If your dog lunges at the neighbor in the elevator, hauls you down the stoop and along the sidewalk, barks at every footstep in the hall, or has made the dog run a place you dread, you have a Boston dog. A city gives a dog a great deal to react to and no room at all to do it in.
A Boston dog has to be right in an elevator, a lobby, a brick sidewalk eighteen inches wide and a Green Line car, and nothing about a bigger apartment or a longer walk makes him right in any of them. What does is a dog who, when the doors open on a stranger, looks at you to see what happens next instead of deciding for himself. That is a relationship, not a skill, and it is built at your building. Shawn Hines has spent more than thirty years training dogs and more than fifteen running Best Buddy Dog Training, and he teaches Boston owners how to build it.
Dog Training Problems We See in Boston
The elevator
It is the hardest twenty seconds of a city dog's day: a small box, no exit, strangers at close range, and your own tension, which he reads instantly. The dog you want stands in the corner of the car, waits while the doors open on three floors, and steps out when you do.
The eighteen-inch sidewalk
On the Hill the sidewalks are brick, narrow and full, and a dog who pulls on them pulls you into Charles Street. When the balance between you turns, he walks beside you on a slack leash, and behind you when the sidewalk narrows to one person wide.
The hallway and the wall
Barking at the neighbor's footsteps is a letter from the building, and it is one of the faster things to resolve once the dog understands that the hallway is not his to monitor.
The Common
Every dog on the Hill goes to the Common, and most of them have a habit rather than a recall. The one who turns off two dogs and a goose because you said his name once is the only dog who should be loose there, and he learned it on a leash first.
The Dogs in the Pictures
The dogs in the photographs and videos on this site are Shawn's own students. Each one was trained by Shawn or lives with him now, and you will not find a treat or a remote anywhere in the frame. Look at the videos and read the success stories first if you like; the results are there.
In-Home Dog Training in Boston, MA
Four private sessions with Shawn at your home and in the places you take your dog make up the in-home program in Boston, and they turn you into your dog's trainer, which is the only way the results survive. You get a plan specific to your dog and the people he lives with. Phone and video follow-up comes with it for the dog's lifetime, free of further charge, a household with up to five dogs pays the one price, and the price is the whole price; extra sessions are included for owners who have followed the plan. For Massachusetts owners, the price is $2,250.
... helped me transform Gabby into a confident, trusting and calm dog.
Board-and-Train
Some dogs have gone past what a weekly session can fix. In board-and-train, your dog joins Shawn's pack for four to six weeks and is trained daily in the real world, not a kennel. Shawn does the pickup and the delivery himself, then three sessions at your home to hand over the leadership, and lifetime follow-up. It is the program for aggression, resource guarding, severe reactivity, chronic anxiety, and the dog other trainers have handed back. Depending on what the dog needs, it is $2,500 to $5,000, fixed on the consultation call.
Boston Owners Ask
We are on the twentieth floor with no yard.
Neither are most of the dogs in the videos. Structure matters more than space.
He is fine on the Common and awful in the elevator.
On the Common he can get away from what bothers him. In the elevator he cannot, and nobody has shown him that you handle it.
Can he learn to ride the T calmly?
A dog who can lie down and stay beside you on a sidewalk can do it on a train. It is the same thing, but with more noise.
Call Shawn
Call (401) 536-7982. Shawn takes the call himself, it is free, and there is nothing to sign. Describe what the dog does, and you will get a straight answer about the right program and the price. Phone hours are weekdays 8 to 6 and Saturday 9 to 5, and messages are returned.
Who you are to your dog is EVERYTHING
Shawn Hines
Dog Trainer, Best Buddy Dog Training
No charge, no obligation.