About Us

Owner and Head Trainer Sylvia Gottschalk, CTB.ccs, IPDTA-CDT, is an award winning certified dog trainer/behaviour therapist, who has worked with dogs for over 25 yrs and has taught over 650 classes, 6000 dogs, and 10,000 owners since opening Delightful Dogs in 1999. Sylvia runs all the business aspects of Delightful Dogs as well teaches classes on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Sylvia is a dedicated professional who upgrades her skills and education on a regular basis to bring you the most proven and up-to-date techniques.
For more details about Sylvia, visit Sylvia's Bio page.
Jenny Maciel, CTB.ccs, IPDTA-CDT, joined the Delightful Dogs' team to teach additional classes on Monday and Wednesday evenings starting March 2022. For more details about Jenny, visit Jenny's Bio page.
Our goal at Delightful Dogs is not only to teach you and your dog valuable training techniques, but more importantly, to prevent problems, create good manners, and help you resolve any behaviour challenges you may be experiencing.
Our methods of training use force-free non-physical aversives or corrections. We utilize hand signals and voice commands along with tools such as reward markers, lures/treats and real-life rewards to teach. We believe in establishing manners and leadership with trust and respect and not with any form of fear, pain, force or intimidation.
We apply the learning theories of positive reinforcement, negative punishment, counter conditioning, desensitization and classical conditioning. We do not practice the theories of negative reinforcement and positive punishment.
Visit our Resources Page for excellent resources and educational information.
Exercises are taught in the presence of a variety of distractions including other dogs and their handlers. Class sizes range from 4-6 dogs per class. We keep our classes small to allow for safe distancing, plenty of working space and individual attention. We will not overcrowd!
Our training classes are scheduled for the amount of time necessary for proper learning. By ensuring the appropriate number of weeks for a class, you and your dog have plenty of time to work through your exercises. We will not rush you through a course!
All classes include detailed manuals that are easy to follow. The level one manual will not only guide you through all exercises taught in class, it also includes solutions to common behaviour problems you may experience with your dog.
Our modern newly built heated and air-conditioned facility is large, clean and spacious with many safety features in place. We take great pride in running a very clean and sanitary facility and our cleaning and sanitation protocols are of the highest standards.
Classes are held indoors and outdoors on our 1/2 acre property centrally located to the tri-cities in the quiet town of Bloomingdale, Ontario. See pictures of our facility on the Contact Us page.
We have expanded our business to provide the additional services of Grooming and our Retail Store. No more running all over town to find all the products and services you need!
Check out the article published about us in: The Woolwich Observer
We provide continued care, guidance and assistance for the life of your dog!
Visit our Testimonials page to see what people say about us and have a look at some of our "Delightful Dogs" on the Photos page.
For more details about Sylvia, visit Sylvia's Bio page.
Jenny Maciel, CTB.ccs, IPDTA-CDT, joined the Delightful Dogs' team to teach additional classes on Monday and Wednesday evenings starting March 2022. For more details about Jenny, visit Jenny's Bio page.
Our goal at Delightful Dogs is not only to teach you and your dog valuable training techniques, but more importantly, to prevent problems, create good manners, and help you resolve any behaviour challenges you may be experiencing.
Our methods of training use force-free non-physical aversives or corrections. We utilize hand signals and voice commands along with tools such as reward markers, lures/treats and real-life rewards to teach. We believe in establishing manners and leadership with trust and respect and not with any form of fear, pain, force or intimidation.
We apply the learning theories of positive reinforcement, negative punishment, counter conditioning, desensitization and classical conditioning. We do not practice the theories of negative reinforcement and positive punishment.
Visit our Resources Page for excellent resources and educational information.
Exercises are taught in the presence of a variety of distractions including other dogs and their handlers. Class sizes range from 4-6 dogs per class. We keep our classes small to allow for safe distancing, plenty of working space and individual attention. We will not overcrowd!
Our training classes are scheduled for the amount of time necessary for proper learning. By ensuring the appropriate number of weeks for a class, you and your dog have plenty of time to work through your exercises. We will not rush you through a course!
All classes include detailed manuals that are easy to follow. The level one manual will not only guide you through all exercises taught in class, it also includes solutions to common behaviour problems you may experience with your dog.
Our modern newly built heated and air-conditioned facility is large, clean and spacious with many safety features in place. We take great pride in running a very clean and sanitary facility and our cleaning and sanitation protocols are of the highest standards.
Classes are held indoors and outdoors on our 1/2 acre property centrally located to the tri-cities in the quiet town of Bloomingdale, Ontario. See pictures of our facility on the Contact Us page.
We have expanded our business to provide the additional services of Grooming and our Retail Store. No more running all over town to find all the products and services you need!
Check out the article published about us in: The Woolwich Observer
We provide continued care, guidance and assistance for the life of your dog!
Visit our Testimonials page to see what people say about us and have a look at some of our "Delightful Dogs" on the Photos page.