Though I’ve been consistently checking out books from the library for the past year or so, I procrastinate so much that I end up using up all my renewals and rushing to finish the books before they’re finally due back at the library. Thus, one of my goals for 2020 is to read every single day, and I have been doing pretty well with this. The books I like to check out are almost always about dogs. I hope to one day be considered an expert on the subject. I thought it might be helpful if after reading a book, I write a little bit about my thoughts on said book here. This way, I can help others who are either looking for resources or who may be interested in these titles but aren’t sure whether it’s worth their time or not.
Last time I was at the library, I had actually planned on getting books about doggy nutrition. However, the title of this book caught my eye because it aligns with my own beliefs on how we should train dogs. Now, I still have a lot to learn so I wouldn’t say those beliefs are 100% fully formed, but they definitely lean in a certain direction. And that direction is essentially positive reinforcement-based methods. I believe that we are completely responsible for any and all of our dogs unwanted behaviors. We should not blame or punish a dog for doing something we don’t like, but instead identify the reason behind those behaviors and find a constructive solution. If you agree with this style of training, then you are likely to appreciate the training methods outlined in Catch Your Dog Doing Something Right. If you believe in more “old school” versions of training that deal with corrections based on physical punishment, then I ask that you reconsider these beliefs, and would direct you to reading Patricia McConnell’s work (try The Other End of the Leash or For the Love of a Dog), as she does a great job explaining why punitive measures are not as effective as positive reinforcement-based training.
But back to the book in question. Honestly, I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, I think most of the training advice is pretty solid. I have tried some of the exercises and found them to work pretty well with my two-year-old GWP, and they are similar to techniques I have seen elsewhere. A quick Google search tells us that Krista Cantrell has a Master’s degree and is a Cognitive Animal Behaviorist, so for the most part, her advice seems trustworthy. The training methods she offers in her book aren’t just a one size fits all solution either. Instead, she gives the reader several “tests” to perform with their dogs to determine things like confidence level, amount of trust in their handlers, energy level, and so on. Then, she offers different training methods based on the type of dog you have: high energy, sound sensitive, etc. I absolutely love this set up because I agree that we have to cater our training to the dog. Some methods will work for some dogs but not others, and it is refreshing to see a trainer who realizes that fact. Not only does she offer basic training strategies, but she also has a section on unwanted behaviors and what you can do to solve them.
So far, the book sounds great, right? So why is it that I have mixed feelings about it? The answer is “Animal Energetics.” Ms. Cantrell clearly believes in the power of “chi,” a type of “energy” that is believed to reside in every living thing. She believes that you can direct your own chi into your dog to reduce physical and mental stress. She calls this “Animal Energetics” and offers it as the best solution to dealing with dogs who have high levels of anxiety or emotional stress. I am not a very spiritual person, and outside of Avatar: The Last Airbender, the concept of chi is relatively new to me and is not something I can say I believe in. Essentially, I’m being asked to just believe in some invisible force that can influence and affect other creatures, and not just for the good. In fact, she stresses that you must be completely serene when using Animal Energetics or you could transfer your own negative feelings to your dog. This is all a bit much for me. I do think that dogs can pick up on our emotions and even be affected by them, but not because of chi or any other spiritual energies. Rather, dogs can and do read our body language (Ms. Cantrell would agree), they can tell a difference in our tone of voice. Therefore, I didn’t find the section on Animal Energetics especially helpful, and I wish that Cantrell’s guidance for dogs with high emotional response levels would have been more constructive.
Just for the heck of it, and for the sake of this article, I went ahead and tried one of the chi exercises. This technique was about readying yourself to perform Animal Energetics on your dog, and it involved preparing your chi so that you could feel it in your hands. Essentially, you were to hold your hands a foot apart, shake them vigorously, and then bring them back together. By this point you should feel your heartbeat in your hands. After that, you were to slowly draw your hands apart and then bring them closer together a few times. Finally, repeat this same action but faster, as if you were clapping without actually touching your hands together. According to Cantrell, I was supposed to be able to feel the chi energy between my hands. She said people feel it in different ways and gave a few examples, like holding taffy between your hands or simply feeling pressure. I felt nothing. I couldn’t even feel my heartbeat in my hands. I tried to be more aware of my body as she suggested and was able to feel my heartbeat pulsing on the left side of my neck, but despite repeating the exercise a few times, I never felt it in my hands, nor did I ever feel any taffy, pressure, heat, or anything else. Maybe I’m simply not attuned enough to my body or my chi energy, maybe I’m too skeptical, or maybe chi just doesn’t exist. Either way, I think these exercises are for a certain type of person with a certain types of beliefs and are not very helpful in a dog training book. When Animal Energetics was first mentioned in this book, I expected it to be something along the lines of massage therapy techniques (which I can better understand as a method for reducing stress), but it was not.
Aside from the questionable practice of Animal Energetics, another thing to be aware of is that the book is getting on in age as it was published in 1998. For the most part, the training techniques seem to hold up and are very similar to today’s popular methods of positive reinforcement (although this book does have some “reprimands” in the form of squiring your dog with a water bottle) but there were a few things I found questionable. For instance, Cantrell says that if your dog is fearful of something, you absolutely should not comfort them. If you do, this reinforces their fear. This advice is actually pretty common, but just today I watched a video by popular trainer Zak George who said the exact opposite. According to him, comforting your dog will not increase or reinforce their fear response — that’s just a myth. The top results from a quick Google search favor Zak George’s answer. Without more research, I still can’t be 100% certain about who is correct, but at the very least, I know this particular statement is being contested by other dog trainers.
So would I recommend this book? If you can find it at your local library, then sure. But would I pay for it? No. I think this book does have some useful tools for helping you train your dog basic skills and offers viable solutions for dealing with mildly problematic behaviors like barking and jumping. However, the other aspects of the book (aka Animal Energetics) keep me from feeling like it is worth my coin.
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