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In A Dog's Heart: What Our Dogs Need, Want, And Deserve--and The Gifts We Can Expect In Return (2012)

by Jennifer Arnold(Favorite Author)

3.77 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

0812982452 (ISBN13: 9780812982459)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

Spiegel & Grau

review 1: A Goodreads First Reads review:This seemed to me to be a book for first time owners of dogs. I'm always curious about these books and want to see if I can glean things that I may have not thought of before. However, after reading the chapter, "Keeping Our Dogs Healthy", I would not recommend this book to a first time dog owner. I don't just sort of disagree with what was said, but disagree to an extent that it bothered me.One of the things I disagree with is soy. She says that dogs can become vegetarian if you provide a complete protein in the diet. This is true, however she suggested soy as the substitute. Dogs cannot completely digest soy, so therefore it is not a good substitue for the protein. Second, she actually advocated synthetic preservatives. That was the huge NO... more to me. Ethoxyquin, a common synthetic additive and is used as a pesticide and a agent in making rubber. It is not allowed in any human foods we consume. BHA is also commonly used and is allowed in human food, however, it is currently under attack and is on a possible list of those that may be removed one day. She made the point that natural preservatives have a much shorter shelf life and that you should be aware of dates and how often the foods either sold or refreshed on the shelf. That is true, but not a reason enough for me to even consider the synthetic preservatives over natural, especially ethoxyquin.She also suggested that the brands she listed and any others who are large dog food companies are safer than a local brand. Not sure what those local brands are since the ones I see are all big or med companies. She suggested that the big brands are safer because they manufacture the food and ingredients. This is false. Big companies buy from other companies parts of their ingredients like most packaged foods. Some of these companies they buy from are very bad. There have been recalls because some of these ingredients were manufactured in China and had rat poison (which is legal in China) traces in the ingredients. There is also a recall of some treats because of antibiotic residue which is not allowed in America, but is, again, in China. So what she claims is completely not true and the foods she recommends are ones I stay away from.The other thing in that chapter she attacked was raw diets. It is a huge commitment to do a raw diet but it is not dangerous as she suggests. Her biggest complaint was the possibility of salmonella poisoning (I'll specifically talk about that one although it can apply to other things she said). Samonella is a consideration especially if you have small children or do not like washing your hands and dog bowls. Second, you can get that same poisoning from even dry dog kibble. There was a recent recall of dry dog food and treats because it contained salmonella. It's one of the reasons very small children are discouraged from handling/eating any dog food. So, again, her reasoning is faulty if that is her main complaint. It is false to suggest that commercial foods are extremely safe in comparison. She had suggested learning from a nutritional veterinarian about cooked home diets (I actually have consulted one about raw food diets). I think she should have done the same before writing that whole chapter.Sorry for climbing on my soapbox. Not the forum for that, but a book review. So, let me continue on with that...*gets off soapbox*I also have to question her methodology she supposedly created called "Choice Teaching". It is a good methodology, but not one she created. It is basically positive reinforcement. Karen Pryor has a great website and training articles that are great for anyone wanting to learn this method of training. I do like what she says and how she trains, it's just not original. She also bashes dominance training. I don't disagree with her about that, but I could do with a little more information and less bashing is all. It wasn't her examples and then what she thought was wrong with it but how she continually bashed one particular well-known person. It was the continual bashing that got old quickly.Now if you think I hated this book (aside from the nutrition chapter) then you are wrong. I actually loved the stories she had about the canine companions. The dogs who assist people with disabilities and how they came together. This is where the book shines. It also had a great story of one of the Vick dogs that I really enjoyed. I actually think she should have made it a book about those stories and have her positive training tips for the average dog owner. I think the book may have then made it to one of my fave dog books. However, as it is, I have to say that I have to give it 2 stars. The stars are for the stories because they are stellar. I can recommend it for those stories which are quite moving and will often put a smile on your face.
review 2: This is Arnold's second book, the training-oriented book that I had expected Through a Dog's Eyes to be. I had really looked forward to this, and I'm sorry to say I have mixed feelings about the result.Arnold builds the book around her experiences in building and running Canine Assistants, and that's a fascinating and rewarding tale in itself. She covers every aspect of dog care, including both training and feeding. As a trainer, she's knowledgeable, practical, and positive-oriented. She makes excellent use of both her Canine Assistants experience and her experiences with Golden Retriever rescue to tell stories illustrating both how well dogs can be trained with positive methods to perform even very complex behaviors and to exercise judgment and choice, and the negative effects correction-based methods (used incorrectly) and a failure to understand the dog's point of view and the dog's body language can do to a normal, healthy dog. One interesting point is that Arnold is strongly in favor of changing the name of an adopted dog. The old name may have negative associations, and the new name can be a fresh start. I can certainly see her point, and I know from my own experience that a dog will quickly learn a new name if it's associated with fun and positive things.Where Arnold and I part company is on feeding. She's strongly convinced that the only really safe choice is major, name-brand commercial dog food. She's sure that raw feeding or home cooking is just too hard for the average person to get right, and should only be attempted with the assistance of a veterinary nutritionist. That's not really a surprise. I know too many people who successfully raw feed or home cook for their dogs who have happy, healthy animals to agree, but it's hardly an unusual or out-there opinion.More surprising is the fact that she regards high-end "holistic," "natural," or "super-premium" foods perhaps even more negatively. This is based on a highly negative experience she had, in the earlier years of Canine Assistants, of receiving a "donation" of a high-end, holistic dog food for the Canine Assistants dogs. Suddenly her dogs were all getting sick, vomiting, having diarrhea. After some investigation, in proved to be the food, which was rancid. Being the cynical person that I am, I leap to the suspicion that the "donation" consisted of food past its use-by date. Arnold, on the other hand, leaped to the conclusion that all these high-end, "holistic" foods aren't safe and you should stick with major brands. I'd be less irritated and annoyed by her insistence on that point if this book hadn't been published in late 2011, over four years after the pet food poisonings and recalls of 2007. Foods at every price point and in every category--the major, standard brands, the really cheap foods, the expensive brands of "natural," "holistic," and "super-premium" foods--there were recalls. Thousands of dogs and cats sickened and died. We spent the entire spring and early summer waiting for the latest Friday night dump-and-run recall announcements, which were always preceded by Friday afternoon FDA announcements that all the foods still on the store shelves were safe.It literally didn't matter what you were feeding, how you approached the question of "how to feed the dog and cat;" if you were feeding a commercial food of any kind, you couldn't rest easy that spring that you weren't poisoning your pets with melamine every time you fed them. And yes, Hill's and Iams, two of the most respected major brands, were heavily affected by these recalls.I'm amazed and distressed that, four years after that horrible spring, Jennifer Arnold has no hesitation about saying "feed major brands only," condemning anything that isn't a major brand, and telling people they can't risk home cooking or raw cooking because they'll make their pets sick. What we learned in the spring of 2007 is that, however you are feeding your pets, you need to be careful, you need to be alert, and you cannot blindly trust any food source--not even, as some home cookers and raw feeders would have it, the human food sources because there are not two food supplies.So while I definitely recommend this book for its perspective on training and its great stories about Arnold's experience, I would say get your food advice elsewhere, and whatever you are feeding, don't blindly trust any source. Be alert, follow the pet food news online, and watch your pets for any unusual reactions to whatever you are feeding them.I borrowed this book from a friend. less

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