Client Reviews and Testimonials

Bottom line up front: I whole heartedly recommend Mike the dog trainer to anyone who has a dog. This is my first and only review I've written and it is because I strongly believe in Mike's training program and teaching style. My dog is a little 30-pound shepherd mix named Arnie and was having increasing aggression, barking, and jumping as he was entering his adolescence. He is my first dog that I raised from a puppy and I thought I was doing everything right. I read the puppy books, went to puppy school through the ASPCA, socialized him early and often, but as he got older he got more and more aggressive, especially on the leash. I became discouraged with training assistance form most sources because most of what you find out there is positive reinforcement only, which is fantastic for training a wanted behavior, but not effective for removing unwanted behaviors. Mike had a unique approach from what I read with his style focusing on training the human, rather than the dog. I figured that Arnie's issues were coming from anxiety with him being so small and Mike agreed and also added in a very tactful manner that my dog didn't truly respect me and is the primary reason why he doesn't listen and didn't feel calm and comfortable with me when we were out together. I would summarize Mike's style as dog whispererish, but without ever laying your hands on your dog as punishment. As Mike says, "hands are for petting". It is very much about continually reinforcing your dominance through every interaction with your dog so that your dog respects you in a 100% humane manner. There are no treats, there is no violence, and no pain brought upon your dog in any way. His method is based off of continuous communication. What does that mean you ask? Mike taught me the tools to communicate with my dog through body language, a modified growl (sounds silly and takes some getting used to but is extremely effective) and a couple of tricks. Mike walks you through the process every step of the way and gives continuous feedback on how to improve. Within 1 day of implementing Mike's teachings my dog's unwanted behaviors almost entirely vanished. I was able to loose leash walk him in a distraction free environment and he did not bark or jump on guests when they entered the house. I'm now about 6 months out of Mikes session (which only took about 2 and 1/2 hours and he came to our house) and I can loose leash walk him through a high distraction area with passing cars and barking dogs and Arnie will calmly walk through with only minimal corrections on my part. This is because Mike taught me how to forge a relationship of trust and respect with my dog, so even though he is an anxious little fella, he knows that if there is a threat to him (which is almost everything in his eyes) that I will take care of it and so he remains calm and happy and thus I remain calm and happy. I have found that through the brilliance of the basics that Mike teaches you most of the problem behaviors just go away, and when a problem behavior does emerge, because your dog trusts and respects you he will actually listen even if there is a great big distraction. I will emphasize that this is by no means a "magic bullet". Mike will give you the tools to communicate with you dog and then it is on you to continuously and consistently use these techniques, but Mike is readily available to take questions or even come back for additional training sessions if ever needed. I can't recommend his services enough. Permalink

David Wiley is professional, patient, and effective. We have an eight-year-old lab who displays fear-based aggression to strangers when we leave him for vacation. David helped us set up new, stricter parameters for Baloo to provide more structure for him. Within a week, we saw positive results. I highly recommend David's services if you need help understanding and correcting dog behavior. He is clearly an animal lover, too, which is important. Permalink

Pam really took the time to explain everything to us. She pointed out the correct ways to work with our overly excited puppy. The 'no bites', 'bah' and 'leave it' are working great!! Looking so forward to our additional sessions with her. Permalink

After one session, I learned enough to continue training and Riley improves daily Permalink

Nicole was wonderful! She explained her methods so that it made sense and helped me understand my dog's problems. The exercises were very helpful, and she was fun to work with. Her personality coincides with mine, and I knew from the first phone contact that she would help me. And she did. Permalink

Mark was fantastic, he explained everything very clearly and worked well with myself and my dog. The training methods he showed us were simple and easy to grasp. My dog showed a lot of progress and potential within only 2 hours of the first meeting. I am excited to move forward with this program, I truly believe Mark and his training will change things significantly. I'm glad that I found this company. Permalink

Leigh Ann has been wonderfully helpful in all ways with training me to train my dog, Barkley. It has made a tremendous difference to have Leigh Ann's guidance. I just cannot say enough about Bark Busters and Leigh Ann! She is wonderful! Permalink

Our dog, Mickey, the "Weiner dog" is 5 years old and we never got him completely housebroken. It had ruined our home. We are moving to a new home and knew it was now or never to get this right. Kendra laid out what she called a "proper plan" and told us we needed to follow it strictly. She said it wouldn't be "fun", but that we had to be vigilant. We are now six weeks later and Mickey is doing great. He now notifies us. We aren't letting our guard down, yet, as Kendra told us we need to slowly expand his space. He also no longer barks like crazy at who knows what. Our neighbors have made positive comments and brought us cookies and we weren't afraid they were poisoned. LOL! He isn't jumping on people and walks like a champ now with no more pulling! We will now move forward with putting down new carpet (we had old all torn out) and getting our home back to normal instead of organizing it around the dog! We can now get the home ready to list for sale. Best money ever spent on our home harmony! Kendra answered our questions after the lesson quickly and encouraged us as we stayed on course. She's the best! Permalink

June and Colin were amazing! Within 30 minutes, we saw results and I have already recommended Bark Busters to 3 people. I can't say "Enough" about June and Colin. They are very good at what they are doing. Permalink

Stan did an amazing job with helping me get my two dogs' behavior under control. We used very easy communication tools that he completely explains and demonstrates how to do them. Permalink