Bark Busters Reviews and Customer Testimonials
9th June 2025 - Mark Gall
Mark dealt with Barking, Pulling, Puppy management, Recall
Mark from South Island Bark Busters is phenomenal! He’s patient but takes no S**t !
I already feel so much more confident (and supported) from just our first session.
I personally think one-on-one training is so much more effective so I’m stoked to have been referred by a friend to Mark for my anxious growing Boxer Rocco.
Trainer note from Mark
I was called in for Rocco a 5 mth old boxer , cute as but a nervous of strangers dog . the usual puppy problems but was already barking at the gate and anxious of certain people. We worked through the basics of teaching how dogs do actually think and develop his confidence in new people. Great session and we'll do a revisit shortly to check on progress and take more steps in his progress. Great work so far, well done.
I was called in for Rocco a 5 mth old boxer , cute as but a nervous of strangers dog . the usual puppy problems but was already barking at the gate and anxious of certain people. We worked through the basics of teaching how dogs do actually think and develop his confidence in new people. Great session and we'll do a revisit shortly to check on progress and take more steps in his progress. Great work so far, well done.
5th June 2025 - Mark Gall
Mark dealt with Barking, Hyperactivity, Jumping up, Pulling, Puppy management, Recall, Separation anxiety
Mark was amazing at explaining everything, reasoning why we needed to change and how. We were totally shocked at how quickly our dog has responded and the improvement in the first couple of days has been awesome. Originally called Mark for an incident involving our Beefy a Staffordshire Bull Terrier getting very dominant and over baring with another dog. Council involved.
Trainer note from Mark
Beefy is a great, as bit too much fun loving temperament 21mth old Staffy , unfortunately he's been getting more reactive with other dogs , causing an incident that needed addressing, hyperexcited with all the guests, pulled a bit , jumped up lots , and just being hard to refocus for the owners. Once we started working the programming exercises and setting up the specific problems Beefy certainly responded as he's not actually very dominant , but had let gain control over a period of time . From barker to sitting and waiting at the door. Great lesson and really nice to see the owners acknowledging how to genuinely be a good dog leader in a nice way. Well done team Beefy
Beefy is a great, as bit too much fun loving temperament 21mth old Staffy , unfortunately he's been getting more reactive with other dogs , causing an incident that needed addressing, hyperexcited with all the guests, pulled a bit , jumped up lots , and just being hard to refocus for the owners. Once we started working the programming exercises and setting up the specific problems Beefy certainly responded as he's not actually very dominant , but had let gain control over a period of time . From barker to sitting and waiting at the door. Great lesson and really nice to see the owners acknowledging how to genuinely be a good dog leader in a nice way. Well done team Beefy
3rd June 2025 - Keith Mockett
Keith dealt with Aggression, Barking, Jumping up, Pulling, Separation anxiety, Sibling rivalry
OMG we feel like this is life changing for all of us. We were on the brink of putting our lovely dog down due to his aggressive outbursts and after learning these farily simple strategies we have so much hope for a future with our dog. We accept he might regress, but we know to keep working on things. And I reflect on the behaviour of friends dogs, and while they might not get agressive they certainly show signs that could lead that way and their behaviour could so easily be corrected to solve the stress their owners are having. Life changing!!
Trainer note from Keith
Thank you so much for this feedback. To help him to have another chance and for you to feel so positive is extremely rewarding. Yes, there will be up and downs, but he's shown he can do this and you know you can, so the we're off to a great start. I'm looking forward to your progress and helping when required as per our Life of the Dog Support Guarantee. Thank you.
Thank you so much for this feedback. To help him to have another chance and for you to feel so positive is extremely rewarding. Yes, there will be up and downs, but he's shown he can do this and you know you can, so the we're off to a great start. I'm looking forward to your progress and helping when required as per our Life of the Dog Support Guarantee. Thank you.
3rd June 2025 - Keiko Ruwhiu
Keiko dealt with Barking, Pulling, Separation anxiety
Fantastic. We’ve noticed a marked difference in 3 days. It’s Applied behavioural Analysis, and wonderful to get it explained simply and applied to dogs. Something that actually works. What a waste of money it would have been if I’d gone with a trainer instead of a proper behaviourist like Keiko.
Trainer note from Keiko
Thank you for taking time to leave a review Alicia! I was very happy with the way Bella (Shar Pei 9 years old) responded to her first session. Keep up the good work! My help is always available for you and Bella 😊
Thank you for taking time to leave a review Alicia! I was very happy with the way Bella (Shar Pei 9 years old) responded to her first session. Keep up the good work! My help is always available for you and Bella 😊
1st June 2025 - Keith Mockett
Keith dealt with Barking, Hyperactivity, Pulling
Very helpful to get started on some of our dogs issues around barking. Will need a further session to get some more direction while we are out on a walk. Looking forward to seeing Keith again.
Trainer note from Keith
Thank you. As per our Life of the Dog Support Guarantee we'll have another session soon. Sometimes it's the second session where things click for owners and/or dogs. I want you all to succeed so I'm more than happy to see you again and take the training to the next level. See you soon!
Thank you. As per our Life of the Dog Support Guarantee we'll have another session soon. Sometimes it's the second session where things click for owners and/or dogs. I want you all to succeed so I'm more than happy to see you again and take the training to the next level. See you soon!
31st May 2025 - Mark Gall
Mark dealt with Barking, Jumping up, Pulling, Sibling rivalry
Mark was amazing ,we saw a change in our dogs behaviour with in the first hour. We can now cook in the kitchen without tripping over dogs, and food staying on the bench .
Walking the dogs has become so much better. Indy is less stressed when cars passing her while out walking.
Trainer note from Mark
Indy 8 mths & Bonnie 2yrs old are Border Collies , both with totally different temperaments. Called in for Indy initially due to her chasing of cars , absolutely losing it when they pass by her walking , sibling rivalry was starting to also appear in the household , with both dogs in control in different ways. Living Semi rural. Both were Pullers , barkers , Jumping , recall and issue etc as well. Our initial lesson went well and focus starting to be instilled in Indy , Bonnie was easier as she is slightly more mature. Still a work in progress for the cars but huge significant improvements already. Fantastic work guys and call for a revisit soon. All under our unique lifetime support guarantee for the dogs.
Indy 8 mths & Bonnie 2yrs old are Border Collies , both with totally different temperaments. Called in for Indy initially due to her chasing of cars , absolutely losing it when they pass by her walking , sibling rivalry was starting to also appear in the household , with both dogs in control in different ways. Living Semi rural. Both were Pullers , barkers , Jumping , recall and issue etc as well. Our initial lesson went well and focus starting to be instilled in Indy , Bonnie was easier as she is slightly more mature. Still a work in progress for the cars but huge significant improvements already. Fantastic work guys and call for a revisit soon. All under our unique lifetime support guarantee for the dogs.
28th May 2025 - Keith Mockett
Keith dealt with Barking, Pulling, Recall, Separation anxiety
Keith was a fantastic tutor, gave us lots of practical ideas, Echo is picking up things easily.
Trainer note from Keith
Thank you, I appreciate this feedback. I'm sure the clarity of the communications is helping Echo to pick things up and your leadership helps make it easy for Echo as well. Looking forward to more progress reports.
Thank you, I appreciate this feedback. I'm sure the clarity of the communications is helping Echo to pick things up and your leadership helps make it easy for Echo as well. Looking forward to more progress reports.
27th May 2025 - Mark Gall
Mark dealt with Chewing, Hyperactivity, Jumping up, Pulling, Puppy management, Recall, Toileting
We had Mark in to help us with our 12 week old dachshund puppy, Poppy. Having never trained a dog we didn’t know where to start. Mark put us at ease straight away. He had a really lovely manner with Poppy, and our kids. The training was explained really thoroughly. Whilst different to what we’d previously been told by family etc, this new form of training makes so much sense and is very logical to follow. We wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Mark to anyone. Looking forward to putting it all to practice. Poppy seems to respond beautifully.
Trainer note from Mark
Lovely family and wee poppy a gem. As the family haven't had a dog before ,getting it right for them was important and vital for Poppies life skills, letting them do the training under our guidance and coaching so they can develop the skills easily and calmly. This was the 1st of several sessions as Poppy grows. Great work guys , see you again soon. Id number 132227 lesson session 65269
Lovely family and wee poppy a gem. As the family haven't had a dog before ,getting it right for them was important and vital for Poppies life skills, letting them do the training under our guidance and coaching so they can develop the skills easily and calmly. This was the 1st of several sessions as Poppy grows. Great work guys , see you again soon. Id number 132227 lesson session 65269
24th May 2025 - Mark Gall
Mark dealt with Aggression, Barking, Hyperactivity, Jumping up, Pulling
Mark was great, noticed a difference straight away. Has stopped pulling on the lead and work in progress to stop her jumping up.
Trainer note from Mark
Roxy the 14mth old Sprollie, Springer Spaniel x Border Collie. Her issues were Dog reactive , Lunging at things passing , barking , jumping , recall, and had bitten the owners. Teaching the speak dog to teach dog techniques she responded very quickly , even let dogs walk by , focussing exercises will be important to settle and refocus this extremely active dog. Next session soon to sort the fine tuning. Awesome work guys.
Roxy the 14mth old Sprollie, Springer Spaniel x Border Collie. Her issues were Dog reactive , Lunging at things passing , barking , jumping , recall, and had bitten the owners. Teaching the speak dog to teach dog techniques she responded very quickly , even let dogs walk by , focussing exercises will be important to settle and refocus this extremely active dog. Next session soon to sort the fine tuning. Awesome work guys.
24th May 2025 - Keiko Ruwhiu
Keiko dealt with Barking
I was rather surprised to find my understanding of dog training had missed the mark so crucially.
Trainer note from Keiko
Thank you Angie. Great to hear you found it useful😊 I was very happy with the way Raven (Miniature Schnauzer 2 years old) responded to her first session. Keep up the good work! My help is always available for you and Raven!
Thank you Angie. Great to hear you found it useful😊 I was very happy with the way Raven (Miniature Schnauzer 2 years old) responded to her first session. Keep up the good work! My help is always available for you and Raven!
22nd May 2025 - Mark Gall
Mark dealt with Barking, Jumping up, Pulling, Recall
Stressed, skeptical but desperate, we contacted Mark having read his reviews on Facebook. We have two English Pointers, Poppy and Lilly and a Bullmastiff Sharpei cross all with different issues. Two weeks out from moving from a 10 acre block to 500m by the beach house, I finally bit the bullet and contacted Mark.
Dogs have run free off lead for a couple of years and have parents with different handling styles. Husband, typical Kiwi, she'll be alright and me tearing my hair out because of the barking at anything.
Our first session was yesterday. Within a couple of hours we saw amazing results. Training with Poppy and Sully I managed to walk both dogs on lead and off lead! This morning I was sure I would not remember anything. No worries though, feeding time was a breeze. I opened the door, gave one correction and all three dogs sat and let me go out first. I even had to call them to come out I don't trust reviews, I didn't believe we would ever be able to walk the dogs without being pulled along. However, I have today, on my own whilst Hubby was at work managed a short 300m walk with all three dogs OFF LEAD to heel. They would normally just run off and ignore me. This will make a huge difference to our life near the beach. Thank you Mark for training us how to communicate with our dogs 🐕 😀
Trainer note from Mark
Client ID: 132419 session: 65262. Great initial lesson while the owners still lived on their lifestyle block , all in preparation to move into a small town section. Issues were barking , recall , lead pulling , general focus and for one of the dogs ,dog reactive behaviour as he's never had dogs to interact with except his pack. So far great steps forward with fine tuning to go . Sully's dog reactiveness will be a work in progress for a while. See you again soon.
Client ID: 132419 session: 65262. Great initial lesson while the owners still lived on their lifestyle block , all in preparation to move into a small town section. Issues were barking , recall , lead pulling , general focus and for one of the dogs ,dog reactive behaviour as he's never had dogs to interact with except his pack. So far great steps forward with fine tuning to go . Sully's dog reactiveness will be a work in progress for a while. See you again soon.
14th May 2025 - Keith Mockett
Keith dealt with Aggression, Barking, Hyperactivity, Jumping up, Recall, Separation anxiety
Keith was amazing! What he said really clicked straight away. Frankie would wake me up constantly through the night with her barking but it took one night of training for that to stop. Now I get a proper sleep and so does Frankie!!!
Trainer note from Keith
Thank you! I try to explain the 'why' as well as the 'how' and your feedback is much appreciated. It's amazing what clear communication and leadership can do for a dog, and the human-dog relationship! Even Pomeranians can get it. Great job.
Thank you! I try to explain the 'why' as well as the 'how' and your feedback is much appreciated. It's amazing what clear communication and leadership can do for a dog, and the human-dog relationship! Even Pomeranians can get it. Great job.