Come with an open mind and lots of patience. This is an awesome learning experience for you and…read moreyour dog. Took my dog here half a dozen times this past year for different classes. Dogsmart was recommended by a friend who raved about their instructors. Tracey, Masumi & Alice all were calm, patient and helpful as we did Beginner Life Skills, Tricks & Games, Shy or Fearful Dog, Dog Out & About and Dog Care Basics. Annette - the friendly lady at the front desk also kept on top of providing multiple notifications for upcoming classes and was always there to help. Training isn't easy and the style might not be for everyone. You will be grilled about how you are working with your dog in all aspects. Words you say, actions you take, actions you didn't take. You will learn a different order of doing things, be asked about what you're doing at that moment but have to listen and visually focus on your dog all at the same time..! My advice: Be patient and practice the activities to the best of your ability! Ask follow-up questions in-class or privately via email and come prepared to talk about what your dog is doing week to week. Retail therapy: there's a shop with a selection of training toys, treats and supplies. It's an awesome spot for anyone looking for new treats to engage your dog at reasonable prices. My shy uncertain dog has grown to like this place and open his little heart. Thank you to the wonderful staff at Dogsmart for focusing on progress and for providing affordable & interesting classes to help Vancouver-area dogs grow.

Terrible training experience. Terrible advice. Condescending, judgemental trainer who constantly…read moretalked down to us. The advice made a slightly anxious puppy extremely reactive. Now spending a small fortune on a behaviourist to undo the damage. Basically. I've found out that everything the trainer told me was absolutely wrong.

We found out about Sweet Pea and Me though Ethical Deal and used their services for our beloved…read morelabrador retriever, Lucky. We were absolutely delighted with Sweet Pea and Me, and so was Lucky! Dog-walker extraordinaire Sara Bartlett is one of the most dedicated, professional business owners we've ever met. She picked up Lucky during our long work days, took her to the beach for a swim, and returned her tired, happy and smelling like mangoes (she cleans the dogs after their swims with special grooming spray). Since Lucky is an older dog, Sara was very sensitive to her needs, and made sure that she rested when she got tired. Lucky seemed to really like Sara, and we felt comfortable leaving her in Sara's capable hands since she has a pet first aid certificate and is bonded and insured. For us humans, Sweet Pea and Me is a pleasure to deal with. All of our phone calls, emails, appointment requests and text messages were answered promptly. Sara sent us frequent texts and photos during her walks, notifying us of when Lucky was picked up, when she was returned, and how she was doing. Not only that, but every day after her walk, Sara left a cute little paper bag filled with a different flavour of truly home-made, organic dog cookies which Lucky thought were delicious. I would recommend Sweet Pea and Me without hesitation to anyone who has a special dog in their lives!

Where Jordana goes my dog goes. She has been walking the pooch for a few years now and he always…read morecomes back nice and tired. He goes out for the adventure walks which usually means a hike up one of the North Shore mountains. Thanks for looking after my bud!

Odette and her team are like family. They are outstanding and have been very supportive in…read moreassisting with training and behaviour. I have a beautiful rescue dog who's been attending this daycare since a young pup and Odette and Javier and the team have used love and consistent discipline to help her anxiety and have been helpful to me to better understand dog behaviour and be a better dog parent.

I ran into the owner of the daycare on my walk and without asking for my permission, she tried to…read moreshow me and my friends how she can correct my dog's behaviour. She approached My dog and hit him in the side with her hand and growled at him a few times. My dog was so scared he was hiding behind me shaking. Research has shown that fear and punishment are not effective when training dogs. If someone is doing this in-front of the parent of the dog,I don't want to think what she can do when parents/ owners are not around. Not only I am not going to bring my dog to your daycare,I will make sure I will tell everyone I know about your training and approach so they stop bringing their dogs to your day care as well. I am not going to let this person get close to my dog and if I see her treating any other dog the way she treated my dog, I will make sure she loses her licence !!

Our family is so grateful for Sit Happens! Being deaf Frankie was impossible to recall and had…read morebegun to be reactive towards other dogs, including those on the television. After the first session with Jeff, Frankie was a changed dog! Knowing what was expected of him gave him the confidence he was lacking. He found his place in our pack and our connection with him has grown as a result of this training. Since Sit Happens we can take our Frankie most anywhere and feel assured that we can manage his behaviors. We love meeting up at the park with other Sit Happens graduates and practicing what we've learned. It's a great community. Thank you!

Our Story: We had acquired a 4 month old rescue puppy that…read morehad been neglected, attention deprived and under stimulated. So you can imagine the behaviours that followed. We met Jeff for our FREE consult. He greeted us with his own dog. Who put ours to shame. Lol. Jeff then explained his program to us. We were taken back by the fact that he used e-collars, as we weren't aware beforehand. HOWEVER, he was very straightforward with us and explained how it worked and how it is used as a training tool and not as punishment, and showed us it wouldn't hurt our dog. He was very professional and friendly. I laughed when he said that if we followed his program properly we could have a dog just like his. Now about 6 months into the program.. our pup is doing off leash work and we can actually believe that one day she can be just as well trained. Long story short: Jeff and Staff are all wonderful and knowledgeable. They are attentive and friendly and make you feel welcome every class. Regardless of the few negative reviews, Jeff is kind, professional, knowledgeable, and straight forward. He is always welcoming and makes a point of saying hi to you and your dog every class. Our dog absolutely loves him and gets so excited when he walks by to say hi. Jeff has such positive energy and you can see he truly loves the dogs. All I can say is absolutely worth the money. I would not train my dogs any other way from now on. Finally, if you have any reservations, just go for the free consult first. Give him a chance to explain his program to you. You won't be sorry. Amazing company! Amazing person! Amazing dogs!

We use DogPlay for for boarding when we go away for a weekend. Our King Charles Cavalier loves to…read morevisit and the staff are warm and welcoming. Bamboo always comes home well taken care of and exhausted from playing all day!

I have had good grooms here. The groomer is great. The booking system/organization is my issue. I…read morebooked a groom like a month ago for today. Really needed to get our dog groomed before we go away so he doesn't get too hot. I get my sister to bring him in as I had to work. Apparently they cancelled my groom and sent me an email to let me know- never received, not even in my junk. Now I'm struggling to find a last minute groom. Waste of time and I'm frustrated.

If i could give Christine and Downtown Dogs 10 stars I would !…read more This is the BEST doggy daycare in the city BY FAR (and I've tried a few) and you can tell the staff truely care about the dogs and are passionate about their job. The facility is very clean and has different sections for the dogs to hangout and play in opposed to just putting them in an open space like other doggy daycares do. Christine knows what she's doing :) to keep all the dogs happy. You can tell they really care about the wellbeing of your dog :) I have a little chihuahua with seperation anxiety so doggy daycare is my only answer while I'm at work. I took my pup to a small dogs only daycare and she would always come back smelling so bad and running for the water bowl when we got home & seemed stressed. so I knew I had to try a different daycare and I'm so glad I found Downtown Dogs! I was a little hesitant bringing my small pup to all sizes doggy daycare but the staff know what they are doing! Christine is a dog trainer, a good one and it shows. I pick up my pup from Downtown Dogs and she's so confident and happy, she loves going there ! I can see the difference in her behaviour. If you need a trustworthy doggy daycare, bring your dog here! They go above and beyond !

Totally don't know how I haven't left a review for DownTown Dogs yet…read more Christine, the owner and head trainer, is basically a dog-rockstar. On my dog, Sam's, first day of daycare with Christine he came home with a report card detailing what he did for the day. Cutest thing ever? I think so. After having some questionable dog daycare experiences at another establishement (see my other reviews) I asked Christine if I could come early or late to get a tour of the facility, meet her and the staff, and decide if it was the right place for Sam. Christine was MORE than happy to comply, and Sam went to daycare there for 2 full years, 3 days a week. We have also taken agility and outdoor fun classes with Christine, which were both SUPER fun. Another really key thing to note is how much Downtown Dogs cares about the community. A few months ago I got an email request for help with preparing food packages to be given to street youth to help feed their pets. Christine has been key in getting literally thousands of pounds of dog and cat food to people who can't otherwise afford it. Basically, downtown dogs is excellent value, top quality, and one of the best places for dog daycare. The class sizes (ha) are usually 15 dogs, and there is onsite grooming available.

I took my, almost, one year old Bernedoodle puppy to Spa Dog for a grooming. My puppy had never had…read morea full groom before and I was extremely nervous. Sunny (the owner) had us come in for a free consultation where she and Kylie (our would be groomer) walked us through exactly what our options were. Even though we brush our pup every night, he had some severe mats that were very likely causing him discomfort and we were advised that the best action would be shave him completely. I was so nervous and sad, but I booked the groom. From the day of the consult to the day of the groom two weeks later I must have called or emailed a hundred times (only slightly higher than reality), but Sunny never grew impatient of me or my nervousness, in fact she was calm and patient with me throughout. On the day of the groom, I was very nervous and Sunny called me and said they would do another consult and confirm how short they needed to go and if I wasn't comfortable with it, they would waive the cancellation fee for me. Sunny also mentioned that Kylie had hurt her back and someone else would be performing our groom. When we dropped off our pup, Kylie was there. She was feeling better and she remembered that we were coming in that day and she also remembered how nervous I was, so she didn't want me to have to worry about someone new doing our groom - talk about above and beyond! Well Kylie did an amazing job, she blended our pup's groom so it looks even and so sharp. She has set us up with a plan to regrow his hair and maintain things. Spa Dog is clean, calm and serene, but the absolute most important aspect of things was how much my pup loved it there. He wasn't nervous at all, in fact he didn't want to leave when we picked him up. It is obvious that the team at Spa Dog love dogs and they truly treat each one like family. I felt so good about leaving my pup with them, because it really seems like they truly love him. Which is the best reason of all to recommend them!

My poor puppy Benji who I asked not to be shaved got destroyed at spa dog today. These are pictures…read moretaken days apart. One looks like a cute happy puppy in need of a cut, the other looks like a sick old dog. They even refunded me my money knowing they had messed up. Unfortunately money won't fix Benjis hair. Be warned spa dog will take you cute teddy bear puppy and do a quick shear of the clippers and hand you back a sad naked little do Update: Months later Benjis hair has grown back but has been destroyed. He had perfect markings with a white stripe down his face and body. This was destroyed by the shave which is why I specifically requested him not to be shaved. I'm still so upset months later and feel terrible that I ever stepped foot in here.

We are so, so very glad that The Dog School is now up and running! When we were looking for puppy…read morekindergartens, The Dog School hadn't opened yet, and so we were forced to drive our car-sick whippet all the way across town. Our Evie is a lot of dog (and yet also quite timid!) and so puppy kindergarten wasn't enough, we needed more help. We looked again for classes closer to home, and luckily this place was just opening. It's exactly what we needed in Point Grey! Sarah and Katrina are wonderful, both at understanding what our canine friends are trying to tell us, and at helping the humans in the equation understand what part we need to play. The flexible scheduling is unique and very welcome, they have free Office Hours (such a useful idea!), and there are e-mail handouts, too, to help you remember what you learned in class. While we've enjoyed having the trainers all to ourselves on occasion, we REALLY want this place to stay in business, so please come check them out, and tell them Evie (the whippet) sent you!