All Puppies Deserve a FIRST Chance — an EDUCATION!

Owners and their new puppies are still getting the short end of the stick. Dog problems are invariably blamed on “irresponsible dog owners” BUT they are simply at a loss for what to do, and, no...

Dog Owner Education: Factual Learning Online; Hands-On Practice in Training Class

Many years ago, one of my Japanese students conducted a survey of off-leash puppy classes in the SF Bay Area. A basic index that she scored was the percentage of time that puppies were off-leash,...

Puppies and Shelter Dogs: Two Sides of the Same Coin

I am a dog trainer and I lead a double life. Of sorts. Behaviorally speaking. I am the Director of SIRIUS Puppy Training, a San Francisco Bay Area puppy training school. Our mission is to teach new...

Science-Based Dog Training (with Feeling) in 60 seconds!

We are currently running a fun promotion on Dunbar Academy where you can watch one of Ian's all-time greatest seminars for free! With that in mind, we made these three silly little videos where Jamie...

Quick Tip: The Gift of Gab – Maximize the Effectiveness of Your Training by Talking to your Dog!

Your voice is one of the most useful tools you have in dog training. Sadly, it's also one of the most underutilized. Many dog owners don't understand how much they can communicate by using their

Tug Life – How a Love of Tug can Resolve Reactivity (and Hyperactivity!)

FOR A LIMITED TIME Watch the all-new Dunbar Academy Dog-Dog Reactivity webinar for FREE, where Dr. Ian Dunbar explains why teaching your dog to play Tug is one of the smartest things you can do to...
Ian Dunbar

FREE SEMINAR: Science-Based Dog Training (with Feeling)

James Lu Dunbar  |  Tue, 03/03/2020 - 14:38

Science-Based Dog Training (with Feeling) is Dr. Ian Dunbar's ultimate dog training seminar and for a limited time it is available to watch for FREE on Dunbar Academy!

It's a distillation of his entire life's work. He's been studying dogs and dog behavior his whole life, as a farm boy, a veterinarian, an academic researcher, a professional dog trainer, and a trainer of dog trainers, and all of those different roles have provided him with a truly unique and unparalleled perspective on the science of dog training AND the easiest ways to get your dog to do what you want them to do.

Day 1 of

 

Science-Based Dog Training (with Feeling) in 60 seconds!

James Lu Dunbar  |  Thu, 02/27/2020 - 13:49

We are currently running a fun promotion on Dunbar Academy where you can watch one of Ian's all-time greatest seminars for free!

With that in mind, we made these three silly little videos where Jamie attempts to summarize each day of Ian's Science-Based Dog Training (with Feeling) seminar into just 60 seconds! That's a compression factor of x360! 

Day 1 of Science-Based Dog Training (with Feeling) is all about behavior problems, and how to resolve all the common ones, and, even better, how to prevent all of them in puppyhood, and why so few people manage to actually do so.

In addition to...

 

Tug Life – How a Love of Tug can Resolve Reactivity (and Hyperactivity!)

James Lu Dunbar  |  Fri, 02/14/2020 - 09:49

FOR A LIMITED TIME Watch the all-new Dunbar Academy Dog-Dog Reactivity webinar for FREE, where Dr. Ian Dunbar explains why teaching your dog to play Tug is one of the smartest things you can do to resolve dog-dog reactivity.

Teaching your dog to love playing Tug can be incredibly helpful for addressing reactivity and hyperactivity problems. Tug is a game that your dog plays WITH YOU, and it's easy and portable to bring with you anywhere. The beauty of Tug is that it keeps your dog's focus on YOU, which allows you to pull your dog's focus away from anything they might react towards.

If your dog

 

Resolving Dog-Dog Reactivity

Dr. Ian Dunbar  |  Thu, 02/13/2020 - 15:14

FOR A LIMITED TIME Watch the all-new Dunbar Academy Dog-Dog Reactivity webinar for FREE, where Dr. Ian Dunbar explains the common causes of reactivity and how to resolve reactivity using 10 easy and effective exercises. 

Dog-Dog Aggression is really upsetting for dogs and their owners alike — both are excruciatingly stressed but additionally, all too often the stress and anxiety remains a chronic condition because most treatment protocols are so slow. Also, I think many people are scared to attempt quick resolution because of the “aggression” label. However, after carefully analyzing...

 

Teach Tug to Resolve Reactivity - Part 1

Kelly Gorman Dunbar  |  Wed, 02/12/2020 - 10:43

FOR A LIMITED TIME Watch the all-new Dunbar Academy Dog-Dog Reactivity webinar for FREE, where Dr. Ian Dunbar explains how to resolve dog-dog reactivity and why teaching your dog to play Tug is one of the most effective things you can do.

In this video, Kelly works with novice dogs and demonstrates how you can begin teaching tug to a dog. She works with three dogs, starting with a little one-year-old Corgi, then a Poodle puppy and finally Missy, our resident little old lady.

  • The Corgi has never played tug before, but she has played ball, so it's easy to get her started using a ball on a rope.
    • ...
 

Let's Talk Quadrants!

Dr. Ian Dunbar  |  Wed, 12/18/2019 - 14:01

(This post is in reply to a question that caught my fancy on the Top Dog Academy Facebook page, which is available exclusively to members ot the Top Dog Academy on www.dunbaracademy.com)

Hello help me out. 4 quadrants please: Dogs barking - Bark collar activated, but turns off if dog continues to bark. How is that perceived by the dog. Can't be negative reinforcement as you're not taking something away to decrease the behaviour as the behaviour is still happening. If you are taking that unpleasantness away then the fact that the dog is still barking, surely reinforces the barking???

A really...

 

Puppies vs. Adult Dogs and Breeders vs. Shelters/Rescues

Dr. Ian Dunbar  |  Thu, 10/31/2019 - 13:08

I am often asked, (actually, “criticized” and “chastised” might be more accurate terms): 1. Why most of my seminars, articles, books and DVDs focus on puppy raising and training rather than adult dog training? and 2. Why I promote (which I don’t) buying pure-bred puppies from breeders instead of adopting adult mixed-breeds from shelters?

1. Why Puppies? Basically, because every adult dog was once a puppy. More specifically, every adolescent/adult dog with difficult-to-resolve behavior, temperament, or training problem was once a puppy that was literally begging for an education to learn how to...

 

Litter Longevity Index

Dr. Ian Dunbar  |  Tue, 10/22/2019 - 15:27

Breeding for Longevity

Initially, dogs were domesticated and bred as working dogs, for hunting, herding, draft and protection. Later they were bred for competition in their working abilities, plus conformation, obedience, agility, etc. In the past century or so, many of these dogs were invited into our homes as companion dogs.

When breeders selectively breed for work, show or competition, they significantly “cull” the litter by selecting the best puppies (by physical or behavioral phenotype) and offering the rest for sale as pet dogs. In fact, for a long time in the dog world, the term...

 

Eugenics or Dysgenics

Dr. Ian Dunbar  |  Mon, 10/21/2019 - 14:13

Natural Selection is nature's fail-safe method to maintain eugenics (good genes and fine offspring). All dogs are different; individual variation is an inherent characteristic of sexual reproduction. Different dogs fair differently in different situations: those dogs best suited to the immediate environment (the genetically fittest) do well; the less fit do less well; and the unfit usually die. In the wild, the process of natural selection promotes the survival of the fittest and the elimination of nature's mistakes.

Additionally, nature has a wonderful way to promote good breeding —...

 

Dominance and Dogs: Who is the Boss?

Kelly Gorman Dunbar  |  Wed, 09/18/2019 - 12:17

Dogs often act as connectors in society. Upon sharing your life with a dog, you may find yourself talking to more people when you’re out and about at the dog park, cafes, etc, or you may even discover that your dog has helped you make new friends. This is one of the awesome benefits of life with dog. On the other hand, you’ll also be constantly flooded with advice on dog behavior and training from nearly everybody and anybody. This can be annoying at best and downright confusing, too. 

 

I am not quite sure why dog lovers feel the need to share their armchair wisdom with the world,...

 

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