About us

Doggy DooLil Daycare sprouted in 2005, thanks to a supermom juggling two school-aged girls and a rescue dog named Alfina, who clearly had a knack for chaos! Fast forward 20 years, and Mimi, the Pack Leader, is still running the show from her North Surrey home with her new chaos dog, Sandy. She is still proving that you can teach an old broad new things, like running a daycare all on your own, becoming a Dog trainer and Behaviourist, all after 40!

After acing the SEEDS Entrepreneur training program, she threw open the doors in November 2005, armed with certifications in Pet First Aid and Novice Obedience, to run a kennel and cage free dog day care in North Surrey—because who wouldn’t want to lead a pack of dogs while also mastering 'Animal Emotions' Behaviour training?

Her daycare is a doggy paradise, with toys galore, a giant dog bone pool, and turf so clean it could make anyone jealous. Dogs can nap in style on plush beds with sheepskins or couches, while breathing fresh air, thanks to her fancy air purifier and A/C for those sizzling summer days. Mimi knows that a strong pack is a happy pack, so she encourages her furry friends to bond and socialize, all while maintaining an aura of calm that says, “I’m the boss, but also your best buddy!”

And as members of the daycare, her amazing human counterparts can pick her brain for advice on training and proper tools for best control in a humane and respectful manner. She will even give advice where it wasn't expected, and sometimes can be a bit harsh to handle, but all in love for her furry little friends. She expects the members to treat the dogs with calm, kind energy, and to keep up with training.

As a grandmother of 4, her need to make sure everyone is okay is of utmost importance. She barks, but won't bite!

My sidekick Sandy

Our Home and Daycare

Mimi the Packleader

About Me

You might be wondering what makes me unique. Honestly,’s not much—just a natural ability to connect with dogs that has earned me the title of being a bit of a dog whisperer. After running a successful home-based dog daycare, it felt right to pursue my passion for teaching by becoming an obedience trainer. I received my formal training and certification from Tony Parker, founder of Canadian Institute of Professional Dog Training, and furthered my education in 'Animal Behaviour' with Karolina Westlund, PhD, at Illis ABC - Animal Behaviour College. So Packleader Academy was born.

I've spent years surrounded by crawling things, starting in childhood with every kind of wild animal you can imagine, that I brought home to mom and kept in a jar or box. At 7 mom got my sister and I two toy Poodles and our older brother got a Yellow Lab. I was born and raised in Sweden and we all, dogs included, made the journey to Canada in 1979, when my Canadian mother decided to move back to her beautiful Rocky Mountains that she always talked about. We got close to there, and ended up in the Okanagan, where we welcomed Buttons into our pack, a Chi mix that looked like a mini-me to our Lab. I later found Bowie in my early 20's, a talented Border Collie/Whippet cross that was an excellent Frisbee dog.

When I became a single mom with two young girls, we moved out of the city of Vancouver onto an acre of forest here in Surrey, where we started building up a pack of dogs that included Spike and Sugar, a Morkie and a Pomeranian. A Lab cross named Amicus, a St Bernard named Max and then the most dear to my heart... Alfina, my rescue mutt. She was a mix of Shepherd, Lab, and Border Collie. She was a true pack leader, and my sidekick, displaying calm assertive dominance and earning the love and respect of all around her. Alfina quickly embraced her role as the Alpha, stepping up whenever I couldn’t, but never disrespected my top hierarchy. Truly amazing to watch and I learnt a lot from her. Rescues were drawn to Alfina's nurturing nature, and together, the daycare dogs formed a supportive pack that just grew and evolved over the last 2 decades.

People will ask me to fix their dog. While basic obedience can work to some degree, most behavioural issues can't be solved with simple basic obedience classes. An understanding of energy, commands and showing patience is essential. I can teach you to do it, but for a person to ask me to do it for them, that won't work. The dog will gladly follow my lead, but not the owner. They must learn pack leadership in order to lead their own dog. They will need to practice on their own dog. Understand how to control with silent energy and assertive calm. The trained dog will do it for me, since I trained it, but the owner will still struggle to communicate with that dog if it doesn't understand how it works, or puts in the time and work involved.

If owners aren’t equipped with the fundamental rules of dog behaviour, success becomes challenging. I can often get dogs to obey quickly, but the real question is whether the owners can maintain that behaviour at home. It’s crucial for them to learn how to communicate effectively and establish boundaries to avoid frustration. The truth of the matter is, the hardest animal to train is the human.

I advocate teaching Pack Leadership to empower owners to train their dogs, as training is an ongoing journey filled with learning and exploration. With strong communication, knowing how to read body language and sounds, you can teach your dog almost anything—they truly are our best friends!

Check out my Packleader Academy for more details.