In 1982 Dr Dunbar created and taught the world's very first off-leash
puppy socialisation and training classes - SIRIUS Puppy Training.
Before SIRIUS there were no puppy classes; dogs had to wait until they were six months to a year old before attending school. The original SIRIUS Puppy Training video was acclaimed by Jean Donaldson (author of The Culture Clash) as: "the video which changed dog training ... the best video on positive methods and early socialisation available today." However, in the original video the classes were adapted to facilitate filming specific puppy training techniques; owners sat on chairs and listened to Dr Dunbar's critiques of individual dogs performing each exercise.
SIRIUS Redux shows classes how they were originally taught and how they should be taught today. Owners spend the entire class learning how to observe, handle and train their puppies. Puppies learn to play with other puppies and socialise with their owners. There are no separate playtimes or training times. Instead, all puppies are off-leash for the entire class and numerous short training interludes are integrated within the play session. Thus, rather than becoming a distraction to training, playing with other puppies becomes an effective reward for training. In no time at all, compliance becomes a simple matter of puppy preference; puppies learn to listen to their owners because that's what they want to do.