Legacies Balanced Dog Training

06/05/2025

Just a reminder it's foxtail season soon. Keep your dogs safe during the summer months

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Hy79x1vD7/

Please do not let your dog wander through fields where foxtails and other barbed grass seeds are present.

The grass seeds contained in the head of these plants are designed by nature to burrow into the ground. Unfortunately, these grass seeds can and do burrow into your dog's skin and open body orifices and then continue to burrow causing a lot of potential trauma in your dog's body.

The x-ray on the left is of a foxtail tract that was injected with contrast medium to show just how far a foxtail can travel.

The lesion between the toes of the foot on the bottom right is how these tracts will look to the naked eye. This is a great example of just how far foxtails can migrate in tissues.

Thank you to Dr. Andrew Grange from Veterinary Surgical Centers in Berkeley for this amazing x-ray.

05/23/2025

Struggling With a New Puppy or New Rescue Dog? I have You Covered.
Bringing home a puppy is exciting—but let’s be honest, it can also be all so overwhelming and sleepless nights, just like a newborn. With late night routines, Chewing, potty accidents, crate struggles, barking, biting... it all can add up fast.
Here at Legacies Balanced Dog Training, we help families in and around the Boise area start off on the right paw with puppy basic training that’s customized to your pup and your lifestyle.
We’ll help with:
✔️ Potty training
✔️ Crate training & routines
✔️ Puppy biting & chewing
✔️ Socialization with people, dogs & new environments
✔️ Building good habits from day one
Our in-home training means we work where the problems actually happen—your home, your yard, your life. Whether you need just a little guidance or full support through the puppy phase, we’re here to make it easier (and more fun).

05/22/2025

I will be testing these FI collars out on the 2 yahoos on our next camping trip.

I also have a meeting with the company today and if i like how they work might be a distributor.

05/07/2025

We offer pet sitter services also now. By a licensed veterinary tech.

11/23/2024

This six-month-old puppy has been my eager student, and together we've been working on off-leash training, including remaining calm in the presence of other dogs and people, and today we successfully introduced the 'between legs' exercise.

07/30/2024

Please if you live in a area with predators whether on ground or from the sky do not let your pets outside alone.

https://pawmygosh.com/bald-eagle/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR1f-09zmPMTofqRkb7qsQHeob4nKYLRjdLn7VD
A1-zYWeqBGhRHOWu8HG8_aem_sKU6ru8IikwRMdwQakDn_w

An 8-month-old Yorkie named Coco was let outside, and her owners sat down in the living room before hearing the daughter scream and open the door to let the dog back inside. Coco had a laceration along her belly among other scrapes and scratches, and the doorbell camera revealed exactly what had hap...

06/30/2024

06/30/2024

🛇 Use your Manners! 🛇
The Sniff test - Stop doing that!
The sniff test - a badly engrained habit that society has been taught, without a clear understanding of what they're actually doing.

🚩When you reach out towards a dog, you are using body pressure AT them, giving them no time to assess whether you are safe & whether they require further investigation to pick up your information. You are forcing an interaction of a relationship that hasn't had time to develop. To some dogs, this is quite rude & the reason a lot of dogs snap at or bite people. This can cause alot of behavioral issues because of layered stress due to forced interactions.

🚩If they are on lead, they have no where to go if they are sensitive to spacial pressure, so can end up shutting down, shying away or snapping at your hand so you back off. This is an example of how a dog is now using pressure to turn off pressure & make you back off so they aren't so stressed.

🚩People think by offering your hand it can give the dog time to sniff to know you're friendly... they can sniff without being forced to sniff your hand.Their noses are far more superior than ours & they don't need close contact forced upon them to smell you.

🚩Some dogs might not want to know you. You have no relationship with them and that's perfectly fine. They aren't your dog so you don't need to touch them or steal pats for your own satisfaction.

🤔 If you are meeting a dog, what should you do?
⚠Ask the owner if you can interact with their dog. Not all people want strangers touching their dogs. Especially strangers who you are unlikely to see again.
⚠Stand up straight & relaxed, with your hands at your side.
⚠Ignore the dog & talk to the owner.
⚠Don't stare at the dog & don't try to force an interaction by going in for a pat. If the dog wants to know you, it will come up to you & sniff around. Usually they will move away & then come back for a second sniffathon. Some dogs will bunt your hands & wag their tails, which are good signs that you're likely an accepted new friend. Give them a few slow pats down their back (NOT THEIR HEAD) & then stop. Is the dog happy? Has it accepted your interaction? This will determine whether you can give it more pats.

🐶This is a more stress free option for dogs & a reason why in consultations we can develop a good level of trust, especially with fearful dogs & aggressive dogs, without a bunch of negative side effects from forced interactions.

06/21/2024

With all the heat coming and people still taking their dogs out you need to know the difference between heat stress and heatstroke.
If your dog does experience this I pray it survives and I pray it dies without lasting issues. It's just best to leave your dog home. If your dog does experience this and you don't know what to do or its to late you need to know this passing will not be painless for your beloved dog, and you will never forget what you will witness it going through. Leave your dog home.

https://emergency-vets.com/species/dogs/dogs-heat-stroke-stress-summer/

06/14/2024

Let's talk about this photo. It's cute, except it's not. I see a dog who cannot get up without telling the child to get off. How do you think a dog is going to do that?

The 7 Golden Toddler Dog Rules:

#1: If a dog walks away from you, you DO NOT FOLLOW.

#2: Always leave room for the dog to walk away from you.
---that right there is 90+% of dog bites eliminated---

#3: We do not climb on the dog.

#4: We do not grab or pull on the dog.

#5: We do not hit or throw anything at the dog.

#6: We do not touch the dog's food.

#7: We do not go into the dog's kennel.

I promise these are not overly difficult concepts for littles, nor will they rob a kid of their bond with the family dog. It will deepen that bond, while keeping everyone safe.

"Oh, it looks like Moose is walking away from you. She is saying she wants a break. Let's play with this instead!"

"It's Moose's dinner time! Let's give her space to enjoy her yummies."

"That is Moose's room(kennel) and only she is allowed to go in there."

"If Moose wanted a break, could she walk away from you right now? No she really couldn't. Let's move away from the play house. You can keep playing but now she can leave when she wants a break."

In conclusion, ***parent your child or your dog will do it for you, and you will not like how they do it.***

06/13/2024

Summer is here. Please make sure the ground is not to hot for their paws. Burnt paws hurt, over heating kills.

06/13/2024

If you can't train your dog, please find a balanced trainer.

SOCIALIZATION

Okay, so this is a word that gets an awful lot of play in the training world, and it’s definition has come to mean an awful lot of things. Many of which, are incredibly counter-productive, if not downright dangerous.

So let’s see if we can’t clarify a few things.

Socialization isn’t:
-About letting your dog freely interact with dogs at the dog park, day care, or with friends dogs.
-About allowing your dog to meet other dogs on-leash.
-About allowing all manner of people, in all manner of mental/emotional states interact/pet/pressure your dog.
-About exposing your dog to the sights and sounds of cars, buses, motorcycles, bikes, skateboards, joggers...and allowing them to freak out, panic, aggress, hide, bark etc.
-About exposing your dog to the sights and sounds of dogs, cats, and other animals, and allowing them to freak out, aggress, lunge, bark, growl etc.

Socialization is:
-About teaching your dog the proper responses to dogs. What is and isn’t appropriate behavior, and correcting the unwanted when it appears.
-About teaching your dog to walk by the barking, lunging dog(s) on walks and ignore them, completely. Correcting if necessary to achieve this result.
-About advocating for your dog and ensuring people aren’t allowed to pressure your dog, by touching, crouching down, attempting “kisses” etc. That means being a big boy or girl, and stopping others from engaging in unwanted, uninvited interactions.
-About exposing your dog to all manner of daily life “things” and ensuring a proper response. If aggression/arousal is present, it’s corrected, if fear/arousal is present (and causes an overreaction/fleeing etc.) it’s corrected. Ask your dog to learn to ignore and not care about these “life” distractions/concerns/temptations. Teach them to listen to the training, not the world around them.
-About teaching your dog to leave other creatures alone. The cat, the bird, the cow, the goat, the other dog, is simply none of their business. If they decide those things are their business, it’s your job to correct and clarify what is and isn’t their business for them.

Socialization has become a ridiculously simplified, dumbed down, all-encompassing idea. Free interaction and exposure have been presented as a panacea, the magic gateway to a balanced dog. That’s a whole lot of B.S. you’ve been sold, by a lot of people full of B.S. 🙂

Socialization is all about teaching your dog how to behave and exist in the world...properly. People have a belief that only interactions create a well socialized dog. They don’t understand that existence is almost always preferable, and more valuable than actual interaction. Yes exposure is critical, but exposure without 100% clear guidance, and corrections for poor choices, isn’t socialization, it’s chaos, and it’s not teaching your dog what’s right, what’s wrong, and that you’ll keep them safe, so they don’t have to.

A well socialized dog isn’t fazed by the world around them. And that doesn’t come from simple exposure and interactions without guidance. Ironically, that’s precisely how you create anti-social dogs.

Think on that for a minute.