SIRIUS® Puppy & Dog Training

28/08/2024

Hello Hu***ng — The Sequel

14/08/2024

Luring ROCKS! There's no quicker way. (Puppy 1: Session 1) So quick and so easy, BUT WHAT is the BIG mistake that nearly everyone makes when luring with food or toys.

27/06/2024

Rather than bore you with lengthy posts, just check out my eight latest blogs on the Dunbar Academy website, where I have gone into these concepts in much more detail, For example,
https://www.dunbaracademy.com/pages/dog-blog-non-aversive-punishment
5.13 Another Dog Training Revolution
5.24 Dog Training is NOT Rocket Science, But it should be Science
5.27 Dog Training is at a Loss for Words
5.29 Defining and Quantifying Doig Training.
5.31 (Jamie's birthday) So Your Dog Understands "Sit"?
6.3 NON-Aversive "Punishment"?
6.5 Easy, Quick, and Effective Dog Training.
6.7 TINA: Totally invasive; NON-Aversive
Yes, I was working while in the UK for three weeks! Enjoy.

26/06/2024

TINA — the New LIMA: Totally Invasive; NON-Aversive. Check out my Dunbar Academy blog (Since 2007). I have always thought that 'Minimally Aversive' was a cop out. Good to see that things are changing. However, I so want to see routine objective evaluation of the EFFECT of Training: Did it work? How well? and How quickly? rather than subjective views regarding the NATURE of Training — the Nice/Nasty debate that has cleaved the profession into two opposing factions. We're all trying to do the same job and we were more effective when we helped each other learn and work together like we did in the 90s. Remember, rewards, punishments, and training are all defined by their EFFECT on behaviour and not by their NATURE, i.e., whether they are pleasant or unpleasant. Also, I don't think that 'invasiveness' of training (education and companionship) is necessarily a bad thing. I always want to intrude into my dog's brain to better understand their feelings, preferences, emotions, and motives. just as much as I relish my dogs 'intruding' in my brain, and remaining there long after they've died. Kind of like a doggy Vulcan mind-meld. We need more togetherness, not less.

25/06/2024

The last month has been BLUR! Three weeks in the UK. First in London with Jamie and family. Stayed in the City of London — well placed for walking (over 50 miles in five days), Thames river boat taxi to Greenwich, Changing of the guard at Buck Pal, three Museums and three Galleries, Tower of London, Fish & Chips, Covent Garden, Curry on Brick Lane, Hamley's on Regent Street, watching the Champions League Final at the Albion, pasties and pork pies. Then to the farm in Hertfordshire for a camp fire in the wood, Ashridge Forest, Harry Potter Experience, Burnham Beeches, and Windsor. Mimi flew home, Jamie and family flew to Croatia, and I went to stay with my sister in Llanarthne (Wales): Laugharne (Dylan Thomas Boathouse and castle) and Aberglasney Gardens. Then to the New Forest for a few days - the Land where the Animals Roam Free and finally, back to the farm to watch hours of cricket and visit the local - the Crown & Sceptre. Since I've been back, I've been blogging up a storm on Dunbar Academy. Phew! Looking forward to going back to England to have a relaxing two weeks, giving 7 seminars and celebrating my sister's birthday. The photo was actually taken in St Louis MO (I think), outside a speakeasy-style cigar bar.

30/05/2024

Just posted another blog at DunbarAcademy Re: Words Matter. Teaching ESL is essential for giving clear instructions, providing verbal guidance when dogs err, and PRAISING, PRAISING, PRAISING when they do a stellar job.

26/05/2024

Without quantification, dog training will never evolve as a science but will remain only an enjoyable pastime.

21/05/2024

When I look back on my 50-years in dogs, I thrill at the golden years ('82 to '05) and the joy of watching dogs learning at the speed of a whippet in off-leash puppy and adult dog classes and workshops, heeling on sidewalks, walking off-leash on trails, excelling in obedience competitions and working trials, demoing on stage and lying beside attendees at dog conferences, and frolicking in pop-up play-training sessions in dog parks, and K9 Games® events. I feel that we need to return to that time of quick and easy, highly effective, fun and games, from-the-dog's-point-of-view, results-based, off-leash, lure-reward dog training, that made teaching dogs ESL (English as a Second Language) a priority. (Photo: K9GAMES @ Hotel Woof, Japan, July 2010

21/05/2024

I have been blogging intermittently on DogStarDaily since 2007. Last week we moved a bunch of the blogs to DunbarAcademy.com. I've realized that I need to start over and re-do what I did in 1982: Re-popularize the natural way of training dogs. Simply put, off-leash, lure-reward training is the easiest, quickest and most effective reward-training technique for teaching cued-responses, i.e., teaching dogs ESL — English (or Spanish, or Japanese) as a Second Language, so we may give clear (understandable) instructions from the outset, oodles of praise for a good job well done (or still in progress), and especially, precise verbal guidance when dogs err, e.g., Sit, Settle, Shush, Steady, Tranquillo, or Watch, etc. Verbal guidance transcends any aversive technique. When working as intended, aversive punishment merely inhibits targeted behaviors, whereas verbal instruction decreases and eliminates undesirable behavior by getting the dog back on track, i.e., doing exactly what we would like them to do. We need to bring our voice back to dog training.
https://www.dunbaracademy.com/pages/blog

Another Dog Training Revolution Yesterday, I realized that today, I need to start over and re-do what I did in 1982 — re-popularize the natural way of training dogs — off-leash, lure-reward training — the quickest, easiest, and most effective reward-training method for teaching cued-behaviors,...

27/03/2024

Off to Sugar Bowl on Sunday to ski with Jamie and family. My lift tickets are only $59 a day! Apparently, I am a Super Senior. Damn, I would be willing to pay the full $60. Then on Wednesday, Mexico here I come! 85 degrees (F) in Ajijic.

27/03/2024

On Sunday, I reunited with Cash and Jambo during a fundraiser for Next Step Service Dogs at All Points Brewery in Riverside. Cash may have advertise an Uncontrollable Licker but Jambo won the contest for endurance.

20/03/2024

Driving down to San Diego tomorrow as part of my official capacity for Next Step Service Dogs (delivering Billie Labrador). Giving a talk for San Diego Humane staff on Friday and two talks on Saturday: a day-seminar about totally NON-aversive punishment and mind-melding with dogs (as in TINA, the new LIMA — Totally Invasive and Non-Aversive) for dog trainers and insatiably curious doggy people and then, an evening-talk about the audience's most pressing issues. Both are fundraisers for San Diego Humane and Next Step Service Dogs. Looking forward to seeing a bunch of you. Cheers, ian

18/03/2024

The second surprise to start my day:
I had to drive to Marin to pick up some copies of my new book for the San Diego seminar this weekend and learned that Barking Up the Right Tree 'sold out' before it was even released and so, they had to do a second printing. Whoooopeeeee!

11/03/2024

Happy Monday Morning Woofs.
I cold-turkeyed from the seminar trail in 2015 but... recently, I have been toying with the idea of scheduling three or four seminars this year that follow on from the concepts in my latest book — to quickly and effectively resolve misbehavior and non-compliance using a gorgeous array of non-aversive means. No firm plans as yet vis a vis dates or locations but I have decided to organize one seminar-day in San Diego, with all of the proceeds donated to Next Step Service Dogs and the San Diego Humane Society — a 6-hour seminar for dog trainers and insatiably curious doggy people and an evening talk for dog owners. I'll see how it feels to be back in the 'seminar-saddle' once more. Watch this space! Cheers, ian

02/02/2024

Just in case some of you missed my what-was-suposed-to-be-LIVE interview yesterday with Dogwise, it is now posted on YouTube.

Join us for a LIVE Q&A with Dr. Ian Dunbar to discuss his newest book "Barking Up The Right Tree" on Facebook & YouTube on 2.01.24 at 10 am (PST). To order a...

30/01/2024

Dogwise has organized a LIVE Facebook Event to chat about my latest book — Barking Up the Right Tree — that compares the six most common reward-training techniques in terms of their ease, speed, and effectiveness, (given that they are enjoyable for dogs and their people) and suggests a variety of non-aversive alternatives that are altogether more effective than any aversive means intended as punishment.
The interview will go LIVE10:00am this Thursday (1st February), which of celebrates the beginning of the National Train Your Dog 11-Months.
https://fb.me/e/3aDGBs6lk
Looking forward to seeing you there.
Cheers, ian

03/01/2024

As most of you are probably aware, in 1993, I founded The Association of Professional (formerly 'Pet') Dog Trainers and January of course is:
APDT TRAIN YOUR DOG MONTH.
My ultimate goal has always been: To educate dog owners before they seek help from a trainer by ensuring that every puppy gets the education that they need, and deserve, because every prospective or new puppy owner receives the necessary, time-sensitive, training information before or immediately after they get their puppy. A lofty goal indeed, but with past advances in technology and the availability of eBooks, a goal that is certainly doable.
Free Puppy Training eBooks for One and All
Since their original publication in 1995 (as The New PuppyDog and Raising K9), I have been giving away two of my puppy training books, BEFORE You Get Your Puppy and AFTER You Get Your Puppy, to any puppy owner that requests, but primarily, to dog professionals that routinely see every new puppy owner within a few days of them getting their puppy, namely veterinarians, pet stores, and breeders. I also threw shelters into the mix because, every shelter/rescue dog was once a puppy just begging for an education.
I implore all dog professionals to urge their clients and customers to download the two eBooks from dunbar.info/freepupbooks and then, SHARE THE BOOKS with their family, and doggy friends, neighbors, work colleagues, and maybe clients and customers, urging all of them to SHARE THE BOOKS too.
When people download the books, they find other free offers — the Free Course Collection at DunbarAcademy.com, plus a one-month free subscription to a whole pack of video courses in the Top Dog Academy. Once their free trial expires, many continue to subscribe to continue to watch hundreds of hours of video and audio and digest the oodles of pages of print at their leisure.
Providing free educational information to prospective and new puppy owners is a very doable goal. Please download, save, and SHARE THE BOOKS with all your doggy friends and post the link on social media.