Toronto Humane Society is proud to offer a variety of training classes for you and your pet. We are passionate about advocating for, and educating pet owners about humane, compassionate, and trust building training practices. We pledge our commitment to providing you and your best friend with a constructive, supportive, and inspiring environment for strengthening the human-animal bond!
Our group training classes are led by certified animal trainers and designed to meet your dog’s needs at every stage of their life. From puppy classes to foundations skills, to intermediate and advanced levels, our group classes provide proactive, enriching and positive reinforcement-based curriculum to set you and your dog up for success as you strengthen your human animal bond.
We offer private behaviour consultations and private training classes, both in–home and at our River Street location. Virtual classes are also available. Behaviour consultations and private training classes are suitable for dogs who struggle with problem behaviours and complex challenges. Our experienced animal trainers and behaviour consultants are highly certified and will create a plan to help you manage and resolve issues including, but not limited to reactivity, fearfulness, separation anxiety, jumpy, mouthy or hectic behaviour, resource guarding, and aggression. Private training classes are also available to owners whose dog(s) is already enrolled in a group class but would like one on one coaching to work through the group class curricula.
Our Day Training package offers a weekday series that occur mid-day conducted by a certified dog trainer in your home. This package is developed to provide the framework for optimal training results by offering a trainer who will do the bulk of the training for you! After your initial goal setting session, we create a personalized training plan and come to your home 3-5 days a week to work with your dog for the duration of the package. You’ll receive weekly updates and an end-of-package skills transfer session. This package is available for residents in Corktown, Moss Park, Regent Park, The Distillery District and Rosedale. Our service area may change from time to time based on availability so please email us to inquire if we are in your neighbourhood.
Dr. Jacklyn Ellis, MRes PhD CAAB CSB-C Director, Behaviour
Jacklyn Ellis is board certified by the Animal Behavior Society as a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist, is Certified in Shelter Behavior – Cat by the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants and is the Director of Behaviour at Toronto Humane Society. She earned her PhD in Animal Welfare at the Atlantic Veterinary College, University of Prince Edward Island, where she conducted research on methods for reducing stress in shelter cats. Her work has been published widely in peer reviewed journals and she has presented at many national and international conferences, particularly on feline stress and elimination behaviour. She has recently completed two chapters for a new edition of the leading textbook on the behaviour and welfare of shelter animals.
Beverley McKee, BA CDBC CPDT-KAProgram Manager, Public Training Services and Care Support
Beverley McKee is a Certified Dog Behaviour Consultant through the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants and a Certified Professional Dog Trainer – Knowledge Assessed through the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers. She is also the Program Manager, Public Training Services and Care Support at Toronto Humane Society. She is a Fear Free Certified Animal Trainer Professional, a Fear Free Shelter Graduate, and a Living and Learning With Animals Graduate under Dr. Susan Friedman. Beverley has published articles on dog behaviour in industry publications serving both the animal behaviour community and the veterinary medicine community. She has presented on various animal behaviour topics at national conferences and served in an executive leadership role on the Board of Directors of the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants. Beverley and her Australian Cattle Dog, Luke, who was adopted from Toronto Humane Society, train and compete regularly in Sporting Scent Detection and Rally Obedience and have achieved numerous sporting dog titles.
Our team of animal trainers hold a variety of international certifications through prestigious organizations such as The Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers, The International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants, The Karen Pryor Academy, Fear Free Pets and Family Paws. We offer many years of experience working with thousands of pet parents and their pets on both proactive training and behaviour modification training. We have extensive experience working with shelter animals to prepare them for their forever homes and aim to provide pet parents with an empathetic, evidence-based and results-oriented approach.
If you would like more information on our training services, please email us at publictraining@torontohumanesociety.com
