0:21

On Virgin Australia Radio. You're listening

0:23

to the dog show with me, your host,

0:25

Harriet Moffat. We have two guests

0:27

for you today. The first is Brett McCarthy,

0:30

singer dog's breeding operation officer.

0:32

We're going to be talking about the lives of

0:34

our breeding dogs. We're going to talk about what

0:37

they get up to when they're not being used for

0:39

matings and breeding duties,

0:41

and about the role of a breeder carer

0:43

volunteer. Then I'm going

0:46

to be joined by Dr. Jason Miller from Singapore

0:48

Vet Team talking about arthritis in

0:50

dogs. We're going to be talking

0:52

about symptoms management and how you

0:54

can work with your vet to look after a dog you

0:56

have with arthritis. As always,

0:58

this will be general information and we encourage you

1:01

to speak with your own trusted vet about your

1:03

dog. Now onto our first interview.

1:05

Here's Brett McCarthy talking about

1:07

breeding dogs. Britt,

1:15

thanks for joining me on the show today.

1:17

Thanks for having me, Harriet.

1:18

So we might just start off, I'm sure that people

1:21

have probably heard you on this show before,

1:23

but could you please introduce yourself and talk a

1:25

little bit about what your role entails?

1:27

I am a little bit of a repeat offender. My

1:29

name is Brett McCarthy and I'm a breeding operations

1:32

officer at Sea Dogs. My

1:34

role encompasses kind of the wide range

1:36

of day to day care of the breeding dogs in

1:38

our program, from everything

1:41

from in-home care and training

1:43

of breeding dogs through to planning

1:45

meetings and logistics around

1:48

those meetings.

1:50

Yeah. So the kind of operation side

1:52

of things. So the operation side of

1:54

things really is kind of a combination of not just,

1:56

yeah, what breeding actually is and the

1:58

kind of sciencey reproductive

2:01

side of things, but really you're also looking at.

2:04

Quite a large well, a reasonable number

2:07

of dogs that are kind of living in the breeding program. Do

2:09

you know, off the top of your head how many dogs are

2:11

in the breeding program?

2:13

Uh, I want to say between 60

2:15

and 70 breeding dogs, but don't have

2:17

my spreadsheet open in front of me right now.

2:19

That is fine. So roughly, you've

2:22

got those dogs. Where are they?

2:24

Day to day.

2:26

Day to day. Those dogs live in homes with volunteer

2:29

carers, just like the carers who look after

2:31

our puppies throughout the puppy program. Our

2:33

breeding dogs live with volunteer carers

2:36

and they go back with them in

2:38

their everyday lives. Every

2:40

breeding home is a little bit different, but

2:43

they can all supply the same things

2:45

for our dogs, which is

2:47

an excellent standard of care and

2:49

training.

2:51

So these were eating dogs. They grew up

2:53

on seeing dogs program. So at what age

2:55

do does a dog kind of transition from

2:58

puppy development and breed occurring? And

3:00

are there any differences in that program once

3:02

they've kind of gone in for assessment,

3:04

decided to go into breeding and then being accepted.

3:08

At what we call IFT, which is approximately

3:10

between 12 and 13 months of age.

3:12

This is when our puppies come

3:14

back from the puppy program. Most

3:16

of them are going forward into the training program

3:19

from there, but a small number of those puppies

3:21

are going to be assessed for

3:23

the possibility of entering into the breeding

3:26

program. The breeding program

3:28

assessments can take some time, a little bit longer

3:30

than the training assessments, because they do

3:33

entail a few more health assessments

3:35

then the the training dogs go

3:37

through, just to kind of a deeper genetic

3:39

level. And then after

3:41

that. So normally by the time the pups

3:44

are 14 months old, we normally

3:46

have an answer on whether they're suitable to join

3:48

our breeding program. And then they head

3:50

out to join their breeding carer.

3:53

The differences between the two programs

3:55

are, I guess, the the

3:58

number of times that you see your trainer when

4:00

you have an eight week old puppy who's

4:02

going through those early stages and learning everything

4:05

from the for the first time, you're seeing your trainer

4:07

weekly and then fortnightly. So really

4:09

frequent visits in

4:12

the breeding program, you have an adult dog who

4:14

is who. We know who they are.

4:16

They're quite settled in themselves, and often

4:18

they're settled in the homes that

4:21

they began in. Um,

4:23

for those that go back to their puppy carers

4:25

who become breeder carers. So

4:27

the visit schedule is a little bit different,

4:30

although the breeder carers are

4:32

expected to maintain the standard of training

4:35

and always be constantly working on

4:37

that training throughout the breeding program.

4:40

So their training comes in the form of one on one

4:42

visits, their own daily

4:45

training as well as group training. Similar

4:47

to the puppies, but just probably not as frequent

4:50

in terms of one on one time with a trainer.

4:53

The other things that breeding breed

4:55

are caring entails being

4:57

able to bring the dog in for

4:59

all of its mating and reproductive

5:01

activities. So for our dads,

5:03

that's coming in whenever they're called

5:05

in for their stud duties. For

5:08

our girls, that's being returned to

5:10

senior dogs when they're in season for

5:13

ultrasounds and to come into the puppy centre

5:15

to have their puppies. So our

5:17

breeder carers do need to be able to return

5:19

the dogs to seeing dogs at fairly short notice,

5:21

just because of the time sensitive nature

5:24

of these activities. On top

5:26

of that, we ask our carers to

5:28

maintain the dog's health

5:30

and at a good weight

5:32

particularly, it can be easy. I

5:34

think everybody's seen on the streets,

5:36

someone's fat old Labrador

5:39

and that's what we're trying to avoid with

5:41

our dogs is keeping them nice, fit and healthy,

5:44

up to date with their vaccinations

5:46

and those sorts of things.

5:49

So we do have kind of breeder

5:51

dogs out in homes. I mean, pretty

5:53

much every day of the year.

5:56

I guess some of those dogs, as you said, are

5:58

in kennels for some of the time. We're

6:00

in Australia. Do breeding dogs

6:02

live?

6:04

Our breeding activities are all conducted

6:06

within Victoria, so our National

6:08

Puppy Centre and our national training

6:10

facilities in Kensington, and

6:12

this is where we run all of our reproductive

6:14

activities. So again, because of the time

6:17

sensitive nature of matings,

6:19

we do require all breeding

6:21

dogs to live in Victoria. There

6:23

are some regions that we

6:25

cover more than others, so we don't tend

6:28

to go too far out into

6:30

regional areas. Although there are some dogs

6:33

throughout Bendigo and a couple of other places.

6:36

But generally these dogs are fairly

6:38

close to Melbourne.

6:39

So I do want to go into a little bit

6:41

more of a, I suppose, deep dive

6:43

into what the day in the life is

6:46

of a breeding dog, and why exactly

6:48

we have to maintain the training, because I think it's a pretty

6:50

interesting story. Um, but

6:53

just a bit of a what's the

6:55

word subtle, subtle plug for your program.

6:57

Are you looking for volunteers? Um,

6:59

for breeding dog, for breeder dog

7:01

carers. Now.

7:02

We are always looking for volunteers

7:04

to join our breeding program

7:07

as carers. And if

7:10

you head to our website, you can see all the areas

7:12

that we cover where we're accepting new breeding

7:14

dog carers. The program

7:17

is can suit people that

7:19

don't particularly find themselves

7:21

interested in puppy caring or able to

7:24

do puppy caring because of, you know,

7:26

how difficult. Although we love them

7:28

that early puppy stage can be, it suits

7:30

some people better, especially depending on the sort

7:33

of job that they have or the home that they live in

7:35

to have an adult dog come into

7:37

their lives. So

7:39

that's where a person who

7:41

might have counted themselves out for puppy

7:43

caring might be a perfect fit for

7:45

breeder caring. No, toilet training

7:48

is always my favorite plug or minimal

7:50

minimal toilet training, just in case.

7:53

So when are we talking about, I guess, the

7:55

types of homes that breeder

7:57

care you know, breeding dogs live in,

8:00

so it's a little more like public areas.

8:02

Am I right in thinking that they're kind of in homes

8:05

with people of all ages

8:07

and life stages? Is that is that the case

8:09

with breeder caring, too?

8:11

Absolutely. We have breeding

8:13

dogs in homes with people

8:16

who have young families. Breeding

8:18

dogs tend to be really great with young

8:20

children, kind of more, uh,

8:22

understanding than a puppy can be,

8:24

and easier to set those boundaries in

8:27

place if you have young children and a young puppy.

8:29

We all know this can be a bit of a handful.

8:31

Um, there. Yeah, right through to

8:34

people who are retired, people

8:36

who work part time, people who work full time, people

8:38

who work from home students.

8:41

As long as you have the time to walk the dog

8:43

throughout the day, and you're able to commit to

8:45

bringing that dog to Kensington when, when

8:48

it's needed. Um, then absolutely.

8:51

We can usually find a dog

8:53

to suit you.

8:55

So in terms of kind of maintaining that

8:57

training, why do we, you

8:59

know, what is it? Why is it important for breeding dogs

9:01

to maintain some of the training that they've learnt in

9:03

puppy development with their carers, or training and socialization?

9:06

I suppose I should say.

9:08

Not only does it keep our dogs pleasant

9:10

to live with, everybody likes to live

9:12

with a well trained dog and

9:14

even a dog that's had, you know, 12

9:17

excellent months with a puppy carer.

9:19

If they're allowed to slip in

9:21

manners or behavior, you're

9:23

going to potentially run into some problems

9:25

with that dog down the track. So first

9:28

off, it's just a much more pleasant

9:30

for the people who live with that dog to have

9:32

a well-behaved dog at home. So

9:34

this means keeping up that great standard of home

9:37

behaviour that's been instilled in the dog by

9:39

the puppy carers. So keeping off the furniture,

9:41

not stealing food off the benches

9:44

and in general being a nice, calm, settled

9:46

presence in the house. The

9:48

other point is that a lot of our dogs

9:51

in the breeding program can come back in

9:53

for training and seeing dogs. This

9:55

tends to happen when the dogs are young, but we

9:57

still encourage them to maintain that great behaviour

10:00

while they're out and about, even in

10:03

their later years if they're still with

10:05

seeing eye dogs. So,

10:07

for example, our

10:09

stud dogs, we know that they can have

10:11

a number of litters in a short amount of

10:13

time. So we might get to the

10:15

point where we have had enough

10:18

litters in terms of the genetic

10:20

diversity of our colony from

10:22

one particular dog, but

10:24

if he has great behaviour and great training,

10:27

then we can repurpose that dog as

10:29

a dog for a client. This for

10:31

us, this is the best of both worlds. To be able

10:33

to not only continue that dog's legacy and

10:36

his puppies and pass on his great genetics

10:38

to his puppies to bring up the next generation

10:40

of seeing eye dogs, but to also be

10:42

able to place a great dog

10:45

with a client to work with.

10:48

It's a win win.

10:50

Have. We had very many successful

10:53

dogs from the breeding program

10:55

go and graduate with clients.

10:57

We have. We've been yeah, really privileged

11:00

to see a number of our dogs who have

11:03

sired puppies in

11:05

our colony go on and become

11:07

seeing dogs. And it's a real thrill for

11:09

us in breeding because, you know, it doesn't happen

11:11

for us as often as it happens for

11:13

puppy development, just because we are a smaller

11:16

program. So it always makes

11:18

all of us really proud to see our breeding dogs

11:20

go out and be able

11:22

to to work with someone. We

11:25

also see for our females,

11:28

sometimes we sometimes this

11:30

is planned so we might know going into

11:32

a um, a

11:34

breeding career, that we will only

11:36

take a small amount of letters from

11:38

a female might only be one, and

11:41

then she will be discussed and head back in

11:43

for training. That's an important point. I should say

11:45

that all of the breeding stock are done before

11:47

they head back in for training. Sometimes

11:50

things come up throughout the breeding dog's

11:53

breeding career that are unexpected,

11:55

so this might be something like poor fertility

11:58

that we just couldn't know before we tried

12:00

to breed with her. This might be,

12:02

you know, a difficult pregnancy. Just

12:05

like people sometimes, dogs don't always

12:07

have the easiest time of it. And

12:09

if we, you know, see a dog go through

12:11

that, we're not going to want to put her

12:13

through that again, especially at

12:16

her first litter. If we

12:18

think it's better for her welfare not to have any

12:20

more litters and we're not going to breed

12:22

her anymore, but she may still be young enough

12:24

to be d6 and pop with

12:26

a client. So that, again,

12:28

is something that we sometimes we just can't predict.

12:31

But where we can make

12:33

that choice, we will.

12:35

So we spoke a little bit about some of the dogs

12:37

that will go into training. If a dog

12:40

is kind of continues on or with a slightly

12:42

longer breeding program, um, with

12:45

a slightly longer breeding career, how

12:47

long is the kind of, I guess, maximum

12:49

length of breed of time in the breeding colony

12:51

for any dog, male or female?

12:54

For our females, they

12:56

need to be finished up with their last litter

12:59

by the age of six. So this is

13:01

the last litter born before the age

13:03

of six, or at the time that

13:05

they have had four litters. That's

13:07

when they're retired, whichever one comes first.

13:09

So if a dog has regular

13:12

seasons and she can be

13:14

and she starts early

13:17

enough and she's mated yearly, um,

13:19

because of the regularity of her seasons,

13:22

then she could be retired before the age

13:24

of six. It just depends on how those

13:27

the timings work out for the heats.

13:30

And anyone who's ever had to monitor

13:32

a breeding dog's seasons know

13:35

how frustrating that can sometimes be,

13:37

because they never line up with your plans.

13:40

But theoretically, yes, you could

13:42

have four litters and be retired before the

13:44

age of six. For our males,

13:46

it depends on the quality of

13:49

their sperm. So if

13:52

they have and also how many litters

13:54

they have had. So the maximum

13:56

number of litters will vary. But

13:59

theoretically it could be

14:01

if those litters are spread out over the years,

14:03

it could be up to the age of 6 or

14:05

7. But with our boys, we're regularly checking

14:08

in on how their semen is

14:10

developing and what it looks like

14:12

under the microscope and and what sort of quality

14:14

it is. So which is something

14:16

we're particularly watching as they get older.

14:19

So once we say that that has started to decline,

14:22

then we know that it's time for retirement.

14:25

And guess just to kind of finish off, if

14:27

they are retiring into, you

14:30

know, not into a single role and potentially

14:32

based on age, what

14:34

might happen to them next.

14:36

Usually for these dogs that

14:38

are retiring based on age,

14:40

they go into a beautiful retirement

14:43

home, usually with the family that has been looking

14:45

after them throughout their breeding career.

14:47

It's a very nice end to a story, really,

14:49

and then hopefully, you know that

14:51

family can either take on another breeding dog or

14:53

kind of watch from a distance potentially, you

14:56

know, on our on our social

14:58

media channels to see if there are puppies

15:00

of the dog that they had. Yeah.

15:03

Going off and graduating would be pretty cool.

15:05

Absolutely. Retired.

15:07

Seeing dogs, particularly about breeding

15:10

stock, are excellent mentors for the next generation

15:12

of seeing dogs coming through.

15:14

Well, thank you for coming on the show and chatting

15:16

a little bit about breeding dogs and

15:18

and the life that they live. It's it's quite

15:20

cool to know that they're they're not just

15:22

sitting around and waiting for their time.

15:25

They're kind of out and about living their lives. And

15:27

um, and yeah, you guys do a great

15:29

job looking after them. Thank you, thank

15:31

you. You've

15:37

been listening to this talk show on Virgin Australia

15:39

Radio. Hope you enjoyed my interview with Brit.

15:41

If you'd like to find out about British caring and

15:43

you are living in Melbourne,

15:45

we have a few local government areas

15:47

where we are looking for people to look after

15:50

our wonderful breeding dogs that is Melbourne,

15:52

Maryborough, Darebin, Moonee Valley,

15:54

Bendigo, Melbourne, Yarra, Brimbank,

15:57

Hobsons Bay, Port Phillip, Bayside

15:59

and Kingston and in a few select suburbs around

16:01

those. If you like to have a lovely

16:04

breeding dog in your home, you can

16:06

take a dog from about 12 months until

16:08

they finish their breeding career, which could be between

16:10

a few months to a few years.

16:13

I am actually of care myself. I've raised

16:15

a puppy who's gone into the breeding program and

16:17

have kept her in this new stage of her career,

16:20

so if you'd like to find out about that breeder caring

16:22

journey, head to our website at Seed

16:24

Vision Australia. Org. Remember,

16:27

we are looking for puppy carers across

16:30

the east coast of Australia, including

16:32

parts of Queensland, New South Wales and

16:34

Victoria. So if you'd like to find out about volunteering

16:37

with us head to that website again Seed

16:39

Vision Australia. Org. Then

16:42

we're going to be talking to Dr. Jacinta Millard

16:44

from a dog's vet team, talking about

16:46

arthritis in dogs, including symptoms and

16:48

management. Thank you for listening and I

16:50

hope you enjoyed this interview with Dr. Jacinta.

16:53

Hi Jacinta, thank you for joining me on the show today.

16:55

Thank you for having me, Harriet.

16:57

So we just start off talking a bit

16:59

about arthritis in

17:02

dogs and kind of how to manage it and what

17:04

that looks like. So just to start off with what is

17:06

arthritis in dogs?

17:07

Okay, so arthritis in dogs is pretty

17:10

similar to arthritis in humans. It's degenerative

17:12

joint disease where the

17:15

joint itself, any joint in the dog

17:18

I guess wears away at the cartilage on the edges.

17:20

And we get some bone deposition

17:22

and bone growth which can increase the pain in the

17:24

joint, slowing them down and making them

17:26

uncomfortable.

17:28

So as far as kind of symptoms or what

17:30

that looks like, what are the symptoms

17:32

of a dog having arthritis. Yeah.

17:35

So commonly people will come in and say

17:37

that their dogs are slowing down. They notice

17:39

that they're a bit slower on their walks, or they're

17:41

reluctant to walk or reluctant to run

17:43

and do activities that they've normally

17:46

done quite frequently. They might play

17:48

less, they might be just slowing down. In general,

17:51

a lot of the time we notice that dogs with

17:53

arthritis will be slow getting up from their

17:55

bed and slow getting down again when they're laying

17:57

down. And yeah,

17:59

generally just a slowing a slowing

18:01

down of activity and that sort of thing.

18:04

So I think a lot of the time we kind of

18:08

what's the word kind of relate

18:10

arthritis to kind of age is, is

18:12

arthritis only in older dogs?

18:14

No. We can get arthritis in young dogs as well.

18:17

Any disruption to the joint say

18:19

they've had surgery in the joint or anything like that

18:22

can increase the chance of arthritis forming

18:24

in that joint, because it's altering

18:26

the mechanics of how force is being applied

18:28

through the joint, and that alters the structure

18:30

of the joint. Yeah. So it's

18:33

not just old dogs, though. It's more commonly seen

18:35

in older dogs.

18:36

Is arthritis progressive? And

18:39

is there anything that can be done to avoid it becoming

18:41

worse?

18:42

Yeah. So arthritis is

18:44

progressive. We have multiple

18:46

treatments available at the moment

18:48

which slow the progression, but nothing

18:50

actually can stop the progression of

18:52

arthritis similar to that in humans. So

18:56

there's a few things we have up our

18:58

sleeves, a lot of nutraceuticals and things that we can

19:00

add to their food. So it's not necessarily

19:02

a drug, but it's like a supplement that we add into their

19:04

diet. Something like fish oil with

19:06

a mega three and a mega six. It has a lot

19:08

of anti-inflammatory properties

19:11

on the joint, so you can reduce

19:13

the inflammation, which is causing the pain

19:15

associated with the arthritis. We

19:18

also have ingredients that we can put in as supplements

19:20

that increase joint fluid production

19:22

and protect the cartilage that's still existing

19:25

in the joint.

19:26

So are there any other factors that would make

19:29

the symptoms worse for

19:31

a dog? Even things like, say, kind of weather, other

19:33

conditions and like, say, the types of exercise that you

19:35

do?

19:35

Absolutely. So more I

19:38

guess, intense exercise,

19:40

lots of stopping and starting things like that. That's

19:42

putting a lot more pressure on the joints or running

19:45

on, particularly on flat surfaces

19:47

like concrete, is putting

19:49

much more force through the joints than, say, slower,

19:51

gentle walking or hydrotherapy, where you're not

19:53

putting as much force through the joints

19:55

at all, so they can generally exacerbate it.

19:58

Cold weather also will exacerbate the signs

20:00

of arthritis, which is similar to humans.

20:03

The barometric pressure changes with the cold

20:05

weather, and that changes, I

20:07

guess, the pressure on the joints, which

20:10

means they can expand a bit more, and then

20:12

as they expand a bit more, they can become

20:14

sore. So we see worsening

20:17

signs often in winter. And

20:21

I guess in terms of avoiding

20:23

it becoming worse, we're avoiding things that

20:25

might, you know, increase it

20:28

playing up. So we're inviting activities

20:31

where it might be exacerbated.

20:33

So like we avoid rough play, we

20:35

avoid. Intense exercise

20:37

off the lead and things like that.

20:40

What about things like weight?

20:41

Yes. So weight is a very big one. So

20:43

I probably.

20:44

Should.

20:45

Probably should start with that. So essentially what we

20:47

want to do to I

20:49

guess reduce the signs of or

20:52

the clinical signs associated with us is

20:54

we want to reduce the force

20:56

being constantly put through the joint. So

20:58

by reducing the weight that the animal is carrying,

21:00

we're reducing extra loading on

21:02

the joint, which slows

21:04

down the progression of arthritis and

21:06

will reduce the pain associated

21:09

with putting loading through that joint. So

21:11

keeping dogs in a good body

21:13

condition at an appropriate

21:15

weight, not overweight and obviously not too skinny,

21:17

is a really big factor

21:19

in ensuring that the progression is slowed and that

21:22

it's manageable.

21:23

So if you've already noticed those symptoms, what

21:25

are the types of things that a vet may do to assist

21:28

management of the symptoms?

21:30

Yeah. So that might prescribe

21:32

a particular type of diet or something

21:34

that is can

21:37

be added to the food. As I was saying before, that helps

21:39

with protecting the existing cartilage,

21:41

reducing the inflammation in the joint,

21:44

and just aimed at weight loss

21:46

and weight loss maintenance. That

21:48

also might look at there's different types of injections

21:51

we can give. One is called often,

21:53

which is an injection

21:56

that we usually give off as a course of four injections

21:58

over four weeks. So once a week initially,

22:00

and then we continue on once every 1

22:02

to 3 months for maintenance. This

22:04

injection has a lot of ingredients

22:06

that one increase the

22:08

joint fluid production in the joint. So increasing

22:10

the lubrication in the joint and then two

22:13

also increases the

22:15

protection of the cartilage that's still existing

22:17

in the joint. So that can be added in

22:19

from a really early age. And it's been found

22:21

to be quite beneficial because it does slow the

22:23

progression of arthritis to some extent. A

22:26

new one that's just come out that we

22:29

can also add in is an injection called

22:32

brand. So which is similar to that used

22:34

in humans. So it's a monoclonal

22:36

antibody that blocks the neuropathic pain pathway.

22:39

So this one doesn't necessarily slow

22:42

the progression of arthritis like the penicillin

22:44

will. But it will stop

22:46

the animal from recognising the pain associated

22:49

with it. So it has

22:51

had really good reports in terms of

22:54

bringing return to comfort in

22:56

a lot of animals. However, it's usually

22:59

added in at the very end stages

23:01

because it's not actually going to slow. The progression of the

23:03

arthritis is just going to help with managing

23:05

the pain. Other things we

23:07

also add in sort of either

23:10

some medications that we can give daily. So

23:13

something like something

23:16

similar to a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory

23:19

can be used. Obviously these

23:21

need to be weighed up with cost

23:24

versus risk

23:26

type benefit thing. So we're looking

23:28

at whether it's worth

23:30

using it every day at that stage. But

23:32

because obviously all these medications can have some side

23:35

effects as well. But these medications

23:37

are generally targeted at the pain,

23:39

not at like slowing the progression of the arthritis.

23:43

And then things like

23:46

referring on to hydrotherapy

23:49

and physiotherapy type clinics

23:51

as well, which sort of look at

23:54

keeping the dog active without putting

23:56

through too much force through the joints.

23:58

So I guess the kind of the main thing

24:00

really will be then going to your vet

24:02

and working out what approach works best

24:04

for you and your dog.

24:05

Absolutely, because it will always be a multi-modal

24:08

approach. They'll never be just one way that we

24:11

target it, and we'll be looking at

24:13

probably a combination of things and

24:15

what your dog tolerates best and what works

24:17

best for you and that sort of thing as well.

24:25

You've been listening to this show

24:27

on Australia Radio. I hope you enjoyed

24:30

my interview with Brett McCarthy. Seeing

24:32

Dogs Breeding Operations officer, talking

24:34

about the lives of breeding dogs and

24:36

breeder carers, and with doctors

24:38

at centre. Millard talking about arthritis

24:40

in dogs. Don't forget that if you would like

24:42

to become a breeder carer or you'd like to find out more

24:45

about breeder caring or puppy caring, head

24:47

to our website at Vision

24:49

australia.org. I

24:51

can highly recommend Breeder Caring as I am

24:53

a breeder carer myself. I've raised

24:56

young Iris who has been part

24:58

of this radio show since she was about

25:00

nine weeks old, so and

25:02

she's now joined that breeding program. So it's

25:04

a very special role where you get to watch that dog

25:06

hopefully bring life to some future. Seeing

25:09

puppies, it's very rewarding

25:11

and like any seeing dogs volunteer

25:13

roles, you get to be part of an amazing community.

25:16

So we are looking for those pretty carers

25:18

in select regions of Victoria, as well

25:20

as puppy carers through the east

25:22

coast of of Australia,

25:24

including Queensland. We've got Sunshine

25:26

Coast, Brisbane and Gold Coast

25:29

in New South Wales, Central Coast and parts of

25:31

northern Sydney and Victoria,

25:33

parts of Ballarat, Bendigo, Geelong

25:36

as well as Greater Melbourne across

25:38

to the Yarra Valley and Mornington Peninsula.

25:40

So if you are living in any of those places

25:43

or have any friends that might be keen to raise a

25:45

puppy for us, head to our website to

25:47

find out more and attend an information session.

25:49

To find out all that you need to find out about public

25:51

hearing. Don't forget to tune in!

25:53

Same time next week for another episode

25:55

of The Dog Show, or head to our Omni

25:57

FM or your preferred podcast provider

26:00

for more episodes of this and other

26:02

Great Vision Australia radio shows. Thank

26:04

you for listening and hope you have a lovely week.