Find Your Zen Dog Training

16/09/2025

Belle and Zest say they need more puppies to play with!

We're accepting new pups for our daycare programs!

*Located in the Valley on Fairview Loop, two minutes away from Parks Highway/Hyer exit!

To book a free evaluation click here
https://fyzservices.as.me/?appointmentType=37690812

Or to sign up click here
https://fyzacademyllc.as.me/schedule/66714732

For all our other services check out our website 😄
www.Fyzdogtraining.com

13/09/2025

I've been asked by quite a few people why I went with a Swedish Vallhund.

I have multiple facebook friends I've followed for years that own shepherds and vallhunds and I've always enjoyed watching their posts about them.

I reached out to one of them who posts all the time about how much she adores them and asked her to tell me more about them.

Between everything she was telling me and all the research I did really reinforced my interest in them.
Plus she said how well they fit in with shepherds, which is always nice.

She pointed me to a couple different breeders(I'll do another post about ethical breeders) and I reached out and everything fell together immediately.

Zest is the first vallhund I've met and it sounds like he's a typical Vallhund.
He's a very busy/energetic puppy, likes to be doing things, needs and wants the mental stimulation.
He's vocal(which the breed is very much known for), he's confident, funny, and demanding.

He's still a herding breed, so he wants to nip and bite, he's bossy and committed. Just like other herding dogs- they need jobs to keep them mentally and physically satisfied.
He may be small, but they're known for keeping up with the big guys with no problems. 10 mile hike, why not.

He's a big personality in a small package and we're so excited for his feisty self.

He's exactly what I asked for and wanted.

We always highly recommend researching any breed of dog you're interested in, even if it's a mix. Trying to figure out what they're prone to behaviour or health wise, genetic traits that are common, energy levels, exercise requirements, etc.

Set you and your dog up for success 💜

12/09/2025

Always worth the share.

Things that are hard telling clients:

To not let their two puppies be together the majority of the time.
People get two puppies to keep the other one entertained. But what I've seen and dealt with more times than I can count are two dogs that can't be 4 feet apart without pi***ng themselves or having a panic attack. They rely so heavily on each other that their owners end up being meaningless.
Litter-mate syndrome is a real thing and it doesn't just effect puppies from the same litter. I've seen puppies similar in age have issues. I've seen young dogs attach to an older dog with the same issues.

That their dog needs to lose weight and feeding a good quality food.
Some owners welcome this, but it's never fun to bring up.
I've seen issues that could have been 100% avoided if they never let their dog get overweight/obese in the first place.

That their dog is genetically off. That the dog may never love other people. We can work on the dog tolerating people and learning appropriate behaviours, but it may never be the dog that does great at barbeques. Or the dog doesn't have the genetics to do what the owner wants it to do. Some dogs don't have the right drives for protection work or for agility.

Early spaying and neutering. This is a very personal choice, but I feel owners should be aware of the consequences of doing it too young. There's a ton of research out there explaining why it's better to wait, if you can.

Not taking your 12 week old puppy on a 10 mile hike. Doing any extensive exercising while the puppies bones are growing can be detrimental to their health. The spacing between a puppies growing bones is huge. They need time to fuse together. Too much exercise too young can cause a ray of issues.

Don't expect too much from your puppy or dog/don't compare your puppy or dog to someone else's. Every. Single. Dog. is different. They learn, grow, mature at their own pace. Let them be puppies and help mold them into the dog you want them to be without putting too much pressure on them or yourself.

Hand feeding. I can ALWAYS tell who hand feeds their puppies/dogs and who don't. This helps create a bond and teaches them a work ethic. It helps you dedicate 3 to 8 minutes twice a day to your four legged best friend. If your dog won't work for their food in their living room with you, how do you expect it to work with 4 to 6 other dogs and people?

Crate training. This is the number one way to make sure your dog is SAFE! This is also setting it up for success for potty issues and eating things they shouldn't. Micromanage them so they earn the trust and freedom instead of giving too much freedom and ending up in a situation that was 100% preventable.

A lot of these things aren't fun to bring up, but I do it for the health and benefit of your dog.
It's up to you to take my knowledge and years of experience and utilize it or not.

I will continue having the uncomfortable and hard to have conversations. If it helps or educates or saves one person or dog, it's worth it.

-Leah VanDeBogart

10/09/2025

Just a reminder to be careful with what toys you use with your pups!

👉Dogs & Balls👈

So I had a very scary situation happen with Zender. One that I'm always super careful to avoid and prevent.

While I was preoccupied with a board and train puppy, Zender had stolen my friend's smaller ball on rope dog toy and was playing with a client. He went for the ball, shifted it in his mouth and it slipped down his throat. He was now choking!

My friend quickly caught what had happened and told the client to help Zender. Luckily the rope was right there and he was able to just pull it out and Zender was completely fine, ready to play right away.
Needless to say we took that toy away.

I'm always careful about the toys I buy and allow the boys to play with because I know the risks of choking. I've had friends who have lost their dogs to such tragic instances. Yet even with my knowledge, in a split second I could have lost my best friend. This situation was completely my fault, I should have had one of his balls available for him, and I'm so thankful and lucky it turned out the way it did.

So be extremely careful with what toys you let your dog/s play with. Mine don't play with balls that don't have a rope attached (so no tennis balls or chuck it balls.) They also don't get to play with balls that are smooth, small, and/or slippery.
Any ball you use should have a hole through the entire toy, as you can see with most of the balls in the photo. This gives you a safe place to hook your finger incase this does ever happen to dislodge the toy and also allows the dog somewhere to breath through while you either dislodge the toy or seek medical attention.
I never recommend leaving any toys with dogs unsupervised, these things can happen so quickly and have tragic consequences for so many dogs.

Check how safe your pet's toys are and stay safe everyone!

08/09/2025

Something I start right away(in this video, I've had Zest for 3 days) is trading items for food or toy.

Zest is like most puppies where EVERY and ANYTHING goes in his mouth.

He'd learn VERY quickly that if I just come and take everything he views as fun away, he's going to want to avoid me.
Also by just taking everything, for a lot of puppies/dogs, this can lead to resource guarding.

So instead I encourage my puppies to pick up things(as long as it's safe).
By rewarding them for picking things up, it creates trust and him quickly wanting to show me what he has, verses taking, hiding and destroying whatever he may grab.

This video is a great example of how he starts off with wanting to go and play with it and by the end, he's bringing it right up to me.

If I do have to take something from him, I ALWAYS trade it for another appropiate item or food.

I also never sit there messing with him when he has a bone or food, instead I walk by and toss high value treats at him, if he leaves whatever it is to investigate what I have, I do BIG rewards.

So he gets excited for my presence verses suspicious and on edge and learns me being near him causes discomfort/conflict.

Zest is the 5th puppy I've done this with.

My other dogs I did this with will pick up and hand me everything- my keys, phone, remote, dog bowls, leashes, shoes. It's soo nice and one of my favorite things I've ever taught them 😂.

They will even bring me their raw bones-which to me is the highest value item they can have and rather than hiding and being turds, they want to bring it and drop it in my lap and it's all because of this game I'm doing with Zest in the video.

03/09/2025

The day I bring home a puppy is the day I start adding in structure, rules, and boundaries.

When I look at my puppy, I see the dog I want him to be.

Things I've done so far with Zest:

-The playpen/kennel door does not open until he is calm, right now, that's just for a few seconds, I can get more duration once he understands what I'm really wanting. But if he sits, door opens.

-He gets free time out with just my husband and I.
This means our other animals are put up in our bedroom/cat room or kennels.
I want to build a good relationship with us before letting him be entertained by the other dogs.

-On day one, I like to see how the interaction goes between my other dogs and him through the pen.
This lets me know if he's going to be super persistent and excited(which my other dogs are NOT going to appreciate that, I have multipe seniors and it's unfair to expect them to tolerate that), or can he watch and go back to playing with toys/chewing on bones.
It allows safe interaction and the ability for my other dogs to walk away. They can give nose licks or sniff and disengage when they're no longer interested.
This also allows me to correct my dogs if the puppy is overwhelmed or uncomfortable.
The pen helps to teach him how to be neutral with the dogs and cats and that he doesn't have to be involved in everything.
I also love the pen as it helps prevent separation anxiety.
If he can't exist calmly across the room in a pen, that's going to set him up for failure with always NEEDING to follow me or be where I am. I want to be able to walk around and him calmly take it in.

-He is not loose without my husband or I having eyes on him. I don't want him to get in the habit of grabbing or chewing on things he shouldn't or going potty where it's inappropriate.

-His playpen consists of a big litter box, his kennel with a blanket, and some toys/chews.
I'm using a litter box for him as well as taking him outside a million times a day.
His breeder started him on a litter box around 3 weeks old and Swedish Vallhunds are known to be a bit hard to potty train, so if he needs to go inside, he'll have a place to do it.
Plus with us boarding dogs in our homes and having them in the living room, there may not be enough time to get to him before he has to go.
As he understands the main goal, we'll fade out the box as he gets more control.

We already are so in love with Zest and we're so excited to share our lives with him.

These are just a few of the things we're doing to help set him and us up for success.

He is my 7th puppy I've raised, the 5th with my husband and by doing these things, we're able to have an enjoyable home even with a lot of dogs 😉

Stay tuned for more puppy tips!

29/08/2025

We are soo excited to welcome our newest FYZ family member:

Zest.

Zest is Leah's 10 week old Swedish Vallhund.

He'll grow up to be her next demo dog for classes and privates along with being a sports prospect.

** The Swedish Vallhund is an ancient Spitz-type breed, known as the "Viking Dog," that was developed in Sweden around the 8th century for herding and farm work. Males should grow to no more than 30 to 35lbs.

Picture of mom and dad included as Swedish Vallhunds aren't to well known.

💥 Please note, Leah does NOT have her work phone and will not be replying to messages until she gets back to Alaska on Monday.

24/08/2025

Hello everyone!

Leah is out of state for the next week and will not be able to return messages/emails.

She'll get to them when she gets back 😄

18/08/2025