Questions? Start here.
Find answers about Belle & Bark services, training and behaviour support, booking, locations, group learning, enrichment, and pet care.
Getting started
If you already know which service you’d like, send a booking request and tell us a little about you, your dog, and what you’re looking for. We’ll reply within one business day with availability and next steps.
Have a general question or need help before booking? Use the contact form instead.
Our service quiz can help you narrow down the options. You can also contact us if your situation doesn’t fit neatly into one category or you’d like some guidance before booking.
Belle & Bark offers Puppy Foundations, Everyday Skills for adolescent and adult dogs, Behaviour Solutions, enrichment walks and scent tracking, small-group learning, drop-in pet care, and pet transport.
In-home services are available in Westmount and several nearby Montreal neighbourhoods, including NDG, Côte-Saint-Luc, Hampstead, Montreal West, Ville-Marie, The Sud-Ouest, Verdun, Town of Mount Royal, Outremont, and The Plateau.
Live nearby but don’t see your neighbourhood listed? Get in touch and we’ll let you know what’s possible. A travel fee may apply.
Training and behaviour support
Everyday training can include recall, leash skills, greetings, settling, attention around distractions, handling, household routines, and other practical skills you use with your dog.
Puppies, adolescents, and adult dogs have their own service options so the support can fit their stage of life.
Behaviour Solutions supports concerns such as fear, anxiety, reactivity, aggression, resource guarding, separation-related distress, handling challenges, and changes in behaviour.
We’ll look at what’s happening across your dog’s health, environment, routines, relationships, and behaviour before building a practical support plan.
Belle & Bark uses positive reinforcement and current behaviour science, with close attention to each dog’s communication, comfort, and welfare.
Training is adapted to the individual dog, and we don’t use tools or techniques designed to cause pain, fear, or intimidation.
Yes. Support can include settling into a new home, building everyday skills, understanding new or changing behaviour, and helping a dog feel more comfortable in their new routines and environment.
Yes. Belle & Bark works with puppies through senior dogs and with dogs of many breeds, mixes, backgrounds, and experience levels. The plan is shaped around the individual dog rather than assumptions based on breed or age.
Yes. Multiple dogs can be part of the same training or behaviour plan when that’s useful. Some skills may still be practised individually so each dog gets the space and attention they need.
No. Behaviour is influenced by the individual dog, their learning history, health, environment, relationships, and many other factors.
We can provide careful assessment, clear guidance, ongoing support, and adjustments as we learn more about what helps your dog.
Sessions and booking
Most private sessions take place in your home and nearby neighbourhood so we can work in the environments where you and your dog actually use the skills. We may also meet in another suitable location when it supports your goals.
After your booking is confirmed, you’ll receive the assessment information, service agreement, and payment or deposit details needed for your service.
Please submit assessment information at least 24 to 48 hours before we meet so there’s time to review your dog’s history, health, routines, environment, and current concerns.
We’ll talk through your priorities, review the information you’ve shared, and look more closely at what’s happening with your dog. From there, we’ll work through appropriate first steps together and make sure you know what to practise afterward.
Yes. Multi-session services include support for questions that come up between appointments, along with relevant guidance and resources. More involved troubleshooting and training is best handled during scheduled sessions, where we have time to work through it properly.
It depends on what you’re working on, your dog, and how things develop between sessions. Some skills can progress quickly, while behaviour concerns often benefit from ongoing assessment and adjustments over time.
The service pages show the session formats available, and we can discuss the best starting point for your situation.
Yes. Family members who are involved in your dog’s care or training are welcome to participate. Shared understanding can make it easier to use the same skills and routines between sessions.
Please give at least 24 hours’ notice if you need to reschedule. Late cancellations and missed sessions may be subject to a cancellation fee because the appointment time may be difficult to offer to another client.
Emergencies are handled case by case.
Package sessions are valid for six months from the date of purchase. Scheduling sessions with a reasonably consistent rhythm usually makes it easier to practise, review progress, and adjust the plan as you go.
Group learning and enrichment
Yes. Belle & Bark offers seasonal small-group Puppy Foundations classes, Walking Foundations, and guided group walks. Availability varies by season and programme.
Group learning is designed for dogs who can comfortably learn around other dogs and people. If your dog barks, lunges, freezes, or struggles to feel safe around others, Behaviour Solutions is usually a better starting point.
An enrichment walk is a one-on-one outing shaped around what your dog finds interesting and engaging. There’s time to sniff, explore, investigate, move at their own pace, and make choices about the environment.
The goal isn’t simply to cover as much distance as possible.
Scent Tracking Foundations is a four-session private course where you and your dog learn to follow scent trails together. It’s suitable for beginners, and the searches become gradually more complex as you both gain experience.
Pet care and transport
A 30-minute drop-in can include feeding, medication, bathroom breaks for dogs, litter-box care for cats, and time for attention, play, or a little enrichment. We’ll follow the routine and care instructions you provide.
No. Drop-in care is designed for short visits at home rather than overnight or extended stays.
Pet transport can include veterinary appointments, grooming, daycare, breeder or rescue pickups, bringing a new pet home, local pickups and drop-offs, and longer journeys by arrangement.
You’re also welcome to travel with your pet when that makes sense.
Please allow at least 48 hours for drop-in visits and 72 hours for pet transport whenever possible. Last-minute requests may sometimes be accommodated depending on availability.
About Belle & Bark
Tabitha is a certified dog trainer and Family Dog Mediator who continues to study dog behaviour and welfare through professional education, current research, and ongoing learning with other behaviour professionals.
Visit the About page for current qualifications, memberships, and professional education.
We regularly review current research, continue our professional education, and learn alongside other behaviour professionals. That ongoing learning helps shape how Belle & Bark approaches training, behaviour support, and welfare.