Reviews & Testimonials For Graham Milgrew

Absolutely FANTASTIC. Both Jo & Graham are total experts. They analysed instantly what was going on with Obi's body language and where the root cause of his anxious behaviour was coming from. Jo spent hours at the initial zoom meeting really getting in depth with Obi's history and daily routine. She gave us really useful information about change of diet and other helpful tools to help us progress. Graham came over to our house and spent over two hours working with us and Obi to train us into better routines. Obi struggles with fear of the neighbours children and would growl and bark at them. Within ONE hour of graham working with them, Obi was happily sitting on the sofa with the little girl from next door. We've seen great improvement since then. Haven't stopped telling everyone I know with a dog what a god send these two are!

I had training on my Puppy panic! from Jo and Graham. Their service is exceptional. When they say "We will offer follow up sessions and advice whenever needed" they actually mean it! As a first time dog owner I found it reduced my anxiety a lot to know that I could keep asking questions and get help throughout Piglet's first year and that there would be continuity so I could just listen to one person (or in this case two) who knew what they were talking about. It seems anyone and everyone I came across had an opinion on what I should do with Piglet and they all contradicted each other so I was feeling overwhelmed and guilty before I signed up with Jo and Graham. I'm trained with a science background so I really appreciated having clear explanations from Jo in particular, of why and how the training tips work as this helped me have faith that things would improve - which they did! Piglet has got so much better with toilet training, crate and pen training, sleeping through the night, walking on the lead and recall. I've gone back to Jo and Graham recently only because now he's entering adolescence Piglet has started the typical things (e.g. territorial barking) and they are again being fantastic! The combination of Zoom sessions with Jo and in-person with Graham works really well. We are soon likely to do completely online sessions too with me providing live video of Piglet, which I think will work just as well. They are really flexible with appointment times and always send emails with notes and helpful documents at the end of the session. That means you don't have to scribble down your own notes you can focus entirely on what they're teaching you and you have a good resource to go back to afterwards. I have nothing but praise for this service and have already recommended it to several other new puppy owners in my local park. It is extremely good value for money. If like me you're keen to the 'right' thing by giving your dog the best experience of you as an owner, and you don't want your dog to be a pain to anyone else and you don't know which books/people/free YouTube advice to trust....just call Jo and Graham!

We came to Jo and Graham feeling like we were at the end of our tether with our 8 month old Chow Chow Indiana. She had started out as a very normal happy and playful puppy who loved interacting with new people and was very loving towards us. Then at about 5 months old she started to become very different, wary and aggressive towards new people, which led to her biting on multiple occasions. We were quick to realise that we needed to work on her behaviour immediately, so we sent her away to residential training in Kent, hoping for him to help with her people aggression. However the Trainers uncommunicative style and lack of openness about training methods wasn't suitable for us. Thankfully soon after this we found Jo and Graham at Barkbusters, who were helpful and reassuring with tips and advice even on our first phone call which was just to enquire about their training methods. They have continued to provide advice and information that has helped us in the journey towards sorting Indy's aggression problem. She still has a long way to go, as hers is not a problem that you can fix quickly and overnight, but we are making progress and we are thankful for the support that Jo and Graham have provided. We highly recommend.

Jo and Graham have not only been very helpful but also great fun. They both obviously have a great depth of knowledge and experience and they pass it on in a very clear and easy to understand way. I felt like an experienced dog owner but wanted advice on introducing a puppy to my older dog. Jo not only helped with the transition phase but also taught me a LOT about both the new and the old dogs. My wife and I actually felt empowered after speaking to her. Graham is the one who visits and he also has a lovely manner and a calm, sure way of explaining things. He got INSTANT results with the puppy and in seconds he solved the problem of our old dog pulling on the lead. This has been bothering us for 9 years!!! I can't recommend Jo and Graham enough and we will be continuing to work with them over the coming months/years as I now see how expert advice has improved our relationship with our dogs.

We have been very impressed by Jo & Graham. Jo gave us a thorough virtual interview for our first session to understand our outcomes and to ensure that we had all of the relevant info needed for keeping a puppy happy and healthy. She was able to give us immediate guidance and advice about a number of issues specific to the border collie breed. We have since had two face-to-face sessions with Graham, and on both occasions he was very professional, a good listener and got to work straight away to help Sacha and us with simple and easy to understand techniques. It has been reassuring to understand what we are doing that is effective and what we are doing that is ineffective. We have seen significant improvements in the areas he worked on and so would highly recommend.

Having had dogs all my life as a child and adult... getting new dogs didn't seem such a big deal. Having trained our own dogs I would consider myself an experienced dog handler. We got a puppy first and then a few weeks later got a rescue pup and found ourselves out of Depth, 2 dogs in different rooms one being very aggressive towards the other I didn't know what to do ... thanks to the help and advice from both Jo and Graham... we have 2 very happy dogs

Both Jo and Graham have been extremely supportive in helping us work with our 2 year old Bedlington/Patterdale terrier. We came to them with a number of problems and they listened, offered encouragement and provided us with a wealth of knowledge and practices we have been able to put in place with Loki. With the pandemic we were limited to zoom for our sessions with Jo however this didn't cause a problem, we were still able to work together to confirm Loki had stress and anxiety issues and Jo provided us with various solutions and training to help combat this. We have since had an in person meeting with Graham who also made us feel at ease and provided a number of techniques which we are already seeing results with. Loki has taken to the training very well and we are already seeing a major improvement in his behaviour. I would highly recommend Jo and Graham, we have seen great results and are continuing to work with Loki daily.

Our 3 month old Miniature Long Hair Dachshund puppy Ruben struggles with severe separation anxiety. He would scream so loudly whenever we had to leave him alone in his crate. Our 7 month old Darcy (same breed) didn't have these issues. So we needed to find a way to train him in a way she would find fun to join in too! Jo gave us easy but detailed games to play with both of them to encourage time in the crate. They both enjoyed the games, and while for Ruben it was good training, it was good fun for Darcy also! And it was also a relief being given such precise instructions as it got rid of our worries that we were making mistakes! It has only been 2 weeks but already we are seeing huge improvements with Rubens behaviour. As I type Ruben and Darcy are currently taking an afternoon nap in their crates peacefully while I get jobs done around the house! We are slowly building up to leaving him alone in the house and going out, but with Jo's advice and encouragement we are happy to take each day as it comes!

Our dog Dudley has come such a long way since we first got him back in August. He was a rescue from Romania - completely traumatised and depressed on arrival. I was an experienced dog owner, however, was at a loss as to what to do to help our poor Dudley. He was terrified of everyone and everything, hiding and running away from us. It was very upsetting to see him so unhappy. Thankfully, after the invaluable help and advice Jo provided, a bit of time and lots of patients Dudley is now a very loving well-adjusted pet. I'm so pleased with his progress, his personality has come out and we have now met our real dog - cheeky and playful! We are now able to enjoy our Dudley, but most importantly, he is now enjoying himself!

From scared little pup to confident young dog! We first called on Jo and Graham's expertise when Ochre was only 9 weeks old and we had just got her from the breeder and noticed she was a very scared little dog who'd freeze, hide or back away from strangers. We had to do a lot of work with her following the advice from these skilled trainers and over time she's become a confident 5 month old dog who's confident enough to walk through busy Paris Montmartre streets, who can be taken through busy markets and restaurants and will become friends with people a few minutes after meeting them. She is still a little shy deep down, but we now know that we've been given the tools to enable her to live her life stress-free. Thanks to these trainers' help, we've taken steps to ensure that she was correctly socialised and given confidence in previously stressful situations, and have no fear about what the future holds as we now have a well rounded, appropriately socialised and cared for confident little dog who's got all the support she needs going forward. Jo and Graham have been very available to help guide us along the way, in person, on Zoom, by email, or on the phone and we would highly recommend them for any behavioural issue one may encounter.

Have had one zoom call first and then a visit where Jo brought her dog for my dog to have a play date to see her reaction to other dogs and practice lead training.

Jo Came to see me for my 6 year Shitz shu Poppy. Poppy responded to the calming coat and commands. Jo was very helpful and informative.