Ian Dunbar in Dogs Today

[jelharou]

Ian Dunbar has a nice article on training his own malamute in Dogs Today (UK). It is actually a reprint of his monthly column in The American Kennel Gazette. The way he achieves a partnership with his dog is touching and really encouraging. Do you read Dogs Today or any other dog magazine regularly? Which of Ian's books would you recommend?

cheers

-jaafar

[valkyries]

don't read any other dog magazine, may be you could write it up for us if not to much xxxx

[jelharou]

Opening paragraphs:

My first dog was an Alaskan Malamute - Totemhock's Omaha Beagle. He was perfect. His vast doggies behaviour repertoire was always performed to perfection. Nothing escaped his vigorous enthusiasm. No exercise was executed without creative thinking and considerable Malamutian foresight. He was indefatigable digger, carpet-shredder and dismantler of furniture. He excelled in 'competitive' obedience (competing against me) - his specialities being slow recalls, crooked sits, creeping down-stays, pulling on-leash and lagging off-leash. But, best of all, his forte, his piece de resistance was running away! Barking was the only below par behavior, but he did 'talk' a lot - he grumbled, growled, yowled and howled.

As a pup, Omaha posed a daunting prospect that augured ill for my reputation as a 'doggie expert'. To this day, he remains one of the most rambuctious pups I have ever had the pleasure to train. Looking on the bright side, as a legacy of good breeding and super-socialisation, he had a temperament as solid as a rock. As for the behavior and training problems, we took them one at a time.

I had a difficulty reconciling a ban on Malamute howls. It was not so much the howling that bugged me, it was when he howled - in the middle of the night. Banning Malamute howling would be akin to corking a volcano. Consequently, we instigated a prohibition on in-house howling. To be fair to the dog, however, I encouraged howling at other times. In fact, I taught him to howl on cue and would instruct him to howl periodically on walks, skiing, or, best of all, in the car. Whenever stymied in rush-hour traffic on the San Francisco Bay Bridge, I would invite Omaha to give voice. He would stick his head through the sunroof and let rip with an earth-rending howl, much to the amusement of fellow commuters, many of whom howled back from their Hondas.

The above dog-human compromise illustrates the basic maxim for resolving most potential behaviour problems: "If you have a problem, give it a name, and train the dog to perform the behaviour on cue." Then, the 'problem' that previously worked against training now becomes an enjoyable activity that may be used as a reward for training - a natty whammy in dog training. In the above example, being instructed to howl became the reward for being quiet.

[valkyries]

wow would love to see mine howl out the sunroof that would be kool xxxx

[Sarah]

excellent

I grab a dog mag when i remember sometimes interesting reading but you've gotta filter through the ads lol

[Val (Zebedee)]

I like the idea of turning a problem into a reward - clever psychology!