Bark Busters

We’ve tried several other companies and styles of dog training. Bark Busters is the only one that has worked.
Peter Levy was are trainer with Mid-​Peninsula Bark Busters. He is knowledgable and kind while being authoritative and employing techniques that work. He is patient with us and our dog while we work through the training until we all get it right.
I love that he will come back for a visit/​refresher whenever we need it. My dog, our family and quality of life have all benefitted from using Bark Busters and Peter. It may seem like big $ when you look at the price, but if you break it down over the life of the dog, it makes a lot of financial sense. We are devoted to having a happy, well trained dog so we chose Bark Busters.

We’ve had an overall good experience with our other Bark Busters trainer, Gail Chadbourne in the East Bay, but since relocating to the peninsula have had the «lovely» opportunity to encounter Peter Levy — someone who has the luxury of deciding which of Bark Buster’s paying clients deserves his time and attention and email responses. Our trainer had referred us to him because we were no longer in her jurisdiction, and after a week of no response, we sent a follow-​up email, just to make sure that he had gotten the first referral email. He then responds with a diatribe — about how he treats as less urgent clients who don’t keep in constant contact with their trainers, we must have been doing everything wrong if our dog is still having behavioral issues, and that we «voided our warranty» by not following up with our trainer in six months. I’m sorry — there is no clause in their LIFETIME guarantee that states that I need to be in constant contact with my trainer. The whole premise is that I can contact them whenever we have an issue — new or recurring — with OUR dog. His entire email read demeaning, condescending, and just downright rude. I am calling Bark Busters to complain and ask to be assigned a new trainer; Peter Levy’s time is apparently so precious that he can’t even be bothered to treat paying clients with respect.

Bark Busters are a complete rip-​off, we hired them and payed $ 1000 for life time training, I got my two dogs at 8 weeks old, so they had access to train them since they were that little, they came out 3 times, shouted at my pups and said they couldnt come the following week cause of some event and never called back. they were very aggressive in their training. Bark Busters Ft. Lauderdale, Florida — Bruce and his wife are a waste of time

Sound crazy and quite expensive, but it worked. It was like having a real life Dog Whisperer come to your house! Within an hour, the trainer gave us all the tools to train our dog. I couldn’t believe it.
I wasn’t too happy with the trainer, but he taught my mom all the techniques to take back control of her new puppy which was priceless. He got the job done, and in the end that’s what counts.
Here’s the bottom line:
$ 300 for two sessions. You probably won’t need the second session, even with the most aggressive dog. The second is just a follow up, or you can use to learn tips on how to house train your dog.
I know it’s pretty expensive, especially when you’ve just bought a dog at a ridiculous price, but it was definitely worth the money. We were thinking of giving our puppy away because she was extremely violent and would bite us when we put on her collar, and even touched her. Apparently her breeder had abused her. After one hour, we had all the tools to take control of our dog. My dog is two now and we haven’t had a problem with her since. We only used one session.
Thank you, Barb Busters.

My shih tzu Benjie can be a bundle of trouble. Yesterday he caused a mess by scaring away the dog walker. He barked at her and chased her causing her to fall. Afraid that the dog walker would never return my family called up Bark Busters to find a solution to Benjie’s behavior.
Peter came this morning! What’s great about Bark Busters is that the training doesn’t stop. If your dog goes back to his old behavior or picks up new bad habits the trainer comes back to re-​train your dog. Even though we’ve only had one session so far, I can already see a difference in Benjie’s attitude. The first meeting consists of an hour presentation about the program and explains it’s methods while the following hour consists of exercises to do with your dog.
I noticed that some people are concerned with the little bags filled with chains (they come with the program and are used as an additional tool for training) but you aren’t hitting your dogs with these bags.
Peter is really patient and is willing to go out of his way to figure out the root of the behavioral problems of our dog. He even suggested that at our next session we have our dog walker join us to see why our dog is so aggressive towards her. I think our dog walker will be avoiding us for awhile though!

The Bark Busters training methods and techniques changed my life and truly taught me how to communicate effectively with my dog. I am truly shocked at those who have not had a positive experience. It is only as effective as the pet owner’s implementation of the training. If you correctly and religiously implement the training and communicate any issues with your trainer so he/​she can come for free followup visit (s), this is just amazingly effective! I can only make the assumption it was the individual trainer and not the training, and BB certainly would resolve that. This is truly a satisfaction guaranteed program. We know when we begin Bark Busters that we are the student, being taught how to communicate and manage our pups. I have a min-​pin, loaded with personality and energy and was struggling beyond belief to curb her bad behavior. In the first few minutes, she was absolutely transformed. I have tried every obedience approach under the sun and none were effective beyond a day or two. Bark Busters works unbelievably! My pup is happy, disciplined in a humane way and responds so well to the BB techniques. As with anything important, We have to be consistent with our methods and take advantage of the invaluable «life of the dog guarantee» for followup visits should we begin to see areas that need attention. I know several people with various breeds of dogs and behavior issues, and different family situations and all have had the same extraordinary result! I am forever grateful to Bark Busters and especially Barbara Gazley (trainer) for her devotion to the successful outcome of our training. Thank you!

Peter has been very helpful in teaching us how a dog thinks and how we can train our dogs to be obedient. We learn the fundamentals of dog psychology and how the owners can be «trained» to become the dominant leaders of the pack. This is training for both the canine and the dog owners. It will take time, patience, and practice.
Peter has done his best to accommodate with our schedule. The beauty of Bark Busters is that they come to your house at your convenience when you need it. As your dog improves their behavior and learns new bratty manners, just give them a ring and they will come help with it. We look forward to our partnership with them.

I can’t comment on the local folks but did use BB 3 yrs ago in Florida and think this is a flawed methodology.
My barky puppy at the time weighed less than 3 lbs and I was taught to hurl a chain-​filled bean bag so it would land near him and mimic mama dog’s snap. I was terrified I’d bean him so they kept telling me to throw it closer. No. Too risky for a teensy dog.
Then they suggested that I enclose my puppy in a small room, hand each of 3 friends a chain-​filled bean bag and when he barked, we all were to hurl the bag toward him. No. At that point I knew this was a screwy method. Also the «bahhh» growl they teach you to do is stupid. If I can’t train my dog using human commands… I am NOT a dog, I’m a human.
Since then I’ve found that positive reinforcement and treat based training, sometimes with clickers, has worked well. Also I can give Ri a look and he KNOWS to stop.
The funny thing is that when I searched web pre-​yelp for BB reviews I couldn’t find anything – they seemed to do a good job of SEO back then, and probably because there are many like me who did not see the efficacy of this method. Now, you see more negatives, even from vet offices. Steer clear of this one. There are plenty of better, more effective training programs that cost way less.

If you need instant dog behavior correction, this is the way to go! Training is available as necessary for the lifetime of the dog so it’s a hefty initial investment that will have good pay back.
Living in a condo complex, I had a neighbor complain that my dog barked on 8/​18, 8/​30, ⁹⁄₂ and ⁹⁄₅. While the barks were brief, caused by ambulance sirens, dropping a pan on the floor, going in the garden to water my plants. I was called to the HOA board hearing for a possible $ 200 fine for «allowing a dog’s bark to be audible in another unit.» Instead of fighting and causing friction, I explored my options and told them I would hire a trainer from Bark Busters, recommended by someone at a dog park. We had an initial training on Monday with Peter, the trainer explaining the methodology and psychology of the dog for over an hour, and another 2 hours of actual training with things that scare my 8 month puppy. The methods are the same as outlined in the other reviews, but after he left I was advised to try training on my own with these items to see if the puppy is listening to me, or to see if she was just comforted by Peter being near her when we trained. Lucky me, we did not observe any barking when she was exposed to her «enemy» vacuum cleaner, and she no longer felt she needed to patrol for me while I was out in the «probably dangerous» garden she was not in. The board is giving me a grace period and I won’t have to pay the fine if this gets corrected in a month. I had worked a few times with another private trainer in the past, but the progress was slow and we were not able to cover multiple subjects like this in one session. Peter also complied to my request of summarizing his assessment of my puppy, the training we did and how my puppy reacted to set expectations for the board. His writing was very articulate, to the point, and easy to understand. Overall my impression is different from the folks who posted reviews in 2006 & 2007. If you have a fairly good tempered dog that has basic issues, I think this is a good training method.

I have recommended Bark Busters for years just from results i have been told about (never actually used them). I recently (about a month ago) contacted Bark Busters and had an appointment with in a week. The trainer comes to your house and works with you and your dog on many problem areas. I have a chihuahua that was found and had issues of running from you, peeing in the house, along with a few other annoyances. The trainer worked so well with me and my husband to get a better understanding. If you have problems or questions you can call your trainer and they help you over the phone (inbetween sessions) which is great. Sometimes you kind of «forget» what your supposed to be doing and wondering why he/​she’s not responding. TO make a long story short… I have only had a few sessions with my chihuahua (everyone knows how much of a pain they are) and we have seen a different dog, who obeys, doesnt potty in the house, or bark. You wont be dissapointed!

I also tried Bark Busters and I also felt SCAMMED. I called for help with a rescued puppy mill dog I brought home who was not potty trained an absolutely terrified of everything. My rep, Jo, was a nightmare-​a $ 300 something nightmare. She recommended throwing that metal filled bag at the poor dog-​demonstrated for me in case I didn’t get the concept, which sent the 12lb mass of fur running into the closet where she stayed for two days, refusing to come out. It took me two weeks to regain what little trust I had with this dog after Jo left.
When I called in to complain instead of help, I got a nasty voice mail from Jo herself, who apparently had transformed into a four year old child in the meantime, and who in a mocking, sing-​songing tone informed me exactly who she thought was the problem-​ME. What?! Where she got off I’ll never know, but I do know that if I can save ONE person from this woman it’s a post well worth the time.

After investigating several different dog trainers and schools, I called bark busters and have been very pleased with the results. Jo was our trainer and has been out to our house twice in the past month. We have seen great improvement in our dog since she has been working with us. Funny about that bean bag someone wrote about that said Jo told her to throw it at the dog? She told us to throw it on the floor as the noise would startle our dog our of the behavior we were trying to prevent. She never said throw it at the dog. I have used this technique with other dogs I owned as had been taught this by other trainers so it is not a novel idea.
Anyway, what I like about the service is that they come to our home and work with everyone in the family to get us on the same page in terms of training the dog. We also get very intensive training as it is just our family and our dog being trained. It was difficult for me to make it to weekly classes with my dog in the past so this saves me time and energy.
If I can walk my dog without having her walk me, the money I spend on Bark busters is worth it!

I’ll write my review on this posting, to address the pros and cons of Bark Busters and hopefully give dog owners a more balanced perspective about this service…
PROS…
Depending on where you live, you are assigned a certain Bark Busters trainer. However, if you don’t like the rep that you have, their policy is to assign you to a new one. I can’t speak to these reviews about this Peter guy, since I’ve never met him and perhaps he really was not meant to be a dog trainer, but I would hope that the agency would assign you a replacement for Peter simply based on your dissatisfaction. Perhaps your dogs would/​could benefit from a different BB trainer?
Bark Busters does cost quite a chunk from your wallet, depending on what ‘plan’ you choose to go with. The lifetime plan is about $ 675, which can be done in 3 payments without additional fees/​fines. This plan means that anytime your dog develops a new unwanted behavior, someone from BB will come out to rectify the problem without additional cost. This offer is good for as long as the dog lives, and no matter where the dog is residing. If you end up giving/​selling your dog for some reason, the new owner will be provided the same services from BB, as it carries over from your ownership. (They advertise that they are nationwide and even now growing internationally.) BB also provides other plans, but in the end, the lifetime plan seems to offer the most bang for the buck… esp since you never know when your dog is going to regress or start a new undesired habit. Also, I forgot to mention that the BB trainer will come out as often as you please.
As for the BB philosophy, the representative will tell you at your first appointment (aka Orientation) all about their training method. Basically they do not do any physical reprimanding; they merely use tone of voice, body language, establishing yourself as Alpha, and training tools. We are taught to ‘growl’ at the dog instead of yelling at it. We’re also provided with training tools such as a collar that also has a piece around his muzzle that tightens when he pulls on the leash. We’re also given these little pouches with a jingly chain inside, used to stop barking or other behaviors — not to throw at the dog, but rather just to startle and distract it.
My husband and I live in Fremont, so our representative is Jo Marin. She was easy to communicate with (both via phone and email), and showed up on time. She was very informative and patient, and clearly knew her stuff. She was also very patient with my hypersensitive dog who is very skiddish and wary of strangers. It was great to see she had no reservations about laying on the floor to get at his level, to ease his anxiety. After about 15 minutes, my dog was visibly more calm with her and his behavior was already changing.
The thing to keep in mind is that dogs are sometimes like children. Remember that children act completely different around strangers, compared to with their parents. Dogs aren’t much different from this. So just because you see the dog’s behavior change around the trainer, don’t expect it to happen with you UNLESS you follow through with what the trainer tells you to do. As heartwrenching as it is to treat the dog as merely an animal (vs being a member of the family), it will all pay off later down the road.
CONS…
As mentioned earlier, this service isn’t cheap, even if you pay it in installments. If you do the installments, you still have to write out all the checks in advance, and just post-​date them. There is the option to do this via credit card too but there is an additional processing fee that the credit company charges BB, who of course will pass it on to you.
BB training is also based on some psychology foundations that I don’t necessarily buy into. I was told that my little dog should not be carried often because it puts his head at my head level, encouraging him to think that he is Alpha. Personally, I don’t believe this mumbo jumbo. I do believe that a dog will think it’s Alpha if the owners don’t establish dominance in the household, but carrying your dog to give it some affection?!?
Finally, BB is probably not for everyone. Unfortunately they don’t take your dog away and train it for you, if that’s what you’re looking for. They expect you to train the dog under their mentorship, so your dog will respect YOU. This takes some time and energy — at minimum 15 minutes a day with your dog — and not everyone can spare those 15 minutes due to various other circumstances. If you don’t think you can follow through with BB’s training, you might want to consider some other options instead.

I will disagree with the previous posters. I had wonderful results, its the owners that need the training, but if you do not keep up the tips that you are given by Peter and Bark busters you are wasting your time and money. I have 4 dogs, 3 hyper dachshunds and a bulldog who all used to do their own thing, Peter came in and with his gentle but firm demeaner they responded almost instantly. I was amazed and then not too long after they were responding to me as well. I am completely satisfied, and if they backtrack at all I now know its me, and not them.

I am going to have to agree with the previous poster. Peter was a corporate tax guy his whole life. How the s@#t is he going to know a dogs psychology. Although my dog behaved a little bit better after his visit. I refuse to believe it was because of what he did merely than his strange presence in my puppies otherwise seemingly normal world. Thanks Bark Busters. Not only did you take away 5 hours from me. You made it so my dog pees when he hears the doorbell and bang his head against the wall when I bring out his leash.

Peter Levy is a man of integrity and all my dealings with him have been positive.
I know of many dog owners whose lives’ he’s transformed.
I cannot agree with Lorri Lee’s assessment below.
Dog training is totally dependent on consistent behavior from the owner and if that does not happen it will fail.

Bark Busters is an in-​home dog training program based on behavioral education. You pay a one-​time fee (I paid $ 575) and the «therapist» comes to your home and teaches you how to communicate with your dog and then does a few drills with you based on the negative behaviors you want to un-​train. He will return as many times as needed until you’re satisfied.
I first met with the local trainer, Peter Levy, in June. He arrived 30 minutes late without calling to tell me he’d be late. My first impression is that he’s a nice guy, but his public speaking (or private speaking) leaves much to be desired. He stammered and paused and made it incredibly difficult for me to listen to him. My gut feeling is he’s probably early-​stage of a medical condition that causes this. He used a flip-​chart for almost his entire presentation and got really thrown off when I asked questions. Then again, he got really distracted for no reason at all and stared into space a number of times.
My dog and I practiced the drills, but she didn’t seem to respond to me the way she did to him and we got frustrated again. So I brought Peter back in October for a refresher session. The trainer was still a mess and I was again disappointed in his professionalism.
I feel that I’ve wasted my $ 575. I don’t dare call him again because I know that he can’t help. I’ll likely call the corporate office to see if they will either refund my money (or a portion of it) or send a different trainer.
addendum — I emailed the corporate office on Oct 24^th. Two weeks later and I still haven’t received a reply.