Dog Training in Rye, NY
In-Home & Board and Train

Rye runs on water and season. From May onward the shore end of town fills up - the boardwalk crowds by Playland, the parking lots, Rye Town Park and Oakland Beach. By November the same stretch is empty and windy and belongs to whoever wants to walk it. A dog who is manageable in February and unusable in July has not developed a summer problem. He has been walking in an empty place for nine months and calling it trained.

Best Buddy Dog Training is one trainer, Shawn Hines, over fifteen years in. Relationship-based obedience, and no food anywhere in it - no treats, no lures, no clickers - and no prong collars or e-collars. The thing that changes your dog is who you become to him. There is no collar that does that job for you.

Shawn drives to Westchester. He comes up from Warwick, Rhode Island and works at your house and out on the streets and paths you actually use, because obedience that lives in a training hall is a trick your dog performs in one building.

Where We Work

Central Rye around Purchase Street, Milton Point and the harbor side, Greenhaven, the neighborhoods off the Boston Post Road, and the streets near the Metro-North station. We also cover Rye Brook, Port Chester, Harrison and Mamaroneck. A street or two outside is almost never a problem - call and ask.

The Rye Versions of the Same Problem

A narrow main street and a dog with no margin

Purchase Street on a Saturday gives you sidewalk, storefront and not much else. Owners of reactive dogs get skilled at timing - cross here, duck into a doorway, turn before the corner. That is management, and it works right up until it doesn't. Handling that depends on your reflexes is a job you have given yourself, not something the dog has learned.

Playland season and a dog who cannot cope with volume

Between the boardwalk crowds, strollers, food smells and loose children, the summer end of town is the loudest place a Rye dog goes. A dog who barks and spins there gets called over-excited. He is under-instructed. Excitement fills the space when a dog has no idea what he is meant to be doing.

Waterfront yards, geese, and a recall that has never been tested

Plenty of houses here back onto water or open ground, and a dog with a view of birds spends his day rehearsing the chase. When he finally gets out the gate, he is not disobeying a recall - he is executing something he has practiced daily for a year while you were at work.

Off-leash on the wrong ground

Marshlands Conservancy and the Rye Nature Center are quiet enough that owners start letting the leash go, and the shoreline invites the same. A dog who returns in a quiet place with nothing moving has shown you one thing only: that he is fine when nothing is happening. How to train off leash lays out the order it has to be built in.

Board and Train

Four to six weeks, full time, the dog living with Shawn and training every day in real environments - shops, sidewalks, parks, traffic - never a kennel run. Shawn picks the dog up at your door and delivers him back personally, and three reintegration sessions run at your home afterward. It is built for aggression, resource guarding, severe leash reactivity, chronic anxiety or fearfulness, bite history, and dogs other methods have already failed. Pricing is covered on the call. Details on the board and train] page.

In-Home Dog Training in Rye, NY

• 4 personalized in-home sessions with the head trainer
• A customized obedience and behavior modification plan for your dog
• Lifetime follow-up support by phone and video at no extra charge
• One flat price covering up to five dogs in the same household
• No hidden fees. Follow the plan and any further sessions you need are included

The New York in-home price is $2,500. See in-home dog training, or the New York page for the rest of the county.

Puppies

The best time to sort out a Rye dog is before he has learned the town. A puppy who is taught early what a leash means, what a doorway means and what the word no means will handle the summer boardwalk at a year old without anyone rehearsing it. Pulling is the habit that sets fastest and is easiest to prevent - stop dog pulling on leash explains why.

Questions City Clients Ask

You are based in Rhode Island. Do you really come here?

Yes. For Westchester and the Hudson Valley, Shawn travels to the client and the sessions happen at your home and in your neighborhood. Board and train includes pickup and delivery to your door.

How long before we see something change?

Usually inside the first session or two in the house, because most of what is wrong on the sidewalk starts indoors. The street work takes longer and gets easier as the house settles.

Our dog has snapped at another dog on the street.

Tell Shawn that on the call, honestly and in full. Bite history and serious reactivity are often better served by board and train than by four sessions, and he will say so plainly.

Can we ever walk the shore without bracing for it?

That is the point of the work - not a dog who tolerates the walk, a dog who follows your lead on it. Owners describe how that turned out on testimonials.

Start With a Phone Call

Call (401) 536-7982 for a free consultation about dog training in Rye, NY. You will speak to Shawn, not a salesperson, and nobody will talk you into a program your dog does not need. Office hours are Monday to Friday 8am to 6pm and Saturday 9am to 5pm. There is no training facility - the work happens where your dog lives.