The Balanced Lab

04/19/2025

Say hello to the newest private session dog, Otto!

This golden boy is only 9 months old and he is nearing the end of his advanced e-collar program. This program takes 2.5-3 months to complete so it’s a big commitment but the results are so worth it!!! Otto was a wild child during session 1, he pulled like a freight train, jumped on everyone and could not sit still. His family lives on a quiet road with very little distractions so every time he came to my neighbourhood (which is fairly quiet), he struggled with maintaining focus. Otto is a very excitable dog and I warned his owner to watch for any moments of over excitement because it can often be mistaken for being happy-go-lucky. Happy-go-lucky energy and over-excited energy are very different and you need to be able to tell them apart so you can nurture the right state of mind.

Otto was definitely a handful a couple months ago but he has come sooo far and I’m really glad his owners decided to do my program 😄 keep up the good work guys! (Swipes for cuteness).

04/17/2025

It’s that time of the year again!

Please take 60 seconds out of your day to vote for The Balanced Lab for Barrie’s best dog training! 🙏🐾

Official 2025 Community Voting Awards Platform for Barrie, ON. Where the community votes for their favourites every year.

04/05/2025

Official welcome to Lily the frenchie!

Lily’s owner originally reached out to me for help with house breaking/ potty accidents and general obedience, but we quickly realized things were a lot more serious than that. Lily is a sensitive and fearful dog and because of this, she has a really hard time with strange people or strange dogs in her intimate space. It takes her a while to warm up to someone organically and because of this, if someone tries to pet her or get in her intimate space before she is ready, she is lunging and showing aggression. Lily does not want to be acting this way, she simply doesn’t know how else to express herself so human beings understand. I suspect she used to try more subtle body language cues when she was feeling uncomfortable (whale eyes, lip licking, turning away, cowering dog etc) and if the human invading her space didn’t read those signs correctly, she felt misunderstood and ignored. When dogs like this have their boundaries pushed one too many times, they often up the ante to make sure it doesn’t happen anymore (cue the lunging). When Lily first met me, she lunged at me twice and then when her owner left, she went into total flight mode. This told me right away she is fearful & doesn’t want a fight, she just wants to feel safe.

Over the last 3 weeks I have worked extensively with Lily’s ability to tolerate more discomfort while also showing her she doesn’t have to protect her space anymore, I will do that FOR her. She’s gotten tons of exposure out in the crazy busy world and has met lots of new people. I’m happy to report we have not had any aggression attempts since drop off day which tells me there is a lot of hope for her family to be successful!

Now the real success will come when I work with Lily’s family and especially with her mom as she used to be very obsessive and possessive around her. We will need to establish very clear boundaries with her while also teaching the family how to advocate for her and have new rules for people that come into her life. I love this sweet & silly little dog and I’m happy I still have her for another week.

Thanks for following along her journey so far! 🐾

03/17/2025

02/19/2025

A little late but… Welcome Chewie to the pack! 🐾

Chewie is a 1.5 year old Labradoodle and he is almost done his 3 week board and train with me. Chewie’s owners were struggling with some behaviours that so many other dog owners can relate to. Excessive jumping, pulling hard on the walk, dog reactivity (lunging, barking), squirrel obsessing, barking/howling in the crate and overall selective listening. Their biggest goals for him were to be off leash trained because he is going to be a “cottage dog” (lucky boy). Since getting to know Chewie, I discovered that a lot of his behaviours were rooted in dominance & the wrong “pecking order” at home. He thought he was the boss and his status has never been challenged (until me). Chewie had some attitude / selective listening and a chip on his shoulder 2.5 weeks ago, but today, he is the absolute best dog!! He listens effortlessly, he’s a dream on and off leash and his reactivity drama is in the past. I absolutely love this little dude and I’m excited to show his family everything he has learned during his go-home sessions this weekend 🤗

02/06/2025

Welcome Sami to the pack!

Sami is a 2 year old black lab and she is halfway through her board and train program.

She was recently adopted by a family who quickly realized she was a bit of a handful and needed professional help. She is the SWEETEST dog on the planet but she has practiced being in an overly excited state of mind for her entire 2 years of life. Over excitement aka mental arousal is not an ideal state for a dog to be in as it can lead to undesirable behaviours such as whining, jumping & frantic leash pulling.

Sami has been a challenge for me because she is very conditioned to ignore human guidance (getting her to follow me was super foreign for her). She also is pretty drivey and when that nose starts going, she loses concentration quickly! Luckily for Sami, I love a challenge and I love a black lab so she is in the right place 🖤

We still have lots of work to do but I’m excited to show her family what she has learned so far!

01/31/2025

Say hello to our newest pack member, Mickey!

This goofy lab is 9 months old and he’s halfway done his board & train program!

Mickey’s owner saw a big shift in him once he hit that 7-8 month old mark. He was a really good puppy and then out of nowhere, all of their hard work and training started to go out the window. His hormones kicked in big time and he was started to show a lot of dominance & over arousal around the kids in the family as well as towards other dogs.

Things like excessive mounting, marking his territory everywhere and random bouts of reactivity, and selective listening were starting to become the norm back home so he got dropped off at the right time!

We still have a lot of work to do but right now I’m really pleased with his progress so far, keep an eye on my stories to see this cutie off leash hiking next week as well as tackling more field trips and store outings 😁

01/09/2025

Welcome Bruin to the pack!

This young cockapoo started working with me in November to address some major puppy attitude and increasing naughty behaviours. When I first met him I could tell he was a bit more of a dominant/ pushy young male so I needed his owners to prove themselves as the confident and consistent leaders (aka parents), Bruin desperately needed, before things got worse.

I am blown away by how much work his owners put into his training and how seriously they took the advice I gave them. He is a dream to walk on leash, he stays on place calmly when they eat meals, he drops things instead of stealing them and he is overall way more enjoyable to be around. His owner told me today he was recently mistaken for a senior dog because of how chill he was!!! 😁🥳

All of this was accomplished via my E-Collar Basics course which consist of 5 weekly sessions. Today we had our final session and he even got to practice around my dogs (see the 2nd picture). Congrats on your success Gabriella, Jamie & Bruin, let me know if he ever gives you any more trouble 😜

12/19/2024

Welcome Bodie to the pack!

This 2 year old Bernedoodle is actually my neighbour and I have seen him give his owners a hard time over the past couple years. I was so happy when they finally reached out. Fun fact: Bodie is from the same breeder as one of my board & train graduates, Beau! My neighbours saw me working with Beau this past summer and got inspired to reach out 😃

We just had our final session today and wow he has come leaps and bounds since session 1, 6 weeks ago. Over the course of 6 sessions, we taught this goofball how to walk politely in a heel command / following the human vs/ dragging them to p*e on trees. He learned a place command which has completely shifted his arousal towards the front door when guest come over and basically all of his annoying “nuisance” behaviours are gone. I remember how little his owner trusted him 6 weeks ago, just getting her to stop using 2 hands to hold the leash (because he’s tried to run from her before), was a challenge, but they have all grown so much and the trust is back!

I will probably have them come back in the New Year for off leash training but for now, my work is done! 🐾

12/10/2024

To end the year off, we have Betty joining us for a 10 day puppy program. This cutie is here to learn some basic puppy manners, stop the biting & jumping and intro to basic obedience. She’s a smart high energy Labrador mix (possibly border collie in there) so I am eager to see her in the near future for more advanced e-collar training!

Welcome to the pack, Betty!

11/28/2024

I felt this deserved a spot on the home page 🥰 Dex and Zoe practicing threshold manners with Oakley.

11/21/2024

Willow update:

My little friend is doing really well in her training program so far. She was supposed to go home this weekend but her family and I made the decision to keep her 1 extra week. I am always very transparent with my clients and I explained that although she is progressing beautifully, we are still working through some flighty moments. She can be unpredictably jumpy in certain situations and I simply need more days to work her in various environments.

I know her family misses her but I am happy to keep her a little extra longer… she’s my good pal now! ♥️

Thanks for following along so far!

11/14/2024

Welcome Mr. Oakley!

This handsome boy is a 3 year old Shepherd/Border Collie mix and he is a few days into his 4 week board & train program.

Oakley has a really nice temperament, he’s soft and sensitive & has a desire to please his humans. He’s a really nice dog. The main goals his owners have are the following:
- Recall (especially around high distraction areas; he’s a cottage dog!)
- More confidence. He has some irrational fears (the tv to name one), as well as being jumpy and spooked easily with noises.
- More manners and impulse control around the front door and guests coming over. He is a love bug but he’s also huge so we don’t want jumping!

I’m enjoying having him so far, he’s learning lots everyday and I can’t wait to show his family everything he has learned by the end :)

11/11/2024

Welcome our first boxer to the pack!

Willow is just over 1 year old and she is 1 week into her board and train program. Willow is a sweet, affectionate, goofball who has a family that absolutely adores her. She has a fantastic personality & temperament but her high energy mixed with some insecurity and attitude has created some issues for her family.

Top goals that Willow’s family has for her:
- no more jumping/ pulling or biting at the leash
- more confident in busy environments
- strong recall & a strong stay command

We are working our butts off over here trying to make those goals a reality so wish us luck! 🐾

11/06/2024

Warmest welcome to miss Maple 🥰

This doodle is only 8 months old and she just had her 5th private session today. We are halfway through my advanced off-leash program. Maple’s first session with me was TOUGH! We barely got anything done because she fought me every step of the way. Intense leash biting, intense whining and panicking, intense frantic/ spastic behaviours. I was very upfront with her owner Brittany about how difficult she was. At such a young age; I was taken back by how much attitude and anxiety she had (a hard combo).

Each week Brittany has taken my advice and followed the homework to a T. Each week I have seen their relationship get healthier and today, I was absolutely blown away! Maple calmly laid by her owners leg while we chatted with NO whining and she gave so much effort in everything we asked of her. I was genuinely amazed and pleasantly surprised. Her progress is a testament to her owners dedication and hard work!

We still have work to do but I am so happy with her progress so far 😃🙏

11/06/2024

Happy 3rd Birthday to one of the best decisions I ever made, picking you out of all your litter mates 🥰 Today shall be filled with lots of sniffs, snacks and free access at my sock drawer! Love you forever Tootie ♥️

10/29/2024

Welcome Millie to the pack!

Millie is a 9 month old Irish Setter and she is almost done my E-Collar Basics course. This 5 session course covers on leash skills as well as the place command, impulse control and for Millie specifically, prey drive & reactivity. Millie was showing some pretty intense reactivity at a really young age so I wanted to spend majority of the time we had together, focusing on that. Her owner has done great work applying everything she learns each week into her daily routine. That’s the KEY in dog training, consistency!!!

10/24/2024

Who doesn’t love a cute golden retriever?

Welcome Emmy to the pack! Emmy is a 8 month old Golden Retriever and she is approaching the halfway mark of our advanced off leash program! I worked with this family a few years ago with their other golden, Boomer, and according to the family, his training has held up all these years!

When I first met Emmy she was pulling super hard on leash, chased every single leaf and could not sit still for .2 seconds. It is safe to say she has come far in only a few weeks!