Dog Training in Warwick, RI

If your dog pulls you around the neighborhood, barks at every dog that passes the fence, jumps on whoever comes to the door, or goes deaf the moment he is off leash at Goddard, you are not alone in Warwick and you do not have to live with it. You may have tried a class or a gadget already. The dog is still running things.

Dogs do not run things out of ambition. They run things because the position is open, and a dog is built to notice an open position and fill it. Once he has, every treat you offer reads as a bribe from a subordinate and every harness as something to lean into. The way out is to take the position back, calmly, and that is a skill, not a product. Shawn Hines has spent more than thirty years training dogs and more than fifteen running Best Buddy Dog Training, and he teaches Warwick owners that skill in their own homes.

Dog Training Problems We See in Warwick

The fence line

A dog who runs the fence barking at every dog and jogger has given himself a job, and he will keep it until someone he respects relieves him. When the yard is yours, he lies on the lawn and lets the street go by.

Goddard and Conimicut

Open ground full of other dogs and geese is where owners find out whether they have a recall or a coincidence. The recall is built on a leash with the distractions right there, and only then does it hold when the geese lift off.

Jumping on company

People call it friendly. It is a dog deciding who enters his house and on what terms, and it is dangerous to a toddler or a grandmother. A trained dog goes to his spot while the door opens and leaves the guest alone until you say otherwise.

The Dogs in the Pictures

There are no stock dogs on this site. Each is a dog Shawn trained, doing what he was asked because he was asked, with no treat waiting and no collar about to buzz. The videos show it and the success stories say it, if you want proof before you pick up the phone.

In-Home Dog Training in Warwick, RI

In Warwick, in-home training means four private in-home sessions with Shawn at your home and in the places you take your dog, and what you take from them is the ability to train your own dog, so the results stay in the house after Shawn leaves. Everything is planned around your dog and the people in your home. You keep phone and video access to Shawn for the dog's whole life at no added cost, one price covers up to five dogs under the same roof, and there is nothing hidden in it; more sessions come with it if you have followed the plan and need them. In Rhode Island, $2,000.

Board-and-Train

Occasionally the right answer is time away from home. Board-and-train is four to six weeks of full-time work, living with Shawn and training every day in busy places rather than a kennel run. It suits aggression, guarding, hard leash reactivity, chronic anxiety, and bite history. Shawn picks up at your door and delivers back to it, then three reintegration visits at your home make the result yours, and follow-up continues for life. Tuition runs $2,500 to $5,000 by the dog and is agreed on the call before booking.

Warwick Owners Ask

He is great with us and terrible with everyone else.
He knows exactly whose word counts. The whole household works from one plan, and the dog gets one set of rules.

He has growled at a child.
Say exactly what happened on the phone so the first visit is planned around it.

Do you use an e-collar?
No. Not in private sessions and not in board-and-train.

Call Shawn

It begins with a phone call: (401) 536-7982. It costs nothing and you will be talking to Shawn. Tell him about the dog and he will tell you, plainly, what he would do and what it costs. Hours are Monday to Friday 8am to 6pm, Saturday 9am to 5pm; after that, a message gets a call back.

Who you are to your dog is EVERYTHING

Shawn Hines
Dog Trainer, Best Buddy Dog Training