Kimberly Davis

I bought this book by chance on Amazon. I have done agility with my dogs, though came to the sport from a different perspective than the author. She seemed to give an honest account of her feelings about the training process, including both ups and downs. I especially enjoyed reading the part in which she started to do her own research into training modalities - and started to apply positive reinforcement behavior modification strategies with her son. The introspection about her own motivations based on what she had learned from dog training is something that is hard to describe. I was glad to see it here.
I was not so pleased with the breeder-bashing portion of the book. It's really sad that her dog had problems, but even the best breeders can't prevent ALL problems from happening. Just like the best of human parents sometimes have a child with disabilities. There is not yet a genetic screening test for epilepsy or for arthritis. There was no proof given that either of these were problems that had shown up in the lines of dogs. The author bashes the breeder for doing line breeding, exclaiming that they (this breeder and breeders of purebred dogs in general) don't understand about genetic diversity. Then the author offers a paragraph suggesting a potential "solution" of "hybrid vigor" defined as breeding dogs of two different breeds together. When both breeds carry the same potential health issues, and the "breeders" of these dogs don't test them, relying on "hybrid vigor" to solve all ills...then we have a very serious problem. Line breeding is how breeds are developed and is done because you're familiar with the potential problems in the line and can minimize some risks. You are not risk free for genetic defaults in an outcross breeding - especially when there are no genetic health clearance tests available for specific ills.
Having a dog whose enjoyment of life is somewhat curtailed by health issues has got to be a very frustrating experience. But the breeder bashing portion of the book was uncalled for and unnecessary. There are plenty of mixed breed dogs out there with very serious health problems, at least the *responsible* breeders (granted, there are a lot of irresponsible breeders in for a quick buck) are making an effort to understand and avoid such issues.… (meer)