The Dog Way Tualatin, Oregon

In 2005, I boarded my dog at Canine Country in Tualatin, Oregon. The owner, Shawn Riley, told me that, during her stay, my Pit Bull began to act aggressively toward the other dogs (all the dogs are kept in one large enclosure at this place — bad idea). Instead of simply separating her from the others, he opted to use a shock collar on her. This was done without my permission. The shock collar caused a serious injury. When we retrieved our dog from Canine Country, she was bleeding profusely from the puncture wounds caused by the collar’s prongs and required immediate veterinary care. Our vet would later testify that the wounds had gone untreated for too long and had become infected. His assessment was that the collar had been left on for a prolonged period of time, contributing further to the extent of the injuries. Thanks to Shawn Riley, our dog endured unnecessary pain and suffering during her visit to Canine Country. To make matters worse, Riley refused to cover the cost of treating the injuries he inflicted. Fortunately, I prevailed against him in small claims court. And when he failed to pay the judgement, I successfully recovered the funds from his bank. More importantly, our beloved dog eventually healed.

Updated review 3/9/2020: I have known Shawn and "The Dog Way" training for quite some time now and I am truly impressed with him and the heart he puts into his work. When I first met Shawn, I had 2 schnauzers and I brought them both to Canine Country to get help with their barking and not consistently listening to me. After working with Shawn and learning the process that he has developed (The dog way), my boys no longer were barking at people walking by my house and especially no longer barking at the neighbor’s dog. I learned the importance of being clear on what the rules are and making sure we both followed them. Establishing rules and then being consistent with them helped me to have healthy dogs who no longer were anxious and now listened to me. Shawn’s method is about consistency, so it seems simple. However, it is a lot of work from the owners. If you put the work into it, the results are amazing… Now, a few years later, I only have one of my schnauzers, I lost one to cancer. I still bring him to Shawn’s facility and he loves it. He trusts Shawn and always knows what to expect while there and exactly what Shawn expects from him. It is a great opportunity for him to hang out with other dogs in a large outdoor, happy, safe and structured environment where all the dogs are taught and expected to follow the same rules. And it is a very nice change from being inside. Shawn consistently goes above and beyond to make sure the owners and dogs are taken care of. The dogs that visit his facility are not just dogs to him, they are part of his family. He knows each one and their personalities and behaviors and always treats them as if they were his own. If you are in the market for training for you and your dog, I highly recommend calling Shawn and experiencing "The Dog Way"

Owner is a very kind gentleman who to me is great guy to work with animals and has an amazing character. Very nice to have met him. @ Poets Cove Resort & Spa.

I’m sitting here looking at my calm, submissive, affectionate, 23 month old Rottweiler, Ivy. She is a joy now but this wasn’t how I felt about her 19 months ago, before my husband and I took her to Shawn at Canine Country. She is our 4th Rottweiler and by far the most challenging. She was a confident and fearless 10 wk old puppy when we got her from the breeder. She quickly showed signs of aggression, biting us when we tried to take something away from her or make her do ANYTHING she didn’t want to do. I knew I was in over my head with this one. None of my training methods used on my other dogs were remotely effective and she was getting worse by the week. Biting our granddaughter on the thigh when she tried to take a sock out of her mouth was the last straw. As I was picking up the phone to let her breeder know we were sending her back, my husband suggested we take her to Shawn who was highly recommended by our neighbor. My first conversation with Shawn was over the phone. I could sense his passion and conviction for his tried and true philosophy. He spent 20 minutes pouring as much information about this philosophy in my ear like a fire hose. Everything he said made sense as his methods come from the perspective of how dogs learn in the pack. Our brains needed rewiring and I knew he would be a good teacher and coach for us. When we showed up to his beautiful and well maintained facility for our first training he greeted us warmly and sat a while on the tailgate of our SUV while getting to know us and mainly our puppy. Training began with her the moment he took her by the leash. She immediately responded well to his Alphaness. It really took less time to train her than it did us. We needed the most work. When we did things Shawn’s way, establishing our rules and consistently, firmly following through, our relationship with Ivy improved immensely. When we got lazy and fell back into our old ways of dealing with her, we lost her respect for us as leader. Shawn is strong for us because he knows how much we stand to lose and how serious the consequences can be to live with an aggressive, disrespectful dog. He is passionate about helping humans and canines live in harmony together. We gave up on taking our dogs to dog parks to play after a couple of past bad experiences with aggressive dogs. So we are so glad we can safely board Ivy twice a week for the day knowing that Shawn only allows dogs trained by him in the fenced property to roam freely together. They are monitored closely and trained not to bite or growl during play and NO aggressive behavior is tolerated. Ivy loves it and the regular socialization and training has helped her behave well with family and friends dogs who come to our home. As a teacher, I have adopted his philosophy of balancing firmness and authority with love and speaking belief into my students. I have gained more respect than ever from even my most challenging students and there is a great spirit of joy in the classroom as my students are clear about expectations and consequences. None of our previous Rottweilers were as well behaved at such a young age. Ivy is confident and happy. So are we. We highly recommend Shawn to anyone.

I have lived with many animals including dogs throughout my life and have worked with MANY "behaviorists", "Trainers" and care providers. We were fortunate to find Shawn a few years ago and have found a new and improved life with all our dogs. Shawn and his "The Dog Way" training philosophies have guided us to far better, longer lasting and "make sense" results than anything we have ever seen or even heard of. My only wish is that we would have found him sooner. "The Dog way" philosophy is unique and may seem a bit unconventional at first as it did with us but please just be patient because I guarantee soon it will all make more sense than anything you have ever used before. Like Shawn says, our dogs really are the happiest, healthiest (emotionally, mentally and physically) and best behaved dogs you will ever know. AND.....his care facility is by far the best run facility we have ever seen. Whenever we have been there the grounds and home is always extremely well kept, quiet (one of his several safety rules is "no Barking") and is just a really nice place to be. Our dogs have always loved it there and Shawn is always open for questions and some social time as we come and go. Since we have been working with him and "the Dog Way" we have randomly met several other happy clients of his as well as well as our Vet all of which highly recommend Shawn and his unique Canine based philosophies. We have used these same techniques with many of our other animals and in many other aspects of our lives. We cant recommend highly enough..Thank you Shawn, Canine Country & The Dog Way Training!!

While Eddie and I are relatively new students to Canine Country, I am very excited about the progress that Shawn has helped us achieve in such a short time. With over 35 years of training experience, you can be assured that Shawn knows his craft. With proven training techniques, you will see immediate results. Shawn will custom design a program that best fits the needs of you and your dog. And once in the program, Shawn is always available when questions come up. I’m excited to see continued progress from Eddie with Shawn’s help. Canine Country is a fabulous facility for your dog. If you want the best for your pup, this is the place. Shawn has built a fabulous facility. It is spotless and the dogs have a great time here. 5 Stars from me!

My dog loves coming here! She is always so happy and tired when she gets home. It’s a great way for her to socialize with other dogs. The training style works for our dog and our household, we are so thankful.

I'm rating by first impression only. I called to get information. He returned my call, didn't immediately introduce himself as someone from canine country, spoke poorly of his competitors, made ugly (and untrue) accusations about my training methods after I told him my puppy has been having aggression issues, and then he ranted about those methods for about 5 minutes. He then moved on to gloat about his methods. He rambled on about that for awhile. I finally squeezed in a question that he never answered directly. I listened to twenty minutes of rambling. From my point of view, he lacks professionalism and customer service skills. It looks bad when people talk poorly of their competitors and when you gloat about your experience. It looks bad when you don't let a potential customer speak. He should be getting to know our needs and then when the classes start, THAT is when he should let out all of that word vomit.

A well maintained acreage, that offers excellent training and boarding for dogs. The dogs are allowed to roam as a friendly pack in a open park like setting.

I highly recommend Canine Country for both training and boarding. I adopted a dog with a lot of emotional baggage (abused, abandoned 3 times, attacked at least twice-2 Rottweilers and a Pitbull). She had an extreme fear of being abandoned …

Best place ever for your dog!

Sean is an excellent trainer. Our dog is very mindful after his program. And this is a great place to board your dogs.