Out of the Bark

As first-time dog parents to a high-energy Goldendoodle puppy named Teddy, we were quickly overwhelmed. Thankfully, we found Megha from Out of the Bark. Booking 1:1 sessions with her was the best decision we could have made; quite honestly, we couldn’t have managed without her! What sets Megha apart is that her sessions aren’t just about "dog training." She taught us how to communicate with Teddy, helping us build deep trust and establish much-needed boundaries. It’s truly amazing to watch her work—Teddy seems to understand her language as if she actually speaks "Dog." Megha uses only positive re-enforcement techniques in her training and the best part about training your puppy in your own home rather than sending to a boarding facility is getting the puppy acclimatized and setting boundaries (based on your preference) in the setting of your own home. We also signed up for group training sessions for Teddy at Out of the Bark facility that helped Teddy tremendously in socialization training. Beyond training, Megha guided us through the essentials of puppy care, from setting up food, sleep, and play routines to surviving the teething stage. Our only regret is that we didn't find her sooner! If you are planning to welcome a puppy, we highly recommend working with Megha before the puppy arrives so she can help you prep your home and be ready from day 1. We cannot recommend her highly enough! Megha is now part of our family, we are planning to continue the ongoing maintenance training that ensures that Teddy does not forget all the good behavior he learnt and also to get us through the highly energetic teenager phase when Teddy gets 6 months old.

Before consulting Megha and beginning private training, me and my wife were scratching our heads and wondering what we did adopting Koda, our 3 month old (at the time) Pomsky puppy. He would zoom through the house, nip us, and bark endlessly. Nothing could have prepared us for the first two weeks of puppy ownership. Desperate, we had a discovery call with Out of the Bark which gave us valuable insight right off the bat even if it was only 15 minutes. After the initial home visit consultation, we committed to the private training and didn’t look back. Thankfully, through Megha’s guidance and personalized training plan, we have been able to see our Koda’s obedience, focus, and confidence grow before our very own eyes. In the beginning, teaching him fundamental commands such as sit, down, and relaxation inside of his crate (and bed) did wonders for our puppy’s health and development. These commands helped us calm him down and redirect his energy towards something fun and productive for our whole family. He is now able to listen to us and fall asleep in his crate during his enforced nap times. Through training daily, Koda is also now quite food motivated when he barely touched his kibble before! Nearing the end of our private training, Megha was able to help Koda gain confidence outside of the house, another important skill for all of our canine companions. This included being on leash and having his first successful, confident sniff walk; something my wife and I did not foresee happening so soon. We also participated in valuable socialization sessions such as taking him to Pet Food Express and other accommodating locations which helped Koda unlock a new level of access to the world that surrounds us all at a calm and manageable level. We understand that training is never over, especially with a Pomsky, but feel confident and look forward to Koda continually flourishing with the tools taught to us by Megha at Out of the Bark. Megha interacted very well with our little Koda and could tell she deeply cared about him and his wellbeing from the very start. Thank you Megha and we eagerly await meeting again soon!

Out of the Bark completely transformed my clueless puppy into an incredible, well-behaved one and I couldn’t be more grateful. From day one, Megha showed genuine care, patience, and expertise that truly sets her apart. She just didn’t just train my puppy but she helped build confidence, discipline, and a strong bond between us. If you’re looking for a place that delivers real results and truly cares about your dog’s growth, Out of the Bark is simply the best.

Incredibly thankful to have discovered Dan and Out of the Bark. I’ve got a sweet but very reactive American Bully that I’ve struggled to train. My dog, Echo, is incredibly dog-dog and dog-people reactive (and bikes and cars and buses and…). We’re talking lunging, snapping, barking, angry tornado. We’ve tried a few different trainers over time and hadn’t found anything that seemed like it was working. Dan’s initial consult with us was much more intensive than others I’ve gone through, and he was able to identify some specific issues with the nature of her reactivity and how we might approach it differently from prior techniques. Our progress has been steady, building on focus and leash manners. We’re still working through reactions, but we can now de-escalate and safely refocus in a few public scenarios and that is a big milestone for us. The Out of the Bark facility is great to train in as well because a big barrier I’ve had is finding someplace to work on the basics that isn’t triggering for my dog. She gets very hard to handle safely and our previous time spent at parks was making it worse. Dan’s approach has turned out to be the best fit. He was also able to recommend a veterinary behaviorist who is helping us with Echo’s anxiety via medication—a significant contributor to her behavior. Dan provides a lot of educational content including multiple videos of dogs at different places on the reactivity spectrum to help understand how to handle outlier behaviors and get good visuals on what you’re trying to do with your own body positioning. I also just really appreciate Dan’s candor, encouragement, and patience. Echo appreciates his treats. :) Would highly recommend working with Out of the Bark to anyone seeking help with reactive, aggressive dog behavior.