We couldn't be happier with BarkBusters - specifically Barbara (& John) Fassett. There really aren't enough words to explain how grateful we are to them and how lucky we feel that we found them.
We adopted a 6.5 week old yellow labrador puppy from an amateur breeder near our home in July 2015. At the time, we did not know we were expecting our first human child as well! Having raised two lab puppies within my family when I was growing up, I knew of a few training techniques and Miles started out on a strong foot. He was house trained almost immediately, sat and waited for food, learned basic commands early on. But he grew fast and with one parent with basic training techniques and another with less experience, bad habits started to form: digging holes in the yard, jumping up on guests, chewing things he shouldn't, listening to commands only "when he felt like it." When we brought our daughter home, everything got worse and the fight for attention blew up. He started stealing pacifiers (yeah - I know - NO GOOD!), other baby items, really anything that wasn't nailed down, he would steal and parade in front of us / play keep away. Since he's GIANT, he was even able to steal food right off the kitchen table. Fears started to rise: What if he steals things from the baby and bites her? What if he tramples her because he runs around like a crazy dog? What if, what if? My family urged us to consider re-homing him due to the stress we were under.
My husband and I were new parents, exhausted, frustrated and at our wits end. Enter: BarkBusters. We hopped online and happened upon the BarkBusters website. We took the behavior test and gave them a call. John answered and listened to our concerns. He was confident that even though Miles scored pretty high (i.e. BAD) on the test, the techniques they offered could reverse the behavior. They bent over backwards to get us on the schedule as quickly as they could.
On May 17, 2015, our lives changed for the better when Barbara walked in our front door. She had an immediate effect on Miles. She took us through the details of the program, answering our questions along the way. She spent hours with us. We learned the beauty of "Bah," how to escalate warnings and the basic "drills" to work on with Miles to gain authority and show him we were the boss(es). She introduced the Game Changer and voila - he was finally getting some mental exercise. By the end of the training session, Miles was NOTICEABLY calmer.
Each of the following training sessions were spent discussing what went well and what didn't, challenging and working with Miles in new ways. Some improvements were immediate - others weren't. Every dog is different and Barbara would switch to a different tactic with ease if something just wasn't working with Miles. Training extended past just live visits - we traded texts, calls, e-mails with successes and questions. Barbara was always there to help!
Now a full 7 months from when we started, Miles is a different dog. He is better behaved, happier, calmer and is becoming a great buddy to our 8 month old daughter. He's not perfect (he's still a puppy after all!), but we continue to work with him and see improvements. My family is now in love with Miles and all suggestions of re-homing him are LONG gone.
We owe all of this success to Barbara. She is a highly trained, expert dog trainer. Her techniques are effective and focus on building a strong respectful, loving relationship with your pup - without the use of treats. We whole-heartedly recommend BarkBusters (and specifically Barbara!). Best decision we made - hands (& paws) down!
Permalink
Bark Busters dealt with Digging, Hyperactivity, Jumping up, Other, Puppy management, Recall