0:10

On Vision Australia radio. You're listening

0:13

to this show with me, your host

0:15

Harriet Moffat. In this episode,

0:17

I've got an interview with Clare Crewe, puppy

0:19

development trainer at CGI dogs, talking

0:21

about helping your dog through some potentially scary

0:24

and weird things. In recognition

0:26

of Halloween, we're going to talk about

0:28

how to recognize when your dog may be

0:30

uncertain and what you should do.

0:32

As always, this is only

0:34

general information, and if you have any

0:36

problems, please talk to your trusted trainer

0:38

for advice. Then

0:41

we're going to be joined by Dr. Ash Mooney

0:43

from Singapore Dogs Vet team talking about

0:45

two health topics. We're going

0:47

to talk about some of the sweet treats around

0:49

at Halloween, and what to be mindful

0:51

of when you are with your dog

0:54

and these treats. And

0:56

then we're going to talk a bit about ear infections.

0:58

I hope you enjoyed these topics. And now

1:01

here's my first interview with Claire. Hi,

1:10

Claire, thanks for joining me on the show today.

1:12

Hi, Harriet. Thanks for having.

1:13

Me.

1:14

So we're going to talk a little bit about some

1:17

spooky things in probably

1:19

what is kind of roughly the lead up to Halloween.

1:22

I've been driving around noticing all

1:24

of the, I guess, weird and wonderful

1:26

things that people have been putting in their

1:29

back and front yards, also

1:31

in, in the supermarkets. But

1:34

I guess I was thinking about, you know, some puppies

1:37

are going to be confused or

1:39

potentially worried about some of these novel things

1:41

which you just don't really expect.

1:43

So I wanted to just talk a little bit about some

1:45

of those kind of weird things and

1:48

start off with, I guess,

1:50

how does a dog owner or

1:52

carer recognize the difference between

1:54

curiosity and concern?

1:57

Well, look, they can probably look very similar because

2:00

you can be both curious and concerned.

2:02

And that's the same for the dog. So they can be

2:05

unsure about what they're looking at. And the best

2:07

way to tell is by looking at their body language. So

2:09

their body language is going to tell you whether they

2:11

are really, really worried or whether

2:13

they're mildly concerned, but curious

2:16

to check it out. The things you want to be looking

2:18

for is their body posture. So

2:20

if they're a bit lower down, they're crouching

2:22

down a little bit, leaning away from the object.

2:25

That's a sign that they're maybe not 100% certain

2:28

if their tail is tucked between their legs.

2:30

That's another sign that they're potentially a little worried.

2:33

Um, but, you know, if you've got a dog

2:35

that's essentially running in the other

2:37

direction, then certain that that's

2:39

a concern and you want to deal with that, um,

2:42

with the curiosity, you know, you can work

2:44

through it in the moment. If they are balking and

2:46

wanting to run away, let them get

2:48

away and deal with it at another time.

2:51

So what might curiosity look like?

2:56

Um, so curiosity again can be similar. They

2:58

may have that lower body posture, but they might also

3:01

tentatively lean towards it.

3:03

Want to try and look at it? Maybe take the odd

3:05

little step or they might come at it from the side.

3:08

Um, so you'll be able to see them

3:11

wanting to interact, but not really

3:13

being 100% confident to go right up

3:15

to it and see what it becomes.

3:17

So if you do have that dog, who

3:20

I suppose is kind of a little bit curious

3:22

and trying to work out maybe what it

3:24

is, should you let them investigate?

3:27

Yeah, absolutely. Especially if it's something

3:29

that they've never seen before. Um,

3:31

give them the opportunity if

3:33

they want to, to go up to it and have a sniff

3:35

of it, or have a look at it and

3:38

approach it from a different direction, if that helps

3:40

them feel a bit more comfortable. Um, when

3:42

they choose to go up to investigate it, you can reinforce

3:45

them, um, just so that they start to

3:47

understand that it's something you need to be worried about and

3:49

that they can feel comfortable.

3:51

When it comes to seeing eye dog puppies

3:54

and kind of investigating these types of

3:56

things. How do we, I guess,

3:58

gauge kind of whether it's, yeah,

4:01

I guess, beneficial or whether it's going to

4:03

kind of potentially cause you, you know, problems

4:05

down the line in terms of distraction, if that makes sense.

4:08

Yeah. Um, but there's a fine line. But

4:10

in an instance where you're seeing the dog's body language

4:13

being that of a little bit of concern and uncertainty,

4:16

um, you're far better to give

4:18

them the opportunity to investigate and build

4:20

that confidence with that item, um,

4:23

than drag them away from it, because if

4:25

you're going to try and pull them away from it, chances are you're actually

4:27

going to make it worse, because then they're going to be like last

4:29

time thought that I got dragged away and it must be scary.

4:31

So therefore I'm going to have a different reaction

4:34

to it, which may be more extreme than that. So

4:37

initial interaction, you can

4:39

let them investigate, but then each time you do

4:41

it, you're going to maybe take a slightly different approach where

4:43

you don't go up to investigate anymore. You just reinforce

4:46

and they walk past it. So it's not

4:48

going to be a you get to go and hang out with that

4:50

thing every time you see it. But we're going

4:52

to give you the opportunity to be familiar.

4:56

So kind of back to that type of dog that

4:58

maybe is not as curious,

5:00

but probably a little bit more worried.

5:02

How do you kind of know

5:05

when to give more distance and let

5:07

them escape, if that's what they want to do?

5:10

Um, so generally with

5:12

things like that, giving the dogs the option to

5:15

leave the situation, if that's what they want to do,

5:17

is actually going to really help them to

5:19

build that confidence and then want to approach later.

5:22

Um, so if you've got a dog that's backing

5:24

away and is at the end of the lead going the opposite

5:26

direction, the really good sign that they

5:28

don't want to interact with that thing and you just want to

5:30

end it right there. Take a mental

5:33

note of what it was and what the situation

5:35

was, and then talk to you. And then

5:37

they will be able to come up with a strategy to help you

5:40

build that dog confidence around that item

5:43

in a very secure and safe way.

5:45

So in those circumstances, when they are

5:47

that afraid, don't push it. Um,

5:50

there is no requirement for them to go up and

5:52

see a scary pumpkin. Um,

5:55

if that's what it might be. Um, or,

5:57

you know, in the lead up to Christmas, it could be a motorized

5:59

Santa Claus. Who knows? Um, but

6:01

they're the things you just want to take note of. Get them out

6:03

of the situation, and then if

6:07

the dog is. Backing

6:09

away, but they're still interested

6:11

a little bit. Then you can, you

6:13

know, just give them that time and just give

6:15

them a little bit more distance, maybe go a few steps

6:18

backwards to where they're able

6:20

to maintain a slightly more normal body posture

6:22

while still looking at the at

6:24

the item and just reinforce them while

6:26

they're there. And then if they choose to walk forward, reinforce

6:29

that too. But there's no point forcing

6:31

anything. So, um, if

6:33

it yeah, the situation

6:35

is not going to work out in favor for anybody,

6:38

call it quits and leave away. You don't have to have

6:40

a positive experience or end on a high

6:42

with every training session.

6:45

So you did kind of mention reinforcement.

6:47

So can you use food

6:49

and is there any kind of risk of

6:52

I think I know the answer to this one, but I know

6:54

I've also read this one a little bit before is, you

6:56

know, that reinforcing fear.

6:59

Yeah. Well, fear is an emotion, so

7:01

you can't actually reinforce it because the dog doesn't make

7:03

a choice to be fearful. So

7:06

what you want to do with food is you do want to be careful

7:08

how you use it in those situations. What

7:10

I would recommend doing is if the dog

7:12

chooses to take a step towards the item,

7:15

you can yes, mark and reinforce that because

7:17

you're reinforcing the behavior of moving towards it.

7:20

And then you're also potentially pairing

7:22

the scary thing with a good thing. So

7:24

then gradually changing that, you

7:26

know, brain chemistry from scary

7:29

pleasant. Um, what I would

7:31

really always avoid

7:33

doing is luring the dog towards

7:36

the thing they're scared of. So particularly

7:38

with Labradors, they love their food,

7:40

so it's going to put them into a massive state of conflict.

7:43

They really want the food, but they're really afraid of

7:45

that object so that it's actually increases the

7:47

stress. So you can reinforce

7:49

the approach, but don't use the food to get

7:51

them to move forward with it.

7:53

And for anyone that is not aware of

7:56

allure, what does a law kind of mean?

7:58

So basically that would be dangling

8:01

a piece of food in front of their nose

8:03

towards the object that they're afraid, um,

8:06

or putting a piece of food on the object

8:08

that they're afraid of. So you're actually using the food

8:10

to tempt them forwards.

8:14

So if you are,

8:16

you know, I guess looking at this thing that they're

8:18

worried about, can you use yourself

8:20

to kind of investigate

8:23

the item to show them that it's okay?

8:26

Um, depends on the situation, really.

8:29

Um, if you've got a second person

8:31

that's there with you and you can stay there with your

8:33

dog, and that second person can go up and interact

8:35

with the item in a

8:38

not sort of bringing the item towards the dog or anything

8:40

like that, but just going up and touching it all next

8:42

to it. Um, that can definitely

8:44

help. What I would be

8:47

cautious about doing is if it's you on

8:49

your own and you've got hold of the lead and you're going

8:51

up, because then the dog might feel

8:53

that pressure to move towards

8:55

being something as well. So you're better

8:57

off is maintaining a distance and reinforcing

9:00

when they're comfortable or when they're,

9:02

um, more relaxed or making those

9:05

choices in the form of it.

9:07

So one of the other things that I think we kind of spoke

9:09

about a little bit before we started recording was,

9:12

I guess, around Halloween, door

9:14

knocking is is kind of, I guess, a

9:16

particularly big thing around this kind of holiday.

9:19

How do you manage with,

9:21

I guess, knocking on doors or even kind of

9:23

concern about people in costumes

9:25

on Halloween?

9:26

Yeah, so I would be planning ahead.

9:29

So knowing your

9:31

home environment and where you live and the likelihood

9:33

of knocking and I think said this to you before,

9:36

you know, I live in a block of units, so no

9:38

one's going to come and knock on my door because I'm

9:40

a third unit in the block and no one's coming off the

9:42

street to do that. I know that I don't

9:44

need to worry about that just on Halloween.

9:46

However, if you're a house that is

9:48

on the, you know, the main part of

9:51

the street and you put decorations

9:53

up, there's a good chance kids are

9:55

going to come and knock on the door. So you

9:57

can then be prepared with your dog.

9:59

So if, you know, maybe,

10:02

maybe it's a bit late for this year, but for next year

10:04

or in the lead up to Christmas, you

10:06

can start to pick your dog what you want them to do

10:09

when someone knocks on the door or rings the doorbell.

10:11

So that might be you hear the doorbell,

10:13

you go and get on your bed. Or it might

10:15

be that knowing that you're going to

10:17

get a lot of, um, knocking

10:20

on the door, but you haven't had to do that

10:22

training. You might have them in the crate for the period

10:24

between 6 and 8:00, when there's most likely going

10:26

to be people that, um,

10:29

would also be avoiding, particularly

10:31

if you've got a very young puppy that you may have noticed

10:34

some of this concern in. I wouldn't be taking

10:36

them to the door, you know, I'd be leaving

10:38

them to just chill out where they are. Or

10:41

if you do have a dog that you know might find this

10:43

really difficult, you can put a sign up on

10:45

your front door and say, please

10:47

don't know if I have a puppy in training. Here's

10:49

a bowl of treats on the floor. Take one

10:51

for yourself. Um, so you're still

10:54

living up to your Halloween obligation

10:56

by providing tasty treats

10:58

to the young kids, but also not,

11:01

um, you know, causing

11:03

any detriment to your dog's training?

11:06

So are there any other kind of, I guess, tips

11:09

or tricks that we haven't mentioned

11:11

around, I guess? Yeah. Any

11:13

of the kind of worries, concerns

11:16

or even alert barking.

11:18

Yeah. So I think, you know, when it's coming

11:20

up to things like Halloween,

11:23

if you are someone that decorates your house,

11:26

it can be really useful to get the ornaments

11:28

out one at a time and let your dog investigate them

11:30

initially before going and

11:33

throwing them all over the house and the dog coming home one

11:35

day and going, oh my God, what is all this stuff outside?

11:38

And giving them the opportunity to get familiar

11:40

with them in a safe space

11:42

and at their own pace before

11:44

then adding those decorations? I

11:46

would also suggest, you know, if you've got

11:48

houses in your local area that you

11:50

put decorations up, you can maybe

11:52

go for a walk around those houses

11:55

early in the day when there's not loads of people out

11:57

and about, when you know, potentially you don't have

11:59

cackling skeletons going off in the

12:02

in the garden because they haven't turned them on yet because

12:04

it's not the right time of day. Um,

12:07

you can also when you're at the shop because

12:09

there's often lots of decorations

12:11

in the shop. So if you have a dog that's comfortable

12:14

in the shopping environment, you can

12:16

give them the opportunity to interact with and explore

12:18

those strange looking things

12:20

in the shops as well. So it's not a big surprise

12:22

when they see them on the street.

12:26

And in in general, are there any

12:28

ways that you can, I guess, help build

12:30

resilience to new

12:32

or novel things?

12:34

Yeah. So I think that's just the things

12:36

that we do every day in our socialisation.

12:39

Um, we want to give our dogs the opportunity

12:42

to see lots

12:44

of different things. Um, so

12:46

you can get in ahead of the curve. So

12:48

again, in the lead up to Christmas, we

12:50

might start doing a little bit of exposure

12:53

to instance. Um,

12:55

you know, and that might just be as simple as getting it out

12:57

and letting the dog experience it at home.

12:59

Um, you know, maybe the blow up Santa

13:02

Claus or the blow up dinosaur

13:04

with the Santa hat on or whatever it might be.

13:07

Um, you know, these things are starting to come out in the

13:09

shop now, so it's a really good

13:11

time to start building that resilience. Going,

13:13

letting them investigate those first initial

13:15

times and providing that reinforcement when they

13:18

are calm and relaxed around those things

13:22

and then gradually building it up. So

13:25

it's just the same as any other socialization.

13:27

We're providing our dogs with support

13:29

and confidence in a variety of environments

13:32

and with a variety of objects.

13:34

Awesome. Well, thank you so much for joining me on the show,

13:36

chatting about, I guess, weird things.

13:40

Thanks, Harry. Appreciate it.

13:47

You've been listening to the Seeing Dog show on

13:49

Vision Australia Radio. Hope you enjoyed my

13:51

interview with Claire. Don't forget

13:53

that if you are a singer, dog's carer,

13:55

volunteer or single handler

13:57

to chat to your trusted staff and if

13:59

you are a member of the public with a pet dog,

14:01

chat to a trusted trainer to

14:03

help you through any potential training problems

14:06

that you may have. Now I'm going

14:08

to be joined by Dr. Ash Mooney from the Seahawks

14:10

vet team talking about Halloween sweet

14:12

treats and which ones to keep away from your dog.

14:14

Thank you for listening. Hi ash,

14:16

thanks for joining me on the show today.

14:19

Hi, Harriet. Thanks for having me again.

14:22

So we're going to talk a little bit about some

14:24

of the foods that we

14:26

might encounter that dogs

14:29

are not able to eat. So I

14:31

think we've all heard stories of Labradors getting into

14:33

things that we shouldn't or things that

14:35

they shouldn't. Some of the things that we

14:37

can eat humans safely. Not

14:40

so great for dogs. So in

14:42

the lead up to Halloween, what

14:44

are the types of kind of sweet treats

14:46

that dogs can't eat?

14:49

So the biggest one is going to

14:51

be chocolate, especially

14:53

any sort of dark chocolate or milk

14:56

chocolate. Those are going to be the most dangerous

14:58

for your dog to consume. And

15:01

anytime they do eat chocolate, we recommend

15:03

bringing them to a vet clinic as soon as

15:05

you can, because it's always easier for

15:07

us to treat it by getting them to just vomit

15:10

it up, rather than waiting until it started

15:12

causing problems.

15:14

So when you say, I

15:16

guess kind of milk and

15:18

then dark chocolate, is there a reason why

15:20

those foods are so problematic for dogs?

15:24

Yeah. So chocolate is actually toxic

15:27

in for all dogs. And the

15:29

reason why the dark chocolates are

15:31

more toxic is because they have less

15:33

of a percentage of milk and other

15:36

things cutting them. So essentially

15:38

there's less of a percentage of the non toxic

15:40

ingredients that are part of chocolate. Whereas

15:42

the dark chocolate it's going to be mostly

15:44

just the toxic part.

15:47

So if you don't intervene

15:50

quickly and I guess get that dog to vomit

15:52

up the chocolate, what is

15:54

the kind of what are the risks to dogs?

15:57

Yeah. So in a

15:59

mild case of toxicity,

16:01

they'll have things like vomiting and diarrhea,

16:04

which is never great. But

16:06

it can progress onto things

16:08

like tremors, even

16:10

going up to seizures or possibly

16:13

death if it's a really high dose

16:15

for the dog.

16:17

So when you are looking really

16:19

at having, I guess, having that

16:21

awareness that your dog might have gotten into

16:23

something and going to the vet really

16:25

is the best option. What are the kind of, I

16:27

guess, timelines that we're looking at? If you

16:29

are aware that your dog has eaten

16:32

chocolate, is there anything particularly helpful,

16:34

I guess, for the vet to know as well.

16:37

I suppose just what kind of chocolate it was.

16:39

So if you know, if you have the wrapper

16:42

bringing the wrapper for the vet to see, that

16:44

way we can calculate whether or not it was

16:46

a toxic dose. There's quite a

16:48

bit of maths involved in that. And

16:51

so that's something that you should probably look

16:54

into also when you think the

16:56

dog has eaten it. One of

16:58

the most common scenarios we get in vet clinics

17:00

is you've left home in

17:03

some chocolate, was left on the countertop or something,

17:05

and you come home and there's a wrapper

17:07

and a guilty looking dog, but no

17:09

chocolate to be seen. So in

17:11

those cases, we just assumed that they ate

17:13

it when you first left for work.

17:15

And we kind of operate based on worst

17:18

case scenario as the vet's. That way we can provide

17:20

the best possible treatment.

17:22

And operating in that kind of worst case

17:25

scenario. I mean, it's one

17:27

of those things, right, where there could be it could

17:29

be kind of an expensive endeavor,

17:31

but it is cheaper that way to kind

17:33

of or not not cheaper, but safer

17:36

to to deal with it and get that

17:38

vomiting kind of done quickly. Yeah.

17:40

Yeah. It's always better to just get them to

17:42

throw it up because then it doesn't have time for

17:44

the toxic effects to set in. And,

17:47

you know, the last thing that anybody would want

17:49

is just to wait and see. And then your dog

17:51

ends up passing away because they weren't close

17:53

enough to help when they started showing more

17:55

severe side effects.

17:58

So what are the other potential,

18:01

I guess, foods that dogs

18:03

can't eat that might be hidden

18:05

around? Kind of yeah, in

18:07

someone's Halloween basket, trick or treat candy.

18:10

So there's certain types of

18:12

artificial sweeteners that can

18:14

be toxic to dogs. Also,

18:17

things like macadamia nuts are quite

18:19

toxic. And I don't suppose

18:21

most children are getting macadamia nuts in their

18:23

Halloween lollies because they're quite expensive.

18:26

But if you live in a nicer neighborhood where

18:28

kids get better Halloween lollies, then

18:30

maybe another big

18:32

thing is the wrappers of

18:35

the lollies. So I really encourage

18:37

any dog owner to have a closed

18:39

top rubbish bin that the dog

18:41

can't open themselves to get into

18:43

the rubbish because it might start with

18:45

oh that's. A great smelling lolly

18:48

wrapper, and then they start eating

18:50

other indigestible things that are also in

18:52

your bin.

18:54

And if you do think that your dog has ingested

18:56

a soft plastic similar to

18:58

that, is that a similar thing of going to the

19:00

vet to get them to vomit up?

19:03

Yeah, it's always a scenario where it's

19:05

better to go in as early as possible,

19:08

because essentially, as things

19:10

go through the intestinal tract, it

19:12

goes into your small intestine,

19:14

and that's where things typically get stuck.

19:17

So worst case scenario is something

19:19

like a piece of plastic gets stuck

19:21

and then has to be surgically removed, whereas

19:23

the esophagus and the stomach are

19:25

a little bit larger. When we make them dog

19:28

vomit up things, it's a bit easier and

19:30

safer to get it out that way than to

19:32

wait until it's too far down and have to go to surgery.

19:36

And the other kind of, I guess, thing

19:38

that that kind of comes

19:40

up a little bit is obviously, if

19:42

you don't know, particularly that maybe

19:44

a dog's gotten into something or ingested something,

19:47

um, but you are maybe noticing

19:50

signs of them, I guess,

19:52

not being particularly well, what are the

19:54

what are the kind of signs

19:56

that you'd look for that would indicate

19:58

that a dog would require emergency

20:01

attention?

20:03

Yeah. So typically with any sort

20:05

of toxin, ingestion, vomiting

20:08

and diarrhea are usually the first signs

20:11

and they may be the only signs if it's a quite

20:13

mild ingestion. Usually

20:15

from there things progress to

20:18

maybe some shaking, maybe

20:20

excessive urination.

20:23

Or they might have

20:26

a proper full seizure where they

20:28

fall to the ground. And it looks like

20:30

how you see seizures and TV or whatever where

20:32

their whole body tremors. And

20:34

then, you know, if, if it is a really serious

20:37

toxicity, usually things go pretty

20:39

badly from there on out. So if you're at

20:41

the point where your dog has collapsed, you

20:44

need to be in contact with an emergency center

20:46

and on your way to the emergency center as quickly

20:48

as possible.

20:50

I guess that's one of those things where it's really important

20:53

to note where your

20:55

emergency vet is, so that you're

20:57

kind of ready at any point

20:59

in a dog's life, then.

21:01

Yeah. And I think the important thing with any holiday

21:04

is to recognize, you know, it's a

21:06

time where there's a lot of lollies, there's

21:08

probably a lot of other dogs that really want those

21:10

lollies. And so the emergency centres

21:12

do tend to get really, really busy

21:15

on these days. And

21:17

we're in the middle of a worldwide vet shortage.

21:19

So, you know, the best thing to do in any

21:21

emergency is to call the emergency hospital

21:24

and make sure that they actually have the staff

21:26

available to help you. That way

21:28

you aren't wasting precious time driving somewhere

21:31

that is too understaffed to be able to help,

21:33

when you could have just meant that time. Driving

21:35

to maybe a slightly further away but fully

21:37

staffed emergency centre.

21:40

It's kind of scary to think,

21:42

I guess, about all of that type of

21:45

emergency situation.

21:47

So when we're looking at, I guess, preventing

21:49

all of these types of things, what are things

21:52

that pet owners can keep in mind that help

21:54

their dog safe and stay away from these things

21:56

that they just shouldn't be eating in the first place?

21:59

I think the main thing is preventing

22:01

access. So ideally things should be in

22:04

closed cupboards and as I said before,

22:06

with the closed top rubbish bin, make sure

22:08

that they can't access the bin if

22:11

you don't have the ability to close it away. Putting

22:13

it on a really high surface that you know

22:15

the dog absolutely can't get to,

22:18

you know, even if they jumped on a chair and

22:20

then jumped on the table, they still shouldn't be able to

22:22

get to it. I only say that example

22:24

because I have had a chocolate toxicity dog

22:26

that did jump on a table to get to the chocolate.

22:29

The other thing is educating children.

22:31

So sometimes children, they just think,

22:34

you know, my dog's my friend and they

22:36

just want to share a treat with their dog.

22:38

And you know, that can be really innocent. And

22:40

the intention behind it is really good.

22:42

It's just about educating them on what things

22:44

are safe and unsafe to give to the dog.

22:48

And I suppose any kind of quantity

22:50

of of chocolate is a bit of a no go.

22:52

But even things like if a kid is

22:54

feeding your dog, a lot of, you know,

22:56

bread or potatoes or even vegetables

22:59

is potentially going to be a problem in the future.

23:02

Yeah, I think that any time you have

23:04

a child and a dog interacting, especially in

23:06

the context of food, there should always,

23:09

always be adult supervision and making

23:11

sure that it's both not toxic and

23:13

also not a excessive volume

23:15

of something. And again,

23:17

just really focusing on teaching kids

23:19

what what is appropriate to feed a dog, how

23:22

to feed a dog in a positive way that reinforces

23:24

good behaviours and

23:27

and making sure that they're not just kind of randomly

23:29

sneaking food to the animal.

23:37

You've been listening to this show

23:39

on Australia radio. That was Dr. Ash

23:41

Mooney from Singapore Vet team talking

23:43

about sweet treats to avoid at Halloween

23:46

for your dogs. Now we've got

23:48

a final interview for this

23:50

episode. We are going to be joined by ash

23:52

again talking about ear infections.

23:54

Thank you for listening to this show and

23:56

I hope you enjoyed this interview. So

23:59

I'm going to chat to you a little bit about ears

24:01

today. And we're, I suppose, mostly

24:03

thinking probably about our little Labrador

24:05

ears, which are those kind of like long ish

24:08

floppy things. What are

24:10

some of the common health issues around

24:12

ears that we see?

24:14

So Labradors and golden retrievers,

24:17

as well as several other dog breeds, can

24:19

be predisposed to having ear infections.

24:22

They can be infected either with

24:24

bacteria or with yeast

24:26

or fungi. And typically

24:28

ear infections happen after the ear

24:31

gets moist for some reason. So that

24:33

could be maybe the dog went swimming or

24:35

had a bath, and then the moisture

24:38

and the floppy ear provide

24:41

the perfect environment for the

24:43

pathogens to grow.

24:45

That sounds super appetizing.

24:47

When we're talking about fungi, we're not exactly

24:50

thinking about kind of anything,

24:52

you know, that resembles like a mushroom that you buy

24:54

from the supermarket. Are we? What might it look like

24:56

if the dog's ear is infected?

24:59

Usually you'll see either like a

25:01

dark brown or sometimes

25:03

a red, or maybe even a whitish

25:05

yellow color discharge.

25:08

And you'll also notice that the smell of

25:10

your dog's ears might change, so

25:12

all dog ears have their own specific

25:14

smell. So you have to kind of be used to the normal

25:17

smell of a dog ear to know when

25:19

it's an infected smell. But

25:21

you'll notice that they get more pungent,

25:23

almost like kind of off beer.

25:25

Maybe sometimes this is the smell, and

25:27

then you'll notice discharge scratching

25:30

at the ears, or sometimes shaking

25:32

the head or rubbing the head on the

25:34

ground or on furniture.

25:37

So I guess with a lot of other vets, like

25:39

a lot of other kind of health things,

25:41

it's a little bit about knowing the normal of your

25:43

dog to to really help work

25:45

out if it's, you know, inappropriate

25:47

smelling, that type of thing.

25:48

Yeah, you should definitely get

25:50

to know your, your dog's normal ears.

25:52

So having a sniff of them when they're not infected,

25:55

having a look in to see what a

25:57

normal amount of earwax is.

26:00

And if your dog is really prone to

26:02

ear infections, your veterinarian might

26:05

provide a cleaning solution for you to

26:07

use. But it's really important

26:09

to only use these kinds of remedies

26:11

when you've been giving been given veterinarian

26:14

advice.

26:16

So the other thing that that

26:18

I was kind of thinking about is, and I used to have this

26:21

golden retriever that had very like lots of very

26:23

lovely, luscious hair, including

26:25

kind of a little bit down the ear canals.

26:27

Is it important to kind of, I guess,

26:29

look in like if they've got hairy ears,

26:32

do you have to kind of look into the hairs to see

26:34

if there's any problems?

26:36

So your vet will have a device called

26:38

an otoscope and that has a

26:40

long nozzle on it that

26:43

allows us to look down into the ear canal

26:45

past the fur. That being

26:47

said, sometimes there's too much fur, especially

26:49

if you see little oodles around.

26:51

They're typically the culprits for having lots of

26:53

fur in the ear canals, so

26:56

we don't necessarily recommend ear plucking.

26:59

You might see that on the internet and things

27:01

like that, but that's more of an old school

27:03

technique and is only used for really

27:06

specific cases of extreme hair

27:08

growth. Typically, we

27:10

just recommend keeping an

27:12

eye on it for discharge

27:14

and you know, those signs of shaking the head

27:16

and whatnot. And then if it

27:18

is a really excessively hairy

27:21

ear, your veterinarian or your

27:23

groomer might be the right person to go to to

27:25

address that.

27:27

So just to kind of finish off, if you've got a dog

27:29

that does have a bit of

27:31

a gunky ear, what should you do? And

27:33

you know, other than kind of seeing your vet and stuff and what

27:35

should you not do?

27:38

The main thing is that you should always

27:40

see a vet before putting anything

27:42

in your dog's ears. The reason why

27:45

we say this is because if their eardrum,

27:47

which you have to, is quite far down in the

27:49

ear, if that's ruptured, then

27:52

it can actually be toxic to put

27:54

things into their ears and can cause really

27:56

severe damage, including brain

27:58

damage potentially. So

28:01

don't ever put anything down your dog's

28:03

ears without taking them to the vet.

28:06

I've seen a lot of weird things put into

28:08

dog ears like olive oil. You

28:10

know, just random stuff. None of that is

28:12

going to help your dog's ears. And

28:15

even if you've been prescribed medication in the

28:17

past, it's been a couple of years since your dog

28:19

had an infection. Don't just chuck the

28:21

same medication in it might be a different

28:23

type of infection. Or again, that

28:25

eardrum might be ruptured and you could be potentially

28:28

causing a toxicity.

28:35

You've been listening to this show on

28:37

Virgin Australia Radio. Hope you enjoyed

28:39

my interviews with Clare and with ash.

28:41

If you'd like to find out more about seeing

28:43

Eye Dogs, the work we do, or how you

28:45

can help, head to our website at Vision

28:48

Australia. Org. We are looking

28:51

for volunteers across most of

28:53

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28:55

We are looking for volunteers in parts

28:57

of Queensland such as Sunshine

28:59

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29:01

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29:05

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29:08

as well as Greater Melbourne,

29:10

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29:12

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29:15

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29:31

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29:34

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