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
How to Use Food Intelligently in Lure-Reward Dog Training
Based on Dr. Ian Dunbar’s lecture (of the same title). Only available on Dunbar Academy. Try your first month for just $1.
Food is extremely useful when training a dog …
Food is simply unmatched for...
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
Stay Proofing
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
One of the most frustrating aspects of being a dog trainer is not being able to get information across to the people that really need it the most, especially when it comes to dog bite prevention. Or, seeing solid information about dog emotion,stress signals, and body language go in one ear and out the other of the general public. Just five minutes on Facebook speaks volumes. The range of inappropriate and sometimes dangerous videos and pictures of children interacting with dogs being shared by our own friends and relatives tells us that our messages about bite prevention are not reaching the
Over the past 45 years, I have given over 1300 one-day seminars and workshops around the US and worldwide. All in all, a whole lot of fun. But realistically, giving the same seminar over and over in city after city is not an efficient means of information transfer and also, spending nine months of the year in hotels on the seminar trail, albeit enjoyable, was not an efficient use of my time. Fortunately though, the technological age is a game-changer for education. Indeed, Jamie has spent the past three years filming my seminars and now they are all...
There are people who believe that puppy classes are causing an increase in some dog behavior problems? Could there be any truth to this? What is a puppy class for? What makes a puppy class good? What can make a puppy class bad?
K9 Nose Work® for Shelter Dogs – Enrichment for Both Ends of the Leash
by Genie Tuttle, CPDT-KA, CNWI
The thought of visiting an animal shelter, much less regularly volunteering at one is daunting for many animal lovers, especially those of us who sense the animals’ pleas to find a new home as we walk past kennel after kennel of ever hopeful eyes. Up until recently, I was that person during visits to my local shelter, walking around in tears wearing dark sunglasses, while avoiding eye contact with other “two-leggeds”. It felt so overwhelming and hopeless.
It's that time of year isn't it? When people consider having a pup or rescue dog join the family. It always strikes me as unfair when people bring home a new puppy or rescue dog and indulge them in privileges which in the longer term, they don’t actually want them to have. They allow the new dog to get away with certain things, which in time could encourage annoying or sometimes even dangerous behaviour.
When my latest foster arrived, he was shown the rules of the house from the moment he walked through the door. Despite the fact that he was terribly neglected, emaciated and somewhat
We give this question a second attempt, and this time we manage to stay on topic. Is there an increase of dog aggression or just the perception of dog aggression? If aggression is on the rise, how can we address it?
If you're a student of dog training, you're probably well aware of the oft suggested protocol of teaching new behaviors in a low distraction environment and slowly adding in distractions until the behavior becomes reliable. This is, of course, the easiest way for a dog to learn what you'd like them to do and to be able to do that thing regardless of distractions. However, in the real world, distractions happen.
To avoid them completely until the dog is "trained" is simply unrealistic.
In my training classes, there are times when I'm teaching my students how to teach their dogs to be calm and
Coprophagia (the eating of poop) is not pretty, but is there an upside? In this episode we discuss why some dogs eat feces and how you might prevent them from eating feces in the future.
Edward Lee Thorndike showed that behavior is modified by its consequences and in 1905, he published his Law of Effect, basically stating: Any behavior followed by pleasant consequences will increase in frequency and be more likely to occur in the future, whereas any behavior followed by unpleasant consequences will decrease in frequency and be less likely to occur in the future. The notion of binary feedback is the quintessence of learning theory. The Law of Effect was a wonderful start but as theory was put to practice in education and training, something went very wrong along the way. Over...
Living with a reactive dog is a humbling experience on many levels. The understanding of the world that humans gain via language, experience and rational explanations for nearly everything are not part of the reactive dog's natural repertoire. However, we might be more similar at a basic level than we choose to admit. Taking time to shake off the clinical topography and protocols now and then and just reconnecting with how fear really feels can make us better trainers.
One of my dogs, Niki, came to us at 2 years old from the greyhound racing industry where he grew up and raced his entire
