We barely have scratched the surface of this complex and controversial subject. We hope you take away from this article the following:

• Acupuncture can be a beneficial adjunct therapy, but it has its own set of dangers, not the least of which is the possibility of a lack of diagnosis or misdiagnosis of problems that routinely would be identified in Western veterinary medicine;
• anecdotally, acupuncture works-so if you do choose to take your dog to a veterinary acupuncturist, take it to someone who is having success in treating similar problems;
• if Western medicine has failed your dog, there is little to lose in trying acupuncture, but do not expect it to be the miracle cure-it isn’t. In the hands of some practitioners, however, it has produced successes that are hard to explain using the principles of our current scientific and medical knowledge.

John Cargill, Retired Officer of Marines, statistician and science writer, grew up with Airedale Terriers and American Foxhounds but lives on a boat in Florida with his 5-year-old Akita, Ch. Kimdamar’s Jumbalaya Jazz (call name “JJ”). He may be reached by e-mail at cargilljc @ aol.com. Susan Thorpe-Vargas has a doctorate in immunology and has an extensive chemistry and lab background. She has been involved in numerous Environmental Protection Agency cleanup sites. Susan also raises and shows Samoyeds. She may be reached by e-mail at docvite @ aol.com. Susan and John won the Dog Writers Association of America’s Maxwell Medallion and the Iams® Eukanuba® Canine Health Award for their series of articles on canine genetics that appeared in DOG WORLD.

Reaching The Point Of Acceptance:

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4
• About the Authors

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