Ian Dunbar Quotes

You have to train a dog to think.

Though each trainer believes his or her method is best, I don't think it matters which method the pet owner adopts so long as that owner finds a capable mentor and sticks with the training. Eventually you will learn to see your dog, and when that happens, the richness of your and your dog's lives will tell you what to do next.

Training a dog, to me, is on a par with learning to dance with my wife or teaching my son to ski. These are fun things we do together. If anyone even talks about dominating the dog or hurting him or fighting him or punishing him, don't go there.

Owners sometimes think their dogs have already suffered so much that they couldn't possibly inflict any more criticism. Yet it's that very firm, effective training that would make those dogs happier and more secure.

You don't train a dog in a training hall, jerking his neck or even giving him food treats. You train him using life rewards.

This system of encouragement proves serviceable as a preventive of punishment, the attainment of the tickets being a reward, the forfeiture of them the reverse; and, as such, boys seem often more affected by their loss than by coercion.

Training a puppy is like raising a child. Every single interaction is a training opportunity.

Many dogs grow up without rules or boundaries. They need exercise, discipline and affection in that order.

Aggression is not a breed thing. It's a state of mind, and it comes from how the human is with the dog. There are four levels of energy, regardless of the breed: low, medium, high, very high. The idea is to get a dog in your same level or lower than you.

The basic idea that incentives can be used to motivate behavior is a powerful one. It works for employees, and it has a clear place in parenting, as anyone who has tried to potty-train a recalcitrant toddler with sticker rewards knows.

It's natural canine behavior to chew on all sorts of things, roll in other animals' droppings, hump and fight other dogs, menace anything that invades the home. All these behaviors can be curbed, but that takes a lot of work. Trainers say it requires nearly 2,000 repetitions of a behavior for a dog to completely absorb it.

All we can do is apply the physical stimuli which we have at our disposal to bring about a change of mind in these recalcitrant persons. Of this you may be sure: we shall continue to operate on the Italian donkey at both ends, with a carrot and a stick.

I took obedience, agility, and shepherding with my dog.

A cat you train with clicker training and what you've got to do is pair the click with a food reward. And he's doing the stuff because you get a food reward. Once you can do it all after a lot training with no food reward.

Give your dog something to do before you share food, water, toys or affection. This way the dog earns his treat. For example, have him or her perform the "sit" or "down" command.

Years of research in psychology has shown that rewards and punishments can be very effective in changing behavior. But, at the same time, they can create an addiction to rewards and punishments.

The pack is very important for a dog. Once you give him the right pack and the right energy, you look at him.

Typically, if you reward something, you get more of it. You punish something, you get less of it. And our businesses have been built for the last 150 years very much on that kind of motivational scheme.

Anything that can create balance in dogs is great. If veterinarians can give you the solution and give you why this is causing the behavior, of course. Anything that is good for an animal, let's do it.

People teach their dogs to sit; it's a trick. I've been sitting my whole life, and a dog has never looked at me as though he thought I was tricky.

Owners lavish love on their pets, which is why so many go from non-aggressive pups to being out of control when they're older. People just don't realise their dog must respect them as leader of the pack.

Properly used, positive reinforcement is extremely powerful.

Do not wave stick when trying to catch dog.

I believe a calm dog is a happy, obedient dog that won't get into trouble.

We are human beings. We operate from wanting to be rewarded.