Ian Dunbar's Blog

 There are a couple of mistakes that dog owners frequently make which are simple to fix and have the potential to dramatically improve a dog's behavior. These mistakes are a common cause of dog reactivity, but they're also a part of the reason for all sorts of other doggy problems, as well as lots of problems that have nothing to do with dog training!

The first mistake is taking the good for granted. We talk about this a LOT because this is one of the greatest and most universal human flaws. It's so easy to notice what we don't like, what is upsetting, what is frustrating, what we want to

Tricks and games are some of the best way to motivate Humans to train their Dogs. Plenty of people who shirk their homework and procrastinate "important training" are happy to spend an afternoon perfecting a trick or playing a training game. They can be so much fun, and so motivating, and they are a great way to teach your dog to perform pro-social behaviors on cue, to help put other people and dogs at ease. 

I just shared five of my favorite books for teaching dog tricks on a new website called Shepherd.

Shepherd is making the process of searching for a new book fun. They ask authors like...

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...

(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...

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...

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...

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 —...

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 one is telling them. Consequently, their puppies develop predictable and preventable, relationship-destroying, behavior, temperament and training problems and sadly, many are surrendered to shelters in search of a “second chance”.

DunbarAcademy.com has recently embarked on a new program to educate new puppy owners, so that all puppies get a first chance — an education that they so rightly deserve and so...

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, being trained by their owners, interacting (socializing) with other people, or playing with other puppies as opposed to the percentage of time that puppies were on-leash, while owners sat in chairs listening and watching the instructor lecture, or demonstrate. The results were quite shocking. In all of the classes surveyed, puppies spent 50–75% of the time on-leash! Neither an efficient nor an...

Back in the day, when we used to buy books and DVDs and travel to dog training seminars, workshops and conferences, furthering our education could be pricey. A three-day seminar or five-day conference could easily end up costing $300-$2000, or more. Once you factor in seminar registration, travel, accommodation, shopping and hotel-food costs and time away from family and work, education was expensive, time-consuming, often inconvenient and not that effective — How much information from a one-day seminar was actually retained?

Nowadays, online education is either open-source or very affordable...