DunbarAcademy.com

Looking for a Puppy? Adopting a Dog?

You Need to Know:

• What You Want
• Exactly What You’re Getting
• What to Do (right away)
• and especially … How To Avoid Being Behind Before You Start Training

Whether you are looking for a puppy or adopting an adult dog, choose carefully. Whereas there are some stellar dog breeders and exceptional shelters and rescue groups, there are others that are not so good. In fact, if you rank-order individuals from any profession according to any criterion, by definition, half of them will fall below the median. Most people take this into account when looking for a plumber, a school, or an automobile mechanic but few people even consider this when searching for a professional, e.g., a doctor, lawyer, dog breeder or a shelter/rescue, we just assume, they’re all wonderful.

And so how do you tell whether a dog breeder or shelter/rescue is above or below average? Basically, it all depends on the puppies and the dogs that they produce.

To evaluate dog breeders: The criteria largely comprise the puppies’ education (house training, chewtoy-training, manners training, neonatal handling and socialization with people and potential longevity. The big question is: Did the breeder raise the puppies to be confident, friendly, engaging, well-behaved and well-mannered companions, or were the pups raised akin to livestock?

When Assessing a Shelter/Rescue: The criteria have been set forth in Open Paw’s Minimal Mental Health Requirements for Shelters, especially in terms of the dogs’ education, entertainment, comfort and companionship. Raising puppies, or housing dogs, in cages without catering to these very basic requirements is simply not sufficient. The big question is: Did the dogs become more adoptable, or less adoptable, during their stay in the Rescue/Shelter?

We provide many free online educational materials to help you search for, choose, raise and train your puppy. For starters, please download our two free eBooks — BEFORE You Get Your Puppy and AFTER You Get Your Puppy. Additionally, you’ll find our free, multimedia, educational website extremely helpful — www.dogstardaily.com has hundreds of videos, podcasts, blogs and articles about puppy/dog behavior and training, plus an online, developmental Training Textbook. And for those of you who are insatiably interested in learning more about your new best friend, the Top Dog Academy offers hundreds of hours of dog training videos, seminars, and workshops, plus live webinars, ebooks, podcasts, worksheets and more, including access to a exclusive Facebook group where you can get answers from Dr. Dunbar, other professional dog trainers, and other dog owners. All for just $20/month and you can cancel at any time. And, if you join today, you can get your first month for free! Without a doubt, this has to be the best deal in dog training.

Additionally, it would be a good idea for you to see what we recommend to Breeders and Shelters so that you know how to find a brilliant breeding kennel and select a well-raised puppy, or find a superb shelter to find and adopt the perfect dog for you and your family. Once you have chosen your puppy/dog, see what we recommend to Veterinarians and Trainers. These are all free courses.