New books! (vet, breeder, train, treatment)

[twelvepaw]

I just picked up "The Possibility Dogs: What I Learned from Second-Chance Rescues About Service, Hope, and Healing" by Susannah Charleson who also wrote the wonderful "Scent of the Missing" and "Pukka's Promise: The Quest for Longer-Lived Dogs" by Ted Kerasote who also wrote "Merle's Door".

Has anyone read these and if so, what did you think? The only one I have read is "Scent of the Missing" about the author's work with her search and rescue dog which I really enjoyed.

Guess what I am doing if we get snowed in this week? Yep, books, dogs, and hot chocolate on the couch

[zugor]

I've read Scent of the Missing and Pukka's Promise and thought both were very good. I haven't read The Possibility Dogs but I have read a number of other titles about rescued dogs.

Should I wish for snow for you?

[twelvepaw]

Originally Posted by zugor

I've read Scent of the Missing and Pukka's Promise and thought both were very good. I haven't read The Possibility Dogs but I have read a number of other titles about rescued dogs.

Should I wish for snow for you?

A blizzard would be awesome, please
With or without snow, I am starting "Pukka'a Promise" today.

[hiero2]

Just finished reading Pukka's Promise. Kerasote takes me a bit farther down a road that I started on about 10 or 15 years back. That was shortly after we had gotten a new young dog. As part of the adoption process, my wife had to go to training classes. Since one of the reasons training I had given our previous dogs typically was not very successful was because nobody else in the family expected the trained behavior, her getting lessons in how to train was great. It's kinda hard to train when the dogs don't get consistency. But, because my wife started the training, and now knew something of what it took to train, I got involved to take the training farther.

As a child, I had assisted my mother in training our dogs (she was into breeding and showing). I was still using the same training techniques I had so many years earlier. And they weren't enough. I was hitting some challenges, especially when it came to off-leash behavior. So I started studying. Along the way, I also came across a breeder for a new breed (Canaan dogs), who was also a raw feeder, which introduced me to ANOTHER new world. A few years ago I also read Coppinger's 1st book, "Dogs: A New Understanding". Revolutionary ideas in there.

You know, since 1990, there has been a revolution in thinking about how we look at our dogs. Training techniques have extensively evolved. Thoughts on breeds are still evolving and will continue to do so. Vet medicine has evolved. New vaccines have come out. New anti-flea and tick treatments, too. And our thinking about it is still rapidly evolving. The rescue world has turned upside down from what it was, or nearly so (most of which, but not all, is good). Spay/neuter has become a nearly universal commandment, which I have come to doubt the wisdom of. Raw feeding was unheard of before the 1990's. E-collars didn't exist.

Anyway, Kerasote provided an entertaining read, and along the way he researches and looks at the issues I've mentioned and more. I found a little new stuff - like his thinking and research on vaccines. But mostly what he provided was validation for the roads my own thinking has been traveling. Like AKC breeds: I've become increasingly convinced that closed stud books and breeding for show are killing the very dogs we love.

I can recommend the book - if a reader enjoyed the Herriott books, they will enjoy Kerasote, I think. Although I have seen reviews where people were put off by Kerasote's extensive anthropomorphizing of his dogs.

And lots more stuff - but 12paw, you've already read it. What did you think?