Bark Busters - Worth it?

[melluvssnakes]

Hi Guys,

We have a 12 month old mastiff x bitch who is generally a pretty well behaved little princess. She does have some basic obedience issues (like not always coming when she is called, and occasionally chewing on things she shouldn't) but the BIG issue we have is that she has a tendancy to get over excited and kill small animals. She doesn't have a vicious bone in her body (useless bloody pig dog), but she gets so excited and wants to play. To date, she has 'played' with 5 chickens, a goose and most recently, 4 guinea pigs.
Now I work at a pet shop, so it's really embarrasing that I can't figure out how to fix my own dog's behavioural problems, but often have to offer advice to other people. We have heaps of brochures for Bark Busters sitting on the counter and after a bit of research on the net, I gave them a call and have booked a session with them.

I'm just wondering if anyone else has had problems with their dog and have used Bark Busters? Was it worth the money? Was it easy to follow their advice?

Cheers,

Melissa

 

[euphorion]

Personally I have never used them or any services so all the advice i have to offer is word of mouth. At my clinic we do not choose to recommend them because of clients having poor experiences with them. There are however a multitude of other training services available. That is not to say that they won't be able to help you, but i do suggest looking into all of the training services available to you in your area and looking into their practices, if they offer follow up visits and if their training is guaranteed. You also will want to know if you the training session is recorded so you can view it for yourself. I would personally not allow anyone else to train my animal without being able to review the material and ensure no practices i am not comfortable with are used. Having worked for several companion dog service providers from grooming to training and now veterinary care i can say some are excellent, others not bad and others to be avoided at all costs. I have seen trainers literally attack a dog they are training for misbehaving including striking the face (which the dog cowered from so from experience is used to being struck), pulling the animal about by the scruff of the neck, pulling the animal back by its tail when it has tried to remove itself from the situation along with out of control verbal techniques, lemon spray, electronic shock collars for simple barking and throwing check chains at an animals face.

 

[sutto75]

Hi
I have not used Bark Busters but i have a dog who was on the bad side of good but not dangerous just silly and would not listen to us at all. After some time looking we use a guy down the gold coast called the dog whisper ( crap name). We took the dog there and left it for a week of training. After the week we went for an hour of training ourselves with the dog and bugger me he was a new dog.
Have not had a problem since best 400 bucks we have spent.
I know your too far away for that but it’s worth the money to get some good help with your little hairy friend.

 

[Helikaon]

you need to go back to the basics, and build back up sit stay recall drop leave getting a trainer is a good start, but you need to do alot of the work and maintain the training

you should probably start with the fact that your dog isnt just over excited it is killing other animals, yes playing with them is better then ripping them apart but it is the same ball park.

 

[notechistiger]

Bark Busters are pretty bad. They throw a chain around and teach you how to say "BAH".

 

[melluvssnakes]

The reason why we chose Bark Busters is that they are one of only two local dog trainers available. The other is the Dog Obedience Club, but we have trouble taking Sasha there because she gets so over excited. She is a big girl and when she decides she wants to go say hello to the rotweiler over there, poor little me gets dragged along behind her.
Bark Busters offers a lifetime guarantee on the behaviour of the dog. If any problems crop up later on (same old problems or new ones), they will come back and work with you some more. They do not train the dog themselves, they teach you how to handle the dog.
To start with, they spend 2-4 hours with you and the dog, watching how the dog interacts with you and other people/animals and give you advice and some homework exercises to do. Then they come back in two weeks and see how you're going. They will keep coming back and having as many training sessions with you as necessary until the problems are fixed. That's what I've learnt off the internet and from talking to some local people.

 

[euphorion]

if those are your options then hopefully it will work well for you and i'm sure there will be some good trainers out there so just keep trying. as said previously, its a good idea to start retraining from scratch after doing some research through your vet or other training groups. otherwise why not go through the obedience club and see if someone there is willing to help give you some advice?
good luck!

 

[RSPcrazy]

Bark Busters are pretty bad. They throw a chain around and teach you how to say "BAH".

This is true, my fiancé's mother breeds lots of snake food, hmm I mean chiwawa's, but they run the house and bark like crazy!! She called Bark Busters to come fix the problem, they gave her a small bag with a chain in it (which you through against a fence to make a lot of noise to scare the dogs) and told her to yell "BAH" as she throughs it. This shut the dogs up for probably 2 weeks, then they got used to it and I recon there worse now then they were before. Every time someone yells "BAH", the dogs think it's a barking competition and they all go nuts.

 

[vampstorso]

A good training tool I found was the vibrating dog collars...

My Dally was a bit of a horror for awhile, as he'd nip endlessly...despite popular belief dalmatians are known for being biters,
if you ignored him and just shrugged him off, he'd keep going. scold him, he'd keep going. give him a tap...he'd keep going!

Got a vibrating collar, and give him a tiny buzz when he'd bite...it very soon stopped.

 

[Tristan]

i don't mean to offend any one but i am always amazed people have so much trouble training dogs, they are pack animals be the alpha and make sure they damn well know it.

they step out of line you tell them off. if the dog is not listening to you when you tell them off you simply have not established your Alpha position strongly enough.

reward positive behavior punish negative.
ONLY punish when caught in the act NOT after or you send mixed messages, and teach nothing.
positive rewards can start out as food treats and with more training lead to simply pats and praises.

i grew up with a Saint Bernard, then a Rottie and a boarder collie, all our dogs came when called, sit when told, heeled when told and stayed until released.

i used to tell them to sit and stay then walk away come back 5/10 min later and they were still sitting, then you praise them, if they had moved you tell them off (firm NO and repeat the commands Sit Stay) and repeat the exercise i did this 3 time (30-40min training) with the rottie and from then on she never moved.

our Saint Bernard was a champion competition dog.(yes that's me) she was about 50KG

View attachment 213272

 

[vampstorso]

just like in children, punishment is STILL attention, and hence it doesn't lead to behaviour extinction; it still gets them attention after all.
Basic psychology....
also, being human, it's hard for some people not to comfort their pets when they shouldn't be.



Some animals are more head strong than others,
and sometimes there's one area you can't quite get right; doesn't mean you've failed over all.

e.g. my dog did everything told, and still does, just getting him to initially learn to stop trying his place with a natural behavior was a bit harder. Because like I said, it's a natural behaviour.


so, there's plenty of reason people have trouble.
and if they're intimidated by their own species, why shouldnt they be of an animal with big teeth? people just get flustered.

 

[notechistiger]

melluvsnakes, any business will try to make themselves sound better when advertising their services. They may keep coming back, but odds are their training methods won't work the second or third time they try to employ it if it doesn't even work the first xD Go on any respectable dog forum, the opinion on this service is pretty unanimous.

The dog obediance club would be a much better option for you. You need to teach your dog better obediance (killing animals, dragging when walking, recall, over-excitability). Bark Busters won't teach you how to fix these. If you can't control her when she wants to say hi (and I understand how powerful big, excited dogs can be), then try getting a collar for pulling dogs (martingale, etc) until you can train her to walk without pulling at all.


Edit: and there's plenty of articles to suggest the "alpha-dominant role is needed" is a load of crock. Many animals do just fine without their owner having to dominate themselves over the poor dog.

 

[Firedrake]

There's a difference between dominant and opressive. Being dominant over your dog just means it knows you're the highest rank, therefore you come first no matter what. You don't need to yell or be overly domineering towards a dog for it to realize you are the boss. Simple training from a pup can put that impression on the dog, so that by the time it grows up it already knows how things work. Unfortunately not everyone has the time to practice this.

 

[melluvssnakes]

Hmm I admit I am disappointed by the feed back about bark busters. I thought for the price ($440), they would have a better reputation. Will have to look into some different options. She really isn't that bad of a dog, just a little silly and she doesn't always play well with small animals. By herself, she is fine and she is my girl, love her.

 

[Ambush]

Dog clubs. Sunday morning here for all breeds. costs bugger all and is fun

 

[melluvssnakes]

Yeh but like I said earlier, it's hard to take her to the dog club cause I can't controll her when she gets super excited

 

[Helikaon]

Yeh but like I said earlier, it's hard to take her to the dog club cause I can't controll her when she gets super excited

Thats your problem! And if i go buy your picture you are a horse rider, if you can control a horse you can control your dog, you need to remember what your dogs place is. You wouldnt allow your horse to run around stupid when your on him so dont allow your dog to. You need to simply overpower her, thenreward the good behaviour, dominance holds are great for making them remember their manners and doesn hurt them at all.

 

[euphorion]

Totally agree with Helikaon here. Acquire the equipment you need to control your big pooch and get someone to teach you how to use it. Ie, please don't by a check chain, they are useless and cruel as a training tool and should only be used by an animal that doesn't pull and in the hands of someone who knows how to use one. Martingales are a great tool to control the strength of your dog just like a halter helps to redirect the strength of a horse. If anyone tells you to 'dominance down' your dog then they're not yet giving you useful advice. Start from scratch, make sure your dog knows that until she listens to what you want and complies she isn't going to get what she wants either. Ie, if you take her to the dog park don't let her off her leash until she sits and waits politely for you to remove her leash and then release her from the stay. Ect. Sit and wait for food before eating, letting you pass through doorways first if you so choose, removing themselves from your lap/feet/space when you ask them to (respecting your space). where exactly are you in central qld anyway?

 

[big_head]

Haven't read all of the replies. I tried out bark busters on a stubborn collie i had a few years ago. He was 7 or 8 at the time, and we thought what the hell. The lady that came out was nice and all, but really, pretty useless. My dog didn't respond to her throwing her chain around. Basically, it was $500 odd dollars from memory to learn how to say the word 'BAH'. As others have suggested, discipline at home, consistency and they weekend dog schools at various local parks.

 

[Scleropages]

she has a tendancy to get over excited and kill small animals. She doesn't have a vicious bone in her body (useless bloody pig dog), but she gets so excited and wants to play. To date, she has 'played' with 5 chickens, a goose and most recently, 4 guinea pigs.


Melissa

What? so "play" means ripped to shreds? and she doesn't have an aggressive bone in her body?

Sorry but the dog needs serous training if that's the case. I have herd nothing good about bark busters.