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Ian Dunbar & Me!!

For those of you who are dog lovers and have delved into the world of training (not necessarily professional), you probably know who Dr. Ian Dunbar is.  For those of you who don't, Ian Dunbar has been one of my mentors for a very long time.  Probably over 30 years!  I've based my Puppy Kindergarten course on his teachings from 10 years ago.  It still is a "state of the art" program.  Proven consistently better than all the other programs out there.  Ian Dunbar is definitely one of my dog training Heros! 

I was incredibly lucky to be able to sit in on a seminar he was giving in Calgary these past few days.  April 6-7-8 to be exact.  Not one of those events where there are thousands of seats sold, which Dr. Dunbar is quite capable of filling.  No, it was only open to 100 people.  It was a very intimate seminar with lots of one on one time.  It was very surreal for me.  It would be like going to a cocktail party with Angelina Jolie or (fill in the star of your choice!).  I've been listening to him on radio shows and watching him on videos for so many years, it was hard to believe he was there in real life.  Finally those little nagging questions I've had were all answered!  Nothing major.  I've understood his formula for training for many years.  But it was the little things.  "Why did you change the variable ration schedule to the variable interval schedule part way through the puppy push up learning chain?"  Now I know!  It's these small things that make such a difference when you are teaching your dog.  I've been teaching that method for all these years, but now I understand it FULLY!  (Didn't know dog training was so technical, did ya!)  Although it can sound like gobble-dee-gook, it makes total sense if you look at it through the eyes of a dog.  It's been my job to be the "go between".  I translate all the scientific jargon to pet owners so they can have success with training their dog. 

One of the things that Dr. Dunbar is so emphatic about is early learning for puppies. On the first day of the seminar, it was really cool to find out I was already doing all the things he was teaching about.  It was called:

Wasting Puppyhood — Shelter Dog Manufacturing

How to prevent the many behavior, temperament and training problems that are caused primarily in puppyhood yet are seldom manifested until adolescence and adulthood — housesoiling, destructive chewing, excessive barking, separation anxiety, fearfulness, dog-human and dog-dog aggression, hyperactivity, lack of attention and lack of compliance

I have been doing, for years, what he's teaching now.  Of course I can't take credit for the program, it was borrowed from the Service Dog Program.  I will take credit, for seeing these things are needed way ahead of 99.9% of other breeders.  I attribute that to my education in being a trainer AND a breeder.  I have the best of both worlds!  So now that I've patted myself sufficiently well on the the back, I have a picture to show you.  It's still surreal to me...

Dr. Ian Dunbar & Me!

To find out more about Dr. Ian Dunbar, please go to http://www.dogstardaily.com/    He also stressed that breeders download his book "After You Get Your Puppy" and give it to all their puppy owners.  So here it is.  After You Get Your Puppy  Courtesy of Dr. Ian Dunbar and Guardian Angel Shepherds.  Now it's 156 pages long and I haven't read it.  If you find things in there that you don't agree with or are confusing, let me know.    Enjoy!

Here's an email I received from one of my puppy owners:

Hey Mary Ann,

Thank God for the wonderful re-call you imprinted in the puppies!!!!!

Dugan and I went for our first walk around the block tonight. We’ve been going up and down our street – but tonight was our first foray beyond those limits. Everything was going fine until Dugan stopped dead in his tracks and wouldn’t move. I stood there trying to figure out what he was so scared of because there weren’t any cars or people or dogs or anything around except the sidewalk we were on and a house........and a fire hydrant! He was staring straight at the hydrant with complete fear and although I’d never seen that before, I recognized the fear. I quickly started going back over in my mind everything I’d read about what to do when you see that fear response, but while I was trying to remember what to do (because I knew this was critical) Dugan bolted and managed to pull the lead out of my hands and he started running down the sidewalk away from me. My heart stopped and then I took off after him, but he’s really fast and there was no way I was going to catch him. So I kept calling his name and started running the other way, but I could see that wasn’t going to work. Thank God I had the presence of mind to drop to my hands and knees and start playfully calling, “Puppy, Puppy, Puppy” – he stopped, I called puppy puppy puppy again, and he came running to me. I nearly started crying I was so relieved, and I’m soooooo happy that the response is so deeply imprinted in him that he turned around and came back to me even in his state of panic (and mine). We’ve been practicing it, because we took your warning seriously – and it worked exactly at the time we needed it – so thank you.

We did manage to get past the hydrant. I just waited until he had scoped it out and moved forward gently. By the time we passed it he was fine, no fear for him, although my heart was still beating so fast I could feel it. The rest of the walk was fine. We will be going by that hydrant again tomorrow, but this time I will make sure I have the lead wrapped several times around my hand and now I’m ready for other fear responses.

I hope all is well with you, and thanks again,

Zara (aka Miss White) it means flower in Swahili

Thanks for your support!

I want to thank everyone that wrote and told me how wonderful my video on puppy biting was.  Seems I wasn't as bad as I thought!  So thanks for supporting me and my video experiment.

I just wanted to let you know that I will be away Friday-Sunday at a seminar.  I won't have time to return phone calls or emails but I promise I'll get on it first thing Monday.

Have a good weekend everyone!

What's with the horse videos?

My niece is looking to a buy a new horse and it just so happens that the place she's looking at, that sells Canadian horses, is just a 1/2 hour from me.  And she lives 8 hours by plane away from here.  I told her I'd go look at a few horses for her and send her the videos.  It was just easier to put them up on YT than to email them all.  So that's what's with the horse videos! 

Off to teach my class at the college!  Hope you're having a good day!

My email has been giving me problems the last 2.5 days.  The server is full but I can't figure out how to take the old messages off.  For now, I've increased my data to unlimited so it's back up and working.  I can only imagine the price that will be!  Unfortunately I can't contact the support team by phone, only by email.  Which didn't help me because I couldn't get email!!!  Good grief.  Anyways, for those of you who emailed me and didn't receive an answer, that's why.  Please email again and I promise to get back to you ASAP.

I had a concern from a new puppy owner that his puppy wasn't eating very much.  The pups are going to take up to two weeks to adjust to their new surroundings.  It will probably be much faster than that but you need to give them lots of time.  I have been adding hot water to the pup's meals about 10 minutes before giving it to them.  They seem to enjoy it a lot better.  So give that a try and I'm sure your pup will eat a lot more.

Meet "Baloo"aka Mr. Red!  He looks quite content with his new playmate Mr. Bear.  In reality, he has a bigger friend who's name is "Ursus".  I think Ursus & Baloo will be best friends!

I've put up a video about how to discourage puppy biting.  It's just me, talking to the camera.  It was an experiment.  My conclusion was, I won't be doing that again!  It took about 6 takes and it's really boring to watch!  That's what experiments are for I guess!  The idea was to start making short clips to help people with their day to day lives with their k9 partners.  If I'm going to do that, it's going to have to be a whole lot more interesting!  Practice makes perfect I guess!  Please send suggestions and comments!

New puppy videos being uploaded to You Tube right now! My channel is "k9trainergsd"  Subscribe so you won't miss anything!

Crate training your new puppy

With the puppies going home, I'm getting lots of questions about crate training.  Most people are "for" crate training but there are a few that are defintely against! 

As I was typing this, I noticed I had only one dog at my feet instead of three.  I snuck into the crate area and snapped this picture.  You'll notice that right outside his crate is a soft cedar bed.  Instead he chose to sleep inside the crate with the door open.  It gives them the feeling of security, not imprisonment.

I'm not going to spend a lot of time trying to get people to change their mind.  What I am going to do is list all the positives about crates.  The people who are against crates seem to think of them as cages.  That is extremely far from the truth.  Dogs think of them more like dens!

l.          Housebreaking - an invaluable tool when the pup has to be left alone for a few hours.  Dogs will rarely soil their beds.

2.         Prevents chewing - supply your dog with a stuffed chew toy or equivalent while in his crate and you know that is all that will be devoured when you come back.  Not your couch.

3.         Safe transportation - a crate keeps your dog where he belongs in your vehicle.  Safe for you and him.  It also keeps most of the hair off the seats (which he won't be chewing).  It also prevents him from jumping into the front seat unexpectedly possibly cause an accident.

4.         Hotels - if you plan on taking your pet on holidays with you often hotels will accept dogs in crates but will not accept others.  Think of the damage one dog could do in a strange, unoccupied hotel room while you are out for dinner.

5.         Air travel - if you need to take you dog on an airplane (holidays, moving, breeding, shows) think how much happier he'll be in his familiar bed.

6.         Confinement - if necessary to restrict movement for veterinary purposes (eg. to allow a fracture to heal).  He is already used to his crate and won't fret.

Your puppy has been introduce to sleeping in a crate from the time he was 5 weeks old.  The only difference between your house and mine, is your pup is alone in the crate.  He had littermates here.

 I suggest introducing your puppy to a stuffed chew toy (e.g. kong) outside of the crate.  Make sure it is an especially good treat he's trying for.  Once he really catches on, show him the toy, throw it in the crate, and shut the door.  With your puppy on the OUTSIDE.  When he starts whining and digging at the door to get his treat, let him in.  Close the door behind him but stay near him.  After 20-30 seconds of him chewing his treat, open the door and take away the chew toy and let him come out.  Do this 2 or 3 times, then take the toy away for practice at a later time.  Each time you practice, give the puppy longer and longer to chew the toy inside the crate.  Pretty soon he will associate the crate with something incredibly delicious!  Save that favourite chew toy for times when you must contain him in the crate.  Pretty soon he'll be wishing you'd go somewhere so he can go in his crate!

Good luck!