Michelle from Bark Busters really changed our lives yesterday!! We were feeling lost and out of control with our sweet almost 4 month old deaf puppy Ghost, he was definitely running the show and we were overwhelmed by how much our lives had been taken over by this adorable little terror! We were especially overwhelmed once we learned that he was deaf, and realized we couldn't use our voice to train him. We didn't know how to manage the "puppy crazies" when he would become a lunatic, do laps around the house, chew everything he wasn't supposed to, and bite any body part he could find of ours (and those puppy teeth are super sharp)! Yelling at him and saying "NO!" was doing nothing as he couldn't hear us haha
We also felt lost in terms of how to leash and house train him. We received him from foster care just 3 weeks ago and he was wee-wee pad trained but he's a clumsy puppy so we've been constantly cleaning up pee and poop spillage when he misses the wee-wee pads since he got here, and we desperately wanted to get him to only go outside! Michelle changed all of this in the matter of a few hours, and gave us guidance and a concrete plan for how to move forward. She taught us how to hold ourselves and how to train him to not do these puppy crazy behaviors like biting, jumping and chewing everything in sight! She was patient and made sure we understood how dogs communicate so that we could truly understand the world from Ghost's eyes, especially considering that his eyes were the main way we were going to communicate with our deaf puppy. She explained everything so that it made sense to us, and practiced with us until we felt we could practice with Ghost. She addressed all of our concerns and I feel full of hope and confidence now that we will have a different puppy soon! In fact, he already was truly a different puppy after just the initial session- the dynamics changed thanks to Michelle and we became the leaders, rather than Ghost calling all the shots and making the decisions! Last night he slept THROUGH THE NIGHT, which is a miracle after 3 weeks of waking up between 2-4am to take him to the bathroom because HE asked us to!! Not anymore, we're in charge and that allows Ghost to have rules, structure and respect for us as his parents and feel safer in this world. Michelle trained us to be good parents and leaders for Ghost and we are eternally grateful and can't wait to keep working with Michelle! The initial training session was truly so thorough I've already recommended Bark Buster services to a few friends with puppies!
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Bark Busters dealt with Barking, Chewing, Hyperactivity, Jumping up, Pulling, Puppy management, Separation anxiety, Toileting
Trainer note from Michelle :
Hi Jessyka, Thank you so much for your review! Working with every dog is rewarding, but working with a deaf dog is extra special. Watching as Ghost started to understand what you wanted from him and how he wanted to please you was simply magical! Thank you for your referrals to friends and keep me posted! I'm always here to help! ~Michelle PS I LOVE this pic of him! He is so adorable!