Dog Barking Training That Works

James from Bark Busters is awesome. He is quiet and knowledgeable and a great listener.
I really like the fact that bark busters focuses on a dog‘s natural behavior and uses that understanding to help discipline them.
Our biggest complaint with the dogs was barking a lot and being overprotective of our home when the Gardener or Delivery people or guests would come. By following James.’s guidance they are doing much better.
I feel confident that James could help Dog owners with pretty much any issue they might have.

Here's the biggest takeaway from our experience: while our dogs benefit from training, it's really us who need to learn how to better understand them.
After just the first visit, we saw a dramatic change in our 5-year-old Maltipoo, Louie. He had always been highly reactive--pulling on the leash with surprising strength for a 14-pound dog, barking at every dog we passed, reacting to every outside noise, and going into a frenzy whenever someone came to the front door.

Having guests over was stressful and uncomfortable because he would bark nonstop at anyone unfamiliar. It honestly caused me a lot of anxiety.

Then in March, we brought home Norman, our 5-month-old puppy, and I quickly realized I didn't want him picking up Louie's bad habits. The thought of managing two reactive dogs--and double the stress--was overwhelming.

I found Bark Busters through a stranger I struck up a conversation with about my new puppy. She had dealt with similar challenges and shared how much it helped--not just her dog, but her own anxiety as well.

I reached out to James right away, and his response time was incredibly fast. We've now had three sessions with him. The first is a thorough three-hour session, packed with eye-opening and incredibly useful information. Follow-up sessions are about an hour.

What stands out most is how much this process focuses on retraining us. It's about changing our instincts and reactions, and learning how to communicate more effectively with our dogs.
James is patient, supportive, and excellent at explaining not just what to do, but why it matters.
This isn't a quick fix. It takes time, consistency, and commitment.

If you don't practice daily, progress can stall--l've seen that firsthand when we've gotten a bit inconsistent. But when you stay committed, the results are absolutely worth it.

We're already seeing such positive changes. Walking Louie is now enjoyable--something I never thought I'd say. Neighbors who used to see his reactivity can't believe how calm he is now.
We can actually stop and chat during walks.

If you're willing to put in the work and want a calmer, happier dog--and a more peaceful home--I highly recommend James.

He's kind, knowledgeable, and truly supportive throughout the process. Stick with it, and you won't regret it.

James is an amazing dog behavioral trainer. He’s insightful, professional and truly cares about animals. We have two dogs that we wanted to make sure they were well trained and behaved and responded to our commands. James was very professional and thorough in his explanations and assistance in making sure our dogs received outstanding Training. I highly recommend James from bark busters If you want an exceptional experience.

James worked with us and our dog Mia and we observed a ton of progress after a single session. Mia has a tendency to jump on us at the door, dinner table, etc and generally get overexcited. She was also getting reactive to other dogs on walks. James helped us address both challenges and it’s honestly like we have a new dog. I appreciate James for his friendly and confident approach. I’m excited for future sessions with James and certainly would recommend his services to others.

We wish we had called Bonnie sooner ! We are grateful to her for showing us how to better interact with our 18-week-old shepherd pup! Step one, we enter and exit before our dog Bruin...it seems simple, but it was an eye opener ! Looking forward to our next session !

Google Review: "My precious little rescue dog had been through a lot prior to finding her permanent home with me. Because of that, she had lots of triggers and fears which caused her to act out.
Finding Bark Busters has been a real blessing! They are teaching us how to communicate… Speak the same language. These two ladies know their stuff! I was amazed how quickly my little dog Responded! I especially love that they come to my home. With their help, I am confident that we will have a more peaceful environment and a greatly enhanced quality of life in our home and out in the world. Thank you ladies!"

Bonnie was amazing with our dog. She was a rescue dog that was super anxious, was trying to be the leader of our pack, and was aggressive at times. She came in and taught us how take control, of her and how to correct her behaviors. She also worked with my kids to be able to control our dog as well. Highly recommend Bonnie

Sharon is amazing! I was so overwhelmed with 2 puppies and a few life events thrown in, training was always put off. They quickly hit the 10 month old mark and I felt like they were teaming up on me with bad behavior. Sharon spent a few hours training ME how to communicate what I expected from the pups. They were very responsive to her cues and caught on pretty quickly! I still have my work cut out for me, but feeling very positive and hopeful now. Like "I got this" and Sharon is always just a phone call away. Wish I made the call sooner, but ya can't go back!

As first-time dog owners, bringing home our Bernedoodle puppy felt equal parts exciting and overwhelming. She was quiet and a bit confused in those early days, and we honestly didn’t know what “normal” even looked like.

We started working with Jared literally the day after we brought her home, and that made all the difference. What stood out right away is that he doesn’t just train the dog, he helps you understand your dog’s psychology. That shift was huge for us. Instead of guessing or reacting, we started to feel like we actually knew what she needed and how to respond.

He guided us through the basics like potty training and getting her to sleep through the night, and once those clicked, life got dramatically easier. More importantly, he gave us a framework we can keep using as new challenges come up.

Our puppy still has some separation anxiety and chews stuff and can be a bit needy, but now it feels manageable. We’re making steady, incremental progress and feel confident we have the tools to keep going.
Jared has also been great with our whole family. He builds trust quickly, explains things clearly, and makes everyone feel comfortable and capable. You never feel judged or overwhelmed.

If you’re a first-time dog owner, especially with a young puppy, I’d strongly recommend working with him early. It sets the right foundation and saves you a lot of stress down the line.

We called James for help with Cookie and Coal’s persistent barking and after a couple of sessions, he’s helped us get them under control! I plan on having him back for refreshers periodically - more to keep me on track with my skills than anything!

James is easy to work with and the dogs respond really well to him. We’re looking forward to a much more quiet and peaceful home, and less anxious pups :)

We couldn’t recommend James more highly. He has been absolutely exceptional with our dog, Finn, and the transformation we’ve seen has been incredible. Under James’s guidance, Finn has become extremely obedient, confident, and genuinely a master of his class.

What really sets James apart is his combination of expertise, patience, and communication. He is incredibly well spoken and has a remarkable ability to explain not only what he is doing, but why it works and how we can reinforce the training at home. His feedback and follow-up are exceptional. After the sessions, he provides carefully crafted, detailed reports that clearly explain Finn’s progress, areas to continue working on, and practical recommendations for us to follow.

James clearly takes enormous pride in his work and genuinely cares about the dogs and families he works with. He goes far beyond simply teaching commands, he has helped us better understand Finn and given us the tools to build a stronger relationship with him.

Most importantly, James is just a fantastic person. He is reliable, thoughtful, professional, and an absolute pleasure to work with. Over the course of Finn’s training, he has become not only someone we trust completely with our dog, but also someone we are very happy to now call a friend.

Finn absolutely loves him, and so do we. We would recommend James without hesitation to anyone looking for an exceptional dog trainer. He truly goes above and beyond, and we feel incredibly lucky to have found him.

James was absolutely amazing with our 1 year old dog Brew. He has serious stranger danger and would bark incessantly at anyone who came to our house or approached him. We were really concerned about having people over or bringing him around public places because we didn’t know how he would react. Within 1-2 lessons, James had taught us the skills needed to have control over Brew and teach him that he doesn’t need to necessarily love everyone, but that he doesn’t need to be the protector of the house. Our dog now only shows minimal reaction to people, and we know this will only continue to get better with practice. James also spent time with us teaching him how to walk on leash in an obedient manner, making adjustments on leash type etc. as he saw fit. Our walks are so much more enjoyable now. Working with James was the best decision and we feel so lucky to have found him, and that he’s in our corner for life now! Thank you for everything James!

We called Bark Busters two days after we adopted Sarge from a family that had saved him from going to the pound.
Justin had a variety of tools to use with Sarge. He met with us multiple times to fine tune how we worked with Sarge. Our biggest challenge was leash reactivity towards other dogs.
The technics used require the owner to gain the respect of the dog so there is work involved on the owners part. Justin was a cheerleader/teacher in this process. He was very responsive to our questions and willing to meet with us for multiple follow up sessions. Sarge is a great dog for our family and we’ve learned a lot about how to be the strong owners that Sarge needs. With the right tools, I now enjoy my daily walks with Sarge!! Thank you Justin!

I’m so happy I found Sharon through Bark Busters! We were struggling with potty training, jumping, pulling on walks, and other puppy behaviors, and after our very first session we already noticed a huge difference. Sharon is incredibly knowledgeable and does a great job explaining not just what to do, but why your dog is behaving a certain way. She’s patient, amazing with the dogs, and always quick to respond when I have questions. She has taught me so much and made me feel way more confident with training my puppies. I genuinely can’t recommend her enough! 🦮🐾

Scot was great, made good points to redirect us humans to think before an action, I liked Scot’s technique not using e-collar as other trainers do

We’ve had three training sessions with Omar so far, and the difference we’ve seen in our dogs has already been incredible. We also brought our newborn son home three weeks ago, so having better structure and communication with our dogs during such a huge transition has been especially important to us.

Since starting training, their barking has decreased significantly, they’ve adjusted really well to having our baby in the home, and they are noticeably less anxious when visitors come over—something we struggled with quite a bit before.

Omar has been great to work with. He explains what he’s doing and, more importantly, teaches us how to communicate with our dogs and continue working with them between sessions. We still have more we want to work on, but seeing this much improvement after only three sessions has been really encouraging.

We’re very happy with our experience so far and would absolutely recommend Omar to anyone looking for help with their dogs, especially families going through a major transition like bringing home a new baby.

I was unsure if Bark Busters could help my six year-old dog who is stubborn and not food-motivated. We’ve had lots of training over the years but some behaviors stuck around. I was so surprised at how much Deb helped us in just one afternoon, and without treats, clickers, or any of the usual tools. My dog Betty is learning some new rules very quickly, and I’m looking forward to our follow up visit with Deb!

Omar was amazing at helping us train our shar pei puppy. He gave lots of good advice on socializing and basic training. With this training, I now have a dog that is calm and confident even when strangers come into house. Omar also helped us train recall, and Im amazed to see that our under 1 year old dog has near perfect recall and I can trust him to listen in any situation.

Roman is a very nice guy, but his exuberance is sometimes a problem. Michelle taught me some methods to keep him from “running” the house, keeping him away from the door when we have visitors, staying out of the kitchen during dinner time, not jumping on people. She helped with several things immediately. Of course Roman is a work in progress and his reactivity to other dogs is problematic, bit I am very happy with being able to make some immediate improvements.

The best dog behaviorist in Pinellas County. I highly recommend her for she is amazing. You will see a huge difference with her first meeting. I have recommended her to three of our neighbors. We all agree it was the best investment for us and our little fur babies. 5 star.

Jeri Wagner was a pleasure to meet, work with and we thoroughly enjoyed our training experience with her. She was clear, concise and she made sure that we understood all her teaching concepts. Lincoln was afraid of Jeri when she first came to our house (normal behavior for him…..that is going to change now:)) She didn’t push herself on him and showed US exactly how and what to do in situations that were problematic for us and Lincoln. It was such a beneficial time and Lincoln responded well to what we put into practice after Jeri left. He even stayed out of the kitchen area! I think Jeri would be proud!!! We look forward to working with Jeri again and couldn’t imagine a better trainer….she’s terrific!

I would highly recommend Kevin as a dog trainer!

My partner and i rescued a 18 monthish old Australian shepherd named Dune who had some bad habits that we needed help nipping in the bud. Dune would try to herd guests around the house by nipping at their butts (lol), had pretty bad separation anxiety (would panic and bark constantly after more than a few minutes alone), and had some leash reactivity and liked to pull constantly on walks

pretty much all of that is solved now after a few sessions with Kevin! Kevin was able to move his schedule around and get us our first session like 2 days after we reached out and after the first 2 sessions his separation anxiety and nipping at people around the house were basically gone and after the first dedicated session to leash manners we got that mostly taken care of as well. The way Kevin taught us how to communicate with Dune was so valuable and he really set us up well to know how to work with him going forward on new stuff!

And the lifetime support if new situations arise is such a big stress reliever for us! Could not recommend Kevin more!!

Kevin has really done an amazing job training us and our dog, Plissken. We had tried several positive reinforcement styles of training before meeting Kevin. Now we see that treating our dog like a dog, works wonders. Plissken is calmer, seems happier and responds much better to directions. We are still working with Kevin and look forward to seeing even more progress. We definitely recommend Bark Busters.

Kevin has been great! My dog was biting strangers and now she's so sweet. very grateful to this company.