Dog training reviews

Charley was head of his puppy class several years ago, but had begun recently to "train us" and was not behaving well. Only one session with Phyllis made a HUGE difference. She educated us, and put us in charge of Charley's behavior. She made us the "leader of his pack!" What a difference! He now could likely be head of his class once again. We have used her technique on our Pug to help her stop barking at dogs on TV! We cannot tell you how pleased we are. Phyllis is GREAT and we heartily recommend her to anyone needing to learn to be "leader of the pack" for their dogs. Permalink

I was very pleased to see how easy it is to train my dog. Permalink

We adopted Callie from the animal shelter as a 7 pound puppy in late July. Her mom had been a pregnant stray and had given birth to 8 pups at the shelter so a concrete floor and crowded cage was the only life Callie had known. When we brought her home she very laid-back and relaxed. Within 3 weeks, she had become very hyperactive and aggressive, biting us hard when angry or playing. Callie also wanted our 12 year old German Shepherd mix to play roughly with her and was constantly bothering her. Callie was obviously very strong-willed, intelligent, and independent, and a DNA test determined that she was a coon hound mix along with other mixed breeds including Akita. Coon hounds are working dogs known for their high energy level, and we realized at that point that she was also going to be a large dog. We were beginning to have fears of whether or not she would ever be manageable enough to live in our home, and neither my wife nor I had ever had a pup with her personality. When we mentioned her rambunctious misbehavior, people would scoff and say she was "just a puppy" but it went far beyond that. Our veterinarian recommended Bark Busters and the training has helped immensely. At the age of 4 months Callie now weighs 38 pounds and is still growing. We work with her at home and take her to doggie day camp 3 times per week so she can socialize and play with other dogs in her age group. We also walk her twice a day so she burns some of that high energy naturally. She still has her moments, but from the first day of starting her Bark Busters training, she became part of the family. We love her and enjoy her very much these days. Permalink

James and Michelle have beyond exceeded our expectations. We thought we had an unsolvable situation with our dogs (mine being dog aggressive), and had tried a few other dog trainers and classes with little or no success. We were trying to integrate two households ( 2 dogs from each household) and thought this was going to be impossible. My main focus was seeing if and how to train mine to be less dog aggressive. I have an 8 year old female Pit/Hound mix and a 7 year old male Boxer/Great Dane Mix. She is definitely the alpha female, and he is more laid back. Both love people, but other dogs were another story. My female was attacked at a young age by another dog, and it almost flipped a switch with her. She no longer got along with other dogs (with the exception of her brother) to the point of barking ,lunging, snarling, etc anytime another dog would pass us or just pass the house. Obviously this made walks a nightmare too. I had stopped "socializing" the other one due to her lack of control around other dogs. He too began exhibiting the same behaviors, which left me at a point that I only let them play in the backyard with occasional walks. My girlfriend has a 1 year old female Pit/lab mix and a 3 year old female Yorkie. The Yorkie is a people lover and a bit of a Diva. The Pit/lab mix has the sweetest temperament and gets along with all dogs and people, but she is very timid around children. So we were at a crossroads to see if it would even be possible for our dogs to get along let alone live in the same household. After many emails with Michelle about advice on what to do (she was so helpful), we set up our first appointment. James came over and met with us and all 4 of our dogs to see if they could help. Let me just say I wish we would have called them sooner. He went over everything with us as well as different "plans" they offer. He really taught us exactly how to fix and correct all of our dogs different behaviors. Of course this wasn't going to happen overnight, but with simple commands and really taking control of the situation we started to see results in the first week. We have met with James once a month for 4 months now each time learning something new to work on with the dogs. And as of now all 4 dogs are hanging out together (still under some supervision), but if you would have told me we would be where we are here 4 months ago I would have told you it would be impossible. We can't say enough good things about Bark Busters and James and Michelle! Permalink

I met with Mike last week, and I couldn't be happier. I have a 2 year old French bulldog, who in my opinion has a very complex personality. He can be the sweetest, most playful guy but would sometimes snap for sometimes no reason, and I couldn't understand it. Mike had explained to me that he felt he was the boss of the house, and basically felt that he needed to protect me all the time. Which is not a job that I want my dog to feel he needs to uphold. In one hour of some very simple training skills, my dog immediately started to realize that he was no longer going to be in charge. Of course I know that I will have to consistently work at training him, but I have no doubt that Mike's methods will work. The best part, is that I don't have to inflict pain or bribe my dog to get him to do what I want.I'm looking forward to seeing more of his progress. Also Michael is always available whenever I have questions, and when I ran out of food...he supplied me with some more until I was able to get it!!! What a guy! Permalink

Mike came on an emergency basis as I had just introduced a new rescue to my 9-year old, dominant female. In just a half of an hour there was a monumental change in the demeanor of both females. The tools offered in such a brief amount of time were amazing - I am looking forward to working with him in the future for the full program. On an aside, he also offered great advice on nutrition options for my larger breed dogs. Can't thank him enough already! Permalink

Mike is PHENOMENAL! Our pup is now on her way to being the best trained dog in the city! Not only did Mike offer great training advice but he also offered great nutritional advice for our little girl. When I started looking at trainers I was nervous thinking that Del (our puppy) would love us less because we started instilling boundaries but what Mike taught us was to communicate with Del. Not punish but to communicate with her like her dog parents would. Mike is so great at teaching you how to continue the training process. Worth every single penny. Permalink

I was very happy with the care Colin and June showed for our pet. Permalink

:-) Still smiling. I met Michelle a few years ago when she trained my pup Finn ( Boston Terrier), rather trained me to think like Finn. Finn had the basics some where else, and did OK. After training with Michelle, both Finn, and I understood our rolls. The why's and why not's, do's and don'ts, I never understood till then. Now two year later my wife has a pup, a Doberman. Michelle is back to help us once again with puppy understanding and training. I'm sure once we get past this, Michelle will most definitely be back to help us in advance training. Through numerous on line classes, DVD's, CD's, local training classes, before meeting Michelle, I always felt there was something missing. How can you ask for something, if you don't know what to ask? Michelle is by far the best, she has the answers before you know you have a question. ;-) Thank You! Permalink

Maril made the training very logical. Within the first few minutes we saw results - very effective! We like the training techniques used and how effective they were. The training was very informative and engaging. I realize that we have to practice and work hard for continued results. Maril made it so easy and logical. Permalink