Jon Katz on Dogs

Please, PLEASE do not tout Mr. Katz as an expert on dogs, dog training, the human-canine bond, or anything related to dogs, dog health, Border collies, or anything other than his own experiences. He has NO credentials to support such claims of expertise; his only mantle of credibility lies in the books he has written - in which, BTW, he both states and demonstrates that he is anything BUT expert. Having listened in horror to Mr. Katz telling your listnership that "dogs only live about 8 years" (an extremely misleading statement, and one he is not only COMPLETELY unqualified to make, but is also incorrect about) I cannot imagine how you, as journalists, have been so remiss in your own research as to accord this individual ANY expertise whatsoever. Where are Mr. Katz's degrees or certifications in animal science? veterinary medicine? animal behavior? dog training? Doesn't have them? Then how about his wins in stockdog trials? Maybe hundreds of success stories for dogs he personally has trained? None of those, either? Well, what IS his record, then? One dog, Orson, who he euthanized (without benefit of seeing a boarded veterinary behaviorist). One dog who he rehomed. Two dogs who he put down at the age of 8 because they weren't young anymore. One dog who essentialy trained herself - although from what I can discern, more to her own credit than Katz's. So, that's a success rate of 20%, with a grand total of ONE dog with whom he has not completely failed. What are you doing, presenting him as an expert? Did you do NO research whatsoever?

The fact of having written a few books that were (inexplicably) well-received by the public does not an expert make. Mr. Katz was essentially drummed off of Slashdot, whence his alleged computer-geek expertise supposedly comes, because his pretense at expertise there was recognized - and the lack of actual expertise (not to mention the pretentions to it) were responded to with outrage by that community. (For this reason I cannot see why you include his alleged techon-geek background in the "credits" of the short bio you have on him.) Unfortunately Mr. Katz is now insinuating himself into a community where the enormous enthusiasm for the subject (dogs) is also quite often accompanied by a lesser or greater degree of ignorance of it. In such a community, Mr. Katz's spurious expertise might go unrecognized by a great many. However, since he is in NO way the expert you have stated him to be, your presentation of him as such lends him more credibilty, and therefore, more power to do harm.

When Mr. Katz completes his degree in veterinary medicine and/or animal science he might be competent to remark on the average lifespans of dogs. Until such time, he needs to either DO HIS RESEARCH (which you might also want to do) or KEEP HIS MOUTH SHUT about things of which he has no evident understanding. I am absolutely furious that I have REPEATEDLY had to disabuse my clients of some of the idiotic notions he has espoused and perpetrated upon an unsusupecting public. Please, PLEASE do not compound this problem by presenting him as an expert. He is nothing of the sort.

Thank you.

P.S. - In case you are wondering about my own expertise, I have a bachelor's degree in biology with a concentration in immunology; a master's degree in wildlife biology; and a doctorate in veterinary medicine with a concentration in small animal medicine. My experience includes an internship in small animal medicine and more than a dozen years in practice.