Balanced Dogs - Santa Monica, California

Stephanie Morfitt

We highly recommend working with Dee for any and all dog needs!
We rescued a 10 month old puppy this spring and added her to our family with two other dogs and a cat.

Within the first week we discovered our new member was extremely anxious (she escaped once and was gone for hours), was up through the night and not housebroken. This prompted us to connect with Dee where we collaborated on our goals together, and set our focus on reducing anxiety, potty and crate training, and teaching hand signals to keep our pup from bolting out the door.

Two months later, we are THRILLED to report that our puppy’s anxiety levels are down dramatically, she is 99% potty trained, fully crate trained and sleeping through the night and not a single attempt at an escape. An added bonus is seeing the benefit all of this has had on our other dogs and how quickly the puppy and cat were able to integrate.

We did our meetings with Dee over FaceTime, starting at 3 to 4 times a week, and naturally decreasing as Dee’s program was so effective. Dee is extremely knowledgeable, provides clear instruction, and has a way of explaining situations from a dog’s perspective that makes it easy to understand the interventions.

Scheduling time with her was easy. We greatly appreciated her being firm about following guidelines because it kept us on track. However, she is also understanding and flexible when we expressed needing adjustments based on our own lifestyle or goals for our family.

We have a calm and cohesive family and are beyond grateful for Dee who was integral in this process.

Carla Mead

Dee was truly a miracle worker with our dog, Bergen. Because of her vast experience and expertise, she was able to help us with many aspects of our dog’s behavior including separation anxiety, fear of men, leash aggression, and overall difficult behavior.

Working with her can be challenging - she will push you and train you as much as she trains your dog. That being said, all of the work she does will get results and she always has your dog’s best interest at heart. She is exceptionally dedicated; she came to our home multiple times a week to work with Bergen and with us. She does regular check-ins and progress monitors.

Her style of training is probably not for everyone, but if you have a dog that is difficult, or you are at your wit’s end, and nothing seems to be working - contact Dee. She will help you and your dog build a relationship that will benefit both of you.

Paul Erlandson

wanted to pass how on incredibly helpful Dee from Balanced Dogs Santa Monica has been in helping us navigate the tricky waters with Freya and Frodo becoming family. Dee was so good at assessing the situation, and charting a clear course to succeed here. We absolutely could not have gotten to where we are without her help. She does behavior training kind of like Better Help, its all remote. Send her videos of your dog's behavior, and she examines their body language and makes recommendations. Its actually much more effective than in person sessions where the trainer may never see the problem behavior. Anyway, if you need help with a dog's behavior issues. I could not recommend Dee's expertise highly enough.

Sonia Andre

I can’t say enough with Balance Dog knows best! At the time my puppy was 6 months old and I don’t have any idea how to train him. I called Dee and the next day, she came to my place meet my puppy. She came twice a week for training session. Sometimes, we are at the Park training.
Now my puppy is 1 year old and well behaved, listening with my commands. I can take him anywhere even in the restaurant with no problem. Thank you Dee. I highly recommend Balance Dog.

TwoDogOrganicNursery

Dee is a very talented and very kind behaviorist; our dogs took to her right away. She helped us with our most recent rescue who came off the street and was quite a handful; she also guided us in purchasing special equipment which facilitated getting him on track! In short, she's great at training BOTH the dogs and their people!

Peggy Boyer

I've been fortunate enough to have several dogs in my lifetime, all of whom I trained on my own. But I was still woefully underprepared for the gigantic bundle of energy I was getting in my newest puppy (who is now 11 months and 125 lbs). Leash training was a nightmare as he'd dart at anything and anyone that interested him, pulling me with him. I knew if I didn't get this under control quickly, I was headed for disaster.

Enter Dee. In a matter of days, she worked her magic with my pup and he started to gain composure and engage in loose leash walking. But the real gift was in her time, patience, and perseverance with my husband and me as we unlearned 20+ years of methodology in order to re-learn simple and really effective ways of communicating with our new pup. I can now confidently walk him and his older sister, together. No more pulling, no more reacting to other dogs. This is by far the best investment I've made in my pup and I know it will continue to pay off in dividends over the course of our lifetime. Thank you, Dee!!

tracy robinson

Dee has an uncanny, sixth sense about dogs which is informed by her many years of experience with countless breeds -- and with countless humans who are trying to understand what she feels innately.

I could not be more grateful to Dee for sharing that practical expertise and, if dogs could talk (which hers assuredly do) -- those canine reviews would make this one pale in comparison.

Thank you, Dee!

Rhonda Hamerslough-Koester

I am a certified dog trainer and was visiting my family in CA helping them with their new puppy. I needed to find a local trainer for them and I found Balanced Dogs. Dee spent a lot of time with me on the phone and answered all my questions. She was great with providing the information that I needed and sending follow up details. She was professional and seemed very knowledgeable. I would definitely use Balanced Dogs