Bark Busters In-Home Dog Training - Fairfax
Fairfax, Virginia, Fairfax
(12)
Fairfax, Virginia, Fairfax
(12)
I teach you to train your dog as it doesn't matter if your dog will listen to me - they aren't going to live with me. No prong or shock collars are used. I teach you to communicate with your dog in a way they understand. I teach you to "speak dog.
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12 customer reviews
Patricia Ballance Mandes
My adorable Welshie, who intimidates most of our visitors and most of our family, too, is getting civilized again. Tommy Meyerhoeffer, who is an outstanding Bark Buster trainer, is teaching my old pooch to be a good boy. If his indulgent mother (me) follows Tommy’s instruction Marty will learn these skills: not to attack friends at the door, entering or leaving; not to growl at us when we want him to move out of a chair or our bed; not to go crazy when he sees a tool bag. How pleasant life will become! More...
Reviewed on Facebook
Linh Luong Brett
Tommy was amazing!! He got my puppies to stop jumping on the pen gate, whimpering when you left the room & nipping at our fingers. All is just 2 hours. Would definitely recommend him to anyone looking for assistance with their fur babies. More...
Reviewed on Facebook
Rhina Smith
I thought we'd live with constant barking so I was hesitant to try. In just a few hours, we had the tools to end the barking! Our Aussie Shepherd responded beautifully and has retained everything he learned. My only regret is that we didn't try this sooner! I'd recommend Tommy to anyone who needs a little or lots of tweaking with their fur baby! More...
Reviewed on Facebook
Connie Thomson
I couldn't be happier that Tommy is our new dog trainer. We had an unfortunate experience of our dog getting over excited and protective of my kids, and then biting a child, and I was fearful that we would have to say goodbye to her. But I wanted to give the dog every chance I could to succeed. I read some reviews of Tommy online and after contacting him he came to my home the very next day. Within our first session, I felt like I had a new dog. Since that first session, my dog respects me and her environment much more, she is calmer, more relaxed, and looks to me for direction rather than feeling like she has to protect me from every movement of a person, or a dog, or a leaf, or anything that should pass her way. My friends have been amazed at the change in my dog and have kept asking, "What did the trainer do with her?" The surprising part is, he did just about nothing with her except watch her closely. And he did everything with me. My dog had no doubt that I was the one she should listen to. And even if I was confused about what to do, or got nervous myself (make no mistake, I LOVE my dog and this was a scary time in our lives), Tommy stayed completely calm and non-anxious, directed all of his conversation toward me, and helped me gain every understanding I needed in order to succeed. He did pay attention to my dog, love on her, took pictures of her, and all that fun stuff -- when the time was right. But he was here to do his job and to give us his expertise, which was to lend tranquility and order to our little pack. Even since our training session he has been completely responsive, he will come back to be sure we are continuing well in our relationship with the dog, and I am so very happy for this. A couple of times I've done puppy classes at local pet stores. The kind of training those places do does not even BEGIN to compare to what Tommy does with an owner, a family, a dog, a home, and a future for a group of folks living together. I'm forever grateful to Tommy for how he has helped this piece of our life so much, and for how he has helped me to find the amazing dog that was inside my pooch the whole time. I look forward to continued discovery with him. More...
Reviewed on Facebook
Courtney Ross
Tommy helped me with training my head-strong miniature dachshund, Dallas. She had extreme separation anxiety. She would chew through her crate, cutting her mouth in the process and then completely destroying my apartment when I would leave.
After several a few months of her escaping and harming herself, I contacted Tommy. Tommy gave me some training exercises to start working with and advice that completely shifted the way I was acting towards her. Now, she doesn't follow me all over the house or whine and bark when I leave her alone. She can stay home while I'm at work without destroying my house or her mouth! I also had Tommy help me with her obsession with rocks and digging. After a few minutes working with her I was able to get her over her obsession. Dallas has stopped digging for rocks and she's able to calm herself down now.
My favorite thing about Tommy as a dog trainer is that he helps you and your dog communicate without hitting or screaming at the dog. So many people think smacking a dog or scaring them is the way to get them to do what you want.
Thank you Tommy :)
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Reviewed on Facebook
Debbe Brady
Tommy Meyerhofer visited us last night, as he has taken over from our previous trainer. I found Tommy to be extremely knowledgeable, patient,and polite with both me and our pup, Mickey.
Mickey was extremely subdued during the visit, so he didn't exhibit most of the behavior issues we have- barking out the windows, opening the front door to escape, and pulling on the leash. Tommy however gave enough instruction and coaching so that I was able to control and stop these behaviors when they occurred later in the evening.
Tommy also reassured me that he would be available for help when needed! We are completely happy with the Bark Busters program and our new trainer!
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Reviewed on Facebook
Aimee Hwang
My boyfriend and I just got a 3 month old collie retriever named Chino. I was a little rusty on puppy training since it’s been 10 years since I had to a puppy and wanted Chino to have a good start in training. Tommy is a natural dog trainer. Chino responded positively to him immediately. Tommy was patient and professional. He was able to work with me and Chino, and his training methods are easy but effective. I felt at ease and had more direction in puppy training after our first session. Since my boyfriend missed the first session, Tommy took the time to do another training demonstration with us. Thanks to Tommy, I have confidence that Chino is own his way to be a great and well behaved dog (he’s already a wonderful puppy:) More...
Reviewed on Facebook
Laura King Manno
I found Tommy Meyerhoeffer while generally searching online for help with our new puppy. While mostly house trained our pup was still peeing and pooping in the house in odd ways that seemed behavioral.
We had been considering obedience training but really didn't feel obedience training was going to address our specific needs nor would routine weekly classes work well with our schedules. I also know from obedience training with our other dogs, one 6 or 12 week class generally isn't enough and there is almost no customization within group classes.
The reviews for Tommy were excellent and the fact that so many clients reported seeing success after only one visit really drew me in. We hired Tommy last week to help us with our 3 dogs. 2 who just need some minor work and the new puppy who needs more attention. I am happy to report that reviews were spot on! Within just a few hours in our first visit, Tommy taught our family techniques that had all 3 dogs falling into line! While we are still working on the puppy bathroom issues, Tommy has been amazing on that as well. He is very accessible to his clients by phone or email and we have been in constant touch - with me reporting observations and Tommy giving suggestions. We will have our 2nd work session with Tommy this Friday and I am really looking forward to it!
While the initial cost may seem higher than a single obedience class, I can honestly say this is much better value for the money. The one-time fee covers training for your dog for the life of the animal and Tommy is on call any time you need him. When I calculated how many general training classes I would need to cover our issues and basic obedience, general obedience classes likely would have added up to be about equal to this fee and I would not have had the on-call support that I have with Tommy. Our family highly recommends Tommy and the Bark Busters methodology for training. We have tried other means and classes and have not had the success we have seen with just one meeting with Tommy!
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Reviewed on Facebook
Candace Plaska
Simply amazing. My family and I have had dogs since I was a little girl. We had always adopted our dogs directly from the breeders and raised them from puppyhood on to adulthood. So, I felt I could say I was an experienced dog owner. Little did I know that adopting my own dog, a stray, was more difficult than I had realized. I adopted a one year old stray "megamutt" from Kuwait about 8 months ago. She was surprisingly house trained and for the most part well-behaved with other dogs. I had considered training classes at PetSmart and Petco to help with her socializing skills, but feared that her anxiety would cause issues. I found Tommy through a friend who referred Bark Busters. While I love the lifetime guarantee the company offers, the service that really got my attention and had me reach out to make an appointment was the home-based training. Tommy came to my house and worked with Sooner and my mom's 2 year old husky in a place where they felt comfortable. Immediately, my mom and I noticed changes in our dogs behavior. I swear Tommy brought dogs who were identical to ours over and swapped them out. He was so patient with my mom and I. He not only helped our dogs, but he helped us become better owners and taught us how to really communicate with our furry ones. I also loved that he tailored the training specifically to our dogs and their personalities. I will definitely be scheduling future training sessions with Tommy. Anyone, regardless of if they are first time dog owners or not, can benefit!! More...
Reviewed on Facebook
Christine Venezia
I highly recommend Tommy. My boyfriend and I adopted a pitbull mix and we were having some issues with him around food and walking.
We saw a difference immediately within our first lesson! Tommy doesn't use any pain or force in his techniques, but showed us how to take control of our house using only body language and sounds. We are able to have calm walks now.
Tommy was very professional and fun. He encouraged to keep in touch with him via email or phone if we ever have any questions or needed to schedule a revisit. We signed up for the lifetime guarantee!
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Reviewed on Facebook
Natalia Megas
Tommy Meyerhoeffer visited us to help integrate our new 9 month old, a shelter dog, into our home. We already had another female, 6 years old, and saw signs of dominance and some aggression from both that we needed to correct right away. The 9 month old was also destroying a lot of things in our home. Her behavior was expected but we were clueless about how to fix the problem. Tommy visited us right away on a Sunday (which we really appreciate) and was patient, polite, and made sure to explain and answer any questions we had (trust me, there were many). He also led by example and it was interesting to see the response he got from our dogs just by being calm and collected. The methods he taught us also helped a lot. Just a day has passed and we already see signs of improvement. Both dogs are actually listening to our commands and there is a much safer and confident atmosphere for all of us. I highly recommend Tommy and look forward to working with him in the future. More...
Reviewed on Facebook
Christine Venezia
I highly recommend Tommy. My boyfriend and I adopted a pitbull mix and we were having some issues with him around food and walking. We saw a difference immediately within our first lesson! Tommy doesn't use any pain or force in his techniques, but showed us how to take control of our house using only body language and sounds. We are able to have calm walks now. More...
Reviewed on Facebook
What do you love most about your job?
Helping dogs by helping their owners through education and simple exercises that the dog can understand.
What inspired you to start your own business?
After rescuing my pitbull, I started learning about dog behavior and how dogs work in nature. Tired of sitting at an office desk unfulfilled, I decided to follow up on a lead about working for Bark Busters from a woman whose dog I was helping to train. For me, there is no greater satisfaction than helping a dog be understood and helping their owner have a dog that no longer misbehaves! Nothing makes me happier than seeing an owner happy with their dog.
Home Dog Training
I will train you to communicate with your dog in a unique method that doesn't involve treats or painful collars.
