# Any Ian Dunbar Followers?



## LibertyME (Jan 6, 2007)

I really apprecaite Ian Dunbar's work and his philospohies...I didnt read his work until after Liberty was nearly grown....

What I take from him is that socialization is an active persuit to be done with thought and purpose...not simply letting the pup live 'typical day' after 'typical day' without taking advantage of the most important learning phase of its life...

Without knowing his 100 strangers rule, we took Liberty to grocery store parking lots on Saturday mornings and Walmart on Sundays - begged friends to meet our puppy! LOL
Not sure if we made it to 100 or not, but she met a crap load of people! She was a social little girl and I believed was getting her 'reward' with the coos and petting attention...I gave her the treats periodically.... If a pup was particularly shy I can see where having strangers offer the treats would be beneficial..
She is 4.5 years old and does not look to every stranger to give her food...

We did alot of mindful hand feeding and Kong feeding at the suggestion of a trainer, who now I know is a Dunbar fan....


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## Phillyfisher (Jan 9, 2008)

I like the grocery store/Walmart idea. But I am leary about taking a pup out before 16 weeks. How old was Liberty when you took her? I guess if there isn't too many dogs hangling out a Walmart, the likelihood of picking something up is pretty small.


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## FlyingQuizini (Oct 24, 2006)

I had Quiz out in urban settings at 7 weeks. Bookstore, carwash, Jiffy Lube, window shopping on a main street, etc. Just avoid places that are frequented by lots of dogs. The average pet owner takes their dog to the park and not the carwash, so by taking your dog to the carwash you're not really exposing your dog to other potential dog germs.


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## Lucky's mom (Nov 4, 2005)

I only know his techique on bite inhibition and that was truely beneficial for Lucky (and the kids). But it sounds like he's got an excellent philosophy....


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## LibertyME (Jan 6, 2007)

Phillyfisher said:


> I like the grocery store/Walmart idea. But I am leary about taking a pup out before 16 weeks. How old was Liberty when you took her? I guess if there isn't too many dogs hangling out a Walmart, the likelihood of picking something up is pretty small.



She was 8 weeks old....

That is why we took her to those locations...very few dogs...lots of people or different ages, shapes and sizes...
We did not take her to places like pet stores or well traveled doggy places...unitl she was older
We did take her to walk in the woods, along the ocean, fields, streams, tennis courts and to friends houses with dogs that I knew were vaccinated, healthy and puppy-friendly.

To me the benefit of getting dogs out and about (with some common sense precautions) was, and still is, so much greater then the risk of contracting parvo or anything else...


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