In a Dog's Heart: What Our Dogs Need, Want, and Deserve--and the Gifts We Can Expect in Return [Hardcover]

Jennifer Arnold (Author)

Book Description

Release date: October 11, 2011

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.

Editorial Reviews

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.

---

Review

Praise for In a Dog’s Heart
 
“With insight and compassion, Jennifer Arnold guides us through the inside of a dog’s heart and teaches us how to build a relationship of love and trust on both sides. This guide is as practical as it is wise, a keeper book for ready reference.”—Susannah Charleson, author of Scent of the Missing: Love and Partnership with a Search-and-Rescue Dog

Praise of Jennifer Arnold’s Through a Dog’s Eyes
 
“A perfect balance of science and observation, this book . . . is a worthy tribute to our canine friends.”—Publishers Weekly
 
“Charming.”—The Washington Post
 
“Arnold’s voice is assertive with experience. . . . Her storehouse of anecdotal evidence is telling and entertaining, and her demolition of various alpha-model and negative reinforcement teaching techniques is thorough and lofty.”—Kirkus Reviews
 
“There can be no doubt Jennifer Arnold knows her stuff when it comes to training dogs.”—The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
 
“Vivid, memorable, moving . . . This book’s message is simply the truth.”—Sara Gruen, author of Water for Elephants and Ape House

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Spiegel & Grau; 1 edition (October 11, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679643710
• ISBN-13: 978-0679643715
• Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 0.8 x 9.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #751,889 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Important Things to Know and Understand about Dogs! October 2, 2011

By K. Davis VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

I really think most anyone would benefit from reading this book. If you already understand about dog behavior, bonding with a dog, ways that dogs benefit humans--then this book will reinforce and support what you know, making that knowledge more sure. But, most people do not know these things. They and the dogs they have or don't have are paying high prices for what they don't know.

I shed a lot of happy tears reading this book, because she includes stories of dogs who do wonderful things. And you know, most dogs will do wonderful things for their people if they get the chance. This book will help many, many people give their dogs better chances to help. Dogs love to help. It gives their lives special meaning and makes them very happy. The book explains how to tell your dog how much you appreciate the help.

Help is not just trained behaviors. There are so many things dogs do for us that go beyond training. Happy, upbeat, positive training is important to do with any dog. Heck, you're training the dog one way or the other, because the dog is learning from every experience. It helps both the dog AND YOU to learn desirable behavior in positive ways.

There is so much in this book. If you love dogs, read it. If you are thinking about getting a dog, read it first. From the first minute you meet your dog, everything you do matters to that relationship and to how the dog will do. So be prepared!

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars What Dogs REALLY want September 22, 2011

By KnC Books

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

There are at least as many books on raising dogs as there are on raising children, and undoubtedly as many points of view. There are scores of television shows and Internet sites professing to have the "secret" of success in teaching Fido what to do, and more importantly, what NOT to do.

So what makes "In a Dog's Heart" any different? What makes companion animal trainer and dog rescuer Jennifer Arnold the voice we should listen to?

She starts with one simple premise: treat "man's best friend" like a friend. Dogs have evolved and grown alongside mankind for thousands of years. Their wants and needs are parallel to our own - to be physically well, to be safe, to know friendship and love, and to be content in their lives. And as dogs help us find these things for ourselves, as friends we should help them do the same.

Arnold points out that much is made in current dog training of the "pack mentality" of the dog's wolf ancestors. The theory is that our dogs must be taught their place, with we their owners as the "alpha" canines. Arnold shows (and research supports) that dogs are not wolves, and even if they were, a pack is not a group of unassociated animals fighting for dominance. A pack is a family unit; the alpha pair are the parents, and the pack works together to supply its needs. Think about it - a group of animals continually fighting each other for dominance would not last as a unit for long in the wild. And they won't last long in the home either.

Arnold gives us helpful pointers for understanding our dog's behaviors from the dog's perspective. He just wants to be well, and safe, and loved, and happy. He simply lacks the vocal ability to tell us how that can happen. He acts out his worries and fears (like many of us humans do as well). We need to learn to read the signs, not browbeat our friends into silence.

And no that doesn't mean we let our dogs run wild. Arnold also teaches how to deal with problem behaviors, from chewing furniture to jumping up to biting. Dogs have spent millennium learning to get along with us; we need to spend a few hours returning the favor.

As a lifetime dog owner (I have three right now) I found In a dog's Heart to be a humane, insightful, and knowledgeable approach to selecting, raising, and enjoying a healthy loving dog. Five Stars!

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Gentle Ownership Manual For Your Dog August 24, 2011

By WryGuy2 TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

"In a Dog's Heart", Jennifer Arnold, author and founder of Canine Assistants, an organization which trains service dogs, discusses the A to Z of dog ownership (or guardianship, as she occasionally says), informing us on how to best care for and train our dogs, and through numerous anecdotes, what they in turn have to offer us.

She discusses everything from how to pick out a puppy to take home with you (or what to look for if instead adopting an adult dog), proper nutrition and veterinarian care, how to see the world through the dog's eyes, how to correct and modify their behavior as needed, and even when it's time to say goodbye and let your pet go. In the appendices, she gives step by step instructions on how to train your pet and/or modify your pet's behavior on a wide variety of subjects.

She advocates a gentle approach, and is not a fan of many of the techniques espoused by Cesar Millan, the "Dog Whisperer", although she does not doubt his sincerity or love of dogs. Their differences in approach are somewhat analogous to the two schools of thought of raising children, between "tough love" and a softer parental approach. I've been around dogs most of my life, and I see benefits to both sides explanations and techniques, although I'm probably a little more in Ms Arnold's camp, both for dogs and children. :-)

Surprisingly, I learned a great deal about dogs in the book. For example, one of the appendices lists things that are toxic to dogs, such as apples, grapes, and many other fruits. I never fed fruit to any of our dogs that I can remember, but when I was a boy, my siblings and I used to sneak our poodle a lot of "people food" under the table, without our realizing that some of our food could have been harmful to our pet. That kind of information, as well as what you should feed your pet, is good to know.

The book is well written in a warm, almost loving tone. It's very clear that she's an expert in dogs' needs and behavior. She reminds us of the responsibilities of pet ownership, and also of the unconditional love we'll get in return.