Anyone try Barkbusters?

jmm said:

It is a chain. You really, really need to pre-interview the trainer. Most really reputable trainers don't work for a chain like that. Just because company policy says one thing does not mean the trainers will come anywhere close to that. I don't generally recommend chains like barkbusters of Petsmart.

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Jackie is right with her advice to you.

We tried them with Snowball ... and, it was the BIGGEST mistake that we made with Snowball. It was a husband and wife team ... and, they differed completely as to how to work with Snowball's separation anxiety.

Thinking back now, a red flag should have gone up then. We took the advice of one of them (the couple was not here together) to crate Snowball alone for an hour. When we came home, I was in tears. Snowball was soaked from head to paw toes. Poor little guy ... we bathed him and then cuddled him all night long. I have pictures that I took to our vet as to how Snowball looked when we came home ... it still breaks my heart looking at those pictures. He looks as though he was abused. Looking back, it still can bring me to tears. I can't believe they had us throwing chains at his crate ... and having us yell "Bah!!!" at him.

I take accountability for having been so naive and not checking with our vet first ... even though BB's brochures were in the waiting area of the vet office. I don't scream ... so, why would it be okay to scream at such an innocent creature ... who didn't know what was going on? And, I don't throw chains. Again, why would one be instructed to do that to an innocent creature?

We dropped the contact right away after what had happened. Of course, we never received a refund ... and, we never received a phone call from the *trainers* to see how Snowball was doing.

After this experience, we were referred by Snowball's vet to a well known behavioral vet therapist in our area. She spent over six hours in our home observing Snowball and working with us. She also sent a six page report to us and Snowball's vet. Her methods of working with dogs is the complete opposite of what we experienced with BB's.

Snowball has been diagnosed by both the behavioral vet specialist and our vet, as a special needs dog with separation anxiety. Thank God, Snowball has come a long, long way though with the training advice we have taken from them.