Dog Training 101 With Dr. Ian Dunbar

Awhile ago, I had mentioned the rift among dog training experts on what  methods are and aren’t appropriate and why. Dr Ian Dunbar explains the meaning of dog-friendly training with a bit of humor. A basic understanding of life from a dog’s perspective is important as it helps you know limits of obedience.  Before we try to teach dogs anything, we need to teach them English as a second language so they better understand what we’re asking for.  And one of my favs, there’s no yelling in dog training. 

(Source: Susan Karim’s Time Management blog, caught my eye via Tweetdeck)

Here’s the low-down on Dr. Dunbar: 

Ian Dunbar, PhD, BVetMed, MRCVS, CPDT is a veterinarian, animal behaviorist, dog trainer, and writer. He received his veterinary degree and a Special Honours degree in Physiology & Biochemistry from the Royal Veterinary College (London University), and a Doctorate in animal behavior from the Psychology Department at the University of California in Berkeley. He spent ten years at Berkeley researching the development of hierarchical social behavior and aggression in domestic dogs.

For seven years Dr. Dunbar ran a behavior clinic specifically for biting dogs. Dr. Dunbar is a member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, the California Veterinary Medical Association, the Sierra Veterinary Medical Association, the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior, and the Association of Pet Dog Trainers.

Credited with many advances in the dog training world over his thirty-some years, Dr. Dunbar uses positive reinforcement as the benchmark for dog trainers, a sea-change from dominance theory principles.

So what methods have you used to train your dog, and what kind of results were achieved?