Dog Training in Barrington, RI

Barrington is a town of yards. Most are fenced, many invisibly, and a great many dogs here have never been asked to do anything they did not feel like doing. The streets are quiet, the sidewalks are wide, and there is usually a child in the house who arrived around the same time as the dog. That is why the call about dog training in Barrington often comes around month ten. The dog was easy at first because nothing was ever required of him. Then he reached forty pounds, discovered the front window and the bike path behind the fence, and promoted himself.

Nothing on this page will suggest a new harness, a bag of treats, or a six-week class. Those manage a dog. They do not change who you are to him, and that is the only thing that produces a dog who listens in the kitchen, at the park and off leash. Best Buddy Dog Training is relationship-based dog training in Rhode Island: your dog learns to trust and respect you, and obedience follows from that. Every program is private, built around your dog and your household, and led by Shawn Hines, a trainer with more than 30 years of hands-on experience.

What Barrington Dogs Get Wrong

The invisible fence and the dog who patrols the lawn

Most invisible-fence dogs get worse with passing dogs, not better. Every day he charges the line, the other dog keeps walking, and from his point of view the charging worked. The fence cannot help with that. Its correction is impersonal and teaches the dog nothing about what you want; it is simply an invisible way of keeping him in the yard. What he does inside the yard, at the window and at the line, is still up to you, and a dog who has learned to be peaceful and obedient with you does not need a wire to be peaceful at the property line. You do not have to remove the fence. You do have to be the one he answers to.

The East Bay Bike Path behind your fence

In Barrington the path is not a destination; it is the middle of a residential town. It runs behind back fences, crosses the streets families take to Primrose Hill and the high school, and carries commuters, strollers, scooters and other people's dogs along one strip of pavement. A dog whose yard backs onto it hears all of that every day and is never asked to do anything about it. Then he is walked on it and leans into the leash toward every bit of it. That is not a pulling problem, and no harness will fix it. A dog who decides where the walk goes has decided who is leading it. A well-trained dog should be able to walk beside you on a loose leash or no leash at all, and even walk three to six feet behind you on command, past all of it. Then the path becomes a pleasant place to be with your dog, which is what it was built for.

Small children and the front door

A dog who jumps on guests, strangers, or children is not being “friendly.” He is being disrespectful, and it is dangerous behavior. He has decided how and when contact happens, and because the greeting looks affectionate, nobody has told him otherwise. Holding his collar while guests come in does not change his mind; it only manages him. A well-trained, obedient dog will move and stay away until told otherwise. He will also go to any spot you choose and stay there until released. This is safer with company in the house and children underfoot, and your children can learn to expect that of him as well as you can.

Brickyard Pond, Haines Park and the beach in winter

Both parks draw local dogs, and both produce the same phone call: the leash went slack, the dog went to greet, and the greeting went wrong once. After that the owner tightens up on every approach, the dog reads the tension, and inside a month a friendly dog is “leash reactive.” We do not ask your dog to be “friendly,” and we do not ask him to ignore the other dog. We ask him to leave it alone and keep walking beside you, quietly, which is what a dog who respects you does without being told twice. Then Barrington Beach opens to dogs for the winter, and the question becomes whether he comes when called with gulls and open sand in front of him. Go away from you or anything you choose, stay where told, and come when called: a dog who does those three things reliably has most of what you need, and the beach is where you find out whether he has them.

Results You Can See

Every dog in the photographs on this page, and in every photograph and video on this site, is a dog Shawn has trained or is training now. They are calm, peaceful and obedient around people, including strangers, other dogs, and other animals, on leash and off, without e-collars and without treats. Nobody is holding them still for the camera. That is the standard, and you can watch it on the training videos before you ever pick up the phone. Rhode Island families describe how it turned out on the success stories page.

In-Home Dog Training in Barrington, RI

Four private sessions with Shawn at your home and in your neighborhood, because a dog who behaves in a training hall has learned a training hall. The work happens where the problems happen: the front door, the window, the yard, the street, the path at a busy hour. Most families notice a meaningful improvement in their dog's calmness, obedience and respect by the end of the first session, and the sessions that follow build on it until the dog is reliable in the places you actually go.

You receive a customized obedience and behavior plan for your dog and your household. Lifetime follow-up at no additional charge. One flat price covers up to five dogs in the household, and there are no hidden fees: if you have followed the plan and your dog needs more sessions, they are included.

The Rhode Island in-home dog training program is $2,000. What we believe, and what we expect of a well-trained dog, is on our philosophy and benchmarks page.

Board and Train for the Dog Who Needs More

Some dogs need a fresh start rather than weekly sessions. In our board and train program, your dog lives with Shawn for four to six weeks and joins the pack, training every day in parks, pet-friendly stores, sidewalks and public spaces, so the obedience he comes home with has already been tested in public. Shawn prefers to pick up and deliver your dog himself so he can see the dynamic in your household before the dog leaves it, and three reintegration sessions at your home transfer the leadership to you. Lifetime follow-up support comes with it. It is the right fit for aggression, resource guarding, severe leash reactivity, chronic anxiety, and dogs who have not responded to anything else. Programs are priced for the dog in front of us, typically $2,500 to $5,000, agreed on the phone before anything is booked.

Puppy Training in Barrington

Puppy training is the best money you will ever spend on a dog, and the time to spend it is between eight weeks and six months. Barrington puppies get a great deal of affection and very little structure, which buys a pleasant few months and then a hard year, because a puppy who is never told no learns that he decides. In that window we establish housebreaking on a real schedule, crate time he accepts rather than fights, a name that gets a response the first time, and calm behavior at the front door. The right time to start is right away, and it starts with a phone call.

Common Questions from Barrington

Our dog is on an invisible fence. Do you want it removed?
No. But understand what it does. It keeps him in the yard. It teaches him nothing about what you want.

He only pulls when he sees another dog on the path.
The other dog is not the problem. Pulling is the result of an imbalance in the relationship between the handler and the dog, and the other dog simply brings it out. The leash should be for guidance, not restraint, and when the relationship is right, that is all it is needed for.

We were told a head halter would fix the pulling.
It redirects his head. It does not change his opinion about who is leading the walk.

He is wonderful. He just doesn't listen.
Those are two different things, and the second one is the one we fix. A dog can love you completely and not respect you at all.

Start with a Free Phone Consultation

Call (401) 536-7982 to talk with Shawn about dog training in Barrington, RI. It is a straight conversation about your dog and your household, with nothing to sign and no sales script. Shawn takes calls Monday through Friday, 8am to 6pm, and Saturday, 9am to 5pm. Leave a message otherwise and he will get back to you.

Who you are to your dog is EVERYTHING

Shawn Hines
Dog Trainer, Best Buddy Dog Training