If your dog treats Fresh Pond like a buffet of things to chase, barks at the triple-decker stairwell, drags you down Mass Ave and has made the dog run somewhere you no longer go, you have a Cambridge dog. Dense, busy, full of other dogs, and very little room for a dog who makes his own decisions.
Cambridge is full of well-read owners who have tried the methods in the books, and the methods in the books mostly amount to paying the dog. Paying a dog produces a dog who negotiates. What produces a dog who holds a down on a shared field while forty other dogs run past is something the books rarely mention: a person he defers to without being paid. Shawn Hines has spent more than thirty years training dogs and more than fifteen running Best Buddy Dog Training, and he teaches Cambridge owners how to be that person.
Dog Training Problems We See in Cambridge
The shared field
Fresh Pond and the fields with a closing time are where a habit gets mistaken for a recall. The dog who comes back when the game ends has the habit. The one who turns off a running game because you said his name has the recall, and he built it on a leash first.
The triple-decker
The buzzer, the shared stairs, the neighbor's footsteps. A dog who reports every sound is working a shift nobody assigned. When the shift is yours, he lies down and lets the building go on.
The sidewalk at two feet
Other dogs pass within arm's reach on Mass Ave, and there is nowhere to step aside. A lunge in that spot is an overloaded dog with no one in charge, not a mean one. Walked by someone he respects, he lets the other dog go by.
The café
A dog who can lie quietly under a table outside a café has not learned a café trick. He has learned that you handle the world and he can rest. It is the same thing as the sidewalk, with more smells.
The Dogs in the Pictures
There are no stock dogs on this site. Every one of them was trained by Shawn or is with him now, doing what a trained dog does with no treat in anyone's hand and no e-collar on anyone's neck. The videos and the success stories are there if you want to see the results before you call.
In-Home Dog Training in a Cambridge Apartment
In-home in Cambridge means in the apartment, on the stairs, on your block, and at Fresh Pond, over four private sessions with Shawn. He creates a customized obedience and behavior plan for your dog and for the household, with lifetime follow-up at no additional charge. The price in Massachusetts is $2,250; it covers up to five dogs in the home, and no additional fees apply afterward. What the in-home program involves is on its own page, and the philosophy and benchmarks page explains more about what we expect a trained dog to do.
Board-and-Train
When four visits will not be enough, there is another way. Board-and-train means four to six weeks under Shawn's roof, in his pack, proven in public before the dog comes home. Shawn collects the dog from you and brings him back to you, then returns three times for reintegration sessions in your house, and the follow-up after that has no end date. Aggression, resource guarding, serious reactivity, chronic anxiety, and the dog who has already been through other programs belong here. The dog determines the price, $2,500 to $5,000, and it is agreed on the phone.
Cambridge Owners Ask
We have no yard and three flights of stairs.
Then the stairs and the sidewalk are where the work happens.
He is fine at home and a mess the moment we leave the door.
At home, nothing competes with you for his attention. Outside, everything is. Same dog, harder test.
We have read everything. Why has none of it worked?
Because most of it pays the dog, and a paid dog negotiates. This is a different thing.
Call Shawn
Start with a free call to (401) 536-7982. You get Shawn, not an office, and the conversation is free. Tell him the problem, and he will tell you the plan and the price. He answers weekdays from 8am to 6pm and Saturdays from 9am to 5pm; otherwise leave a message.
Who you are to your dog is EVERYTHING
Shawn Hines
Dog Trainer, Best Buddy Dog Training
No charge, no obligation.