Paul Loeb

Background

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.

Early career

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.

Recognition

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.

In 1975, Loeb worked with Bellevue Hospital in New York City and New York University Hospital, and helped to bring animals into hospital environments to help the sick and elderly in their therapy.

In 1975 National Geographic produced an educational series on animal behavior with Jane Goodall and Konrad Lorenz, that featured Loeb as the expert on dogs and cats.

Writing and media appearances

Loeb's first book Paul Loeb's Complete Book Of Dog Training (Prentice Hall), was selected as the best book of 1974 by the Dog Writer's Association of America as mentioned in. General Foods bought 120,000 advance copies of this book in hard cover for their premium sales promotions and utilized Loeb as their animal expert and spokesperson.

Loeb's You Can Train Your Cat (Simon & Schuster 1979) was translated into many languages. This book was followed by Cathletics (Prentice Hall).

Early on, Loeb realized the need for a holistic approach, including diet and nutrition, when working with animals. Because of his working knowledge of diet and nutrition, Gaines, a division of General Foods, hired Loeb as a consultant in the early development of their Cycle dog food. In addition to Nutrition And Your Dog (Pocket Books), which was originally titled Good Dog (G.P.Putnam's Sons), his work regarding diet, nutrition and proper exercise has been written up in the Wall Street Journal, Reading Eagle, Esquire Magazine, Glamour, Newsweek, Cosmopolitan, Family Circle, The Christian Science Monitor, The Charleston News and Courier, The New York Times, New York Post, New York Daily News, Chicago Sun Times, Chicago Tribune, and the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Loeb also wrote a column for Parents magazine during the early eighties, dealing with topics concerning pet behaviour and having pets in a household with children.

Loeb appeared on his first national talk show, the Mike Douglas show, in 1973, together with several of his dogs including his Wonder Dog Plum, a Weimaraner, who could add and subtract, differentiate magazines—Newsweek from Time—and tell the difference between a hundred dollar bill and a one. Loeb was also a guest on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show in 1975, ABC's Good Morning America in 1979, Dateline NBC in 1998, and WNEW Midday in 1977.

Books