Dog Training in Narragansett, RI

If your dog is a different animal from June to September, towing you along the seawall past the strollers and the other dogs, or if he is loose on the beach all winter and comes back when he is good and ready, you have a Narragansett dog. The summer did not create the problem. It only shows it.

The dog you walk in January is the same dog you walk in July; there is simply less to pull toward in January. What a crowded seawall reveals is that he has never actually been following you, and no amount of food or voltage will make him start. He follows a person he trusts and respects, and the work is becoming that person. Shawn Hines has spent more than thirty years training dogs and more than fifteen running Best Buddy Dog Training, and he teaches Narragansett owners how to do it, in the quiet months and the busy ones.

Dog Training Problems We See in Narragansett

The seawall in July

A dog who walks nicely in April and tows you through the summer crowd was leading the walk in April too. A dog who is with you because you are there walks the Pier the same way in both months, and the crowd is not his to manage.

Summer guests

A rental with the door open all day and a new set of visitors every week gives a dog a great many people to jump on. A trained dog goes to his spot while the door opens and leaves the guest alone until you say otherwise.

The off-season beach

A winter of loose running with no recall is a habit waiting to be tested. The recall that holds when the kite goes up was built on a leash, under distraction, long before the beach filled.

The Dogs in the Pictures

Every dog pictured or filmed on this site is a dog Shawn trained or is training. Every dog is one Shawn trained or is training, shown off-leash, around strangers and other animals, with nothing bribing or buzzing him. If you would rather see the results than read about them, the videos and the success stories are the place.

In-Home Dog Training in Narragansett, RI

The program in Narragansett is four private in-home sessions at your home and in the places you take your dog, and they exist to teach you to train your dog, not to train him for you. Lifetime follow-up by phone and video is included at no extra cost; one fee covers the whole household, up to five dogs, and there are no surprises afterward; further sessions are included when you have followed the plan. Shawn draws up the plan for your dog and your household in particular. That comes to $2,000 in Rhode Island.

Board-and-Train

Some dogs need more than visits can give them. Board and train is a four-to-six-week stay with Shawn and his pack, training every day where the distractions are. Shawn drives the dog both ways, then returns three times for reintegration sessions in your house, and the follow-up after that has no end date. It is the answer for aggression, resource guarding, serious leash reactivity, chronic anxiety, and the dog who has already failed a program. Tuition is between $2,500 and $5,000, depending on what the dog needs, and is fixed on the phone.

Narragansett Owners Ask

He is only bad in the summer. Can we wait?
The dog is the same in January; there is just less to react to. Winter is the easier time to fix it.

He has lunged at a child on the beach.
Describe the incident exactly as it happened on the phone. Near-misses often point toward board-and-train.

We are only here seasonally.
Lifetime follow-up by phone and video goes wherever you do.

Call Shawn

The consultation is a phone call: (401) 536-7982. Shawn answers his own phone, the consultation is free, and there is no script. Describe the dog and you will get a plain answer about approach and price. Hours are 8am to 6pm on weekdays and 9am to 5pm on Saturday; after that, leave a message.

Who you are to your dog is EVERYTHING

Shawn Hines
Dog Trainer, Best Buddy Dog Training