Dr. Ian Dunbar

Jamie got married this weekend. Whooooo Hooo! Kelly and I are so happy and we both had the most marvelous time. The wedding was simply wonderful. And so, why am I blogging about this? Well, aside from being happy, happy, happy …  the entire staff of Dog Star Daily was in attendance.  Yes, Kelly and I and of course, our very own VP for Media & Marketing — Jamie. The celebrations lasted for days — from Thursday until Monday and relatives stayed on for days. But now my sister has left for Wales my brother just flew back to England. So, we are utterly exhausted and it is reeeeally difficult to get back to work. But, get back to work we must. We have a two-year US Seminar Tour to plan.

Thanks to the Association of Pet Dog Trainers, January is National Train Your Dog Month .  

We have special days and weeks and months to draw attention to a particular cause that is in dire need for attention. Of course, obviously, Train Your Dog Month should be every month of the year but what puzzles me, is: Why on earth do we feel that we have to draw attention to something as enjoyable and captivating as dog training? Isn’t that like promoting chocolate? Why does dog training need promoting?

Since I have fallen hopelessly behind in my blogging quota, our esteemed editor has asked me to blog-post my last update on my Facebook profile, which turned out to be more of a three-installment blog than a status. Brevity is not my strong suit, that’s why I don’t Tweet!

Here it is...

I recently read — How Puppy Class Almost Ruined My Dad’s New Cattle Dog — written by a veterinarian, who blames Puppy Class (and her Dad) for almost ruining her Dad’s puppy, Lucy. I am worried that the sensational and provocative title along with the tabloid style, (replete with “videotaped evidence”, watching “in horror” and the predictable cliff-hanger ending, “To find out what happened, stay tuned for upcoming blogs”), might lead unsuspecting puppy owners to believe that puppy classes are bad news. Consequently, I have decided to reply at length, so that owners realize why they should never let their puppy miss the opportunity of attending classes.

Recently, I read a blog that upset me — Lunch with Turid Rugas: Am I Driving My Dog Crazy, written by an obviously intelligent and caring dog owner, who blames herself for the unlikely likelihood that she ruined her dog Sadie with too much early socialization. My heart goes out to the author and Sadie and I feel that I must respond in case people misinterpret the facts to mean that early socialization can be damaging.  

This year, I have resumed giving multi-day seminars in the States. During the course of my protracted (ten-year) retirement from the US seminar circuit, I gave my very first last multi-day seminar in Orlando way back in 2001. Between 1998 and 2008, I gave only five multi-day seminars — three of them in Orlando and each one billed as my very last and final US retirement seminar. But now I’m back…

Between1986 and 1997, I gave hundreds of dog behavior and training seminars all over the States and around the world. During that decade, I averaged over 200 nights a year in hotels. The schedule was a bit grueling and my pets at the time, Phoenix, Oso, and Mittens thought I was a stranger.

I find that the non-aversive punishment technique that I described in my last blog works even better if you signal to the dog the relative urgency and importance of your instructions.

Even though efficient and effective feed-back is binary and comprises rewards and punishments, few trainers punish. Some trainers do not want to punish at all because they think that punishments are unpleasant and inhumane and other trainers use aversive stimuli intended as punishment but all too often, ineffective.
 
It is assumed that all punishments are aversive and that all aversive stimuli are punishing. However, neither of these assumptions is true. Once we realize that “punishment” and “aversive” are not necessarily synonymous, we realize we have four combinations.
1. Non-Aversive and Non-Punishing
2. Aversive and Non-Punishing
3. Aversive and Punishing
4. Non-Aversive and Punishing
 

We live with three dogs, Claude, Dune, and Hugo, and two cats, Uggs and Mayhem. Most activities are fairly routine and deviate very little from day to day. For example, each mealtime is a well-rehearsed three-dog, two-cat, three-human performance.

Similarly, the dogs' morning walks usually follow a prescribed schedule — but with one big difference. The dogs are sometimes walked together, but my wife Kelly tries her best to also walk each of the three dogs individually at least once a day. After all, each dog walks differently. The dogs walk at different speeds, for different distances, and have very different interests and abilities while walking.

American Bulldog Dune yearns for really long power walks with occasional short breaks for heavy-duty peeing. For Dune, the purpose of the walk is physical exercise — to move and to move quickly – and to leave reminders for those who come after that he was there first.

“Words can only hurt you if you try to read them.” (Derek Zoolander) Or, of course, if arguing about words detracts from training dogs.

Having researched the development of domestic dog social systems for ten years, I know two things for certain: 1. Dog social structure is pretty darn complicated and 2. Most notions, discussions, and disagreements about the terms: alpha, dominance, hierarchy, rank and aggression are all largely irrelevant when it comes to training dogs. Moreover, moot debate, banter and badinage only delays us from training dogs.