0:10

On Vision Australia Radio. You're

0:13

listening to the singer dog show

0:15

with me, your host, Harriet Moffatt.

0:17

Today I've got two guests for you.

0:20

The first is seeing eye dog handler

0:22

Lily Alford talking about

0:24

her partnership, her story, and

0:26

her life with seeing Eye dog Prince.

0:29

And then I've got some repeat

0:31

of vet tips from Doctor Jacinta

0:33

Millard, from the Seeing Eye Dogs vet team talking

0:36

about arthritis. Here is

0:38

my first interview with Lily, talking

0:40

about her life with single dog Prince.

0:49

Hi, Lily. Thank you for joining me on the show

0:52

today.

0:53

Hello. So, uh,

0:55

can you just.

0:55

Start off by introducing yourself.

0:57

Please? Uh. Yes, sir. Um, my

0:59

name is Lily. Um, I'm 23

1:02

and I live in Geelong.

1:04

So could you please introduce your senior

1:06

dog?

1:07

Yes. My dog's name is Prince.

1:09

Um, and we're coming up on three years

1:11

of working together.

1:13

So that would have been kind

1:15

of 2021 that you were kind

1:17

of matched and trained together.

1:20

Yeah, yeah.

1:21

Oh, that feels like it's kind of coming up

1:23

then. Really like, that's, uh, that's a pretty,

1:26

pretty fair, fair partnership. It feels like

1:28

only yesterday that I saw Prince in

1:30

the puppy Center. Honestly.

1:31

Oh, yeah. He's growing so big.

1:35

How long have you been a single

1:37

dog handler in general? And was

1:39

he your first doc?

1:40

Yeah. So, um, Prince is my first

1:43

guide dog, so I'm very baby into

1:45

the guide dog handler world. It's

1:48

a bit.

1:48

Of a transition, isn't it? It's not quite,

1:51

um. Not quite.

1:53

Just, like, kind of picking up a dog from a, you

1:55

know, from a pet dog and then just saying,

1:57

okay, I'm going to bring it everywhere. Is it?

1:59

No, no. Definitely not.

2:01

You have to learn to use it like a car.

2:04

What made you decide to apply

2:06

for a senior dog?

2:08

Um, so I've been

2:10

legally blind since I was born.

2:13

Um, I became a cane

2:15

user when

2:17

I was a teenager. And then

2:19

when I moved out of home and I

2:21

started being, like, more independent in

2:23

the community, I kind of realised that having

2:26

a guide dog would kind of allow

2:28

me to be more flexible with that. I

2:30

loved my cane and I decorated it, and

2:32

I really did embrace cane like

2:34

I loved it. But for me, having a

2:36

guide dog, it's really like upped the level

2:39

of like freedom that

2:41

I do have. And I'm able to grow just a

2:43

lot more places, a lot quicker, smoother.

2:46

It's just it's kind of good, like people say cane

2:48

and they're kind of like, oh, I don't know, like if you're

2:50

some people don't know what that is, but when they see the dog,

2:53

they automatically get out of the way.

2:56

And I suppose Prince kind of does his own

2:58

part in, um, in

3:00

getting people out of the way or getting out of the way,

3:02

too, whereas the cane kind of is a little bit more like

3:05

bashing into things and then hoping for the best it

3:07

is.

3:07

Yes, you have to hit the people with the cane.

3:12

And hoping that they understand. Then at

3:14

that point what it is.

3:15

Yes, yes. Fingers crossed.

3:18

What were you diagnosed with and what were

3:21

some of the or, I guess, like how did you kind

3:23

of realise that you had low

3:25

vision?

3:26

Um, so I was premature. So I

3:28

have retinopathy of prematurity.

3:30

Um, honestly, growing up, my,

3:34

uh, mum made the decision not to tell me

3:36

that I had a vision impairment. I

3:38

kind of just assumed that that was how everyone

3:41

saw. Um, I had early interventions

3:44

and things like that, but for me,

3:46

it made me a lot more independent because I'd

3:48

ride a bike and I couldn't see

3:50

further than six metres. I was riding a bike

3:55

and like things like that. So I

3:57

knew when I was maybe 10

3:59

or 11, and

4:01

then from there, um, I

4:03

lost more sight and then

4:05

more again. And now I can see

4:07

I'm completely blind in my right eye and

4:09

my left eye. I can see maybe like.

4:12

15 20cm.

4:15

It's hand movement. I think

4:17

that's what they call it.

4:19

If you're looking at prints, you could

4:21

maybe look a little bit into his face, but that's about

4:23

it. Yeah, exactly.

4:25

You big old yellow blob. Yeah.

4:28

So how would you say that your life has

4:30

changed since being partnered with prints?

4:33

So having prints. It kind of gave me

4:35

more than just mobility.

4:38

So he kind of gives me purpose.

4:40

And I've found people like

4:42

being a guide dog handler.

4:44

There are there's

4:46

a group of us and it kind of it just feels

4:49

nice to kind of have that like

4:51

sense of community. And prints

4:53

really brought me out of my shell, like a lot.

4:56

And he's allowed me to be more confident.

4:58

And I just, I really don't think

5:00

I would be as independent as I am

5:02

or confident in myself

5:04

without having him there.

5:06

It would have been a pretty interesting time of your life

5:08

to have got him to, because you would have been,

5:10

what, 20? Yeah, because.

5:12

We it kind of feels like we grew

5:14

up a little bit. Not not

5:16

together, of course, because he's not that old. But

5:19

we kind of have gone through lots

5:21

of life stages now, like from we

5:23

used to work together, then becoming sick.

5:26

And now that, um, my,

5:28

my condition is a lot more managed,

5:30

now we're getting back into the world again.

5:33

So, um, we're going to uni

5:35

this year, so it's it's massive.

5:38

How exciting. What are you going to study

5:40

at uni?

5:41

Speech pathology? Yes. I

5:44

found out that I got in just before our call,

5:46

actually.

5:47

Oh how exciting. Congratulations.

5:50

Yes. Thank you. It should be awesome.

5:52

Is that so? Um, you know, you might find

5:55

a job one day working at Vision Australia doing

5:57

speech pathology.

5:58

Yeah, I'd love it, like, I don't I

6:00

don't want to do, uh, typical speech therapy,

6:03

like, um, in hospitals and things like that.

6:05

So more allied health out in the community

6:07

so that it would be, it would be awesome to do

6:10

something to do with Vision Australia too. That

6:12

would be perfect.

6:13

So, so the way that you've changed,

6:16

the way that you work together has changed a bit since your

6:18

graduation. I think you kind of mentioned that there was some

6:20

kind of, I guess, health

6:23

changes. Could you, um, or would

6:25

you be happy to share some of the

6:27

story of how that you adapted

6:29

to that different style of work?

6:31

Yeah. Of course. Um, so

6:34

in 2021, Prince and I

6:36

graduated and we were walking team. So

6:38

we completed like training up in Kensington

6:41

Cedar for 2 to 3 weeks.

6:43

And then, um, about

6:45

6 to 12 months later in

6:48

2022, I lost the

6:50

ability to walk. So we became

6:52

a wheelchair guide dog

6:54

team. Um, so Prince

6:56

got retrained for a couple weeks up in Kensington.

7:00

Um, and all of that was funded really generously

7:02

by donations. Um,

7:04

so the trainers had to learn to

7:06

become powerchair wheelchair users,

7:09

basically, and then adapt

7:11

Prince's commands for guiding me

7:13

in the wheelchair. Um,

7:15

so, like the biggest difference between

7:17

walk and chair guiding is like the targets

7:20

and and being spatially aware.

7:22

So like Prince targets the down

7:24

curbs and the lifts, ramps avoids

7:27

obstacles, all that kind of thing, which is like

7:29

super common in walk guiding.

7:31

But the difference is that Prince and

7:33

I and the chair were a wide

7:35

load. So he needs to

7:37

make sure that, like, there's enough room

7:40

for me, him and

7:42

the chair. So especially through like

7:44

tight spaces and doors and buses

7:46

and bathrooms, it's it's totally different

7:48

to when we were walking.

7:51

Um, so yeah, the training was really

7:54

paramount in us being able to,

7:56

like, continue to be a team because

7:58

he wouldn't have been able to just he

8:00

used to sit beside my chair and stuff before

8:03

he got trained, but he wouldn't

8:05

understand how to

8:07

guide the wheelchair.

8:09

And does it feel kind of quite different as,

8:11

as a user, kind of down the handle with

8:13

almost the angle and stuff too, or not really.

8:16

It does. So a lot of,

8:18

um, who I've spoken

8:20

to, we have. So on

8:22

either side of your wheelchair, you have an armrest.

8:25

Um, and a lot of people, the armrest

8:27

is straight and it can be quite, um,

8:30

like tension on your wrist

8:32

because you hold the harness is

8:34

extra long. It's like double the size of

8:37

an everyday one. We

8:39

look like a bit of a train. So, um,

8:42

when you're walking, Prince

8:44

would sit, stand at

8:46

your knee. But when you're gliding

8:48

in a wheelchair, Prince

8:50

stands at the

8:52

foot, basically. So

8:55

he's a bit in front,

8:57

so it can be a bit different to

9:00

be. You have to be more in tune with

9:02

the handle because he moves. But yeah,

9:04

it just it feels very different

9:06

because you're sitting instead of standing. So

9:08

it's a bit different on the way that the harness

9:10

will pull on your like, wrist.

9:13

So once he got that

9:15

training, did you have additional

9:17

training yourself or together as

9:19

a team on how to how

9:21

to kind of, I guess, yeah, navigate this

9:23

new style of work.

9:25

We did. Yes. And we continue to

9:27

do so. Um, with

9:29

the wheelchair program being so like kind of

9:31

new, I suppose. Um,

9:34

we do a lot of training. So to

9:36

begin with, we did,

9:38

uh, every route that we wanted to do,

9:41

we'd have to get, um, a

9:43

trainer to come and approve it and make sure it

9:45

was all wheelchair accessible and all of that.

9:47

Um, Prince and I, now,

9:50

we still do get approval. Like

9:52

for uni yesterday we went to

9:54

uni with our trainer from Cedar

9:56

and did things like that. And

9:58

we'll continue to do that, but eventually

10:01

it will get to a point where I guess we'll kind

10:03

of be able to be a little bit more

10:05

lax, not have to practice particular

10:08

routes if they're on the same area

10:10

that you've already done before and you know it's wheelchair friendly.

10:12

So it's just it's a little

10:14

bit different because when you were walking, you

10:16

could kind of just go anywhere with your dog.

10:18

But when you're a wheelchair guide,

10:20

you kind of have to get a little bit of assistance

10:22

to make sure that where you are taking your dog,

10:24

it is safe for both you and the chair and

10:27

the dog because you you don't want them to accidentally

10:29

get hurt.

10:31

I kind of thinking about, like you said, the kind of how

10:33

wide the

10:35

kind of you, him and the chair

10:38

are together. It would be quite.

10:40

Yeah. It's kind of almost like two separate accessibility

10:42

challenges, like the dog and the wheelchair.

10:45

And then kind of both together

10:47

is almost like an extra.

10:49

It is. Yes. And you find a

10:51

lot of access challenges.

10:53

So a lot of things are either they

10:55

will be wheelchair friendly

10:58

but not. Powerchair

11:00

friendly, so they'll be quite small. You could

11:03

fit a manual chair by a big power chair, plus

11:05

the dog. You can't. And like things

11:07

like that. A lot of the times Prince has

11:09

to learn how to go into very small

11:12

spaces, and Prince is a shocker

11:15

for very small spaces. So for him

11:17

that was a huge learning curve. Having to be

11:20

like either against or like not

11:22

touching a wall but very close to one.

11:24

Or when we go through doors he has

11:26

to like go in front or behind. So

11:29

it's it's really different for

11:31

him when he doesn't particularly

11:33

like being squished

11:35

or under things. And now he has

11:37

to.

11:39

Yeah. Sorry buddy.

11:42

He takes it like a champ.

11:43

Yeah. And and you know, I

11:45

guess you already have that bond, which probably made it

11:48

to some degree a very interesting

11:50

difference to then. Yeah. Having

11:52

done it from the start as well.

11:54

Oh yeah. 100%.

11:56

So what are your favorite things about

11:59

Prince and do you kind of have any thoughts on

12:01

why you might have been matched?

12:03

He is super sensitive and

12:05

cheeky. I would not have it like

12:07

absolutely any other way. He

12:09

is a very kind

12:12

and he is a very resilient dog

12:14

like. I imagine it would be really hard for

12:16

a working dog to have like the interruptions

12:18

that Prince had. So like with work

12:21

limitations, there was times where we we wouldn't

12:23

work for months on end.

12:25

For a little bit there, while I was incredibly

12:28

unwell, he'd still walk and things like that,

12:30

but we weren't actively

12:32

going out every day.

12:34

And not using his kind of brain in the same

12:36

challenging way, you.

12:37

Know? So we definitely practice

12:40

and go on small ones when I could tolerate

12:42

it. But there was, yeah, a period there where he couldn't

12:44

work. And then um, when

12:46

he did retraining. So like, he's just

12:48

a really amazing dog. He

12:50

took it all on the chin and he's,

12:53

he's crushing it. Like, you can't tell that

12:55

we had that that two

12:57

months off like you. You absolutely can't

12:59

tell he loves his job. He's

13:01

so excited. He gets very upset if

13:03

I leave and he's not coming with me.

13:05

So he'll be very

13:07

excited to come on your new uni adventure,

13:09

I reckon.

13:10

Oh yeah. He's going to love it. Love

13:12

the people. Yeah.

13:15

So what is the kind of typical day in

13:17

the life of you and Prince?

13:19

At the moment? No two days

13:22

are really the same for us. Um,

13:25

Prince and I, at the moment, we do a lot of

13:28

social outings,

13:30

um, like appointments, friends

13:32

and family's house, library,

13:35

gym, pool. The pool

13:37

is a very big one. Footprints. He hates the water,

13:39

but he does it for me because he loves me.

13:42

Um. There's

13:44

just. Yeah, we kind of just

13:46

are. We go out

13:48

every single day. But at the moment we don't have

13:50

set things that we do. Obviously now

13:52

that we're starting uni, that will change and

13:55

we'll have more of a routine, which is awesome.

13:57

What we've been aiming for.

13:59

I think, yeah, it's kind of like

14:01

you need a break. It's kind of like the calm before the

14:03

storm. Well, hopefully not storm, but you know,

14:05

before the big

14:07

changes, hectic ness

14:10

that is kind of going on campus and all of

14:12

that type of stuff.

14:13

Oh yes, he'll be excited now, but

14:15

he'll start doing it and he'll want to go home.

14:18

He'd be like, oh, why don't we just stay in bed? You know, like

14:21

he's sleeping all day.

14:22

Yeah.

14:24

What are there any kind of particular best

14:26

outings that you've done together that you would like to share?

14:29

Cranston I recently did the run

14:31

for Geelong. Obviously we will. We

14:33

did, but we've been

14:35

to heaps of places, festivals.

14:37

We went to my best friend's birth in the hospital,

14:40

which was absolutely crazy. Honestly,

14:42

like the best outings for us.

14:44

Besides obviously the day to day probably

14:47

have been him. Like allowing

14:49

me to get back out into

14:51

like nature. We've been going to a lot

14:54

of the national parks up in Clark

14:56

and the. We've been to the Murray River.

14:58

So yeah, if he just

15:00

allows me to kind of explore it all a

15:02

little better and more safe than

15:05

a cane would.

15:06

Not that we don't love the personalised

15:08

decorated cane.

15:10

No, not that we don't. We we we love

15:12

her. We still use her. She's just. She's

15:15

second.

15:17

Second. Yeah. As as she should be,

15:19

you know, and print. You know, print. Print

15:21

has the feelings to know that he wants to be first.

15:25

Definitely.

15:26

So I did have kind of in my list of questions

15:29

about, you know, if you had any kind of plans for the future

15:31

or trips you'd like to do. Sounds like you've got a pretty

15:33

busy, uh, busy year ahead of you.

15:36

I do, yes, besides uni,

15:39

eventually, if if my health

15:41

permits. Touchwood. Um, we would

15:43

like to go to New Zealand with friends.

15:46

You know my sister? Yeah. My sister lives

15:48

there. I have never taken

15:51

him on a plane

15:53

or even interstate,

15:56

let alone overseas. So

15:58

it'll be a lot of planning. Um,

16:01

but I think it would be a really

16:03

good. Adventure

16:05

for us. Obviously we'd need to talk

16:08

to seeing our dogs and all of that because

16:10

I'm not sure if it's, um.

16:13

Don't want to say not possible because I'm

16:15

not sure with the wheelchair program,

16:17

but I'm sure we will make it possible

16:19

somehow.

16:21

We'll get it. Get it done. A bit

16:23

of a team effort in in those things.

16:26

I think so, yes.

16:28

Do you have any kind of specific funny memories

16:31

or stories that you'd like to share?

16:33

So when Prince and I first became

16:35

a pair, we were in the CBD,

16:37

like in Geelong, and Prince

16:39

had sneakily picked up an ice cream cone

16:41

off the floor, and he was holding

16:44

it in his mouth as he guided me.

16:46

And then when we stopped at the lights,

16:49

I could hear him crunching and I looked down

16:51

and he's got ice cream all over

16:53

his lips, all down his chest,

16:55

on his legs. So he must have been holding

16:57

it for a really long time, waiting for

17:00

us to stop somewhere so he could eat

17:02

it.

17:02

Oh, dear. Cheeky.

17:05

But, um. But funny.

17:08

They do silly things like that.

17:11

Yeah, and that's when you kind of remember that their dogs

17:14

are not robots, which is kind of part of the

17:16

appeal to some degree, I'm sure.

17:18

Oh yeah. For sure. Like I think

17:20

yeah, people need to kind of remember

17:22

that, you know, they are dogs and sometimes

17:25

they do have off days or

17:27

make silly decisions like chasing

17:30

the magpies in the front yard.

17:33

When they're when they're off duty. You know, a little

17:35

bit of bird play is kind of the

17:37

it's kind of a thing that they do sometimes.

17:40

It is.

17:41

It definitely is dog behaviour

17:43

typical.

17:44

Yeah. It is quite funny to think kind

17:46

of think of the fact that, yeah, out of harness sometimes they

17:48

really are just like dogs. They're really silly.

17:51

Oh yeah. You wouldn't think Prince is a guide dog

17:53

with his harness off. I don't reckon.

17:57

So. Other than that, is there anything

17:59

that you wish that the general public knew about

18:01

seeing?

18:02

I think probably just like a soft

18:04

reminder that, you know,

18:06

they are dogs, but to

18:08

us they are a lot more than that. If

18:10

someone asks you not to distract or

18:12

talk or feed their dog like, especially

18:14

when they're working, even if they don't

18:17

look like they're working to you just don't

18:19

do it.

18:21

Yeah, and that's including kind of the looking

18:23

and the cooing and the chatting and the feeding.

18:25

It's.

18:26

Yes. Yes. Do not. Yeah.

18:28

Don't look at the dog and make noises.

18:31

Yeah. And some. Yes. The even the

18:33

test even as a is a weird testing

18:36

thing testing them thinks uh

18:38

it's nice to let them keep,

18:40

keep going doing what they're doing.

18:42

It is. Yes. Yep. Leave

18:44

them alone.

18:46

Just just kind of. If you are curious

18:48

about the dogs in general, go and check out,

18:50

you know, the Senior Dogs website, read all

18:52

about it and then continue on

18:54

your day.

18:55

Yes.

18:57

So just to kind of finish up, are there

18:59

any messages that you would like to share with

19:02

um donors, volunteers or supporters of seeing

19:04

eye dogs?

19:05

Um, honestly, probably

19:07

just thank you like you have.

19:10

No idea how much I

19:12

know me talking personally, how much

19:14

you've helped me and Prince.

19:16

So, like, without the donors and the volunteers.

19:20

It would have been like a very different story

19:22

for Prince and his working life. So

19:24

we owe everything that we have

19:26

achieved and will continue to because

19:29

of them. It just it wouldn't be

19:31

possible without their support

19:33

of, you know, seeing eye dogs and

19:35

Vision Australia. I just wouldn't be

19:38

enough funding there to go around.

19:41

So things like this have really

19:43

opened up. Seeing eye

19:45

dogs and guide dogs for, you

19:47

know, people with other disabilities because it

19:49

it really wasn't. A

19:52

big thing before. There hasn't been

19:54

a lot of, um, wheelchairs

19:57

and guide dogs or, you know, people with mobility

19:59

issues and guide dogs. So it has been really

20:01

good, and I very much appreciate

20:04

it. And thank you very much.

20:06

Well, thank you so much for coming on the show today

20:08

and, uh, sharing your story and chatting about privacy.

20:11

So thank you very much for having me.

20:18

You've been listening to the Seeing Eye Dog show

20:21

on Vision Australia Radio. I hope

20:23

you enjoyed my interview with Lily.

20:25

And now here's an interview

20:27

from the archives with Doctor Jacinta

20:30

Millard, from seeing Idexx vet team talking

20:32

about arthritis in dogs. Hi,

20:34

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

20:36

Thank you for having me, Harriet.

20:38

So I just start off talking a bit

20:40

about arthritis in

20:42

dogs and kind of how to manage it and what

20:44

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

20:46

arthritis in dogs?

20:48

Okay, so arthritis in dogs is pretty

20:50

similar to arthritis in humans. It's degenerative

20:52

joint disease where um, the

20:55

joint itself, any joint in the dog

20:58

I guess wears away at the cartilage on the edges.

21:00

And we get some bone deposition

21:02

and bone growth, which can increase the pain in the joint,

21:05

um, slowing them down and making them uncomfortable.

21:08

So as far as kind of symptoms or what

21:10

that looks like, what are the symptoms

21:12

of a dog having arthritis?

21:14

Yeah. So commonly people will come in

21:16

and say that their dogs are slowing down.

21:18

They notice that they're a bit slower on their walks,

21:20

or they're reluctant to walk or reluctant

21:22

to run and do activities that they've normally

21:25

done. Quite frequently. They might play

21:27

less, they might be just slowing down in general.

21:30

A lot of the time we noticed that dogs with

21:32

arthritis will be slow getting up from their

21:34

bed and slow getting down again when they're laying

21:36

down. Um, and yeah, generally

21:38

just a slowing, a slowing down

21:40

of activity and that sort of thing.

21:43

So I think a lot of the time we kind

21:45

of, um, what's the word

21:47

kind of relate arthritis

21:49

to kind of age is, is arthritis only

21:52

in older dogs? No.

21:53

We can get arthritis in young dogs as well.

21:55

Any disruption to the joint? Um,

21:57

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

21:59

that can increase the chance of arthritis

22:02

forming in that joint. Um, because

22:04

it's altering the mechanics of how force is being

22:06

applied through the joint. And that alters the

22:08

structure of the joint. Um, yeah.

22:10

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

22:12

seen in older dogs.

22:14

Is arthritis progressive? Um,

22:16

and is there anything that can be done to avoid

22:18

it becoming worse?

22:19

Yeah. So arthritis is progressive.

22:22

We have multiple treatments

22:24

available at the moment which slow

22:26

the progression, but nothing actually can stop

22:29

the progression of arthritis similar to that

22:31

in humans. Um, so

22:33

there's a few things we have up our

22:35

sleeves, a lot of nutraceuticals and things that we can

22:37

add to their food. So it's not necessarily

22:39

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

22:41

diet, something like fish oil with

22:43

omega three and omega six. It has a lot of,

22:46

um, anti-inflammatory properties on the joint.

22:49

Um, so it can reduce the inflammation which is

22:51

causing the pain associated with the arthritis.

22:53

Um, we also have ingredients

22:56

that we can put in as supplements that increase joint

22:58

fluid production and protect the

23:00

cartilage that still existing in the joint.

23:03

So are there any other factors that would make

23:05

the symptoms worse? Um, for

23:07

a dog, even things like say, kind of weather, other conditions

23:10

and like, say, the types of exercise that you do.

23:12

Absolutely. So more, um,

23:14

I guess intense exercise,

23:16

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

23:18

putting a lot more pressure on the joints or running on,

23:21

particularly on flat surfaces like concrete.

23:23

Um, is putting much more force through

23:26

the joints than, say, slower, gentle walking or

23:28

hydrotherapy where you're not putting as

23:30

much force through the joints at all so they can generally

23:32

exacerbate it. Um, cold weather

23:34

also will exacerbate the signs of arthritis,

23:36

which is similar to, um, humans. The barometric

23:39

pressure changes with the cold weather, and

23:41

that changes, um, I guess the pressure on

23:43

the joints, which means they can expand

23:46

a bit more, and then as they expand

23:48

a bit more, they can become sore.

23:50

Um, so we see worsening signs in often

23:53

in winter. Um, and

23:56

I guess in terms of avoiding

23:58

it becoming worse, we're avoiding things that

24:00

might, you know, increase it,

24:03

um, playing up. So we're avoiding activities

24:05

where it might be exacerbated.

24:08

So, like, we avoid rough play, we avoid

24:11

intense exercise off the lead and things like

24:13

that.

24:14

What about things like weight?

24:15

Yes. So weight is a very big one. So

24:17

I probably should. Body conditioning probably

24:20

should have started with that. So essentially what we want to do

24:22

to um I guess

24:24

reduce the signs of or the clinical

24:26

signs associated is we

24:28

want to reduce the force being constantly

24:30

put through the joint. So by reducing

24:33

the weight that the animal is carrying, we're reducing

24:35

extra loading on the joint, which

24:37

slows down the progression of arthritis and

24:40

will reduce the pain associated with

24:42

putting loading through that joint. Um, so keeping

24:44

dogs in a good body condition,

24:47

um, at an appropriate weight, not overweight

24:49

and obviously not too skinny is,

24:51

um, a really big factor in ensuring that

24:53

the progression is slowed and that it's manageable.

24:56

So if you've already noticed those symptoms, what

24:58

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

25:01

management of the symptoms? Yeah.

25:03

So that might prescribe a particular

25:05

type of diet or something that

25:08

is um, can be added

25:10

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

25:12

protecting the existing cartilage, reducing the

25:14

inflammation in the joint. Um,

25:16

and just. Weight loss and

25:18

weight loss maintenance. Um, there

25:21

also might look at there's different types of injections

25:23

we can give. One is called often

25:26

which um, is an injection

25:28

that we usually give off as a course of four injections

25:30

over four weeks. So once a week initially.

25:32

And then we continue on once every 1

25:34

to 3 months for maintenance. This

25:36

injection has a lot of ingredients that,

25:39

um, one, increase the joint fluid

25:41

production in the joint. So increasing the lubrication

25:43

in the joint and then to also

25:45

increases, um, the protection

25:47

of the cartilage that still existing in the joint.

25:50

So that can be added in from a really early age.

25:52

And it's been found to be quite beneficial because it

25:54

does slow the progression of arthritis to some

25:56

extent. Um, a new one that's

25:58

just come out that we, um,

26:01

can also add in is an injection called

26:03

Brando, which is similar to that used

26:05

in humans. Um, so it's a monoclonal

26:07

antibody that blocks the neuropathic pain pathway.

26:10

So this one doesn't necessarily slow

26:13

the progression of arthritis like the Patterson

26:15

will, but it will stop

26:17

the animal from recognising the pain associated

26:20

with it. Um, so it has

26:22

had really good reports in terms of

26:24

bringing return to comfort in

26:27

a lot of animals. However, it's usually

26:29

added in at the very sort of end of stages

26:31

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

26:33

arthritis, it's just going to help with managing

26:35

the pain. Um, other things we

26:37

also add in are sort of either

26:40

some medications that we can give daily. So

26:43

something like um, something

26:46

similar to a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory,

26:48

it can be used. Um, obviously these

26:51

need to be weighed up with cost

26:53

versus um risk

26:55

type benefit thing. Um, so we're looking

26:57

at whether it's worth

26:59

using it every day at that stage. But

27:02

because obviously all these medications can have some side

27:04

effects as well. But these medications

27:06

are generally targeted at the pain,

27:08

not at like slowing the progression of the arthritis.

27:11

Um, and then things like,

27:14

um, referring onto

27:16

hydrotherapy and physiotherapy

27:19

type um clinics as well,

27:21

which sort of look at keeping

27:23

the dog active without putting too much

27:25

force through the joints.

27:26

So I guess the kind of the main thing

27:28

really will be then going to your vet

27:30

and working out what approach works best

27:32

for you and your dog.

27:34

Absolutely. Because it will always be a multimodal

27:36

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

27:39

um, target it. And we'll be looking

27:41

at probably a combination of things and

27:43

what your dog tolerates best and what works best

27:45

for you and that sort of thing as well.

27:53

We've been listening to the Seeing Auto Show

27:55

on Finisterre Radio. I hope you

27:57

enjoyed my interviews with

28:00

Lily Alford, async handler talking about

28:02

her life with Prince and with Doctor Jacinta

28:04

Millard from seeing IDLES vet team talking

28:06

about arthritis. If you'd like to find

28:08

out more about seeing Eye dogs, the work

28:10

we do, or how you can help, head to

28:12

our website at said Vision

28:15

Australia Talk. Thank you for

28:17

listening and don't forget to tune in. Same

28:19

time next week for another episode

28:21

of The Singer Dog Show on Australia radio

28:23

and podcast.