You may not know Dr. Ian Dunbar, but your puppy sure thanks him. He’s the one person who arguably has most impacted dog training throughout the 1980’s until Cesar Millan hit the scene just a few years ago. Dunbar focuses on lure reward (dogs are lured with treats). In fact, this grey haired veterinarian from Royal Veterinary College of London University single-handedly popularized puppy classes.

“I was getting a Malamute puppy myself (in 1981) and no one offered training when puppies most needed it,” he says. “I rang over 50 (dog training) schools in the greater San Francisco area, and most wouldn’t take the dog until he was a year old, some might accept him at six months. Susan Chernak McElroy (a pet writer and trainer) and her boss came to me and said they’re looking for new ideas in dog training. I designed an off-leash class for puppies.”

Dunbar understood research had long proven that puppies have a window of learning, known as the critical period of socialization. And while that window never completely shuts, puppies can best be socialized when they are very young. By six months or a year, the behavior problems – which might have been prevented with earlier socialization and intervention – already exists.

Some veterinarians protested, worried about disease transmission, at first concerned about distemper and later the threat became the parvovirus.  However, today, the overwhelming majority of veterinarians concur with the importance of early socialization and puppy classes. Although, many veterinarians feel better if puppies are protected by at least two of the series of parvovirus vaccines before partaking in a class. Dunbar doesn’t necessarily disagree, but feels strongly at all puppies should be socialized to the hilt at home even before those classes start, “Every puppy should meet 100 people by its eighth week, all kinds of people of all ages,” he says.

Following puppy classes, Dunbar supports further training, or “learning manners,” as he puts it. Dogs are played with and encouraged with praise. That’s light years different than Cesar Millan, the “Dog Whisperer,” and his approach for family members to be the dominant pack leaders. Millan uses intimidation as a tool rather than motivation. 

Dunbar’s weary of being asked over and over again about Millan theories, and what seems like a mindless public following his lead.

“It’s just a different approach,” he says. After all, Dunbar encourages clients to say “thank you” to their dogs. His methods are certainly far more genteel. Dunbar thinks dogs would do what we want, if only they understood. “That’s the trick, communication,” he says.

Conversely, Millan told me an interview earlier this year, “Dogs need to know that you’re in charge, that you are the pack leader.”

Still, he and the Dog Whisperer are actually on the same page on one topic – that’s treating dogs as surrogate children, literally. Millan says, “Americans do their dogs harm, spoiling them, not giving them enough exercise, and thinking they are little people.”

“Well, they are dogs aren’t they?” Dunbar says and laughs. “They are not little humans in furry suits.”

But Dunbar is quick to add, “This doesn’t mean we can’t love them, or get doggy kisses. Or allow them on the couch or our beds. We just have to realize that they are dogs. But that’s not so bad – dogs are our loyal friends.”

Dunbar adds, “The biggest human foible we have, whether interacting with people or dogs, we take the good for granted and grumble about the bad, And we don’t say ‘thank you,’ or ‘good job.’ We wait until people or dogs make a mistake, and we sometimes assume it’s on purpose when it’s not. We highlight the misbehavior. Kelly (his wife, Kelly Dunbar Gorman) and I began a new program at www.openpaw.org, designing (training) techniques specifically for adult dogs. You don’t need any hocus pocus of a TV trainer (Millan). It’s quite simple. Watch the dog. Wait until you get exactly the behavior you want and say ‘good boy!’ Within a minute of doing this, your dog will respond. All we ask is that owners watch their dogs and every five seconds respond. If he’s being good, now praise with “good dog;” all other behaviors are ignored. In five minutes, every dog is improved. It’s amazing. It works.”

Dunbar may not be a household name, but he’s hardly been a dog training wallflower. He founded the Association of Pet Dog Trainers, and he’s authored several books (some are available at no fee on his website www.dogstardailycom). Still, he has nowhere near the platform to reach dog owners as Millan. And that’s frustrating. “Sure we’re the smarter species, but still I don’t believe dogs are servants and we are masters.”

Dogs may be man’s best friend, but Dunbar remains their best advocate.

©Steve Dale, Tribune Media Service