Need help with your dog’s behavior?
Welcome to A Lick of Sense! We are two dog trainers, Nina Esmery and Stephen Fiset, ready to meet you and start your dog’s education.
Our approach is based on teaching the entire family, and on transparency. Our priorities are always:
- That you understand what we’re training, and why. We want you to be equipped to maintain training and behaviors, which means you’ll need to know the logic behind the plan.
- To give you our honest analysis of any given situation. We highly value honesty and dialogue. Communication is a two-way street: you can share your mistakes and concerns without judgement, and we won’t be afraid to frankly give you our opinion and advice.

What services do we offer?
- Our group classes have the best bang for buck: a bunch of information and practice, for a low price! We currently offer Puppy classes, as well as Applied Obedience.
- Private, in home consultations are our most popular service. Customized to your needs, you work with the trainer towards your goals, then you have homework to do until the next meeting.
- Day training is our most intensive formula: your dog will be trained by a professionnal multiple times a week. Once your dog is ready, you will have transfer sessions to learn and practice its new behaviors.
Areas covered by our in-home services:
We currently cover Verdun, Lasalle, the South West, NDG, Westmount, Ville-Marie and Plateau Mont-Royal.

Who are we?
- Nina specializes in reactivity. Whether it occurs on leash, at the window, because of fear or frustration, towards strangers, dogs or bicycles: she can help you.
- Stephen specializes in training puppies, guiding them towards becoming healthy and stable adults. Want the best way to fix problems early, to prevent them before they ever happen, or to install solid foundations? He’s got the plan for you.
Continuing education is at the heart of our values, which is why we update our knowledge year after year. Animal behavior is a science and, like all other sciences, it evolves constantly!
We are part of multiple professional associations, and we only use training methods that are ethical, realistic and positive for the dog and its family.
To know more about A Lick of Sense, visit the About us page.

Have some questions? Send us a message!
Discover our latest blog posts
Life with a reactive dog: what are the priorities?

Let’s be real: life with a reactive dog isn’t always a walk in the park. In fact, walks in the park are often terrible with a reactive dog. There are small details you have to pay attention to all the time and it’s hard to pick out what matters and what doesn’t. Training, having visitors,…
How to leave the dog park without having to chase your dog

Dog parks are a great way to let your dog play with friends. But it can get frustrating when the time to leave the dog park comes and your dog just won’t accept that. Here’s how to never need to catch or chase your dog when you want to go home again. If you can…
Barking during play: what to do?

If you’ve read our blog post about play, you already know that barking is a perfectly natural thing for dogs to do when they’re having fun with each other. That being said, the noise can still become a problem for the people around your playing pup, not to mention the neighborhood. Is it really play-barking?…