If your dog has acres to run and no idea what his name means past the stone wall, loses his mind at the door, or has growled at someone over a bowl, you have a North Andover dog. Room and quiet make for a dog with a great deal of freedom and very little practice listening.
By the time you need him to defer to you, a car in the driveway or a coyote at dusk, he already has months of evidence that he handles these things himself. He is not being stubborn when he ignores you; he is being consistent. Changing that means becoming the person he checks with before he acts, and that is a relationship built in the places where he currently acts alone. Shawn Hines has spent more than thirty years training dogs and more than fifteen running Best Buddy Dog Training, and he teaches North Andover owners how to build it.
North Andover, as the Dog Sees It
Dog Training Problems We See in North Andover
The coyote at dusk
A dog who has handled the yard alone for a year does not suddenly consult you when a coyote appears. The dog you want looks at you first, and that habit is built on a leash, with distractions, long before dusk.
The bowl
Growling over food or the couch is the clearest sign a dog has taken charge of things he was never given, and the one owners most hesitate to mention. Mention it on the phone. It is a large part of what Shawn works with.
The lake and Weir Hill
Open ground is where a habit gets mistaken for a recall. The real recall was built on a long line around other dogs and deer, and it holds because you matter more than they do.
The Dogs in the Pictures
None of the dogs on this site are models or stock. They are dogs Shawn trained or is training, shown doing what trained dogs do, and nobody is holding food off camera or a remote in a pocket. Before you call, the videos and the success stories will show you what the training produces.
In-Home Dog Training in North Andover, MA
In-home training in North Andover runs four private in-home sessions at your home and in the places you take your dog, and they are lessons for you as much as for the dog: Shawn teaches you to train him, so what you build is yours. Your dog and your family get a plan of their own. Follow-up by phone and video lasts for the life of the dog at no additional charge, the single price covers as many as five dogs in the house, and that is the whole cost; additional sessions are included when the plan has been followed. The price in Massachusetts is $2,250.
We were so pleased with the strategies and tactics Shawn showed us.
Board-and-Train
There is a longer program for the harder dog. In board-and-train the dog lives with Shawn and his pack for four to six weeks and goes to work every day in stores, parks and on sidewalks. Pickup and delivery are handled by Shawn, not a driver, then teaches you to carry it on over three reintegration sessions at your home, with support for life. The dogs who need it are the aggressive, the guarding, the severely reactive, the anxious and the ones who have bitten. It runs $2,500 to $5,000 depending on the dog, agreed on the phone before anything is booked.
North Andover Owners Ask
He has never been on a leash in his life.
Then that is the starting point. Off-leash reliability is built on a leash first.
What happens if we need more sessions?
If you have followed the plan, they are included.
Do we need a yard?
No. Some of the best-behaved dogs Shawn has worked with live in apartments.
Call Shawn
The number is (401) 536-7982. It is a free conversation with Shawn, not a pitch. Tell him about the dog, and he will tell you, plainly, what he would do and what it costs. He is on the phone Monday to Friday from 8 to 6 and Saturday from 9 to 5, and he returns messages.
Who you are to your dog is EVERYTHING
Shawn Hines
Dog Trainer, Best Buddy Dog Training
No charge, no obligation.