Listener QuestionsWe put out the call: what are your questions about all things dogs, training, and rescue? You sure answered! Emily and Libby address listener questions like, “what do I do about resource guarding?” “How do I get a dog ready for a new baby?” And more.
https://www.dogwise.com/mine-a-practical-guide-to-resource-guarding-in-dogs/ http://lindsaywoodbrown.com/ Behavior Vets and Chewy the dog: https://youtu.be/3JYbtyAiC5g Family Paws YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsDoHZeiT2t5qQTZ0SYtvatDGr23IqrUz Family Paws Dog Baby Sheet https://fearfreepets.com/ Leslie McDevitt’s Pattern Games: https://youtu.be/Mtn-BeI9lHE |
Episode Transcript
Emily 0:09
Welcome to pod to the rescue.
Libby 0:11
Rescuing the dog is just the first step. We're here to help with everything that comes next. Hello, everyone, and welcome back to pod to the rescue. I'm Libby.
Emily 0:22
And I'm Emily.
Libby 0:23
And today we are finally doing a listener questions episode. Yay, yay,
Emily 0:31
yay. We've been needing to do this for quite a while.
Libby 0:34
Yeah. And we're finally getting around to it. So we put out a call for questions on our social media. We got some really good ones. And we're going to try to answer each one briefly. So listeners if you want to be involved in a future listeners, question listener questions episode, definitely follow us on social because that is where we're going to post these calls for questions for us to answer on the pot. All right, so first question from Rebecca. She wants an update on Benny, which we haven't done in a while. So M Do you want to take that one?
Emily 1:09
Yeah. So that's been kind of a slow transition he had, it was interesting. In the end, he had two incredible couples who were both interested in him and applied. One was out of state, and we love them. But we thought, you know, he has a community here. And so he went to this amazing couple up in Nederland, we did about eight to 10 visits with them before he actually went to stay. And last week, he did an overnight there with Piper, they actually were so gracious that they took diaper overnight. So he had a button, he had a body for the first night. And then he's been there six more days. And it's going in a lot of ways better than they thought the biggest challenge is that Benny is still kind of afraid of the husband, when he like moves through the house standing like super okay with him when he's laying down or on the couch or in bed. But it's that like tall man walking, standing. So, you know, it's, um, it's a foster to adopt because they want to make sure that they, they're the right home for him. And, and so we're just supporting them. And they're going really slow and learning as much as they can. And so it it is as good of a situation as we could help for
Libby 2:35
yeh and remind listeners why you're going so slow, like what's been his deal?
Emily 2:41
Oh, Benjamin. So he's a little bit of an odd duck. And he came from Arkansas, late July, and he had lived in a yard, what they called a yard dog. So he really had missed, like that critical socialization period for the first year. And then a lot of ways not only did he miss it, but he had probably some negative experiences. I know we're not supposed to like write a story for the foster dog. But he was found running around frantically on the Fourth of July, so doesn't take up, you know, rocket scientist put two and two together that like loud noises and bright flashing lights freak him out. Yeah. But he has made tremendous progress. So you know, I think I think this will work out. But of course, we're all like, just like, Oh, please, you know, like, Please have this work. But you know, we'll both we're here to support them. And they're, you know, they're going to do their best. So we'll see what happens.
Libby 3:38
Good. Well, that's great that they're willing to go slow. And to, you know, take a little direction from you because you've fostered him for so long. And you know, I'm really well. So yeah,
Emily 3:48
they're so open to learning. Like they've read multiple books. And we included a couple of sessions with Debbie Jacobs, she runs. She's the fearful dog trainer. She's up in Vermont, and she wrote a book about fearful dogs. So they did one session and they're going to do another one, you know, just to really make sure that like they have all the tools available to them, because we really all of us want to make it work. Good. Yay.
Libby 4:17
Go Benny. Yay. No, Benny, I know. Okay. Rebecca also asks about tips for resource guarding issues. All right. So depending on the severity and the context is resource guarding is generally a question for a one on one consult with a trainer. And you know, if you want to DM either one of us for a referral or to speak with one of us, we'd be happy to do that. Um, but I think you know, some quick tips. Remember that resource guarding is a natural and expected behavior. Like don't come near my fries. You know? Em Wouldn't you say?
Emily 5:01
Yeah, and you know, all species will guard their resources, we lock our houses, and we close our car up and wouldn't be excited to see someone going near it. So it is normal and natural for dogs to do it. However, it can be scary and dangerous. So that was I think, you know, if it's a really intense situation going on in your house, we'd recommend, you know, finding a trainer, there is also an amazing book by the incredible Jean Donaldson called mine. So any dog, anybody who has a dog that's resource guarding I would just read through that. And management? I mean, it's hard to answer a question on resource guarding when we don't know, is it like dog dog? Or is it you know, guarding the bed or guarding the food bowl? It can manifest in a lot of ways.
Libby 5:53
Yeah, I would say that management is going to be key. If it's either a dog resource guarding like, their food bowl from another dog in the household, then all right, you want to make sure that you're feeding them separately like you that you're using baby gates and multiple measures of safety and things like that. If it is guarding from kids in the house, if the dog has a high value resource, like, I don't know about you, and but when I was growing up, they would say, you know, the adults would tell us don't go near the dog, while they're chewing that bone, you're gonna get bit. And we've have somehow seemed to have lost that. And that's really a management thing. Of if the dog has a high value resource, and they are in their own space, and we're leaving the dog alone. Right?
Emily 6:46
I you because sometimes resource guarding starts with like, just the smallest body tension and, and people miss it, and then it escalates. So, you know, if, if you've got a dog, like even when Piper spent the night with Benny, I was like, don't feed them together and no hot, high volume, high value resources down, even though neither of them are particularly intense resource garters. But, you know, I wouldn't want to find out when we great first night? No, yeah. Especially when they're stressed.
Libby 7:22
Definitely, there are some things we can tell listeners not to do about resource guarding, because there's so many myths around it. You know, the whole, you got to take their food bowl away while they're eating to get them used to it, play with their water bowl, you know, use the fake hand thing. Like all of that is kind of outdated. And that can actually stress your dog out to the point that they start resource guarding because they don't feel secure with their resources. So all of that kind of advice is really outdated.
Emily 7:58
Yeah, the best protocols are the ones where, you know, if they're eating their food, that they feel super safe eating that no one's going to bother them. Definitely better to work with a certified trainer if you're struggling with some serious resource guarding.
Libby 8:17
Okay, Kate asks, How to help with pining and mouthing people. And I'm pretty sure she's talking about an adult dog here. So my hunch without having more context is that this is attention seeking and or arousal behaviors. Would you agree em?
Emily 8:36
Yeah, seems like it would be. Especially the pieing I would think would be attention seeking. Yeah. mouthing, maybe like, play gone awry. A little bit of arousal in there.
Libby 8:47
Definitely. Yeah. So for the mouthing, definitely listen to our arousal episode for more tips. If it's during play, then that's a sign that or if it's like, the witching hour, you know, six o'clock rolls around and the dog is super hyped up and mouthing everybody in the house. You know, it's time to switch to more calm activities, right? Again, we have tons of tips in that arousal episode. Um, and if it's during play, then that's a time to okay, we need a break. Let's take a little break and go sniff or switch to, you know, some calming activities, some mat work, something like that.
Emily 9:32
I've been really liking the shelter shorts videos on the behavior vets Facebook page, but I believe they're on YouTube. We could link to them in the show notes. The behavior consultants name is Ferdie. They actually have a podcast now. As he did. He's been doing some work with a dog named chewy who has some play arousal, biting, and jumping, leaping. And so I've been watching those cats. and he teaches tug, but with really clear rules, and I like that, you know, so if they are feeling like they need a little bit of play, you know, having that clear like drop, and kind of going back to resource guarding to a good drop can never underestimate the value of teaching your dog a drop cue, you know, and then having your dog have impulse control around the play is just another option. So if anyone here is struggling with a dog who's mouthing, I would go look at those shelter shorts with Ferdie.
Libby 10:37
Nice, we'll put that link in the show notes. And then as far as the piping, you know, attention seeking behaviors, they're so tricky. We'll start out by assuming that you're meeting your dog's needs. First of all, you know, the point isn't to go outside or because they're bored. If it is, you know, that's a, that's great information that there's a gap maybe and your enrichment or exercise, or something like that for the dog and see where you can kind of increase that. Um, but if they just want scratches, or love or attention, it's so tricky, because the moment you reinforce it, it becomes like the slot machine effect. And it becomes so hard to train them not to do that. And then if sometimes they pay you and okay, you answer with some scratches, and then other times, you don't want them to do that. And you ignore them, then it's super confusing, frustrating and stressful for the doc. So what do we do?
Emily 11:50
Yeah, I think what you said made a lot of sense of like, are all their needs being met? Like, why are they applying you hasn't been reinforced in the past, you know, maybe when they were puppy, it was kind of cute. Now they're bigger, and it hurts. So I would say, you know, what's the motivating operation would probably be I want attention, right? So try to jump ahead of that and give them attention before the puck comes out. And when they call, you be like, ouch, and get up and walk away. So if they were really hoping for some attention, pausing now makes the human go away. But you got to be really consistent. It's like, if you're on the phone, and you're like, oh, just scratch him a couple of times. It's, yeah, then it's a losing battle.
Libby 12:41
Yeah, you undo a lot of work. So for this, I can't, that's why I like to teach your dog to contextual cues, I guess, you know, before, if you see your dog approach, and you know that the next thing they're gonna do is paw on the leg, I want attention, but you can't, right now, then, this is a time when you intercede with a mat Q and tell them to go to their mat. You know, and maybe you're doing smart times 50 and reinforcing them for laying down Calm behavior on their mat. They're laying on their mat, they can't come up and call you for attention. True, the incompatible behavior. Yeah. And it's, you know, they're still being reinforced for good behavior. They're learning to relax. And then something else is, you can teach them a cue for all done. I did this with Daisy, because I meditate every morning and I go and I sit down. For some reason, this is the time when she just wants to snug more than any other time of day. I don't know why. Maybe it's because like, I'm in the right mindset or something. And, and she'll kind of start to nudge me really aggressively. I mean, okay, okay, aggressive and quotation marks, but I'm, like, come on, more pets more, more, more. That's not really conducive for meditation for me, right? So I just taught her an all done cue. And, you know, I show her both of my palms and I kind of shake my hands and I say, all done. And you know, I started doing this by redirecting her to Alton, okay, come over here. Lay down, chew on this chew toy. instead of bothering me right now. We can have scratches for a few minutes, and then we're all done. That's great. Hope that helps. Kate. Okay, Chelsea asks, what are some tips for getting dogs ready for a new baby? And I did. I answered this in our stories on Instagram, but we will go ahead and answer it here as well for our other listeners. or if you didn't happen to catch that. So there's no better answer we could give you then to check out the family paws, dogs and storks program. Again, we'll put links in the show notes. They have upcoming webinars, tons of free research resources on their website. And they have a whole YouTube Playlist covering the basics. Basically, when it comes to dogs and kids, and or babies, active supervision is key. So right now is a great time to brainstorm how you can provide active supervision in different contexts. And what you will do in situations when you cannot provide active supervision. Okay, so is that creating? Is it using baby gates? And do you need to train your dog or brush up on some skills? Like how to relax in a crate? Or how to relax behind the baby gate? Before baby comes? Em, would you add anything?
Emily 16:00
I think that's all fantastic. Yeah, we actually just had an adopter who had a baby I think about three weeks ago, and the baby came two weeks early. And she was actually wishing that she had done a little more training. She'd worked with a trainer trying to get ready, but I think she felt caught off guard. And, and she immediately got in with someone from the family. Family pause. Yeah, so things are going really well now. But there was like a little bit of like, Oh, my wish I had done more training and preparation before the baby came. So that's just great advice. Yeah, to really get ahead of it. Because once you bring that baby home, you're exhausted. You don't want to be like now how do I train my dog? Right? Yeah.
Libby 16:53
Yeah, we interviewed Jennifer Shryock of family paws parent education. But that episode, we ended up focusing more on bringing a dog home into a family that already has kids. And we talked about having her back for an entire episode about preparing your dog for baby. So we'll get that on the calendar soon. But in the meantime, they have some really great resources for that. Another Kate asks about tips for VET trips. My guys are so nervous and hate it. But I had a chilled golden growing up who loved vets? What are some ways to help a young pup love vet visits or ways to minimize the stress for an older nervous pup. All right, so the first thing I would do is call up your vet. And ask if you can come by every so often, I don't know, like, a couple times a week, maybe for a happy visit or peanut butter visit. And that might look like just walking into the lobby, getting some nice high value treats. And depending on your dog's stress level, that's it, you leave. That might involve coming to the vet, getting some nice house high value treats, getting on the scale, getting away, walking down the hallway, coming back and then leaving. And then you might even you know, depending on what your bed is comfortable with, you might progress to going into an exam room getting high value treats, greeting the vet, but nothing happens. It's just all it's a happy visit and then leaving. So you're basically counter conditioning to the vet's office.
Emily 18:41
I think that's such good advice. I think we tend to just take our dogs to the vet when there's something not so fun happening. So going Yeah, multiple times having some fun, relaxing experiences can really help with that.
Libby 19:00
Definitely, you can also look into cooperative care, which is the basically the concept that your dog is involved in procedures that are happening to them. And oftentimes what this looks like is teaching them a start button and a stop button behavior. So that could look like teaching them a chin rest or using mat work. So when the dog is ready for the exam to begin, they step onto their mat. And when they step off of their mat, we have to give them a break because they're, you know, they're kind of revoking consent, basically. And if you listened to our episode with Dr. pockle, then, you know, he talks a lot about how having some predictability and control over outcomes is so reinforcing for dogs and it can help them so much with their mental state. So, teaching some cooperative care behaviors can really help them feel more secure in situations where they would otherwise be pretty nervous.
Emily 20:10
I love that if you think about the analogy, when you go to the dentist, almost every dentist in this country would say, if you're uncomfortable, raise your hand, and I'll stop. And when we go to the vet, we tend to be like, okay, just hold them down. And, and they don't have an opt out. It's not under their control. And that's where that cooperative care just comes in. So handy for them to be involved in the decision making. I know it sounds complicated and a bit revolutionary, but it really does make a big difference. I know people who do amazing cooperative care exercises with their dogs.
Libby 20:51
Yeah, it's it's really amazing to witness dogs who, you know, they still everything still gets done in time, but the dog is far more comfortable. And they're a participant in the procedure.
Emily 21:09
And cooperative care came from the zoo and aquarium industry. Because if you have a, you know, 1000 pound gorilla or a giraffe, you can't, like, you know, they either would have to completely sedate them, dark them and sedate them to do basic care. Or they would teach them cooperative care. And they were like, well, cooperative care so much easier. So you have like videos on YouTube of hyenas like putting their neck up to the bars, holding their neck there for a blood draw through cooperative care, and dolphins, like the whole gamut. So that's where that's where it comes from. So it's not like just something that two hippies in Boulder came up with promoted like, it's, it's real science, folks. Yeah. And it's almost like the dogs are always like the last to benefit, you know, like, oh, yeah, it's crazy. Yeah. But like, hyena can do this
Libby 22:11
with like, tigers. But
Emily 22:14
I know, but dogs were like swinging down the Chihuahua. I know.
So and we wonder why they bite.
Right. And that's a traumatic experience. Totally, it really is. We've had dogs in the rescue, not to be grim. But who went in for heartworm treatment. And those are pretty painful shots. And they came a couple, there's like, one or two I can think of that came out who had some aggression issues, after going through the painful, you know, forest treatments, and they didn't have it initially. So, you know, we've been doing this a long time. So if we've learned the hard way, sorry. So having, like, it takes a while and it'd be hard to teach a foster dog, you know, quickly, hey, let's do some, you know, chin rest cooperative care? And would they do it through a heart warm shot. I mean, there are times when you just have to do do the procedure. But the more we can help them and teach them, the better.
Libby 23:16
Absolutely. And I think that sometimes for these procedures that are not a choice, it has to get done. You know, that's a time when if you know you're going in for heartworm treatment, and you know that your dog is terrified of the vet, then call the vet in advance and talk about maybe getting some sedative medication on board or something like that, you know, whatever it takes to not increase the fear. And then finally, I would advise you to find a fear free certified vet, or a vet that comes to your house. So the fear free certification program is amazing. Because the vets, the vet techs are taught how to basically handle the dog or the cat or whatever animal in a way that is less invasive, creates less fear, less stress. It's a really fabulous program. So we'll put again, we'll put the link in the show notes, but finding a fear free that could be super helpful and feel free vets are really open to doing things like peanut butter visits.
Emily 24:37
I go to a fair for that. And she's got blankets on the floor and we all sit down and she examines Piper, she's got baby food, she's feeding Piper, and it's much more of a normal kind of Hangout. And then there's a few little, you know, procedures rather than, you know, getting up on the big metal table and wham, bam, you're out of here kind of thing.
Libby 25:03
All right, hope that helps Kate Harper and Finn asks tips for handling a move with a dog hat and how it may impact them. So I did this with Daisy a couple of years ago. And it kind of depends on whether you're moving across town or across the country, right? So if you're moving across town, you have a few more options than if you're moving across the country. I would say number one, regardless of the length of your move, keep everything as similar as you possibly can, their schedule, their routine, all of that stuff.
Emily 25:44
Yeah, I totally agree with you, Libby, as much as you can keep that routine, and the predictability in their schedule. Because it is such a weird upheaval for dogs for us to just one day and be like, we're starting to pack all these boxes, and we're moving. One thing I did, I moved from the mountains down here to Boulder, and I had a kind of nervous, anxious foster dog at the time. And what I did was I did that umbilical cord training in the beginning where you have like a waist leash, and because I was like moving boxes, so I put, you know, he just followed me from room to room because he was, you know, leashed to me. And I felt like it gave him some comfort. And we did it while we were packing in the old house, and then kind of created a routine of this is what we're going to do. Then we got here and I kept his schedule the same. And then he was, you know, leashed toward, to me as I was moving boxes in and out. And then once we got everything in just really trying to keep his world small and calm.
Libby 26:52
Yeah, and that helps with something called social signaling, which is that, you know, if dogs see that we're really stressed about something, then they're gonna get stressed too. And so if we can just show them that, okay, yes, we're packing boxes, and it's not a big deal in we're just gonna do you know, we're not gonna get stressed about it. This is what we're doing. Everything's okay. Then they'll pick up on that they really will.
Emily 27:24
And you hidden anything, you had mentioned daycare. And I was just thinking back to when I moved with Sundance, I had a friend who would like take him hiking, while I was like doing some of the bigger, more chaotic things like living in the couches and the beds, you know, you really don't want a dog around when you're kind of like, hold the door hold, you know, like those kinds of stressful moments.
Libby 27:45
Yeah, totally. So if you have a boarding facility, or a daycare facility, or even just a friend who knows your dog really well and your dog is comfortable in this situation, you know, on the day, when you're actually unpacking the truck or moving the furniture in or something like that, just, you know, schedule your dog to be out of the house that day, so that they you don't have to worry about door dashing, you don't have to worry about stress the dogs not under foot. You know, that's super helpful. That's what we did for Daisy on our like, our big moving day.
Emily 28:21
And just read your dog like the umbilical cord training worked really well for Sundance. I think he found security in it, but it might not be the solution for every dog. So going back to body language, like does this seem to freak them out? Or did they like that you know, kind of connection and knowing that they don't have to make too many big choices right now that they're with you. Just depends on your dog, some dog might want to just go and relax in a corner and watch you on pack.
Libby 28:50
So some other things that we did with Daisy we did for an across town move. If you can go to the new neighborhood and start taking walks there. You know, do your evening walk in the new neighborhood for a couple of weeks. If you're able to spend as much time in the new home before you move with the dogs so it's not like a brand new place. They've they've at least been there before. You know before you before actually moving day plan. Where are you? Where are you going to put beds where you gonna put the crate? Where are you going to set up the baby gates. And as soon as you get to the new home, create that safe space for your dog and then reinforce their calm behavior in their safe space by giving them a calm or a topple to lick or you know doing mat work on their bed in the new living room, something like that.
Emily 29:50
You maybe go back to basics on your training because all of that could fall apart. You know, and it would make them feel comfortable like Oh, I know this, okay, we're hand targeting. We're doing all the things that we did in our old house and in our old neighborhood. Now we're just doing it here.
Libby 30:03
Exactly. And that is something to expect. They might have some behavior regressions, you know, they might be a little more reactive in the new neighborhood, because they don't know. Okay, this dog is going to charge the fence as we walk by. There's a big scary sculpture in the other yard, you know, you might see some other behaviors pop up and just be ready. Expect that, so that you know how to handle that with your specific dog.
Emily 30:34
And going back to that, like Mr. Rogers, like narrating for tying, we're going to be moving, this is going to be a new house. There's no dogs, that's a new dog, you know, like just narrating in very simple terms. What's happening. Dogs supposedly have quite good linguistic skills about a two to three year old human capacities.
Libby 30:57
Yeah, so explaining to them what's going on is super helpful, super helpful.
Emily 31:01
I didn't do that. I should have but I didn't know. I didn't know. Well, yeah. We're always learning we're always learning. So another side note is I don't know if you're following dog Latin training on Instagram. I love them. It's one of my favorite Instagram trainers, dog Latin training. And Mika Brzezinski, his brother just got named as the ambassador to Poland. And dog Latin was his trainer in DC, or in Maryland, wherever he lived. And the dog's name is Teddy. It's a German Shepherd. So he was like leaving their family member behind flew Teddy to Warsaw. And I'm assuming Teddy was maybe having a little bit of adjustment issues. There was no mention of it. But now he just flew the dog Latin trainer. She just went to Warsaw. So she's training Teddy in Warsaw. So it's really interesting. So I just started watching and following, but that's a cool Instagram account. And, you know, that is that's a big move.
Libby 32:04
No, yeah, no kidding. All right, I'm gonna have to look that up. Because my family is Polish. That'll be super interesting. Yeah. Um, okay, what else about moving, um, you know, one other thing I would do is like return to step one of potty training, expect that they're going to have some accidents in the house. So you've got to tell them where the bathroom is, and the new house, they don't necessarily know. Take them out every 30 minutes reward them when they do their business in the new backyard, or the you know, the new park, down the street, whatever it may be. And, you know, just prevent messes by closing off rooms that you're not using. I think for the first six months in our new house, we didn't give Daisy unlimited access to probably about half the bedrooms. We just closed the doors. And over time, as we got into our new routine, then she had more freedom. But, you know, until then, we were just using management again to make sure that she didn't decide, oh, okay, the guest bedroom is the bathroom.
Emily 33:15
Make sure you put your snuffle mat as well at the top of the boxes, so you can pull that out. Make sure you don't have your snuffle mat and your cogs like way buried.
Libby 33:26
That's a really good point. Yeah, yeah, pack a dog suitcase and know where that suitcase. And finally, I would just say if your dog is really sensitive to disruptions, talk to your vet, listen to our last episode with Dr. Chris Pachel. And, you know, think about some medical support.
Emily 33:46
I did go and get Benny, one of those pheromone collars. You know, hopefully it's helping, but that was Dr. Pachel recommended it and I thought I am gonna give it a go. Yeah,
Libby 33:58
why not? Yeah. All right. And then final question. This listener asks, I totally love the last episode on door greetings. Thank you. Wondering if you have thoughts on management, and whether it differs when the company is unplanned. Also thoughts on when being behind the gate was something yummy, they're done with the yummy thing and then they come out. And you know, the dog loves people. And she's done with a tree and then she gets excited and her body language is definitely happy whole body waggle loose. But what's going on in that situation?
Emily 34:36
I love how this question whoever at this question gave us so many details about like what the scenario looks like. Really helpful to answer it. And I would say when they're finished and they seem calmer and that whole like excitement explosion around the door is over because everyone's sitting down and things are calmer. Your dog comes to the gate and seems to be asking to come out, that's a great time to bring them out with a harness and a leash. And you have your treats ready, and you're working on some things, give them like, some clear information as to like, what you would like them to do, rather than have them like jumping on the ball and, you know, being wild, and then you're glad didn't work. And I'm frustrated. Now I'm sticking back in the room. So it'd be better to be like, here can be on your mat. And like, you know, maybe a quick go say hi, where they hand target that person, and then come back to you quickly for a trade and a little more time on the mat. Because you know, that if they if they get to go over, and jumping, and mounting, and all that is an excitement problem, or, you know, problem in air quotes, we just don't want them to like to set them up for success, we want to be like, we know, you can only do little small sips, like slicing this really small, you get a second to say hi, and then come on back for you know, piece of chicken, because you can't handle it, you can't handle it.
Libby 36:07
Yeah, so I mean, if the dog is still jumping and overexcited, that tells me they're still in a state of over arousal, and they're not ready to interact. So you know, it may not necessarily be about finishing the treat. It's also about social signaling, learning how to interact with guests, like Emily said, like, this is what we do, we do a hand to target and then we go lay down calmly on our bed. So regardless of whether the body language is relaxed, happy, prosocial. They're still in a state of arousal. So I would say, first of all, wait to bring the dog out from behind the baby gate until she's showing you calm behavior. You know, she shows you that she has a grip on the situation. Um, you might also try longer lasting treats to begin with. So that looks like me, not only a con but a con and a bully stick, and part of her dinner in a snuffle mat or something like that. So it's just giving her a little bit more time to adjust and to bring her arousal level down. Now, you don't want to, you know, say she finishes her bully stick, and then starts vocalizing that is not the time to go add a bone or a con to the situation because you've just reinforced that vocalizing. But if you know that, oh, okay, that yummy, treat what wasn't enough, she needs a little bit more time. Then the next time, you know, do a little more free work setup.
Emily 37:48
I think that's some really great suggestions.
Libby 37:52
And to the first part of the question, if no, I don't think it matters to me whether the company is unplanned or planned. You know, this is I try, I don't always succeed. But I try to always have cones in the freezer, ready to go, you know, have Bully Sticks ready. So you know, knock knock ding dong, okay. Doug's gonna go behind the baby gate with a couple things I'm grabbing on the way there. And then unplanned company, whatever, whatever. Same thing.
Emily 38:24
And now with texting, it's pretty easy to let your friends know, like, hey, just give me 10 minutes before you're gonna knock on my door, because my dog is in training.
Libby 38:32
Yeah, and you know, also our arousal episode might have some really good tips for you as well on, you know, maybe that treat that you're giving your dog behind the baby gate is a little too arousing for their system. And they're, they're actually being a little more amped up by it, rather than relaxing in the presence of guests. So, you know, you might play with that a little bit, what what is the treat that they're getting?
Emily 38:59
Yeah, maybe doing some nose work, hiding some food in different places in that room, like a free work setup. In addition to having the car, you know, there's all sorts of good ideas. Also, when they come out, I was thinking of the Up down game in which by Leslie McDevitt, you know, just some sort of predictable pattern game, so that they can be closer to people, but not like be in their pattern, you know, so they don't have to be as stimulated by the people there in their little pattern. So we can link to that in the show notes, or people can just google the updown game by Lesley McDevitt, or even the 123 game, all just really simple games that teach talks like a structure in more complicated environments.
Libby 39:48
Definitely. And again, that goes back to the predictability. If they can predict what's going to happen. They're going to be so much more comfortable, whether their discomfort is coming out as is happy prosocial, waggly arousal? Or aggression?
Emily 40:05
Yeah, I think that's it. That's a great wrap up. We're getting towards, I think, will it be next month will be a year of the BoD? Oh, I think it might I think we're getting close to a year. We are getting close. Yeah, we are losing our editor. So that's going to be a little sad. But that is, we will miss her. We are looking for someone to help us with our social media. We're going to be posting an ad. It'll be like a volunteer position. But if anybody out there, loves listening to us and wants to help us, I think the first year was us just kind of getting the gist of this. And now we'd really love to like spread the word a little more. We've had almost 20,000 downloads, I believe, just pretty epic for a first year. Amazing. You know, we're always so thrilled that people find us useful and that we can help people and their dogs. But yeah, if anyone out there news about social media wants to help us. We do do it. Now Libby does a great job, but help would be appreciated.
Libby 41:15
Yeah. All right. Well, I think that wraps up our first listener questions episode. That was super fun. I think we'll definitely do it again. Right. Um, yeah, I would love to speak. So if you don't already follow us on Instagram, that's most of where we post. We're also on Facebook at pod to the rescue. And, you know, just look out for our next call for questions. All right. Thanks, everyone, for listening, and we will see you next time. Bye. Thanks for tuning in. If you liked this episode, don't forget to rate and review. It helps other folks like you find the show. To find out more about our programming and adoptable rescue dogs. You can visit summit dog rescue.org thanks to Mike pesci for the original music and to Alex Lee Ammons and for the love media for graphics production and editing. See you soon on pod to the rescue.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Welcome to pod to the rescue.
Libby 0:11
Rescuing the dog is just the first step. We're here to help with everything that comes next. Hello, everyone, and welcome back to pod to the rescue. I'm Libby.
Emily 0:22
And I'm Emily.
Libby 0:23
And today we are finally doing a listener questions episode. Yay, yay,
Emily 0:31
yay. We've been needing to do this for quite a while.
Libby 0:34
Yeah. And we're finally getting around to it. So we put out a call for questions on our social media. We got some really good ones. And we're going to try to answer each one briefly. So listeners if you want to be involved in a future listeners, question listener questions episode, definitely follow us on social because that is where we're going to post these calls for questions for us to answer on the pot. All right, so first question from Rebecca. She wants an update on Benny, which we haven't done in a while. So M Do you want to take that one?
Emily 1:09
Yeah. So that's been kind of a slow transition he had, it was interesting. In the end, he had two incredible couples who were both interested in him and applied. One was out of state, and we love them. But we thought, you know, he has a community here. And so he went to this amazing couple up in Nederland, we did about eight to 10 visits with them before he actually went to stay. And last week, he did an overnight there with Piper, they actually were so gracious that they took diaper overnight. So he had a button, he had a body for the first night. And then he's been there six more days. And it's going in a lot of ways better than they thought the biggest challenge is that Benny is still kind of afraid of the husband, when he like moves through the house standing like super okay with him when he's laying down or on the couch or in bed. But it's that like tall man walking, standing. So, you know, it's, um, it's a foster to adopt because they want to make sure that they, they're the right home for him. And, and so we're just supporting them. And they're going really slow and learning as much as they can. And so it it is as good of a situation as we could help for
Libby 2:35
yeh and remind listeners why you're going so slow, like what's been his deal?
Emily 2:41
Oh, Benjamin. So he's a little bit of an odd duck. And he came from Arkansas, late July, and he had lived in a yard, what they called a yard dog. So he really had missed, like that critical socialization period for the first year. And then a lot of ways not only did he miss it, but he had probably some negative experiences. I know we're not supposed to like write a story for the foster dog. But he was found running around frantically on the Fourth of July, so doesn't take up, you know, rocket scientist put two and two together that like loud noises and bright flashing lights freak him out. Yeah. But he has made tremendous progress. So you know, I think I think this will work out. But of course, we're all like, just like, Oh, please, you know, like, Please have this work. But you know, we'll both we're here to support them. And they're, you know, they're going to do their best. So we'll see what happens.
Libby 3:38
Good. Well, that's great that they're willing to go slow. And to, you know, take a little direction from you because you've fostered him for so long. And you know, I'm really well. So yeah,
Emily 3:48
they're so open to learning. Like they've read multiple books. And we included a couple of sessions with Debbie Jacobs, she runs. She's the fearful dog trainer. She's up in Vermont, and she wrote a book about fearful dogs. So they did one session and they're going to do another one, you know, just to really make sure that like they have all the tools available to them, because we really all of us want to make it work. Good. Yay.
Libby 4:17
Go Benny. Yay. No, Benny, I know. Okay. Rebecca also asks about tips for resource guarding issues. All right. So depending on the severity and the context is resource guarding is generally a question for a one on one consult with a trainer. And you know, if you want to DM either one of us for a referral or to speak with one of us, we'd be happy to do that. Um, but I think you know, some quick tips. Remember that resource guarding is a natural and expected behavior. Like don't come near my fries. You know? Em Wouldn't you say?
Emily 5:01
Yeah, and you know, all species will guard their resources, we lock our houses, and we close our car up and wouldn't be excited to see someone going near it. So it is normal and natural for dogs to do it. However, it can be scary and dangerous. So that was I think, you know, if it's a really intense situation going on in your house, we'd recommend, you know, finding a trainer, there is also an amazing book by the incredible Jean Donaldson called mine. So any dog, anybody who has a dog that's resource guarding I would just read through that. And management? I mean, it's hard to answer a question on resource guarding when we don't know, is it like dog dog? Or is it you know, guarding the bed or guarding the food bowl? It can manifest in a lot of ways.
Libby 5:53
Yeah, I would say that management is going to be key. If it's either a dog resource guarding like, their food bowl from another dog in the household, then all right, you want to make sure that you're feeding them separately like you that you're using baby gates and multiple measures of safety and things like that. If it is guarding from kids in the house, if the dog has a high value resource, like, I don't know about you, and but when I was growing up, they would say, you know, the adults would tell us don't go near the dog, while they're chewing that bone, you're gonna get bit. And we've have somehow seemed to have lost that. And that's really a management thing. Of if the dog has a high value resource, and they are in their own space, and we're leaving the dog alone. Right?
Emily 6:46
I you because sometimes resource guarding starts with like, just the smallest body tension and, and people miss it, and then it escalates. So, you know, if, if you've got a dog, like even when Piper spent the night with Benny, I was like, don't feed them together and no hot, high volume, high value resources down, even though neither of them are particularly intense resource garters. But, you know, I wouldn't want to find out when we great first night? No, yeah. Especially when they're stressed.
Libby 7:22
Definitely, there are some things we can tell listeners not to do about resource guarding, because there's so many myths around it. You know, the whole, you got to take their food bowl away while they're eating to get them used to it, play with their water bowl, you know, use the fake hand thing. Like all of that is kind of outdated. And that can actually stress your dog out to the point that they start resource guarding because they don't feel secure with their resources. So all of that kind of advice is really outdated.
Emily 7:58
Yeah, the best protocols are the ones where, you know, if they're eating their food, that they feel super safe eating that no one's going to bother them. Definitely better to work with a certified trainer if you're struggling with some serious resource guarding.
Libby 8:17
Okay, Kate asks, How to help with pining and mouthing people. And I'm pretty sure she's talking about an adult dog here. So my hunch without having more context is that this is attention seeking and or arousal behaviors. Would you agree em?
Emily 8:36
Yeah, seems like it would be. Especially the pieing I would think would be attention seeking. Yeah. mouthing, maybe like, play gone awry. A little bit of arousal in there.
Libby 8:47
Definitely. Yeah. So for the mouthing, definitely listen to our arousal episode for more tips. If it's during play, then that's a sign that or if it's like, the witching hour, you know, six o'clock rolls around and the dog is super hyped up and mouthing everybody in the house. You know, it's time to switch to more calm activities, right? Again, we have tons of tips in that arousal episode. Um, and if it's during play, then that's a time to okay, we need a break. Let's take a little break and go sniff or switch to, you know, some calming activities, some mat work, something like that.
Emily 9:32
I've been really liking the shelter shorts videos on the behavior vets Facebook page, but I believe they're on YouTube. We could link to them in the show notes. The behavior consultants name is Ferdie. They actually have a podcast now. As he did. He's been doing some work with a dog named chewy who has some play arousal, biting, and jumping, leaping. And so I've been watching those cats. and he teaches tug, but with really clear rules, and I like that, you know, so if they are feeling like they need a little bit of play, you know, having that clear like drop, and kind of going back to resource guarding to a good drop can never underestimate the value of teaching your dog a drop cue, you know, and then having your dog have impulse control around the play is just another option. So if anyone here is struggling with a dog who's mouthing, I would go look at those shelter shorts with Ferdie.
Libby 10:37
Nice, we'll put that link in the show notes. And then as far as the piping, you know, attention seeking behaviors, they're so tricky. We'll start out by assuming that you're meeting your dog's needs. First of all, you know, the point isn't to go outside or because they're bored. If it is, you know, that's a, that's great information that there's a gap maybe and your enrichment or exercise, or something like that for the dog and see where you can kind of increase that. Um, but if they just want scratches, or love or attention, it's so tricky, because the moment you reinforce it, it becomes like the slot machine effect. And it becomes so hard to train them not to do that. And then if sometimes they pay you and okay, you answer with some scratches, and then other times, you don't want them to do that. And you ignore them, then it's super confusing, frustrating and stressful for the doc. So what do we do?
Emily 11:50
Yeah, I think what you said made a lot of sense of like, are all their needs being met? Like, why are they applying you hasn't been reinforced in the past, you know, maybe when they were puppy, it was kind of cute. Now they're bigger, and it hurts. So I would say, you know, what's the motivating operation would probably be I want attention, right? So try to jump ahead of that and give them attention before the puck comes out. And when they call, you be like, ouch, and get up and walk away. So if they were really hoping for some attention, pausing now makes the human go away. But you got to be really consistent. It's like, if you're on the phone, and you're like, oh, just scratch him a couple of times. It's, yeah, then it's a losing battle.
Libby 12:41
Yeah, you undo a lot of work. So for this, I can't, that's why I like to teach your dog to contextual cues, I guess, you know, before, if you see your dog approach, and you know that the next thing they're gonna do is paw on the leg, I want attention, but you can't, right now, then, this is a time when you intercede with a mat Q and tell them to go to their mat. You know, and maybe you're doing smart times 50 and reinforcing them for laying down Calm behavior on their mat. They're laying on their mat, they can't come up and call you for attention. True, the incompatible behavior. Yeah. And it's, you know, they're still being reinforced for good behavior. They're learning to relax. And then something else is, you can teach them a cue for all done. I did this with Daisy, because I meditate every morning and I go and I sit down. For some reason, this is the time when she just wants to snug more than any other time of day. I don't know why. Maybe it's because like, I'm in the right mindset or something. And, and she'll kind of start to nudge me really aggressively. I mean, okay, okay, aggressive and quotation marks, but I'm, like, come on, more pets more, more, more. That's not really conducive for meditation for me, right? So I just taught her an all done cue. And, you know, I show her both of my palms and I kind of shake my hands and I say, all done. And you know, I started doing this by redirecting her to Alton, okay, come over here. Lay down, chew on this chew toy. instead of bothering me right now. We can have scratches for a few minutes, and then we're all done. That's great. Hope that helps. Kate. Okay, Chelsea asks, what are some tips for getting dogs ready for a new baby? And I did. I answered this in our stories on Instagram, but we will go ahead and answer it here as well for our other listeners. or if you didn't happen to catch that. So there's no better answer we could give you then to check out the family paws, dogs and storks program. Again, we'll put links in the show notes. They have upcoming webinars, tons of free research resources on their website. And they have a whole YouTube Playlist covering the basics. Basically, when it comes to dogs and kids, and or babies, active supervision is key. So right now is a great time to brainstorm how you can provide active supervision in different contexts. And what you will do in situations when you cannot provide active supervision. Okay, so is that creating? Is it using baby gates? And do you need to train your dog or brush up on some skills? Like how to relax in a crate? Or how to relax behind the baby gate? Before baby comes? Em, would you add anything?
Emily 16:00
I think that's all fantastic. Yeah, we actually just had an adopter who had a baby I think about three weeks ago, and the baby came two weeks early. And she was actually wishing that she had done a little more training. She'd worked with a trainer trying to get ready, but I think she felt caught off guard. And, and she immediately got in with someone from the family. Family pause. Yeah, so things are going really well now. But there was like a little bit of like, Oh, my wish I had done more training and preparation before the baby came. So that's just great advice. Yeah, to really get ahead of it. Because once you bring that baby home, you're exhausted. You don't want to be like now how do I train my dog? Right? Yeah.
Libby 16:53
Yeah, we interviewed Jennifer Shryock of family paws parent education. But that episode, we ended up focusing more on bringing a dog home into a family that already has kids. And we talked about having her back for an entire episode about preparing your dog for baby. So we'll get that on the calendar soon. But in the meantime, they have some really great resources for that. Another Kate asks about tips for VET trips. My guys are so nervous and hate it. But I had a chilled golden growing up who loved vets? What are some ways to help a young pup love vet visits or ways to minimize the stress for an older nervous pup. All right, so the first thing I would do is call up your vet. And ask if you can come by every so often, I don't know, like, a couple times a week, maybe for a happy visit or peanut butter visit. And that might look like just walking into the lobby, getting some nice high value treats. And depending on your dog's stress level, that's it, you leave. That might involve coming to the vet, getting some nice house high value treats, getting on the scale, getting away, walking down the hallway, coming back and then leaving. And then you might even you know, depending on what your bed is comfortable with, you might progress to going into an exam room getting high value treats, greeting the vet, but nothing happens. It's just all it's a happy visit and then leaving. So you're basically counter conditioning to the vet's office.
Emily 18:41
I think that's such good advice. I think we tend to just take our dogs to the vet when there's something not so fun happening. So going Yeah, multiple times having some fun, relaxing experiences can really help with that.
Libby 19:00
Definitely, you can also look into cooperative care, which is the basically the concept that your dog is involved in procedures that are happening to them. And oftentimes what this looks like is teaching them a start button and a stop button behavior. So that could look like teaching them a chin rest or using mat work. So when the dog is ready for the exam to begin, they step onto their mat. And when they step off of their mat, we have to give them a break because they're, you know, they're kind of revoking consent, basically. And if you listened to our episode with Dr. pockle, then, you know, he talks a lot about how having some predictability and control over outcomes is so reinforcing for dogs and it can help them so much with their mental state. So, teaching some cooperative care behaviors can really help them feel more secure in situations where they would otherwise be pretty nervous.
Emily 20:10
I love that if you think about the analogy, when you go to the dentist, almost every dentist in this country would say, if you're uncomfortable, raise your hand, and I'll stop. And when we go to the vet, we tend to be like, okay, just hold them down. And, and they don't have an opt out. It's not under their control. And that's where that cooperative care just comes in. So handy for them to be involved in the decision making. I know it sounds complicated and a bit revolutionary, but it really does make a big difference. I know people who do amazing cooperative care exercises with their dogs.
Libby 20:51
Yeah, it's it's really amazing to witness dogs who, you know, they still everything still gets done in time, but the dog is far more comfortable. And they're a participant in the procedure.
Emily 21:09
And cooperative care came from the zoo and aquarium industry. Because if you have a, you know, 1000 pound gorilla or a giraffe, you can't, like, you know, they either would have to completely sedate them, dark them and sedate them to do basic care. Or they would teach them cooperative care. And they were like, well, cooperative care so much easier. So you have like videos on YouTube of hyenas like putting their neck up to the bars, holding their neck there for a blood draw through cooperative care, and dolphins, like the whole gamut. So that's where that's where it comes from. So it's not like just something that two hippies in Boulder came up with promoted like, it's, it's real science, folks. Yeah. And it's almost like the dogs are always like the last to benefit, you know, like, oh, yeah, it's crazy. Yeah. But like, hyena can do this
Libby 22:11
with like, tigers. But
Emily 22:14
I know, but dogs were like swinging down the Chihuahua. I know.
So and we wonder why they bite.
Right. And that's a traumatic experience. Totally, it really is. We've had dogs in the rescue, not to be grim. But who went in for heartworm treatment. And those are pretty painful shots. And they came a couple, there's like, one or two I can think of that came out who had some aggression issues, after going through the painful, you know, forest treatments, and they didn't have it initially. So, you know, we've been doing this a long time. So if we've learned the hard way, sorry. So having, like, it takes a while and it'd be hard to teach a foster dog, you know, quickly, hey, let's do some, you know, chin rest cooperative care? And would they do it through a heart warm shot. I mean, there are times when you just have to do do the procedure. But the more we can help them and teach them, the better.
Libby 23:16
Absolutely. And I think that sometimes for these procedures that are not a choice, it has to get done. You know, that's a time when if you know you're going in for heartworm treatment, and you know that your dog is terrified of the vet, then call the vet in advance and talk about maybe getting some sedative medication on board or something like that, you know, whatever it takes to not increase the fear. And then finally, I would advise you to find a fear free certified vet, or a vet that comes to your house. So the fear free certification program is amazing. Because the vets, the vet techs are taught how to basically handle the dog or the cat or whatever animal in a way that is less invasive, creates less fear, less stress. It's a really fabulous program. So we'll put again, we'll put the link in the show notes, but finding a fear free that could be super helpful and feel free vets are really open to doing things like peanut butter visits.
Emily 24:37
I go to a fair for that. And she's got blankets on the floor and we all sit down and she examines Piper, she's got baby food, she's feeding Piper, and it's much more of a normal kind of Hangout. And then there's a few little, you know, procedures rather than, you know, getting up on the big metal table and wham, bam, you're out of here kind of thing.
Libby 25:03
All right, hope that helps Kate Harper and Finn asks tips for handling a move with a dog hat and how it may impact them. So I did this with Daisy a couple of years ago. And it kind of depends on whether you're moving across town or across the country, right? So if you're moving across town, you have a few more options than if you're moving across the country. I would say number one, regardless of the length of your move, keep everything as similar as you possibly can, their schedule, their routine, all of that stuff.
Emily 25:44
Yeah, I totally agree with you, Libby, as much as you can keep that routine, and the predictability in their schedule. Because it is such a weird upheaval for dogs for us to just one day and be like, we're starting to pack all these boxes, and we're moving. One thing I did, I moved from the mountains down here to Boulder, and I had a kind of nervous, anxious foster dog at the time. And what I did was I did that umbilical cord training in the beginning where you have like a waist leash, and because I was like moving boxes, so I put, you know, he just followed me from room to room because he was, you know, leashed to me. And I felt like it gave him some comfort. And we did it while we were packing in the old house, and then kind of created a routine of this is what we're going to do. Then we got here and I kept his schedule the same. And then he was, you know, leashed toward, to me as I was moving boxes in and out. And then once we got everything in just really trying to keep his world small and calm.
Libby 26:52
Yeah, and that helps with something called social signaling, which is that, you know, if dogs see that we're really stressed about something, then they're gonna get stressed too. And so if we can just show them that, okay, yes, we're packing boxes, and it's not a big deal in we're just gonna do you know, we're not gonna get stressed about it. This is what we're doing. Everything's okay. Then they'll pick up on that they really will.
Emily 27:24
And you hidden anything, you had mentioned daycare. And I was just thinking back to when I moved with Sundance, I had a friend who would like take him hiking, while I was like doing some of the bigger, more chaotic things like living in the couches and the beds, you know, you really don't want a dog around when you're kind of like, hold the door hold, you know, like those kinds of stressful moments.
Libby 27:45
Yeah, totally. So if you have a boarding facility, or a daycare facility, or even just a friend who knows your dog really well and your dog is comfortable in this situation, you know, on the day, when you're actually unpacking the truck or moving the furniture in or something like that, just, you know, schedule your dog to be out of the house that day, so that they you don't have to worry about door dashing, you don't have to worry about stress the dogs not under foot. You know, that's super helpful. That's what we did for Daisy on our like, our big moving day.
Emily 28:21
And just read your dog like the umbilical cord training worked really well for Sundance. I think he found security in it, but it might not be the solution for every dog. So going back to body language, like does this seem to freak them out? Or did they like that you know, kind of connection and knowing that they don't have to make too many big choices right now that they're with you. Just depends on your dog, some dog might want to just go and relax in a corner and watch you on pack.
Libby 28:50
So some other things that we did with Daisy we did for an across town move. If you can go to the new neighborhood and start taking walks there. You know, do your evening walk in the new neighborhood for a couple of weeks. If you're able to spend as much time in the new home before you move with the dogs so it's not like a brand new place. They've they've at least been there before. You know before you before actually moving day plan. Where are you? Where are you going to put beds where you gonna put the crate? Where are you going to set up the baby gates. And as soon as you get to the new home, create that safe space for your dog and then reinforce their calm behavior in their safe space by giving them a calm or a topple to lick or you know doing mat work on their bed in the new living room, something like that.
Emily 29:50
You maybe go back to basics on your training because all of that could fall apart. You know, and it would make them feel comfortable like Oh, I know this, okay, we're hand targeting. We're doing all the things that we did in our old house and in our old neighborhood. Now we're just doing it here.
Libby 30:03
Exactly. And that is something to expect. They might have some behavior regressions, you know, they might be a little more reactive in the new neighborhood, because they don't know. Okay, this dog is going to charge the fence as we walk by. There's a big scary sculpture in the other yard, you know, you might see some other behaviors pop up and just be ready. Expect that, so that you know how to handle that with your specific dog.
Emily 30:34
And going back to that, like Mr. Rogers, like narrating for tying, we're going to be moving, this is going to be a new house. There's no dogs, that's a new dog, you know, like just narrating in very simple terms. What's happening. Dogs supposedly have quite good linguistic skills about a two to three year old human capacities.
Libby 30:57
Yeah, so explaining to them what's going on is super helpful, super helpful.
Emily 31:01
I didn't do that. I should have but I didn't know. I didn't know. Well, yeah. We're always learning we're always learning. So another side note is I don't know if you're following dog Latin training on Instagram. I love them. It's one of my favorite Instagram trainers, dog Latin training. And Mika Brzezinski, his brother just got named as the ambassador to Poland. And dog Latin was his trainer in DC, or in Maryland, wherever he lived. And the dog's name is Teddy. It's a German Shepherd. So he was like leaving their family member behind flew Teddy to Warsaw. And I'm assuming Teddy was maybe having a little bit of adjustment issues. There was no mention of it. But now he just flew the dog Latin trainer. She just went to Warsaw. So she's training Teddy in Warsaw. So it's really interesting. So I just started watching and following, but that's a cool Instagram account. And, you know, that is that's a big move.
Libby 32:04
No, yeah, no kidding. All right, I'm gonna have to look that up. Because my family is Polish. That'll be super interesting. Yeah. Um, okay, what else about moving, um, you know, one other thing I would do is like return to step one of potty training, expect that they're going to have some accidents in the house. So you've got to tell them where the bathroom is, and the new house, they don't necessarily know. Take them out every 30 minutes reward them when they do their business in the new backyard, or the you know, the new park, down the street, whatever it may be. And, you know, just prevent messes by closing off rooms that you're not using. I think for the first six months in our new house, we didn't give Daisy unlimited access to probably about half the bedrooms. We just closed the doors. And over time, as we got into our new routine, then she had more freedom. But, you know, until then, we were just using management again to make sure that she didn't decide, oh, okay, the guest bedroom is the bathroom.
Emily 33:15
Make sure you put your snuffle mat as well at the top of the boxes, so you can pull that out. Make sure you don't have your snuffle mat and your cogs like way buried.
Libby 33:26
That's a really good point. Yeah, yeah, pack a dog suitcase and know where that suitcase. And finally, I would just say if your dog is really sensitive to disruptions, talk to your vet, listen to our last episode with Dr. Chris Pachel. And, you know, think about some medical support.
Emily 33:46
I did go and get Benny, one of those pheromone collars. You know, hopefully it's helping, but that was Dr. Pachel recommended it and I thought I am gonna give it a go. Yeah,
Libby 33:58
why not? Yeah. All right. And then final question. This listener asks, I totally love the last episode on door greetings. Thank you. Wondering if you have thoughts on management, and whether it differs when the company is unplanned. Also thoughts on when being behind the gate was something yummy, they're done with the yummy thing and then they come out. And you know, the dog loves people. And she's done with a tree and then she gets excited and her body language is definitely happy whole body waggle loose. But what's going on in that situation?
Emily 34:36
I love how this question whoever at this question gave us so many details about like what the scenario looks like. Really helpful to answer it. And I would say when they're finished and they seem calmer and that whole like excitement explosion around the door is over because everyone's sitting down and things are calmer. Your dog comes to the gate and seems to be asking to come out, that's a great time to bring them out with a harness and a leash. And you have your treats ready, and you're working on some things, give them like, some clear information as to like, what you would like them to do, rather than have them like jumping on the ball and, you know, being wild, and then you're glad didn't work. And I'm frustrated. Now I'm sticking back in the room. So it'd be better to be like, here can be on your mat. And like, you know, maybe a quick go say hi, where they hand target that person, and then come back to you quickly for a trade and a little more time on the mat. Because you know, that if they if they get to go over, and jumping, and mounting, and all that is an excitement problem, or, you know, problem in air quotes, we just don't want them to like to set them up for success, we want to be like, we know, you can only do little small sips, like slicing this really small, you get a second to say hi, and then come on back for you know, piece of chicken, because you can't handle it, you can't handle it.
Libby 36:07
Yeah, so I mean, if the dog is still jumping and overexcited, that tells me they're still in a state of over arousal, and they're not ready to interact. So you know, it may not necessarily be about finishing the treat. It's also about social signaling, learning how to interact with guests, like Emily said, like, this is what we do, we do a hand to target and then we go lay down calmly on our bed. So regardless of whether the body language is relaxed, happy, prosocial. They're still in a state of arousal. So I would say, first of all, wait to bring the dog out from behind the baby gate until she's showing you calm behavior. You know, she shows you that she has a grip on the situation. Um, you might also try longer lasting treats to begin with. So that looks like me, not only a con but a con and a bully stick, and part of her dinner in a snuffle mat or something like that. So it's just giving her a little bit more time to adjust and to bring her arousal level down. Now, you don't want to, you know, say she finishes her bully stick, and then starts vocalizing that is not the time to go add a bone or a con to the situation because you've just reinforced that vocalizing. But if you know that, oh, okay, that yummy, treat what wasn't enough, she needs a little bit more time. Then the next time, you know, do a little more free work setup.
Emily 37:48
I think that's some really great suggestions.
Libby 37:52
And to the first part of the question, if no, I don't think it matters to me whether the company is unplanned or planned. You know, this is I try, I don't always succeed. But I try to always have cones in the freezer, ready to go, you know, have Bully Sticks ready. So you know, knock knock ding dong, okay. Doug's gonna go behind the baby gate with a couple things I'm grabbing on the way there. And then unplanned company, whatever, whatever. Same thing.
Emily 38:24
And now with texting, it's pretty easy to let your friends know, like, hey, just give me 10 minutes before you're gonna knock on my door, because my dog is in training.
Libby 38:32
Yeah, and you know, also our arousal episode might have some really good tips for you as well on, you know, maybe that treat that you're giving your dog behind the baby gate is a little too arousing for their system. And they're, they're actually being a little more amped up by it, rather than relaxing in the presence of guests. So, you know, you might play with that a little bit, what what is the treat that they're getting?
Emily 38:59
Yeah, maybe doing some nose work, hiding some food in different places in that room, like a free work setup. In addition to having the car, you know, there's all sorts of good ideas. Also, when they come out, I was thinking of the Up down game in which by Leslie McDevitt, you know, just some sort of predictable pattern game, so that they can be closer to people, but not like be in their pattern, you know, so they don't have to be as stimulated by the people there in their little pattern. So we can link to that in the show notes, or people can just google the updown game by Lesley McDevitt, or even the 123 game, all just really simple games that teach talks like a structure in more complicated environments.
Libby 39:48
Definitely. And again, that goes back to the predictability. If they can predict what's going to happen. They're going to be so much more comfortable, whether their discomfort is coming out as is happy prosocial, waggly arousal? Or aggression?
Emily 40:05
Yeah, I think that's it. That's a great wrap up. We're getting towards, I think, will it be next month will be a year of the BoD? Oh, I think it might I think we're getting close to a year. We are getting close. Yeah, we are losing our editor. So that's going to be a little sad. But that is, we will miss her. We are looking for someone to help us with our social media. We're going to be posting an ad. It'll be like a volunteer position. But if anybody out there, loves listening to us and wants to help us, I think the first year was us just kind of getting the gist of this. And now we'd really love to like spread the word a little more. We've had almost 20,000 downloads, I believe, just pretty epic for a first year. Amazing. You know, we're always so thrilled that people find us useful and that we can help people and their dogs. But yeah, if anyone out there news about social media wants to help us. We do do it. Now Libby does a great job, but help would be appreciated.
Libby 41:15
Yeah. All right. Well, I think that wraps up our first listener questions episode. That was super fun. I think we'll definitely do it again. Right. Um, yeah, I would love to speak. So if you don't already follow us on Instagram, that's most of where we post. We're also on Facebook at pod to the rescue. And, you know, just look out for our next call for questions. All right. Thanks, everyone, for listening, and we will see you next time. Bye. Thanks for tuning in. If you liked this episode, don't forget to rate and review. It helps other folks like you find the show. To find out more about our programming and adoptable rescue dogs. You can visit summit dog rescue.org thanks to Mike pesci for the original music and to Alex Lee Ammons and for the love media for graphics production and editing. See you soon on pod to the rescue.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai