Karen Gaines and Adam Kravetz dog training reviews

Karen provided a calm productive environment and gave me some effective training tools to establish pack leader mentality to practice with our year old lab mix with a dominant personality. I met with Karen two more times and made significant progress with the dog. Karen helped give me the confidence to maintain the leadership of the "pack". Really enjoyed working with Karen and would recommend her to anyone needing help training a dog. Permalink

I/we - cant thank Karen at Bark Busters enough. My mom is probably much older than most of the clients Karen works with, but she assures me she is not. We decided that as a widow, she needed a companion and get motivated to be more active. So we rescued an older labmix we named "Tripper". Unfortuantely, Tripper is more active than any of us imagined. The vet thinks he may only be 4 years old and he is "lively" to say the least. What were we thinking! She was ready to give him up after 2 weeks but had fallen in love with him. He was so hard to handle - Tripper, (as he was appropriately named) loved to jump on her to give her kisses, (he loves to cuddle only he is 45 lbs), he would try and drag her out the door when going for walks, would rush right past her anytime he thought she was getting up to leave without him almost knocking her down. Mom did not enjoy any of this. SO instead of taking him for walks, she started to leave him in the back yard. Even though we had dogs growing up, she didnt remember them being this rambunctious. A co-worker of mine overheard me on the phone distraught that my mom may want to give Tripper back to the rescue so she gave me BarkBusters telephone number. She had just used Karen and said she was incredible. SHe said karen was very direct and would offer the best advice as to what to do. Well, that was 7 weeks ago and Tripper is not going anywhere. She met us for a consultation and said she would work close with my mom and she felt confident that Tripper and my mom were a perfect match. She felt that my mom was capable and that Tripper wanted some guidance. Karen stated up front that she trains people, that is the methodology and that she would have to lay off giving Tripper so many cookies. She knew she could teach my mom to be the "pack leader" not with cookies but with love and consistancy. She taught my mom simple techniques that were not difficult for her to remember, in fact made them even fun for both. So far Tripper hasnt jumped on her since Karen came that 1st day. She waits at the door until my mom gives her permission. Now they go on 2 walks a day at least 30 min each time. My mom is building up her stamina to take longer walks and Tripper seems to have calmed down a bit and mom is so proud of how far they both have come. She loves telling her friends what she and Tripper have been doing and where they have been going. They love doing errands together. We are so happy for Tripper and even more, thankful to Karen for being patient and instilling the confidence in my mother that as my mom says, "you can teach an old dog new tricks". My mom has a new best friend and we owe that to Karen at BarkBusters. Permalink

We met with Karen for three hours to help us learn to train our new rescue Daisy. We lost our perfect, nearly 15 year old yellow lab a few months ago, so it has been a while since we have had to do any training. Karen taught us many skills that are helping us help Daisy to be an even better dog than she is already. I think Daisy actually likes to know the rules, so Karen's session was truly helpful. I assume we will be doing more once we establish this foundation. Meet with Karen if you need someone to train you! We highly recommend her. Permalink

Karen is amazing! We interviewed countless dog trainers, audited a number of classes and NO ONE compared to her approach and technique. She truly understands the behavior of dogs and 'speaks their language'. Her no nonsense approach is very helpful in understanding what our dog is thinking. She pinpointed why we were having issues with our pup and quickly offered solutions. Truly the best we have seen and happy to work with her and recommend her to others!!! Permalink

Karen's friendly training is extremely efficient. Just a few tips and Hugo, still a puppy, is learning fast how to behave in many situations. As a result we enjoy him even more. Thanks Karen! Permalink

Even though BarkBusters and Karen was highly recommended by an aunt who used her services 2 years ago for her shy little poodle , I was very skeptical. I wasnt expecting alot from this training but I thought I would give it a try as I was so annoyed with my overly friendly (ferociously sounding) lab mix. Because of Dexter's size, I knew I had to do something. I just wasn't sure and and questioned whether anyone had the ability to turn Dexter around. Karen made me realize that I had the ability, and she shared with me advice how to handle Dexter . The transformation was dramatic. It was like night and day. Dexter went from pulling his leash to walking beside me, from bolting out the door as a high flier to waiting for me to give him permission. He now waits at the front door so I can let friends in without his slobbering lunges, until I give him permission to come and greet them, calmly. I have to say, I was really skeptical, but now I am a believer. Its only been a few weeks, but hiring Karen was one of the best decisions I have ever made, except of course to adopt Dexter. We still have things we can work on, but for the long haul - BarkBusters is worth it. Highly recommended Permalink

You came to our house about 3 months ago, to assist us in training both Ezra (husky) and Blake (pointer-spaniel), our canine friends. I wish to underline the quality of your work and of your presence, which were truly valuable and helpful to all of us. Blake and Ezra are doing much better, especially Blake who is not half-wolf. I can even walk with Blake without a leash now, on the sidewalk, especially without him trying to throw himself at passing cars. Ezra obeys better and, after 20 minutes on a walk, she ends up fully accepting that a human being is at the other end of the leash. Being half-wolf, limitations are still particularly painful to her. Yet, at times, she is brought to roam freely on the Lucas Valley hills, with Blake, chasing adventure and being fully alive. Your knowledgeable input and your sincerity made the difference. I wished to thank you, wholeheartedly, for your work and for your patience, Louise Permalink

Ella responded well and readily to all the training suggestions. The training techniques were "user friendly" and effective. They made sense! Karen made the training fun and interesting for both Ella and me! I am so glad my vet recommended Bark Busters and Karen! Karen couldn't have been nicer or more helpful and reliable, She immediately addressed all my concerns and questions and as a first time dog owner, it was better than I could have imagined. Permalink

my dogs were unused to walking on a leash and being around other dogs when I moved here from out of the state. Karen was great with them and me and I would be happy to recommend her and her methods to anyone who cares about dogs and cares about having them behave in public. Permalink

We have nothing but the highest praise for Karen. We have only had two sessions with her and already our puppy is learning to be such a good dog. We especially had trouble with her jumping on everyone and Karen taught us how to deal with that. Karen is very good at what she does and is a pleasure to work with. Her techniques really do work! Our puppy is quite active and we were getting frustrated trying to teach her things ourselves. Karen came in and turned everything around for us. We would highly recommend her. Permalink