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| - In my life, I have never wasted money in such a spectacular fashion as I did when handing $650 (yes, you read that right) to Lisa Marshall at Bark Busters. The lifetime guarantee seems comforting, but be warned: you will never see your money again. The guarantee provides only that the company will continue to work with you and your dog to resolve the problems that you are having. This means that if you want your guarantee to remain valid, you are bound by the trainers and methods that they teach, whether you like them or not. In my case, this was an issue: I found Lisa to be a weak teacher that had difficulty in addressing and maintaining focus on the core problem that I was facing with my dog. She failed to develop and follow through with a plan to address that problem. Overall, it seemed that she was more concerned with the growth of her franchise than in my success as a dog owner.
Here's what I got for my money. On my first visit with Lisa, which was about 4 hours, she went through the company's worksheets that explain their methods and the logic behind them. She worked with my dog for about a half hour and gave me homework. Lisa was quite effective in working with my dog. So far, so good. Second visit, about two weeks later, for an hour. I was having trouble with the homework, but my dog behaved well in front of Lisa. It seemed that from Lisa's perspective, "problem solved". Rather than helping me address the problems I was having, she sent me emails asking me to publicly endorse her on her Facebook page. Following my failure to do so, all communication (save bulk emails from the company) dropped off completely. Trying get a follow-up appointment (expect to wait two days for a reply) was a game of phone tag followed by a litany of excuses. There was no more homework, no follow-up. At one point, I actually had to remind her of who I was. After hours of diligently practicing the techniques taught by Lisa and two more frustrating visits that yielded few changes my dog's behaviour, I gave up on begging for help from this dog trainer.
The news isn't all bad. During the last several months (since leaving Bark Busters) I have continued to train twice daily for half-an-hour with my dog, and over time I have been successful with some of the techniques taught by Lisa. However, the core issue that brought me to Bark Busters remains unresolved and I will need to spend more money to hire a trainer for this purpose. Needless to say, I would not recommend Lisa Marshall or Bark Busters to anyone.
*Update* It's been two years since my Bark Busters experience. I'm happy that this review has been helpful for so many. Since then, I found a trainer that was able to resolve my dog's core behavioural problem, and the peace that this has brought us is indescribable. I look back on that moment, two years ago, as one of frustration and hopelessness. The message I want to send to you is that it is really easy, in that state of desperation, to fall for a trainer that may be preying upon this vulnerability. But there's a flip side, too. When I said to my new trainer, "I think my dog is untrainable!" he laughed at me. Of course, they all are trainable. So be cautious, but also keep up the faith that the problem can, indeed, be solved permanently. Best of luck to you.
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