I actually just finished reading his book “After You Get Your Puppy” the night before the seminar. I signed up for the Ian Dunbar lecture because although I had never read one of his books, he had been referenced in many of the dog behavior books I have read.

If I were to pick the most important thing I gleaned from Dr. Dunbar’s lecture I think the it would be how dependent we all are on our dog breeders in New Zealand. It is really up to them whether we start out with a puppy who is socialized with many different people/noises/situations so that they are a behaviorally healthy and confident pup or if we get a puppy that is physically healthy but will be prone to shyness and house soiling! The most important socialization for a puppy happens BEFORE they are 8 weeks old!

It sure would be fantastic if any of the breeders in the Wellington area are interested in this information or already socialize, chew toy and crate train their puppies before 8 weeks old, then I would love to hear from you. I would like to start a  page on my site with a list of conscientious dog breeders, so that when my clients are looking for a puppy I can give them names of breeders that I know will provide them with a puppy that is not only physically healthy but mentally health as well!

Ian Dunbar’s Website

Any time you are working on a specific goal for your dog it is helpful to keep a diary on the subject. That goal may be potty training, diminishing fear reactions, or a click-a-trick journal.

Keeping a journal  keeps you focused on what your dog needs help with and what stage of learning they are at.

Dogs learn in three stages; Introduction, Generalization, and Maintenance.

The Introduction stage is of course, where you first  show the dog what it is you want. This usually involves lots of treat and luring the dog into the position you are looking for through shaping the behavior. You can move on to generalization  when the dog can perform the cue 9/10 times with  no distractions or changes to the environment. During Generalization you start to ask for the behavior in new locations, with small distractions or maybe you cue the behavior while sitting or laying on the floor. The point is, you change 1 thing at a time and teach the dog that the cue hasn’t changed even if the environment has! Once the dog can handle many distractions or changes to the environment you are ready for the the maintenance stage.  During Maintenance you start a variable reinforcement schedule and go back to the cues intermittently to make sure the dog does not forget the cue.

Keeping a journal while training a behavior i a great way to remember what part of which cue you are on, especially if you have more than one dog!

For potty Training the journal can be extremely helpful to remind you when the last time you let the puppy outside for a break. I have found that most dogs potty train very easily and only make mistakes 9/10 times while learning. Unfortunately that 10th time you end up having to clean up a nasty mess. So I recommend to all my clients, to get that last 10%, keep the journal, this keeps fresh in your mind how long the puppy can last before they need to get outside.

As the puppy starts to trust the schedule he will find it a lot easier to “hold it” because he knows that outdoors is coming soon. Puppies who don’t have a set schedule and don’t know when their next break is coming have a much harder time getting into the habit of only going outside.