Raining Cats and Dogs

copyright: Lisa Croft-Elliott

We all have a guardian angel. For some that means a spiritual entity hovering just behind us, hand on our shoulder to protect and comfort, to cradle our souls when we’re afraid. For others the guardian is a real person, someone special who tends our needs through mentoring, consoling, care-giving or somehow providing nourishment and security.

For Darlene Arden, that guardian angel is Aimee, her blue, double-coated Chartreux cat whose collar bears a charm that reads, "I rescued a human." "When my mother died, Aimee became my guardian angel," says Arden, the award-winning Massachusetts author of Small Dogs, Big Hearts, The Irrepressible Toy Dog, and Rover, Get Off Her Leg! "I get horrible migraines that put me in bed, and one time I woke up and her favorite toy was next to me on the pillow. She was trying to comfort me with the things that comfort her. She would not leave the bed."

Arden, a former member of the Dog Writers’ Association of America and former director of the Cat Writers’ Association, is also an accomplished journalist with an impressive resume of pet/animal features, and various other articles that have appeared in such noted publications as Family Circle, Dog World, The Boston Herald and the AKC Gazette. To take her love and advocacy of our furry friends—her life mission is to "further solidify the human/animal bond"—beyond the written word, Arden works as a telecommuting cat consultant for Pets for Life in New York City, is an in-demand speaker for group meetings, events and national veterinary conferences. Additionally she is a judge, referee and advisory board member for the World Canine Freestyle Organization Inc.

But Arden’s life wasn’t always consumed by purring kitties and puppy love. As a young adult, her heart throbbed in the theater, where she relished the adrenaline rush from audience feedback, the lights and the backstage hustle and bustle. On the side, Arden did some travel writing and interviewed various celebrities for profile features, including Jerry Seinfeld, Reba McEntire and William Shatner. She never envisioned herself a fulfilled and successful pet/animal writer. “I couldn’t conceive of dog writing. That would’ve been like asking me to write an article on how bleu cheese is processed on the moon,” says Arden.

As the former stage actress and dancer grew older, she started thinking more and more about owning a dog. Her hairdresser at the time was showing Afghan hounds—a perfect breed, jests Arden, for a hairdresser to show—and encouraged Arden to attend the AKC Eastern Dog Club Show in Boston. After five years of scouting dog events for the breed that best suited her character and lifestyle, Arden finally decided: a Yorkshire Terrier.

“I was at a show and I saw a Yorkie trying to attack a Great Dane, who was just looking down thinking, ‘Oh my gosh! Is that a bug?’ I was captivated by the breed,” she recalls. So captivated, in fact, that she started showing the silky toy dogs, a hobby that gave her access to some of the best dog experts, trainers, handlers and veterinarians in the country.

Breeders, pet enthusiasts and friends urged Arden to marry her Yorkie passion with her writing talents. Skeptical, Arden finally agreed to give it a try. After all—how can you resist a toy dog that’s looking at you with the most endearing chocolate eyes, commanding attention like it’s an Olympic sport and just pleading to be featured in a magazine?

Her first pet/animal article addressed dog handling and was published in Dog Fancy. Soon thereafter, Arden was compelled to write about the parvovirus for Dog World, as she knew a lot of owners who’d lost their small dogs, even Yorkies, to the disease. “It just snowballed from there,” says Arden. “That soon led to an editor contacting me about doing an article on a homeless guy in Massachusetts who would rather live on the streets with his dog than in a shelter without him.”

After appearing in by-line form in just about every popular pet/animal magazine published, Arden authored The Irrepressible Toy Dog, a classic that details not only the endearing, bold personality of the breed but also touts the often undermined intelligence of smaller pooches. “They’re real dogs and we need to celebrate them as dogs,” says Arden. “People look at them and think they’re decorations. They can do more than wear a $1,500 collar.” They excel in agility, make comforting companions, train well and are ideal travelers—you just can’t subtly enter a lobby, adds Arden, with an Irish Wolfhound.
 
For owners who have struggled with training their toy dogs and to those who doubt that Chihuahuas and Pugs even have learning centers in their brains, Arden emphasizes operant conditioning, or clicker training, which pairs a consistent sound (ballpoint pen, baby food jar, barrette etc.) with a treat. Operant conditioning, compares Arden, is like giving your dog a liberal arts education rather than sending him to military school. “It allows them to think,” she says. “They want to do something right because they’re affection motivated.” Clicker training also works with cats. But there’s one caveat: Once they learn something they will never forget and delight in repeating their newly acquired skill. “Do not teach a cat to flush a toilet,” Arden laughs. “You won’t be nearly as amused when you get your next water bill.”

While Arden’s series of training books (she's also written pet health/wellness books) has an obvious mission of helping owners teach their pets small and large, Arden says her bigger hope is that her work will ultimately decrease occupancy rates at shelters. “If we can resolve behavior issues, we can keep pets in our homes where they belong,” says Arden, who recently established the Marcia Polimer Abrams Fund for Canine Behavior Studies, an American Kennel Club/Canine Health Foundation donor directed fund created in memory of Arden’s mother.

Having the patience to train a pet, emphasizes Arden, will only set him up to do good in the future; that is, to not mess in the house, chew on furniture or run away when you’re calling him. Too often an animal is brought home only for a temporary reprieve from the echoing, rank cement halls and kennels of the pound. But a determined and successful attempt at training is true animal rescue. And, according to Arden, there’s a good chance you, too, will be rescued in the process.

Links

www.darlenearden.com
Twitter: @Petxpert

You can also find Darlene on Facebook

Darlene has several books that can be found on Amazon:  Small Dogs Big Hearts, The Irrepressible Toy Dog,  and Rover, Get Off Her Leg
 

 Above: photo of Aimee by Dru Milligan