I’ve written recently a fair amount recently about where to get a dog, where not to get a dog, and how much it might cost. The next important step? What to do with a puppy once you’ve gotten one.
On the 30th anniversary of Dunbar’s San Francisco-based Sirius Dog training, graciously discussed the state of the art in dog training in this two-part interview. In part one he emphasizes the crucial importance of early training and the important role that a breeder should play in puppy socialization. In part two, he’ll discuss the nuts-and-bolts of dog training, from his controversial stance on dog dominance to his belief that biting is not only good, it’s essential.
Read and learn.
Allen St. John: Why is training and socializing your dog so important? Can you draw a line between inadequate training and socialization and the problem of homeless dogs in shelters?
Ian Dunbar: The vast majority dogs in shelters are there because of behavior problems.
A family gets a puppy, and they’re all bright eyed and bushy tailed and they’re enthusiastic.
But they don’t realize that at eight weeks, they have a choice between getting a puppy which as been substantially trained as a companion animal. Or just buying livestock.
You can have a puppy with a housetraining program, a chew-toy training program that’s been up and running for four weeks. It knows some manners—come, sit, lie down roll over—and has been heavily socialized with people at the kennel.
Or you can buy a dog that’s been “trained” to urinate and defecate anywhere and everywhere, chew anything and everything, is becoming a recreational barker and becoming fearful of people.
They don’t understand this. They think if they get a purebred dog it will be perfect.
It will be perfect if the breeder has done all these things in the kennel.
ASJ: But most of the time it’s left up to the owner.
ID: The next month in the new home is crucial. They have to make sure this dog does not become a house soiler, a destructive chewer, an excessive barker.
Otherwise what happens is they put the puppy in the yard, and it’s there for a month and a half, until the neighbors complain about the indiscriminate barking.
Then he goes into the garage, which he destroys.
So he goes to a shelter.
He goes into a cage. And eventually a black plastic bag.
That sadly is the story of far too many dogs.
ASJ: That’s a pretty grim scenario. So you believe that those first few weeks of a dog’s life are really that important?
ID: The first three months of a dogs life pretty much determine what it’s going to be. You can teach manners at any point in a dog’s life. You can resolve behavior problems at any point, although it will take longer the older the dog is. But the temperament training, teaching a dog to like people, it has to be done before three months of age or it just ain’t happening.
ASJ: But there’s also been resistance to this kind of early training?
ID: The vets tell the owners not to take the dogs out, and not to take them to puppy class. At one level, that’s wise advice, because you don’t want to expose your puppy to parvo virus, but the vet can also say, “But you must socialize the dog, and you can do it safely at home.” You can do this by inviting people to your house—hundreds of them-- and just have them leave their outdoor shoes outside.
ASJ: One of your famous pieces of advice is to introduce your new puppy to 100 people between eight and 12 weeks of age. I did that with my golden retriever puppy Tessie and at first I thought it was a little nuts…
ID: You probably thought, “I don’t even know 100 people. That’s going to be a drag.” But it’s fun and you got socialized along with the dog.
It’s so easy, you go to the bar and say “I need 10 guys to come home and help me socialize my puppy. Free pizza and beer.” That’s 10 people in one night. And you have a riot. You can call up all these people you wanted to connect with a year and a half ago but you keep putting it off and putting it off. You can get back to meeting people again in real life instead of on Facebook and have a great time. It can be really fun.
ASJ: It was fun. And the result is that Tessie loves everyone she meets and really isn’t afraid of anyone or anything.
ID: The biggest gift you can give a dog is confidence around people. You can buy the fanciest dog food and the nicest house, but if you didn’t do that socialization, even with all I know, I could never make this dog as confident as she is now. If you miss that, you can never make this dog what she could have been.
ASJ: Where do you come down on the nature versus nurture question?
ID: A lot of breeders think that temperament is bred in. In my experience, you raise good dogs.
ASJ: So you’re suggesting that the socialization process should be begun by the breeder?
ID: People don’t realize they have a choice.
I ask people, you want a puppy. Do you want a housetrained one? Yeah, we want a house trained one.
Do you want a friendly one or the fearful one? We want the friendly one. You can have that.
Pet owners are getting screwed. They think they’re getting companion dog but they’re getting livestock they’ll probably have to get rid of. To put it bluntly, people are being conned into paying a lot of money for defective merchandize.
To put it another way, any breeder who does this kind of early training and socialization, it can be great marketing for them. They can advertise that their puppies are different. They’re companion puppies.
ASJ: How do you find a breeder that's doing this with their puppies?
ID: If I’m looking for a good breeder, I’d ask questions.
How many people have these puppies met?
How many men and how many children?
Are they house trained yet?
Are they chew toy trained yet?
Can they sit, and come and roll over?
I'm a believer in results. Show me what they can do.
ASJ: This process has got to begin with asking smart questions.
ID: I have great confidence in the public, when they're educated. These are the seeds we need to sow. Right now the professionals--the breeders, the trainers, the veterinarians--are on high passing down this information to pet owners. Some of these people give you wonderful advice and some give you the dumbest, most dangerous advice possible. I'd like to see this turn around, and dog owners ask the questions and pick the professional that suits them. And bit by bit things will change.
ASJ: Does a few weeks really make that big a difference?
ID: When things don’t go quite according to plan with a puppy—I want to guard my bone from you, I want to growl at you—the temperament of a three-month old puppy is so adjustable at that age.
But just two months on, at five months, you’ve got a different kettle of fish. When you’ve got a five-month old dog that’s growling and snapping and lunging at you, you actually have the beginnings of a very serious problem.
Apologies to William Wordsworth, but the puppy is the parent of the dog.
Look for Part 2 of our conversation with Dr. Dunbar, talking about the practical aspects of dog and puppy training and the many misconceptions about how to get your dog to be a happy companion animal. Until then, have a listen to Ian Dunbar's 2007 TED lecture. Also my thanks to my friend Jill Simmons of Ivy League Dog Training who helped me prepare for this interview.
