Jennifer Arnold on the "Alpha-Dog" Theory

I came across this article in the San Francisco Chronicle. Jennifer Arnold has said exactly what I have been thinking for a while now. I agree with her thoughts about the whole "Alpha Dog" way of training our dogs. I have long thought that it seems to be more of a wolf-type behavior theory, rather than taking into account that domesticated dogs are no longer thinking the same after generations of being our pets.

I am so impressed with the way she has formulated her ideas after being a dog trainer for many years. She knows what she is talking about and I am happy to see someone speak on this subject so perfectly.



Jennifer Arnold debunks 'alpha dog' theory
Meredith May, Chronicle Staff Writer

Saturday, October 2, 2010

The widow with four young children and a golden retriever stepped forward, tentatively.

She had a question for Jennifer Arnold, whose new best-seller, "Through a Dog's Eyes," debunks widely held dog-training methods based on alpha dominance.

The woman said the family dog couldn't stop baying at the window in the three months since her husband died.

Various professionals suggested a spray bottle with vinegar, a shock collar and putting the dog in a crate in the basement. One said the dog was trying to replace the alpha, and told the mother to "re-home the dog if she wasn't emotionally strong enough to be the dog's alpha."

After 20 years training dogs as canine assistants for the disabled, Arnold had learned that dogs are emotional creatures who have a natural compulsion to please, not irritate or one-up, their owners.

"Your dog is grieving," she said she told the woman, who took Arnold's advice and now makes time to cuddle with the dog and cry. The baying is subsiding.

"She was grateful she didn't lose her husband and her dog," Arnold said in a telephone interview.

Arnold's book is a manifesto of sorts, calling for an end to the traditional dog-training strategies that use choke collars, flip dogs on their backs to dominate them, and yell to get them to submit.

"The dog already knows who is boss - you have the opposable thumbs, you control the food and the shelter," Arnold said.

At Canine Assistants, her nonprofit in Georgia, Arnold uses positive reinforcements such as peanut butter on a spoon to heel. Her dogs can open drawers and refrigerators to fetch food and medicine for their owners, open doors, retrieve cell phones, go for help, even help do the laundry.

Using positive reinforcement and giving the dog choices for rewards results in a happy dog that isn't fearful and neurotic because of their owner's harsh temper, she said.

Discipline-based approaches like those followed by "Dog Whisperer" Cesar Millan are popular but misguided, Arnold said, because they are based on faulty assumptions of wolf pack behavior.

"A lot of what we believe about aggressive alpha dominance comes from old studies of wolves in captivity," Arnold said.

In the wild, wolves are known to lead benevolently, and researchers have noted male wolf leaders sharing chicken with children and mates before eating.

"The wolf researchers now studying in the wild say the alphas are simply the ones who can do whatever they want, but they don't drag others down to maintain dominance," she said.

Acupressure Massage in the News!

To the tune of “The Poodle Dog Song,” by Layne Brooks, dozens of dogs (and miniature horses wearing their canine disguises) strutted their stuff during the 2nd annual Wag ‘n' Walk & Bark-B-Que Saturday at the Nevada County Fairgrounds.

The day was a canine fancier's dream, with dogs of all shapes and sizes in attendance, from a teddy bear teacup poodle named Minnie Me to Bouchee, a Newfoundland.

The event, sponsored by AnimalSave and Sidecar Scooter Angel Paws, featured vendors and activities for dogs and humans alike.

Attendees could talk with an animal communicator, watch obedience and agility demonstrations, enter their dogs in the American Kennel Club Canine Good Citizen Program, and even arrange for their favorite pet's likeness to be painted on canvas or rock.

Paige and Molly, basset hounds accompanied by owners Sharon and Don Luddy of Grass Valley, spent time at the accupressure booth. Molly was in dog heaven while receiving a massage from Dennise Stackhouse, owner of Lucky Dog Acupressure and Massage.

“We have been looking for a couple of years for this kind of thing,” said Sharon Luddy. They hope to continue the acupressure treatments for Paige and Molly.

Dog Health: Inside/Outside

Savvy Pet Supplements
Just like humans, pets need the proper amount of vitamins, minerals, and other essential nutrients necessary for good health and longevity. Diet and specific health conditions determine how much or how little supplementation may be required. "If pets are on a good diet, they probably don't need supplements," Teikert says. "Otherwise it depends on the particular needs of the animal."

Following are necessary nutrients for good pet health:

--Antioxidants, including vitamins C and E, help build immunity and support overall health.

--B vitamins promote growth and healing, help process fat and protein, and provide metabolic support.

--Essential fatty acids, also called omega-3 fatty acids, support a healthy heart, coat, skin, vision, and joints as well as promote overall immunity.

--Probiotics and digestive enzymes help animals maintain a high functioning gastrointestinal (GI) tract for proper nutrient absorption and healthy digestion.

--Glucosamine, MSM, and chondroitin all work to ease arthritic, stiff joints, and hip dysplasia, especially common in large purebreds.

--Flower remedies treat a variety of physical and behavioral issues and are well-suited for animals, as they are extremely gentle.


Fido Fitness
Exercise is as important for pets as it is for people," Teikert says. For dogs, a daily walk or run in the park is necessary for fitness. More active breeds may need even more exercise, while senior pets may need less. For cats, provide stimulation in the form of toys (turkey feathers are always a hit) and indoor play. In addition to joint mobility and muscle tone, exercise is important to maintain a healthy weight for your pet.

As a general guideline, you should be able to easily locate your pet's backbone and ribs underneath its coat, but the ribs should not be obviously visible. Pet obesity can lead to chronic conditions and an increased risk of disease, so be sure to keep your pet fit with proper exercise and food consumption.


Bodywork and Natural Remedies
A variety of bodywork therapies and natural remedies have proven extremely helpful in treating pet illnesses and maintaining good health. The following are examples:

--Acupuncture helps establish correct energy patterns in the body and has been used to treat a variety of conditions, including GI, musculoskeletal, respiratory, and urinary disorders.

--Healing Touch for Animals, an energy therapy, also helps balance energy flow in the body to help modify behavior and induce healing.

--Homeopathic remedies (extremely gentle treatments) address the underlying cause of dysfunction, including physical and behavioral issues.

--Massage improves joint mobility and muscle tone, increases circulation, and helps animals recover from injury.


Annual Vet Visits
As a responsible pet owner, it's important to spay or neuter your pet. (In several regions, you must have a permit to have an intact animal for breeding.) Pet overpopulation is a significant problem, and the Humane Society of the United States estimates 3 million to 4 million dogs and cats are euthanized every year in this country.

In addition to spaying/neutering, which usually occurs when kittens and puppies are about six months old, owners should take their pets to the veterinarian at least once a year for a wellness checkup. "I think annual exams are really important," Teikert says, "especially in older animals. In fact, some older animals dealing with chronic disease need to come in two to three times a year."

As dogs and cats enter their senior years (7 and older), veterinarians may recommend blood work, first to determine a baseline, and then to keep an eye on any changes or irregularities. "We tend to do that as animals age. Big dogs age faster and harder, so we start doing blood work on them earlier," he says.

Natural lifestyle options and holistic veterinarians help build a foundation for lifelong health and vitality. "I'm a holistic practitioner," Teikert says, "I use everything that works in the case. If my dog has a broken leg, I want an orthopedic surgeon. And," he adds, "I will include things like homeopathy, chiropractic, and other techniques to aid in the healing process."



Lara Evans Bracciante is the online editor for Body Sense magazine.

More Information About Adopt-a-Pet!

What is Adopt-a-Pet.com
Adopt-a-Pet.com is the world's largest non-profit pet adoption website.  We are like an ad agency for shelters and shelter pets. Sadly there are 4 million healthy adoptable companion animals killed in shelters each year due to overcrowding. We do our best to relieve that problem and put pets from shelters in the homes of pet seekers all over the country.

Our website makes it easy for anyone with an internet connection to find profiles and pictures of adoptable animals by location, breed, gender, age, size, and color. Over 8,000 shelters posts pets on our website displaying over 125,000 pets available for adoption at any given time. We also help volunteers connect with shelters, and currently host over thousands of people listed in our volunteer database for shelters.
What Makes Adopt-a-Pet.com Unique:
- On our website, people can use something we call “Search Saver.” This feature will notify users by e-mail when a particular pet of their specifications in available for adoption. For example, I can tell “Search Saver” where I live, and what type of breed I am looking for. When that animal is available, I am notified the next time a pet matching my search is added on Adopt-a-Pet.com.

- As of this summer we have now made it easy for our visitors to find pets and then recommend them to friends and family via Facebook, Twitter and other social applications. We are calling the idea “Social Petworking.” Here is how it works; once you have searched and found a pet in need, on the pet details page simply hover over the button labeled “SHARE,” there you can send the pet details page to any of your friends. For more information visit this page http://www.adoptapet.com/socialpetworking/signup.

- In addition to dogs and cats, we now feature all kinds of pets for adoption, including rabbits, farm animals, ferrets, hamsters and other small animals, horses, reptiles, amphibians, birds, and even fish. This was a major initiative that took many months to research and program into the site, and it is being well-received within the shelter community.

- By teaming up with the renowned street-artist Shepard Fairey, who designed the iconic Obama "Hope" image, we have available a number of stylish ways to promote pet adoption. Shepard was able to translate his work with Obama to an image that can be used to represent pet adoption support. Merchandise can be found at HYPERLINK "http://www.muttslikeme.com"www.muttslikeme.com

- We have begun blogging and created a Twitter Page along with a Facebook Page. Our blog is located at HYPERLINK "http://blog.adoptapet.com/"http://blog.adoptapet.com/, there you can join our Facebook Group, or follow us on Twitter.

Guest Post From Adopt-a-Pet

Common Questions About Pet Adoption

Q: Although there are literally millions of pets in shelters, pounds and other ‘temporary housing’, many pet-owners-to-be don’t think about pet adoption when they’re looking for their new four-legged friend. Why do you think this is, and what can be done to turn that around?
A: Many people who want to get a pet just are not aware of how many pets are available at shelters. They might also have the misconception that pets are shelters might be there because there was a problem with the animal. In fact, most pets end up in shelters not because of any problem pet behavior, but because an owner died, moved, or simply didn't have the time or money to care for the animal. In some cases animals are lost and never found by their owners. These animals are healthy and very eager to please. Rescues pets are wonderful- just ask anyone who has one.
Some people are seeking purebred animals or puppies and think these are not available in shelters. In fact, nearly a quarter of all animals in shelters are purebred. Often someone buys an expensive purebred animal and then attempts to breed that animal to recoup their money. Often these puppies or kittens are not placed in homes, and end up in the shelter. Puppies and kittens often up in shelters as well, but it is important to note that your animals, especially puppies, require a lot of work and training and can be quite destructive (peeing on the carpet or chewing shoes). Puppies are great but often people are much happier getting a dog who is older, and whose size and temperament is a known quantity.
With Adopt-a-Pet.com and without even leaving their home, people can search all their local pets and see pictures and descriptions of the animals. This way, they can find the exact pet they want, call the animal shelter or rescue group, and get information on how to adopt that specific animal.

Q: What are the 5 most important things a potential adopter should consider when choosing their new pet?
A: We actually have a blog post on this highlighting the top 10 things we believe are important when adopting. Here are five, the rest can be located by visiting this page http://www.adoptapet.com/public/guides/permanentpets.html.
1. You need to make a real commitment to care for your pet for its entire life.
2. Verify in advance that you’re allowed to keep a pet where you live.
3. Never adopt a pet on a whim or because you feel it’s love-at-first-sight
4. Provide sufficient exercise and stimulation during the first few weeks, this will help the pet adjust.
5. Make any necessary modifications to your yard and fence to provide for your pet’s safety.

Q: What are 5 positive aspects of pet adoption, and why it’s a good option?
A:
1. When you adopt an adult animal, you can see his/her size and temperament. This helps ensure that the pet is right for you and your family.
2. It feels great to know you have saved an animals' life and everyone you meet will give you kudos for that for years to come.
3. Adopted pets are very loyal and know they have been given a new home.
4. Adopting a pet can be an important lesson to teach your children-- both about the value of life, and also about civic responsibility and even recycling- in this case recycling a living and loving animal into a new home.
5. Choosing a mixed breed animal can help avoid many of the genetic health problems that have developed in purebred animal due overbreeding and inbreeding.

Q: If someone reading this isn’t in a position to adopt a pet right at this time, but still wants to help homeless pets, what are 5 things they can do to get involved?
A:
1. People can do Social PETworking! They can run a search on Adopt-a-Pet.com, find a pet they want to help get exposure for, and use the share tools on our site to post the pet link on their Facebook, Twitter, MySpace or other social network page. Or, they can email the link of a pet in need form our site to their friends.
2. They can place a link/grpahic or even a search widget for Adopt-a-Pet.com on their personal website to encourage they users to see pets in need at local shelters. (hyper link "link" to our links page where we have graphics to be used as links)(hyper link "search widget" to our search module page which itself is a link form our links page)
3. People can add their info to our volunteer database (link) so shelters who need volunteers can find them.
4. People can search Adopt-a-Pet.com to find a local shelter, and make a cash donation to that shelter to help them with the costs of housing, feeding and medical care of shelter animals.
5. People can encourage other pet owners to spay or neuter their pet (link to our spay neuter page) to help prevent unwanted births.

10 Reasons to Adopt an Adult Dog

Both of the dogs in the pictures above are my clients and they are Rescue Dogs.
They are extremely smart and loving, bringing much joy to their new families!

1. Have you really thought about what getting a puppy means?

2. Puppies are not housebroken! Most people work during the day and are gone for 8 hours or more at a time. Puppies need to go out on a regular schedule so they have frequent opportunities to eliminate where you want them to. Puppies can't wait for the boss to finish his meeting or the kids to come home from school. Adult dogs can "hold it" for longer periods and, often, a Rescue will have the dog housebroken before it is adopted.

3. Intact Underwear. Puppies chew! You can count on at least 10 mismatched pairs of socks and a variety of unmentionables rendered to the "rag bag" before a puppy cuts all its teeth. Shoes? yes, puppies like to chew them also. Expect holes in your carpet (along with urine stains), backs and pages missing from books, stuffing exposed in couches, and at least one dead remote control. No matter how well you watch them, it will happen. This is a puppy's job! An adult dog can usually have the run of the house without destroying it.

4. A Good Night's Sleep. A puppy can be very demanding at 2am and 4am and 6am. Puppies naturally miss their litter mates and a stuffed animal is not a substitute for puppy pile with litter mates in the dark of night. Prefer peace and quiet, an adult rescue dog usually sleeps through the night?

5. Finish the Newspaper. With a puppy loose in the house, you will NOT be able to relax when you get home from work. Do you think kids ever really feed the dog? Clean up the messes? Walk in the pouring rain every hour to get the dog house trained? If so, you probably have a severe case of denial. An adult dog will generally sit calmly beside you as your workday stress flows away and your blood pressure lowers as you pet it.

6. Easier Vet Trips. Puppies need a series of puppy shots and fecal testing, then a rabies shot, then surgery to spay/neuter them, and generally a trip or two to the emergency vet after eating something dangerous. (All of this usually adds up to substantially more than you paid for the dog!) When adopting an adult dog, the adoption fee should get you a dog with current vaccinations, this is altered, heart worm negative and on a preventative, at the minimum.

7. What You See Is What You Get. How big will the dog get? What will its temperament be? Is it easily trained? What will its personality be like as an adult? Will it be hyperactive? Adult dogs are, to steal a term from Internet lingo, WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get.) All of your questions are easily answered, because the dog is already an adult. You can pick large or small; active or couch potato; goofy or brilliant; sassy or sweet. Further, the rescuer and/or foster homes can help guide you in choosing just the right match for you. (Rescues are FULL of puppies who became the wrong match as they got older!)

8. You Don't Become a Chew Toy. If a puppy does not teeth on your possessions, it will teeth on you and your children. Rescuers often get calls from panicked parents sure their dog is about to seriously injure their children. It usually turns out the puppy is just doing what puppies do, i.e., mouth or nip. Parents, too emotional to see the difference, just want to get rid of the dog. A growing puppy is going to put anything and everything in their mouth. It must be taught bite inhibition. As the puppy grows, the puppy's jaws become stronger and its teeth are replaced by its adult teeth. The mouthing and nipping it did as a puppy now can have serious consequences. Far better to get an adult dog that has "been there, done that, moved on."

9. Matchmaker Make Me A Match. Puppy love is emotionally appealing. They are so cute! But, in reality, cute is not a sufficient reason to get a pet, a pet that will probably live 15+ years. It may be cute, but cute can grow up to be hyperactive. It may be not want to share your home with anyone else, including your spouse, children, or other animals. It may want to be a couch potato, when the main reason you got the dog was to run with you every day. Pet/owner miss-matches are the MAIN REASONS owners "give-up" their pets. 60% of the animals in shelters nationwide are there for this reason. Good rescuers extensively evaluate of dogs and applicants to insure both will be happy with one another until death do them part.

10. Instant Companion. With an adult dog, you have a dog that can go everywhere and do anything with you NOW. You don't have to wait until the puppy grows up and hope it will like to do what you to do with it. With an adult rescue, you select the dog most compatible with you. You can find one that travels well, loves to play with your friends' dogs, has excellent house manners, etc. You can come home after a long day's work and spend your time on a relaxing walk, ride, or swim with your new best friend (rather than cleaning up after a small puppy.)

11. Bond - Rescue Dog Bond. Dogs that have been uprooted from their happy homes or have not had the best start in life are likely to bond very closely to their new owner. Yes, dogs that have lost families through death, divorce or lifestyle change can go through a mourning process; however, once they become attached to their new family, they seem to want to please as much as possible to make sure they are never homeless again! Those dogs that are just learning about the good life and good people seem to bond even deeper. They know what life on the streets, life on the end of a chain, or worse, is about, and they revel and blossom in a nurturing , loving environment. Most rescues make exceptional , extremely loyal companions.

Sadly, some people seem to think dogs that end up in rescue are genetically or behaviorally inferior. In reality, rescues get dogs that have outlived their novelty with impulsive owners who really did not have the time, energy or willingness to shoulder either the responsibility or expense required to be a good dog owner.

Choosing an adult rescue over a puppy does not guarantee you will never have any problems with a new pet, it just increases the probability that you won't. Of course, with any new pet, there is an adjustment period while the dog learns what you expect of it. The difference is that an adult dog, specially chosen for various traits compatible with you and your home situation, are not having to learn as much as a growing puppy, so they usually fit into their new families very quickly. For most of us, an adult dog is much more suited to our needs than a puppy.

Cute as they are, puppies are a tremendous responsibility and, with the busy schedules that most of us have, impossible to housebreak completely, socialize well, and train adequately. If you are not able or willing to do what is necessary to raise a puppy correctly, you may end up wanting to surrender a dog yourself!

Adopting an adult rescue can be the best decision, and addition to your family, that you ever make. Rescue a dog and get a devoted friend for life! Go ahead, do a "GOOD DEED," adopt a dog in need of a home. Give a dog a chance it otherwise would not have. But, beyond doing a "good deed", do yourself a favor and adopt an adult dog.

Here she comes!

Here is Rosie. She is an older dog with a common problem. She is going blind. Her blindness has progressed quite a bit since last year when she first started showing signs of her cataract disease.
Up until last month Rosie was bumping and stumbling her way around the house she shares with her mom and dad (Steve and Cassandra) and a furry sister, Maddie.
I first started working with Rosie about 3 years ago for arthritis in her hips. Using Acupressure Massage to help her with mobility and to boost her general well being which is also helpful in an aging dog.
She also has issues with a thyroid problem and hearing loss as well. By the sound of her problems you might think that Rosie is not leading a very good quality of life, but I will tell you that is not true. Rosie is a happy, active dog who is learning to adjust to the process of getting old, she not only is meeting it with gusto she is an inspiration to me. She is my oldest client and I am very grateful to be able to help her along with Acupressure Massage. Being involved with Rosie's care and seeing her teach herself to live within her changing body has been such a learning experience for me.
The contraption you see in the photos was made by Steve after he and Cassandra researched information for "blind dogs" on the Internet. They eventually found a man who made this bumper-type harness for his own blind dog. He even provided a tutorial on how to fashion one for other people with vision impaired dogs. Rosie has only been wearing this for about 3 weeks, but she is already much more confident and really eager to move around now. When she first started to go blind she was very slow and cautious as can be expected. I also felt she was depressed and lethargic, almost like she was ready to give up and just sit in one place because she was constantly hurting her little face on the furniture and walls.
I am posting about this because I would like to point out that there are some great ideas and ways to help our animal friends live a happy life. I am not talking about tuning out their pain for selfish reasons, that is never right in my opinion. But as far as assisting older dogs with appliances like older people have with canes, hearing aides and things like that- why not give it a try? Most dogs are surprisingly game to give it a go. I think you can teach an old dog new tricks! Just look at Rosie!
website for harness:http://www.blindpets.com/harness/index.htm