Testimonials

Before we found Olive, we had worked for several months with a couple of trainers using private and group sessions to train our standard poodle puppy, Leo. Although we were able to teach Leo ‘sit’, ‘down’, and other commands, he would only do them when he wanted. He would not eat on a regular schedule but instead ate only when he wanted and only in small amounts at a time. He also had some bad behaviour issues including jumping up on us. Then we started working with Olive. She was able to explain to us why Leo would not listen or eat the way he should, and she showed us exactly what to do to change his behaviour. We started seeing results immediately. Within the first day after our first private lesson with Olive, Leo’s behaviour started to change. He started eating on his own within a few minutes of his food being put down. He started following our commands. His stay, which he would previously never hold, became strong. His jumping has decreased drastically and is still decreasing. We now have control over his behaviour, which is improving every day by using Olive’s instructions. We highly recommend Olive to anyone who needs training for their dog. Olive cares about your dog’s well-being and will help you to understand the reasons for your dog’s current behaviour. Olive’s gentle approach will teach you how to communicate with your dog both verbally and physically, to get the best behaviour from your dog and to have the dog you’ve always wanted.

‘Olive came highly recommended from a trusted friend whose dog had great success under Olive’s care. We had a 10-month old unruly, food-aggressive, destructive, energetic and out-of-control golden-shepherd X with dog-parents (us) who were lost. We were literally 1 night away from surrendering him to the shelter, something we never thought we would ever consider. Olive swooped in, and after 1 session, we began to see such dramatic change in our beloved puppy that we had hope for the first time! Olive taught us how to establish not only us as adults, but our small children as the pack leaders; within 1 week we had a dog who was remarkably more settled, slept soundly, showed a complete absence of food aggression, would obey our 3-year-old without fault. It gave us great joy to see that we were in the process of settling as a family unit. It continues to be a process, and we are so grateful (in fact, indebted) to Olive for changing our relationship with our sweet boy and affirming his rightful place in our family by teaching us, his owners, how to care for him in the best way possible. Thank you! We are loving life with our spunky, still energetic, but much more well-mannered man!! Thank you, Olive!!

We found Olive after we moved from a house in a very quiet mountain community to a bustling high-rise condo in Port Moody. Our dogs, Google and Brie, were never perfect – we love them in all their quirkiness – but one of our neighbours gently mentioned that they were barking ‘all the time’ when we left them and we knew that wasn’t fair to anyone, including our dogs. Olive came in to assess our situation and patiently taught us about pack leadership and how we could help our dogs feel more relaxed and confident in our new home. We were completely astounded at how quickly we started to see behavioural changes, and at how quickly and positively they reacted. We can now leave them alone, and they’re also much calmer greeting people at the door. When we first heard the term “pack leadership” we were worried this might involve some sort of emotional or even physical assertion that we don’t condone, but it’s actually a very loving and respectful way to deepen our relationship with our dogs. We’re now working on recall and interacting with other dogs outside and off-leash in more urban settings than Google and Brie are used to, and we’re seeing great progress there, too. Brie recently had surgery so we’re also using Olive’s daycare and boarding services, too, and we know she’s getting loving and professional care. Most days, Brie doesn’t want to come home which pretty much says it all. We highly recommend Olive and would be happy to share our story in more detail with anyone who’s considering her program or services.

“I signed up for the “Becoming the Pack Leader” program to help me deal with my three-year-old rescue pup who suffered with major insecurity issues and taking that course has truly changed the relationship I have with my dog for the better. While taking the “Becoming the Pack Leader Program” I learned many simple, yet effective methods of establishing leadership in my relationship with my dog which has, I am very happy to report, had a very positive impact. The more I establish myself as the leader the more relaxed and confident my little dog is becoming and I am thrilled with this transformation. This course not only offers the opportunity to learn these methods and really “ways of being with your dog” but having the one on one time with Olive once a week in my own home was outstandingly helpful. Many thanks Olive for setting me straight on the path to leadership and helping my dog and I become the pack we were always meant to be!” Thanks again Olive. I am truly grateful. P.S. On a side note Cesar Milan came to town and my sister and I went to see him and I was so proud of myself that I could sit there in that audience and know that when he posed the question “are you the pack leader?” to the audience I could genuinely say “YES”. Felt good!

As first time dog owners, it was a little overwhelming bringing an 11 week old puppy into our home. We experienced a myriad of issues such as trying to get the puppy acclimated to our home, crate training, housebreaking, and unruly behavior. We began working with Olive right away and she offered us training tailored specific to our needs which has included the entire family as well as our dog. The thing we appreciate the most is Olive’s ability to listen and help us implement solutions that show immediate results. We have been impressed with her friendliness and professionalism and, most important, for taking the time to answer every question we’ve had. Olive has helped Fluffy go from puppyhood to a nicely behaved adolescent. We have no doubt she will continue to help Fluffy and us along the way to adulthood….

I’m the proud owner of a two-and-a-half-year-old German Shepherd. However, I was not very proud at the beginning of our relationship. After taking Lucky to ‘Puppy School’ and ‘Advanced Puppy School’, she still would not obey any commands and did as she pleased. It was at this point I realized that I really needed help. After searching the Net I came across the web page of “Doggy Do’s & Don’ts”. I decided to call Olive and right away liked her attitude and approach. I arranged lessons and was amazed at her easiness with Lucky and myself. She made training Lucky challenging and rewarding, rather than a chore that had to be done. I highly recommend Olive if you are having a problem with your dog. Please don’t give up, call Olive.

“Olive’s program is excellent. We’ve gone through the Establishing Pack Leadership Program as well as the Pack-Leader Development Program and have learned a lot from both programs. Olive’s enthusiasm is contagious and she was able to offer valuable insight into Maverick’s behaviour which enabled us to understand why he was taking the pack leader position. Maverick’s behaviour improved almost immediately and his behaviour continues to improve to this day. We went from having a dog that did not know the difference between sit and down to a dog that can obey a variety of commands. Maverick is a much more relaxed, obedient, and happy dog and we feel much more confident in our abilities as dog owners. We enjoy taking him out much more now and even feel confident enough to let him run around off leash. Thank you, Olive, for teaching us how to have a relaxed, obedient, and happy dog which has also made for some very happy dog owners as well!

Olive is terrific. Her approach is to teach the owner what they need to understand about how a dog sees the world – to get the results they want, just as much as to teach the dog(s). She goes after more than just dealing with problem behaviors but explains the subtle signals you tell your dog whether you intend to do so or not. By changing the signals, we sent to the dog about leadership of the pack, we were able to go from a dog which was totally out of control to a well-behaved family member. I would strongly recommend Olive and Doggy Do’s and Don’ts to anyone introducing a new pet to their home or for improvement in existing pets. She is prompt and reliable, courteous, and fun to be around. She lets you know what the costs will be without any surprises. The whole family looks forward to training sessions and seeing the improvement they bring. She also does board and daycare.

The phrase that it ‘takes a village’ comes to mind when faced with training a new puppy. Although I was experienced in raising dogs in the past, I wanted to secure a refresher for myself as well as make sure my family members were all on the same page. After researching many trainers and methods I chose Olive, as her techniques were kind, supportive and realistic. She assisted me in seeing the underlying clues I may be sending my new pup which even I was not aware I was doing. She also ensured that each of the family was involved in the process so that Bijou would feel confident in each of us as leaders. Every time I am out walking now, I see the issues that other dog owners are having with their canine companions, and I never hesitate to recommend that they contact Olive. Raising a puppy is always a work in progress and we must remain consistent, calm, and confident. Olive’s guidance was instrumental in my having a well-balanced dog, which is a good thing as she turned out to be an 85-pound beauty! She is no longer the little one, but she has turned out to be gentle and friendly with both humans and canines alike, no matter the size or temperament. Thanks, Olive, for training me to be a good pack leader!

My little dogs are my love-hate pets. They are so cute that everybody wants to pat them on head, but they are also terrible barkers, especially ROCKY. Whenever I walked them in the park, SISI and ROCKY barked to the passers-by or the other dogs. And sometime, they just dragged me stumbling along the sidewalk, so I called them troublemakers. My neighbor used to tease me like “Who Walk who?” One day, when I was searching dog training school web sites, I found Doggy Do’s & Don’ts, so I called Olive to set a session for my dogs. After the training session, my dogs have become better behaved. The session that Olive gave to my dogs is pack leadership. Now I feel like not only my dogs but also myself are trained by the trainer. She explained to me about dogs’ thinking and behavior, so I understood the way I communicated with my dogs was wrong. A dog is born to be a leader or follower. If I want to take control of them, I must be a leader; otherwise, they will take charge of everything. That explained why they were the barkers, because they wanted to take lead. There are a lot of details which I won’t mention here. But I would like to say, this training work on my dogs. Now my dogs’ behavior is getting better and better, I will keep practicing everything I learned from Olive. Thank you, Olive.

“We consistently did what Olive asked us to do and we got amazing results. It takes work, but it is well worth it!!! Our dog was unpleasant to walk because she was constantly attempting to walk us and she developed issues with other dogs. Now she is easily manageable, and we are all much happier. Olive realistically informed us about what to expect and she helped us through many ‘glitches’ we had between sessions when we didn’t know what to do in certain situations. Her program is a lifestyle. I have gone through one other program before meeting Olive and it left me overwhelmed, frustrated and with very unrealistic expectations. I was beginning to believe there was something wrong with me, my dog or perhaps both!! Then we met Olive. After meeting Olive, I very quickly began to have hope that our dog problems could be resolved, and they have. She has a genuine interest in helping families have a happy, healthy relationship with their dog.” Thanks for everything!!

I cannot thank Olive enough for her help. I knew the problem was the way I was communicating with my beloved Bella but could not get a handle on exactly what I was doing wrong. Olive helped me see my errors and to my surprise in no time at all Bella was listening to me and is so much happier when we go out for walks. She is happy to go up to other dogs and people with the wag of her tail to say hello and before that was so not the case. It tells me it’s exactly what she wanted and is very happy with the direction she is being given, she is also a lot more relaxed and content at home too. Thanks Olive, your programme is just what we needed.

Working with Olive was such a pleasure. Murphy, our English bulldog is a rescue who came to us with a lot of anxiety, no basic training and did not know how to be a dog. Olive taught us and Murphy to communicate effectively and get on the same page. After working together, we were able to squash Murphy’s car anxiety, over excitement issues, we used games to curb his impulse control issues, correct his leash problems and now have mastered his basic commands. We now have a happier, calm dog and balance within the household.

I would highly recommend Olive. My dog Maggie and I needed some help making us into the best team we could be. Maggie is not just my pet; she is my Emotional Therapy Dog. Olive has a gift! She listens to your needs and can put together a program that helps you to bring out the in your dog. By being the Pack Leader, our dog needs us to be. When I became the Leader, it let Maggie use her natural nature to become the Therapy Dog she was meant to be. Maggie is now welcomed anywhere I need her to go with me. Maggie also needed Olive’s help because she was very nervous around big dogs, because one had been very aggressive with her. Olive gave me the tools to help Maggie lose this fear. She now has a new buddy in her life, thanks to Olive.

Thank you, Olive, for your expertise, guidance, and reassurance in training for Baxter and us. While we aren’t new to having dogs – you helped us become true pack leaders of our home, so that we could really get Baxter to be more behaved. As Baxter was a former street dog from Iran, you were so flexible and adaptable to the uniqueness of our situation and some of the behaviours he had. You also helped us see the error in our ways with our former dog and taught us the steps to take to ensure we don’t repeat those same mistakes. Thanks to your hands on, personalized training – we are much more confident pack leaders who have a much better-behaved doggy! Thank you so much for your expert dog training knowledge and preparing us with some key foundational tools to help us make Baxter the best-behaved doggy he can be!