Dog Training in South Kingstown, RI

South Kingstown is a lot of town: Wakefield and Peace Dale with their Main Street and their sidewalks, Kingston and the university, Matunuck, Green Hill and Snug Harbor on the water, and the farms and woods in between. The dogs range the same way, from a Wakefield dog who walks the bike path every morning to a Green Hill dog who has the beach to himself from October to May. Dog training in South Kingstown is about the dog who is wonderful in one of those places and a problem in the others.

Most of what goes wrong with a dog is not spite and not a bad dog. It is a dog who has decided that his excitement gets to make the decisions, and that habit follows him from the beach to Main Street. A tool can hold a problem in place; it cannot change how your dog sees you, and that is where lasting obedience comes from. Shawn Hines has built it for South County families and for owners across Rhode Island for more than fifteen years.

South Kingstown, Place by Place

East Matunuck and the off-season beach

When the beaches open to dogs for the winter, many South Kingstown dogs get their first real off-leash run on the sand, with gulls, surf, open ground and other dogs doing the same. A recall that has only ever worked in a kitchen is not a recall. The dog who turns away from all of that because you called him, and arrives calm, has learned something real, and the beach is the place to find out whether he has.

The South County Bike Path and the dog who lunges

From Kingston Station down through Peace Dale and Wakefield the path is cyclists, strollers, students and other dogs on the same strip of pavement. One bad meeting, a tighter grip at the next one, and a dog who reads the grip as a warning: a month later a friendly dog is “leash reactive.” He is not asked to befriend the dog coming toward him or to pretend it is not there. He is asked to leave it alone and stay with you, on a loose leash or none, and a dog who respects you does.

Main Street Wakefield and the farmers market

Saturday on Main Street and at the market is tables, strollers, dogs on the wrong length of leash and people stepping out of doorways. The dog who has only ever walked a quiet road in Green Hill leans into the leash toward all of it, and the leash is not the problem; the dog's idea of who leads the walk is. A trained dog walks through the market beside you, or a few feet behind you if you say so, with the leash hanging loose.

The big lot, the woods and the dog who hunts

Out toward the Great Swamp and up the Kingston side the lots get large, the fencing gets invisible and the deer are everywhere. The wire keeps him on the property and says nothing about what you expect there. The dog who drags you down the trail after every rustle has turned the walk into a hunt, and he cannot be asked to stop noticing deer. He can be asked to let them go because the person he answers to said so, and that is the dog we are after.

What a Trained Dog Looks Like

The dogs in the pictures on this page and throughout the site are dogs Shawn has trained or is training, photographed doing what trained dogs do: lying quietly with strangers about, holding a stay beside other dogs and other animals, working off leash with no remote collar and no treat in the picture. None were posed. The videos show it in motion; South County owners describe the result on the success stories page.

In-Home Training in South Kingstown

Shawn comes to the house for four private sessions and works at the door, the property line, the path and the beach; a written plan, lifetime follow-up, one price for up to five dogs and no hidden fees come with it. $2,000 in Rhode Island. The in-home page has the rest; philosophy and benchmarks has what we believe.

Board and Train

Some dogs need the reset that only weeks away can give. Board and train is four to six weeks under Shawn's roof and in his pack, proven in public before he comes home, delivered by Shawn with three reintegration visits and lifetime support. For aggression, guarding, serious reactivity and the dog who has already been through two programs. It costs between $2,500 and $5,000, depending on what the dog needs, and the number is agreed on the call.

South Kingstown Puppies

The beach or the woods and no rules is a pleasant few months and then a hard year. Eight weeks to six months is when the housebreaking schedule, the crate, his name and the door are simple to establish, and when a puppy without a no in his life promotes himself. Start this week.

South Kingstown Owners Ask

He is fine at home. He only acts up in Wakefield.
Nothing is asked of him at home. Main Street asks, and that is where you learn what you actually have.

Our dog is on an invisible fence. Do you want it removed?
No. The wire keeps him home. What he does at home, at the line and at the window, is between him and you, and that is what the sessions are about.

We took a class and nothing stuck.
The class worked in the class. Nothing about it traveled to Main Street, because the thing that travels is your dog's opinion of you, and no class changes that.

Call for a Free Consultation

Call (401) 536-7982 and tell Shawn what the dog does on the path, at the market or on the sand. There is no script and nothing to sign, just a straight answer about whether we can help. The phone is answered weekdays from eight to six and Saturdays nine to five. Miss him and he will ring you back.

Who you are to your dog is EVERYTHING

Shawn Hines
Dog Trainer, Best Buddy Dog Training