Bark Busters Home Dog Training Greater San Diego

JUSTIN IS ABSOLUTELY Amazing!!! If I could give 100 stars that’s what you would see. He takes his time, is compassionate, an amazing listener, and effective. He sat down with My Husband and I, he broke things down to the nitty gritty. We have a Husky who we rescued when he was 2 years old. He knows exactly what he’s doing so within 10 mins he had our dog’s personality pegged even before meeting him. Once the talking part was over and that alone was something you couldn’t put a price on we got to see the magic happen right before my eyes! I will be recommending him to every dog family who is struggling with their pup. His talent in working with the family as a whole (parents and doggie) is top shelf! Thank you Justin for all you do! Our family appreciates you!!!

We recently adopted Rex, a three year old terrier mix who has been with us for two months. He is comfortable in our home with our existing nine year old collie/retriever mix. However, daily walks here in Mission Beach on the boardwalk became a severe challenge—Rex would become enraged with skateboarders, rollerbladers and roller skaters. Slip lead collars, sonic alarms and treats were useless—once he was in that state, nothing would calm him. My wife reached out to our vet who recommended Bark Busters and we met with Justin in our home one week ago today. I was skeptical and thought we would just have to live with Rex’s issue and avoid the boardwalk whenever it might be problematic. Justin spent considerable time speaking with us and explaining his approach and suggested solutions which we then went outside to test. He retrieved a skateboard from his car, gave us our instructions for Rex (mainly us) and skateboarded past Rex several times in a nearby alley. Within about 15 minutes of practice, Rex’s anxiety significantly reduced, as did ours. After Justin left, we immediately put those instructions to work on our evening walk and continuing on his walks in the days following. The results thus far have been amazing when we practice what we were taught (I have some operator error now and again)...Rex is far more at ease and has stopped reacting when the skateboarders and rollerbladers roll on by. Justin came by today for a follow up and we proceeded to walk the boardwalk and encountered two rollerbladers—Rex was awesome and had zero reaction to both! My wife and I have great confidence that we are on the right path and are so thankful for Justin’s expertise—we highly recommend him!

Cara is spectacular. Dog Busters do exactly as advertised and all with professionalism and focus on keeping your dog and you safe and behaved. We were referred to Dog Busters from a previous please client. We adopted a rescue 1 year old retreiver terrier mix, Cali. Lots of hunting and energy leads to a lot of lunging on leash. We got with DogBusters specifically Cara to get a better handle on dog owning. We humans needing dog training really. Cali was being Cali, a dog. Cara was very patient and worked with the whole family. I am primary care giver for Cali, and walk her the most. Her leash reactivity was a definite challenge. We contacted Dog Busters early 2023 and again early 2024 for refresher for me and how to work with a shock collar. Cali's reactive leash behavior wasn't getting better. I was not able to restrain her when she lunched if I wasn't holding tight to leash. She got off leash a few times and really scared the humans and dogs she ran up to off leash. To be safe we needed her to behave differently on leash. Cara to the rescue, she remembered Cali. We worked with her again and actually got a anti bark collar as the bark associates to the lunge which is when I can't control her. The anti bark was good as was the belt leash so we weren't reliant on my arm strength. Cali is on the right track so am I. If anything arises again I'll call Dog Busters. They are smart patient dog whisperers!

I met Justin over 10 years ago when we needed help with our daughter's chihuahua who needed crate training. We actually had three dog at the time - an English lab, a shepherd mix, and the chihuahua. My husband was skeptical that we could do anything for this dog, but the vet refused to put him on anxiety meds until we worked with a trainer and he recommended Justin at Bark Busters. The moment Justin walked through the door, he worked his magic with Oliver (the chihuahua). Usually, Oliver would run and bark and show his teeth at visitors but he just stood by Justin and didn't bark. This convinced my husband that Justin was the real deal! A short time later, by following Justin's techniques, Oliver was happy to stay in his crate and never required medication. He also helped us learn to have control when we walked all three dogs together - just say NO to retractable leashes! Fast forward more than 10 years later. We adopted a lab mix who had severe separation anxiety. We could not leave her alone without her hurting herself by trying to get out of the house. The vet gave us anxiety meds for her. After a year on the meds, I decided to see if Justin was still in town and he was. With his guidance, and teaching Cali (really, teaching me), how to do something Justin refers to as cutting the cord, Cali is doing amazing. I have not given her medication in a few months now and she is doing great. One of the things he had me do was watch videos of Mama dogs and see how they communicate with their pups. By my adoption of those techniques, she not only was less anxious, she also learned to respect me as her mama and no longer jumps on the couches, runs to the door and jumps on people (she loves people), she is doing amazing. Justin is amazing. He was back when I worked with him years ago, and still is! (Oliver in his crate a number of years ago and Cali a little while back).