Bark Busters

Marsha is great! More importantly, her methods really work and are very fast. We had been trying to get our 8 lb Yorkie mix to stop going crazy when someone approached the front door. We’d tried various books and online methods, all of which focused on long processes of desensitizing for that specific problem. The Bark Buster’s approach is more about developing obedience in general, and it can be quickly applied to the specific problems. The surprising thing to us is how fast it worked. For our dog, she had stopped barking at the door within an hour. And it has held up for over a month now with minimal retraining.
Same goes for her barking at other dogs while we’re walking her. We had tried all sorts of embarrassing approaches, none of which worked. The first time we tried walking after Bark Busters, we passed a doberman with zero barking. It was pretty awesome. Walks are much more enjoyable, when we’re not trying to avoid getting near to other dogs.
I’ll be the first to admit that this training isn’t the cheapest. We hesitated for a long time. After all, there’s so much free information for dog training online. And we had tried training in large groups with some moderate success, but it didn’t address our issues of the dog wanting to bark and charge toward guests coming in the front door. But I can say definitively that Bark Busters delivers quickly, and in ways that all our other attempts failed over months of effort. The one-​on-​one training was really helpful for us to learn and apply the ideas quickly and correctly.
One final thing– we were hesitant about the idea of «obedience» because it seemed like it might require us to punish the dog more severely or make her afraid of us. It seems like the opposite is true. First off, there is no severe punishment with this method. No spanking or anything like that. Second, our dog is calmer and less anxious now that she knows her order in the house. And we don’t get angry at her because she’s not breaking the rules anymore. I think the net result has really been a happier dog.

I filled out the online form in an attempt to receive further information. A man called to follow-​up. When I told him I would review the info with my husband and get back to him, he became somewhat pushy, and very determined to SELL ME on their program. After speaking with other trainers (the ACTUAL trainers), I knew I would not be going with Bark Busters. I then received a follow-​up phone call and email. I responded to the email stating I was not interested in using Bark Busters, why, and to not contact me further. The next week-​another phone call. This is not a company I would ever choose to work with.

My dog is a pit bull. Ergo everyone expects him to be some vicious mongrel. He’s not one, but before I called Bark Busters he was acting as most untrained dogs will; he barked at strangers at the door, jumped up on guests, and tugged on the leash when on a walk. It was especially important that I find a good trainer to address these behaviors because there are so many people out there ready to judge pit bulls, and, well, who likes being dragged around by their dog?
A friend recommended Bark Busters and I was really grateful for the referral because I was worried that I’d end up with a trainer that would be rough with my dog, Bear, or would over-​rely on treats, or that would just be expensive without results.
I went to the Bark Busters website and filled out the survey about my dog’s behaviors and within an hour I got a call from a Bark Busters trainer. While the quote she gave me seemed very expensive at first, she explained that this one-​time fee covered all of the training Bear would ever need – for life! If he ever had future issues I could just call and set up an appointment and we’d work on whatever the issue was. So I bit the bullet and set up our initial appointment.
What a GRAND day! In just two hours ALL of Bear’s problem behaviors were addressed. He won’t race to get up and down steps before me, he barks very little and stops instantly when I tell him to, he stays away from the door when people knock, and he HEELS like the most perfect little angel on our walks. It’s incredible. Marsha Engel was a real professional – she explained dogs’ perception of things in a way that made sense and helped me understand how to interact with Bear in the most effective way. I couldn’t be happier with Bark Busters and Marsha.
If you need your dog trained call Bark Busters.