Nicole Martel dog training reviews

Nicole and Bark Busters are wonderful! If I said “life saver”, it wouldn’t be far from the truth. Nicole worked with our new 5-year old, 97.4 lb. ridgeback/shepherd mix rescue, Bella (she is a strong, super energetic, constantly in motion, and stimulated girl), and saved my sanity. Bella picked up the cues quickly (and got an A+) and since, we have made great strides in bringing her level of energy down from the red zone to the yellow zone, and hopefully someday, the all-green zone! Nicole provided great insight into dogs’ behavior and instincts, and left us with many tools and reminders because, after all, it’s really up to us humans to redirect bad behavior, and enforce and reward good behavior. The truly great part about our new relationship with Nicole and Bark Busters is, she is available to us for the life of Bella. It’s difficult to find the time and energy to always be mindful of our dog’s behaviors – and sometimes corrections get delayed, or confusion sets in, and you need a refresher. Nicole is there to answer questions and come by for reinforcements! In just a few weeks, Bella has calmed down significantly (although we still have a lot of work to do) and responds well to commands. This training has made all the difference, and I look forward to furthering Bella’s training with assistance from Nicole and Bark Busters! Permalink

Nicole deserves 10 stars! Within minutes of entering my house, my 3 boys (dogs) better behaved. Nicole could easily see the problem and we went step by step to correct their (my) behavior. Our 75 lb doodle was listening and not pulling on the leash. Our 4 lb Maltese stopped barking. Our 12-year-old poodle mix stopped being territorial. Nicole is a miracle worker! Permalink

I have gotten immediate results working with Nicole from day one in correcting bad dog behavior. I highly recommend you at least try working with her if you have an issue you can't seem to resolve on your own. We still have much to cover, but the foundation of good behavior has been set to build up on other behavior -our dog caught on right away! I also like the fact that Nicole gives great recommendations and resources for your dog. She's easy to work with and doesn't over burden you with tons of exercises at once. Permalink

My new five year-old shepherd mix rescue had significant fear-based aggression that was totally dominating both of our lives. Nicole is really helping me to communicate with my dog so that we can be happy members of society, not isolated outcasts. There is significant immediate progress. More importantly, it is evident that if I continue to do the homework with my dog and follow-up properly, we will have the life I was looking forward to. I am grateful beyond words and feel so lucky that I made the choice to hire her. Permalink

We met with Nicole last Saturday for our first visit and we can already see amazing results with our Ciara (3 yr old black lab mix). Ciara was, lets just say, a bit out of control, thinking she was the boss of our house. She was people aggressive, dog aggressive, garbage truck aggressive, basically everything that came in her path aggressive. Not only did Nicole take the time to explain to us why Ciara felt the need to be a "protector", but she taught us the beginning skills to help us help Ciara relinquish her power, and finally be able to just be part of our pack instead of having to protect it all the time. We can't wait for our next lesson, and man do we wish we called sooner! Permalink

Nicole is the absolute best dog trainer that we have ever used! We have a 3 year old rescue beagle that would not let anyone into the house including extended family. She would bark, growl and intimidate any visitors and was completely stressed out. On walks, our dog would lunge at UPS trucks, cars, people and other dogs would create a complete meltdown for her. We had used a former military person who specialized in dogs with PTSD as well as another dog trainer and neither one of them produced the immediate results that Nicole has in just a few sessions. What I really appreciate about Nicole is that her methods are completely understandable and there is NO physical treatment to the dog. After the first session, my sister was able to enter my home after I used a few verbal commands. The dog was relaxed and at ease and so was my sister! I give Nicole top marks for her training methods. She truly loves animals and understand how they behave and react to certain environments! We also have another rescue pup and Nicole has given us tips that produced immediate results correcting him from jumping on people, on the furniture and now we can walk both dogs together in peace! Permalink

We got our puppy Mookie at 6 weeks and he was a handful at first. He was biting wee wee pads, eating everything bad, jumping and being super hyper with people, and the list goes on. Although we were apprehensive at first about getting a trainer, we decided to hire Nicole to help us with management but also how to be great parents to our new pup. Let me tell you, we did not regret our decision. When you read that Nicole is an expert, she really is. Within the hour of her being present in our home, Mookie was attentive, taking direction and ready to be trained. He was frustrated at first but that showed that the training was working and he was adjusting. She demonstrated some great exercises that were really effective and gave us great advice on literally everything we could think of from healthy food to get for him to crate training, etc. When you hire Nicole, you hire a trainer for life and someone who will always be there. When Mookie ate something bad and started vomiting excessively, we called her right away and she responded instantly. She advised us to take our pup to the ER and we’re glad we did. He ended up eating the stuffing from inside of a toy and it was causing blockage! Nonetheless, she made sure she followed up and cared so much about his recovery. It's not just about training but the overall happiness and wellness of your dog and it’s great to know we have a partner like a Nicole in our corner. Permalink

Nicole was wonderful! She understood what we needed right away and after our first lesson Trey was 100% better! It was amazing. We saw her for two more lessons as we were moving out of the area, but we can contact her at any time for help and guidance. We continue to work with Trey on his problem areas but he has responded beautifully. As I have PTSD, this has helped put him on his way to becoming a therapy dog companion. Permalink

We had used Nicole service 3 yrs ago when we got our rottie Kali and now have used her again for our new addition Rakim a rescue pitbull/border terrier mix. Her knowledge and care were phenomenal. She understood our concerns and the different approach for both our dogs. She was very patient and also had literature for use to work from. Would use her again. And definitely recommend her to anyone. Permalink

My 14 year old dog, Dustin was barking and showing signs of age and anxiety in recent months. Somehow I remembered that we'd purchased a Lifetime Guarantee from Bark Busters 14 years ago!!! I contacted them and Nicole got back to me almost immediately and had easy access to my records and confirmed the guarantee!!! Best of all, she said she'd be happy to give me a refresher course and that you CAN teach an old dog new tricks! We scheduled a day and time and she came to my home. She spent over an hour with Dustin and me. I appreciated her warmth and insights and clear instructions. I'm back in charge of my dog instead of my dog being in charge of me! Thank you, Nicole! Permalink