⚠️IMPORTANT NOTES⚠️ ➡️ Google Refined Canines Halifax to find our website and learn more + find us on FB/IG @RefinedCaninesHfx. If you have any questions at all, please don't hesitate to ask! ➡ All dogs must have veterinary proof of up-to-date vaccinations or titers for DHPP & Rabies vaccinations on file prior to booking, be free of internal/external parasites, be dog & human-social and not have any signs or symptoms of potential illness (sniffling, sneezing, coughing, oral warts, vomiting, fever etc) and/or injury to be able to attend. ➡ For Rover Services, we'll discuss with you to make a determination as to whether or not your dog requires a Meet & Greet and/or Overnight Trial. Overnight Boarding & Daycare are the only services we offer for new Rover clients at this time and all new dogs must be approved with a trial day and/or night before confirmation of booking dates. ➡ All on-site services through Refined Canines Halifax require an Intake Process & Assessment so that we can make sure your dog is an ideal fit for the service you're interested in (and if not, I'll give you my best advice in recommending alternative options). ✍🏻Seasonal Notes✍🏻 ☀ It's getting warmer and that means it's Tltime to start your dog's preventative treatment against fleas & ticks! 🪲 Keep in mind that ticks are active ANYTIME above 4°C & you or your dog's can pick up ticks by just walking down any city street. Most tick activity & Lyme transmission occurs in early summer & early fall. Don't neglect to protect yourself too! Canine Lyme Disease is non-symptomatic in ~9/10 cases but in humans it's the opposite with symptoms developing in ~9/10 cases. Nova Scotia is now an endemic area so ticks are unfortunately a year-round reality to reckon with. Therefore, we highly recommend appropriate year-round prevention for BOTH fleas & ticks for all dogs. 👋🏻 🐾 Welcome! I am a trained veterinary assistant and professional dog trainer who has over 10 years of experience volunteering & working in dog daycare and boarding, grooming salons, veterinary hospitals & similar businesses, which lead up to opening my own successful dog training and in-home boarding business over 8yrs ago. Prior to being a professional in this industry I was a curious pet owner with great intuition and instinctive skills with animals. After helping family, friends, and acquaintances with training their own dogs I kept being told I should make this my career - and here we are! I am constantly studying dog behaviour, neuroscience, learning from and working with highly experienced dog professionals, following citizen & academic studies, journals etc. I consistently and relentlessly look for opportunities large & small to build upon my broad base of knowledge, skillsets & experience, always striving to improve my processes & results in the art and science of caring for and working with dogs. Learning never ends and I LOVE to learn! Training also never ends and dogs LOVE to learn too - in fact, your dogs behaviour is more directly correlated with how you live with your dog day-to-day rather than well they can sit or stay or how many tricks they can do. A dogs behaviour is a direct response to their environment so if life with your dog is stressful, frustrating, overwhelming or difficult then we need to begin at the beginning which is the relationship between you & your dog. The way we read & communicate (or rather, most often, misread & miscommunicate) with our dogs is the absolute foundation for the way that dog feels, perceives & behaves. Are you the teacher in the relationship or do you feel like the student? To succeed with any dog, the dog MUST perceive you as the teacher at least ~80% of the time and must also perceive that you are consistently: 1. Clear & fair in your communication - both reading & responding, it only works out well when it's a two-way street! 2. Worthy of their trust - ie as the dog sees that they can trust you to read them correctly & respond clearly, fairly and with the saintly patience & guidance of a teacher, and 3. Worthy of their respect - this comes as a natural byproduct of integrating #s 1&2 as the foundational fabric of your relationship with your dog. What do all 3 things have in common? These 3 foundational components to living well with any dog can only be built through time, effort & consistency Three amazing dogs call this home! An 11yr old spayed female American Pit Bull Terrier, a 12.5yr old spayed female Boston Terrier & a 2yr old neutered male Doberman. All are highly trained, well behaved, very tolerant to all dogs and often work with me in the rehabilitation process for dogs that aren't very good with other dogs, dogs that need guidance & confidence building in their social skills and helping puppies & young dogs develop high level doggy social etiquette 😊 This is a small & quiet neighbourhood that consists of 3 short dead-end roads and are very close to a multitude of lakes and trails. With a complete dog-centric in-home facility on the base floor of our home with a nice sized indoor social & resting area (with shock-absorbent & slip-resistant flooring) that has direct outdoor access to our large fenced yard (6ft tall with climb-resistance & dig-guard) PLUS a smaller fenced pen at the back (5ft tall, chain link) that we can open up to use with the front as one large space, use to separate dogs into 2 groups, for individual training, and much more! We are equipped with a variety of styles&sizes of crates with cozy bedding, a HEPA air purifier, water fountain that filters & cools H2O, windows for fresh air, fans for air circulation, heating, cooling & humidity control, fully equipped first-aid kit, and cameras on both our indoor day room & in the bedroom. We stuff Kongs & similar food-toys then freeze/refrigerate in advance so they're always at-hand for assisting dogs in settling during quiet time or bed time. We have EXTREMELY high standards of care & the wellbeing, safety & comfort of each & every unique individual dog in our care is the absolute #1 priority at ALL times. A huge benefit of your dog staying with a professional dog care provider & training and behaviour specialist is not only the guaranteed knowledge, qualifications, experience & expertise provided - but your pup will also receive great consistency & structure in their days along with behavioural guidance & proactive management during their stay! You can rest easily and confidently knowing that your pup won't be practicing or picking up any unwanted behaviours but will instead be practicing and rewarded for wanted behaviours during their stay! 🐶 Looking forward to hearing from you and meeting your wonderful pup(s)! ☺️