Recently, Canadian building regulations have allowed construction of light-frame wood buildings up to six storeys. Even though equivalent static force procedure (ESFP) is generally used for the seismic design of such buildings, in cases of irregular structures and in high seismic zones a linear dynamic analysis (LDA) is required by the code. However, commercial software has not yet been adapted to the dynamic analysis of this type of structures. In this paper, a design procedure for light-frame wood shear walls using a braced frame model and LDA is proposed and the potential for design optimisation is presented for a six-storey light-frame wood building located in Quebec City in the Eastern Canada. Comparisons between the proposed LDA procedure and ESFP based on the shear distribution, overturning moments, interstorey drifts and total inelastic deflections are shown. Structural advantages of using the proposed LDA are demonstrated.