It was interesting. I didn't agree with everything, which didn't surprise me, and some of it was upsetting, but I expected that, since there are some cruel people out there. ( )

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.
( )

I received this book as part of the Early Reviewers program, and I enjoyed it very much. In a Dog's Heart is part storytelling on dogs (I laughed and cried both), part care manual (health, safety), and part training. It's a great addition to any dog owner's library, and throughout the reading, I kept calling my dog over to give him extra hugs and kisses...so he loved me reading this book! I enjoyed the stories from the author's company, Canine Assistants, and the health information was also very informative. It is not a single comprehensive guidebook for any one issue such as training or health. Instead, it's a general roundup and overview chock full of great information, yet breaking up the information with anecdotes was a great way to keep my interest. Instead of information overload, I found myself wanting to read "just one more chapter."

The only negative and the reason I can't give more than a three star rating is the author's opinions and instructions regarding food. She is in favor of the large commercial brands and names specific suggestions, and she does not like what she terms "boutique brands." I've done a good bit of research in finding the best food for my own dog, and not only do I strongly disagree with her strong support of the major brands, I'm confused as to why she would espouse foods with a main component of animal by-product rather than companies making dog food using organic, human grade ingredients. Especially since her argument against a raw food diet is that we humans wouldn't eat raw meat ourselves...well we also don't eat animal by-products either, which is the reason they're called by-products. I almost put the book down after reading the section on food, but continued, and I'm glad I did. The rest of the book was very informative, and most especially the author's continuous points made in a variety of different ways on the dangers of using "dominance theory" to train our dogs.

I highly recommend the book...just not the pages on what food to feed your pet. For that, please do your own research. ( )

I abhor many of the training methods being touted today and admire Jennifer Arnold's emphasis on compassion and kindness toward our dogs. Her advice on trying to see life through a dog's eyes is just plain sensible!
I especially enjoyed the chapter on the evolution of dogs, it makes much more sense than most of what is written. No wonder some owners are so harsh with their dogs, they are convinced they have a wolf in the house and of course they don't!
I would hope anyone considering a new puppy or dealing with a "difficult" dog would read, reread and apply her knowledge. Dogs deserve such treatment and in return we get a true best friend for as long as one of us is alive and sometimes, even after. ( )

This book tries to cover a lot of ground, so it doesn't go into any great depth on the different topics covered, but it does a pretty good job of giving an excellent overview and suggesting resources for further reading.

What I like most about the book is the author's obvious respect for dogs and understanding of their needs. The first chapter adapts Maslow's hierarchy of human needs to come up with a hierarchy of needs for dogs.

In the space available, however, Jennifer Arnold offers quite a bit of practical advice on topics such as physical and emotional needs, veterinary concerns and first aid, basic commands for training purposes, choosing the right dog, the stages of puppyhood, adopting an older dog, and the absolute importance of socialization before 12 weeks old. Even more practical advice and detail is given in various appendices in the back of the book.

The author is clearly adamant about the counter-productivity of dominance training a la Cesar Millan. I heartily agree with what she has to say about this kind of training. It does more harm than good, especially in the hands of people who don't have the first clue about dogs. Cave canem? No, cave homen!

This will not be your only book in your reference library, but it will certainly be one of them. ( )