First lesson with my dogs Coco and Brody and already see the difference in their behavior Coco no longer jump on us and Brody is a little bit calmer after his trauma of attacked by another dog.. I can’t say enough good things about Barbara’s assistance with us training the dogs!

Ms. Barbara Gazley at Bark Busters' is the best home dog trainer.

Barbara is kind, sweet, knowledgeable, punctual, responsive, and caring.

Barbara at Bark Busters Home Dog Training has devotedly helped training my female German Shepherd puppy. Eve is doing great now with positive behaviors.

My whole family and I are grateful for Barbara's help and her patience with Eve.

Scott & Tiffany
Stockton, CA

Life-Changing Experience with Sarah at Bark Busters Central Valley. Working with Sarah has been one of the best decisions we’ve ever made for our dog and our family. From the very first interaction, Sarah was knowledgeable, patient, compassionate, and incredibly thorough. She truly takes the time to understand not just your dog’s behaviors, but the why behind them. Sarah’s approach is calm, clear, and empowering. She doesn’t just train your dog—she trains you, giving you the tools, confidence, and understanding needed to create lasting change. Her methods are humane, effective, and tailored specifically to your dog and household. We saw real improvements almost immediately, and the progress has continued to grow with consistency. What really sets Sarah apart is her heart. She genuinely cares about the well-being of both dogs and their owners, and it shows in everything she does. She is supportive, encouraging, and always available for follow-up questions and guidance. Knowing that Bark Busters offers lifetime support gives incredible peace of mind.

If you’re struggling with behavioral issues or simply want a better relationship with your dog, I cannot recommend Sarah and Bark Busters Central Valley highly enough. This training has been truly life-changing, and we are so grateful for Sarah’s expertise and dedication. Worth every penny. Highly recommend!

We live in Calaveras County. On 21 January 2025 we adopted Stella—a 50 pound, 10-month-old Standard Poodle from a Local Animal Shelter.

She had several different homes in 10 months and, although very sweet, she came with an uncontrolled wild level of activity and a large collection of fears from canes to hats and aluminum foil—to name just a few.

We tried professional dog training programs from two different training organizations with no real progress until we searched for in-home dog training and found Bark Busters. Bark Busters put us in contact with Sarah Harrington and we made an appointment for her to come to the house to evaluate Stella. We agreed to the program (there was no obligation) and she started work with Stella immediately.

Prior to Sarah, Stella was uncontrolled on a leash; never came when called; was always underfoot in the house; and there was no predicting the onset of a high energy canine panic attack with resultant chaos. After Sarah’s first visit, Stella was controlled on leash and began to respond to commands “sit” and “come”.

Over the months since Sarah’s first visit, she has been to our home multiple times (whenever we call, she comes). Stella is now a perfect lady on leash, sitting and staying when commanded. She waits patiently by open doors until invited in; comes when called 80% of the time (working on that); and is no longer afraid of canes or aluminum foil—although a few phobias remain. Most recently, Stella developed unusual skill at counter surfing and Sarah prescribed and demonstrated techniques to control that behavior and for Stella to remain out of the kitchen unless invited (80% success; we continue to work on that).

Sarah’s work with us (we, of course, are the main training challenge) and Stella has been nothing but miraculous. Stella has gone from an uncontrolled, fearful dog to a loving and mostly obedient companion—thanks to Sarah. We have more work to do with Stella but Sarah has been and is always willing to come on our request to reinforce, train and suggest continuing improvement in us and Stella. We can heartily recommend Bark Busters and Sarah to anyone who needs in-home dog training.

Sarah is amazing. She helped us understand our dogs better and how better to handle some situations. We saw improvements right away. She listened to all of our concerns and walked us through all areas of concern. We have had follow ups with her and she is easy to get ahold of in-between lessons with any questions that arise.

We began to dread having visitors because our two dogs got so excited -- jumping and barking when the doorbell rang. On our first session with Sarah she showed us how to get them under control and that has made a huge difference but there's much more. Sarah taught us how to get better control when walking them on leash and an effective way to get their attention when we want them to come. (And our dogs now love her too)

Sarah is amazing! From the first email, to all our check in’s and meetings she has been responsive and patient with all my questions and concerns. Since week one Charlie has responded to the training methods and recommendations and seems much happier, we look forward to more lessons!

We are pleased with progress that jasper is making with Sarah.

We didn't have high expectations for our first appointment because Taylor is like no other dog we've ever had.
She was mouthing me constantly and chewed on everything including the couch several times.
She barks out of fear at the slightest and silliest sounds like the neighbors talking in their own backyard, when the neighbor's pool sweep was running, and when any of our three neighbors rolled their garbage cans in/out. She is very protective of her home and her peeps.
Sarah was very thorough during the initial orientation. You could tell it was very well thought out and planned. She let us know exactly what to expect.
After the first visit with Sarah, we saw a huge improvement in all these areas by using her method to correct and redirect our dog.
We also had issues with leash pulling and Sarah worked with us on that. This is an area that we have to practice regularly with Taylor. When we do, you see improvement immediately. We just have to stay on top of it.
My husband and I are very grateful to know that we have Sarah on our team if we have any other issues or questions.

I have to say, I wasn’t totally convinced I’d see a difference in behavior after that first visit. I was hopeful, but a little skeptical.
When Sarah arrived, we sat down and talked about my dogs. I have two; 5 month old female lab/pit mix, Pepper, and 4 year old make pit/kelpie mix, Bruce. After talking me through the process and explaining why dogs behave certain ways, I was an intrigued to see how my dogs would react. Within 20 minutes, Sarah met my babies. Bruce was calm, but excited; Pepper was her crazy little puppy self, jumping and licking and nipping at Sarah. Within a minute, that behavior stopped and if it started to show its face again, it was gone again in a matter of seconds. No bribing with treats, no yelling, no touching. She just spoke their language!! Sarah was calm, yet assertive, confident and encouraging. The dogs reacted to her as if she’d been their pack leader forever!! Over the next three hours we worked through the process, allowing me to take the lead and showing the dogs that I could lead them too. She left us with homework and an appointment for our next visit. When she says consistency is key, she isn’t kidding! It’s like I have two different dogs now that I’m speaking their language! We have boundaries. Walks are calm. I get to walk up the stairs without being tripped! I’m so much more relaxed! And they are so happy!
TRUST her when she says you will notice a difference after that first visit! I witnessed it! I’m living it! She’s amazing and encouraging to both dogs and owners!!
I am forever grateful to you, Sarah. I cannot wait to show you the progress we’ve made in such a short amount of time and I can’t wait for you to meet my grand dog, Morty!!
Thank you, Sarah! You are incredible at what you do! I cannot thank you enough!!!

Our trainer came out to our house yesterday. I wasn’t expecting much of a change the first visit. I have 3 dogs who are hyper and uncontrollable at times. By the end of the visit and the next day my dogs were like different dogs. Of course they have a ways to go but we were taught how to be in control without harming them or giving them treats. I highly recommend her.

Our two dogs are rescue dogs who had previously been abused. One of them was becoming so aggressive to the other and we were also starting to fear for our own safety. We were desperate for help and reached out to Bark Busters who matched us with Barbara. They discussed with me the concerns we had and explained their program. While I could not fathom how it would work to train dogs without treats or without physical domination I just couldn’t argue with their lifetime commitment to helping me have a successful relationship with my dogs.
When Barbara came to work with us, we listened with open ears and minds. Barbara was thorough in her explanation of the program. She would model the interaction and then we practiced while she provided tips and corrections. Within just the few hours that she was with us I could see our dogs working and thinking and following our desires for their behavior in ways I would never have fathomed. She helped us to see that our dogs were not so much the problem but rather our inability to communicate with them effectively. She provided us with all of the tools, and all of the information needed to be able to carry on the practice. Barbara was so pleasant to work with, she was patient with our questions answering the with extensive knowledge.
As with learning any language or skill, practice and continual use is required. Barbara ensured we had all of the supports we needed before our session ended. And while we still have a ways to go, I am more than impressed with how far we came just in the first session. It makes me think that I might just get two dogs that I can actually fall in love with! Thank you Barbara. Your help likely saved the life of our dog!

Barbara helped me with my dog Tootsie. She was jumping on the furniture and people. She was very patient and helpful. We learned so much from her. I highly recommend Barbara if you need help with your doggy.

Barbara did wonders with my puppy Burt. He would not listen to a thing I said. In two hours, he started following my commands. I learned to set boundaries and NOT let him rule the house. What I really liked is that it was dog friendly and used no prong or shock collars. Burt and I are doing our homework and the progress continues!

Barbara is a sheer joy to work with so knowledgeable and helpful in the first visit I've seen improvement in Blu. after she left we went outside and practice leash training for a few more minutes and my little guy did really well looking forward to implementing the program and so thankful I found all of you, I'll be talking to you soon Barbara and thank you!

Barbara was very helpful and very nice. So glad we went with Bark Busters. Their way of training is more positive and calming for our dogs

Barbara has helped us a lot. Emmy doesnt jump on us anymore. She is a high energy dog that we love.Thank you

My stubborn Thai Ridgeback Jaxon is a totally different dog! Thanks to the way Barbara taught us to communicate with him, he now listens. He sits before he comes inside. He stays when told to stay and will continue to stay until we release him with a fun "FREE." He is now allowed to be inside with us (never allowed in the past) while we eat dinner as we tell him to go lay down, and guess what, he goes and lays on his bed. Before he used to bolt out. The best part is that our kids are no longer afraid of him and can play with him like kids should. While the training for the dog was great, the training you provided the humans was even better. We will have many more years of enjoyment with Jaxon in our lives... thanks to you and Bark Busters. In our eyes, this was a real and true success story.

Barbara worked with us to help us with our two rescue dogs, a boxer and a boxer mix. Chopper and Maggie.
We really liked her. She has a very nice, friendly, calm demeanor. Chopper and Maggie liked her too!
One of the issues we were having is that we could not answer the front door without them barking and jumping like crazy. Frankly it had gotten to the point that unless it was friends or family I wouldn't even open the door at times. They are both still learning but doing well in their training of the front door "no go zone". What a relief.
Barbara spoke to to us at the first of our meeting without the dogs present explaining the program and the philosophy she uses. It was pretty easy to understand but you don't know what you don't know, so the information was very much appreciated.
We are working on the leash training and I am personally feeling more like I am walking my dogs instead of the other way around.
Also they are learning to wait patiently for us to exit or enter a door until they are invited to follow behind us.
We've only been at this for about 4 days but I can honestly say there is much improvement already.
Another great thing, lifetime visits included if you need their help, or if you just need to talk via email or telephone.

Thank you very much to Barbara and Bark Busters!

No need for a visit... quite the opposite really. I'm not sure how well you remember Jaxon (the stubborn Thai Ridgeback.) If you recall, he did not take well to the "BAH." I know it's been 2 years since we last did the in home training with you, but I can't help but think about the conversation you had with us during your first visit. You shared how some clients never contact you through the process so you never know how things turned out.

With that said, Jaxon is a completely different dog! He has accepted his place in our family. We use the "BAH" to redirect his attention nearly every single day. He sits before he goes out side. He sits before he comes inside. He stays when told to stay and will continue to stay until we release him with a fun "FREE." He is allowed to be inside with us while we eat dinner as we tell him to go lay down, and guess what, he goes and lays on his bed. If he doesn't with the first command, a quick "BAH" and he is on his way... reluctantly mind you but still listens. He does not bolt out the front door and terrorize the neighborhood and when the back gate is open he doesn't bother to go near it.

The best part of all of this Barbara... our kids are no longer scared of him and interact with a dog like kids should interact with a dog. Jaxon still pushes the envelope when our youngest is feeding him. I will hear "Jaxon sit. Jaxon sit." At this point Jaxon normally looks at me like do I really have to listen to this little kid. Our youngest will belt out a "BAH" and I swear if dogs could roll their eyes!!! yet he sits and awaits the free command before enjoying his feeding time.

While the training for the dog was great, the training your provided the humans was even better. We will have many more years of enjoyment with Jaxon in our lives... thanks to you and Bark Busters. In our eyes, this was a real and true success story.

Can't wait to learn more and use the methods that were shown to us

I learned a lot and lots of written material to learn from and back up what Barbara showed me. It will be fun working with Titan!

I learned a lot and lots of written material to learn from and back up what Barbara showed me. It will be fun working with Titan!

Barbara was great. She clearly explained the program and addressed our issues with Charlotte. She demonstrated how to communicate the commands, correct any unwanted behavior, and lavishly praise compliance. My husband and I both worked with Charlotte and saw marked improvements even before Barbara left. We practiced with Charlotte again that evening and this morning. The change is remarkable, beyond what I would have thought possible.

Barbara is amazing ... she really has a way with dogs and is exceptionally knowledgeable. We had our first visit today - she's friendly, took the time to get to know Max and me, and explained her teaching style before we got to work. I appreciate the time and patience she had with both of us! I would highly recommend her services!
I look forward to doing the homework with Max and working with Barbara again!
Angelique, Elk Grove

Very professional, explained everything to us, answered all our questions.