WHAT DOGGY 911 IS

Doggy 911 is The MacKay Way’s emergency tier — a priority, in-home response for the moments that cannot wait. A bite. A dog who has frightened the whole household. A safety situation rising faster than anyone can hold alone. When that call comes, Christine MacKay and Ali, her own steady dog, are at the family’s door within 24 hours.

This is the work Christine was built for: walking into the height of a crisis, reading the dog in minutes, steadying the home, and handing the family back a sense of control the same day.

THE RESPONSE

Doggy 911 is a priority, in-home response within 24 hours of the call. Christine arrives for a full one-hour emergency assessment — she reads the dog, names what is driving the behaviour, and sets the immediate safety framework that holds the dog, the family, and everyone nearby. Ali comes too, the living proof of where this dog is headed. The Doggy 911 Emergency Assessment is $395.

ON SITE — THE METHOD

Every Doggy 911 follows the same arc, and that arc is teachable. The work begins with nothing: Christine gives the dog’s antics no attention at all, because attention is currency, and spending it on chaos only funds more of it. As the dog meets her calm, the dog settles, and the first calm earns the first reward. Next comes the slip lead, offered alongside a treat and accepted willingly. Then the walk, with Ali alongside, out into the open where a neighbourhood can watch a feared dog move easy and calm on the slip lead.

The return home carries its own lesson. Christine reads the tell — the instant the dog’s body begins to load toward a reaction — she crosses it with a quiet shoulder check that sets the dog back into calm before the old pattern can fire. Through all of it, the human learns to lead: to recognize the breeds tell, to redirect early, to walk before feeding, the natural order a powerful dog settles into with relief.

We train the human, and transition the dog right in front of your eyes in your home.

THE CASE THAT NAMED IT — TONY

Tony came in as a Doggy 911. A neighbour had walked onto the property carrying his small dog in his arms, and to Tony — a powerful dog reading anxiety from its owner, a small dog lifted high and carried toward him read as a challenge at his door. A warning to stop went unheeded three times. A hand needed the emergency room, and a family’s deepest fear arrived in their own front yard.

The next day, Christine was there with Ali. No attention to the antics, the fears and worries of the owner, ignoring the dogs anxiety, she let him settle, added the slip lead, and then the walk, with Ali on one side of her and Tony on the other, past every watching neighbour, and the calm re-entry where she showed the family Tony’s tell and how to cross it before it could ever become aggression again. Within a single visit, the household had its dog back.

When the neighbour kept returning, Christine chose witness over lawyers. Once Tony was steady, she invited the man to watch, and taught him the lesson no one ever had — a small dog held high over a dog on the ground reads as dominance, and the dog answers in kind. Set the little ones down, and dogs greet the way dogs always have. Calm restored, for everyone.

AFTER THE EMERGENCY — THE PATH ONWARD

A Doggy 911 steadies the crisis. The lasting change grows from the work that follows. Most families move from the emergency assessment into the Foundation Four — four in-home sessions; turning the first shift into a pattern the family can hold — and from there into the full Rehabilitation Program, the deeper re-patterning with a written plan, progress tracking, and a home safety framework. The emergency becomes the beginning of a relationship, and the dog a neighbourhood once feared, becomes the dog who walks the street in peace.

PRICING AT A GLANCE

SERVICE

WHAT IT IS INVESTMENT

Doggy 911

Emergency assessment, priority in-home within 24 hours‍ ‍ $395

The Foundation Four

in-home sessions complete the Foundation Four

$595

Rehabilitation Program

The deeper re-patterning work
Six additional sessions add to the Pack Leadership and Transitioning the Dog work, that
Christine and Ali are famous for.

$895

Doggy 911 exists for one reason.

When a family is under water with their dog, someone answers — and answers fast.
Christine and Ali are that answer.
778-215-776

The MacKay Way  ·  Christine MacKay  ·  www.themackayway.ca  ·  Kelowna, BC

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.