In 1982, Dr. Ian Dunbar started SIRIUS® Puppy Training so Omaha Beagle, his Malamute puppy, could go to school. Training puppies off-leash proved to be a revelation. It all made so much sense; we live with our puppies off-leash at home! How could a puppy learn household manners, socialize with people in a mannerly fashion, and develop doggy social savvy, unless trained off-leash?

Before SIRIUS, dog training was rote-learning by repetitive, on-leash, obedience drills, with little verbal instruction or praise, but lots of leash-corrections, and so, understandably, reserved for adult dogs only. Before SIRIUS, there were no puppy classes, no off-leash classes, no food rewards, very little praise, and not much joy in dog training

SIRIUS classes introduced some simple science, reward-based training techniques, food and toy lures and rewards, oodles of praise, plus interactive games to fine-tune reliability. Overnight, companion dog training became dog-friendly and family-friendly — so quick, so easy, so effective and so much fun. We have always strived to champion both the dog’s and our clients’ points of view.

The word spread by our books and video and other dog trainers came from across the country and around the world to audit classes and see for themselves. Twelve years later, Dr. Dunbar brought all these new puppy trainers together in a 7-day International Conference in Orlando, where he founded the Association of Professional Dog Trainers (APDT), now the largest professional dog training organization in the world.

At SIRIUS, we continue to refine our curricula annually and to date, we’ve held thousands of classes and helped families train well over 115,000 puppies!

Our company mantra is: Perpetual Innovation. When Covid-19 forced us to shut down all our training locations, Kelly had SIRIUS Live Online (Zoom) classes up and running within just six weeks and by six months, Jamie and Kelly had created the definitive, at-home, on-demand, progress-at-your-own-pace, online course — the Essential Puppy Training Course — with over 170 short demo-videos that show SIRIUS students, step-by-step, how to raise and train their puppies.

Even though SIRIUS in-person puppy and dog training classes are now back up and running, we include the Essential Puppy Training Course at no extra cost, so that our Puppy I Class students may begin training before class starts, between each session, and before their Puppy II Class starts.

Similarly, our Dog I Class students receive six-month’s free subscription to the Top Dog Academy at DunbarAcademy.com, which includes which includes access to all of our online courses, including the Behavior Problem Compendium.

If you live outside of the Bay Area, you may purchase the Essential Puppy Training Course or The Behavior Problems Compendium a la carte from DunbarAcademy.com. Alternatively, both courses, along with some 20 other courses, are included in in theTop Dog Academy subscription ($20/month) only on Dunbar Academy.

But if you have a new puppy, or are thinking of getting one, please Download 2 FREE Puppy Training eBooks