Yes, it is Pet Chat. I'm joined by Cheryl Shaw and Dr Fiona Giblin. Hello. How are you, Amanda? Good, thank you. Good to see you both. Now, Cheryl, I'm going to start with you because last time you were here, well, actually, no, a little while ago, last time Dr Fiona Giblin was here, you were talking about how you thought your dogs might have swallowed a carrot pin.
And can you just tell us what happened? Yep. Actually, it was a really good outcome. I was really concerned what was going to happen because that pin was open. But to my surprise, when I went to put on a pair of shoes that I'd worn the previous night to puppy school, in the shoe was the carrot. So Mystique, I believe, has knocked it off the bed. And like you said, Fiona, so often the item turns up.
Yeah, look, Cheryl, it's a very good ending to the story. Obviously, there was a big concern. Was it going to cause gastrointestinal obstruction or perforation? A whole heap of different things. And yep, there you go. It just turns up. I know. Amazing. But honestly, we were searching poo and it was disgusting how to go through that. But good outcome. It's turned up. That's fantastic. Great outcome. That is wonderful. All right. So what else are we going to talk about today apart from that? Okay. So I thought we might go back to basic training because a lot of people are very repetitious when they're getting their dog to do commands for them. Okay. All right. Well, that sounds good. And do you have anything?
Hopefully, I'll just spend all our answering our caller's questions, Amanda. Wonderful. All right. Well, if you've got a question for our pet chat team, we've got Dan from Butter Bar on the line. Hi, Dan. You want to talk about the long-term memory of a dog? Yeah, yeah, that's right. I've had a dog, sorry, since 2009. I had Chloe for like 16 years. And unfortunately, due to where we moved and things like that, I had to adopt her out or I had someone looking after her. Okay. And when we moved again, we couldn't.
get her back. And so this lady asked her, lovely lady, she's living the best life. But now I'm just wondering whether I should go and see Chloe again or whether it's sort of not good for her to bring back the old memories now that she's got this new life. Yeah, okay. So how long ago did she leave your care, Dan? Probably about 18 months and I was seeing her for a good six months. I even took her on a week's holiday. Okay. But I haven't seen her for about eight months now. Okay. Do you know how she's going? Is she sort of settled in well? I get videos and that from her. She's 17 years old. She's still spryly as, just runs everywhere.
But I just don't know whether I should sort of bring it up. It's the best thing for her. I'm obviously devastated. I loved it so much. Yeah.
Look, I would say, Dan, there's probably no right or wrong answer. Would you describe her as sort of a stressed or an anxious type dog or is she pretty relaxed normally? Oh, no, she was a bit of a stressy sort of dog, I suppose. Like we always had another dog with her. That was another reason we didn't have our other dogs anymore. So she was going to be the first time she was going to be the only dog waiting at home while I was at work all day and things like that. And now this lady's retired and, you know, she sleeps on her bed. She's got three collars because she goes to visit other friends and that. She's just, you know, looked after so well. Oh, that's good.
Yeah, look, Dan, it's a really interesting question. I think probably my gut reaction is if you were visiting her, it would be to benefit you rather than to benefit her. Yeah, that's what I did. She cries so much when I leave. Yeah, I think it's probably more disruptive to her for you to suddenly appear and then disappear again.
settled and happy and it certainly sounds like she's living her best life it might be better to for want of a better word let sleeping dogs lie um i think to still have a relationship with the person looking after her is fantastic because i guess you can get videos and you can get photos and you can get updates and that sort of thing but it's not make me cry oh yeah yeah um so i guess i'd have to say dan it might be better not to yeah um but uh i guess there's comfort in knowing that she's gone to a really good home yeah and shout out to tony she's so good good to her oh good on you yeah yeah it's just that i'll hopefully get into another house one day soon and get another 16-year relationship. Oh, wonderful. Well, thanks so much for the call, Dan. All right, thank you. Bye. Bye. Hi, Brenda. How are you? Hello. You're away from the phone there. Yeah. We've got a little Jack Russell, a little male we've had for nearly two years. He's a great little dog. But he's just started doing this probably about six months ago, just like chewing on things, like his little blanket. And as soon as he gets in the car, there's an old towel there that he lays on, and he just chews it like nibbles on it.
But he doesn't put holes in it or tears it. It's just a little, like a nibble. Like sucks on it almost. Yeah, he keeps on doing it. I wonder if he had a little blanket or something before we got him, you know? So does he do that action when he's at home, Brenda? Or is it only in the car? No, in the car. Because he goes walking most days, nearly every day. And, you know, if we're travelling somewhere, he might do it for a little while and then he'll stop. But not constantly. I've seen him do it at home.
And I gave him a little tiny blanket. You know, I thought, oh, well, if that's what he wants to do, he can nibble on that. And I looked it up. Does it make a difference how long the car trip is, Brenda, or where you're going in the car? No, not really. No. And when he does it, how long would you say he does it for before he stops?
maybe a quarter of an hour. Okay. And he's not destroying it at all? Like he's not putting holes in it? No. We were down at the lake with music at the podium and a friend of mine was nursing him last summer and she said, oh, he's chewing on the blanket and she put him down. Yeah. He was doing this thing, you know? It's probably a comfort mechanism for him, I'd say, Brenda. Whether he used to do it, we don't know, but the fact that he's not destroying what he's chewing or sucking on is a good thing from a risk of foreign body obstruction point of view. I guess it's probably...
Yeah, he's trying to calm himself down. He's trying to relax himself and make himself feel better. So I guess if you're seeing him do it, it probably means that he's not feeling particularly comfortable and he's feeling a little bit anxious. He might be just excited about going out for the morning because he does get real hyped up and excited when he knows that he's going in the car and going to walk. And I'm sure he enjoys the location when he gets there, but sometimes...
Dogs don't particularly like going in the car, whether it's noise or movement, that sort of thing. So I would encourage you to potentially think about things you can do to decrease his anxiety or his stress levels. If he's doing things like wherever you took him, that he was doing it on your friend's... Was it her blanket, you said? Yeah, she had a little dog blanket that she had on her lap. And he started to... She thought that he was...
chewing it yeah yeah yeah yeah so there are various sort of calming pheromones we can use various anti-anxiety medications pheromone sprays a whole bunch of different things so it might be worth having a chat to your vet about some different products that you could try just for use when you know that you've got a car trip that would be a good start I think but yeah the good news is he's not destroying it so he's not risking an obstruction from that point of view but I think he is trying to tell you that he's not thrilled at the situation Okay, Ben. Thanks so much for the call, Brenda. Thank you. Bye-bye. We've got Bea from Rothbury on the line. Bea, you want to make a comment about the last lady's question? Yeah, I actually do. I've got a little toy cavoodle. He's nearly three years old. We're actually sitting by the pool in the sun right now, but he's in the shade. He's black, so he likes, yeah, the heat gets to him. Yeah, so he does corning. Tell me more. Is that Fiona? Yes. Yes.
Yeah, I looked it up a while ago because he just likes to nibble, nibble, nibble, nibble, nibble, but he doesn't actually damage anything. And is that what it's called, is it, Bea? Yeah, apparently it is. You know, a little blanket or something, he just gets the edge and he just nibbles, nibbles, and yeah, like you think he's going to destroy it. But he's obviously just suckling on it almost. Well, no, you can hear his teeth.
Yeah, okay. Yeah, and I Googled it because I thought, oh, my God, there's something wrong with him. It's called corning. You know, like when you eat the corn? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, that sounded terrible with me. Yeah, so it's when they sort of use their front teeth and just sort of nibble on something. Yeah, but not damage anything. Yeah. Oh, very good. But he's not, you know, upset. He's not anything. He just does it every now and again, do it himself. Yeah, yes. I used to get cranky at him.
wrong and then I'd go through the door and I went, yeah, some puppies, some dogs do that. As a sort of a comforting, relaxing mechanism. Yeah, even though you do everything for them, sometimes that's what they do. So I just thought that lady that thinks little puppies or doggy is not damaging anything. Yeah, as long as he's happy and relaxed and not destroying it, then I guess it's a win all round. Yeah, what do you think? Specifically, what part of the question? Sorry, Bea? Oh, sorry, about, you know, sometimes it could be, you know, like a...
I don't know, if they have an issue or something. I was just wondering, have you heard that or not? I guess there's a lot of information that we get from context as well. So it's a general sweeping statement. I don't think we could say whether it's a good or a bad thing. But I think as a general rule, it's an action that dogs will do to try and calm or relax themselves. Yeah, perfect. Yeah, displacement. He's got a special blanket and he's just like, you know.
As long as he's happy, Bea, I don't think we need to probably intervene at all. Thank you so much for the call. I appreciate the feedback. Bye. Bye. Okay, Cheryl, you wanted to talk about pet behaviour and the basics, back to basic training. Oh, yes, back to basics. Look, so many people make a mistake when it comes to training and one of the biggest ones is repeating the command that you're asking the dog to do. So if we start with the first thing that we usually teach our dog, which is sit, what we need to do is be clear when we're asking the dog the command that we want to do and don't yell at the command at the dog. This is another thing that often people find themselves doing. Instead of asking the dog nicely to sit,
They'll go, sit, sit, sit, sit. And this gives the dog an opportunity to take its time and not actually do the command that we're asking it to do. So my request to everybody is to have a look how you're doing your training with your dog and just remember that you're going to ask your dog one command, whether it is sit or drop or come, and you're only going to ask that command once. You're not going to repeat it because when you're repeating it, it's like nagging. You'll go, sit, sit, sit, sit, sit. Like a woman nagging a husband and then he doesn't do what she asks. Or a mother nagging a teenage daughter. We're all over this, girls. We've got it right. So if we look at our dog or our puppy and we're going to ask it to sit.
I want you to just say it once and don't get really authoritarian about it. It's not sit, it's sit. And if you say it nicely and with a little bit of a high elevation on your voice, you'll find that one sit and your dog will sit. And this is so important, not to give the dog the opportunity to take its time and wait for you to have said the seventh sit before it actually sits down. So I think it's important to get back to that, you know, understanding when we are speaking that we're not repeating words, we're asking and getting that communication really clear. And addiction has a lot to do with that as well. Instead of, you know, like I said, being that authoritarian and growling out or mumbling out the word, say it.
clearly so the dog has an opportunity to recognise that you're speaking to it and to follow through. And each time we do that, we're building that strength and that relationship with you and the dog. So it's really important. It's one thing that for me personally, I have always made sure that my dogs pay attention when I'm speaking because I want them to do something and I want them to do it exactly when I ask. Because if something goes wrong, you need to know that your dog is going to, again, sit when you want it to do or to come. You don't want it doing something else. How do you go with that, Fiona? Do you find a lot of people repeating? Oh, absolutely. Very much so. And I think even with us trying to train our puppy at the moment.
Your instinct is to repeat and repeat and repeat. And so you have to be really mindful not to do that. And I certainly find, you know, when we're trying to, you know, fine tune how the kids are using commands is to encourage them to just say it once, but to also get his attention first. So if he's playing or doing something across the side of the room and you say sit, you're not setting him up for success. Whereas if you can, you know, in his case, we say, you know, Banksy, sit. Yes. So that he A, knows you're talking to him and B, has an opportunity to stop doing whatever it is he's doing.
and pay attention to what you're asking and giving him a chance. for success. Yeah. And I think that's the key to it. It's making sure that they respond so that they are successful. And when they do do the command, using your voice again, you know, oh, good boy or good girl, because that good actually is elevating your voice, which makes them happy and the tail usually wags at that same time. But I think too, that a lot of people just don't understand that dogs are nonverbal communicators and we tend to talk and talk and talk at our dogs rather than just making it simple. Sure, they learn the words, but we need to make sure that we're just saying singular things. And like you said, calling the dog's name, Banksy, and then the command that will get the attention and get the result that's desired.
This is Pet Chat, and we've got Russell from Morpeth on the line. Hi, Russell. How can we help you today? Yeah, I always listen to your show. It's always very good. And I've been wondering lately. I've got a golden retriever. Spoiler rotten, of course. And he's always, whatever I'm eating, he wants to have a crumb or a crust or something. And I'm just wondering if you could sort of have a short talk on the normal food that people have that dogs shouldn't have.
Yeah, so sort of things that are toxic to dogs, Russell, is that what you mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's a really great question because a lot of people do like sharing what's on their plate with their dogs depending on the size of your dog's waistline and their medical conditions. That may or may not be a good idea. But, yeah, so a couple of things in general that we want to keep dogs away from. So onions and garlic, okay. I'm allergic to that too, so it doesn't get any of it. Excellent. Raisins and sultanas and grapes, that sort of family of products can be quite toxic to their kidneys. Oh, I remember now. Yeah, I forgot about that.
Yeah, chocolate's a big no-no, definitely. Yeah, I know that one, I know that one. Excellent. And chicken bones, I know that one. Yeah, definitely. I thought, I'll just ask you, you know, what he can't have, but you know what dogs are like.
Yeah, they're like on the mooch. Yeah, look, I'm not a big fan of feeding dogs from your plate for a number of reasons. I think it encourages and teaches them that begging is okay. So basically if you feed them from your plate, you are rewarding them sitting there staring at you longingly, plus or minus pouring your leg or drooling all over your clothes or barking, that sort of thing. So if you're feeding them in that situation, you're rewarding their behaviour. And they're not silly. If you gave them something good next time, they're going to try that little bit harder.
Yeah, well, you know what gold is. I can imagine. No matter how much you feed them, they're always asking for more. They're making out they've been starved. Absolutely. They do a very good job of acting starved, for sure. And then things that are particularly high in fat, so meat offcuts or the edges of bacon, the offcuts of your lamb, all those sorts of things that are really fatty, they can cause their pancreas to be quite inflamed and painful and cause something called pancreatitis. So you're really high fat foods. We definitely don't want to be feeding our pets as well. Right.
And then depending on the waistline of your pet, it might be that snacks are out anyway. You know, if you've got a dog that likes... Yeah, well, last time I had him to the vet, they said, oh, he's put on a couple of kilos, feed him less. I said, it's not the food. I said, I'm not overfeeding him. It's just that I've got a medical condition and I can only walk about a kilometre a day. But he needs more, you know, he needs more. He's not active when I do take him out. Sometimes there's a lady on the common here that comes with her dog and he runs around like a chook with his head cover. Oh, I bet he enjoys that. Maybe you can hire a neighbourhood kid to take the dog for a walk.
Yeah, I might have to. They'll enjoy it, get some exercise. Yeah, he doesn't love a golden retriever. Yeah, well, you know what goldens are like. They've got a great coat on all the time. They can only walk them first thing in the morning or late in the evening, you know. Yeah. Yeah, look, I think, Russell, definitely, if you've been given that advice by your vet to feed a little bit less, I think probably less from the plate would be a sensible thing to do. Thanks. Oh, hello. Thank you very much. Thanks, Russell. I appreciate the call. Okay, now, just before we go, we've got a few pets of the week. We missed one last week, Ellie the cat, so we'll go to her first. Yes, Ellie is...
particularly beautiful looking, two-year-old female, I would say medium to long hair cat. She is a fairly standoffish cat. She's had a tough start to life, still learning how to be a cat. So she's not a real lap cat, sort of will come to people in her own time. So I think she would need to go to a, you know, a quiet, low traffic home, probably adult kids or older kids and just need a little bit of space. Hasn't been around any dogs, but if she's...
Very pretty to look at. She's a beautiful looking cat, yeah. So yeah, if she sounds like something that would suit your family, have a look. Have a look, okay. And we've got another, oh no, we've got Chief, the dog. Chief is a three-year-old male, stuffy cross, real sweetheart, just wants to please, just wants to be with you, just wants to sit on you. I think if he could sit in you, he would do that as well. So really loves people, loves being involved in your life. He's toilet trained, great with kids, loves treats and cuddles and toys.
Still learning how to walk nicely on the lead, but he's learning nicely and going really well with his training. He would definitely need a home with a big fence. Probably an only dog at this stage is recommended. But, yeah, real people pleaser. He's old chief. Wonderful. And the last one, we've got Felix the cat. Felix, the black and white cat.
handsome looking fellow, is described as having a sweet personality along with a little playful sass. So it sounds like he's got plenty of personality there. Three year old, so yeah. Loves playing, loves his cat tunnel, but he will just give you a little gentle nip when he's had enough. So as long as you listen to him, everyone will be happy. But loves sleeping, loves landing around the place. Lots of personality will fit in just about any home. He did have a home, but unfortunately his owner's health declined. So he's after a new home. So yeah, he's pretty cute. Still young, plenty of life left. So I think he'd be a great option. And you can check out Felix.
Thornton. If you want to know the exact location, you can head to our website to nurfm.com.au and click on the lifestyle programs and you'll find a pet chat. Plenty of pets of the week. Plenty of lovely pets. Lovely pets there. And just before we go, you had a few things to mention?
Yes. Look, actually, it was such a beautiful, warm day out there this morning that it just made me want to remind everyone that we do need to be making sure that our pets, both cats and dogs, flea and tick protection is up to date. The ticks will start to be out and about even more so than they currently are. So your options for protection. So there's spot-ons on the back of the neck. There's chewable tablets. There's a yearly injection for dogs. So lots of options. If you're unsure or you want more information, contact your local vet and they can talk you through the options. But yeah, no excuse to have anyone lapsing cover. Wonderful. Well, thank you very much. And we'll catch you, ladies, very soon. Thanks, Matt. Thanks, Matt. To any RFM.