Radio 2SM Breakfast Segment #13 with Kaye Browne

VET Talk Radio Podcasts

THIS WEEK: (Full transcript below)
Training '101'
Just like kids, it takes time... and patience! - to train a dog. Given the recent 'disaster' of being left alone at home and causing a LOT of damage, Jessie sought the help of a professional dog trainer and gives Kaye an update on her new dog Moon's training progress!
Plus;
Older pets. Is it ok to adopt them? Sadly there are many many animals in 'rescue' shelters for many reasons. Being lost or simply dumped, all looking for a safe new home. Kaye shares her experience adopting several older dogs and the issues to be aware of.
00'00" - Welcome
00'08" - Moon's Training Update
06'01" - Is It OK To Adopt Older Pets?
FULL TRANSCRIPT!:
RON: Time now for our weekly pet segment with Kaye Browne from VetTalk OnHold Kaye good morning...
KAYE: Good morning to you!
RON: Look this is like a follow-up appointment we've been working on Jessie and her dog trying we're not sure if we're trying to train Jessie or the dog or the boyfriend someone in the house is getting trained but we need to be brought up to date, now our problem was she got a rescue dog and the two of them left the house and the dog nearly tore the door down, but now there's a training program underway and now take it up from there Jessie where are we up to with the dog?
JESSIE: Only the basics only the basics I think the big win was she now learn has learned to stay so before she gets stuck into her dinner we can actually make her wait and have a bit of patience but I'm still mainly concerned because she still has that severe separation anxiety and I think that's where we really need to start all of the basics and that stuff I feel like can come later but at the moment when you can't leave the house you're feeling kind of stuck.
RON: So how did you get to this point how did you achieve that?
JESSIE: Well I actually did enlist the help of an external puppy trainer because I obviously need help, I've never had to train a puppy before I've only had experience with dogs but given that we are treating our little rescue as a puppy I felt it was important so we've got this new trainer she's come in she's shown me the benefits of using treats and to really sort of get that discipline going she's taught me how to do your training sessions so that they're short bursts of really intensive training then you have a break in the importance of play the importance of tone really really beneficial things which I hadn't really thought about beforehand.
RON: Alright Kaye, she's got the boyfriend up to that oh no that's the dog (LAUGHS!) she's got the dog up to that stage where do we go from here?
KAYE: Ok well look that's a really good start and well done Jess and I'm very glad you have sort of gone back to basics by treating Moon which is a great name for a little lunatic as you refer to her!! that really we need to start and set up a routine I'm so thrilled you've got a trainer to help you because there are lots and lots of really good dog clubs and professional dog trainers and there are a lot of people like me who've done the national dog training trainers course and basically we all use the same technique which is using methods that have been shown scientifically to actually work even across all breeds all sizes of dogs it works so I'm delighted that you've got the stay happening, I'm pleased about that... what do you say when it's okay for uh Moon to actually start eating what's your release word?
JESSIE: I was going to say you won't believe this.. OKAY! (LAUGHS!)
KAYE: Right okay well I would say that's fine if you want to use that and always use it, the only problem is that we use okay in conversation a fair bit so when you're just talking to your boyfriend you might not be aware of it but Moon might be in a stay and you say "OK, lets go and do blah!" and Moon thinks that's the release word!
So there are few little key things that we can do, now when I was taught to be a trainer the release word that I was taught was FREE! and I tend to use that a lot because it's no good getting dogs to do something if they don't know when they can stop doing it because a lot of people go "Okay I'm going to get my dog to sit now." And they go "Sit sit sit sit sit." The dog goes "Do I sit at the first sit or do I sit on the sixth sit?" You know "What do I do and when?"
So a couple of things I'm hoping the puppy trainer has asked you to put Moon on a lead when you ask Moon to do something even if it's not just eating dinner but to get a treat or to do anything really then you can give whatever it is you want her to do whether it's stay or watch... watch is a good one you want her to look at you and then you need to mark that she's done the right thing and again a marker you hear probably people talk about clicker training where they then click a little device in their hand but the only problem with having a clicker is you might not always have it handy but we've always got our voice so the other thing I was taught was a marker word was YES...
JESSIE: Yes that's what we've been doing as well oh yes her little sort of in between word to indicate that a treat or a reward is coming.
KAYE: Bingo!.. excellent look you're doing really really well and I'm hoping listeners are taking all of this in as well because that really does work and it gets into their head very quickly okay... see I just used okay!... so if we can move on we we'll keep 'yes' and then perhaps if I may suggest you use the word 'free' but when you ask her to do something you then reinforce it when they're on the lead now I used to do dog training classes for about a couple of years on a Saturday and train all kinds of dogs as part of my training and you know the good thing is if they've got a lead and they actually sit or drop, you can actually put your foot on the lead just near their head so if they do start to get up you can actually just gently remind them they haven't been given the release word yet.
JESSIE: Ah that's a good tip because that's what we've been missing because at the end of the day she is a Rottweiler she's a small girl, but she is still a Rottweiler so you do still want to have that level of control without having to be overly physical.
KAYE: Exactly well that kind of thing will certainly help now the other thing that I'd suggest before you even do it outside is try and get her attention when she's perhaps distracted looking at the TV or something and make some sort of noise and I use sort of a bit of 'click' sound a which my father used to use on the horses, get her attention so she looks at you and you say "Yes!"
Later on you can go 'click click click' watch and see that she actually looks at you and the idea is that once that becomes second nature for her you'll be able to do it outside both on and off the lead eventually.
JESSIE: There's such a formula to this it's so interesting!.
RON: All right well we'll keep following up over the weeks to come and we see if we can get Moon to be a real obedient dog!
Look another question and just quickly if you wouldn't mind Kaye, a lot of people that are adopting dogs these days you really don't know often how old the dog is you might be you know a well-aged dog for that matter are there any advantages or disadvantages of getting an adult dog over a puppy?
KAYE: Definitely.. my last two were um... well one was eight and the other one I don't know how old he was but yeah the good thing is that you're giving an older dog a second chance and in the last dog's case third chance because she had already been rescued but unfortunately the other rescue dogs in the house were giving a bit of a rough time and she was only tiny and she was getting rough and tumbled, but the nice thing is that they are usually toilet trained and they usually come with some idea of how to actually get along with humans in a household so they're calm and they will still need to decompress because they've probably been on a rescue situation but they are usually quite happy to spend more time with their new person, go on short walks not necessarily you know running around like puppies do and they're usually fully grown which is good because there can be some crazy surprises in uh puppies when they finally grow up.
So that's the good stuff the bad stuff well it's not really that bad it's just age related health issues and all dogs are going to have that but you just need to keep an eye on them, make sure you've got a good Vet and talk with them if you've got any concerns phone the vet. Vet nurses are also very highly qualified and they can help as well and thanks to advances in medical care you don't have to worry about losing your new friend too soon because... you know they're living longer much much longer just think about things they need.
Our old girl when she was nearly 18, my husband built a ramp and put sensor lights sensor LED lights on it so she could go up and down to her bed which was on our bed cuz she couldn't quite jump up anymore!...
RON: Yeah, no I get it all right Kaye, thank you so much and I love all these little trivia ideas you've sent us through, like this one.
It is illegal to own a rabbit as a pet in Queensland unless...
Unless you can prove you're a magician!
JESSIE: You're joking that's.. um Kaye, where is your source is this Wikipedia Kaye, what's going on?!!
RON: Kaye Browne with our regular pet segment... Kaye of course is from VetTalk On-Hold talk to you again next week!