Dog Busters

Encinitas, United States

4.9

20 reviews

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Telephone:
+1 760-978-5513
Website:
www.dogbusterssandiego.com
Address:
Encinitas, CA 92007
Encinitas
Nearby public transportation stops & stations:
1.9 miEncinitas
2.2 miSolana Beach
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Today

Today –
Local time (Encinitas) 13:35 Monday, 23 June 2025

Business hours

Monday –
Tuesday –
Wednesday –
Thursday –
Friday –
Saturday –
Sunday –

Description

Specialties

Dog Training (private in home & group classes), Pet Sit & Train programs in your home. I bring «boot camp» to your home where the behaviors can best be solved. Excellent references upon request

History

Established in 2005.

I was brought up on a ranch with many animals and owned horses and worked with other peoples horses as well. My first job was at the Humane society then went to work at a pet boarding facility.

I started at a vet clinic as an assistant in 2000 and also started apprenticeships working under 3 dog trainers with very different styles and philosophies. With years of this type of hands on learning under my belt i also attended K-​9 Companions school of dog training. Graduated top of my class and i am currently certified as a professional dog trainer here in California.

Meet the Business Owner

Cara M.

Business Owner

Are you having issues with your dog that you don‘t know how to fix? Who u gunna call? Dog Busters of course

I am a California Certified professional dog trainer with years of experience and excellent references. I have learned from working under other trainers and by graduating top of my class at k9 companions dog training school/​facility/​bootcamp. I have extensive knowledge of all the different breeds and the common problems associated with each one. I love my job and I‘m committed to helping you have the best relationships possible with your dogs. Give us a call for low cost in-​home consultation+ lesson or to schedule pet-​sit & train. Why hire just a pet-​sitter when a certified trainer can work with your dog every day you‘re away. When you return home I will teach you how to continue to work towards the best relationship possible with your dog. Whatever the issues, large or small, training can make all the difference. Pet sitting without training is also available.

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20 reviews of Dog Busters

No registration required
Place rating: 5
Encinitas, CA
We have had a really great experience with Cara & Dog Busters. She is officially our little pups favorite person. She really took the time to train not only Disco (our dog) but us as well. We did the package of 4 training sessions, and in addition did the weekend dog sitting/​training and every time Disco was better than the last.
I would highly recommend her to anyone looking to train their new puppy, or old! We brought her in right as we got our little dude and it was the best decision we made. She started slow and he just loves every second with her, even when she’s being tough training him. It’s been a great experience and there is no doubt we will be hiring her again next time we get a puppy.
Place rating: 5
Cardiff-by-the-Sea, CA
Cara is great! I did a bunch of research on a trainer to help me w/​the transition from a 10yr old golden retriever home– to one that now includes an 8wk old golden ret,! Tough job. Or so i thought. Basically i had to take charge’ and be the boss. Fist lesson she had my 10yr old walking great on a loose leash. She taught the dogs to ‘play’ together. Never occurred to me u had to teach that– but these dogs play! All day. Every day. And it always warms my heart to watch! I just had a refresh session w/​my now 7mo pup to walk on a leash like a lady. Just like her big sis– she learned in 1 sesh! She just knows her shit. Shes confident. She understands dog psychology. If u follow through– u will have a super relaxed happy dog=u will b too ;)
Place rating: 5
El Cerrito, CA
It was hard to figure out how to choose a dog trainer to work with us and our beloved dog. Boy, do we feel smart that we chose Cara. What an amazing woman.
She worked magic with our dog, took care of the emerging fear-​aggression that we hired her to fix. And what I really came to admire about her was the way she worked with us the humans in the situation. Being a dog trainer means you are a people trainer, too. And training adults to change their daily interactions with their precious dogs is sensitive business. Cara was clear, focused, and direct, while being respectful and fun. Our dog is happier, we are happier, overall a much better household since Cara came into our lives and did her magic.
Place rating: 5
San Marcos, CA
Cara is an excellent trainer that I highly recommend for both dog training and pet sitting. She stayed at our home for about a week while we were on vacation. She was able to make dramatic change in our 8 year old dog Shelby and helped us greatly with our Golden Retriever puppy Gibson! All of our neighbors mentioned that she spend a lot of time around the neighborhood with both dogs. She is a devoted trainer (she totally understands the psychology of dogs) and AS LONG AS YOU DO WHAT SHE TEACHES YOU you will see great results :) … in other words… if you don’t keep up the training techniques you may as well throw your money in the trash.
Place rating: 5
San Francisco, CA
Cara,
You have changed my life, in just the very first visit. Who would have ever known that was even possible. My amazing puppy was holding me prisoner in my house. You gave me the tools to be set free, and to understand the «language» barrier I don’t think most people even get. I so get it now! She’s even more amazing now, and I didn’t think that was possible. haha
Thank you so much for your help, and I can’t wait for our next session. :)
Bella says thank you too! :)
Cindi
Place rating: 5
Carlsbad, CA
I recently had Cara come to my house because I was having trouble training my 14 week old Morkie. I love him but he was becoming a challenge to crate train and his barking was becoming a bad habit as well. Cara came to my home and accessed the situation and created a schedule/​regimen to correct his behavior. The tools she gave me were extremely helpful and I saw improvements right away. Potty training is a process as well as stopping his barking. It takes time and discipline. I wish I had called her when I first got him because I was a first time dog owner other than family dogs. She checked in on me about or progress and answered any questions and offered further help if necessary and encouraged me that I could fix my potty training issues. The best part is that she comes to your house to be in you and your pet’s environment. I would highly recommend her to anyone needing potty or behavioral training and would use her in the future if other issues arise.
Place rating: 5
Cardiff, CA
Cara came to my house several times to work with my dogs– Bear and Ty. Bear and Ty were my 2 unruly boys, that ruled the house. Cara gave my dogs and myself the tools to help with our issues– barking, pulling on leash and aggression towards other dogs and people on walks. My dogs also liked to dart out the door and run, when it was opened. Since having Cara, my dogs have made big changes. They wait behind the mat, when the front door is opened, and no longerbolt. Bear will even sit outside the front door and wait while I get the paper in the morning. They are both behaved on walks (Ty is still a work in progress, but has improved 200 percent). I recommend Cara to anyone, who needs help with their dogs. She gets to know your dogs, their issues and gives you the tools to make permanent changes. Thanks Cara
Place rating: 5
San Diego, CA
If it was possible to give Cara at Dog Busters more than 5 stars, I would. We were very inexperienced dog owners with a dominant puppy and we would have been a miserable bunch if we didn’t get Cara’s assistance. When I was researching trainers, I didn’t find many others that provide the individual service inside the home. Cara does and for a very reasonable price.
In her very first session she was able to get our puppy to stop chewing slippers and to come when called. I thought it would take weeks to get that accomplished. In the following sessions she gave us a lot of insight, tools, and knowledge to train our puppy into a sweet and lovable member of the family.
I would strongly recommend her services to anyone who wants results and a great relationship with their canine.
Place rating: 5
Cardiff-by-the-Sea, CA
We have a big sweet 2 year old Bernese Mountain Dog that was having some aggression issues. We had been through 2 different trainers already who didn’t make any difference in our dog. But then we hired Cara to help get to the bottom of these issues and as we are expecting a new baby soon wanted to help prepare our dog for the new pack member. Cara was amazing! We saw huge changes in our dog within the first week and after 4 sessions it was like night and day. Our dog used to lose his mind whenever another dog came near our home and now we’ve successfully had several dogs in our home without any issues. He actually listens to our commands and is extremely well behaved. Cara understood exactly what the problems were and gave us the tools and knowledge to fix them. I am so glad that Cara came to the rescue and if any more issues appear I will be calling Cara in a heartbeat!
Place rating: 5
Newport Beach, CA
I bumped into Cara while taking my lab puppy for a walk. It was rather fortuitous since my pup had giardia and couldn’t go to daycare, and we needed to quickly find someone to dog sit while we were at work until she recovered. Cara offered to do both sitting and training, which was great. After just a few minutes she got our pup to stop some bad habits, which was Amazing given my wife and I had spent weeks trying. The pet sitting part was great too, we new that our dog was well taken care of. We would recommend Cara 100 percent!
Place rating: 5
San Diego, CA
Cara has worked wonders with our dogs. We have a Shiba Inu who was totally running the show before working with Cara. She was super stubborn and was developing aggression issues towards other dogs and food. We also foster dogs, and it was becoming dangerous for us to bring other dogs into the house. I found Cara on Unilocal and gave her a call after a horrible day a few weeks back. We had picked up a new foster and our Shiba was repeatedly trying to attack the new foster. Cara gave me free advice over the phone on how to get through the night and then came over the very next day. We have done three sessions with her and 3 weeks later our house is peaceful and our Shiba is like a brand new dog. She no longer pulls on the leash and is very gentle and playful with the foster dog. Cara even brought another dog with her to our last session to teach us how to introduce dogs and bring a new dog into our home. It was amazing to see our Shiba be gentle and welcoming to the new dog. A huge change from a few weeks back! Cara is also extremely nice, funny, and great to work with. I don’t think you can find a better trainer in San Diego.
Place rating: 5
Solana Beach, CA
We hired Cara because we had adopted a new dog from the pound and that dog had food aggression issues. What was amazing is that she didn’t just work on his behavior but helped us to work on our 8 year old doggie who had issues I wasn’t focusing on but that were really becoming problematic. Within three weeks we have two dogs that know what we expect of them and that get to go everywhere with us even though we have two kids (toddlers). When everyone behaves, we all get to have more fun. Thanks to Cara for helping to make that happen.
Place rating: 5
San Diego, CA
Cara did a great job guiding us through some of the doggy issues we were having i.e.: barking, house breaking, basic commands, people aggression). We had tried another trainer before and were skeptical about trying again due to the lack of results. Almost immediately after we had Cara train the dogs we began to see positive results. I would definitely recommend Cara to anyone looking for a great trainer!
Place rating: 5
San Diego, CA
Cara is amazing! Call her today! We went through multiple trainers with little success. Our rescue puppy was dominant with no self confidence. Our puppy was miserable/​full of fear and unsure of everything (animals, people, shadows, sounds, etc.). Within 6 lessons with Cara, our puppy has a totally different state of mind. Cara carefully stepped up each lesson to cause a shift in our puppy’s attitude and behavior. Now our puppy is confident, trusting, loving, happy, and well behaved. Our puppy enjoys going places, getting to know other animals, hanging out with us and having new experiences and we enjoy our puppy.
We are so thankful!
Place rating: 5
San Diego, CA
Cara is amazing! She came to my house and was able to stop my dog’s bad habits and help him overcome his fear of a few things instantly! She stopped him from jumping up on people, bolting out the front door, and pulling on the leash. She was also able to help my dog overcome his fear of going through the dog door and getting in the car. I highly recommend her! My dog and I loved her! Thanks Cara!
Place rating: 5
Carlsbad, CA
To say that Cara made a huge impact on my dogs behavior would be the understatement of the world.
Cara stepped in to do some on-​site training with my 160lb Great Dane while I was traveling. I came home to a happy pup who had matured in just 3 days. I would recommend her to anyone who is looking to regain control of their dog!
Place rating: 5
San Diego, CA
Cara has been a «DOG“send! Our pups, Stunner (6yo) and Bailey (11mo) are American Bulldogs and have picked up in two hours (2 one-​hour sessions within three weekends) a strong, working knowledge of everything from basic commands («sit», the «come» game, «stay») to controlled walks (no leash aggression) and a respect for the doorway (they wait for us to tell them when to enter/​exit, etc. — great for when you keep the door open for groceries, etc.) Only ONCE did they jump to greet her during their first meeting, and not ONCE since have either of them attempted to do the same with anyone in the household or visitors. You can just see the joy on their faces and tails knowing that they are able to be show off their obedience and spend not just QUALITY time with us, but also an abundance in QUANTITY. We can trust them to behave in every situation, whether indoors, outdoors or at the park. Cara also got straight to the point and helped us get MAX training for our money! If we weren’t moving soon, we would certainly continue training and pet sitting with her. Highly Recommended for training!
Place rating: 5
Oceanside, CA
Cara has had 2 meetings with my 4 month old lab and after the first lesson i was AMAZED out how much both me and my puppy learned. She truly has a gift for working with dogs and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend her to anyone looking for someone with incredible knowledge & training of dogs. It is so nice to take my well behaved puppy out on walks or out in public thanks to Cara!
Place rating: 5
Scottsdale, AZ
We just loved Cara! We only had her for four training sessions. I was so surprized in how much Boo learned in that amount of time. I would highly recommend Dog Busters to anyone. Great service.
Place rating: 2
Oceanside, CA
Cara is a great trainer. She has taught our puppy AND US so much. We really appreciate her hard work, experience, and knowledge. I would definitely recommend her in terms of puppy/​dog training.
When it comes to pet sitting… I wouldn’t recommend her. I went on a family vacation for 5 days and came back to a dog covered in spurs, had mounds of eye goop under his eyes, he smelled atrocious, and he had destroyed a kid’s rug and the chicken wire in the backyard, etc. A couple days later my neighbors told me she wasn’t around as much as we had hoped she was. We didn’t expect her to be at the house 24⁄7 or groom our puppy but we did expect her to be here more and take basic care of him. Unfortunately, this experience has left us with a complete lack of desire to continue working with her.