Bark Busters Northern Virginia Reviews

Reviews

26 Reviews ★★★★★(Average 5 out of 5)

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  • Allison C.
    3 years ago — Falls Church, VA

    Photo of Lupo Jeanie is how I was able to move to new places with my special needs oversized male Alaskan Malamute. She has worked with me over the years teaching me a lot of things about how to best communicate and handle my dog. Now that he is in his senior years (almost 12) I have a whole new set of challenges... which she continues to support me through with guidance/advice/lessons as I move through the years with him. All of her tools and advice I make sure to practice daily. I credit her with how me and my dog were able to navigate a lot of changes, which can be complicated with a large breed with cataracts. I am endlessly grateful to have her advice and guidance. Thank you so much Jeanie!!! We love you!!!

    • #Aggression
    • #Barking
    • #Pulling
    • #Separation anxiety
    • #Other
  • Irene T.
    4 years ago — Alexandria, VA

    We adopted our 5.5 year old dog Ginny and noticed that she had some behaviors that needed correction - she was lunging at other dogs on leash (even though friendly off-leash), she was barking at every noise in our apartment, she pulled and didn't pay much attention to us on walks and was constantly distracted by other dogs and squirrels.

    Jeanie taught us a lot about dog behavior and how to work on passive training and establish leadership through letting her know when she made the wrong choice and praising her when she made the right choice. We saw changes in the house right away - Ginny became calmer and much better behaved.

    Then we had our second lesson to tackle leash manners and dog reactivity. Jeanie shared some tangible tricks on how we can redirect Ginny when she gets hyper focused on something and showed exercises to work on attention, distance training and recall. Right after the lesson Ginny already walked better on a leash and we're excited to see how much more she improves in the near future!

    • #Barking
    • #Pulling
    • #Recall
    • #Separation anxiety
    • #Other
  • Elaine M.
    4 years ago — Alexandria, VA

    Jeanie Bieniek, our trainer, was helpful in socializing our one year old terrier mix rescue dog. Of special concern was excessive barking and pulling on the leash. She taught us the “BAH” method, and in a few days, we noticed great improvement in our dog’s behavior. His behavior continues to improve. Jeanie also offered practical, hands-on instruction to address such issues as feeding, jumping, and toileting. I would definitely recommend Jeanie to my family, friends, and other dog owners.

    • #Barking
    • #Hyperactivity
    • #Jumping up
    • #Pulling
    • #Toileting
  • Patricia R.
    4 years ago — Alexandria, VA

    Photo of Gotham My dog Gotham is an 80 pound 2.5 year old German Shepherd / Husky mix. He was always a big baby with me but was very wary of other people, especially kids. He had even bitten once or twice. I brought Gotham over to my partner's house and he nipped at the 3 year old in the household, which made me extremely concerned since we want to spend more time together, and plan to live together in the future. My friend Amy suggested Bark Busters and we could NOT be happier with the outcome. There was an IMMEDIATE difference with Gotham, even within 15 minutes of the first lesson. His response to the training was incredible, and I feel so secure about having someone I can reach out to for the rest of our time together. I absolutely cannot recommend training with Jeanie enough.

    • #Aggression
    • #Barking
    • #Jumping up
    • #Pulling
    • #Separation anxiety
  • Bridget B.
    4 years ago — Falls Church, VA

    We are very pleased with our Barkbusters experience. Jeanie is extremely helpful, knowledgeable, and responsive. We made major strides with Cassie's leash pulling and jumping on people. Her recall is better now that she knows who's in charge. We still have work to do, but I love that I can call on Jeanie for help at anytime. That works better with our schedule.

    • #Jumping up
    • #Pulling
    • #Recall
  • Chelsea G.
    5 years ago — Alexandria, VA

    Jeanie is phenomenal!!! She is like a dog whisper! My dog suffered from severe I mean SEVERE separation anxiety/related aggression with his crate. He did not like the crate one bit, it was a 20 minute battle to get him in the crate everyday! If you could get him he would try to bite you hard out of fear and anxiety not to be mean. I tried 4 different crates (different sizes, different types), kongs stuffed with different things, calming chews, clothes from me in his crate, doggy tv, doggie music, a pillow with a warmer that simulates dog moms, thundershirt, adaptil plug in, calming chew bones, different areas for the crate, gated area instead of a crate....you name it I tried it! Not to mention he was pottying in his crate and then laying in it because he didnt have anywhere else to go. This was a daily occurrence. He would bark non stop for 4-5 hours a day when left alone. Thats when I found Bark busters! Jeanie is a life saver! The apartment complex was ready to kick me out because of the continual dog barking! Thanks to Jeanie, he will now go in his crate with only verbal and gestural commands and it takes less than 30 seconds! His aggression from the crate has significantly decreased to the point where its almost gone (it was spilling over into other areas of my dogs life). I am so thankful I found Jeanie, otherwise I would still be cleaning up my pups crate and giving him a bath everyday after a long work day and be moving continually because of dog barking. Thanks so much Jeanie, I can’t say enough good things about you!!!

    • #Aggression
    • #Barking
    • #Digging
    • #Separation anxiety
  • Heath D.
    5 years ago — Alexandria, VA

    Photo of Kai Kai was a rescue who I brought home at the end of June. Overall she’s a wonderful companion but I learned quickly that she thought she was in charge - not only on leash but around the house, so we both had some learning to do so change that dynamic. I really liked the approach Jeanie outlined in our initial conversation and I can safely say that some of Kai’s behaviors changed within the first evening of Jeanie being here with us. Every day I work to reinforce the initial lessons learned and Kai is making great progress. She significantly better on the leash now and I have the tools I needed to redirect or change her behavior when she regresses a bit and decides she’d rather not go in the direction I want to take us in. The same method’s Jeanie taught for the leash training translated inside as well and within the first few days after Jeanie teaching me how to teach Kai who was in charge between the two of us I was no longer being woken up at 3:30 or 4am by an insistent dog demanding to be fed. The training tools and methods that Jeanie and BarkBuster’s bring to the table were, admittedly, a little counter intuitive at first but now that I’m more comfortable and familiar with them they’re easy to implement and becoming more intuitive everyday, particularly the idea passive training which is something I consider each and every time I interact with Kai. I’d recommend Jeanie without hesitation and look forward to continuing to work with her as necessary to further reinforce the initial lessons and ideas learned.

    • #Jumping up
    • #Pulling
    • #Other
  • Maria F.
    6 years ago — Annandale, VA

    Photo of Buddy Our dog Buddy is a 3.5 year old rescue. We adopted him and had him home for a few weeks before we started to notice some disturbing behavior. Buddy was anxious and very aggressive with my husband. He barked excessively and growled at my husband when he walked in the door. Buddy even attempted to nip his hand when he went to pet him. Buddy was also difficult to walk - pulling, barking and growling at every dog we passed, as well as many of the humans we passed on our walks. As first-time dog owners, we were getting very concerned, and really needed help. I contacted Jeanie with Bark Busters - she worked with me on a time that was convenient for our family and came to our house. We have a very busy schedule, so it was great that she could be so accomodating. She explained to us clearly what was going on so we could understand what Buddy was going through and what some of his behavior meant. Worked with us on passive training and provided techniques that established us as the leaders (not Buddy). This really help us, but also helped Buddy feel more secure and less anxious. She helped us with a solution for when my husband comes into the house. It is amazing - in a very short amount of time, Jeanie helped turn things around for us. Buddy is now a pleasure to walk. He heels perfectly and listens really well. He still barks when my husband comes home, but with the technique Jeanie taught us, he calms down quicker and things are really getting better. Jeanie was so patient with us and so clear in teaching us what to do and how to handle Buddy and various situations. She provided us with some training tools that have been very helpful. I highly recommend Jeanie Bieniek and Bark Busters. Without Jeanine's help I was afraid we were going to have to return Buddy to the rescue organization. But now, we are loving Buddy more and more each day - and he seems to be feeling happier and more secure as a member of our family. We are looking forward to future trianing sessions with Jeanie to continue to help us improve our relationship with Buddy. Thank you Jeanie and Bark Busters.

    • #Aggression
    • #Barking
    • #Pulling
  • Kim B.
    6 years ago — Annandale, VA

    After about a month in our house, our new gentle, laid back dog Archie began having some issues where he would go crazy anytime somebody walked by the house or if we would see another dog out on a walk. He even attacked a dog at the dog park! Then he started play-biting us! Ouch! We had used Bark Busters when training a previous dog, so we already knew that the method really works. But it was a long time ago. We needed help remembering.
    Jeanie ran us through the program again and reminded us of a lot of things that we had totally forgotten and a few things that we were remembering incorrectly. How I could forget BAH I don’t know, but I actually had. (For those who don’t know yet, saying Bah is how you tell your dog that he is doing the wrong thing, but in HIS language rather than our language.)
    Archie responded immediately. He was a totally different dog during the lesson and has been MUCH improved since. He is still testing his dominance frequently but he is a LOT easier to calm him down or put him back in his place now that we know how to communicate with him. He still notices and alerts when people walk by, but calms right down when one of us bahs him. Yesterday, we walked past a house with a dog in the fenced in yard. The dog barked and barked and ran along the fence with us, but – with lots of praise – Archie kept his focus on us! Today he played in the snow with our neighbor’s dogs.
    Many thanks to Jeanie and BB. We were beginning to worry that we might have to give Archie back to the rescue organization. Now I have confidence that we can enjoy him and be his forever home. Knowing that we can reach back to Jeanie any time we need, definitely helps.
    Bark Busters really works. One thing though, it is ALL about teaching the HUMANS how to interact with the dog such that s/he knows what is expected and responds appropriately. If you are not willing to be a strong and consistent leader for your dog, don’t bother. (Maybe I am writing those words as much to remind myself as to explain it to readers. ;-)

    • #Aggression
    • #Barking
    • #Jumping up
    • #Pulling
    • #Recall
  • John K.
    6 years ago — Springfield, VA

    Photo of Lola Jeanie did a great job of explaining the BB philosophy of dog behavior, what works, and why. She's given me the tools to help train Lola on everything from walking on the leash to getting her to stop jumping on people when she meets them and mitigating Lola's reaction to other dogs. Lola's young yet, but I know from Jeanie that as long as I'm consistent, her behavior will continue to get better.

    • #Aggression
    • #Jumping up
    • #Pulling

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