 30 days."
🐾 Luna's original vet office called Thursday morning to confirm Fridays appointment, still saying nothing about the UA results. I cancelled as she was already on her third day of antibiotics.

I understand that veterinary medicine is a demanding profession, but patients deserve timely, compassionate treatment, especially when symptoms are urgent. The failure to treat concerns urgently, as well as the lack of communication with me, fell far below acceptable standards of veterinary care, in my opinion. No dog should suffer nearly two weeks after the veterinary hospital they have been trusted with their entire lifetime has been told there was blood in her urine as well as symptoms and signs of pain.

I have made a complaint to the Nova Scotia Veterinary Medical Association.

I urge each and every one of you to do the same if you have faced similar experiences. Again, I understand that veterinarians are often over worked and undervalued, but our pets to not deserve to suffer in pain.

Under the Five Freedoms of Animal Welfare, there were needs unmet by this vet:
1 Freedom from hunger and thirst
2 Freedom from pain, injury and disease
3 Freedom from distress
4 Freedom from discomfort
5 Freedom to express behaviours that promote well-being