The Little Doghouse on the Prairie was created and conceptualized by Lindsay Porter in the spring of 2023.  This however is not the only dog business she has operated in the city of Lethbridge. From 2013 to 2017, she ran Driving Miss Doggy, one of Lethbridge’s first ever professional and properly trained group dog walking services. 

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Lindsay has spent 14 years boarding, walking and training dogs. 

Her primary scope of training is centred on confidence building, moving out of being reactive and a sense of peace in the dogs she works with.  She believes strongly that almost all of the reasons we see an otherwise sweet and good dog have big reactions is unmet needs of some sort. Be it fear, frustration, confusion; positive reinforcement and proper guidance can help a dog gain confidence and a sense of safety in the over arousing worlds they live in.

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The focus of The Little Doghouse on the prairie is to help dogs learn to trust whatever environment they are in and to teach those dogs’ humans how to support them and guide them while using reinforced rewards and skilled timing. Lindsay believes strongly in the power of positive reinforcement, in using things that drive dogs to feel happy, safe and satiated to help them through big feelings and teach them what is desired of them from the humans they share space with.

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The Little Doghouse on the Prairie has a variety of services including but not necessarily limited to the Prairie Dog Academy , a day spent in the Little Doghouse, building the skills that will prepare them for the Prairie Dog/City Dog Socialization adventures. On these adventures, Lindsay and a dog friend explore new locations in the city and build confidence by using the skills previously learned with their families or developed through time enrolled in the Learning at the Little House.

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Boarding is also available in The Little Doghouse itself. All of the in-home services are run with the support and helping hand of Lindsay’s husband Bruce, one of the finest and most handsome dog wrangling assistants on the plains.  The at home setting allows dogs to feel at ease while they stay, they are never alone and spend their time relaxing and playing in small, well curated groups.

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Lindsay is passionate about using positive reinforcement and enchanted by the science and technique of behaviour change. She has always had an affinity and ease of understanding with dogs and cats. Her first word was Kitty, which was also her first passion but alas, one cannot survive in this world as a certified cat trainer, so dogs it is (for now). With the privilege of having spent a good majority of her childhood hanging out at the Nanton vet clinic while her mama was at work, and also living on an acreage, often with multiple family dogs and her own harem of cats, Lindsay started forming quality, dynamic relationships with animals early in life.

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In 2007, while living in Victoria Lindsay got her first job at a doggy daycare. It was a terrible place with too many dogs and too little space, prong and shock collars, harsh corrections and just an overall stressful vibe. She hated the whole experience, excluding the dogs and learned that she did not want to treat dogs that way, ever again.

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In 2010 Lindsay was hired on by Denise Butler who can now be found at Nisi And Lisi Dog Training, to work at Denise’s daycare and group hike service in Vancouver BC.  At that time Denise was also learning through a positive reinforcement training academy and was teaching Lindsay everything she was learning.  These days Lindsay is working toward her proper certification as a CPDT-KA certified dog trainer with the support of Denise who insisted that Lindsay start learning through board and trains for Nisi and Lisi.

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This team that is The Little Doghouse on the Prairie/Nisi and Lisi are a unique feature on the prairie landscape of Southern Alberta as they are the only (that they can see when they try and search to see what the training landscape in the Lethbridge area is offering) in home, small scale and positive reinforcement, board and train in the region. Both Lindsay and Denise believe in creating a safe environment to set dogs up for success.