Best Paw Forward Dog Training
1680 Northfield Road V9S3A9 Nanaimo, BC, Canada

A dogs Perspective. We'll take it! Happy New Year everyone. Thank you for all of your support this year when we needed it the most. We are grateful.

One of our favorite trainers wrote this great article on GROWLING, and we have been chatting plenty about this at our private lessons and in our Dogsafe courses too. If your dog is growling, he is communicating something! And we all wish we could hear our dogs talk to us....well, growling is their talking. "The next time your dog growls, don’t panic. Just determine what kind of growl it is, and respond appropriately. Now, go play some tug! - Pat Miller. ALSO - the Whole Dog... Journal is AMAZING, browse the site! https://www.whole-dog-journal.com//dog-growling-is-a-good/

DOGSAFE Canine First Aid Sunday Nov 22nd in Nanaimo ! Would you know what to do in the event of an EMERGENCY with your dog? Let Ty (and Robyn!) teach you all the essential skills in this comprehensive 8 hour course. Ty has many first aid stories he likes to share. You can read more about the course, cost, and email us to register here http://www.bestpaw.ca/dogsafe We appreciate those who help us by sharing this post!

Sometimes we put the kids at class to WORK for us dogs & their trainers ! Thank you for some real world help from these 2 great kiddos. P.S. Ty's favorite naughty thing to chase is skateboards !

New friends meet at Puppy class

The effects of an at-home puppy lesson with our trainers

We are working hard at building strong, confident puppies at Puppy Kindergarten class!

Join Animal Law Lawyer Rebeka Breder for Plan for the Unexpected: Including Pets in Your Will and The Legalities of When Youre Incapacitated. Lawyer Rebeka Bre...der of Breder Law, Western Canadas first law firm to focus exclusively on animal law, will speak about including pets in your will and the legalities of what could happen to your pets if you are ill, hospitalised or incapacitated. Join us for this timely Zoom presentation and Q&A with YOUR questions to Rebeka. Sunday, Sept. 20 at 3 pm PDT. $35 for non-members. Read more about Rebeka here: https://www.brederlaw.com/rebeka-breder Register at www.viata.ca hosted by the Professional Animal Care and Training Association of BC See more

Puppy class besties.

Outdoor puppy lessons! So much fun, especially when you pull out the best toy!

Sometimes the kids in our classes are extra helpful for training !

Finally - we have some 2020 graduates again ! These pups and their fabulous people who graduate over the next few weeks have been waiting 12 weeks to show off their skills and for this moment ! We are glad to have you back to finish up your classes. Thank you everyone for your support.

GUESS WHAT?! Puppy Kindergarten classes resumed tonight! We are slowly re opening our classes at limited capacity and right now we are focussing on puppy kindergarten and the classes that had to stop suddenly back in March. Our PUPPY KINDERGARTEN START DATES are set and are currently being EMAILED to those puppy students who connect with us. Our wait list of puppies is long and we are waiting until weve heard back from everybody before we post them on the website. So please email us! [email protected]

Our PUPPY KINDERGARTEN START DATES ARE SET for June and July !! If you would like to take puppy class with us during this time please send an email right away, and we will reply back with the start dates. These will not be listed on the website until at least next week, once everybody on the waitlist who wants to join has gotten back to us. [email protected] ... email us and we will tell you the start dates or keep you on the list to notify first if you want to start class later. Its Puppy class time, we are getting excited ! P.S. we are loving our backyard puppy lessons!

I have 2 dogs at home - anyone else want to try this challenge ?! This video is hilarious of the first try. https://www.sunnyskyz.com//This-Blindfolded-Dress-Your-Dog

We have some heavy hearts here at Best Paw Forward, with the shifting of our most legendary demo dog Brody. That heaviness is not just the sadness we feel without his presence, but also from deep gratitude for all that this kind & wonderful animal teacher "the Brodster" brought to each of us. To all of our clients. To all of his friends and family. And of course, most of all, to our Trainer Quincey. She and Brody had a bond that was deeply connected and very much a partnershi...p. There was nothing but respect and admiration for each other and as such, Brody was a truly superstar dog. Brody has been teaching classes at Best Paw Forward with Quincey Ross for over 5 years, but before that he and Quincey were our students! And I (Robyn), still remember the day a young Quincey was dragged into my puppy class by an outgoing, over excited, overly happy boxer named Brody. He was more into dogs in those days, and poor Quincey had no idea what she had gotten herself into or what she was going to do with this wild puppy. So they took class after class after class... And then, in what seems like only a few moments, Quincey and Brody became a team that understood and respected one another, and soon after, they were ready to share their knowledge together. Quincey and Brody are one of the very best teams we have had working at Best Paw Forward, and we really will miss Brodys funny spirit at class. He made us laugh, truly, every few minutes when he was at class. If you were lucky enough to have Quincey as your class instructor then you most certainly met Brody. Maybe you even wanted your dog to watch and look up to Brody while in class, in hopes that your dog would be just like him. He was our Trick Dog extraordinaire - Brody could put his toys away AND THEN get you a cold drink from the fridge. He could paddleboard with Quincey on lakes or the ocean, and he always looked out for his most favorite dog, his sidekick little sister, Osa. To Quincey and to Brody, our sweet Boxer dog - thank you for sharing your gift with so many other dogs and their owners. YOU inspired people to have fun with their dogs, to listen to what each other is trying to say in the only way they know how. And to love unconditionally, the people you are closest with. Your legacy lives in so many dogs dear Brody, and many more to come. You are still here with us, in our lessons, and we will be sure to keep teaching and inspiring, just like you always did. Big love to you B, and to Q too. If you have a Brody story or a message to Quincey that you would like to share, you may do so here. She will read the comments when she is ready See more

"Are you Happy?!" is the number one question pet owners would ask their pets, if their pets could talk. I think right now, most dogs are quite happy with all the attention and walks they are heading out on during quarantine. Besides that question, if your pet could talk, what would you ask them?

HAPPY EASTER!! We have not had any Puppy class graduates lately, and perhaps some of you have been missing the graduation photos. So we thought we would share with you this album of OUTTAKES - those pics we get BEFORE we get the winning shot :) We hope you enjoy, and have a great Easter weekend with your pups too.

Happy Sunday ! Its Sunday, right ? Thats kind of what each day feels like right now..... Its been a few weeks now of our new state of normal for the foreseeable future. This has been incredibly hard for all of us here at Best Paw Forward - as we know it has for almost everyone of you in our community & beyond. We want more than anything to be helping you with your puppies on your living room floor and at Puppy classes. We will get back to that when circumstances allow. W...e WILL make it through this. Thank you again for allowing us to do our part in physical distancing in our community. Small businesses really need your support to both conduct business AND close their business during a such a pandemic. Right now we are offering FREE phone consultations with one of our trainers if you need any help with your dog. Send us an email to [email protected] and we will set something up as soon as we can. Karen and Robyn are loving the telephone company sharing dog training tips and maybe even some follow up notes... We are also hoping to share some of our abundance of Interactive dog toys with you! We placed a large order for all the upcoming puppy classes that didnt get to begin....but we know those pups might really appreciate a new puzzle or game right now. Or, maybe its YOU who will appreciate your dog working on something while you work from home ... Here are some pictures of our most popular and most favourite toys as determined by our own dogs & our clients dogs as well. We really only sell the ones we like the most! We highly recommend everyone has a least one or two great kongs (wishbone is a favorite) a West Paw toy, and a puzzle. And maybe a piece of fitpaws equipment to keep in shape ! If you see something here you would like to purchase for your dog, send us an email and we can make arrangements for you to either come to our training centre at a predetermined time to pick it up, or, where possible, perhaps I (Robyn) will deliver it to you ! All physical distancing guidelines will remain. Your support for Best Paw Forward over the last 13 years, as well as your support of other local businesses in Nanaimo, goes a very long way during this time. I am grateful. This is my livelihood, as well as our fabulous trainers too and we want to be back at work. We are still here to help by phone OR with new toys! I know I can confidently speak for all small businesses that you support when I say THANK YOU so very much for allowing us to work within what we have long been dreaming about. We look forward to being back. - Robyn

Tys favorite new toy! What is your dogs most recent favorite ?

In these uncertain times, it is important that we all stay healthy (mentally as well as physically) and make an effort to stay grounded. One of the ways that some of us here at Best Paw Forward do this is yoga and our favorite instructor is Yoga With Adriene. She has a YouTube channel with hundreds of videos for all levels and her dog, Benji, makes guest appearances in many of them :)! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiWDsfZ3zbo

We are doing our best to follow official recommendations while still helping our clients in any way that we can. While classes and lessons are suspended, we are offering telephone consultations to support our clients. If you have a pressing concern or particular challenge, please email us via our website (www,bestpaw.ca) to set up a telephone consultation with one of our trainers; we would be happy to help!

UPDATE : Due to social distancing recommendations and guidelines set out by the Province of BC, we have opted to cancel all classes and close the Training Centre until March 30th unless otherwise mentioned. We will keep you updated on this over the coming days. For our clients who have been immediately affected by this - until we resume classes please make sure to keep working on your homework with your pups - practice makes perfect! There are lots of things you can be prac...ticing right now that you learned at your previous class or classes. If you would like to arrange a phone consultation with one of our trainers, please send us an email to do so. We are following daily updates from our federal government, and that is continually changing. Obviously we want to be back at classes just as soon as we can. Please keep an eye on our Facebook and Instagram pages, as soon we will be posting videos to inspire you to try new things with your dogs at home during this break. We would like to encourage everyone to stay home and maintain social distancing so we can get through this as quickly as possible. THANK YOU for supporting a local business. Wishing you all good health!

UPDATE : ALL Classes are cancelled this week. We will post and share an update with our students again at the end of the week. Thank you for understanding. ... Thank you for participating in the Global movement to keep each other safe. We are all one and need to support each other. There is a silver lining, but only likely from our dogs point of view - ALL this time at home with their FAVORITE people ! We hope you are enjoying your time with them at home too. And these funnies here. Lots of time for training at home or on a walk - dog walks are still allowed ! Stay healthy. Stay connected. Stay with your dog on the couch when you need it!

CPR practice at Dogsafe class on Saturday !

We are growing our team! Best Paw Forward is looking to add an Assistant Trainer/Trainer to our fabulous team! We pride ourselves on having a team of well educated and experienced staff that strive to give our clients the skills, knowledge and inspiration to train their dogs to the best they can be. Do you have a dream of being a dog trainer? The right candidate will be a team player who is committed to positive reinforcement training and the ideals of Best Paw Forward, able... to work evenings and weekends and have a flexible schedule, have a valid drivers license & reliable transportation. Be professional, mature and dependable with an upbeat attitude and enthusiasm for learning about dog training and behavior. This position starts with an initial volunteer period, after which the successful applicant will be offered a long-term permanent position. Only those serious in a long term position should apply and will be considered. Experience working with dogs and interacting in a professional manner with clients is preferred. There will be plenty of on the job training as well as self study. For more information and application details, please visit our website. http://www.bestpaw.ca/work-with-us

Puppy class practice ! We have a few spaces left in our 7 week Puppy Kindergarten classes starting this month. Mar 10 Tuesdays 7:50pm... Mar 19 Thursdays 7:50pm Mar 21 Saturdays 12:15pm April dates are listed on the website too. Most of the puppies that are beginning puppy kindergarten class are about 14 weeks old. Register www.bestpaw.ca

Can you call your dog off of their favorite activity? Sheo has been practicing and is getting pretty good. Our Really Reliable Recall class will help you and your dog learn the necessary skills to achieve a strong recall. We still have two spots available in our upcoming class starting Sunday, March 22nd at 10:45 am. Contact us at [email protected] or visit our website to sign up.