You have decided to get help with your dog. Then you land on our site and see that everything starts with an evaluation, and the doubts show up on cue: What are they going to do to my dog? What if he embarrasses me? Is this just a sales meeting with a nicer name?
All fair questions — you are about to invite a stranger into one of the more vulnerable corners of your life. So here is the whole thing, laid out: what a dog training evaluation is, what the trainer is actually assessing, and what you walk out with 75 minutes later.
Why we evaluate before we sell you anything
In our guide to choosing a dog trainer, we called an evaluation-first process a green flag — and a full program quote before anyone has met your dog a red one. This article is that green flag, lived out.
The reason is simple: a reactive dog, an anxious dog, and an adolescent who never got foundations can look identical on an intake form. "He barks at other dogs" can mean six different things, and each one calls for a different plan. Until a trainer has watched your dog move, react, and recover in real time, any program recommendation is a guess — and we do not sell guesses.
What the trainer actually looks at
The evaluation is a working session, not an interrogation. The first few minutes are deliberately uneventful — a meet and greet where your dog gets to sniff, settle, and show us who they are when nobody is asking anything of them. From there, the trainer is reading a few specific things:
- History. How your dog came to you, what daily life looks like, what has already been tried and how it went.
- Triggers. What sets the behaviour off — dogs, strangers, bikes, the doorbell — and how quickly your dog recovers afterward.
- How your dog learns. Short hands-on training moments to see what motivates your dog and how they respond when we ask for something simple.
- Your environment. Apartment or house, busy street or quiet crescent, kids, other pets — the plan has to work where you actually live.
- Your goals. What a good outcome looks like for your family, honestly discussed against what is realistic for your dog.
How to prepare (you do not need to train first)
The most common worry we hear is some version of "I should get him under control before we come in." Please do not. If you rehearse your dog into a polished version of themselves, the trainer meets the wrong dog. Come as you are — the messy version is the useful version.
That said, a little preparation helps. None of it is required, but it makes the 75 minutes count:
- A rough timeline. When the behaviour started, whether anything changed around that time, and how it has evolved.
- A list of what you have tried. Trainers, videos, tips from friends — no judgment, it all shortens the diagnostic path.
- Your questions, written down. Evaluations move quickly and it is easy to forget the thing you most wanted to ask.
- A heads-up if your dog struggles around dogs or strangers. Tell us when you book, and we will plan the space and the introduction accordingly.
What you leave with
You should never leave an evaluation confused about what just happened. By the end of the session, the trainer will explain what they observed in plain language, then walk you through our services and pricing and recommend a training program built around your dog — not a template.
Sometimes that recommendation is private lessons. Sometimes it is a group class that costs less than the owner expected to spend. Sometimes it is in-home training, because the problem lives in your hallway, not in our facility. And sometimes the honest answer is "talk to your vet first." If a different path fits your dog better than the one you came in expecting, we will say so — that conversation is the product, not a detour from it.
If you do continue with a program, your trainer will tell you exactly how to prepare for your first session and what to bring. No decision has to happen in the room. Take the recommendation home, talk it over, and start when you are ready.
How to book (and what happens next)
Evaluations happen at our facility in Anjou or in your home, and we work with owners across Montreal, Laval, and the West Island, in French or English. Booking takes a few minutes online, or you can call us at 514-826-9558 if you would rather talk it through with a human first.
Then you show up with your dog, exactly as they are. We handle the rest — 75 minutes, one trainer, and a clear answer to the question that brought you here: what does my dog actually need?