Howard, Marlene & Brandon Marks dog training reviews

Howard, Marlene & Brandon Marks

Expert Dog Trainers, Howard, Marlene & Brandon Marks

See below for all reviews for Howard, Marlene & Brandon Marks, or use the field below to filter reviews by behavior
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Chicago | April 06 2011
My experience with Howard and Marlene has been absolutely wonderful (for me and my dog!). Not only are they helpful, friendly, supportive and reliable but there was an instant improvement in my dog's behavior during their first visit. I was amazed at how their strategies and philosophy worked so well, and so quickly. I don't know what I would have done without them!! Permalink
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Chicago | February 08 2011
Marlene and Howard: We practiced "attentiveness training" on our walk this morning. We're all falling into line very well. I am rather amazed at how Elvis & Kima snapped-to. Thanks for the refresher yesterday. We're off to a good start. Many thanks! Permalink
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Chicago | January 31 2011
Marlene and Howard turned a terrible situation into a wonderful one. After moving to a new apartment, I had received multiple complaints of barking. After only one session, the barking decreased so much that my neighbors were congratulating me on how quickly I resolved the issue. For the first time, the holidays were not a stressful event. My family was thrilled at the behavioral changes in my dog. It was the best money I ever spent! Permalink
Chicago | January 17 2011
Dear Marlene and Howard: Many Thanks for coming over to give us and Mr. Peabody a "refresher" session this weekend! Your presence was nothing short of magical. The Bark Busters system and principles are so sensible, and your way of presenting them so clear and enjoyable. We are so pleased to have invested in the lifetime Bark Busters support. It is the best thing we ever did for Mr. Peabody, after rescuing him from the pound! Best friendly regards, John, Teresa, Mia, & Mr. Peabody Permalink
Evanston | December 18 2010
We adopted our wonderful Pembroke Welsh Corgi, Cricket, when he was six. We were told in the adoption process that he was a "talker". They weren't kidding! He is a wonderful dog with a great temperament, but in some cases, he would start barking and not know when to stop. For example, when the door bell rang, he would go nuts, and not settle down until about ten minutes after the door had been answered. He was also very vocal about making sure we knew what he wanted and when he wanted it. After four years of life with Cricket, we found his "talking" habits growing worse and nothing seemed to help. After seeing Bark Busters in our neighborhood, we decided to give them a call and decided it was our Christmas present to ourselves. Wow! What a fantastic present. Marlene demonstrated pack leadership to us, and helped us work with Cricket on his barking and how to curb his inappropriate barking with the infamous "BAH". After only one day, it was clear that we had a different dog on our hands! It is amazing how much more we are in control and leading the pack, instead of Cricket. Thanks to Marlene's work, we are now the leader, and Cricket actually looks up to us. After her initial 2½ hour visit, Marlene made a follow-up visit, to ensure that all was well and to answer our questions. She then introduced some new techniques to us and helped us clarify what our goals for the training were. Through consistent use of the BAH and other techniques, Cricket is well on his way to being an even greater, more loving dog than he was before. We are surprised at how much of his personality is now shining through, since he is no longer trying to "muscle" us for leadership and barking so much. It is amazing how you can teach an old dog new tricks. Thanks, Marlene! Permalink
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Chicago | November 17 2010
In August, on a very hot summer day, I think it was around 95 degrees, I was taking out the garbage in the alley. I heard a dog crying a couple of houses down and investigated where it was coming from, and found a crate with a very cute dog inside. This was the same kind of crate used to transport animals on a plane. At first blush, I thought the owner was inside the house and would take the dog in after dropping off her luggage. About a half hour went by and I had this gnawing feeling about the dog in the crate. I came back outside and saw one of our neighbors and asked if she knew anything about the dog. The neighbor did not know, but said the dog was there for about 2 hours. I then peered into the crate and saw that the dog was very mangy, very matted looking and there was a foul order coming from it. I opened the crate and the dog ran out and away. I chased after this dog for over an hour, and then gave up. As I was walking back home, our neighbor corralled the dog in her yard and gave him to me. My husband Danny and I found the dog in very bad shape. The smell was coming from its ears that were bulging out like cauliflower. As we went to look deeper in its ears, it turned around and bit me. Immediately, we took the dog and ran to the vet where the dog was quarantined for 2 weeks. He also had severe ear trauma, fleas, well, you name it - the bottom line is that dog was neglected and put out in 95 degree weather to die. We visited the dog at the vet and we decided to keep him. We named him Ollie. For a couple of weeks back in our house he was great. We have another dog and they seemed to get along just fine. Then, one day, as we were putting drops in his ears, he turned around and bit me again. This occurred a couple of times, but the last time, it was pretty bad. Now we had to decide if we were going to keep Ollie or if we were going to take him to a shelter. As we were thinking about the shelter, we felt that it would not be right to give him up to one since he had bitten me a few times and he was now hard of hearing because of the damage done to his ears. So, now we're thinking we had to put him down or get help. We contacted our vet and he recommended that we call Bark Busters. Marlene and Howard came to our home and we immediately saw that the techniques and their knowledge of dog behaviors were the best fit for us. After one lesson, Ollie showed great improvement. Marlene and Howard showed us how to communicate with him without using any shock collars, prong collars, or electronic collars. Rather, they showed us how to be a leader in the household by using training exercises coupled with voice tones and body language. These exercises have helped us to now have a trust and bond with Ollie. We know we have a way to go, but we are on the right path and we have laid the foundation to be part of our household pack. We highly recommend Marlene and Howard Marks and Bark Busters as trainers and to help fix unwanted behaviors with your dog. We did, and we did not have to euthanize Ollie. Permalink
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Evanston | October 15 2010
We have a rescue pointer-mix, Gordon, who had been in a number of dog fights and had bitten a person in the five months we had him. Marlene and Howard's first visit calmed Gordon down noticeably. And that Marlene and Howard are now his trainers just took the pressure off and has given us the tools to keep him calm, to bond with us, to bit by bit teach him the behaviors that have yielded a beautiful, loving pet. Gordon almost seemed to sense the day he met them that all was now well. Many many small successes and steps keep building a better and better relationship between him and us and with our neighbors and their dogs. He's not a done deal, but we now know what to do. The Bark Busters program together with Marlene and Howard gave us hope and tangible progress when the week before they came, we had called the rescue org to return him. We have had no incidents with other dogs or with people since that day. He might still get excited but he has not gotten out of control because we correct him and guide him with positive methods so he knows what to do and believes we are in control. Though he still tests us a bit, the tests are becoming fewer. The walk is now a pleasure rather than such physical exertion the way it was before. We highly recommend Marlene and Howard for anyone who has a dog that needs training. Period. There is no abuse involved in their training methods. The methods are sound and sure and produce results and have from the first day. Permalink
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Skokie, IL | October 08 2010
BEST DOG TRAINING IN SKOKIE! I called Marlene of Bark Busters on the recommendation of my dog walker. In one brief conversation, Marlene understood the issues and had a clear idea of what would help. I highly recommend Marlene and Bark Busters. Ivy is a 4-year-old Vizsla that I adopted when she was 3, after being in 3 or 4 other homes. Ivy had issues of listening and responding to commands only on her terms and not mine (or others) along with guarding and some other fear-related issues. Marlene immediately identified these issues as leadership-related. In one single session with Marlene, I learned that I was not consistently leading Ivy and Marlene taught us (me and Ivy) some very simple actions that solved the issues. I just need my voice now and don't have to worry about using treats to bribe her. Ivy now has the respect for me (and others) to look to me for leadership and this all happened by Marlene explaining just a few very simple concepts and showing us some easily repeatable actions. Ivy was a sweet and happy dog before but now she is even happier and very clearly more comfortable with herself and others. Marlene has followed up to make sure Ivy and I are doing well. Do not hesitate to call Marlene of Bark Busters, you will be amazed at Marlene's problem solving ability and success with issues you have with your dogs. Permalink
Trainer note from Howard & Marlene : 2 Years later, we received a call from a friend who was watching Ivy at their vacation home and was concerned about their other dog fighting with her. We talked for about 45 minutes and I received a voice mail telling me how wonderfully behaved Ivy was with sharing toys and listening to them.
Skokie | August 19 2010
Best Dog Training in Skokie! Bark Busters techniques are wonderful and humane. I saw an improvement after our first lesson. We practiced all week and when Marlene came over for Ruger's second lesson he did great! Ruger is a Certified Therapy Dog and has been in training for 4 years. If I did not correct this issue I was considering pulling him out of his therapy work which would have been such a loss to so many people at the nursing homes he visits. Three trainers could not rid Ruger of this problem. I also did not like the pinch collars and roughness of the other trainers with Ruger. Marlene was gentle with Ruger and introduced us to the Bark Busters collar that Ruger seems to really like. I really feel we are on the right track. Thank you Bark Busters... Permalink
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Chicago | July 16 2010
We fixed leash pulling, lunging, and aggression. Although he was a stubborn one, it was the best decision we made. We love the one-on-one education for our dog and us! Permalink

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