Bark Busters Home Dog Training, North Bay and Sudbury

Meet Lori Johnston, the Bark Busters Dog Trainer Serving North Bay, Sudbury and Parry Sound

When you call Bark Busters for the North Bay area, the trainer who comes to your house is Lori Johnston. She is the new owner and trainer for the Sudbury, North Bay and Parry Sound territory, everything north of Barrie. She has owned the franchise for a year, and for fourteen years before that she worked with the previous owner, training her own dogs, her rescues and her fosters.

Lori is the owner, trainer and behavioural therapist for Bark Busters Sudbury. Before that she spent decades in rescue, working with teams that bring dogs in from remote Northern Ontario communities and fostering medical rehabilitation cases. One client who has known her for years put it simply: she has always been amazing with dogs.

In Home Dog Training in North Bay, Under New Ownership

Bark Busters has been in Sudbury for years, and North Bay used to get a two visit package from there. Lori is changing that. She is in North Bay one or two days a week now, she is a member of the local BNI chapter, and her goal is to make North Bay a full Bark Busters territory of its own, with the complete service rather than a short visit.

That matters if you have read older reviews. Lori took over the franchise in October 2025, so reviews from before then are about the previous owner. If you want to know who you are dealing with now, it is Lori. She answers her own phone, and when you call, you reach her directly.

What to Know Before You Hire a Dog Trainer in North Bay

Here is the thing Lori wishes every dog owner understood: most of the behaviour you hate, you are accidentally rewarding. Take the dog that barks its head off when you walk in the door. If you talk to it, even to tell it to stop, it just got what it wanted. Lori's fix is to walk straight through, no words, no eye contact, until you are sitting down comfortably. Then call the dog over and give it all the love you want. Barking is for a stranger in the yard or a bear in the driveway, not for you coming home.

She will also tell you she does not use shock collars or prong collars. In her words, a prong collar is like getting zapped every time you open your mouth. The Bark Busters harness is nylon straps with a short chain piece. A quick flick makes a zip sound that breaks the dog's focus and brings it back to you. No pain, slack leash, loose body, no physical force.

How Bark Busters Training Works: One Session, Then Support for the Life of Your Dog

Lori comes to your home for the first session, about two to two and a half hours. She assesses your dog where the problems actually happen, shows you what to change, coaches you through the techniques, and leaves you with a written plan. Most owners see a difference in that first session.

After that, the Life Of Dog Support Guarantee kicks in. You are not buying four lessons and then paying again. If you move, get a second dog, or the behaviour comes back, you call Lori and she comes back. She still honours that guarantee for clients who signed up under the previous owner, and she does those visits at no charge.

Aggression, Reactivity and Leash Training That Actually Works on the Street

Lori's favourite kind of case is the dog nobody can walk. Colton and Arla, clients she inherited, had a dog so reactive that they had stopped walking it. Lori came for a refresher, put a Bark Busters harness on, ran the warm up exercises in the yard, and took the dog around the block. Down the street a couple came the other way with a reactive dog of their own. One correction as soon as the dog noticed, and they walked right past with zero issue. A few houses later two dogs were losing their minds in a window. The dog kept going, slack leash, no tension. Colton had been afraid to walk his own dog, and that afternoon he did.

Every Bark Busters trainer is trained and tested on the Stand Rite No Bite system for approaching aggressive situations safely. Reviews back it up: owners of a Cane Corso and a 165 pound dog both describe dogs that responded well to Lori's training.

What Bark Busters Clients Say About Lori

Ask Lori what she would want a review to say and it comes back to communication. Her mission is to help owners understand their dog so they can enjoy a relaxed, happy one. Clients say she is patient, knowledgeable, and a phone call or text away when a question comes up. One owner who has been through several training programs said the one time lifetime fee and the focus on dog language rather than treats is what won her over.

Puppy Training, Barking, Separation Anxiety and Obedience for North Bay, Sudbury and Parry Sound

Lori trains in your home and neighbourhood across North Bay, Sudbury, Parry Sound and the surrounding communities. She takes puppies, seniors, and every breed. The work covers puppy training, separation anxiety, dog aggression, leash pulling, excessive barking, food aggression, jumping on people, multi dog households, and general obedience.

Rescue, Fosters and the Dogs Nobody Else Wants

Lori has a partnership with Pet Save Sudbury, and she works with committed fosters who are willing to put in the work and give their foster dog the best chance of finding a forever home. The training goes with the dog. When it is adopted, Lori gives the new family an overview lesson and support, so everything the dog has learned carries forward in its new home. It helps the ones that were hard to place because of behaviour find a family. When someone calls with an urgent problem and cannot afford training yet, she has been known to send the crate setup video and the PDF anyway. As she puts it, it is more important to help the dog than to get the sale.

What to Expect When You Call Bark Busters in North Bay

You call Lori, tell her what your dog is doing, and book the first session. She comes to your house, works with you and your dog for two hours or more, and you decide from there. Bring nothing but the dog and the problem, and expect to do the homework, because she trains you as much as the dog. Then, for the rest of that dog's life, you have someone to call.