All right, we have the Pet Chat team here. First up, as always, Cheryl Shaw. Hello. Hello there, Mark. And Dr. David Tabbert, who's looking mighty fine today. Nice little red T-shirt. Good on you. Oh, thanks very much. Are you ready to tackle those calls? I hope so. I hope so. Excellent stuff. Eventually, I'll get it right. All right. That's why they call it practice, right? Practice makes something. All right, as always, we're on the brooch watch for Cheryl. Is that a penguin walking a dog? Am I right? No, it's a person. And look what's happening.
What? That dog is out in front pulling that owner along. The owner's being walked. Yes. We're going to talk about pulling on leash today. David, you get some ideas, all right? Okay, I'm ready. Excellent stuff. If you have a pet question for our Pet Chat team today, it doesn't really matter. They'll have a crack at a dog, pet cat, horse maybe. You do horses, David? Yeah. Pet snakes, birds. The best thing about doing Pet Chat radio about.
horses, is I'm safe. I did spend the first half of my career working with horses. Is that right? There's a topic one week. Myself and horses' hooves, I want to stay away from them. I'm sorry. I do love them. I understand. You've done your penance with horses. With good grace, but it's probably better if I don't.
handle them as much. Speaking of handling your pets, handling your dog, Cheryl, walking the dog, we see a lot of folks out there doing it and they really get into all world of hurt, don't they? Oh, look, walking your dog is supposed to be fun. It's supposed to be a pleasant activity. But for a lot of dog owners, it is far from that. You'll have the dog out in front pulling the owner along or lunging at dogs walking past or other people. But what we need to do is take a really good look at why they do this. Now, part of the problem is that we never put enough emphasis into early training on leash. Most people put a lot of emphasis on getting their dog to sit and to come and to stay, but they forget about the leash. So let's get back to...
basics it's really important that with your dog from a very early age but it doesn't matter if you've missed that opportunity of having an early age dog it's still about the training and we need to remember that we're going to need a couple of things to make sure we get it right one of the things is how we approach the leash and what it's attached to now some people will use their collar and that's okay for some dogs but there's some dogs that you can't like your little pugs your bulldogs you can't put a collar on them because of their their thick necks and short necks and the fact that they've got those squishy little brachiofellic noses and everything's against them if we put any pressure on their neck it's really going to create a problem so what do we do for those dogs the first thing we do is usually set them up with a harness now Harnesses can be great, but in some cases they make the dog pull. And this is a thing that we know with sled dogs like your huskies that are pulling the sleds along.
They've got such powerful chests, and they can distribute the weight across the chest, so it means that they've got more power to be able to pull. But getting back to the little pugs and the bulldogs, when we are making or getting their harnesses, we need to make sure that it actually fits the dog's body. Now, I mean that in the true sense, that it fits and it's snug, because most of the time when you watch anybody walking those breeds of dogs, or in fact any dog in a harness, the harnesses will usually go toward the owner, whichever way they're walking their dog. So they actually swivel if they're not correctly fitted. So there's no message getting to the dog about how to walk or who's in charge. So the dog will tend to then go out in front and be pulling even more because it's not being controlled by the handler.
There's other dogs that you have, like I've got standard poodle. They, for me, my dogs are pretty good. I can't walk my dog on a collar because he has a mega esophagus, so we don't want to put any pressure on his esophagus. So he wears a head harness, so he has a little gentle leader on. And the benefit of a gentle leader is that...
For dogs wearing a head harness, there's two pressure points on the dog. One's on the top of the muzzle and one's behind the back of the neck. And when the mother's correcting those puppies, they're the two places that she puts her mouth just to do the correction. So the head harnesses work on those principles from the mother dog. So even though it sounds negative, it's a really positive experience. There's no pain involved. A dog wearing those can still bark, bite, catch a ball, but they can't pull you. So it's a little bit like when you're horses, David, which you know all about. So what we've got with a horse, we put a rope around its muzzle and when we're trying to break that horse into walking with us, the same deal for the dog. Now, let's get back to why they pull.
All mammals have a lot of muscle in their neck and their chest. So the reaction to if something pushes against that, you push back. So what we've got to remember is most times we set off to walk and the dog's super excited because we've got the lead out and it's jumping everywhere. And when we start to walk, what happens, the dog's out in front. Now, we don't want the dog out in front. We want to be walking with the dog, not the dog walking us, and not us walking the dog. We want to walk together. So we know that the right side to walk your dog on is actually your left-hand side. Okay, yes. Okay. The right side is the left.
Yes, that's correct. That's right. So we're going to have the dog on your left. The left side is the correct side. Now the reason for that come about when we had gun dogs and we were going out firing the rifles to hit whatever you're going to hit with the gun dog and the rifle's usually on the right-hand side of the person. So the dog is going to be on the left so we don't actually get the dog, we get the game bird. And also in a confirmation ring. So when you're showing a dog...
The dog is on the left-hand side so that as it's going around the confirmation ring, the judge can watch the gait or the movement of the dog and then pick the best of the dogs. So we're going to get back to using that left-hand side because dogs are very... They pick up visual signs from us. So when we do certain things, they will pick up that signal. So when we step off, if we've got the dog sitting by our left-hand side and we step off, the dog will learn to step off with you. Now, in the beginning, you might have to tap the side of your leg or, say, heel, but...
When the dog moves forward, if it is to pull at all, you have to stop immediately. Now, that is key to it. Now, most of us don't. What we do is go, stop it, don't, stop pulling. We get a little bit sort of vocal at the dog and we pull back on the lead. Now, when we pull back, that instinct for the dog is to pull forward and then they become conditioned to pulling forward all of the time. So my advice is you need to stop. Every time the dog pulls, you stop. Now, you're going to need a really valuable...
So you're going to need a little treat bag or pouch. I don't like those because you can't get your hand in quickly enough to get the treat out because you need to reward straight away. So you know those old-fashioned bum bags in the 80s? Yeah. They're fantastic because you can undo that zip, have your treats in that. Ready to go. They're ready to go. So now the dog's pulled forward. So your dog will be clued up on what to do, but you'll be a fashion disaster. Absolutely, Mark. But, you know, there's a lot for the 80s. You know, we like the 80s music, so, you know, bring back the bum bag. Okay.
Anyway, so we're going to have our treats. We call it bait in our little bag. And when the dog pulls, we're going to stop. We're going to ask the dog to sit. But we're going to get the dog to look at us, not just give it the reward. We want to take that bit of treat out of our pouch. We want to bring it up to our eye. And we're going to look at the dog, and the dog's going to look at us, and we're going to treat. Does that make sense? Yes, absolutely. So then...
We move forward. Now, the first few times you do this, the dog is going to be really confused and keep trying to pull forward. You just have to be consistent and patient. Stop, reward, and get the dog to look at you. Because this is the thing with the leash. Most owners aren't aware that the dog is looking at everything else. And they see a dog a further ahead or a person, and then they start pulling. We've got to get the dog to focus on us. We want to be with them, then with us. So it's all about stopping. Now, you might only get as far as your neighbour's front fence and take you 10 minutes to do that. But if that's all it is, that's what you've got to do. Sometimes before you set off, have a play in the backyard or have a bit of fun. So you get rid of some of that built-up energy before you head.
out to your walking. Yep. Can I just ask, Cheryl? So you were saying that about the harnesses or collars, but what about if it is one of the halties or dental eaters? Are you seeing the same thing if they're pulling against you? No, they don't usually pull against that. They don't like them. I'll be perfectly honest. When you put them on, they go, I've got this on. They rub their face. Yeah, they rub their face either between your legs or they'll roll on the floor and do crocodile rolls or they'll try and pull it off. If your dog is doing that, move quickly. The other thing with walking, when you've got them walking, change your pace regularly so that they're paying attention to you. So often we just sit off and we walk at a normal pace. So you might do that in the beginning, then fasten it up, then slow it back down and keep doing that. The other thing to do when you're trying to get your...
dog to pay attention to you on leash so you're in charge, and that's what we've got to be in charge, we don't want dogs out of control on leash, is to walk every so often, do a sideway left turn. So if you're turning left... What's going to happen is the dog, you're going to either walk into the dog if the dog's not paying attention to you. Remembering the visual clue is we're going to turn, the dog's going to know we're turning and we keep turning. So a turning to your left or a figure eight and then mix it up with different pace walking. That makes the dog pay attention to you and it's something that most dog owners don't do. They just put the leash on and off they go. Otherwise they're in cruise control, aren't they? Absolutely, yeah. And it's terrible. If you've got a dog that pulls, the last thing you want to do is go walking. It's not enjoyable at all. It's a physical. It reminds me of...
I remember a consult I did many, many, many years ago and it was an Alaskan dog. So I'm not sure if it was a Malamute or a Husky, but the owner had a harness on it and they said to me, oh, we can't walk him because he just keeps pulling. And I said, what was he bred to do? Like, and look what you've done. You put him in the harness. So we successfully transitioned that dog to a head halter. Yes.
And, you know, they're highly intelligent. And this dog learned very quickly and was much easier for them to walk. And I've seen the same thing with much larger dogs. Like you mentioned about horses, we use a halter. You know, a horse is going to be four, five, six, 700 kilos. And you see, you know, small women, girls and adults leading the horse around. And all it's got is this halter on its head. And that's because it's relying upon that pressure point that you described that the mother dog uses on the puppies.
It's pretty clever. It is very clever. So, recent experience, and you know my... Two dogs. Cheryl's already against much advice from Cheryl. I think she had this topic ready for me. No, no, no. You have to wait two years before you get your second dog. Oh, okay. I had, listeners will recall, I got two dogs, even though I was told by Cheryl not to, and they're both females, even though I was told by Cheryl not to do that, and they came from the same litter. I'm a slow learner, and I had harnesses on them, and they were terrible to walk. Yes. And we have recently transitioned to Halti, a head halter.
Much, much better. Like night and day. Night and day. They're less anxious. They don't feel like they have to attack everything. And they're much more easily controlled. They'll stand by me and walk alongside me. Exactly as you said. They don't like it to start with. No. But they're happy to then get along and have a walk. I think the slow learner part is that you mentioned years ago you said this to someone else in a consult. It took you ages to figure it out. That was the harness bit. Oh, yes. Well, it took me time. I had to, you know. You'll get there, David. And the other thing, David, with the two dogs when you're walking, you know, sometimes people use the splitter where they've got the two dogs. I did that.
The biggest problem people make there as well, they give the dogs too much leash. So you need the shortest possible splitter that you can get so that they're not able to get in front of each other. Because then if you're getting one dog going in front of the other, and when you've got two, there's always one who's going to be the leader and there's one who's going to be more timid, you're going to have the two dogs justling to get past each other, and then you've got no control. That might have been my problem. Look, Mark, I really appreciate my therapy session here with Cheryl. She's doing wonders for you. We're coming along so well. And as we found out, David, that the problem with the household, well, you are the problem. Of course. All right, 49216216, if you have a question.
Well, I don't really know. We usually give them a mix of cooked meat and vegetables and such like. But just recently, we just switched from red moots just from that to chicken. And they thought they'd eat it, but they're just really reluctant to eat it for some reason. I just wondered if maybe the chicken might be a bit too bland for them or something like that. Well, there'd definitely be a taste difference for dogs. But just first of all, how old are the dogs?
Well, one's quite old, he's about 15, the other one's only three. Okay. And so presumably this change, at least for the three-year-old one, they'd previously just been on that same meal of you with cooked meat, red meat and veggies. Yeah, and mixed in with like a cup full of biscuits of some sort, a general meal. Yeah, good. Because I was just thinking also, just making sure, particularly for a younger dog, but older dog as well, making sure that we're supplying all of the needed vitamins and minerals in their diet. And when you're doing home...
cooked meals it can be very difficult to make sure we're meeting those requirements for them at the various stages of life so the you know pre-prepared commercial dry dog food will pretty much supply you with enough of the vitamins and minerals that are needed so the other thing then would be I think a couple of things one is the taste and they just got to now get used to you know the fact that you've swapped in chicken the other thing is that you know it's got a different smell it looks a bit different different texture they will acclimatize to these things and the best thing about dogs is you know, once they get hungry, they're pretty good at eating. So I think you'll find that they will probably start to improve. The main thing I'd be looking at is just making sure they're not losing weight, they don't have vomiting and diarrhoea, or their stool hasn't changed significantly that might indicate that they've got digestive problems. No, there's nothing like that. They're both pretty right. Yeah, no issues that are obvious here. Yeah. Ken, just on that, is there any reason why you did switch from the beef to the chicken?
to start with, and it was just getting a little bit difficult. The local pet shop would only get so much in, and so we switched, went to the local butcher, but all they had was chicken. But they had, because we cook it, we... We wanted to make sure that it was really ground up. So there was nothing in there. So the local butchers, it was basically a paste when you got it. Just one of the things with chicken to be aware of, Ken, sometimes dogs can have allergies to chicken. So if they've been used to particularly your older dog being on beef for a long time and they have a switch to chicken, sometimes they can get some allergies where they become quite itchy. So that's just another thing just to be aware of. No, they're basically, they're all, they're quite, they haven't really changed. They're just sort of... A bit more reluctant to...
Basically, too, my daughter lives with us and she's got a Border Collie Labrador cross. And if you leave any food around, you'll just come in and vacuum it up. So it's not as if you can just leave it for them to go back and finish later. You're not wasting the food. That's the main thing. And feeding them separately, perhaps, is the go. Yeah, well, definitely feeding them separately, if not from the diet concern, but also from a behavioural perspective. But the other thing I would suggest that might...
test out is maybe getting some of the previous red meat, the beef, or some variant of, and mixing it with the chicken and just a half-half. And that way it's probably going to be a little bit more palatable for them in the short term. All right, some options for you, Ken. Hope that works out. Good times, great music, 2NEW RFM 103.7 and Pet Chat. Look, just a bit of a hint, a handy hint.
You only have a couple of moments left if you'd like a chat with Cheryl Shaw and Dr. David Tabron, who has something on his mind right about now, David, don't you? Yes, yes, yes. This is where you start, mate. I am, I am. I've been doing this a while, Mark. Apparently. A couple of patients I've seen recently, and a lot of pet owners would be aware of this, is like people, their pets can get cataracts, okay? Not just cats. Sorry about the pun. So let's talk about dogs. It wasn't a good one, was it? No, it needs work. Let's talk about dogs and cataracts. So similar to people.
our pets can develop cataracts. Now, just very quickly, what is a cataract? So in the eye, starting from the front of the eye going to the back of the eye, we've got the surface of the eye, the cornea, then we've got the anterior chamber, then we've got the coloured part of the eye, that's the iris, with the pupil is actually the hole in the middle, right? So the iris is a muscle. And then sitting behind the pupil is the lens. And so the lens has the function of focusing light onto the back of the eye, and that's the retina. So the lens is the part that it becomes damaged.
or dysfunctional that creates a cataract. Now, there is a couple of conditions that can cause genetic cataracts. So the animal can be born with a cataract. We don't see them very frequently. There are some viral infections in cats and so on, but we don't see a lot of them. But more commonly, we'll tend to see cataracts developing later in life. Now, that could be following trauma, could be following an infection. We do see them develop with hormonal diseases. So diabetes is one that we most commonly see dogs develop cataracts. Now, the lens itself is actually, is it clear? It's just like a lens if you wear spectacles.
The lens is similar and it allows light to pass through, but it changes the dimension of the light that comes through to allow it to focus better. And it's made up of a number of protein fibres or I'm going to say... protein for the sake of today, that are lined up so they're all parallel, so the light goes through. So if you put your palms together with your fingers opposed and flat, that's what your lens looks like now. And so the light can actually, if you keep your fingers apart, the light can pass through. But if you turn your hand slightly and make a crisscross pattern with your fingers, now the light can't get through as well. And I have to tell you, everybody, we're actually doing this. Listen, if you're in traffic, don't do this. But what happens is those fibres become disconnected and cross over and start to collapse, and you get the light not going through, the light reflects, and that's what causes the opacity.
whiteness that we're seeing. Now, just a quick thing in older dogs, we do see a condition called nucleosclerosis, which people think is a cataract and they get these white eyes, but actually it's to do with changes in the water content within the lens. And so those fibers are still all lined up, but now there's a bit more cloudiness in there. They can still see okay. And as I said, that's an old age related thing. So cataracts, for instance, with diabetes is because the glucose pump function in the lens is not working properly. And so the fibers start to break down. So once you have a cataract, eventually it is most likely to progress.
to the point where their vision is affected and that can lead to partial or complete blindness. As a result, the back of the eye, the retina says, we're not getting enough light, you need to let him more light. And so the pupil, that space will dilate. So the iris pulls back and allows more light in it. But eventually, if it continues, they'll just end up with the whole lens. Now, the problem is that lens has gone from a nice jelly-like substance, it's now hard. And so it can actually tear the fibres that are holding it in place. So it can start to cause real problems. And in a lot of these patients then, that lens, if it tears, it can either fall forward.
through the pupil into the front of the eye, and that's an emergency, or it can fall backward and push on the retina and start to cause retinal damage as well. Either way, it's not great. Now, the good thing is that just like with people, we actually do have techniques in surgery where specialist veterinary ophthalmologists can actually perform a lens removal and in some cases even put in an artificial lens. And so these dogs, because they are at risk apart from the damage I just mentioned, they are at risk of... glaucoma developing, and that's an increase in pressure in the eye. Again, that's an emergency. So if you notice your pet's eyes have got that white colour, doesn't mean they've got a cataract, could be nuclear sclerosis, but it's best to get it checked out early in case there's treatment that can be applied up to and including surgery. They don't all end up with that. It might be a diabetic, for instance, and you haven't detected it. Let's get them treated. So keep an eye out for...
those kind of problems, get to your vet. And you may even need to then see a specialist veterinary ophthalmologist if we want to go further with that treatment. All right, we're wrapping things up with Pet Chat. Cheryl Shorris here, as is Dr David Tabbert. And you, Vanessa, at Brankston, your mini foxy doesn't like storm season. What's going on? No, well, we've only had her, she's seven years old. We've only had her for a couple of months and she's settled in lovely. She's a beautiful dog, but she's a little, very nervy. And a few weeks ago, we experienced our first storm with her. Now I've had dogs all my life. I've never seen anything like her. Now open wide panting, severe agitation, shaking like she was rattling the lounge. She was shaking so much. Yeah.
And I just wonder if there's anything I can do to help her or is vet intervention needed? Well, there's a couple of things. So generally, you can work with a veterinary behaviourist, someone with a lot of experience, but in particular for storm anxiety, there's a number of techniques about desensitisation and gradually exposing them to similar conditions. The problem I find is that when you hit storm season, you might even start a behavioural therapy program and then the next big thunderstorm comes along and there's lightning basically right over the top of your house and all your good work goes out the door. So it's always...
Prompted by this time of year, people are going, oh my goodness, this is happening. But really the work to get to this point should be earlier in the year, April, June, July. However, here we are today. The second part I would say is, yes, absolutely you need medication for your dog. This scenario that you've described, all the typical features of an extremely anxious dog. Yes. And when they're anxious, they're suffering. Yes. Oh, she was suffering bad and I was so sad for her and I couldn't help them.
Yeah. And medication has, you know, and you'll need to speak with the veterinarian about this. But my experience is we generally work on, there's usually two different types of medication can be applied. So there's a more longer term, let's lower the level of anxiety. And this also helps for bringing on some training. Okay. And that gives you a background calmness. But then there is other medication that we use. Okay. You know, the weather forecast, what's happening. There's a storm coming. Let's get things set up. Let's maybe there's some other medication needed on that.
particular day because the background medication is not going to be satisfactory. Yeah, that sounds good. I did think it would be a vet intervention. I just thought I'd see if there was anything I could do. Yeah, it is hard, but I think when they're that severe, it doesn't matter what training you do, you won't be able to take it on board because it's too heightened and too nervous. Best of luck with everything and for you, Finesse, and of course, storm season on the way. Some things I'm sure David shall take on board there. Alright, Dog and Cat of the Week, you can check those out if you would like to add a new dog or cat to your family. Cheryl?
Keep your eyes off this week's dog. I know you're about to hit collect. No, no, no. No more dogs for me. We do, however, need to give away the $50 to Dozer & Co. And David, I know you're sort of about to throw a dart at the board there. Who have we got for us? Well, I think Ken, because he's two little terriers having some dietary problems. Let's see if we can get him back on track with the voucher for Dozer & Co. Congratulations, Ken from Blackwell's Park. $50 to spend at Dozer & Co. is on the way for you. Gang, that's it. Our glass is done. We're pretty much out of time. Dr David Tabbert, thank you so much. You're on holidays? No, Mark. You've got a conference or something, don't you?
I've got to go and speak at a conference tomorrow in Sydney. What's that all about? I'll study it. It's about pet owner trends and emerging patterns in veterinary practice and the pet market. That's a really poor description. You sound like you're really clued up to be the keynote speaker. I didn't know you were going to ask me that question. I was going to study this afternoon. There's nothing like doing your homework the night before. Mate, that'll be a couple of topics for you when we're back. Always professional. And Cheryl, look forward to seeing you in, are you here next week? Yes, back next week. All right, that's Pet Chat. Done and run. Racked up, stacked up, and packed up as well.
Thanks for listening to this podcast from 2NURFM at the University of Newcastle.