“Natalie is the reason I am able to live happily with my two dogs - one being a new and difficult rescue puppy. When I first took Lady Bug into my home, a mixture of Chihuahua and Miniature Pinscher, my goal was to find her a good home (not mine). She proved, however, to be too difficult for anyone to adopt, and she didn’t get along with my other dog. I consulted an animal behaviorist who charged me a lot of money to tell me that Lady’s issues could not be fixed in my house and she needed to be taken out of my home. Extremely frustrated, I was told about Natalie who was working with a friend’s dog. Through Natalie’s guidance I now have a happy home with both dogs.
Natalie has a unique mixture of skills. She is able to bond with the dogs, clearly instruct the owner, demonstrate how to work successfully with the dog and has the patience to repeat all of these things until it works for you and your dog. Natalie possesses the experience, education and the communication skills for successful dog training. She believes in the dogs and their owners and finds a way to make it succeed for both. Her verbal and written communication skills are excellent.

I highly recommend Natalie as a dog trainer. She changes lives.”

“I recently relocated to the Bay area from the East Coast. I have 2 very “charming” young high energy pit-bulll mix rescue dogs. I love my dogs more than anything, but together they are a handful. As they matured, walking them became more and more of an issue. They are both quite strong and were not leash trained appropriately from the very beginning. In addition, the older of the 2 became very protective of “her” pack. She was beginning to develop aggression issues with other dogs. Needless to say, I felt very disappointed and sad because of the stress they were both under as well as myself. Walking my dogs became an exercise in frustration, anxiety and at moments potentially dangerous to other dogs in my neighborhood. Thus began my search for help.

I found Natalie purely by accident and that chance run in has changed our lives. REALLY! She is truly not only connected to the dogs but also knows how to connect and coach us- the “pack leaders”. My dogs will continue to be a work in progress but I have gone from hopeless to promise in a short period of time. The dogs are so excited to see her each week, they actually know when her car pulling into the driveway. I know she is doing this purely for the love of what she is accomplishing. They immediately go into “work/training” mode and I know they really love seeing her and working with her. She is my “dog whisperer” and I don’t know where we would all be if we were not so fortunate to find her. I would gladly recommend her over and over again. ”

“I have been working with Natalie Baluyot, as my dog trainer, for over 6 months. She has an amazing knowledge of dog behavior and has assisted me in many problems with both my dogs. She is willing to assist me with any problems that arise. As you may already know, the training is mostly with me and then we rehabilitate the dog with the new behavior that we are seeking.

After working with Natalie, I have become more in tuned to both of my dog’s behaviors and have gained insight and confidence with handling them. As different situations arise, Natalie always brings great insight and I always walk away with a new found confidence. She is really helping me to be a better pack leader.

Anyone who has a dog, loves dog, or who is open to learning more about dogs, would be lucky to have Natalie help with their journey. ”

“We recently got a “rescue dog” from ARF in Walnut Creek. Lizzy, who appears to be about 1 yr old and an Australian Sheppard Mix was very cute and lovable. When we got her home, we quickly realized that she was going to be a handful. She seemed to have a number of bad habits and some phobias. We really wanted to keep her so we started looking for someone to help us train her. We were referred to Natalie Baluyot by the doggie day care that watched her on occasion.
During a preliminary visit, Natalie made some observations and notes on things that we would need to work with Lizzy. She was spot on. Her techniques and mannerisms gave me the impression that Natalie must be Cesar Milan’s younger sister.
Over the last few months, we have made some amazing progress with leach training. Lizzy is still learning but knows her place in the pack and follows commands much better. Another issue we noticed was Lizzy’s fear or phobia of people riding bicycles, especially if they were wearing a hat or back pack. She would go absolutely hysterical when she saw someone like this. We had several bicycle training and “desensitization” sessions with Natalie to work on this. While Lizzy is not completely over this yet, she is now able to watch a bicycle ride by without going hysterical and has even run right along side a bike!
We can wholeheartedly recommend Natalie as a knowledgeable dog trainer. We witnessed many other examples of her expertise, but there is not enough space to go into all them here.”