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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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!
“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!
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 barks, lunges, snaps, growls, or bites? If so, the next question to ask yourself is: