Real-World Dog Training for Real-Life Dog Problems.

Jeri Wagner is a literal wonder. From the moment she came to us and we saw how our dog behaved around her, we both knew that she would be an amazing help.
Archer is a sweet, sweet boy and he loves love so much that he gets excited and does everything he can to get pets and love from everyone he sees. Jeri saw this and she helped us get him in a place where he can feel all that love, but realize that he’s a big boy and it’s not okay to jump up and or run toward whomever he wanted to be near. Jeri demonstrated for us the way we need to act to get him to stop this behavior, all while still maintaining his sweet and happy demeanor. She is a literal life saver. To me, she is more of a trainer of humans than dogs lol…I had to work on some behavior of mine that has been confusing him. We adore Jeri and it’s not just because she is so kind. It’s because she knows exactly what she is doing. She’s effective, efficient and understanding of us having habits that would get in the way of his training. She is reassuring and her follow-up is outstanding. She cares very much about animals and their owners. She stands behind her methods and honestly, the methods she uses work whether or not we are in our own home or anywhere else. These are bad habit reversing lessons for us and our dog. He’s much happier now that he sees he can let us be in control. This is a tactic that we need to practice but it will stay with him-she just left Wednesday and it’s Friday and he’s already night and day better.

My dog, Jordy, needed to learn some indoor door manners and heeling on walks, calmly passing other dogs along the way. Jerry was great at teaching indoor manners and respecting space. Jordy is still a bit of a work in progress because walking outside has been limited due to the very hot summer we are having but overall there has been great improvement with his behavior and just enjoying the walk. I would recommend Jerry and his calm, professional manner. He gives great feedback and a summary of what we practiced during the home visits. Its good to have that to refer back to whenever I need it. Give Bark Busters a try, you won't regret it.

Hands down worth the money from Day 1. The resource guarding of our dog was so bad. We hired a trainer who helped but didn’t help “enough” and the resource guarding became worse to the point that our sweet little Havanese was biting our children in unpredictable moments. James came in and taught us about the psychology of a dog and we were able to create a space where our dog felt safe! His whole demeanor has changed! With consistency and whole family effort it has been a blessing for our family! We truly appreciate James and Bark Busters so much!

I have 2 whippets and Jared has been such a great resource! He has given me so many tools for: proper playing, fear of the car, stay, and most recently techniques to eliminate the jumping and over excitement when somebody comes over. He is very responsive and professional. Highly recommend!

Kyle began working with us at the end of May. We saw immediate results. He is truly the 'dog whisperer.' Darcy fell in love and curled up beside him on the sofa as soon as he sat down. She is an English Springer Spaniel and is FULL of energy. Kyle gave us some tools to use with her and we are extremely pleased with her (our) progress. We look forward to continuing to work with Kyle and highly recommend his service!

We cannot say enough good things about Kyle! We saw a dramatic difference in Louis after just the very first visit. One of our biggest concerns was Louis’ separation anxiety, he struggled tremendously with being left alone, and the improvement has been incredible. His separation anxiety is now completely gone, which is something we honestly weren’t sure we would ever be able to say!

Kyle is extremely knowledgeable, patient, and great at explaining not only what to do, but why it works. He gave us practical tools and techniques that we could easily continue using at home, and the results truly speak for themselves.

Louis is a much more confident and well-adjusted dog because of the work we’ve done with Kyle. We are beyond pleased with our experience and would absolutely recommend Kyle to anyone looking for a trainer. Worth every penny!

James has only been working with us a short time, yet the results are exceptional. We were looking for a trainer who was more balanced in their approach, not treats or heavy discipline. James fits - he’s given us the tools to help our dog Dory, not pull on the leash, bark unnecessarily, greet guest appropriately, just to name a few. I would highly recommend James Cresswell.

Cannot say enough amazing things about James and the Bark Buster family! I first used Bark Busters 7 years ago while we were living in Denver. The tools I learned and implemented changed my life and the relationship to my dogs, and the ease at which we were able to move throughout the house and in public.

Last week one of my two golden doodles passed on and his brother has had such heartbreaking separation anxiety. I have barely been able to leave his side on top of the heartbreak of dealing with the loss of my oldest. Needless to say things have been very difficult.

I reached out to Bark Busters here in North County and linked up with James who has shown up with the most amazingly understanding, loving, kind heart for our situation. Met with him today and in just 40 minutes had my baby boy relaxing and calm and for the first time since my eldest’s passing has me hopeful that we can find our way through this tough time and come out stronger than ever.

James has the tools and experience to overcome difficult training needs, but also the most amazing compassion for dogs and people and to say I’m grateful is an understatement.

Thank you James!

Our initial training session with Jeri was wonderful. She gave us so much information regarding dog behaviors and taught us how to speak to our Oreo in his language. I particularly liked how she had Bill and I use her training tecniques with Oreo while she stood back and functioned as our coach. This approach helped us to feel more confident and in charge when training our dog. The video's she showed us of the training tecniques was also helpful.

Mai Tai is a 7.5 year Chihuahua who barked at the slightest noise both inside and outside. Ryan is amazing. His training skill and expertise are incredible. Within the first hour of our home visit, Mai Tai was no longer barking at every noise. She responded quickly. Ryan also taught me how to curb the unwanted behavior when the door bell rang. I highly recommend Ryan and Bark Busters. I am overjoyed and thrilled with his service, experience, expertise, and thoroughness. The training techniques for Mai Tai and I are life changing!

Karen has been an absolute lifesaver. I meet with her weekly to learn how to address Nellie’s issues with pulling, jumping up and recall. I truly cannot thank her enough for her outstanding patience…with both of us. She’s the very best!!

Working with James has been an extremely rewarding experience. He is so knowledgeable and helpful. With his help my untrained, six year old, rescue has made tremendous improvements. All of his recommendations have been much easier than I expected. Coco and I have learned so much and we are able to practice the lessons James shares with us. I highly recommend Bark Busters and James to train your pet. I know you will be as pleased as I have been and you will not regret this worthwhile
investment for the life of your pet. Thank you, James. Coco and I appreciate you more than you’ll ever know.

Adrienne is fabulous! We first worked with her in 2024 after we adopted Reggie and learned he was very protective of his house. We had her back a week ago to address a specific event and she was understanding and very helpful once again. We feel confident in our ability to deal with Reggie's protectiveness, and he is already learning what's expected of him. I know that if other issues surface that we can always reach out to Adrienne for her help.

I reached out to Bark Busters to help with my dog's general behavior and his separation anxiety. Johnny was able to schedule with me really quickly, came to my house, and spent time listening to the challenges and giving us homework that he first demonstrated and had us practice in front of him. We started noticing improvements immediately, which meant we were able to start moving forward working on separation anxiety. We have made the most progress with the separation anxiety challenges since working with Johnny than all of our other attempts to fix this issue. Johnny is helping us build our confidence and our dog's confidence. He checks in if he has not heard from us in a bit to make sure everything is going smoothly - we are so grateful for all of his help!

Jared was great to work with. I was having trouble with my 1 year old Bernese mountain dog who was lunging and barking at people and dogs while on leash. Within three sessions my puppy became a model student, easy to walk and no longer a concern for me. I am very grateful for the advice and hands on support that Jared provided.

We have been thrilled with James and The Bark Busters Home Dog Training Program in North County San Diego. We had a senior dog that passed away recently (he had moderate behavioral issues throughout his life that we never addressed properly). We adopted a 4 month old puppy in May, we have a 3 year old daughter and are expecting another baby girl in October. We knew it was important with all these new changes and a very energetic & wild puppy in the mix to seek support for any behavioral issues that may arise.

There was plenty to work on from the moment we took our German Retriever mix home. He was so excited to meet anyone new, he would nip & jump to the point of drawing blood. We needed immediate support with upcoming travel plans, knowing that we needed to establish better boundaries in order to leave our dog with the dog sitter and my in-laws. Koa, our puppy, was also very difficult to walk, pulling intensely and zig zagging all over the road. The idea of walking with a stroller, a toddler, eventually a baby & a puppy seemed impossible. We also wanted to be proactive with the baby coming, developing healthy habits with the dog early so we could be better prepared for a tiny human in the house. Lastly, we wanted guidance on how to properly socialize Koa since our previous dog did not do well with other dogs.

I found James based on rave reviews stating his approach was immediately helpful and we needed fast results! I also knew based on our 14 year experience with our previous dog, that issues arise throughout their whole life and so making the investment with James would be well worth it.

My husband and I are beyond satisfied with the level of customer care, the consistent and clear communication, and the results. We were able to leave on a 10 day trip after 2 sessions with James and the in-laws & dog sitter had positive experiences with Koa. My daughter's toddler friends can come visit and the interactions have gone very well. Walking Koa has been pleasant, we have far more control now and I can easily handle a double stroller with him.

I know we will continue to utilize James has we navigate adding a new baby to the mix and as Koa grows. I love that we have a reliable support to lean on. James clearly can teach you how to shift your dog's behavior & above all he is truly a kind and caring person to welcome into your home. We highly recommend his services! We have been thrilled with James and The Bark Busters Home Dog Training Program in North County San Diego. We had a senior dog that passed away recently (he had moderate behavioral issues throughout his life that we never addressed properly). We adopted a 4 month old puppy in May, we have a 3 year old daughter and are expecting another baby girl in October. We knew it was important with all these new changes and a very energetic & wild puppy in the mix to seek support for any behavioral issues that may arise.

There was plenty to work on from the moment we took our German Retriever mix home. He was so excited to meet anyone new, he would nip & jump to the point of drawing blood. We needed immediate support with upcoming travel plans, knowing that we needed to establish better boundaries in order to leave our dog with the dog sitter and my in-laws. Koa, our puppy, was also very difficult to walk, pulling intensely and zig zagging all over the road. The idea of walking with a stroller, a toddler, eventually a baby & a puppy seemed impossible. We also wanted to be proactive with the baby coming, developing healthy habits with the dog early so we could be better prepared for a tiny human in the house. Lastly, we wanted guidance on how to properly socialize Koa since our previous dog did not do well with other dogs.

I found James based on rave reviews stating his approach was immediately helpful and we needed fast results! I also knew based on our 14 year experience with our previous dog, that issues arise throughout their whole life and so making the investment with James would be well worth it.

My husband and I are beyond satisfied with the level of customer care, the consistent and clear communication, and the results. We were able to leave on a 10 day trip after 2 sessions with James and the in-laws & dog sitter had positive experiences with Koa. My daughter's toddler friends can come visit and the interactions have gone very well. Walking Koa has been pleasant, we have far more control now and I can easily handle a double stroller with him.

I know we will continue to utilize James has we navigate adding a new baby to the mix and as Koa grows. I love that we have a reliable support to lean on. James clearly can teach you how to shift your dog's behavior & above all he is truly a kind and caring person to welcome into your home. We highly recommend his services!

James is an amazing trainer for both of our high energy breeds. He is very responsive and always willing to meet with us or for a call as needed. Highly recommend him for anyone in the market for a new trainer!

We’ve had a great experience working with Johnny Jumper and have seen huge improvements in our dog’s behavior after only four sessions. Our dog is a shelter dog, and we came to Johnny with a few challenges, including lunging and barking at other dogs and people on walks, crate training, and going to the bathroom in the house. The progress has been pretty incredible. After just one session, the lunging and barking on walks improved dramatically. Crate training has been a huge improvement as well, and we’ve also been able to resolve the issues with peeing and pooping in the house. Johnny is kind and patient, but also confident and extremely knowledgeable. He’s great at explaining what he’s doing and giving us the tools to continue the training on our own. We’re only four sessions in and already feel like we have a completely different dog. Highly recommend Johnny!

We had a great morning getting trained by Scot! He was so engaging, easy to learn from, and knowledgeable! Scot provided us with manageable strategies that we can use to build a positive relationship between us and our pup. We learned so much in such a short amount of time! Thank you for giving us the jumpstart we needed to train our dog and develop good habits and behaviors!

Today was our fifth (I think) lesson from Miguel. We have been in awe of his performance since day one. Poppy is a 5-1/2 month old mini Bernedoodle. Miguel like to say she is full of “puppiness.” That’s a bit of an understatement. Yet after every lesson ( usually two weeks apart) we have seen remarkable, repeatable progress. Miguel is thoughtful, observant, very insightful and extremely effective; all of his with good humor and natural warmth.
Ron and Linda Kaplan

Five stars isn’t enough! Not only is Justin a proven expert trainer, the amount of compassion and commitment he has shown is unreal and truly heartwarming. He says his passion is helping people and their dogs, and I have no doubt about that.

A month after separating from my partner and moving out to my own place, my leash aggressive, two year-old cane corso, Zeke, lunged at another dog in my apartment complex and took me with him. Fortunately, aside from a few cuts and bruises I sustained, everyone was OK. But the anxiety and emotional trauma that was left behind made me avoid taking Zeke out for walks all together and when I did my hands would start shaking. Thinking that I would be able to do it in my own, I watched hours and hours of dog training videos and even tried using an E collar, none of it helped. Not only were things stressful outside of the house, but inside of it too. My 14 year-old cocker spaniel and poodle mix, Lexi, is very reactive towards Zeke. Because her senses are not what they used to be. She has even mistaken me for Zeke and has snapped at me. The thought of me potentially losing my apartment, having to give up Zeke, and the fear that Lexi may accidentally bite one of my children caused even more stress on top of what I was already going through from the separation, so I knew I needed to get professional help.

After just one phone call with Justin I already felt a weight lifted from my shoulders. We have only been working together for two weeks and have already seen improvement, not only with Zeke‘s responsiveness to corrections while on walks but with my confidence in leading my pups to a calm and happy life.

Justin really set me up for success by giving me tools, demo videos, and tips - making me confident in my ability to correct Zeke’s leash reactivity. Walks with Zeke are so much more calm for us both!

So grateful for what Justin does and how he does it. He is so responsive and genuine, really making us a team with the same goals! Can’t recommend him enough! THANK YOU, Justin!

Omar originally came to our house to help us teach our dog how to greet people appropriately at the door and how to handle the excessive barking at everything that passes by the front of the house.

The technique that Omar uses makes so much sense and works! We have tried multiple trainers and much to our frustration, nothing has worked like the technique that we have learned from Bark Busters!

We continue to learn new things that we can work on with our dog. We are excited to keep learning and keep teaching.

Thank you, Omar. We are so happy with the progress!

Mike and Betsy

Brisket is a 2–3-year-old rescue who was ready for some training after a month of acclimation and recovery in her new home. My research of local trainers brought up lots of qualified folks but Sharon at Bark Busters kept coming up again and again. Several doggie-day-care facilities even handed me her card; turns out Sharon trains a lot of folks (pups too)!
Our 3-hour session was completely different than expected and just what I needed. No treats, just quiet visuals; we didn't even utter the first verbal command until the beginning of hour 3 for that rare situation it might be necessary.
I worked with Brisket for the last two days to see how she was doing with my new training (yes, I got trained) and I just can't believe how well it has gone.

Brisket played with other dogs for the first time off leash and was such a good girl and even recalled perfectly in spite of all the beautiful chaos happening around her. She also has less separation anxiety now that I know what to do.

Johnny did a fantastic job with our two dogs. Our dogs had some behavioral issues that needed to be corrected. This included leash pulling, resource guarding, and for one of dogs an anxiety separation problem. Johnny helped and guide us through how to address these problems and since then our dogs have gotten much better. The key for dog owners is to stay consistent with the training or else your dogs will regress into their old bad habits. We learned that the hard way early on but the consistency since then has made an everlasting difference. Thank you Johnny and Bark Busters!