0:10

On Vision Australia radio. You're listening

0:12

to the Seeing Eye Dog show with me, your host,

0:14

Harriet Moffatt. Today I've got

0:17

two interviews for you. It's going to be a pretty

0:19

jam packed episode with lots

0:21

of content. I've got first

0:23

Doctor Ash Mooney from Seeing Eye Dogs vet

0:25

team talking about the

0:27

World Vet Day. Um, and just a

0:29

bit about being a vet. And then I'm

0:31

joined by seeing eye dogs, puppy carer

0:33

and volunteer in our kennels and

0:35

puppy block. Casey Hyde, who's going

0:38

to be talking about her experiences

0:40

as a volunteer who has

0:43

low vision or is legally blind. So

0:45

without further ado, we're going to kick off

0:47

with my interview with Ash Talking World Vet

0:49

Day. Ash,

0:57

thank you for joining me on the show today.

0:59

Thank you for having me. Harriet.

1:01

So it world birthday coming up. So you know

1:03

happy world that day.

1:04

Thank you. It's always nice to be recognized.

1:08

To start off, what is the role of a vet seeing

1:10

eye dogs.

1:10

It's a little bit different from being a

1:12

regular general practice small animal

1:14

vet, which is what I do when I'm not at seeing eye dogs.

1:17

Um, and here we help maintain the health

1:19

of our dogs that are both living on

1:21

site, as well as any dogs that are being

1:23

foster cared, or any puppies

1:25

or breeding dogs that are in our puppy center.

1:28

We also provide support for our

1:30

graduated seeing eye dogs, which can

1:33

range from either offering second opinions

1:35

or doing telehealth consultations,

1:37

or if they're in the area. Sometimes we also examine

1:39

them in person.

1:40

Outside of seeing eye dogs, what are the kind

1:42

of ranges of of things that you're trained to do

1:44

or that you do?

1:46

Vet school is very, very broad. Um,

1:48

and you're trained to treat any

1:50

species except for humans, essentially.

1:53

Um, that's the only species that we legally are not

1:55

allowed to treat. And so in vet

1:57

school, the primary animals that

1:59

you learn how to deal with are obviously dogs

2:01

and cats, cows, horses,

2:03

sheep, chickens, as well as

2:05

some, you know, contact hours with

2:07

other species like alpacas, goats,

2:10

other other kind of things, chickens.

2:12

So it can be really, really broad. And

2:14

there's a number of career paths that

2:16

you can take. Some of my colleagues are working

2:18

with large animals now.

2:21

Um, there are some people that help advise more

2:23

on like human health and safety

2:25

at abattoirs. So making sure that meat

2:27

is safe for humans to consume,

2:29

um, that's the role of a veterinarian or

2:31

people are in like consultation

2:34

types of jobs where they work for pharmaceutical

2:36

companies or feed companies, things

2:38

like that, to make sure that all of that is safe for animals

2:40

as well.

2:41

And that, I suppose, kind of comes under the same

2:43

banner of study, everything like that. And

2:45

that's the number of different roles from that

2:47

one. Um, master's degree

2:49

or.

2:50

Yeah. So, um, here it was a,

2:52

um, doctoral program that I did at

2:55

Melbourne Uni, but there are also Bachelors

2:57

of Veterinary Science, so it just kind of depends on

2:59

what university you go to. The degrees

3:01

have different names, but they produce essentially

3:03

quite similar outcomes. Um, and

3:05

your, your career paths can kind of, you

3:07

know, be whatever you want then Australia

3:10

and if you want to practice in other countries

3:12

just kind of depends on the country. But you often just have

3:14

to sit like a board exam in order to

3:17

practice elsewhere.

3:18

So when it comes.

3:20

To members of the public who are

3:22

interacting with, uh, with their vet,

3:24

what are the, I guess, tips and tricks that you'd like

3:26

them to know either what which helps make

3:28

your life easier, or, I guess, courtesy around

3:31

how they can treat, um, their vets. As

3:33

I know that that's a bit of a challenging one sometimes.

3:35

You know, sometimes people call me and they're like,

3:37

should I take my animal to the vet? And my

3:39

advice is always, if you are concerned enough

3:41

to call, you should probably come in.

3:44

And once you come into the clinic, it's really just

3:46

about mutual respect. You know, the vets

3:48

are only there because they want to help your animals.

3:50

The easiest way to do that is if we can get as much

3:52

information from the pet owner

3:54

as possible in a respectful manner,

3:57

because unfortunately, a lot of vets suffer

3:59

from pretty significant verbal abuse.

4:02

A lot of the time it's around finances, or it

4:04

can just be because it's a stressful situation.

4:06

Your pet is unwell. You know, things

4:08

might be difficult outside

4:10

of the consultation room and there's

4:12

things happening in people's lives. But a

4:14

lot of people forget that vets are people too, and that

4:16

we have our own emotions. And sometimes

4:19

being verbally abused when we're just trying to help isn't

4:21

isn't the nicest thing. So, um, I

4:23

just always recommend to be polite

4:25

and respectful and just remember that

4:27

your vet is, at the end of the day, there to help

4:29

you and your animal.

4:30

Like you said, the financial part

4:33

of I guess pet ownership is one of the one

4:35

of the things that people do struggle with. And that's unfortunately

4:37

something that I guess you guys can sometimes

4:39

cop a bit of stuff over

4:41

in terms of the difference between the kind of cost

4:43

of animal and I guess,

4:46

human procedures, is there any reason why,

4:48

I guess people maybe don't understand that there's no,

4:50

like, Medicare, that type of thing.

4:52

You bring up Medicare. So yeah, there is

4:54

no Medicare for animals. There certainly

4:56

is pet insurance. That's through private

4:58

companies which range in what they'll cover. And

5:00

that also depends on what type of animal you have.

5:02

I do recommend getting pet insurance if it's

5:04

within your means, but the main reason why

5:06

the costs are so different is that in

5:08

the human medical world, there's a lot of subsidies

5:11

even beyond Medicare. There's, you know, subsidies

5:13

for the hospitals, there's a lot of government funding

5:15

going into it. Whereas in a private

5:18

veterinary hospital, it's typically a much

5:20

smaller business. We don't have the same subsidies

5:22

and therefore the overhead is significantly

5:24

higher to the business owner. That being

5:26

said as well, there's a lot of issues with

5:28

inflation. Um, and, you know,

5:30

sometimes drug companies go out of business

5:33

and there can be monopolies in drug companies,

5:35

which is kind of what's happened in like the UK and America

5:37

to some degree. And that can also drive prices

5:40

up quite significantly. In the past year

5:42

alone, I believe that most pet medications

5:44

have gone up by like 11 or 12%

5:46

for the clinics themselves. And

5:48

so obviously when we pay, you know, 10%

5:51

whatever more to just get the medication in.

5:53

We also have to pay charge the pet

5:55

owner a little bit more. And people don't necessarily

5:57

connect that. As the cost of living increases,

6:00

so does the cost to the actual clinic. And

6:02

therefore we have to increase the cost in order

6:04

to keep paying staff a living wage, making

6:06

sure that we're able to provide the highest standard

6:08

of medicine possible.

6:10

Something really good for people to think about is that

6:12

cost of living does affect also your.

6:14

Um, animals and taking that into

6:17

your budget just thinking about. Yeah that the vet

6:19

is not someone who's profiting from this, but that is

6:21

something that affects everyone at every level.

6:23

And as well, if you don't already have a pet

6:25

and you know financially things aren't looking great,

6:27

I do encourage people to remember that pets are actually

6:30

a luxury purchase. You

6:32

know, they're obviously living beings, so it's

6:34

hard to call them a purchase like they're an item because they're

6:36

not. But if you don't have the financial

6:38

means to care for an animal, I would

6:40

actually just recommend against getting an animal

6:42

and waiting until you are in a financial

6:45

position where you know if there's an emergency

6:47

and something happens with your animal and you have

6:49

to get treatment right away, you're not put

6:51

in a position where you don't have the money.

6:53

And, you know, you may have to make a more difficult

6:55

choice, that if you did have a little bit more

6:57

money at that point in time, you maybe

6:59

could have had more options.

7:01

I guess it's worth kind of considering things like some

7:03

of those foster care programs, even similar

7:05

to like seeing a puppy caring where you actually

7:07

the costs are covered. So, you know, you get that companionship

7:10

and you get, you know, a lot of the benefits of having

7:12

the animal. But if that's something that is not feasible

7:14

for you, you know, the financial costs of

7:17

the feeding, the regular vet

7:19

stuff as well as the emergency, that's a quite good option.

7:21

Yeah. Yeah, definitely. And what I do recommend

7:23

to people is, you know, one night in emergency

7:26

can easily cost between 2000

7:28

to $5000 for,

7:30

um, really any animal. And so I recommend

7:32

that before you purchase an animal, you

7:34

either look into getting pet insurance, which would help

7:37

offset that cost, or you set that

7:39

kind of money aside. Or maybe, you know, every month

7:41

you just set aside a tiny bit of money into a savings

7:43

account. That way, if an emergency does happen,

7:46

you're not in kind of dire straits. And there

7:48

are a lot of payment plan companies

7:50

that exist, but they typically have quite high interest

7:52

rates. And so that's another thing to consider. You

7:54

know, they are there to help you, but, you know, they

7:56

might long term have a bit of

7:59

financial damage that occurs even if you

8:01

use those services.

8:03

So one of the things that we talk about a little

8:05

bit, seeing eye dogs, is cooperative care

8:07

or talking about making the experience

8:09

more pleasant for animals, as you know, I guess

8:12

bringing your dog into the

8:14

vet or bring your cat into the vet can be a little bit of a stressful

8:16

situation. Do you have any tips? So

8:18

what you'd recommend owners do to prepare

8:21

for a consult, or potentially let you

8:23

know to help you manage any behavioral

8:25

issues that might occur at a consult.

8:27

I guess one thing would be it's always

8:29

best to be transparent. So if you know your

8:31

animal has had an interaction at the vet in the past

8:33

where either maybe it's really dog reactive.

8:36

And so if there's lots of dogs in the waiting room, it stresses

8:38

your animal out, or it has

8:40

tried to attack a vet or something in the past

8:43

and requires a muzzle, those are all really

8:45

important things to tell your vet first,

8:47

even when you call to make the booking. That

8:49

way, you know we can make sure maybe there's no dogs

8:51

in the waiting room when you come in, or we let you through

8:53

a side entrance so that it's not as stressful.

8:56

And it really is just to keep everybody

8:58

safe because one bite from an animal

9:00

could be potentially career ending for

9:02

a vet. And that's something that, you know, people don't

9:04

always consider. I've heard people tell me,

9:06

oh, isn't it your job to get bitten? And it should never

9:08

be within your job to get attacked

9:11

at work. You should always feel physically safe

9:13

at your workplace. So if you have an animal where

9:15

that's potentially the case, you know, just tell your vet

9:17

in advance and we'll try our best to make them

9:19

as calm as possible, as safe as possible.

9:21

And that might involve sending them home with some

9:24

pre-visit sedatives or something like

9:26

that, just to help relax everybody a little bit

9:28

and make it a much more calming for

9:30

the animal and safer for the people. For

9:32

things like cats, it's a little bit different. You know,

9:34

those those medications might still apply, but

9:36

cats typically feel safer when they're

9:38

in a dark, enclosed environment.

9:41

So the thing that I often see

9:43

is most stressful for cats is when they come in

9:45

on just a cat lead or they're just in

9:47

their owner's arm, and then there's a big dog in the

9:49

waiting room, and that stresses the cat out.

9:51

I've seen a lot of some of the, like, bubble

9:54

backpack carriers that are quite common

9:56

nowadays, I found are actually quite stressful

9:58

for cats because they're either too small

10:00

for the cat that's put inside, like they purchased

10:02

it for a kitten, and now it's an adult cat and it doesn't

10:04

fit. Or they're so see through that. The

10:07

cat is just as it's coming into the clinic. It's seeing

10:09

all the cars go by, it's seeing dogs.

10:11

And by the time it gets into the consultation room,

10:13

it's just really, really terrified of

10:15

what's going on. So even if you just put a

10:17

towel over that carrier so

10:19

that the cat isn't watching everything going around

10:21

it, that can help reduce the stress levels for

10:24

the cat as well.

10:25

When you was studying as a vet, you

10:27

were also volunteering at seeing

10:29

dogs. Could you tell us a little bit about that?

10:32

Yeah. So I've been volunteering,

10:35

um, for seeing eye dogs since my first year of

10:37

vet school. I've now been a vet for,

10:39

um, almost six years, so it's been

10:41

quite a long time that I've been a volunteer at kennels,

10:43

and I really liked it as a vet student

10:46

because we do a lot of health checks,

10:48

you know, because they knew I was a vet student. They

10:50

invited me in to help with the health checks

10:52

and learn, um, about a lot of, you

10:54

know, our cooperative care training,

10:56

trying to make things really pleasant for the dogs and

10:58

getting them to actually want to work with a vet.

11:01

And that was really cool to see. And I was

11:03

also able to see a couple of procedures when

11:05

I did my veterinary placement.

11:07

And it's just awesome to see

11:09

such well-trained dogs

11:11

that are all quite healthy and

11:13

just learn what normal is, because

11:15

as a vet, you have to really understand

11:18

what a normal, healthy animal is in order to

11:20

know when something is dysfunctioning. So

11:22

by getting used to checking a lot of very healthy animals,

11:25

I was more easily able to tell when something

11:27

was a bit wrong and able to catch

11:29

on to problems a bit sooner than

11:31

I would have if I hadn't had that experience.

11:33

And I think that, you know, animal handling is

11:35

also a skill that you have to learn,

11:38

and especially with big dogs, if

11:40

you're not very confident with bigger dogs or

11:42

you just don't know how to move around them or,

11:44

you know, hold them in a way that's safe if

11:46

somebody needs to take blood or something like that,

11:48

that's a really good skill to practice with our

11:51

dogs because they are so well trained and friendly.

11:53

And then it's it's easier to apply it to,

11:55

you know, in private practice when I have a

11:57

more aggressive animal, um, or

12:00

let's say, you know, like an 80 kilogram

12:02

dog that is like larger

12:04

than I am and I'm trying to restrain it. I'm

12:06

able to apply some of the techniques that I learned as

12:08

a kennels, volunteer at seeing dogs through

12:10

those real life situations as a vet. And

12:13

the other thing that I found really great about learning from

12:15

seeing eye dogs was that because we have obviously

12:17

low vision clients that we're giving the dogs to,

12:20

I had to learn how to reframe an exam

12:22

for somebody who cannot see what

12:24

the problem is on the dog, because so much of our

12:26

language is like, oh, did you see that its

12:28

belly was red or something like that?

12:30

And being able to interact with people who

12:32

can't use that sense and trying

12:35

to explain things in a different way, where it's like, okay,

12:37

can you feel for symmetry? Or have you noticed

12:39

any wetness or moisture in an area

12:42

and things like that, and just just being more accommodating

12:44

to, you know, people who come from a different

12:47

experience and, you know, might have a disability

12:50

and can't necessarily do what

12:52

the standard is that vets will say.

12:54

And just being a bit more accommodating for those people,

12:56

I think is a really great part of the experience of volunteering

12:59

here.

12:59

There are any tips or

13:01

messages that you would share for anyone else around

13:03

kind of world that day.

13:05

The biggest thing that I want to kind of bring light

13:07

to is, is mental health. And the vet community,

13:09

you know, is something that's being talked about

13:11

more and more. But unfortunately, I

13:13

personally know a lot of people who have really

13:15

struggled with mental health, and I myself have

13:18

struggled quite significantly with mental health

13:20

specifically related to compassion

13:22

fatigue as a vet, which is essentially

13:24

when you care so much that you exhaust

13:26

your ability to keep caring after a certain

13:29

point, there's a finite amount of yourself

13:31

that you can healthily give to others

13:33

to help them before it starts taking

13:35

away too much and you start to suffer.

13:38

And so I guess anybody that wants to become

13:40

a vet, make sure that you have preventative mental

13:42

health measures in place. I really encourage

13:45

everybody to seek out therapy.

13:47

And if you don't want to be a vet, you aren't a

13:49

vet. Just be kind to your vet and understand

13:51

you might be coming in for a puppy vaccination,

13:53

but your vet might have just euthanized

13:55

somebody's 15 year old dog and

13:58

might be, you know, internally really, really

14:00

struggling with that and having to put on a happy face

14:02

for you. And that can be really, really draining

14:04

for a person to pretend that they're okay when they've

14:06

gone through something so traumatic and

14:08

emotional. Um, and that's why it's

14:10

really important to be kind.

14:12

A little bit of kindness, I'm sure, goes a really long

14:14

way. So I guess really good for people to keep

14:16

that in mind. Well, thank you so much for

14:18

coming on the show. Um, and as always,

14:20

treating the dogs and puppies of

14:22

seeing our dogs as well. Yes.

14:24

Thank you for having me. I'm always happy to be here.

14:32

You've been listening to the Seeing Eye Dog show

14:34

on Vision Australia Radio. I hope you

14:36

enjoyed my interview with Doctor Ash

14:38

Moody of the Seeing Eye Dogs vet team, talking

14:40

about World Vet Day, which was on

14:43

April 27th of 2024.

14:45

Don't forget to treat your vet with

14:47

lots of kindness always, and

14:50

give them a nice big thank you for

14:52

the work that they do. Looking after all of our animals.

14:55

Now I'm going to be passing the

14:57

baton to Casey Heide. We're going to

14:59

talk about inclusive volunteering

15:01

and her experiences as a volunteer

15:03

at seeing eye dogs with lived experience

15:06

and low vision. So without further ado,

15:08

here is my interview with Casey. Hi, Casey,

15:10

thank you for joining me on the show today.

15:12

Thanks very much for inviting me.

15:14

Just to start off, could you please kind of introduce

15:16

yourself?

15:17

Sure. Um, my name is Casey Heide.

15:19

I was originally from WA. I

15:21

moved to Melbourne for job opportunities,

15:24

and then I fell in love with this beautiful

15:26

city.

15:27

Um, could you please tell us about your volunteer

15:29

roles?

15:30

Yeah, sure. I do live with vision loss.

15:33

Um, I've got no central vision, but I

15:35

have side vision. So a little bit of benefit when

15:37

it comes to volunteering.

15:39

I took up volunteering at Seeing

15:41

Eye Dogs Australia. Maybe in 2017.

15:44

I wanted to give back to my community.

15:46

I had a working guide dog, and I decided

15:48

to give puppy raising a go in eight week old

15:51

puppy called Molly. I came off the plane

15:53

at night and basically handed me a

15:55

puppy and it pooped on my

15:57

jumper. So it

15:59

was a bit confronting for me when you can't see,

16:01

but I thought, nope, I had to deal with this. This is

16:03

fine. I can I can enjoy puppy raising

16:06

and it didn't deter me to give give it a

16:08

really good go. There was no real facility

16:10

up there, so that's why they were going out to ovals

16:12

or uh, like shopping centres

16:14

and exposure training. So it was great.

16:16

So I kind of moved down to Melbourne

16:18

for work.

16:19

And so what is the other volunteer

16:21

role that you are taking part in at the moment? I sort

16:23

of.

16:23

Bought a house around 2022,

16:26

sort of after Covid, and I thought, I'll give

16:29

it a go because I didn't have any rental restrictions.

16:32

So I was in my own house. Um,

16:34

I found a friend who

16:36

does running with me and said, could you be my reference

16:38

to be a puppy raiser? So I

16:40

had a chance to give it a go, and

16:42

I applied myself through the paperwork.

16:45

Um, I watched some videos about how to become

16:47

a puppy raiser. I went, uh, there

16:49

was no, like, face to face like, sessions.

16:51

So it was mostly online, like, um,

16:54

so it was a good, good inform, um,

16:56

sessions on zoom. And

16:58

then eventually I received

17:00

a puppy that was related to my needs.

17:02

So as a puppy raiser with Vision Loss,

17:04

I had to choose a puppy that was a bit older,

17:07

maybe eight months, ten months. But then

17:09

there was a bit of a hurdle. They didn't know what

17:11

my skills were like, so they gave me a

17:13

co-parent called Sue. So

17:15

Sue is a local, uh, puppy raiser in

17:17

my suburb, and she's an amazing lady,

17:20

and she took me on as her co-parent.

17:22

So everyone tells me the fun.

17:24

Auntie, I have a lot of fun with the puppies, and

17:27

I'm quite youthful, so all the

17:29

puppies think I'm just like, the fun auntie, and

17:31

I basically spoil them rotten and let them

17:34

have boundaries, but also let them,

17:36

uh, have a little bit of exploration while

17:38

I'm the puppy raiser.

17:40

So do you have any kind of particular

17:42

additional, um, challenges when,

17:44

uh, you know, raising a puppy with low

17:46

vision?

17:47

Yeah, actually, I had

17:49

a few little hiccups. So one

17:52

is probably public transport in, um,

17:54

so I had to find a older dog

17:56

to help with public transport because the younger pups can't

17:58

actually get to the steps or the train

18:01

stations or even, um, they can't

18:03

have fear of of that stuff. So they

18:05

chose, uh, older puppies. So ten month

18:07

old Zilla came into my life. She was being puppy

18:09

raised by Sue, and I was a fun

18:11

auntie. So Sue had to go off to Geneva for some

18:14

work. And basically for a few

18:16

months I looked after Zilla and did

18:18

the puppy exposure training with

18:20

the puppy raiser, uh, puppy trainer.

18:23

And so do you also have an additional

18:25

interesting, uh, house guest

18:27

that, uh, that your dogs

18:30

learn from?

18:30

Zilla was pretty amazing. Um, she

18:33

was living with me for a few months,

18:35

and she was introduced to a rainbow lorikeet

18:37

called Calippo. Um, he's

18:40

a feisty, bossy, uh, parrot

18:42

with a lot of attitude. So basically,

18:44

when a dog comes into my house, they have

18:46

to respect the parrot. Uh, because the parrot

18:49

will take over the house. And it's

18:51

lovely to see visitors come to my house because the dogs

18:54

seem to adjust to the bird. The bird

18:56

doesn't adjust to the dogs. Even the parrot

18:58

took over her crate, so I was I received

19:00

a crate as a puppy raiser. That's another thing.

19:02

You get a few items such as crate and bed

19:05

and bowl and and a little puppy pack. So

19:07

you kind of ready. You got the food?

19:09

Um, and then the parrot was like, well, that's

19:12

that's a cage. I'm jumping in that cage. But

19:14

it was a crate. Um, so I

19:16

had to respect that. The parrot in the crate, uh, for

19:18

a bit and took some photos and send them back to Sue,

19:20

and she had a bit of a chuckle saying that

19:22

Zilla was being flexible with the parrot. So I do

19:24

have a retired guide dog, so Brigitte has retired,

19:26

so she's basically the mentor. She's

19:28

the calm, collected the rock.

19:31

So. She literally tells the puppy

19:33

what to do with the parrot. And so the

19:35

parrot trust the the black lab. So Brigittes

19:37

a black Labrador. She's, you know, nearly 12

19:39

years old. So the parrot sits on the dog and does

19:42

Guide Dog Express. So

19:44

basically he's safe. He's safe with Brigitte.

19:46

He knows brigittes, you know, a safe place.

19:49

And so basically, when the pups come in, the parrot

19:51

sits on Brigittes back and says, you know,

19:53

this is a safe place. And the puppy kind of goes, oh,

19:55

I've got a big dog and a parrot to deal with.

19:57

So there's a lot of changes.

19:59

But eventually Zaleha calmed down. We're all

20:01

calmed down. We had a great time living

20:04

together as well as, yeah, accessing

20:06

the community.

20:07

So would you recommend volunteering to

20:09

other people who are blind or have low

20:11

vision, even someone who's potentially waiting on the,

20:13

I guess, waitlist for a seeing eye dog themselves.

20:16

The puppy raising, you know, it could be

20:18

temporary. So it could be like a six month stint or a 12

20:20

month stint. So it's not like you have

20:22

to commit your whole life to become

20:25

a puppy raiser. So for me,

20:27

um, you know, there was some hurdles we had.

20:29

Um, the guide dog trainer had to change their

20:31

training, um, adjustments to my needs. So.

20:34

Such as? I'll give an example. We were doing

20:36

co-operative care, and this

20:38

is with Ziba. So Ziba was

20:40

with me for nine months. So this

20:42

is my recent dog. And there were

20:45

some things that got in my way. Such as? Like the

20:47

Grey Match that was, uh, not able to be

20:49

seen. So the trainer changed it to yellow

20:51

so I could see the dog on the mat and,

20:53

um, then basically

20:55

practicing with touch. So no visual

20:57

cues. So basically it was all touch training with

20:59

the dog. So the trainer had to work out

21:01

and problem solve at the same time with me. So

21:03

it was really great to work together. And

21:06

um, I just can't believe how wonderful,

21:08

you know, having a rewarding experience

21:10

with the right provider, the right

21:13

people, and the right dog, too, because Ziva

21:15

was like, yep, cool. Being touched. Yes.

21:17

Can do this. Yes, can do that. But there

21:19

is some little hurdles. Like, for instance, I have a full

21:22

time job and there's an office. And,

21:24

you know, I did a lot of cane training beforehand,

21:26

so I know how to get into work. And this

21:28

pup has to deal with the with the cane. So the

21:30

pup has to learn about mobility canes.

21:32

And so basically this pup had learned

21:35

so much knowledge even just before

21:37

they go into their special, you know, guide dog

21:39

training program. So so these pups

21:41

are learning with people with lived experience

21:44

with Ziva. She's a black

21:46

Labrador full of spunk. Uh, she

21:49

had to learn about the mobility cane and

21:51

not eat the bowl at the bottom of the cane. So

21:53

that was pretty entertaining to watch. And eventually

21:55

they get tired. They just go, oh, it's just part

21:57

of life. And when she came home, she

21:59

had boundaries. So, you know, you

22:02

do have to like, use tethers. So, um, she

22:04

doesn't jump on your couch or jump on things

22:06

that people can see. Um, also boundaries

22:08

in the kitchen so the dog doesn't pick up food.

22:11

You have to be super organized. So every morning,

22:13

like having a full time job, you have to

22:15

be organized like having a child. So you have to put

22:17

the child like my retired guide

22:19

dog actually had to go to doggy daycare. So there

22:21

was someone looking after my guide dog who

22:23

was retired. So she had her own own,

22:26

um, doggie to take care to deal with.

22:28

And then I was free to be, you know,

22:30

100% focused on Ziva and her training

22:32

ambitions. And also the

22:34

best part about, um, how to set

22:37

it up in Melbourne or in West Melbourne was

22:39

a WhatsApp group. So there was about ten women

22:41

in the group. And the women all had different

22:43

varieties of knowledge

22:45

and understanding, and some of them had like 5 or

22:48

6 guide dogs beforehand. So they were

22:50

super great mentors and

22:52

I just fit into the group really well. So

22:54

if I was sick, I could send a message to the group

22:56

and say, hey, I'm sick. Um, can someone

22:58

take zebra out for the day because she's full of beans?

23:00

One of the women will go, yep, cool. Zeba's

23:03

going off and I'll go, yep, how did she go?

23:05

And they'll tell me all these amazing adventures

23:07

she's gone on. So with that little support

23:09

circle really allowed me to be able to.

23:11

You also have another role as well,

23:13

which is on site. Could you tell us a bit

23:15

about your on site role and I guess what you like

23:17

about it?

23:18

Well, Zeba dropped off into

23:20

a program in February, so

23:22

I didn't know what to do with myself. I had

23:25

a retired guide dog, Bridget, um, chilling out

23:27

with me and a parrot, and I thought, gosh,

23:29

I have a weekend. What can I do on my weekends? And

23:31

basically the guide dog puppy

23:33

trainer said, hey, um, how about volunteering

23:36

at the kennels? What do you reckon? And

23:38

at first the management was like, well,

23:40

gosh, okay, she's there. She's

23:43

gone from puppy raising to kennels.

23:45

So they decided to put a

23:47

induction program together. So it was,

23:49

um, a lovely tour of the cedar kennels.

23:51

And, and Stacey gave us

23:53

like a tour and expectations

23:55

and what we could do as a volunteer. And

23:57

then everyone keeps asking me questions about what

24:00

I can do and what I can't do. And then

24:02

basically communication is a bit difficult if it's

24:04

on, you know, white boards or kennel

24:07

cards. So I just ask for help

24:09

and everyone wants to help me. So I've become

24:11

pretty independent with working at the kennels.

24:14

Has your experience as a dog guide handler

24:16

kind of helped you as a volunteer? And

24:18

then on the flip side, is there anything that you've learned

24:20

at volunteering that might help you as

24:22

a handler in the future with, you know, your next

24:24

dog guide?

24:25

Yeah, this is a great question because,

24:27

um, you know, having a retired guide

24:30

dog, you know, the kind of. Slow and

24:32

less energetic, and they've got their routines

24:34

set. And you go, okay, cool. And when

24:36

you're doing the puppy raising or in the kennels,

24:38

every dog's got a different personality. So

24:40

for me, walking into the kennels, I was more

24:42

exposed to different personalities and

24:45

challenges of, you know, finding the poop at

24:47

the kennels, looking after little puppies

24:49

and giving them that mum love that

24:51

all these pups need. Gosh, I

24:54

basically think that being a guide dog

24:56

user or handler does

24:58

reflect as a positive thing. You've got all these

25:00

skills behind you. You can walk a

25:02

dog, you can walk a dog with a cane, and a lot of

25:04

people don't know how to walk with a cane. So when

25:07

I go into the kennels, you know, they'll pass me a dog and say,

25:09

take that dog for a walk and tell this dog not

25:11

to eat the bowl on the cane. And

25:13

it's just nice. It shows that that we all

25:15

have different, you know, qualifications and abilities

25:18

and they're very transferable.

25:20

So you can transfer your skills as a puppy

25:22

raiser to a guide dog handler. But

25:24

it's given me more confidence because most of these

25:26

dogs are not precious. You know, when

25:28

we when we get matched to our dog, we

25:30

kind of go, we're grateful for this guide dog to

25:32

be in our life, and they're going to make us more independent. But

25:35

all these dogs have personalities, so they're not

25:37

precious and we always think they are.

25:39

You can have all probably have a bit of a different understanding

25:41

on like how varied

25:44

they are, like how very different each personality

25:46

is.

25:47

Yeah. I've been actually, um, in the last

25:50

I reckon I've been on the, on the, on the matching

25:52

like waiting list for nearly four months now.

25:54

And I've really been pretty specific about

25:56

my needs and what I need from a dog

25:59

because I've had so much exposure training

26:01

from all the different dogs personalities. So

26:03

I need a fast dog. I need a dog with,

26:05

um, um, courage. I need a dog with some

26:07

bit of bravery. I need a dog that,

26:09

um, you know, might need a poop in one spot and not

26:12

run around and poop everywhere. So there's

26:14

all these things that have changed my mind

26:16

from, like, four months ago to being in the

26:18

dog kennels with all these wonderful support

26:20

people. Um, and, and it's not just,

26:23

you know, um, what they call kennel

26:25

staff. It's like the volunteers are mingling together

26:27

and we're making friendships. And now

26:29

I've got all these new friends and all these new

26:31

friends are willing to help me outside of

26:33

work. Um, one of the best example,

26:36

my friend was sick in Perth and I was trying to make

26:38

a poster, and I can't see a poster

26:40

and or even how to create a poster. And

26:43

I got my lovely women down in Altona

26:45

and Williamstown to give me some lovely puppy photos

26:47

of of happy puppies. And

26:49

I got one of the volunteers to actually

26:51

create a poster for my friend in Perth,

26:54

and it was just that lovely, um, support

26:56

and caring attitude for.

26:59

Are there any other messages that you'd

27:01

want to share with either someone else who's blind

27:03

or has low vision, or other people considering

27:06

volunteering, or just the general public when.

27:08

We have that, you know, attitude

27:10

of like applying for a guide dog and having

27:12

a dog and then having independence from

27:14

the dog, that's great. But we

27:16

don't get many volunteer opportunities. And I

27:18

think that time to change that

27:21

attitude and actually give it a go,

27:23

like it's a bit scary at first and you kind of go,

27:25

oh, this is all new and these are all new people,

27:27

and are they going to judge me on my,

27:29

my, my abilities or are they

27:31

going to judge me because I can't see?

27:33

Is it a great environment? Um, they

27:36

will actually help you see if

27:38

anyone wants to give puppy raising a go,

27:40

it's great. But also, uh, going

27:42

into the kennels and mingling with all

27:44

the different dogs and people is also another good opportunity.

27:47

So there's lots of opportunities to

27:49

give back to the community. Um, if you

27:51

live with a disability, there's no gender

27:53

factors, there's no age factors. There's

27:55

no, you know, I'm tall, I'm short.

27:57

I'll give it a go. I'm too old, I'm too young.

28:00

I think it's just time. If you've got a bit of time on

28:02

your hands and you're going, oh, I don't have a hobby,

28:04

I don't have a sporting club I don't have,

28:07

and I'm a bit lonely and I'm

28:09

stuck on the computer all the time because I'm just gaming

28:11

or something. Hey, try try

28:14

the game called, you know, volunteering

28:16

to be a puppy raiser or

28:18

be a kennel, um, volunteer.

28:21

So there's some great opportunities in Melbourne.

28:24

Well, thank you not just for volunteering, but

28:26

for coming on the show and chatting with me today.

28:28

Thanks so much, Harriet.

28:35

I hope you enjoyed my interviews with Doctor

28:37

Ash Mooney from Seeing Eye Dogs Vet Team, talking

28:39

about World Vet Day and with KC

28:42

Hyde, puppy carer and

28:44

kennels volunteer at Seeing Eye Dogs,

28:46

talking about inclusive volunteering

28:49

and her experiences volunteering with

28:52

low vision and legal blindness.

28:54

If you'd like to find out more about seeing Eye

28:56

Dogs, the work we do, or how you can help,

28:59

head to our website at SD

29:01

Vision Australia. Org or

29:03

head to your preferred podcast provider for

29:05

more episodes of The Seeing Eye Dog Show.

29:07

Don't forget to tune in same time next week

29:10

for another episode of The Seeing Eye Dog Show

29:12

on Vision Australia Radio. Thank you for

29:14

listening.