Nurtured Canine

We reached out to Melissa b/c our 18 month Morkie, Hugo, was reactive. He would lunge and bark at dogs, bikes, scooters, people..pretty much anything when we took him for walks. It got to the point where it was unpleasant to go on walks. Hugo was also reactive when strangers came to the door. He would bark and lunge at visitors. We very reluctantly decided to put Hugo in the Board and Train program. It was such a hard decision as we had never spent a night away from him. This ended up being the best decision we could have made for Hugo. He came back a much happier and more relaxed dog. His reactivity diminished greatly. He now walks beside us and focuses and heels. His energy is much more relaxed and he enjoys his walks. He is also better with visitors coming into our home. Melissa and her crew also taught Hugo to stay in Place until released and got him to eat his kibble; which he never wanted to do. We are so impressed with Hugo’s progress that we decided to continue sending Hugo to training twice a week following his board and train. Melissa is a wonderful dog trainer. From the start, she answered all of our questions, put our worries at ease and continues to guide us with Hugo’s training. We would recommend her and her team 100%!

Where do I start! There is not enough words to describe Melissa and her team with what she has done with training our German Shepherd Bear! They did what I thought to be near next to impossible. They gave Bear and I the confidence and taught me the necessary tools I needed to learn to make sure Bear would be successful intragating into our rather large dog family. Best part is he loved going for training! He loved his people at Nurtured Canine too

I worked with Melissa this summer with my dog Parker and was extremely happy with the outcome. Melissa was very attentive to my needs as far as what I was looking to accomplish with Parker and as a result I was able to get him tested and certified as a Therapy Dog. I fully intend to continue training Parker and will not hesitate to do so again with Melissa. If you are committed to training your pet I would highly recommend Nutured Canine to anyone.

We adopted a three year old dog named Holly in November 2022. When we got her home we found out how much anxiety she had and did not settle at all or like our other two dogs.We contacted Melissa a few days later after and she did a home consult to assess Holly and give us some advice. Some of the key areas of concern we had over and above the anxiety were the dogs fighting with each other, resource guarding and biting at us when frustrated.Melissa established a training program for Holly and she did lessons over a two month period and very quickly we could see positive changes in her behaviour and she started to calm.It’s now the third week of February and Holly is a much calmer and loving dog and now gets excited to see the other dogs.This would not have been possible if it was not for Melissa’s training expertise and caring for Holly.We would highly recommend Melissa and her team if you have a dog that needs training. Our experience was a total success!

Melissa is amazing and would recommend her for any of your training needs! We couldn’t get our high energy 1.5 year old mastiff mix to stay away from the door when we had company and he would break out of his kennel when left alone. Since our training with Melissa we no longer have these problems and if we do have questions she replies quickly and gives us the confidence we are doing things correctly. You won’t regret working with Nurtured Canine

Melissa has helped us through thick and thin with our puppy. Training him was a breeze with her because she offered us real life situational support, tips and tricks, and ensured we stayed on track. She responds quickly to any requests we have and she is truly passionate about her work with our puppy. We couldn't have picked a better trainer to support us through this journey. I couldn't recommend Melissa more as a trainer both for her professionalism as well as her love of dogs. Thank you, Melissa!

I contacted Melissa for help because our Maltese Yorkie Chewie had extreme anxiety issues especially separation anxiety. He would bark non-stop in a panic whenever I had to leave the apartment, would bark at any noise he heard, pace around the house, and constantly be on edge. Melissa was absolutely amazing! She came to my house and made a custom training plan for Chewie based off of my schedule that was realistic and very effective. After just one lesson I saw huge improvements and continue to see more every week. He now stays completely calm when I leave the house, is no longer reactive to random noises (his fear of thunder is even gone!), and is much more relaxed on his walks. I would highly recommend Melissa she is very down to earth, patient, is truly passionate about helping pets, and has very effective techniques. I now recommend her to everyone I know looking for a dog trainer. If you choose her you will not be disappointed! Thanks Melissa for the amazing work you do!

My husband and I had our dog, Boomer, for just over a year before we hired Melissa and only regret is we didn’t get in contact with her sooner! We had tried puppy training courses through pet stores, and then also had a session with a different trainer early on, and tried to go with their ‘technique’, which clearly was not working for us or our dog. First we started looking for trainers just for basic puppy training, but as boomer got bigger (he’s a great Dane mastiff mix), he started showing signs of food aggression, along with aggression towards other dogs. He was also incredibility hard to walk, constantly pulling. Thankfully we came across Nurtured Canine and started our training journey with Melissa. We worked on food aggression, basic commands, recall, and walking. Along with how to properly introduce our dog to other dogs to avoid aggressive behaviour. It was a lot of walks together, and homework to do with boomer after our sessions but couldn’t be happier with the results. Melissa was amazing with our dog (he loves seeing her) and she was great with us also as training is not just about the dog, its about training us to be responsible dog owners and learn our dogs signs for when they are feeling overwhelmed/anxious to avoid it becoming something more. We have had so many friends and family members tell us what a change they saw in Boomer every time they came over since the training. After completing our program with Melissa, Boomer has been less aggressive and walking him is easy. He walks in a heal position with us until he is released with a simple command, loose leash training was a game changer. Even though we have finished our training sessions, Melissa has been there to give us advice when situations came up and we didn’t know how to react or we were confused with how boomer reacted. There’s always going to be certain parts of training that needs improvement and more focus down the road as your dog grows and as environments change, and its so great that Melissa will always be that person that we can count on to help guide us. Training is an investment, you invest not only money but also time. You need to be willing to put in the effort and when you do, it is so worth it. We can not thank Melissa enough for all the work she put in with Boomer and us. HIGHLY RECOMMEND !

Damon and Melissa saved our life! We hired Melissa and Damon to board and train our 1 year old Goldendoodle who mad major socialization issues with new people and anxiety. We were at a point where we were either going to have give our dog away or hire somebody to SERIOUSLY HELP. Our dog would lunge, bark and growl at anybody new who would come into our house or reach towards him on a walk or at the dog park. Additionally, we had issues with him listening to commands, barking, recall, not being able to relax or settle down, pulling when walking, and chewing the leash.Although it was a very tough decision to send him away with Damon and Melissa for 6 weeks, they immediately made us feel comfortable and confident in our decision. It was the best decision we ever made! Throughout the six weeks of him being away with them, they continuously sent us videos and pictures of him so that we could see his progress and would be able to see how far along he had come.Our dog came back a changed boy. We can now have people come in and out of our house without having to worry about him lunging and viciously barking at them. Also, we can now walk our dog with him right beside us and not pulling us around or biting the leash. They have trained him to listen to all our commands and overall, he is so much calmer and more relaxed because his anxiety is being dealt with now. They have continued to provide us with support and be there for any questions we have even after the six weeks. If you are looking for dog trainers for a puppy or grown dog, we would 100% recommend Nurtured Canine. They were amazing to work with and completely changed our life. Thank you so much guys!

About a year ago, my girlfriend and I adopted a large Pyrenees blue heeler mix named Lua. Upon bringing her home, we realized she had severe reactivity to bikes, people, runners, dogs and animals and basically anything that moved. In addition to her reactivity, she was highly anxious; leaving the apartment was a battle, and as two full-time students, we began to struggle. Going anywhere became impossible, and we started to take Lua out at odd hours to avoid anything that could set her off. We found ourselves at a dead-end, and after trying countless strategies, we decided to call Nurtured Canine. Melissa recommended the travel and train program for Lua. Melissa worked with Lua and ourselves over the next couple of months, and the results have been life-changing. Melissa is an exceptional individual who clearly cares about her clients and their customers. Melissa was extremely easy to get along with and was clear in her directions and training. In addition to her training skills, Melissa was compassionate towards our concerns and towards Lua’s anxiety and reactivity. Our questions via text were promptly answered, and she was always flexible with appointments. We used to spend our weekends locked up in our apartment, keeping Lua away from any triggers, but now we spend our weekends taking Lua to the markets, coffee shops and travelling to Tofino with her. We are incredibly grateful for Melissa and the way she worked with Lua and ourselves. Nurtured Canine is worth every penny and is the place to bring your furry friend. Thank you, Melissa and the Nurtured Canine team.