Paul Loeb
| Paul Loeb | |
|---|---|
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| Born | August 26, 1935 |
| Residence | New York, NY |
| Nationality | USA |
| Occupation | Animal Trainer / Author |
Paul Loeb (born August 26, 1935) is an American animal trainer and author of animal behavior and training books.
Paul Loeb was born on August 26, 1935 in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. His interest in animals began at an early age, when he got his first dog.
After four years of service in the United States Navy, Loeb came home to consider his options. He declined acceptance to the School of Fine Arts at Cooper Union and went to New York University. While at NYU, Loeb took a job as a salesman in New York’s garment center, where, he believed, he learned more about animal behavior than anywhere else. Psychology courses rekindled Loeb's interest in animal behavior because of the frequent examples and comparisons drawn between the human and animal worlds. He read every book he could get his hands on in these areas. He started to formulate his own ideas and then pioneered his own specialties.
Loeb's first practice was called Paul Loeb's Animal Analysis (1958-1962). It was an in-home problem-solving program. In 1962, he went further and created The Loeb Animal Institute Inc., which was an international animal behavior clinic. The institute was in existence until 1984.
For several years, Loeb was funded by a private grant. He lived on a 400-acre working farm in Amenia, New York, and then bought a house in Piermont on the Hudson. Loeb studied the behavior of wildlife and farm animals and how they either avoided contact with human beings, or how they used contact with human beings to their advantage. This eventually led to the formulation of his Magic Touch theory of animal training which is described in.
The Wall Street Journal compared Paul Loeb's work with animals to the work of B.F. Skinner: "Loeb illustrates practical approaches to physical needs as a means to psychological (read "behavioral") cures he is to the canine world what B.F. Skinner, the noted Harvard psychologist who devoted himself to the techniques of shaping behavior, was to the study of man."
In 1975, the Chicago Tribune wrote: "His credits include more than 600 TV commercials, ranging from pet foods to men's underwear. He also cured 8,000 family pets of such bad habits as biting, drooling, wetting, chewing, wandering, and intimidation."
In the mid-seventies, Loeb was for several years the Director of Education of Animal Behavior for the ASPCA in New York City.
Dr Wm. Kay DVM, former Director and Chief of Staff of The Animal Medical Center, the largest small animal hospital in the world, endorsed Loeb's book Supertraining your dog in 1979, calling Loeb an "internationally acclaimed expert". In addition, Dr. Martin De Angelis DVM, Director of Village Animal Clinic and a leading authority on orthopedic surgery, acknowledged Loeb's work, calling him a pioneer in the field and one of the "premier animal trainers in the world today" about the same time.
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