Time Flies – 10 Years of Whole Dog Journal

This issue represents the end of our tenth year of publication; I can barely believe it. Time has flown by.

When Whole Dog Journal was new, many trainers (much less dog owners) were just beginning to learn about positive training. Thanks to guidance from trainer (and monthly contributor) Pat Miller, who was an early adopter of these methods, Whole Dog Journal burst from the publishing gate as an avid and informed proponent of the most effective dog-friendly training techniques.

Fortunately for our dogs, these popular methods have become common. Today, it’s a bigger challenge to detect and avoid the trainers who use new-age, positive descriptions of their old-fashioned, force-based methods. As always, we encourage you to seek out and support the training professionals who are experts in animal behavior and learning. That’s because it’s our ongoing mission to educate our readers about the easiest and fastest ways to teach their canine companions to behave well, while preserving and protecting their loving, trusting bonds.

Holistic veterinary medicine is more popular than it was a decade ago, too. However, it’s still an ongoing challenge for owners in many parts of the country to find competent practitioners of complementary and alternative modalities. Our goal here is to offer concrete, complete, and concise information about alternative and complementary therapies so that owners can put it to immediate use to benefit their dogs.

Nutrition is an area of special interest to Whole Dog Journal, and to many dog owners. We’ve offered annual reviews of dry and wet foods since Whole Dog Journal’s inception, with less-frequent reviews of raw frozen diets and treats. We plan to increase the frequency of our reviews of less-conventional diets, treats, and chews.

We’ve also offered frequent analysis of breaking news about the pet food industry, and documented many changes in this market; when we began publishing, there was but a handful of “super-premium” dog foods on the market, and none that included organic or other verifiably top-shelf ingredients. We like to think our scrutiny and promotion of this sector of the market has contributed to its spectacular growth; today, there are hundreds of truly top-quality foods to choose from, and terrific, healthy products being introduced daily. We look forward to continuing to introduce these products to our readers.

Many dog-care and -training products have also been reviewed in Whole Dog Journal over the past decade, including a number of innovative products we can’t imagine living without today, such as the Buddy Bowl (a no-spill water bowl), head halters and front-clip harnesses, any number of dog ID products, and top-quality dog beds. It’s time-consuming to track down and test products, but it’s also one of the most rewarding things we do!

Thanks so much for your support throughout these past 10 years! I look forward to bringing you much more in-depth and high-quality dog-care information in the next decade.

-Nancy Kerns