Bark Busters Reviews and Customer Testimonials
26th September 2024 - Kelly McClelland
Kelly dealt with Aggression, Barking, Hyperactivity, Jumping up, Puppy management
After we've been tearing our hair out for 7 months trying to find solutions for our dominant and hyperactive 10-month-old Groodle's behaviour, Kelly had results within 10 minutes of walking in the door, calming our girl down in no time. Kelly explained her approach clearly, before moving to work through the various strategies and exercises to apply with our pooch each day. It was like we had a different dog two hours later and, while she's still testing the boundaries a few days later, there has been a significant breakthrough in how calm she is and, when she does become excited, how quickly we can cause her to come down, all with some simple and effective strategies provided by Kelly. It's also so good to know that we can call Kelly at any time (which I did the next day to clarify a few things) and that it isn't a one-off session. We look forward to continuing to understand how best to work with our girl for everyone's benefit!
Trainer note from Kelly
What a cheeky and happy girl you have! Groodle's can tend to be a handful during adolescence, but she responded like a dream to our gentle and easy training methods. The aim of all training is to have a happy, balanced and well behaved dog, and as your parents care for her regularly, even more so, so no one gets accidently hurt from her being too rough. We focused on jumping up, recall, walking politely and barking, and at the next lesson, we'll show how to control public manners like lunging, dog excitability and pulling on lead. I can't wait to work with you all again soon!
What a cheeky and happy girl you have! Groodle's can tend to be a handful during adolescence, but she responded like a dream to our gentle and easy training methods. The aim of all training is to have a happy, balanced and well behaved dog, and as your parents care for her regularly, even more so, so no one gets accidently hurt from her being too rough. We focused on jumping up, recall, walking politely and barking, and at the next lesson, we'll show how to control public manners like lunging, dog excitability and pulling on lead. I can't wait to work with you all again soon!
17th September 2024 - Kelly McClelland
Kelly dealt with Digging, Jumping up, Pulling, Recall
Kelly was awesome, Poppi has been so calm and is listening and that's after one lesson ,can't wait to see what happens over the next few weeks
Trainer note from Kelly
Ahhhh, the joys of an adolescent Golden Retriever! Poppi is such a sweet girl, but had certainly worked out how to push everyone's buttons and not in a good way! Gaining control over the door (to prevent rushing and racing), lead manners (pulling), obedience and barking were all covered at the first session. Your family are all on the same page, and Poppi loved the attention and boundaries provided. The shining moment for me? Watching your daughter being able to handle Poppi's lead for the first time, comfortably and without fear - absolutely perfect! Be nice and consistent and we'll work on manners in public and road safety at lesson #2 :-)
Ahhhh, the joys of an adolescent Golden Retriever! Poppi is such a sweet girl, but had certainly worked out how to push everyone's buttons and not in a good way! Gaining control over the door (to prevent rushing and racing), lead manners (pulling), obedience and barking were all covered at the first session. Your family are all on the same page, and Poppi loved the attention and boundaries provided. The shining moment for me? Watching your daughter being able to handle Poppi's lead for the first time, comfortably and without fear - absolutely perfect! Be nice and consistent and we'll work on manners in public and road safety at lesson #2 :-)
27th August 2024 - Kelly McClelland
Looking forward to continuing our work with Kelly. She has given us the tools and motivation to help Tobi with his behaviour problems - things we didn't even realise were a problem!
Trainer note from Kelly
Tobi is an absolute pocket rocket, and I can certainly see how his at home manners were causing so much stress, especially with a new (human) baby! Controlling barking, recall, door answering, door racing and lead work has certainly gotten you on the right path, and I am looking forward to starting at the door @ lesson #2, and doing walking with the pram manners. Excellent work!
Tobi is an absolute pocket rocket, and I can certainly see how his at home manners were causing so much stress, especially with a new (human) baby! Controlling barking, recall, door answering, door racing and lead work has certainly gotten you on the right path, and I am looking forward to starting at the door @ lesson #2, and doing walking with the pram manners. Excellent work!
11th August 2024 - Kelly McClelland
Such a great lesson. I enjoy learning from Kelly as she has so much knowledge. She is also firm and direct and really helpful. She has given me hope that I will manage 2 puppies. Looking forward to our next lesson.
Trainer note from Kelly
One puppy is hard, but two is a tornado! Both Golden Retrievers and Australian Cattle Dogs benefit from early training intervention, and from sleeping on the lounge next to the dog, to calm crate trained pups that don't toilet inside, was exactly what you were after! Seeing the improvement in both boys between lesson 1 and 2 was incredible, and now that they're fully vacccinaated, we are off to the park for heeling work, recall with distraction and fear management (ACD) with people and dogs. Massive well done, it was a pleasure to work with you both!
One puppy is hard, but two is a tornado! Both Golden Retrievers and Australian Cattle Dogs benefit from early training intervention, and from sleeping on the lounge next to the dog, to calm crate trained pups that don't toilet inside, was exactly what you were after! Seeing the improvement in both boys between lesson 1 and 2 was incredible, and now that they're fully vacccinaated, we are off to the park for heeling work, recall with distraction and fear management (ACD) with people and dogs. Massive well done, it was a pleasure to work with you both!
8th July 2024 - Kelly McClelland
Unbelievable results, it's like our Dachshund was swapped overnight with a trained and well behaved dog. Finally can sleep at night without howling and barking. Can't believe how quickly Kelly could correct our dogs behaviour.
Trainer note from Kelly
Isn't Pepper just the best! Thank you for allowing Bark Busters to assist with her transition from a house to a unit. You have done an amazing job navigating the Body Corporate complaints and rules for approval, and your consistent training has allowed you both more freedom to to the things you love external of the apartment! Jumping up, barking, separation anxiety - all of these can be so stressful, and her improvements have been a credit to you hard work. Well done!
Isn't Pepper just the best! Thank you for allowing Bark Busters to assist with her transition from a house to a unit. You have done an amazing job navigating the Body Corporate complaints and rules for approval, and your consistent training has allowed you both more freedom to to the things you love external of the apartment! Jumping up, barking, separation anxiety - all of these can be so stressful, and her improvements have been a credit to you hard work. Well done!
28th June 2024 - Kelly McClelland
Kelly is amazing. We originally phoned her about getting a companion dog for our dog Frank as he was having issues and we decided to take the leap and get him some training first. Although Kelly is not in our area training session was conducted via zoom meeting and went splendidly. Kelly spent a great deal of time chatting getting to know us and Frank and our concerns and then training commenced. That afternoon we could not believe the change in Frank's behavior automatically just from a few small changes we had implemented and as the week went on it just got better and better. I would really encourage any dog owners to engage Kelly's services. She is approachable, patient and down to earth - no judgement just helpful and easy to deal with :) Looking forward to further changes to come with our Frank the Tank .
Trainer note from Kelly
Frank is so delicious and affectionate and we certainly didn't want to change that! Being in an area that is not serviced by ar Bark Busters trainer wasn't a hinderance to the training, as we got exactly the same results via zoom. It was amazing to see how happy Frank was after the first session, so relaxed, and much more responsive to your commands, massive well done :-)
Frank is so delicious and affectionate and we certainly didn't want to change that! Being in an area that is not serviced by ar Bark Busters trainer wasn't a hinderance to the training, as we got exactly the same results via zoom. It was amazing to see how happy Frank was after the first session, so relaxed, and much more responsive to your commands, massive well done :-)
7th June 2024 - Kelly McClelland
I was always sceptical about trainers and believing one would help our situation with two snags, Frankie (male) and Bonnie (female). They bark at the door, they bark at people/dogs on walks and they have severe separation anxiety.
It’s a work in progress but my wife and I couldn’t believe how effective Kelly’s queues were to get them on track. It’s true when they say, is it the owner or dogs being trained and 100% it’s us being educated about how to deal with different situations.
I took them out on a walk for the first time after the session with Kelly and was utterly blown away. Kelly taught us how to get them not to pull on lead (no bribery) and for 3km they didn’t once go in front of me (pack leading) they were my side for the entire walk.
I’m genuinely excited for our next session and couldn’t recommend Kelly enough. If you want straight forward/easy to follow instructions to get your puppy/dog on track, Kelly is the trainer for you!
Trainer note from Kelly
So many times I have heard "Dachshunds can't be trained, they are just inherent barkers". Well, your two could be heard from the car as I pulled up, so I knew from the start that their levels of noise, in a new home, would be causing you both so much stress! And what smart, delightful dogs you have! They responded to our calm corrections immediately (almost with a look of confusion as to why you were taking control LOL), and to see their eyes relax, and their body language settle through the lesson was just perfection. Thank you again for inviting us in to assist with the barking, anxiety, pulling, dog reactivity, and door manners - I can't wait to start working on the off site training for pulling, and dog reactivity at lesson two! After that, they can come along to their 2 free group training sessions. Thanks again!
So many times I have heard "Dachshunds can't be trained, they are just inherent barkers". Well, your two could be heard from the car as I pulled up, so I knew from the start that their levels of noise, in a new home, would be causing you both so much stress! And what smart, delightful dogs you have! They responded to our calm corrections immediately (almost with a look of confusion as to why you were taking control LOL), and to see their eyes relax, and their body language settle through the lesson was just perfection. Thank you again for inviting us in to assist with the barking, anxiety, pulling, dog reactivity, and door manners - I can't wait to start working on the off site training for pulling, and dog reactivity at lesson two! After that, they can come along to their 2 free group training sessions. Thanks again!
26th May 2024 - Kelly McClelland
Kelly was reccomended to us by multiple people, and multiple people were absolutely right. She gave us so much information; from experience, research and such a well rounded knowledge I immediately felt reassured. Kelly gave us a specialised training plan and reassured us our Daschund can be trained!
In even 5 days since, our pup has improved MARKEDLY in all the areas of concerns.
Trainer note from Kelly
Aren't Dachshunds so much fun!!! It was a pleasure to be asked in to assist with your gorgeous pup's training - focus on sleeping patterns (did someone say screaming?!), separation issues, toilet training, lead training, cat integration, obedience, door manners and recall. You had both done such a great job already, but the fine tuning tools provided with the Bark Busters service allowed everyone to start getting sleep! With my in house puppy lessons, the client is always welcome to one FOC lesson of puppy school, as well - and it was so rewarding to watch how advanced Chorizo was in class last weekend - her commands, happy tail, and walking skills were brilliant. Massive well done, and I'll see you for lesson 2 soon, where we will start with public manners, walking and road safety!
Aren't Dachshunds so much fun!!! It was a pleasure to be asked in to assist with your gorgeous pup's training - focus on sleeping patterns (did someone say screaming?!), separation issues, toilet training, lead training, cat integration, obedience, door manners and recall. You had both done such a great job already, but the fine tuning tools provided with the Bark Busters service allowed everyone to start getting sleep! With my in house puppy lessons, the client is always welcome to one FOC lesson of puppy school, as well - and it was so rewarding to watch how advanced Chorizo was in class last weekend - her commands, happy tail, and walking skills were brilliant. Massive well done, and I'll see you for lesson 2 soon, where we will start with public manners, walking and road safety!
21st May 2024 - Kelly McClelland
We called Bark Busters after a crisis with Murphy, where his separation anxiety reached new levels, and he barked for hours seeking attention, then escaped into our neighbours yard and caused them stress and some vehicle damage.
Faced with expense to fortify our yard and detail their car, we decided it was time to address Murphy’s anxiety, and rather than fortify his home to make a prison, we decided to pay Bark Busters to help address his separation anxiety.
After the first training session, we now understand how to communicate with Murphy and we have the tools and an approach, and are beginning to see results.
Trainer note from Kelly
Thanks you so much, Julian, to you and your family, for inviting me in to assist with your gorgeous ESS (English Springer Spaniel), Murphy. Now Mr Murphy showed his levels of FOMO were off the chart (LOL), but he is such a delightful and happy boy, that he LOVED his new training schedule, and structure. By working his brain, and implementing some easy changes when you're home, the dog settles when you're not home - everyone should be able to work, go out, and enjoy life, and their dog is calm and simply waits for the humans to come home to lavish all their attention on the furry 4 legged one. Well done for being so focused on your gorgeous boy's welfare, can't wait for lesson 2!!
Thanks you so much, Julian, to you and your family, for inviting me in to assist with your gorgeous ESS (English Springer Spaniel), Murphy. Now Mr Murphy showed his levels of FOMO were off the chart (LOL), but he is such a delightful and happy boy, that he LOVED his new training schedule, and structure. By working his brain, and implementing some easy changes when you're home, the dog settles when you're not home - everyone should be able to work, go out, and enjoy life, and their dog is calm and simply waits for the humans to come home to lavish all their attention on the furry 4 legged one. Well done for being so focused on your gorgeous boy's welfare, can't wait for lesson 2!!
9th May 2024 - Kelly McClelland
I can’t thank Kelly enough! Cooper weighs almost half of my weight.
He is a gentle giant Labradoodle but I haven’t been able to control his very loud bark, jumping and pulling on lead, meaning I had lost my confidence out in public with him.
Kelly’s advice was absolutely straight forward and sensible and I am buzzing that both Cooper and I did well in our first lesson.
It’s really about training me as the human!
Kelly has given me so much confidence with such positive results in just 1 lesson. I am so excited for our next session!
Cooper ignored the rubbish trucks today, and ignored a courier delivery next door and for the first time ever hasn’t entered the kitchen.
Cooper enjoyed the training just as much as I did…
I 100% recommend Kelly as a dog and owner trainer…I can’t believe what we were able to achieve in 2 hours!
Thank you so much Kelly!!!
Trainer note from Kelly
I had so much fun working with you, Barb, thanks for allowing me to assist with Cooper! Labradoodle's can be a whole lot of trouble with their strength, and noisy barking, but Cooper is just delightful! He responded well to our gentle training methods, and within 15 minutes of the programming starting, his eyes relaxed, his body language settled, and his focus on you was noticeably better. We even got outside at lesson 1 for a walm walk (at heel!) down the street. So pleased for you! I am looking forward to lesson #2, for some training consolidation and new, fun, exercises. Thanks again!
I had so much fun working with you, Barb, thanks for allowing me to assist with Cooper! Labradoodle's can be a whole lot of trouble with their strength, and noisy barking, but Cooper is just delightful! He responded well to our gentle training methods, and within 15 minutes of the programming starting, his eyes relaxed, his body language settled, and his focus on you was noticeably better. We even got outside at lesson 1 for a walm walk (at heel!) down the street. So pleased for you! I am looking forward to lesson #2, for some training consolidation and new, fun, exercises. Thanks again!
3rd May 2024 - Kelly McClelland
Frankie responded so quickly to the new commands. Information was delivered in a very clear, warm manner. With further sessions I know Frankie will achieve his full potential
Trainer note from Kelly
Frankie is just a pocket rocket of fun! Jack Russell Terriers are super speedy, super bouncy and also super noisy (LOL), and it was amazing to watch the quick transformation from energizer bunny to calm and focused companion. At lesson 2, we successfully did stair manners and education, plus we introduced the starter exercises for Frankie's pulling on lead and dog reactivity. Watching you both walk away, with Frankie at heel, watching you with love, was just priceless! Next lesson, we're off to the fore-shore for some more dog interaction training, can't wait! Well done, Steve, great job!
Frankie is just a pocket rocket of fun! Jack Russell Terriers are super speedy, super bouncy and also super noisy (LOL), and it was amazing to watch the quick transformation from energizer bunny to calm and focused companion. At lesson 2, we successfully did stair manners and education, plus we introduced the starter exercises for Frankie's pulling on lead and dog reactivity. Watching you both walk away, with Frankie at heel, watching you with love, was just priceless! Next lesson, we're off to the fore-shore for some more dog interaction training, can't wait! Well done, Steve, great job!
2nd May 2024 - Kelly McClelland
First visit by trainer was very successful. We learn a lot and Penny responded well to training
Trainer note from Kelly
Gorgeous Penny! Beagles can be a little on the naughty side of the equation, but Penny is a sweet angel dog, so lovely! We were engaged for assistance with changing some undesirable habits, which would impede moving into an apartment. Baying for attention, door answering, pulling on lead and social skills were all the focus at the first lesson - moving house is hard enough, but moving to an apartment is just as stressful on the owner as it is on the dog! At the second lesson I was thrilled with Penny's improvement, and we focused on scene setting for toileting in the new apartment, lift manners, walking, and visitor manners. Lesson #3 will be in the new place, and I am looking forward to making some small suggestions to ensure your new life is calm for Penny, and stress free for yourselves :-)
Gorgeous Penny! Beagles can be a little on the naughty side of the equation, but Penny is a sweet angel dog, so lovely! We were engaged for assistance with changing some undesirable habits, which would impede moving into an apartment. Baying for attention, door answering, pulling on lead and social skills were all the focus at the first lesson - moving house is hard enough, but moving to an apartment is just as stressful on the owner as it is on the dog! At the second lesson I was thrilled with Penny's improvement, and we focused on scene setting for toileting in the new apartment, lift manners, walking, and visitor manners. Lesson #3 will be in the new place, and I am looking forward to making some small suggestions to ensure your new life is calm for Penny, and stress free for yourselves :-)