Bark Busters Reviews

Miguel was extremely helpful with our dogs. Judi our main concern seemed to take to it so easily. Rooney actually became the more resistant to training, but since the first session, she has had great progress. I feel like the whole family has a better understanding between each other. I would highly recommend Barkbusters and Miguel for anyone. Especially because it’s life long so it’s comforting to know I can just contact Miguel with questions or schedule another session whenever.

• #Aggression
• #Barking
• #Hyperactivity

Cannot express how successful even 1 session has been - we are understanding our dogs and understanding where we have been at fault training our dogs. We would have never known how to correct behaviors w/out this help. We feel prepared to handle the next 3 weeks to get our dogs to be the best dogs to each other, and us be the best owners to them.

• #Aggression
• #Barking
• #Chewing
• #Hyperactivity
• #Jumping up
• #Pulling
• #Puppy management
• #Sibling rivalry
• #Other

Deb Boswell is a good teacher of both the humans and the dog. She explained the process, what was expected of us, before we introduced her to the dog. She wanted us to understand the plan before we were distracted with trying to control the dog.
Amelia is a 4y/o lab mix who was rescued 2 years ago after being abandoned while pregnant. Through a series of shelters and transport teams, we adopted her. As you can see in the photo, she worries. About many things. But the last 6 months she's increased her barking, so that it's now all the time at everything and everyone outside. We live on a bike path, and in a neighborhood with lots of kids and dogs. Out of nowhere Amelia would jump up, start barking madly, and run from door to windows and back, getting more wound up. Sometimes we see what she barks at; other times there doesn't seem to be anything. When packages were delivered, she'll run to the door, causing a major pile-up as we try to get the package. On a walk sometimes she'll react to some dogs, not consistently, and it's hard to tell if she wants to play or fight; she's managed to knock both of us down by a sudden lunge -- and that was on flat ground, without any ice or snow. Walking in winter is like a circus act. As she now weighs 70lbs, getting her under control on a leash is an important issue. Trying to take her where there were other dogs, or noises, or on travel, was a challenge.
We all were very frustrated.
Then Deb came, and in the initial session helped diagnose what was triggering Amelia, showed us ways to address the anxiety, barking, to establish our control, and gave suggestions for keeping her busy. Most she laid out a straightforward plan, that we could use consistently, and that Amelia responded to.
I really appreciated Deb's method of working with us before Amelia was invited to join the group, and her advice that we needed to fire Amelia from her job as Head of Security. That helped us think about what we were just letting Amelia do, because she was the boss of us.
I was skeptical in the promise that after one lesson, we could see meaningful change.
After Session One, I have hope that we can all adapt, and create a calmer environment.
We have a follow-up session set for about 3 weeks; Deb has also encouraged us to call or email her with any progress notes, or for help getting unstuck.
Definitely glad that we chose Deb of BarkBusters Des Moines.

• #Barking
• #Pulling
• #Recall

Super helpful guidance on how to use body language and tone to direct the dogs. Also, very valuable guidance on how to deal with reactivity.

• #Barking
• #Chewing
• #Hyperactivity
• #Jumping up
• #Pulling
• #Puppy management
• #Separation anxiety
• #Other