Product Details

• Actors: Dr. Ian Dunbar
• Directors: Steve Ray
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Ark Features
• VHS Release Date: October 31, 1998
• Run Time: 60 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0001LQL9M
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #389,229 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

About the Actor

This video is written and hosted by veterinarian, animal behaviorist, and author Dr. Ian Dunbar — the world's leading authority on dog behavior and training. Dr. Dunbar is the original creator and popularizer of off-leash puppy classes, which sparked the revolution for positive, reward-based, dog-friendly dog training. Dr. Dunbar is the founder of several dog-training organizations, including the Center for Applied Animal Behavior; the Association of Pet Dog Trainers — the largest and most influential worldwide association of professional pet dog trainers; and Sirius Puppy Training — the leading provider of puppy training classes in the San Francisco Bay Area. "Some fields are lucky enough to be granted a giant: a figure whose contributions inspire awe and are unsurpassable. Ian Dunbar is that in dog behavior. There is no single person on the face of the planet to whom dog trainers and owners (not to mention dogs) owe more." Jean Donaldson (author of The Culture Clash)

Product Description

Veterinarian and animal behaviorist Dr. Ian Dunbar addresses one of the most worrying behavior problems any dog owner can face — dogs that fight. Dealing effectively with canine aggression necessitates a comprehensive understanding of its underlying causes. Topics include: The causes of dog-dog aggression in the context of pack hierarchy. How to assess whether a dog has a serious and dangerous fighting problem or whether it is just prone to squabbling. How castration defuses aggressive encounters. How to set up a remedial "Growl class." How to use precise timing, praise and reprimands to reduce and phase out aggression and build up a dog’s confidence and social contacts.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Engaging !, February 27, 2008

By 

Eddie Landsberg "My 10th year as a reviewer !... (Tokyo, Japan) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Dog Aggression: Fighting (DVD)

This hour long nicely produced video consists of footage of Dr. Dunbar giving a lecture on the topic (agression), as well as footage of him working on walk-bys and doing growly classes. - - I like the video because its high on substance - - not overly edited - - yet never boring... Dr. Dunbar is also good at mixing substance with humor and doesn't talk down to his audience (nor use lot's and lot's of loaded jargon and catch words.) He also talks in a way that gets you thinking... for example, is when he asks the human class if there were any who in their entire life never got into a fight or argument... He then explains that adequately socialized dogs know how to temper their bites... and proposes the idea of a bite to vet visit ratio... if a dog for example gets into 15 fights with the same dog, but none of them require either dog to have to take a trip to the vet, the problem may not be so serious... both have the ability to cause serious harm, yet are controlling their bites... In contrast, if a dog has been in three fights... and 2 out of 3 resulted in a trip to the vet, the problem is VERY serious... - - Dr. Dunbar then discusses common solutions and his opinion on them (including tranquilizers and castration - - as well as the roles of testes and ultimately testicles in aggression) - - Ultimately, he asserts that the real foe lies in the practice of breeders taking dogs away from their mother just when the mother is teaching them bite constraint, then humans giving dogs little of a chance to socialize with other dogs... by the time we let them out after vaccinations, suddenly we have a big problem...

After the lecture, Dr. Dunbar let's us sit in on a "growly class" and watch how he trains owners to praise and correct their dogs.

Very engaging video... If you like Jean Donaldson, you'll definitely like Dunbar...

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Old DVD = some older training methods, August 19, 2010

By 

Jana (Milwaukee, WI) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Dog Aggression: Fighting (DVD)

All-in-all I think this DVD offers a lot of good information and tips on dog-dog aggression, though it is geared more towards trainers rather than owners. Some of Dr. Dunbar's methods in this DVD (the original taping appears to be from the late 80's or early 90's) utilize some traditional training techniques that aren't as commonly used these days - he does use mild yank-and-yell when first distracting a dog from its target once it starts reacting.

This also strikes me a bit as flooding rather than slowly introducing the dog to the "scary" stimulus. However, after the "yank-and-yell" the dog is immediately rewarded with praise and treats when it redirects and calms down.

With some of the dogs, it appeared as though fear were the primary cause of their reactivity and to me, these methods seemed to cause more of a shutdown than anything else. Aside from these snippets of training sessions, his concept of "growl class" is excellent and the rest of the DVD is informative. Overall, I would recommend it but with a grain of salt.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great training tool, October 20, 2005

By 

D. Stanton "dog person" (No. California, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Dog Aggression: Fighting [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This was an excellent video. It gave me many useful tools in correcting bad behavior in my dogs. It was easy to follow and Dr. Dunbar has a wonderful sense of humor.