We appreciate your visit to our website. As our guest, we invite you to look around and see the unique services we have to offer both present and future dog owners. Please refer to our calendar for the schedule of upcoming classes and locations. We also offer private lessons between Ottawa and the Seaway. At Shake-a-Paw Dog Training, we specialize in creating great dog/owner relationships. If you already have a dog, we work with you in nurturing the bond between dogs and their owners. Just got a puppy? We can help that puppy grow up to be a fun and well-behaved family pet. Are you searching for dog of your dreams, we can help find the right puppy or older dog for you. We are vet recommended, members of the Agility Association of Canada, Canadian Kennel Club, Chesapeake Bay Retriever Club of Canada, Canadian Association of Professional Dog Trainers and the Ottawa Kennel Club.

Any type of dog (purebred and mixed-breed, young or old) and any type of handler is welcome to train at our club. Our only criteria are that the training you do is enjoyable and rewarding for both you and your dog. At Shake-a-Paw Dog Training we believe that any dog, no matter what age, can learn new things. We teach pet owners how rewarding it is to relate to one's dogs in a positive manner. We encourage participation from the whole family. Our goal is to provide owners with enough knowledge of dog behaviour and how dogs learn, so that long after the class is completed, owners can teach new behaviours, thus preventing problem behaviours from developing by using proper management techniques. We do all this using Chris Bach's The Third Way techniques. After years of looking we feel The Third Way offers the best ways to achieve all your goals for your dog.

Paola Hoger is the owner and head instructor of Shake-a-Paw Dog Training. She has been training dogs for a number of years, and started Shake-a-Paw in 1999.

Over the past few years Paola has been asked to write training articles for Akita Visions (the newsletter for the Akita Alumni), the Cranberry Crier (the newsletter for the Cranberry Hill Vet Clinic), and The Ridgeback Roster (newsletter for the Rhodesian Ridgeback Club of Eastern Canada). Paola has also received recognition as a tester for the Canadian Canine Good Citizen, Canine Good Neighbour and Temperament Test Associates.

As Paola believes that continuing education is the key to staying on top of this ever changing occupation, she has attended the following seminars: Ian Dunbar, Alan Bauman, Chris Bach, Cheryl Smith, Terry Arnold, Rita Susanto, Carol Cassidy, Wendy Volhard, Terry Simons, Janet Lundy, and Janet R Lewis. She has taken classes in tracking, flyball, search and rescue, canine freestyle, agility and obedience. In addition, Paola regularly organizes seminars both for pet dog training, competition obedience, agility and health, by bringing top notch specialists in these areas to the community.

Paola currently owns an Akita, a Siberian Husky and a Chesapeake Bay Retriever. Each has taught her how to be a better dog trainer.