The Bay Area has always been the source of great innovation in the world of dogs.
Berkeley’s Ohlone Dog Park was established in 1979 and is credited as being the first of its kind in the world. During the mid 80s, the first shelter behavior program was implemented at the San Francisco SPCA and the Berkeley OPEN PAW (www.openpaw.org) Shelter Behavior & Training Program and Davis Shelter Medicine Program were both created in 2000. In 1993, the Association of Pet Dog Trainers was founded in San Mateo. And on 26th January 2012, we celebrate the 30th birthday of off-leash puppy classes. Happy Birthday SIRIUS® Puppy Training! It’s hard to believe that I taught the world’s very first off-leash, puppy socialization and training classes thirty years ago at Live Oak Park in Berkeley (where SIRIUS classes are still held to this day). Basically, I started SIRIUS simply because I wanted a local puppy school for my Alaskan Malamute puppy, Omaha. After ten years researching dog developmental behavior at UC Berkeley, I was well aware of the critically important and permanent effects of early socialization and of science-based training techniques and I certainly didn’t want Omaha’s schooling to be put on hold until he was an adult. Little did I know, however, that the SIRIUS puppy classes would change the way that pet dogs are trained worldwide.
Before SIRIUS, there were no puppy classes; dogs had to wait until they were six months to a year old before being allowed to go to classes that largely comprised training repetitive on-leash drills for obedience competition. SIRIUS welcomed puppies as young as 12 weeks of age (now at 10 weeks) and the SIRIUS curriculum emphasized the crucial and indelible importance of early socialization, bite inhibition, temperament training, plus simple solutions for common and predictable behavior problems, as well as teaching basic off-leash manners using the hands-off, science-based principles of lure/reward training. Currently, SIRIUS holds classes for adult dogs as well as puppies in over 20 different indoor locations around the San Francisco Bay Area with independent satellite branches in Carmel CA, Honolulu HI, Manhattan NY and Kobe, Japan.
Basically, puppy classes prepare dogs to live with human companions. It was no surprise therefore, that SIRIUS classes were immediately embraced by dog lovers worldwide. The methods are quick, easy and effective, and … a whole lot of fun. Puppy classes champion user-friendly and dog-friendly training techniques that are suitable for all family members, especially children. The original SIRIUS Puppy Training video (the first dog training video to be produced) quickly spread the word and during the late 80’s and early 90’s, puppy classes sprung up all around the world. This new breed of puppy trainers rallied together to form the Association of Pet Dog Trainers — the largest association of pet dog trainers worldwide.
Puppy classes literally revolutionized dog training, creating a completely new field of pet dog training. However, Puppy classes offer much too little much too late. Yes, puppy classes are absolutely brilliant and are simply too much fun to miss … but so much needs to be done before puppies attend class at three months of age. Far too many puppies start puppy classes with existing behavior problems and already showing signs of being fearful of people or other puppies. A much earlier intervention is necessary to prevent puppies from developing utterly predictable behavior and temperament problems, such as housesoiling, destructive chewing, excessive barking and separation anxiety and most important, puppies must be safely socialized to people before they are three months old so that they do not become shy, fearful or aggressive towards people as adolescent dogs.
The time is long overdue for an additional quantum leap to catalyze a sorely needed paradigm shift in puppy husbandry and training. This year, SIRIUS is starting an initiative to attempt to coordinate all of the dog professions — breeders, veterinarians, trainers, retailers and shelter personnel — to promote a preventive educational program for prospective and new puppy owners.
Basically, far too many people purchase eight-week-old puppies that are not housetrained, not chewtoy-trained, have not been taught to come, sit and lie down on cue and are not sufficiently socialized to people, even though by eight weeks of age, the Critical Period of Socialization is already nearly two thirds over. Furthermore, new puppy owners are largely unaware of the extreme urgency of maintaining errorless housetraining and chewtoy training programs, teaching manners and continuing to socialize puppies with people during their first couple of months at home. We are really neglecting early puppy development and missing out on a window of opportunity. Far too many untrained puppies become tomorrow’s shelter dogs.
Socializing puppies to people is quite safe in breeders’ kennels and puppies’ new homes, just as long as outdoor shoes remain outside. As a rule of thumb, starting with neonates, puppies need to meet and be handled by at least 100 people (especially children and men) by eight weeks of age and then meet another 100 people during their first month in their new home. Puppy time should be party time!
Early socialization, errorless housetraining and chew-toy training (which also prevents the development excessive barking and separation anxiety) will be the topics of my upcoming Bay Area seminar in January.
This is the third year that DogStarDaily has promoted the message that “Puppyhood is the Time to Rescue Adult Shelter Dogs.” To put it bluntly, in the Bay Area, January, February and March are shelter-dog manufacturing months. When puppies soil the house or chew destructively, they are often relegated to the backyard, where they continue to eliminate and chew indiscriminately and quickly learn to dig, bark and escape. When neighbors complain of the barking, the adolescent dog is further confined to the basement or garage. Living in virtual solitary confinement, the adolescent dogs de-socialize surprisingly quickly and become fearful of people. Many such dogs are surrendered to shelters between six months and two years of age. Shelters try their best to re-home dogs with unnecessary behavioral baggage but there are just far too many of them.
Let’s make a difference this year. All the information for breeders and prospective and new puppy owners is available for free download from http://www.dogstardaily.com/free-downloads in the form of two eBooks — BEFORE You Get Your Puppy and AFTER You Get Your Puppy
Please, please, please … everybody download these two free eBooks and email them to every dog owner and every dog professional that you know. If you are a dog professional, you may customize the first page of the books with your company name and contact information before emailing them to your clients. If these books are emailed to a sufficient number of people, the concept of earlier preventive intervention could reach critical mass and cause the needed paradigm shift in puppy raising.
Prevention is the Key: Puppyhood is the Time To Rescue Adult Shelter Dogs.
Ian Dunbar is a veterinarian, canine behaviorist, and puppy training pioneer. He is the founder of SIRIUS® Puppy Training; Scientific Director for www.dogstardaily.com; and author of several best-selling books and videos. For more information, visit www.siriuspup.com.
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