Scott Marcotte & Holly Larson dog training reviews

Carol has been great! Apollo, a 75 lb 8 month old German Shepard male came to me to foster for a "while" at 3 months old. I hadn't worked with him as far as much training goes because the person I was fostering for was supposed to do the training until he was able to keep him at his home. That never happened and he is now my dog. So now I had a large puppy that was out of control a bit. I have two very old dogs at home and this (very large) puppy was causing problems. Fence fighting, trying to dominate one of my older dogs and barking incessantly when left outside and digging holes and being the boss of the house and separation anxiety. He is a VERY loving puppy, but I felt out of control with him. Carol has reinforced my confidence to train him, and has shown me some great training without treat rewards and physical harm. Positive reinforcement/voice control works wonderful. I have never used physical harm/discomfort in training ever, and would never. I have used treats in the past. Apollo is very smart and is responding extremely well! He responded immediately to Carol the very first time we met with such respect for her! Now he is doing the same with me. We continue to train and make forward progress! Permalink

I have been very pleased with the training received from Carol. Gunner (Goobs) is now letting me take him for a walk instead of the other way around. The WaggWalker works great. What a joy it is to not be pulled around! I'm looking forward to continuing our training on recall. Thank you for your patience, Carol! Permalink

Our dog was aggressive and had bit someone. We were afraid we were going to have to get rid of her but Carol's training has helped so much. We feel much more in control of Nona and are confident that we can eliminate her aggressive behavior. After the first 2 lessons, Nona was already much more responsive and looked to us for guidance/commands. Using the "dog language" has been much more effective than treats or other training techniques we have tried. It has been nice to be in control of our dog and it has made both us and Nona more relaxed and led to greater enjoyment. Permalink

Carol did an excellent job explaining the training techniques in a way that was easy to follow and understand. She reinforced the training with every visit. My dog became much more "trainable" with each session. Because my dog is overweight, it was good to learn verbal commands and not use food rewards. I enjoyed all of Carol's visits and learned a great deal about my dog's behavioral potential. Carol is very knowledgeable of dogs' behavior and how to effectively apply training methods to reinforce good behavior. She was always willing to help, whether with a visit, email, or phone call. I would definitely recommend her! Permalink

Carol explained the training techniques in a way that was easy and effective. My timid rescue dog is now trusting me more and is coming to me most of the time. The natural training methods worked well for Charlie and just recently he has approached two strangers. My experience of the training has been very informative and I have definitely recommended Bark Busters and Carol as a trainer. My little dog Charlie has really grown through this experience and his finally coming to me has been fantastic. Permalink

It was a pleasure to meet, talk with and work with Carol. This is exactly what I was looking for! My only regret is that I didn't know about this years ago for my little dog that just passed. Bogan is a rescue dog that I have only had for 1 week, and although he is incredibly smart, I didn't know how to get him to do the things I wanted him to do. This is the perfect answer, and I truly do 'get' the training - it is based on the same principals I was taught to use with horses. And that trainer is also from Australia. Thank you so much! In just one day I see incredible improvement. Bogan is much more relaxed today, and is trying very hard to do the right thing. He is going to be much more fun to have around. If we made this much progress in just one day, I can't wait to see what we are doing a year from now! Marilyn Morgan Permalink

Our first concern with our 4 month old retriever was jumping up on people. At our initial meeting, Carol explained the philosophy behind Bark Busters training and carefully answered all our questions. With her first meeting with our pup, she had him walking attentively by her side and refraining from jumping up. She then worked with us to enable us to get the same behavior from the dog. That was yesterday. Today the puppy is doing much better with this particular behavior, and look forward to conquering more of his "growing up" issues as we continue with Carol's training. We were impressed with her calm control and her knowledge of dogs and what motivates them. Permalink

Wonderful trainer and we have immediate success. Echo doesn't bark any more, is learning to come when called ad she is doing less jumping. Permalink

I'm in love with Burk Busters: With just one lesson I was able to walk Toby, after being walk by him for about 7 months.I am so impressed with Carol she is very knowledgeable, patient and professional. My biggest issue with Toby was aggression. I can now say it has improved 80% after three lessons. "Carol you are amazing at what you do" Thank you. Permalink

The knowledge of how dogs interact with each other and how we can use that in our interactions with our dog was enormously helpful. Even after a very short time working on the exercises with our dog, simply changing how we behaved created a huge improvement in his behavior. The exercises that we were given to work on targeted the issues nicely and when there were issues, Carol was able to provide good feedback and suggestions in what adjustments we needed to make for the best results. Permalink