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Product Description
What our dogs need to live a good life, and why we must come through for them
Over the two decades she has spent raising and training service dogs for people with disabilities, Jennifer Arnold has come to a unique and profound understanding of the human-dog bond. Though it may seem simple and instinctive, the friendship and devotion we share with our pets is a wondrous evolutionary development. Our two species have come to rely on each other for protection, companionship, comfort, and happiness—needs and benefits that go both ways. Yet when we step outside our designated roles and take on practices that require us to display dominance over our canine charges, we misread cues and misinterpret behavior, sometimes with disastrous results. Conversely, when communication between dog and keeper is clear and based on kindness and a willingness to see things through a dog’s eyes, the payoff for both dog and owner is tremendous. When respect and care are brought together, we come to know the inalienable goodness in a dog’s soul.
As the founder of Canine Assistants, Arnold has implemented and advanced a methodology—Choice Teaching—that pairs scientific and behavioral knowledge about dogs with gentle incentive and encouragement to extraordinary effect. But she does not consider herself a dog trainer; rather, she sees herself as a relationship expert who improves the connection between humans and dogs and in the process betters the quality of life for both. In a Dog’s Heart offers Arnold’s offers her best practices and useful tips that range over a dog’s whole life, including:
• how to choose the puppy that’s destined for you from a bustling litter and what you need to have on hand before you bring that puppy home;
• what to stock in your doggie first-aid kit;
• how to keep your pet safe from dangers at home and in the outside world;
• the challenges and rewards of adopting an older dog;
• how to help your dog overcome anxious behavior, from separation anxiety to thunderstorm phobia;
• when to recognize that it’s time to let go.
As in her bestselling first book, Through a Dog’s Eyes, Arnold illustrates what she’s learned through captivating and moving stories drawn from her experience. We learn about Grace, a black Lab who was rescued after she was thrown from a truck and delivered to Canine Assistants emaciated, dehydrated, and with a broken pelvis. As Grace recovered she displayed an usual gift for scent detection and now spends her days sniffing out bombs on the Israeli border. We meet Casper, a Lab-golden mix who works full-time at Scottish Rite Children’s Hospital in Atlanta, a best friend to kids undergoing cancer treatment, and a buddy ready to offer comfort as needed to the doctors on staff. We also discover the myriad ways in which dogs improve our lives—and what they need and deserve from us in return.
From the Hardcover edition.
Amazon.com Review
A Letter from Jennifer Arnold
Dogs are fascinating to me. That’s a good thing since working with them is my career. Twenty years ago, I founded a program called Canine Assistants and began teaching service dogs to work with people who have physical disabilities. We now have around 120 dogs with whom we are working at any given time and over 1,000 dogs already placed with recipients around the U.S. (and in five other countries.) My husband, Kent Bruner, is the staff veterinarian for Canine Assistants and he, our 9-year-old son Chase, and I live on the farm that is the program’s headquarters. I started the program because I used a wheelchair for several years, due to the effects of an auto-immune disease, and I know first-hand how difficult even the simplest tasks can be when your body doesn’t do as it’s told. I’m also a lifelong animal lover so combining my own struggle with my great passion made sense. Every day that I work with dogs, my adoration for them increases. I spend a great deal of time thinking about why dogs are so willing to help human beings. Is it because we feed and care for them or is it because they love us--often more than they seem to love themselves? The latter is closer to the truth I believe. A friend of mine recently said, “Dogs are the last truly nice guys on the planet.” Loving and appreciating dogs as I do, the popular concept of having to dominate them physically and emotionally in order to “show them who is boss” breaks my heart. In fact, is based on a flawed understanding of canine genetics. Dogs do not understand the “mind games” this methodology employs. It also brings out the absolute worst in our own species. I am committed to helping people understand a better, kinder way to live and work with dogs. I am certain that understanding and communication are the keys to a better relationship with our canine companions. In 2010, I wrote a book called Through a Dog’s Eyes that explains what we know, through both science and anecdotal evidence, about how dogs perceive the world. I explain why I teach dogs, not train them. It was a start. Now, I have written a book called In a Dog’s Heart, about what our dogs want and need from us and why it’s important that we give it to them. In this book, I write about some practical things like food, veterinary care, exercise, and selecting a dog. I also write about breed bans, aggression issues, and guardianship vs. ownership. At times I am straightforward to the point of bluntness about the wrongs we are doing to our dogs in the name of training. In some circles, I’m already being criticized for what I have written. I wish I could tell you that the unpleasantness doesn’t bother me a bit. I can’t. I am all too human. But, it won’t stop me. I owe dogs too much to be silent. We all do.
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