What We Cover in This Session

Why natural lake swimming is the single best therapy for aging dogs

Reading your dog’s comfort and discomfort signals in and around water

How to enter the water with your dog — calm entry changes everything

Supporting a hesitant or anxious dog without creating more anxiety

Post-swim care — drying, warmth, and reading how your dog feels after

Recognising signs of improvement in mobility and vitality week by week

This workshop is for you if:

Your senior dog is slowing down — stiff, less energetic, or carrying more weight than they should. You want to give them more movement, more vitality, and more joy — gently and safely.

Behaviour assessment - What to Expect
Your dog's behaviour lives in your world — on your street, in your home, in the moments that matter most. That's exactly where Christine meets you.

This is a 90-minute on-site session, at your home and in your neighbourhood, where real behaviour reveals itself and real change begins.

Christine arrives as both observer and strategist. Within the context of your dog's actual environment — the triggers, the routines, the relationships — she reads what's happening beneath the surface and builds a clear picture of where you are and where you're headed.

You leave the session with:

A grounded understanding of your dog's behaviour patterns and what's driving them. Practical exercises and detailed instructions your whole family can begin using straight away. A full written review — a personalised reference document crafted for your household, so the learning continues long after Christine has gone.

This is the foundation everything else is built on. One session, one clear direction, one step toward the relationship with your dog you've been looking for.

Three sessions. One transformation. A dog you're proud to take anywhere.

Kelowna is a community built for living outdoors — the trails, the patios, the dog parks, the farmers markets, the waterfront. Your dog is part of that life. The Urban Citizen Program makes sure they can show up to all of it with confidence, manners, and the kind of presence that makes dog ownership genuinely joyful.

This is a three-session program designed for dogs and owners who are ready to show up fully — in their neighbourhood, their community, and their city.

Dogs and owners ready for community lifeYou want to walk the Mission Creek Greenway, sit on a Kelowna patio, and visit the dog park — with a dog who makes that easy and enjoyable.

New dog owners building the right foundationStarting well means everything. This program sets the habits, the communication, and the leadership framework that will shape your dog's behaviour for life.

Dogs with basics in place, ready for the real worldYour dog knows some things — and now it's time for those skills to hold up where it counts. This program takes what you have and makes it reliable.

Anyone who wants dog ownership to feel the way it shouldConnected. Enjoyable. Full of the possibility that comes when you and your dog are genuinely working together.

Your shepherd isn't stubborn. They're speaking a language most trainers don't understand.

Border Collies. Australian Shepherds. Kelpies. Cattle Dogs. Shelties. These dogs were not bred to sit quietly and wait. They were bred to think, to move, to work — and when that drive has nowhere to go, it finds somewhere to go anyway.

The Herding Breed Program is built around how these dogs actually think. Rather than suppressing instinct, Christine puts it to work — channelling the drive, the eye, the balance, and the intelligence that make herding breeds extraordinary into a dog you can live with, communicate with, and genuinely enjoy.

This is a rare specialist skill set. Three focused sessions for herding breed owners who are ready to understand their dog at the level their dog deserves.

Every dog deserves to be welcomed. This is how they earn it.

The Good Citizen Program is the standard every dog can reach — and every community deserves. Eight sessions. Non-competitive. Open to purebred and mixed-breed dogs alike. Built around the skills, the temperament, and the reliability that make a dog a genuine pleasure to live alongside and a valued member of their community.

This is not about perfection. It is about partnership — between you and your dog, and between your dog and the world around them.

What the Good Citizen Program certifies:

A dog who has completed the Good Citizen Program has demonstrated something meaningful. They have shown, in real situations with real distractions, that they can be trusted — with strangers, with other dogs, in crowds, in veterinary and grooming settings, and in the everyday moments that define what it means to be a dog living well in a community.

The certification reflects the dog. And it reflects the owner who brought them there. It's non-competitive and open to both purebred and mixed-breed dogs.

• Accepting a friendly stranger approaching the handler

• Sitting politely while being petted

• Accepting grooming/examination (as a vet or groomer would do)

• Walking on a loose leash

• Walking through a crowd

• Sit, down, and stay on command

• Come when called

• Calm down after play

• Reaction to a passing dog

• Reaction to distractions (strollers, joggers, noises)

• Behaviour when left with another person (supervised separation)

• Overall temperament and attitude

Goals of the program:

• Increase awareness of dogs as valued community members, promote responsible dog ownership, and certify that dogs conduct themselves reliably in everyday situations around people and other dogs.

• And running through every one of these — an overall temperament and attitude that reflects a dog who is settled, social, and genuinely at ease in their world.

  Eight sessions. One clear purpose:

  The Good Citizen Program runs across eight structured sessions — enough time to introduce each skill properly, build it to reliability, and prepare both dog and owner for the certification assessment with confidence. Every session builds on the last. Every skill earns its place.

  Open to dogs six months and older. Purebred and mixed-breed welcome.

  The Good Citizen has no interest in pedigree. It has every interest in character. Any dog — regardless of breed, background, or history — who is at least six months old and ready to learn is welcome in this program.

  Why this matters:

  Dogs who move through their communities with calm, reliability, and good manners change the conversation around dog ownership. They are welcomed rather than managed. They open doors — to patios, to trails, to the kind of life with a dog that most owners dreamed of when they brought one home.

  The Good Citizen Program gives your dog the certification. The work you do together gives them the life.

  Eight sessions. Twelve skills. One dog the world is glad to meet.