Best Friends Services & Fees
Puppy and Adult Dog TrainingWhether your puppy or dog needs to learning basic skills for the first time, needs a brush-up, take the next steps or fix training that has broken down, private instruction in your home offers a program tailored precisely to your needs. For puppies and beginner adults, Best Friends can help you with housetraining/potty training, daily structure, mouthing and biting, household manners, self-management, and all the necessary basic skills. For help with walking on leash Best Friends can help with pulling, lagging, reluctance to walk, arousal at the sight of squirrels, birds, people and other dogs, and other questions that arise from being out and about in your neighbourhood.
Your trainer will demonstrate exercises with your dog where appropriate, and after each session you’ll receive notes giving you the step-by-step instructions we’ve discussed, demonstrated or practiced together, either in handouts or by email the next day, depending on the topics covered each session.
Learn more about Private Instruction
Rates for appointments in Mississauga, Oakville, Milton, Brampton
60-minute session
$130 + HST = $146.90
Save $50 with a 4-session program*
(paid at first session)
$470 + HST = $531.10
Behaviour ConsultationsSome dog behaviour needs are only partly about the development of skills. When behaviour problems arise because of an out-of-proportion emotional response to events or triggers in your dog’s life, you’ll need a combination of skills development and emotional “counterconditioning,” where we help your dog come to feel differently about the things that trigger unwanted behaviour.
Prior to your first appointment, you’ll do a short pre-interview on the phone with Andrew to help identify whether your needs will be addressed better by a regular training session or by a Behaviour program. If you choose the Behaviour program, your first appointment will be 90 minutes, during which a more detailed history will be taken, priorities for training will be established, and first steps will be assigned. Subsequent appointments will be 60 minutes and will follow up on what you’ve been doing, and provide next steps.
You will be provided with an online workbook where you can, optionally, record your work, so that the trainer can read your reporting between appointments and come ready with evidence-based suggestions and next steps. You’ll be given instructions on how to use the workbook, and how to develop your own exercise progression between appointments. If you do not use the workbook, you can report orally at each appointment how things went.
Optionally, you can have the trainer prescribe detailed steps in the progression of your counterconditioning exercises, filling out the steps in your workbook, leaving only the spaces where you’ll report on what happened with each exercise. An additional fee applies for prescribed steps, and you may still find you adapt the progression based on the results at each step.
Aggression
If your dog is biting or threatening to bite, growling, protecting resources such as toys, food, furniture or even specific family members against other family members, fighting or threatening to fight with other dogs, Behaviour Consultations are the right path for you.
Learn more about Aggression treatment
Separation Anxiety
If your dog struggles to cope with being alone in the house or apart from specific family members, displaying such behaviours when separated as panicky, uninterrupted barking, pacing, excessive drooling, evacuation of bowels or bladder, sustained howling, or escape attempts, Behaviour Consultations are the right path for you.
Learn more about Separation Anxiety treatment
Other Behaviour Issues
Out-of-proportion emotional responses such as phobias, generalized fearful behaviour, fear of specific triggers you need your dog to accept, difficulty accepting grooming or other handling, or hyper-arousal in response to specific triggers, can be addressed through behavioural counterconditioning, and Behaviour Consultations will help you chart the path.
Learn more about Behaviour treatment
Rates for Behaviour/Aggression/Separation Anxiety Treatment
90-minute initial consultation:
$200 + HST = $226.00
Subsequent 60-minute consultations:
$150 + HST = $169.50
Save $50 with a 4-session program*
(1x90 min and 3x60 min paid at first session):
$600 + HST = $678.00
Optional Desensitization & Counterconditioning
Workbook Setup:
$200 + HST = $226.00
For Appointments in Etobicoke & Burlington
Surcharge per session: $25 + HST = $28.25
Remote Behaviour Consultations
90-minute initial video consultation:
$180 + HST = $203.40
60-minute subsequent video consultation:
$135 + HST = $152.55
Save $35 on a 4-Pack of phone or video consultations*
(1x90, 3x60 min sessions):
$550 + HST = $621.50
Cancellation Policy
By booking an appointment you agree to provide one full business day’s notice or pay the late cancellation fee noted below. For prepaid sessions, you may elect instead to forfeit the session. One business day is measured as follows:
Weeknight appointment: Cancellation prior to 5 pm the previous day
Weekend appointment: Cancellation prior to 5 pm the preceding Thursday
Tuesday to Friday daytime appointment: Cancellation prior to 24 hours in advance
Monday daytime appointment: Cancellation prior to the same time the preceding Friday
Late cancellations:
$50 + HST = $56.50.
*Four-session programs are prepaid at the first session; In-person rates for any mix of in-person or online consultations that includes at least one in-person session.
For single online appointments or full online programs, payment is made by email transfer prior to the start of the appointment or the first appointment of the program.
Please note: Pre-payment for four-session programs is non-refundable but may be applied to appointments in the future or transferred to another pet owner.
