Dog Training in New York City, NY

If your dog's reputation in the building was made in the elevator, if he barks at the neighbor's dog in the car or braces in the hallway and refuses to get in, if he lunges under the sidewalk shed where there is one lane for everybody, or if off-leash hours in the park have become something you dread, you have a New York City dog. There is no version of this that gets solved by more exercise.

A city dog has no exit, ever: not in the elevator, not under the shed, not in a studio with the neighbor's footsteps on the other side of the wall. Every standard piece of advice assumes he can be moved away from what bothers him, and he cannot. What works instead is a dog who does not need to be moved, because the person beside him is handling it. Shawn Hines has spent more than thirty years training dogs and more than fifteen running Best Buddy Dog Training, and that dog is what he builds with New York owners.

Dog Training Problems We See in New York City

The hardest twenty seconds

The elevator: a small box, strangers at close range, and your own tension, which he reads immediately. The dog you want walks in behind you, stands in the corner, lets the doors open on four floors without moving, and steps out when you do.

The sidewalk shed

Twelve feet of sidewalk becomes four, and there is no lane to move into when another dog comes through. A dog who respects the person on the leash holds position and lets the other dog pass.

The letter from the board

Barking through the wall at hallway noise is the complaint that starts the clock. It changes quickly once the dog knows the hallway is not his job.

Before nine in the park

Off-leash hours are a privilege that depends on a recall that works around forty other dogs. That recall is built on a leash, under distraction, before it is ever trusted on the Great Lawn.

The Dogs in the Pictures

The dogs in the photographs and videos on this site are Shawn's own students. 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 the proof, for anyone who wants it first.

In-Home Dog Training in New York City, NY

The program in New York City is four private in-home sessions in your apartment, your hallway, your elevator and on your block, when in-home is the route, and Shawn uses them to teach you, and anyone else who handles the dog, how to train him yourselves. Your dog and your family get a plan of their own. Follow-up by phone and video does not end, and does not cost extra, as many as five dogs under one roof are included in the one price, and there are no surprises afterward; further sessions are included when you have followed the plan. That comes to $2,500 in New York.

Why Most City Owners Choose Board-and-Train

For most Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens owners the practical route is board-and-train: the dog gets weeks of concentrated public exposure that a busy household cannot replicate, then comes home to three reintegration sessions in your own building and neighborhood, which is exactly why they happen at your home and not Shawn's. In-home sessions can be arranged, and some owners prefer them; Shawn will tell you honestly on the phone which makes more sense for your dog and your building.

Board-and-Train

There are dogs for whom the answer is weeks, not hours. Board and train is four to six weeks in which the dog lives with Shawn, runs with his pack and works every day in public places. It is the program for aggression, resource guarding, severe reactivity, chronic anxiety and the dog other trainers have handed back. The pickup and the delivery are Shawn's own, and afterward three reintegration sessions at your house transfer the obedience to you, with lifetime support. It is priced for the dog, $2,500 to $5,000, and the number is settled on the consultation call.

New York City Owners Ask

Will training somewhere else transfer to a Manhattan sidewalk?
That is what the reintegration sessions are for. Board and train builds the obedience; the last step puts it in your hands, in your building, on your block.

My building has issued a complaint. How fast can this move?
Say so when you call. Barking and door-charging respond quickly, and Shawn will tell you honestly whether in-home or board-and-train is the realistic answer to your timeline.

Can you work with a dog in a small apartment?
Yes. Space is rarely the limiting factor; structure is. Some of the best-behaved dogs Shawn has worked with live in studios.

Call Shawn

Everything starts at (401) 536-7982. It costs nothing and Shawn is the one who answers; there is no script. Tell him about the dog and he will tell you, plainly, what he would do and what it costs. Call between 8am and 6pm on weekdays or 9am and 5pm on Saturday, or leave a message any time.

Who you are to your dog is EVERYTHING

Shawn Hines
Dog Trainer, Best Buddy Dog Training