Yes, it is. And I'm joined by Dr Fiona Giblin and Cheryl Shaw. Good afternoon, ladies. How are you, Amanda? I'm wonderful. Thank you. You, Cheryl? Yes, very good. Thank you. Fantastic. Now, Cheryl, looking at your pin, you've got a little dog being taken for a walk by the looks of it. Is that what we're talking about today? We are going to be talking about dogs outside in different territory, marking that territory, taking some ownership, bigger land. Okay. And Dr Fiona, do you have a topic today or are you just going to wing it? I'm going to wing it. I'm happy to talk about anything that our callers may call up on. I'm going to expand on Cheryl's topic.
Also enlighten you all on how my puppy training experience is going. Ah, yes. Wonderful. Dr Fiona, our vet. Oh, there we go. Dr Fiona Giblin, or Cheryl Shaw. And this is 2NURFM Pet Chat. We've got Marlene from Lakelands on the phone. Hi, Marlene. Hello. How are you? Good, thank you. Now, I have to say, Marlene and I went to school together. We were talking last night and she was telling us about her problem with her pet and possibly her husband. Do you want to talk about it, Marlene? Hi, good morning, Fiona and Cheryl. Or afternoon, I should say, sorry. Thank you so much for your call, Marlene. Tell me the story.
So we have a very active cattle dog puppy who is just on 14 weeks now. And, oh, look, I could have so many questions, but one of the main ones I have at the moment is being an active working dog. Well, I do try and run him ragged in the backyard with lots of activity, but I've heard that they can become overtired and not realise and that we should be ensuring that he has naps. And I was just wondering. what that looks like. Should we be ensuring that he has naps at certain times or actually just looking for the signs that he is becoming overtired, like increased nipping and running crazy, that sort of thing? Yeah, sure. Look, this is such a brilliant question, Marlene, because you are absolutely correct. Dogs and puppies, just like kids, they can get overtired and then they get overstimulated and they forget all their manners and everything that they've learned and then they go into a bit of a downward spiral. So yes, having rest is really, really important. What that looks like.
is making sure that the puppy has got somewhere that is their safe space, whether it's a crate, whether it's a bed. I guess the benefit of a crate is it means you can actually contain them. But it's not a punishment spot. It's a, I want to go there. That's my safe space. That's where I get yummy things to chew or that's where I get to just have some quiet time. So encouraging that, you know, if you can tell the puppy's tired or has finished, you know, or you think they're sort of getting a bit overtired, just redirecting them to that spot, encouraging them to settle down and also recognising that when they're...
sort of hyperactive that may actually be overtired rather than full of energy yeah okay yeah it's a bit of a challenging thing especially when you can see that they're becoming overtired but you've got kids in the house as well and noises that keep waking them up um yeah and just with the crate i guess encouraging them just with treats i try and pop treats in there but i guess making sure it's a good place for him and not like you're going crazy at the moment you know you're going in the crate Yeah, definitely. And making sure that crate's not in a high traffic area as well, you know, because then he's going to be stimulated by any noise and activity. You know, maybe it's the laundry, maybe it's a corner of the house that's a bit quieter and then giving them something that might take a little bit of time to get through rather than just a bit of kibble, you know, maybe a chew toy or, you know, something that's going to keep them entertained and distracted for a period of time.
Cheryl, have you got anything to add there? Sometimes they do need some separation from the family, so that's really important to make sure that there's a quiet space that you can take your puppy to. It's not a punishment like with the crate. It's certainly a good thing for them to have. But knowing when to do it, sometimes puppies will actually just lay down and they'll have like a 20-minute nap and then they'll wake up and they'll be ready to go again. That's often how puppies get through their day. They'll just sort of have small nap periods and then they'll be up and racing again. So it's trying to manage those times when they wake up again and they're full of energy and wanting to run around and nip that you're giving them something to do. And with cattle dogs, they tend to have very strong jaws and as their teeth are coming through, their mouths are quite painful, so they tend to mouth a lot more.
than a lot of breeds of dogs. So making up some ice cubes and things like that to give the puppy to help relieve some of the discomfort that could be in the mouth may be a good thing for your puppy. Yeah. Oh, he loves an ice cube. He shoots it around the house like it's air hockey. Yeah. Well, they're learning a lot from when they're having ice because obviously it's cold. It's difficult to pick up in their mouth. So their brain is being used a lot more because they're learning how to move it around. Not that it's a dehydration time, but often it helps too in the summertime with dehydration. If your puppy's not drinking a lot, they're having that ice, but that can definitely help with the jaw. But giving them toys that they can, particularly for a cattle dog, that are quite strong toys that they can, like Kongs and things like that, that they can really chew on just to give them some stimulation, but also to prevent them from biting you as much. But that bite inhibition is quite a difficult thing at the moment for the age of your puppy.
puppy yeah right okay so how long um does the teething tend to go on for to what age well technically most of their adult teeth have come through by the age of between four and six months um so that's your kind of teething phase but even a young dog will enjoy the the feeling of chewing um it they like it they like to chew they like to bite down on things the kongs are a real favorite in our house at the moment um because they are fairly indestructible and also fairly safe um so just encouraging them to have those options of things and you know if he's running around stealing socks or taking things that he shouldn't do, making sure if you're going to take something away from him that there's always something better that you're giving him as well so that he knows that if I've got something to chew, the person coming towards me is going to give me something better than what I've got. Yep. Awesome. Okay. Best of luck on this very challenging but also rewarding journey, Marlene. Yes. Thank you. Thank you so much for your time. No worries. Bye. Bye. Cheryl, you want to talk about dogs on leashes and marking territory? I do. Now, look, one of the things that we need to make sure, there's peeing and there's marking.
Oh, okay. So there's a difference. Yep. And both obviously involve urination. But when a dog is peeing, it's an involuntary biological.
way to relieve themselves, okay? So they need to pass urine and that just happens involuntary. But when it comes to marking, that's a voluntary instinctive behaviour. So they do it because they want to gain some territory. They want a bigger home than they've got. They want more space and they want to let every other dog in the neighbourhood know that they're there. Now, when a dog marks, it's interesting because sometimes when you notice what they're doing, they actually lift their legs, or in a male, and sometimes females will lift their leg as well, but they'll lift their leg as high as they can to mark vertical areas that, if they mark a vertical area rather than a flat or a smooth source.
flat surface, what actually happens, the message of the urine is sent further up into the air. So when the dog's walking along with its owner, they start to smell and that's when they'll track back their nose and go to the space that's being peed on, like a fence or a post or something like that. Now, some dogs, when they are smelling that urine, what is actually happening? There's a whole lot of chemicals in the dog's urine and those chemicals are giving out information about everything to do with that dog. And I know vets, Fiona, when you are doing a urine sample, you get a lot of information about the health and the wellbeing of that dog and basically even what they're eating, you know, because of the different acids and things that are in that analysis. But with the dogs, they sniff it. Now, dogs...
The way dogs smell the urine, their sponges in their nose take in so much information about the urine that's been deposited. Now, it tells them everything about the dog that was there, how long ago it was there, what age, what the health status of the dog is, what its sexual, whether it's into reproduction or whether it's due sex. Everything is capsulated in that ammonia, in that urine. So the dog has this ability to know, oh, yeah, there's a new kid on the block. So they will know that somebody new is there and they'll mark the territory even more to try to claim that territory. So marking is a thing that they do, but sometimes dogs do it in their own house. So if something changes, instead of your dog being...
happy and not weeing inside. It may be really well toilet trained. Maybe a new baby comes along or maybe you get some new furniture, new carpet. Anything that changes and makes the dog feel a little bit uneasy can actually start territory marking inside the house. And this is really problematic. So if those sort of things happen, if you notice that your dog who never peed inside has peed, take a look at what changes have occurred. And if you don't think there's any changes that have occurred, definitely mention it to your veterinarian because there may be an underlying factor of some health thing that's going on as well. And that's a common thing with UTIs and things like that, Fiona? Oh, definitely. As you've mentioned, if there's not a behavioural reason for urinating in the house, there's...
almost definitely a medical reason. And we'll often ask clients to bring in a urine sample if they can. As you were saying before, we get a lot of information from that. The concentration, for example, gives us a lot of idea about whether we've got kidney issues or not. Whether there's glucose in it can be a really early screen for diabetes. And then having a look at the sediment under the microscope can give us an idea, okay, have we got inflammatory cells? Have we got bacteria? Have we got cancer cells? Like we can get so much information from a urine sample. And yeah, if it's not a behavioural reason for urinating in the house, there's very often a medical reason behind it. Yeah. The other thing is not all dogs do lift their leg. I've had three standard male poodles and not one of mine has been a leg lifter. So I've been very fortunate. My dogs have all squatted. And so when they squat, they actually take on what's called a racehorse steer.
So they stand with their four feet flat on the ground and lean forward with their head and their front... part of their body and then urinate. So they don't tend to be markers, although some of them will mark over another dog. So if they live in a multiple dog home, they'll often, if somebody's peed, they'll go and pee over the top of that and mark that territory. And that's just sort of trying to say, well, you know, I'm the boss of you and, you know, wherever you pee, I'm going to pee. But yeah, so not all dogs lift their legs. Some female dogs lift their legs in funny ways. They can look very comical. Yes, yeah. And they'll stand up basically on two feet and, you know, put their back end up in the air and pee on a post or something. So it is quite, I think, quite amusing to watch some dogs pee. But yeah, marking can be, as I said, it's all about claiming the territory.
it's mine. Some dogs will pee over somebody else's just to leave their mark. It's sort of almost like social networking. Like, okay, you've been here. I'm answering that. I've peed on your pee. So, you know, they just claim it. And there's a bit of a phrase, you know, calling it a pee mail. Yes. You know, instead of an email, you know, an email sends a message. Well, a pee mail sends a message to another dog as well. Yeah. But it's interesting. So it's not always just about marking territory, but most of the time it's, yep, this is mine and you're going to leave it alone. Well, you learn something new every day, don't you? And we've got Nick from Wall's End on the line. Hi, Nick. How can we help you? Hi. Thanks for taking my call. That's all right.
We've got a little rescue dog. He's a seven-year-old Shih Tzu. And we don't know a lot of history about his past, but we have a lot of difficulty in bathing him. Okay. And particularly getting him quit.
Tell me more. Well, to the point where he tries to climb up over your head and then he starts to, oh, give out like a squeal or, you know, something similar to that. Okay. Extremely frightened. Yeah. Oh, poor thing. And how long have you had him, Nick? About eight weeks now. Okay. So very, very early days. Yeah, it is. Yeah. Okay. How many times have you barfed him? We've never, we've tried to barf him. So we've given him to a lady who is an expert in these resting dogs and she's managed to do it. And that was about probably four weeks ago, maybe five weeks ago.
Okay, so that would have been very early in you having the dog. Is that correct? Yeah, probably only about three weeks. Yeah, okay. I mean, it is really tricky when you don't know the history of a dog. Obviously, you're only trying to do the right thing by him, but it may be that he's just still very much in that.
adjustment period and um there is there is a bit of a we break it down three days three weeks three months to a dog sort of re-acclimatizing to their new environment um and i think obviously lots of stress for the dog in starting a new environment presumably he needed a wash and a clip and that was just how it had to be um but it might be moving forward that we need to just go a bit more slowly um and potentially discussing with your vet whether just some really, really short-term anti-anxieties will help him initially just recover and get over that fear and start building a more positive experience. Because if it's something that has to be done and all we're going to do is, in his mind, traumatise him, then that's going to make it harder moving forward rather than easier. Yeah, yeah. We've got a little bit of information and it seems like he was dropped at one stage when he was being barred according to the previous owner. So I think that's probably instilled quite a bit of...
Fear into him. Yeah, understandably. Cheryl, this is probably your area of expertise. One of the things I would say, Nick, is probably rather than you going through the trauma of trying to bath the dog yourself, is actually getting a professional to do it for you. Just that people with really good handling skills often know how to do it quickly and efficiently and kindly, obviously. So I think employing a professional to do it and making sure that that person really does have a good background in dogs with issues because we want to make sure that these things go positive. Because obviously with a Shih Tzu, you're going to need a lot of grooming over the next few years of his life when he's with you. So making those experiences as positive as possible.
Maybe even working with your groomer to have regular visits where nothing much happens. It may just be that they might just shave one pad or something just to build a rapport and get the dog used to being touched and hearing and feeling the different sounds and sensations of being groomed. But yeah, well done on taking on a seven-year-old Shih Tzu. I mean, I think that's really lovely. But yeah, you just need to work along with somebody that can help the dog to actually realise that, hey, this is really nice. Having a beauty day is something special. Yeah, exactly.
Yeah, yeah. And some of the things too, Nick, that they can do, instead of, you know, being a full groom, you can just have partial things done. So, you know, like I said, you might want to have the pad shaven so the dog's not slipping on floorboards. But you also may not like to have, you know, around the eye corners just cleared out so that, you know, with Shih Tzu, sometimes they have quite a lot of eye group that, you know, gets stuck in that coat there. That can make it a lot easier and, you know, it takes away a lot of the odour as well. So, yeah, just work with your groomer as to what, you know, will suit you and your dog. Oh, that's great. That's great advice. Thanks for that. Thanks very much for your call, Nick. Good luck.
Thank you. Bye-bye. Next we've got Peter from Newcastle. Thanks for holding, Peter. Now, you've got an issue with your dog weeing a lot. I do. I have a seven-year-old Cavoodle who's very sweet, but I've discovered that she has been weeing inside, and I don't have a sense of smell, so I didn't really notice it until recently. We've had quite a lot of moves in the most recent past, moved a couple of times, and, yeah, so I'm sure she's nervous.
Well, she's nervous anyway. Yeah, she's very quiet and gets a bit nervy. So I'm sure that that's because we've moved. But I just really wanted to know, and I only caught a little bit of what you were talking about, so you might have already covered it. But how do I stop her from doing that repeatedly? Yeah, sure. So a bit of more information if I can, Peter. Do you know how long she's been doing that for?
Probably the last six months. Okay. Not all the time. Okay. She also doesn't like to go outside to wee if it's raining. Yes. Yes. You're not the only one with a princess. Don't worry, Peter. Now, would you say, is she normally pretty good at weeing in the backyard? Yes. Okay. Do you feel that she knows that that's where she's supposed to go? Yes, I think so. Okay. And so you think it's been happening for about six months. Is it the same areas within the house? Do you know? Yes, definitely.
and I thought it was – it's probably only about six times, I think, but I thought it was my daughter tramping stuff through that room. Okay. And then I realised, oh, wait a minute, no, it's not. Yeah, okay. So six times over that period of time, the six months? Yeah, I'd say. Okay. All right. Well, I guess a couple of things. We can definitely give you some tips and tricks. Is there a way of shutting that room off so she doesn't have access to it? Yes, I've started.
doing that okay yeah number one that door always stays closed um number two making sure when you're when you clean that area is that we're using an enzymatic cleaner because particularly as you mentioned if your sense of smell isn't that great hers is a million or a hundred times stronger than yours so cleaning it with you know soap and water or just some generic cleaner isn't going to be enough we need a special urine um cleaner which breaks down it's an enzymatic cleaner so it breaks down as Cheryl's been talking about the pheromones and all the messages that come in that way so we need to break that down because in her mind this is where I go because it smells like we okay So cleaning up, blocking access off to the room. And then just as much as you can, if she's unsupervised, you need to be limiting her to the areas that she knows are not the toilet. And then when she goes outside, you know, we have her on a lead. We take her to the spot we need her to go. We cue it with a word. You know, I mean, she's an older dog. She knows what she's supposed to be doing, but it might be for whatever reason she's getting confused or she's getting stressed. You know, maybe that room is her, I'm stressed out and I don't want to go outside. Maybe that's her backup toilet. Yeah, I get it. Yeah, so they're hopefully some things. Cheryl, have you got anything to add there?
I think one of the things, knowing that in the background there's a poodle, poodles don't like getting their feet wet. So what we would do with our covoodle, when you do go outside when it's been raining or there's dew on the ground, make sure when you come in that you wipe the feet with like a face washer or a hand towel. Keep it near the door so it becomes a pattern that you do every time the dog goes outside. That way they won't be tracking water inside, but they're less likely to pee inside because they know they're going to get their feet wiped when it's wet. So making a bit of a fuss over them, I would try that as well. And if we're about to move again, hopefully for the last time. Yeah. Is it, because I'm sure it's nerves related. Okay.
Would it be helpful to reinforce rewards for her doing it outside of the new place or is that a waste of time? Oh, I don't think there's any harm doing it. If you're pairing it with your, you know, whatever words you use, you know, wee-wees and she does it, yes, and you have a treat or a play or a patch, I don't think there's a problem with that. But I think as, sorry, Cheryl, as with starting a new house, it's also a clean slate, right? So you've got to use that opportunity. You've got to be super vigilant, blocking off any areas to the house you don't want her to have access to and really starting strong and really focused on making, helping her get it right. Yeah, that's very helpful.
Yeah, Peter, I would actually go back to basics. When you move to the new house, make sure from day one you're taking her out to the space that you want her to use as a toilet so you can establish really good toileting patterns from the very gecko. So straight to where you want her to go and get her to go there all of the time. And have her on leash in the beginning just so she knows that's where she's got to go. Okay. Good luck. Thank you. Best of luck, Peter. Thanks very much. Bye. And we've got Louise from Port Macquarie on the line. Hi, Louise. Hi, how are you going? Good, thank you. Now you've got a 15-month-old male. Loboto. Loboto.
Tell me what's going on, Louise. So he is absolutely delightful and he's a very good little pup. Young teenager. Young man. He just has all of a sudden in the last, I don't know, probably two or three months started doing this stretching. He'll just be having a cuddle or whatever and then he just stretches his neck right up and then stops doing it. And then a little bit, the last week or so, he's also like...
sort of jumps like he's being bitten and then kind of sort of scurries around like something's chasing him and then he'll stop and then I'll get him to settle and then he's okay. Okay. So, yeah. So, could you comment about how often it's happening or if you've noticed a pattern when it happens? No, there's no pattern, but I do think it's happening more often. Okay. Yeah, I have a 10-year-old Legato as well and we've got two cats and a bird and everybody gets on pretty well. So, I don't think it's stress-related. I don't think it's...
like he's not been in trouble or like nothing. And when he does it, so is he stretching his neck out to the front or is it up towards the sky? Up towards the ceiling, up. Okay. Always up, yep. And do you think he's conscious the whole time that it's happening? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I did think perhaps he was having like a seizure. I did think that, but no, he doesn't seem to have any other signs that he's, like it's neurological. I don't know. He doesn't fall over or? No, no. Describe the, you said, do you think it's like he's in pain or something's biting him? No, it's like, yeah, it's like.
It's like, we don't have fleas, but it's like a flea bit him and he kind of jumps and then he'll kind of scurry where he's on the bed. So he'll kind of scurry and then he'll run to the edge of the bed and then he'll run to the other side of the bed and then he'll run up to me and then he'll eventually settle. Okay. And does it occur at the same time as the next stretching? Yeah, I think so. Yeah, I think it does. Okay. All right. Look, it could be a very unusual neurological condition, Louise. What I would be recommending you do is try and catch a couple of episodes on video.
because that is going to be really, really, really helpful for your vet. And to take those videos into the vet, get him a full checkover and also a full lot of blood tests. And there would be a couple of other things that potentially they would want to screen for. They have juvenile epilepsy, I think, or something like that, Legato, but he has been screened for that. Yeah, okay. Look, without having it in front of me, it's a little bit hard to know.
They can screen the parents, okay? Yes, that's right. Yeah, the parents have been screened. Yes. So that makes it a lot less likely for the offspring to have it, but it doesn't always necessarily mean that they can't have it. Yep, yep, yep, yep. So, yeah, get some videos if you can, and I would definitely recommend heading into your local vet and seeing if they can shed some light on getting to the bottom of it, Louise. Yep, yep. Okay. All right, great. Thank you. Thanks very much. Thanks for the call. Bye. Bye. And while we've got a little bit of time left, we're going to go to our pets of the week. This week we've got Toots and Teddy. They're both very cute.
We'll start with Toots. Toots is a one-year-old grey, black and white female. One-year-old, great age if you ask me. You know, got out of that crazy hyperactive kitten stage but still lots of fun left. Easygoing, affectionate, confident, loves her food, loves wet food and dry food. Suitable for most households, gets along with her foster siblings, has a dog at home, would be happy as an only pet.
Gets along with other animals if she gets some time to settle in. So she's a bit of a box ticker, I think, Miss Toots. She's very cute. I actually messaged my husband and said, there's a cat called Toots. Is there room for another cat in our life? He said there's only room for one Toots in the house and that's me. Tiffany may not appreciate Toots. No, I don't think Tiffany too. Even if Toots would appreciate Tiffany, it may not be mutually beneficial. No, it would not be reciprocated. All right, next we've got Teddy.
Yes, so Teddy is an eight-month-old, cross, sweet and affectionate. The comment is he's expected to grow into a sort of a medium breed, so probably around that 18 to 22 kilo mark. Great size. Lives with two large breed dogs who he adores and plays gently with smaller dogs. Loves his toys. He's great trained. He's starting to learn some great manners.
Will need to be continued. His training will need to be continued, as you'd expect, and fully intend on a dog of his age. Playful and curious. Would be happy with an adult dog and also would probably prefer someone home with him more often than not. It feels like he would like to be involved with his family inside, but outside during the day is fine. So he's pretty good too. Yeah, he sounds very, very friendly. Loves everyone. Very cute, cuddling a teddy bear. Yes. So yeah, if you're looking for a cat or a dog, these ones are good ones to check out. Absolutely. Just for their names alone. I know, right? Great names. So just head to 2nurfm.com.au and you can click on...
our lifestyle programs and you'll find Pet Chat and then you click on Pet of the Week and you'll find it. If you can't find it, give us a call, but I'm sure you will. Now, we've just got a tiny bit of time left. Is there anything else you want to add about your talks today, about anything? What are you seeing?
Well, I guess just reverting back to toilet training. I'm very much still in the midst of that with our puppy. And as I keep saying to the kids, if he makes a mistake in the house, it's actually not his fault. It's our fault. So just as owners, you know, you're the ones that have to do the right thing and set your timers. My watch has constantly got a timer on at the moment. The kids are like, mum, why are you setting another timer? I'm like, because the dog needs to go out for a wee. But yeah, just being consistent reward. As we've talked about, the dog needs to know what's expected and how the routine works.
being consistent and rewarding is how we get there. Kind of like training kids. Yeah, absolutely. People don't like it when you say that training pets is the same as training kids, but it really is. It's a similar thing, yeah. It really is. Well, thank you very much, Dr Fiona Giblin and Cheryl Shaw. We will see you next time for Pet Chat on 2NURFM.