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April 17, 2013

 

By now, you’ve likely read several book reviews of Pukka’s Promise: The Quest for Longer-Lived Dogs by Ted Kerasote. I’m a little late to the party. It took me a while to read the book (a) because it’s long and (b) because I’ve been busy taking care of Lilly, after her latest setback (antibiotic-resistant infection and sudden inability to walk / stand). Below, I hope you’ll find a uniquely Champion of My Heart look at Pukka’s Promise.

book review, pukka's promise

Many thanks to Anna Sacca from FSB Associates for sending me a free review copy of the book. 

All in all, front to back, I like this book and appreciate the depth and research behind discussions of everything that may impact how long our dogs live, including:

  • Genetics and breeding practices
  • Vaccination schedules
  • Chemicals in our lives
  • Nutrition
  • Cancer
  • Spay / neuter practices

Plus, Kerasote favors houndy-labs. My Ginko is lab + greyhound, and goodness knows I love my big buddy (who will be 13 next month). So, we have that in common.

Our Interest in Canine Vaccines

Because of our ongoing life / death struggle after Lilly developed a rare and dangerous adverse rabies vaccine reaction in January 2012, I read the vaccine chapter with interest.

Kerasote read many of the same canine vaccine adverse reaction studies I have. He spoke to many of the same canine vaccine experts. And, he came to the same conclusions for his new puppy as I have for all future dogs in my life.

Kerasote is following the advice of Dr. Ron Schultz from the University of Wisconsin, whom I consider the #1 mind on this issue.

And, I mean Dr. Schultz’s newest ideas on vaccination schedules (in puppyhood especially) as well as use of titer testing pups. Much of what you read online are his ideas from several years ago (particularly about how often to titer test adult dogs).

Many online sites say Dr. Schultz recommends titers annually, but I talked to him just a few weeks ago, and he recommends titering adult dogs every 3 years now.

Something for Everyone

Those of you interested these topics will find something of interest in Pukka’s Promise, but be prepared to have many Sacred Cows of pet care challenged:

  • Environmental toxins
  • Canine nutrition
  • Food ethics
  • Canine cancer
  • Animal rescue and sheltering
  • Spay / neuter practices

My 2 Gripes

In addition to a couple of random alpha dog references that regular readers know how much I hate and a dog training idea here or there that might make you go, “Huh?” I found just a couple of spots, a couple of comments, a couple of opinions that made me crabby.

Shock Collar Dog Training: The first comes in the Dog Speed chapter, where Kerasote turns to a shock collar to keep Pukka from chasing wildlife. As the founder of the “Never Shock a Puppy” campaign, you might think that alone would make my blood boil.

Not true. If you’re going to use a shock collar, which (of course) I don’t recommend, do it the way Kerasote did — as a last resort, done judiciously. Many of my friends have used the same reasoning and technique to protect their off-leash dogs from wildlife.

Sure, I felt a tinge when I read that section, but it wasn’t until Kerasote went on to criticize those of us who oppose shock collars that I got cranky.

He says, “The revulsion in which e-collars are held by some positive-reinforcement dog trainers is a subset of this widespread infantalization of dogs an our unwillingness to inflect the slightest sting upon these surrogate children. The disdain for e-collars by some positive-reinforcement trainers is also a reaction to so many dogs having been dominated and abused for so long. The result has been dogma — negative conditioning in universally bad — and as a result, some people are reluctant to give their dogs any boundaries. Consequently, these dogs don’t mature into adults. They stay children their entire lives and never become their person’s partner and friend.” (emphasis and disagreement mine)

What bothers me most is the fact that these ideas draw upon myths that divide us. In a book that’s so well researched, including many original forays to understand some myth / urban legend or another (like euthanized pets at rendering plants), I was disappointed to see Kerasote trot out old, worn, unoriginal ideas on this one issue.

I saw no sign of interviews with Dr. Karen Overall, Dr. Sophia Yin, or others who might have given some scientific context to the perceptions and use of shock collars in dog training in the 21st century.

Fearful dogs: In this same Dog Speed chapter, just a page or so later, Kerasote encounters a dog who’s handler says is fearful of other dogs. Having only seen the dog on a trail in Boulder, Colorado, for a few moments, he essentially says to the woman that he bets the dog would be OK off leash.

Maybe so. Maybe not.

But, I object to such cavalier attitudes about fearful dogs, as someone who has:

  • Worked for YEARS to help a truly, clinically fearful dog cope in the world
  • Been subject to all kinds of unsolicited advice and misinformation from people who do NOT know my dog, but think they know everything
  • Protected Lilly from countless “friendly” off-leash dogs who’ve chased us, growled / barked at us, and generally harassed us in areas with leash laws

As a community of folks with fearful dogs and those who may also oppose shock collars, I recommend you SKIP the chapter called Dog Speed.

Let me just tell you that it’s essentially about the mental and physical benefits of giving dogs independent time off leash and time to make good decisions on their own. It lowers their stress level, which is good for longevity.

Top 20%, Top 2%, Top 0.02%

Our Champion of My Heart community sits solidly in the top 20% — if not the top 2% — of dog people.

I’d put Kerasote in the fractional top of the top of the top. His community, his lifestyle, his way of living with and caring for dogs isn’t something most people can accomplish.

Nonetheless, I commend his quest to make Pukka’s life as long and as happy as possible, and I appreciate the lengths to which he has gone to get the rest of us information we might be able to use … about vaccinations … about spay / neuter … about nutrition.

You know that pretend game you play, when you think about what you would do with the money, if you won a big lotto prize?

Kerasote has 2 ideas for important studies in veterinary medicine that need big bucks from an independent source (and many years) to do — one on dog nutrition and one on the impact of spay / neuter on dog health.

After reading Pukka’s Promise, I’ve now added 2 line items to my pretend lotto budget.

My two complaints aside, I do recommend you read Pukka’s Promise so that you’re aware of some of the big discussions and debates going on the greater dog world.

 

 

About the Author Roxanne Hawn

Trained as a traditional journalist and based in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, USA, I'm a full-time freelance writer for magazines, websites, and private clients. My areas of specialty include everything in the lifestyles arena, including health and home, personal finance and other consumer interests, relationships and trends, people and business profiles ... and, of course, all things pet related.

I don't just love dogs. I need them in my life. Seriously.

  1. You dealt very well with the issue I struggled with reading Kerasote’s book.

    I opted not to deal with shock collars in my review. One reason was because I wasn’t sure how to deal with the safety issues Kerasote talked about.

    But you’re right. The “digs” weren’t warranted.

  2. It sounds like he’s almost suggesting that anyone who doesn’t use a shock collar or some other form of punishment is keeping their dog from growing up? That’s crazy … although I guess it’s in line with what a lot of people used to say about children. “Spare the rod and spoil the child” and all that. I just thought we’d gotten past that idea now.

    1. It struck me that way too, Laurie. Old-fashioned. With all the other forward-looking ideas in the book, the “sacred cow” of shock collars left unchallenged seemed really out of place to me. I also didn’t like the idea that our dogs never have full relationships with us. Could not disagree more.

  3. Thank you for this review.

    I’d had the book on my radar for a while, as Patricia McConnell had reviewed it favorably on her blog… but while she expressed having some reservations and disagreements with Kerasote, she never came out and said what those disagreements were. Thanks to your post, I’ve now got a pretty good guess — and while I wonder if she didn’t specify the shock collar thing because she didn’t want to turn the comments section into a referendum (or, more likely, flame war) on e-collars, I still wish she had just said it.

    Because yeah, for all the good ideas and solid research that might be in the book, that would be a very sore sticking point indeed for me. I still have not reached the state of Zen acceptance where I can read about (or see) a shock collar without instantly, reflexively dropping into a rage. The damage wrought by poorly used shock collars is still too fresh in my mind. And that, plus “alpha dog” references, would likely cause me to discard everything else a given writer had to say out of hand.

    That’s my failing, of course. Someday I will be patient and calm enough to sort out good from bad with a level head. But not yet. So I’m very very grateful to you for sparing me aggravation that I can’t deal with at this particular moment in time.

    1. You know, Merciel, I *wondered* about that when I saw McConnell’s blurb on the book cover. I’m sure there is some sort of code of conduct between big-time dog authors in such situations, but I’m just a a girl … who cannot help but say what I think.

      And, yes, such references typically make my blood boil and cause me to discount / ignore everything else someone says after that.

      I suspect the random dominance / alpha references went sideways in editing because in other spots the book discusses the flawed the concept and its pitfalls.

      The book really does include some interesting ideas about the future of dog health, but I understand your hesitation.

  4. I recall how profoundly unhappy I was with the manner in which Kerasote used an ecollar in Merle’s Door….it’s a hard thing to get past. His concerns, though, are ones shares by many (if not all!) dog owners: our dogs die too young. With Dobermans, you can get a longevity certificate if your dog is 10 years old. Ten! That’s just not enough time.

    1. Yeah, Jen ~ In Pukka’s Promise, he mentions taking a significant amount of crap for the shock collar stuff in Merle’s Door. (I’ve not read that one, so I don’t know how the 2 uses with Merle and Pukka compare.) In general, I’m annoyed with the euphemisms shock collar proponents use — e-collar, stim, etc.

      To his credit, Kerasote really did try many other ways first, and he used a newer shock collar in a strategic, and I’d say “fair,” way … always giving Pukka the opportunity to do the right thing first.

      I just didn’t appreciate the argumentative digs against those of us who oppose shock collars.

      There are very few things about which I feel this strongly. ;o)

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