FAQ
Straight answers about puppy training, obedience, e-collars, behaviour modification, in-home sessions and training with Acadia Canine Academy in Meteghan and across Clare.
Send us a message through the contact form or call (905) 517-5473 and tell us a little about your dog. We usually reply within 1 to 2 business days to set up a consultation. From there we can recommend a course or a plan of hourly sessions that fits your dog and your goals.
We meet you and your dog, ask about daily routines and the problems you want solved, and watch how your dog handles the training field. You leave with an honest read on where your dog is today, a clear plan and a few things to practise at home. Consultations are $60 CAD per hour.
Balanced training uses all four ways dogs learn: adding something good, taking away something unpleasant, adding something the dog does not want and taking away something it does want. At ACA, rewards, play and your relationship with your dog do most of the work. Any correction is fair, low and clearly taught first, so your dog always knows how to get it right. You can read more about our approach on our About page.
Yes. We train dogs and coach the people who live with them, because a dog only stays trained when its family handles it the same way every day. Each session ends with simple homework, and the work you put in between sessions makes the biggest difference.
Bring your dog on the leash and collar you use now, a pouch of treats your dog really likes and some water. It also helps to bring notes on any behaviour you are worried about, such as when it happens and what sets it off. If your dog has any health issues, let us know before the session.
As soon as your puppy comes home. Our Puppy Foundation course is built for puppies 8 to 16 weeks old, the window when habits form fastest. Older puppies and adult dogs can start with a consultation, or with Basic Obedience once it launches.
Puppy Foundation covers socialization and confidence, an introduction to leash manners, sit, down, stay and come, and bite inhibition and impulse control. Training is mostly rewards, with a few very mild corrections that we show you first. See the full outline on the Puppy Foundation page.
Puppy biting is normal, but it needs to be shaped early. Keep a toy ready so you can give the mouth something better to do, end play calmly when teeth land on skin, and keep sessions short so your puppy does not get overtired and wild. Bite inhibition and impulse control are a core part of Puppy Foundation.
Only as an option, and only gradually. At first the puppy simply wears the collar during meals, play and training until it feels normal. Low-level stimulation, always paired with rewards, is added later, once your puppy is old enough and ready.
Aim for calm, good experiences rather than as many as possible. Let your puppy watch new people, dogs, sounds and places from a comfortable distance, reward calm curiosity and leave before things get overwhelming. On our property puppies also learn to stay settled around chickens and ducks, which helps a lot for life in a rural area.
Basic Obedience builds core manners for daily life: sit, stay, heel, recall, loose-leash walking and polite greetings. Advanced Obedience raises the standard with distance and duration work, distraction proofing and off-leash reliability goals. Each course page lists what your dog needs to show to graduate.
Start somewhere quiet, reward your dog for staying near your leg and stop moving forward the moment the leash goes tight. Gentle leash pressure is something a dog learns to switch off by choosing the right spot beside you. Short, frequent sessions work better than one long walk, and loose-leash walking is covered in Basic Obedience.
Practise recall on a long line so your dog can never practise ignoring you, and make coming back the best thing that happens on every walk. We keep dogs on a long line until they are reliable, and only then work toward off leash. Recall is trained in Basic Obedience and proofed in Advanced Obedience.
Yes. Older dogs learn well when sessions are short and suited to their body, and many settle into training faster than puppies do. We start with a consultation to see what your dog is comfortable with. Old Dogs New Tricks, by Ryan R. McKenzie, Founder and Head Trainer, is written for exactly these dogs and is listed in our Store.
It depends on the dog, its history and how much practice happens at home. Simple manners can improve within a few sessions, while reliable off-leash work takes much longer. We would rather give you an honest timeline after meeting your dog than promise a number up front.
Used the way we use them, no. We treat a modern e-collar as a communication tool, run at the lowest level the dog can notice, which feels more like a tap on the shoulder than anything sharp. It is paired with commands the dog already knows, it stops the moment the dog responds, and the response is always rewarded. The collar is never used to zap a dog for ordinary misbehaving.
We look for each dog's working level: the lowest setting where it shows a small sign of noticing, like an ear flick or a turn of the head. On a 0 to 100 dial, most dogs in a quiet setting work somewhere from the low single digits into the teens. It changes with collar fit and surroundings, so we watch the dog, not the number.
Our first choice is E-Collar Technologies, especially the Educator line, for its fine 0 to 100 control and smooth stimulation. Dogtra is our other recommendation. Cheap collars often jump unevenly between levels, which makes low-level work much harder. See the collars we carry on our E-Collar Technologies page.
Yes. Acadia Canine Academy is an Authorized E-Collar Technologies Dealer, and online ordering is coming soon. In the meantime, contact us and we can help you choose the right system, order it for you and show you how to fit and use it.
We recommend against it. In untrained hands, however good the intentions, an e-collar can hurt a dog physically and mentally. We ask clients to keep their own e-collar work to the low, reward-paired level we teach, and only once we have shown them how to use it properly.
Yes. Our Rehabilitation program is for dogs that react to dogs or people, show fear, guard food or objects, or have become hard to manage. It starts with an honest assessment, puts safety and management first and measures progress over time. A consultation is the place to start.
Behaviour modification means changing how a dog feels about and responds to the things that set it off, not just teaching it to obey. It uses obedience as one tool, along with management, careful exposure and clear communication. The goal is a dog that can stay in control in the places where it used to lose it.
No honest trainer can. Behaviour can change with health, age and environment, and some dogs will always need some management. What we can offer is a clear plan and progress measured against your own dog's starting point.
Yes. Resource guarding is common and often improves with a careful plan. Until we meet, avoid taking things away from your dog by force and keep children away from it while it eats or chews. Book a consultation through our contact form and we will assess it with safety first.
See your vet first if the behaviour started suddenly, if your dog seems to be in pain, or if it is eating, sleeping or moving differently. Pain and illness can cause snapping, guarding and fear. When a health concern comes up during training, we refer you to your veterinarian before training continues.
Yes. In-home sessions are $80 CAD per hour, with travel included anywhere in the Municipality of Clare. Training at home lets us work on problems where they actually happen, such as the front door, the kitchen or your own street. Book a home visit through the contact form.
Choose "Home visit" on the contact form and fill out the short intake so we know what to expect. We review your answers, build an introduction plan and reply within 1 to 2 business days to set a day and time. The first visit is an assessment with a clear plan and homework, and each follow-up builds on the last. The steps are also laid out on our Training page.
Farther trips are available by request. If you live in Yarmouth, Digby or elsewhere in southwest Nova Scotia, get in touch and we will let you know what is possible. You are also always welcome to come to us in Meteghan.
Walk-in and consultation sessions in Meteghan are $60 CAD per hour. In-home sessions are $80 CAD per hour, with travel included anywhere in Clare. See our rates for details.
Our four courses, Puppy Foundation, Basic Obedience, Advanced Obedience and Rehabilitation, are launching soon, and course pricing will be posted when they open. Hourly sessions are available now. Early inquiries help us plan the first groups, so let us know which course interests you.
Fill out the contact form or call (905) 517-5473. Tell us about your dog and whether you would like to come to us or have us visit your home. We typically respond within 1 to 2 business days.
We train at 8204 Hwy 1 in Meteghan, on an outdoor training field on our 3-acre property, with an indoor training space coming soon. Dogs work on a long line until they are reliable off leash. Our dogs live here alongside chickens and ducks, so there is real farm life to train around.
We are based in Meteghan on the French Shore, along Baie Sainte-Marie. In-home sessions cover the whole Municipality of Clare with travel included, and clients from Yarmouth and Digby counties are welcome to train with us in Meteghan.
Sessions are in English. French-speaking families are always welcome. Acadian families from across the French Shore are part of our community.
Training is led by Ryan R. McKenzie, Founder and Head Trainer. Ryan has over a decade of experience, gained mostly in Ontario working with Mack Masos of Maso Mastiffs, and moved to Nova Scotia in 2025. He is also the author of practical guides including Old Dogs New Tricks, found in our Store. Read more on our About page.
Tell us about your dog and we will get back to you within 1 to 2 business days.
