Reviews & Testimonials For Philippa Dakin

Absolutely phenomenal. After 2 years of tears and frustration, Philippa had my dog walking beautifully before we even left the house. It has given me great hope for my future with my dog.

So impressed by Philippa, her knowledge and experience and above patience. We could see the improvement in behavior immediately and with a little reinforcement this has continued. Looking forward to the second session

Four days ago we had our initial training session with Phillipa. All five members of our three generational household were present. One of our main issues was adressed right from the beginning- agressive display at the door. A massive improvement has been displayed from there on! My trigger for doing the course, was one badly bruised face where my dog caught me off balance on a walk where she suddenly lunged for a little dog approaching on a narrow track. The dog was unhurt but frightened. Phillipa gave us the most brilliant collar and lead and demonstrated it's use in detail. Walks have been very peaceful since! We understand we have a way to go before approaching other dogs, but we have been taught and are practising how to be in charge in subtle ways which have led to a much less hyper, anxious dog, who is more settled and content- and it's only been four days!!!

Philippa from Bark Busters did a wonderful job educating our family on how to train a 7-month-old Doberman puppy. Philippa was very understanding of our situation and had all the answers we needed, and we felt a lot more confident understanding and controlling our dog after the first lesson.

Our Bordoodle Barney had developed some behavioural problems including lots of barking and madly running about in response to a range of stimuli, and had injured himself as a result. Philippa's first visit provided instant results. From that day Barney has been calmer and quieter. We continue to use the approach she demonstrated to us, and have found it to be very effective. While his behaviour has improved a lot, he continues to test us from time to time, but now we know what to do.

Philippa was everything I needed to help me with my two kelpies coming off property to urban life. She didn’t just demonstrate and train them but educate myself for a much greater result and happier dogs

Both boys have made dramatic improvements in a short time, still room for improvement but they are definitely moving in the right direction

Philippa was amazing! She was greeted at the door by my new puppy and my elder chihuahua with nonstop barking. Before she was even in the door, she had gently quieted the cacophony and was able to introduce herself. It was truly amazing! She spent time with me explaining the program, roleplaying the training and giving great advice. Training practice takes only a few minutes for both me and my pup, and I can see a gradual difference in her behaviour every day. Thankyou Philippa for helping me restore order to the household.

My husband and I were pleasantly surprised and impressed at how effective the training methods are. By the end of our session we had already seen some improvement with our 2 dogs Skye and shadow aged 4 and 2 years who have never had any training. We still got ways to go but we have more confidence in ourselves and our dogs now because of our wonderful trainer Philippa.

It has been a week since Philippa visited our house to support with our two Smooth Fox Terriers Boomer (9) and Murphy (8) Our dogs have been reactive and stressed as of late. I became fearful during feeding time and having people over was extremely stressful as the dogs wouldn’t settle and were so over excited. The problems have been escalating with it only set to get worse. Philippa arrived and within 5minutes my dogs were settled and left her alone. We mostly worked on their barking/reactivity and recall. These things will help in all situations and will allow the dogs to see me once more as a confident pack leader. My confidence was shot but in the space of a week I see hope again. We even had a visitor and the dogs did not jump and left them alone. I almost cried with relief. I’m more confident in feeding times and I’m working consistently with recall. Philippa gave us clear instructions and worked with us and what we were capable of. She has been great with communication and I’m looking forward to her return. I’m so hopeful that with consistency I will finally get on top of the overwhelm and everyone else will see the sweet and loving boys we have known for years. Thank you Philippa for making such significant changes in such a short space of time. I have already been telling everyone I know how fantastic she is.

We’ve only just begun our training journey with Philippa, but the difference already is incredible. There’s still a way to go, but the progress we’ve seen so far is so motivating. Philippa is knowledgeable, passionate, and wonderfully accessible, the level of support has gone far beyond what we expected. Instructions were clear, thorough, and provided both in writing and on the day, which really helped things click. The way she explained our challenges made everything feel simple and achievable. We’re so excited to keep learning and supporting Mushu (even if I still need to work on my “BAH”!).

Phillipa hit the ground running and got straight into showing us techniques to stop the dogs barking at visitors and made each step in our training easy to understand. Phillipa included my daughter and myself in the training so that we both felt confident with each activity. We could see a change in both dogs nearly straight away which was absolutely amazing!! I feel that even though a week has passed, the dogs are calmer and responding to the techniques we are using.