Announcing the Dunbar Academy YouTube channel

We're excited to announce that we've launched a new YouTube Channel! It's going to feature videos of all three of the Dunbars dispensing top-notch dog training informaiton and entertainment! Our goal

Quick Tip: Just Stuff It - How to Use Food Stuffed Chew Toys to Solve Home Alone Problems

The easiest and most effective tool in dog training is hands-down, the humble hollow chew toy filled with food. It's so powerful because it trains your dog tirelessly, for hours, without any

Quick Tip: Superfood – What You Should and Should not be Feeding Your Dog

For many dogs, the most important aspect about the food you feed your dog is whether or not you use it in training. If your dog has behavior problems, you can, and should, use their regular food to

The Importance of Early Socialization

Socialization is the process of becoming familiar with all kinds of animals, people, places, and things; as well as learning how to behave in society. All puppies need socialization regardless of

Is Your Aggressive Dog Dangerous? Dr. Dunbar Says, Probably Not

This video clip was taken from the new online seminar by Dr. Ian Dunbar: Dog-Dog Reactivity, only available on the Dunbar Academy. Try your first month for just $1.  Do you have an aggressive dog that...

Stay Proofing

Ian Dunbar

Quick Tip: Superfood – What You Should and Should not be Feeding Your Dog

James Lu Dunbar  |  Thu, 10/25/2018 - 12:23

For many dogs, the most important aspect about the food you feed your dog is whether or not you use it in training. If your dog has behavior problems, you can, and should, use their regular food to help solve those problems.

That's why it's well worth considering a dry kibble that will be convenient to use in training. For many people, if it's not convenient, it's not going to happen, and when you fail to use food in training you really handicap yourself.

Of course, it's also important to look for a dog food with high-quality ingredients and minimal fillers, and there are a couple of brands we

 

Quick Tip: Just Stuff It - How to Use Food Stuffed Chew Toys to Solve Home Alone Problems

James Lu Dunbar  |  Thu, 10/25/2018 - 11:43

The easiest and most effective tool in dog training is hands-down, the humble hollow chew toy filled with food. It's so powerful because it trains your dog tirelessly, for hours, without any supervision. Fill it up and give it to your dog, it's as simple as that. 

It will automatically train your dog to enjoy chewing on their chew toy and to enjoy spending time alone, settling down quietly instead of getting into trouble.

Check out this video to learn more!

 

Quick Tip: Ditch the Dish – The First Step to Resolving Your Dog's Behavior Problems

James Lu Dunbar  |  Mon, 06/18/2018 - 10:29

When it comes to dog training and behavior problems, the number of different solutions are as great and varied as the number of different problems.

But whatever your problem is, there's a good chance that the first step you're going to want to take is getting rid of your dog's food bowl. Feeding your dog form a food bowl really undermines your ability to use food in training, and food, used properly, can make training much, much easier.

To learn more, watch this video:

 

Dunbar Academy Gets a Make-Over

James Lu Dunbar  |  Thu, 06/14/2018 - 12:29

Dunbar Academy is our online dog training and behavior school and presents a more structured and curated learning experience than Dog Star Daily can provide.

But it wasn't always that way. When we started Dunbar Academy a couple of years ago, it primarily consisted of video recording of Ian's many dog behavior seminar and workshops. 

But in the past few months we've totally revamped the website to make it into a very streamlined set of courses that are each tailored to one of several important groups of doggy people: regular pet dog owners, dog trainers and other doggy professionals

 
Dunbar Academy is now on YouTube

Announcing the Dunbar Academy YouTube channel

James Lu Dunbar  |  Wed, 06/13/2018 - 12:05

We're excited to announce that we've launched a new YouTube Channel!

It's going to feature videos of all three of the Dunbars dispensing top-notch dog training informaiton and entertainment! Our goal is to add at least one new video each week and so we've been doing A LOT of filming lately.

We'll feature some of the videos here, on Dog Star Daily as well, but certainly not all of them, so if you don't want to miss any, you should definitely subscribe to the channel on YouTube.

At the moment, we've got three "series" going:

First, there's Mail Bag with Ian, where he answers questions from our...

 
BamBam waits patiently in his crate away from the search area in Nose Work class

Why there is No Nose-to-Nose in Nose Work

Genie Tuttle CP...  |  Thu, 02/01/2018 - 13:24

Group dog training classes are always fun and entertaining in addition to being useful on several different levels. Watching other dog/owner teams work out some of the same issues you are facing is both comforting and educational.

 

For new nose work students one of the first eye-opening things about an official K9 Nose Work ® class (if taught by an instructor certified by the National Association of Canine Scent Work) is that all dogs must be crated or safely secured away from the scent field when it is not their turn to work. The dog that is working, does so with just his owner and the

 
Tags:  nose work crate enrichment Dog Genie

What To Do About Canine Flu: Canine Influenza Type A H3N2 & H3N8

Dr. Ian Dunbar  |  Wed, 01/31/2018 - 13:30

As you probably know, there is currently an outbreak of Dog Flu in the South Bay and more recently, a number of cases have cropped up in other areas around the Bay. All dog owners, including myself, are understandably concerned about what they can do to reduce the likelihood that their dogs will be infected. However, there is no need to panic. Although Canine Influenza, or dog flu, is extremely infectious, it usually causes only mild symptoms for a few days to a couple of weeks and the dogs normally make a full recovery despite treatment. Yes, complications from the flu can occasionally be...

 
Tags:  canine flu dr. ian dunbar vet advice
Dogs having fun doing nose work

Playing with Nose Work

Genie Tuttle CP...  |  Wed, 12/27/2017 - 16:28

We all know that dogs have a superior sense of smell and that smell is arguably one of their strongest senses. Dogs love to read the world using their nose, that’s just how they roll. The activity/sport of nose work isn’t “work” at all for dogs, it’s the love of their life! As a fellow dog-lover you know as well as I do that dogs just want to have fun, so getting to play with their sense of smell is a win/win!

 

If you haven’t heard much about nose work, I encourage you to research it and find a class near you. In brief, dogs learn to reconnect with their natural hunting instinct and find

 
Tags:  #dogs #dogtraining #nosework #doggenie
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Make Muzzle Wearing Fun!

Kelly Gorman Dunbar  |  Mon, 12/18/2017 - 15:05

Muzzles are useful tools in dog training and husbandry. Some people think they look scary and make a dog look mean. Many dogs don't enjoy wearing a muzzle because the only time they've ever had to wear one was when they're feeling stressed out, such as a the vet when injured or some other kind of emergeny or unpleasant situation. Teach your dog to enjoy wearing a muzzle, just in case, before you ever need one. Laz loves his muzzle because it means we are going to either train for his favorite sport, or play ball! 

 
Embedded thumbnail for When Can I Stop Rewarding My Dog?

When Can I Stop Rewarding My Dog?

Kelly Gorman Dunbar  |  Thu, 12/14/2017 - 13:51

“When I can I stop rewarding my dog for doing the correct behavior?” 

This is one of the top three questions I get from my students. Really, what these people are asking is either, “When can I stop training my dog?” or, “When can I start punishing my dog?” 

For some reason, people take offense when they think their dog is doing the “right” thing for a tangible reward, such as a paycheck, rather than for the intrinsic reward of obeying the master! 

It’s frustrating to me that people think of dogs in either a perpetually childish or subservient light, rather than as independent,...

 

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