Collaborative Integrative Care

When speaking of "holistic" or "integrative," people often imagine particular methods – perhaps acupuncture or herbs. But being holistic means an openness to all possible ways, embracing the whole range of possibilities, no matter where they arise, without focusing on any specific treatment. This all-encompassing view of holistic care works best for our pets.

Everyone has a responsibility in bringing this vision to life. Veterinarians must welcome both alternative and traditional treatments. But you, the pet owner, also have responsibilities. When you work with your veterinarian, become a fully informed, collaborative partner.

Beyond your veterinarian's office, you have a role to play in the entire holistic philosophy. As the name implies, it comprises the "whole." What every one of us does and says integrates into a larger system of belief and action.

How can we make sure our veterinarians are truly holistic, and how can we work collaboratively with them? How can each of us contribute to advancing an impressive set of holistic ideals?

Becoming Holistic Naturally

Dr. Mark Newkirk, VMD, has been a veterinarian in Egg Harbor Township, NJ, since 1981. For 16 years, his practice was entirely "traditional." But like many veterinarians, he became frustrated whenever he ran out of treatment options. "I found myself telling people to just watch problems or keep trying different steroids. I hated saying, 'I can't help your pet anymore.'"

In 1997, Dr. Newkirk attended a conference on holistic care. He was skeptical. "I went in resisting it, saying, 'No way I'm doing any of this.' On the other hand, I was unhappy with available offerings for my clients."

Dr. Newkirk tried holistic nutrition, suggesting a range of alternative diets to his clients based on their pets' needs. To his pleasant surprise, client after client improved. That got him thinking. "You know, I go to a chiropractor, and he keeps me walking. Maybe this would work for animals."

He did a few referrals to chiropractors, and was thrilled to see positive results.

As each new idea worked, he added it as a regular part of his practice. Dr. Newkirk became convinced of a world of new possibilities.

Today, Dr. Newkirk continues to use traditional treatments about 70% of the time, but he is a strong believer in holistic methods. His practice is a perfect illustration of the holistic philosophy: smooth integration of "alternative" and "traditional" thinking.

Holistic Just Makes Sense

Dr. Paul McCutcheon, DVM, established the East York Animal Clinic in Toronto in 1962. He began adding holistic elements 18 years later. "There's no 'holistic way' of doings things," he explains. "There's a 'holistic philosophy' behind what you do. That's a very important distinction."

It is not the particular methods – surgery, homeopathy, radiology, acupuncture, chemotherapy, or herbs – it is how smoothly veterinarians weave any of these into situations.

How do we know when a veterinarian works in a holistic manner? As Dr. McCutcheon explains, "It's all about looking for underlying reasons for problems. If a dog has cancer, don't just kill the cancer cells. Let's see if we can also get at why cancer cells are forming."

Holistic practitioners look at as many factors as possible to get a full picture of the environment in which a disease or problem arises. "If a cat has a skin problem," Dr. McCutcheon says, "we don't want to just soothe the irritation. We figure out the patterns so we can change the terrain that creates the irritation. If you think that way, you'll change things, which means you're doing a proper holistic job."

Dr. Narda Robinson, DVM, director of the Center for Comparative and Integrative Pain Medicine and Natural Healing at Colorado State University, teaches holistic principles to veterinary students. She applies rigorous standards to the holistic label. "You must have an open mind, but you must also keep your critical thinking," she explains. "We should ask, 'who is this dog?' Look at the dog's father and mother, then the dog's whole social, physical, mental, and emotional context."

To see all these factors, veterinarians and owners need to think beyond one dimension. As Dr. Robinson explains, "Often, people have narrow approaches: surgeons think surgically, and radiologists think of their methods. But it can be the same with holistic practitioners. Just using a particular holistic tool does not give you access to all corners of an animal's life."

By communicating a logical, scientific approach to her veterinary students, Dr. Robinson is helping holistic ideas earn greater respect.

"You may be wasting precious time if your veterinarian only wants to treat cancer with herbs, or treats it as an allergy to wheat," Dr. Robinson says. "First, seek traditional therapies like chemotherapy or radiation to halt the disease. At the same time, your doctor should integrate antioxidant support."

Veterinarians who use surgery to treat problems, but refuse to accept acupuncture as a way to help relieve pain, may not be practicing holistically. But an acupuncturist who is against surgical intervention is also not truly holistic, even though acupuncture is viewed as a holistic method.

As Dr. McCutcheon explains, "Someone can end up using holistic tools in non-holistic ways."

Empower Yourself: Testing Your Veterinarian

A crucial part of the holistic approach demands that you, the client, are empowered to be a full partner in treatment plans. Holistic veterinarians have a responsibility to welcome you into the methods and logic behind any decisions affecting your pet. And you have a responsibility to be collaborative. Ask questions. Test your veterinarian to determine if he or she works in an integrative fashion.

The same standards apply whether the proposed treatment involves traditional or holistic methods, or a combination of both. "Your vet should be able to lay out the treatment plan," Dr. Newkirk says. "What are the expected outcomes? Exactly what do they plan to do, in what order? They should give you materials to read so you can learn more and know what to ask."

As a client, seeking the best care for your pet means asking your veterinarian to bring the power of all available methods into play. As Dr. Newkirk says, your veterinarian should give the impression that, "It's not all one way or the other. If a dog has a liver infection, your veterinarian should offer antibiotics, and also say, 'here's some milk thistle.' They should complement each other to offer the best of all worlds."

Usually, when consider testing a veterinarian's open-mindedness, we are thinking of traditional practitioners. As Dr. McCutcheon explains, "Ask your veterinarian if they are willing to accept non-conventional approaches to situations. Someone may not want to do acupuncture or herbal care, but they should be able to refer you to someone who does."

The test should also be applied the other way. "If you see a holistic vet, ask if they are willing to give traditional treatments, or put you in touch with traditional services if they don't do it themselves," Dr. McCutcheon emphasizes. "I don't do dental surgery, but I refer patients to traditional surgeons. If I see a dog with a skin irritation, I investigate what's going on in the body to cause that reaction. But I'll prescribe Prednizone to treat immediate discomfort."

Test how your veterinarian speaks about care. He or she should not discredit any type of method. "It's not about 'leaving your Western mind at the door,'" Dr. Robinson cautions, citing a phrase she often hears at holistic conferences.

"I still vaccinate and use antibiotics when there's a need," Dr. Newkirk explains. "Traditional methods like ultrasound and steroids help with acute problems; holistic methods help when there's a chronic condition and vitamins or amino acids are healthier long-term than steroids."

You Play an Important Part

Taking charge creates a collaborative relationship with your veterinarian, where you are fully informed about care decisions for your pet. Even more, taking the idea of "holistic" to its natural conclusion, taking charge also means you assume a powerful role in advancing the very idea of a holistic worldview.

When speaking with friends or skeptics, strive to communicate balance. "If you believe in the holistic way, you should not be too dogmatic about it," Dr. McCutcheon suggests. "It's not helpful to announce, 'never use antibiotics!' Antibiotics can be very useful."

Dr. Newkirk adds, "People sometimes say, 'no vaccinations,' or 'raw food is best.' But this may not be the case all the time. That's not a true holistic approach."

Do not just test your veterinarian. Test yourself. This extends beyond the walls of a veterinary clinic. "The holistic philosophy is about life, all our lives, not just about our pet's health," Dr. McCutcheon says. "It's a universal approach to care and thinking."

The Food is the Dog: Nutrigenomics

The way dogs eat may radically change, thanks to the fusion of nutrition and genetics, two sciences that, until now, maintained a clear separation. Not long ago, this partnership would have been a good basis for a science fiction story.

You just adopted a Labrador Retriever, and you learn he has a family history of arthritis. Instead of anxiously waiting for the condition to appear and using medications, you ask your vet for a special food that changes your Lab's genes so that he no longer has the potential to develop arthritis. It is as if the family history never happened. This new class of food is referred to as "nutrigenomics." It has the power of two hard sciences, but it reveals a philosophy about holistic health and the flow of living systems.

How Did This Develop?

Genes have the power to turn our bodies from well to ill, depending on their "expression." When a person, or a dog, develops arthritis, what is happening is that certain genes express themselves by sending out powerful but harmful instructions. The body's cells bear the direct brunt. Under the duress of the genes' inescapable instructions, a cell makes a decision to produce harmful enzymes and other chemicals. As millions of cells produce enormous amounts of these substances, it causes ligaments to weaken. You notice that your dog walks painfully and does not want to jump or play. While all of this is going on, your dog eats every day. Some fats and proteins in the food get to the genes, slightly improving their expression and offering some relief for the cells. Unfortunately, the normal dog diet does not contain enough helpful elements to change the course of the disease.

Although there is now a new term, nutrigenomics, the melding of nutrition and genes is a natural process that has been going on inside all creatures since the beginning of life. But, explains Dr. Steven Hannah, head of molecular nutrition at Nestlé Purina, it has always invisible to us. "Before, we never had the ability to measure it. Now we can look at biology on a comprehensive, holistic level." Dr. Jim Kaput is an assistant professor at the University of Chicago and president of NutraGenomics, a Chicago-based biotechnology organization that is currently researching nutrigenomic foods for people. He also advises pet food companies. "There has been a reluctance in the nutritionist community to understand genetics," he explains, "and the geneticists thought nutrition was too complicated. So geneticists studied genes to the exclusion of everything else, and nutritionists studied diet to the exclusion of everything else."

Each science made progress in its own area. Geneticists figured out, for example, which genes cause arthritis in dogs; nutritionists figured out that foods must be able to help. But all along, the geneticists and nutritionists did not realize how much their potential success relies on knowledge the other one possesses. How can laboratory genetics be more relevant to the life of a dog? How can nutritionists recommend diets that make lasting changes? Rather than remaining apart, Dr. Kaput says, "We have this exciting new development. For the first time, we are evaluating the nutrients and at the same time evaluating the genes. We are getting people to stop using the Western thought of 'it's either my genes or my diet.' We are starting to think in Eastern philosophy, where it's the relationship between them."

Nutrigenomics not only unites nutrition and genetics, it is also a way for each science to review itself. Dr. Hannah says, "The old model was to look at one enzyme or one organ and say, 'OK, what can we do to change this?' Now, we can view every decision the cells are making, and then we let the cells tell us what we need to do. This is a paradigm shift." Dan Carey, DVM, a trained veterinarian who now works as a scientist at Iams, says, "We are working with the system. It's kind of like boxing versus judo—you can try to knock your opponent out, or you can take advantage of your opponent's own forces. It's very interesting philosophically, because as we learn that this way works better, we have to question everything we did before. Maybe it's not even working with the system. Maybe it's just how we should have done things all along."

This new vision has shown nutritionists and geneticists how to create foods with high amounts of helpful proteins and fats that convince the genes to stop expressing themselves harmfully, which means the cells do not produce harmful chemicals, which means the ligaments are no longer weakened, removing the signs of arthritis. Dr. Dru Forrester, scientific spokesperson for Hills Pet Nutrition, sums it up this way: "If your dog has arthritis, you can use anti-inflammatory drugs to control the pain. But nutrigenomic foods are not just treating the results of a disease, we are preventing the dog from having it." Even more, those healthier cells make better use of the nutrigenomic foods, improving general health. What matters to you is that your dog is not in pain, and happily runs and jumps and plays.

What Does Nutrigenomic Food Look Like?

This may sound like medicine. But nutrigenomic foods are vastly different. Even though medicines have potent chemicals, they do not change the basic mechanics of a disease. Instead, medicines intervene after a disease sets in and try to combat the results. By contrast, nutrigenomic foods are comprised of food ingredients your dog is already accustomed to. Dr. Hannah says, "We're not going beyond the nutritional world. We're not developing synthetic drugs. And we're not giving amounts outside the normal dietary range."

Opening a bag of nutrigenomic food, you would not see anything unusual. It just looks like food. Dr. Kelly Swanson is a professor of comparative nutrition at the University of Illinois. "It has the same ingredients," he explains, "but we alter the levels and the blends. We might use different sources of proteins or fats, since not all fats and proteins are the same." Mr. Carey says, "When you think about it, using natural food ingredients makes perfect sense. The biochemistry of today's dogs evolved to where it is by what they ate in the wild." Nutrigenomics embraces what has always been available naturally, but intensifies it using science to tightly determine exact concentrations and ratios. But in the end, Dr. Forrester explains, "All the work is done behind the scenes. On a day-to-day basis, the average pet owner won't notice anything different."

Right now, arthritis is the only condition that scientists can claim is treatable with nutrigenomic food. "This is just the beginning," Dr. Forrester says. "Arthritis is showing us that nutrients can really affect genes unique to dogs." Several of the large pet food companies are already working on nutrigenomic foods for other diseases. The culprit genes have been isolated, and scientists are testing to see exactly which nutrients bring positive health changes in the dog. It is a time-consuming process, requiring careful tests that are different for each disease.

Because nutrigenomic foods are designed to create a systemic change, it is important that they become the dog's diet. Dr. Forrester explains, "It is recommended that this is all the food the dog eats. But the dog can still have treats." People should also be aware that nutrigenomic foods act in a subtler, slower fashion. There will not be drastic, obvious changes in your dog's body, as with medicines. But over the life of your dog, eating nutrigenomic foods may make a bigger difference. Because it is still new, Dr. Forrester says that the nutrigenomic food for arthritis must be obtained through a veterinarian. "We want veterinarians to confirm that your dog has the body type and size so he'll benefit from this diet." Even more, Mr. Carey says, "We want to encourage people to work with veterinarians so they continue to get good general advice about their dog's health." Dr. Forrester also wants people to go through a veterinarian to prevent the rise of inferior imitations. "Everything in these foods is the result of detailed work. We don't want to see nutrigenomic foods being copied and sold in grocery stores, where there are fewer controls on the contents."

Dogs Get to Go First?

Usually, health breakthroughs are offered to people, then, perhaps, to dogs. This might get you wondering if you missed the nutrigenomics revolution. In fact, the science of human nutrigenomics is stalled in the theoretical stages. Why did dogs get to go first? The answer is simple, according to Dr. Hannah: "People cheat." For nutrigenomics to work, you must eat the specific foods that have been developed for you, and do it faithfully. "Animals try to cheat," Dr. Hannah continues, "but we can control that. We give them a very uniform food with everything they need in it. People could do this too, but we're not going to. I wouldn't eat kibble." Dr. Forrester concurs, adding, "It's easy for us to open a bag of pet food for our dogs. But with ourselves, there are just way too many options." Mr. Carey adds that, "With humans, we get into behavior patterns, the way we eat, and how we prepare it. But with dogs, we can change all of that overnight."

Dr. Kaput is primarily concerned with developing nutrigenomics for people, but even he admits that nutrigenomics will at least initially be more applicable to dogs. He thinks the success with dogs will loop back to support his work for people. "Dogs will show us the concept of nutrigenomics," he says, a living example of what happens when nutrition and genetics are combined in a healthy diet. If large populations of dogs are relieved of the pains of arthritis, it is certain to make people want it for ourselves. Dr. Kaput believes that in the process, "The nutrigenomics conversation will no longer be just be about disease. It will be about better health in general."

Where Are We Heading?

Dr. Swanson says that he and other researchers are "finding that diets will help specific breeds, but also groups of breeds that share characteristics." He predicts that dog breeds once thought to be very different from each other will be shown to have a lot more in common. As a result, nutrigenomic foods will reach much farther than just arthritis. Dr. Forrester says, "There is great potential for new foods that affect the genetics of heart disease, obesity, and forms of cancer." Further out, it is possible that nutrigenomic foods will be developed to improve behavior and cognitive function. Mr. Carey says, "As we continue to understand more about canine genetics, we will have even more definitive nutritional breakthroughs."

Before it can gain widespread acceptance, nutrigenomics must create a positive image of itself. Dr. Hannah laments people's negative reaction to hearing "genetics" and "food" in the same sentence. "We do focus groups, and when we bring up the subject of genetics, people act as if we are talking about cloning or radioactivity." Dr. Forrester responds to the public-relations issue this way: "It's kind of like drinking green tea to reduce your likelihood of breast cancer, or eating broccoli, just more of it. The sounds of the science can sometimes scare people. But I think the more people hear, the more it will allay their fears."

Fighting Disease with DNA Tests

We have reached a day when breeders can find out exactly what their dogs are made of, right down to the molecules in the cells. Veterinary researchers have peered directly at canine genes, uncovering the story of how diseases originate and reading the instructions on how to prevent those diseases. How can breeders gain access to the instructions and eliminate diseases from their dogs? Genetic tests are the answer. Developing genetic tests is a long journey, involving people inside and outside the veterinary research laboratory.

Seeing the Invisible

Throughout most of the history of canine breeding, people have chosen which dogs to pair up, based on what is visible to the naked eye or how a dog behaves. These outward appearances are known as a dog's phenotype. Selecting by phenotype has allowed humans, over long periods of time, to create the characteristics we now see in purebred dogs. But it has also permitted many undesirable traits and diseases to persist. An Irish Setter may produce blind puppies, even though he has normal vision. Hoping to prevent blindness in the next generation, the breeder decides not to breed that dog any longer. But in the next generation, two more puppies are blind, even though the mother and father showed no signs of blindness. Generation after generation, the frustrated breeder experiences the same problem. The breeder could not know that the parents were each "carriers" of blindness: they had the genes, the potential to pass on the disease, but it was hidden. Using just the phenotype, breeders are destined to see the same problems arise, for centuries, in their dogs. This is not ancient history. Even today, most breeders make decisions based on phenotype.

Modern veterinary research has gained access to what is beyond phenotype. It has revealed the genotype, the genetic level, those things that are invisible to the naked eye, the causes of disease. For the first time in our long history with dogs, it is possible to know which dogs have the potential to spawn a disease. Breeders do not have to wait until an affected litter is born to determine which dogs have the problem.

Spotting the Guilty Genes

Whenever a dog has an inherited disease, a gene is mutated, or damaged. With knowledge of what all the canine genes are supposed to look like, researchers can see which ones are mutated. But being able to correlate that mutated gene to a specific disease is a painstaking process. To begin with, researchers focus their view at the microscopic, genetic level. Every cell in a dog (or any other animal) has a nucleus, and each nucleus contains 38 pairs of chromosomes. The 76 individual chromosomes are each packed with thousands of DNA molecules. By a silent force of nature, DNA molecules come together to form strings, each one a different length, anywhere from a few hundred to several million. These strings are genes, and every cell in an individual dog's body contains the same collection. The genes send out instructions to the cells on how to build organs and physiological systems. If even a single DNA molecule is missing, damaged, or in the wrong order, the gene is mutated, issuing bad instructions, and can be the cause of disease. To correlate a disease with a mutation, it must be proven that the same mutation occurs in all dogs with the same disease, and that the mutation does not appear in disease-free dogs.

In the beginning of their investigation, researchers potentially have to test every gene, which can number in the hundreds of thousands. Fortunately, based on general knowledge of genetics, the mutated gene can be isolated to one or two chromosomes. This is helpful, but a long way from an answer: there are still tens of thousands of possible genes. This stage can be extremely slow, as researchers examine numerous dogs looking for a pattern. Dr. George M. Strain, from Louisiana State University, collected information on 11,300 dogs for a study he conducted on hereditary deafness. "All too often," he reports, "things go for years with no apparent progress. You want quick answers, but it doesn't work out that way."

Over many hundreds of hours, researchers reduce the number of candidates. Finally, they spot a culprit gene, or what is known as a "marker." At this point, researchers have about an 85% probability that they are correct. Progress, but not victory.

Moving Beyond the Laboratory, Targeting the Guilty Gene

The next step is to screen numerous dogs, running skin or blood samples, determining if every affected dog has the mutation, and if unaffected dogs do not. University research facilities are not well suited for this task. Dr. Gregory Acland, a veterinary researcher at Cornell University, says, "The sheer amount of work involved in screening would cause an enormous strain and overwhelm any research laboratory." Researchers are interested in discovery. Once they have pointed the way to the cause, their talents are best applied to new searches. As Dr. Acland puts it, "I like to get to the problems we don't yet have solutions for."

The work of doing marker screens is taken up by a genetics testing organization. The largest of these is Optigen, located in Ithaca, New York, closely associated with Cornell University. Optigen communicates with breeders and breed clubs to attract dogs for testing, maintains a database of screened dogs, and shares whatever they learn with Cornell researchers. Dr. Jeanette Felix, president of Optigen, says, "We do what universities do not want to do. Universities would not allow it. They would tell their faculty, 'This is not research.'" Researchers can move on to new studies, Dr. Felix explains, but still have access to the knowledge gained from screening.

No cures for canine diseases can be found without the participation of breeders and breed clubs. During screening, Optigen may test thousands of dogs—the more the better—and they need to know each dog's lineage. Breeders and breed clubs are the only ones who can provide this level of information. As Dr. Felix explains, "Breeders know how frequent the condition is. They know which kennels we should go to in order to have the right dogs to screen. And breed clubs are instrumental in getting the pedigrees of individual dogs."

Addi Pittman is a breeder of English Cocker Spaniels, a dog that long suffered from Progressive Rod-Cone Degeneration (PRCD), a disease that leads to blindness. Ms. Pittman is one of the most active partners to research in the country, providing her own dogs for screening, linking other breeders with researchers, and filling boxes with color-coded folders of pedigrees. "It is so important for people to get involved early on," Ms. Pittman says, "to educate people about the disease and get them to do all the very important tests."

Eventually, the marker screens make it 100% certain which gene is responsible for a disease. With the cause determined, a standardized test is developed. Breeders can submit their dogs' tissue or blood samples, and a short analysis reveals an answer. This is called a genetic test. Addi Pittman, whose work led to a genetic test for PRCD, says, "Because of the work we did, we have seen a dramatic decrease of blindness in our breed."

Using this New Power Wisely

After testing all their dogs, breeders can create a genetics chart—a powerful tool that tells them which dogs have genes for an illness and which dogs are unaffected. At first, it may seem tempting to just stop breeding all dogs with any genetic signs of disease. However, as Dr. Felix explains it, "A breeder may want to eliminate the disease mutation in one generation. But that is very risky."

Dogs that are carriers for a disease almost always have desirable traits as well. That Irish Setter that produced blind puppies may have a beautiful coat, a great disposition, and just the right size. It would be unwise, and heartbreaking, for a breeder to sacrifice those positive traits, even if it meant eliminating blindness. Referring to the genetics chart, a breeder can breed that Irish Setter, keep the dog's positive traits, and also eliminate blindness. According to Dr. Felix, "For a recessive disease with carrier dogs, you can immediately avoid producing affected dogs by breeding always with one 'normal' in the pair. So, if your most beautiful dog is affected, you can still breed that dog."

Genetic tests are still relatively new. In real-world situations, breeders who use genetic tests arrange to mate their dogs from kennels that have not done testing. A breeder may be aware that it is safe to breed his wonderful dog, which he knows is a carrier for von Willebrand's disease,
as long as the other dog is unaffected. But he does not know the other dog's genetics. Even though the breeder realizes it is unwise, he may feel pressured to do exactly what Dr. Felix cautions against. He may stop breeding a quality dog that tests positive for a disease, and only choose his dogs that are unaffected and therefore safe to breed with any dog. To avoid this, more kennels will need to begin using genetic tests.

If genetic tests are applied intelligently, and widely, breeders have the power to free dogs of many inherited illnesses. Speaking of Optigen's test for PRCD, Dr. Felix says, "For breeds that these tests have been produced for, there is simply no reason to have any more blind dogs."

The Future of Genetic Tests

The past decade has been productive, with numerous genetic tests made available for several breeds. According to Dr. Felix, in the coming decade, "We will move more rapidly than we did in the past. There should be many more inherited diseases identified with their causes, and many more genetic tests developed." But developing the tests takes tremendous time and effort. For the work to continue, researchers and genetics testing organizations will need to study an expanding number of dogs. Breeders and breed clubs will have to become more involved in research.

The number of breeders who take part in research is still very small, because of doubts about how research is conducted, or fear that their kennels will be seen as producing "problem dogs." But modern researchers are vigilant about maintaining breeders' privacy, and the latest research techniques are non-invasive. Breeders supply paperwork. The dog usually just provides tissue or blood samples, often never leaving home, or at most staying briefly at a research facility. The owner is in full control at all times.

It is expected that we will soon have genetic tests for some types of cancer, various forms of blindness, deafness, skin and coat problems, skeletal ailments, heart disease, epilepsy, hip dysplasia, and others. The value of genetic tests does not stop with preventing disease. New genetic tests will be developed for qualities such as height and length, ear size, sense of smell, as well as behavioral characteristics like running, retrieving, and pointing. With more acceptance and educated use, these tests will greatly improve the lives of dogs, and the people who love them.

Constructing Dogs

What is a dog?  It sounds like a simple question. But students at Indiana University, earning degrees in the History and Philosophy of Science department, can spend their entire college experience exploring all the implications of that very question.

Turns out that there are numerous answers. In the process of inquiring, students not only discover what a dog is, but also what people are. They may choose to focus on canine biology, the social history of dogs and people, canine cognition and training, or several other angles. But a new class called "Constructing Dogs" asks students to look at all of this. It is the brainchild of Grant Goodrich, who recently earned his Ph.D. at Indiana University, and Dr. Colin Allen, Ph.D., who heads the History and Philosophy of Science Department.

Long ago, dogs earned a place in our hearts. Now that a university has made dogs a worthy subject for a liberal-arts degree, right along with Shakespeare, Freud, Mozart, and Darwin, have our canine companions also earned a place in our minds?

Increased Scientific Attention

As much as we all love dogs, maybe it still seems odd to think of an entire college experience centered around the history and philosophy of dogs. If you were a student in the Constructing Dogs class, on the first day you might raise your hand and ask, "Where did the idea for a course like this come from?"

Allen and Goodrich say their inspiration is the increasing amount of scientific, social, and historical information that has been pouring forth from mainstream and intellectual publications in recent years.

"If you look at scholarly writings on dog cognition," Allen explains, "you could track the development: 12 years ago, there was nothing about dogs. Today, there are regular articles about them." Experts in a vast array of fields are finding dogs to be worthy of a much closer look.

Beyond scientific discoveries, Allen and Goodrich were impressed by statistics showing a rapid rise in the number of dog-owning households, and in how many ways dogs have become like family members to their human companions.

Still, just because dogs are appearing in scholarly journals, and just because people are welcoming more dogs into their homes, does not justify undergraduate and graduate college coursework, does it?

"There has been some interesting investigations into play behavior with chimpanzees that ended up telling us a lot about dogs," Allen explains. "Scientists have looked at chimps' social behaviors and found that they failed to do simple things. They then did the same studies on dogs." It turned out that the dogs were able to complete the tasks. This surprised everyone, including the scientists. Such studies began opening up new levels of curiosity about dogs' social and cognitive skills.

From these simple studies, scientists began to wonder more about where dogs got their great social skills from. That was impossible to answer without also looking at human history and our intense efforts to develop dogs especially attuned to us.

"This brought up the question of how humans, consciously or unconsciously, evolved traits that made dogs such highly social beings," Allen explains. "You could go pretty far with this." As a result of selective breeding for jobs like herding and guard work, humans may have inadvertently formed traits such as attentiveness and empathy. We continue to do this right now.

Clinching the Idea

Indiana University has a history of being receptive to cutting-edge concepts students wish to study. For many years, the university has run the Center for the Integrative Study of Animal Behavior (CISAB), where students can examine the history of human-animal bonds. With all the new information about dogs on their minds, Allen and Goodrich took part in a study group at the CISAB, where, among other things, they discussed studies done in Russia with foxes, and in Hungary with wolves.

In the Hungarian study, researchers reared wolves and dogs, giving each the same upbringing. Researchers then gave the wolves and dogs the same tasks to complete. Although dogs descended from wolves, the difference was striking. "Both animals did the tasks with intensity," Allen explains. "But the wolves just went at it. The dogs stopped once in a while to look back at the humans. There was this social connection. The dogs seemed to ask, 'should I continue?' at each step."

In the 40-year Russian study, begun in the 1950s by Dmitry Belyaev, the findings were even more shocking. Scientists gathered two groups of foxes and bred them over several generations. One group was kept away from humans. The other group socialized with humans. Over a short time, the human-connected foxes gave birth to more foxes also good with humans.

But it did not end there. "As they bred the foxes that had a willingness to approach humans," Allen explains, "other dog-like traits emerged, such as changes in coat color, different sizes, and floppy ears. Somehow, by breeding for friendliness, researchers got a much bigger package."

The scientific, social, and historical implications of all this lingered in the minds of Allen and Goodrich well after the study group ended. Allen and Goodrich saw an opportunity for classes at Indiana University that could examine the meaning of all dog-related ideas. The result was new coursework at the undergraduate and graduate level. The Constructing Dogs class is a potential centerpiece for students' canine-centered explorations.

Goodrich teaches Constructing Dogs, which he says allows students to gain an even greater appreciation for animals they think they know so well. "We realized that this would be a great way to introduce people to the whole history of science, the basic ideas of biology, evolution, social sciences, and psychology. We get into how science experiments have evolved: dogs were once used in these experiments. We get into the space program, and why dogs were chosen to be the first ones into space. Dogs really open students' minds."

There were also practical considerations. "A lot of our students love dogs, so we thought this would bring them in!" Allen jokes.

As always in intellectual pursuits, answers give rise to more interesting questions. Here is your chance to take part, virtually, in some of the discussions that engage students in the Constructing Dogs class...

Entering Human Society

How did it all begin? What made humans reach out to dogs and train them for various jobs? Perhaps that is the wrong assumption altogether. "Based on the history," Goodrich explains, "it is a viable hypothesis that dogs actually sought us out, rather than the other way around." There is evidence that it might have begun when wolves found an opportunity to "clean up" after human hunting expeditions.

How would this relate to the bond that humans eventually formed with wolves? It is very possible that those wolves who first followed humans after a hunt were already exhibiting finely tuned social skills. They had to be able to read subtle human intentions, and know how to get close without becoming targets of the hunt.

Many thousands of years later, the ability to read human cues might be what made dogs so good as shepherds, and later in guide work, rescue missions, police duties, and military operations.

"Dogs have this uncanny ability to pick up on things we're not aware of ourselves," Goodrich says. "Seeing-eye work is a perfect example of this, where dogs are expected to detect subtle changes in direction."

Through the continued co-evolution of humans and dogs, the sensory traits that started out in those early wolves got stronger, leading to ever more possible jobs. After doing so well in the field, it seems natural that at some point dogs would have an opportunity to take the next step. "People let these highly social creatures into our homes to become part of the household," Goodrich suggests. "That created a whole new set of social expectations, which put more selection pressures on dogs."

Students can make the connection here with that Russian fox study. By breeding for behaviors we admire in household pets, humans might have brought out more desirable traits, including physical characteristics that make dogs more pleasant to play and cuddle with. All the while, these household dogs were quietly honing their already considerable bonding skills. Long after many dogs had stopped being bred for work, their social ties with humans got much deeper.

Through connection, breeding, and training, what else might humans bring out in dogs? How far could we go with this? What would it mean socially? These questions could be worthy of a student's full experience at Indiana University.

"Trait Linkage"

While students think about the image of dogs transforming through social interactions with humans, the teacher has an opportunity to introduce the basics of genetics and evolution.

It can start with plants. Allen describes how native Americans sought to make acorns palatable to eat. Normally, acorns are far too bitter. By selectively breeding, people occasionally were able to get sweeter acorns. Unfortunately, genes for sweetness are linked to genes that make oak trees sickly and unable to reproduce.

"If we apply this idea to dogs," Allen says, "we have this very interesting phenomenon where we bred them for social reasons, but somehow brought along all these other traits. Through our history with dogs, students can reveal underlying biology that we usually don't see. Humans can breed for something, but there's this whole other part of creation that is unintended."

Students might wonder about how people can examine these linkages more closely. How might this knowledge be used – or abused – as we gain greater power to manipulate genetics in the years ahead?

Impulse Control

Students may not be accustomed to thinking of dogs as animals. Dogs are different somehow, better in our minds. It is not a put-down to say they are animals. In fact, to appreciate how wonderful dogs are, it is good to be reminded once in a while. It makes them even more amazing when we consider how they control many built-in animal impulses.

Take a look at the "fight-or-flight" impulse. When confronted with a dangerous situation, animals instinctively flee the scene, or lash out in self-protection. Somehow, dogs can transcend this. The most prominent example is police work. Even in the heat of a shoot-out, with loud and distressing noises surrounding them, police dogs stay with their handlers.

Beyond fight-or-flight, there is simple impulse control, which dogs exhibit more than other domesticated animals. Some pigs are bred to hunt for truffles, using their noses to root the precious mushrooms from the ground. "The thing is," Allen laughs, "when the pig finds the truffle, the human has to get it before the pig does! But dogs can be asked to hunt and retrieve all kinds of things that are interesting to them." We can trust dogs to control their innate urge to eat or grab, giving the human all the time needed to get to an object.

Does this mean dogs are, after all, truly different from "regular" animals? Is this self-control another example of the social co-evolution of humans and dogs? Is impulse control one of those unintentional traits that arose as people bred dogs for something entirely different?

What Does it All Mean?

After millennia of working with humans, dogs are complex enough for us to take a closer look at them. Coursework at Indiana University is groundbreaking, and yet it is a natural response to the groundswell of scientific work and the expanding social significance of dogs.

Goodrich wants students to return to that simple question, "What is a dog?" and realize that there is more to it than it first appears. "I'm hoping students will look at dogs in more serious ways, look beyond their own homes and see what else there is to know about these companions."

Studying dogs is also a self-reflective effort for Goodrich. "I hope students will see that what dogs do, and what we've done in that long relationship, illustrates our behavior as much as theirs."