0:15

Hello, and welcome to Talk2ThePaw, a

0:18

podcast that celebrates dogs

0:20

for simply being wagtastic. I'm

0:23

Caroline Bartley, and with the help of

0:26

canine nerd, Scott Andrews we'll consider how

0:29

and why these fabulous animals

0:31

make such a huge contribution

0:34

to our lives. Leaves

0:36

are falling from the trees and the days are getting shorter

0:39

here in the United Kingdom. It's

0:41

the season of mists and mellow

0:43

fruitfulness, according to the poet Keats.

0:46

But despite the changing seasons,

0:47

some things remain reassuringly familiar. Episode six has

0:53

the usual array of tricks and treats

0:56

to keep you entertained. So

0:58

grab a large handful of all

1:00

that Halloween confectionery. The

1:02

kids won't notice honestly and nestle

1:04

yourself into a comfy chair

1:07

for the next 30 minutes or so. You know

1:09

how it goes by now, let's get started

1:12

with The Twilight Bark. We're

1:18

featuring a topic in this episode which is

1:21

quite distressing. So before we

1:23

begin, I am issuing an advisory

1:25

that the content we will be discussing may

1:28

be upsetting to some people. So

1:30

if you happen to be listening with little ones

1:32

in your household, then perhaps it's best

1:34

to come back to this part of the podcast

1:36

at a later point. Warning over

1:39

let's begin. The BBC, York

1:41

press, Daily Record, and the Southwest

1:43

Farmer are all reporting distressing

1:46

incidents of dogs being poisoned

1:49

in varying localities. Some

1:51

of these cases actually resulting in

1:53

animal fatalities. Pet owners,

1:55

Local Authorities, Animal Charities,

1:57

and Police have been placed on alert

2:00

as investigations into the various

2:02

incidents begin to establish the exact

2:04

circumstances of what's happened in

2:06

each case. Thankfully statistics

2:09

I managed to garner, seem to suggest

2:11

that the incidents of dog poisoning appears

2:13

to be quite rare, but it is

2:16

nevertheless an extremely harrowing

2:17

situation. In 2019

2:20

one person was convicted of administering

2:23

poison in England, that's according

2:25

to the RSPC and in 2016,

2:28

the charity received 368

2:31

reports of dogs being poisoned.

2:34

Scott. This is a very, very

2:36

difficult topic to discuss,

2:38

but it does need highlighting.

2:40

It's an incredibly tragic topic

2:43

and incredibly troubling, obviously for the people

2:45

involved it's a horrendous incident.

2:48

But one of the biggest problems that we're faced

2:50

with when dealing with poisoning is that no

2:52

matter how rigorous the investigation, often,

2:54

the course has never determined.

2:56

So what are the signs of poisoning

2:59

in a dog?

3:00

Very often it depends on exactly what the dog was poisoned

3:02

with, but certainly you'll see things

3:04

like vomiting, diarrhea, seizures,

3:08

blood in the stool, lethargy, loss of appetite,

3:11

visible bruising, nosebleeds, irregular heartbeat.

3:13

And one of the more unusual ones is an inability

3:16

to urinate.

3:17

Poisoning can occur deliberately. We

3:19

all know that, but it can also

3:21

happen accidentally. So

3:23

how at risk are

3:26

our dogs?

3:27

The difficulty is it's you see when you read these

3:29

stories, the stories refer to incidents

3:31

that took place when the dog and the owner were out on a

3:33

walk together. And that's probably the most at-risk

3:35

environment you take the dog. Certainly in

3:37

your own home, it's much easier to control the factors

3:40

that come about on a daily basis. Now

3:42

there are literally dozens and dozens

3:44

and dozens of poisons that can impact

3:46

dogs differently. Some you'll find in the home,

3:48

some you'll find in the kitchen, some you'll find in the garden.

3:51

Unfortunately, this would require an entire

3:53

episode on its own . So

3:55

what I want to do is just focus on a few

3:57

things that you might encounter when you're out

3:59

for a walk.

4:00

Yeah so just narrow it down for us, let's draw

4:02

our focus in.

4:03

Yes. And one of the things that surprises

4:06

people the most is the number of

4:08

common flowers or plants that

4:10

are incredibly dangerous to our dogs. Take

4:13

for example, azaleas and rhododendrons,

4:15

very common plants many of us have in our gardens and

4:18

they happen to be highly poisonous. It

4:20

just takes a few leaves of these plants

4:22

to make our dogs badly

4:25

ill . Another common one is a hedging plant you'll

4:27

find in many public parks, it's

4:29

a Cherry Laurel. This is

4:31

probably the most common cause of poisoning

4:34

in dogs. And as I say, you can

4:36

find it in many public spaces.

4:39

And it's because what do they ingest?

4:41

The leaves? They ingest flowers,

4:43

seeds of some sort?

4:45

It's the leaves. It's almost always the leaves.

4:48

Now, a lot of the times when we're out for a walk with our dogs,

4:50

if we're blatantly honest, when they're off the leash our eyes aren't

4:52

on them all the time. And this is where

4:54

the danger stems from. The list goes on.

4:57

It includes things such as , um , Castor

4:59

Oil Bush . Unfortunately the oil

5:01

cakes are used in fertilizer. The troubling

5:03

aspect here is these little cakes look

5:06

very, very appealing to dogs. Then

5:08

of course, there's every boy Scouts favorite - conkers.

5:14

Oh?

5:14

You know, we all know that the time of year you'll see

5:16

that the conkers and acorns are all over the place, their harmless,

5:20

our kids pick them up, we might take them home. The

5:23

only thing is they're toxic to dogs. In

5:26

rare cases, they can be the

5:28

worst kind of toxic. They cause stomach problems,

5:31

vomiting, intestinal blockages. Another one.

5:34

What's their flower of Wales.

5:36

Well, that's the daffodil.

5:37

Beautiful, beautiful daffodil many of

5:39

us grow in springtime. Unfortunately

5:41

every single part of a daffodil

5:44

is toxic to a dog. Planting season

5:46

and you're putting them in the ground and you've got the bulbs

5:49

on the ground beside you and the dogs are running around the garden.

5:51

If the dog was to eat the bulb, especially if it's a

5:53

small dog, it would kill it.

5:54

As a keen gardener, whenever I'm

5:57

planting, digging things up and there

5:59

are bulbs around, I'm always

6:01

very, very conscious of the fact that

6:03

my little dog could ingest something.

6:06

But no matter how careful you are,

6:08

there's always that risk there in

6:10

the back of your mind that maybe there's a stray

6:12

bulb that has escaped or do you know what I mean?

6:14

Absolutely. And

6:16

it runs further than bulbs. One

6:18

of the, probably most surprising things

6:20

that I learned when researching this segment,

6:24

not just daffodils. Okay. But

6:27

the water that daffodils has been

6:29

in.

6:30

I tend to have random pots

6:32

and baskets around the garden,

6:34

plastic tubs with old water in

6:37

it, simply for ease of watering

6:39

the plants. And you're making me very scared now.

6:42

I understand that completely jumping back in to my list. So

6:45

laburniums is that right?

6:47

Laburnums?

6:47

Excuse me, getting all latin there.

6:50

Now this is one unique part in the sense that again,

6:52

like the daffodil, all parts are

6:55

dangerous. Now the seeds especially, but

6:58

even the bark, even twigs.

7:00

Yeah.

7:01

They would all be hazardous to your dog.

7:03

Yew trees.

7:04

Yes.

7:06

Now again, nearly all parts of the yews,

7:08

even dry chippins, but

7:11

the worst part with the yews is the leaves.

7:12

It only takes

7:15

30 grams to kill a dog.

7:17

That's not a lot.

7:18

That's really a tiny mouthful. The

7:20

last plant that I can think of. That again I don't

7:22

think it is that much more common in the garden, but you do find

7:25

it in bouquets, so maybe you'll throw it away one day. Lilly of

7:28

the Valley, it contains a toxin that causes

7:30

vomiting, diarrhea, heart problems fits

7:32

and collapsing,

7:33

Which looks so pretty, but is in fact

7:35

lethal to dogs.

7:36

Not just dogs to cats as well.

7:39

Obviously we've been talking about flowers and plants,

7:41

and I imagine you think about gardens and

7:43

you think about public spaces like parks

7:45

there could be herbicides, pesticides,

7:47

slug pellets. Then

7:51

you think of the common insects that also

7:53

can be quite dangerous. Bees, wasps,

7:55

and hornets.

7:57

The stings associated with those.

7:59

We have a little wildlife question for you. I know you liked

8:02

your Attenborough. Can you name the one

8:04

poisonous snake that resides in the UK?

8:06

The one poisonous snake? Well , the only

8:08

snake that I know of that resides in

8:10

the, in the UK is an adder,

8:12

but I'm not even sure if that's poisonous.

8:14

It is indeed. If

8:16

you dog happens to be at a distance and your dog does get bitten

8:18

by an adder, you wouldn't have any idea, you

8:20

know, it could be gone off in the long grass or wherever.

8:22

Yeah.

8:23

Now the symptoms to look out for are swelling, bleeding,

8:25

fever and seizures. And last

8:28

but not least is actually something

8:30

that baffled vets when I lived

8:32

in the Netherlands.

8:32

Right.

8:35

There was a period in one of the years I was living there

8:36

whetr a number of dogs become ill after

8:39

walking in the forest just South of Amsterdam. And

8:41

thetr were paranoid media reports talking

8:43

about poisonings, you know, is it a human

8:45

poisoning, is it someone with a vendetta

8:47

? And eventually they discovered

8:49

it was caused by blue green algae.

8:50

By algae?

8:50

Yes. Now

8:54

this blue-green algae is

8:56

deadly. It kills pets quickly.

8:58

Again, you'd see vomiting and diarrhea,

9:00

breathing difficulties, you'd see fits.

9:03

Now this algae, you tend to see late

9:05

spring to early autumn. The thing to consider

9:07

is if you have a dog that likes dipping in and out

9:09

of the water, and there are many breeds that like going

9:11

for a swim, especially on a hot day, you

9:14

have to be ultra cautious. Now,

9:16

personally, if I'm going to let my dog in for

9:18

a drink, if I see any algae

9:21

on top of the water, I see that the water is still.

9:24

Yeah , that's never usually a good sign is it?

9:26

No for it to be fresher water, you need to see at

9:29

least a current, like the water moving by.

9:32

So what should you do if you think your dog has

9:34

been poisoned, what steps should

9:36

you take ?

9:37

To borrow a line from dad's army don't

9:39

panic.

9:40

Don't panic easier said than done though.

9:42

If your dog is , is swelling,

9:45

bleeding, perhaps fitting.

9:47

Obviously. And you know, your priority is to remove the

9:49

dog from the scene. Immediately

9:52

because you don't know what's there, you don't know what's been

9:54

the cause. And then contact your vet

9:56

immediately, inform them of when it happened

9:58

and where it happened. If by any

10:00

chance you happen to have recognized that your dog was

10:02

eating something before. If you

10:04

can bag it up, take it with you. And then follow

10:06

your vet's advice. The problem is there

10:09

isn't such a thing as general

10:11

advice for this topic because different

10:13

poisons affect the body in different ways.

10:15

Yeah there's no standard protocol as

10:17

such because each poison will

10:19

elicit a different response

10:22

in the dog.

10:24

Absolutely.

10:24

Okay. We were talking , um,

10:26

about leaves, things

10:28

happening in the garden,

10:31

susceptibility of dogs

10:33

to general snuffling

10:36

around and rooting around when

10:38

we're taking our dogs out for a walk,

10:40

when we're letting them loose in

10:43

the garden, practically, how

10:45

can we keep them safe?

10:47

When you're at home, you can manage the environment. Now

10:49

there are still dangerous chemicals in the cupboards. There's

10:51

still chocolate. There's still different foods that

10:53

can be poisonous, but you've got a better sense

10:55

of control. When you are out for

10:58

a walk, your priority has to be environment

11:00

management. Now what this constitutes.

11:03

So for instance, if I'm taking my dog somewhere new,

11:05

that very first time, even if it's a forest

11:07

or a beach, I am not

11:09

going to let him off the leash. And the reason for

11:11

that is I want to look around. I want

11:13

to assess what's there, assess the hazards

11:16

so I can know my way around.

11:18

And that will enable me to better

11:20

protect my dog for the next time that we return

11:23

. There are certain

11:25

commands or exercises, so to speak,

11:28

that you can train with your dog, that you can train for

11:30

safety. My own dogs

11:32

do a few different tricks, but they also do have safety

11:35

drills that we do use. The most

11:37

obvious one would be recall. If

11:40

your dog does not come back, when

11:42

you call it, when it's off the leash, you

11:44

shouldn't be letting your dog, off the leash. Then

11:47

there are a number of other common exercises such

11:49

as leave Wwhen you want your dog to back away.

11:51

Drop if your

11:53

dog has something in his mouth. Wait is

11:56

different from stay for me. If I'm getting

11:58

my dog to stay, I will only ever do that face

12:00

to face, but wait to

12:02

my dog is when my dog is walking beside me or walking

12:04

in front of me and I want the dog to stop.

12:07

What about using the word no?

12:09

The problem with using the word no is that

12:12

it has no meaning at all to dogs

12:14

whatsoever. A lot of people do use

12:16

no with their dogs, but they use it in

12:18

so many contexts.

12:19

That the dog finds it hard to distinguish what

12:22

it actually means then?

12:23

Yeah. You know, you might say no to weeing on

12:25

the carpet. No to eating the child.

12:27

No to

12:29

sniffing the postman's bottom.

12:32

There are so many different no's, it's not easy

12:34

and it can be a little bit frustrating for the dog.

12:36

It needs to be action specific so that the dog understands.

12:39

Yeah , exactly. When you make it action specific, you can

12:41

create artificial drills to repeat,

12:44

repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, to build

12:47

a strengthened response in the dog.

12:49

And this honestly, it's the best

12:51

way to keep safe. And I beg of every person

12:54

who says, you know, dogs should be dogs.

12:56

You know , I'm not going to train my dog. Now

12:58

you don't have to train your dog to become a circus

13:00

performer, but you must train

13:02

your dog to be safe .

13:03

Yeah. On a basic level of discipline

13:06

is advisable really

13:08

for the dog's safety first

13:10

and foremost.

13:11

Absolutely. You're doing it for their benefit.

13:13

So to summarize, if you want

13:15

to keep your dog safe, don't just

13:18

trust in the fact that things are going

13:20

to be okay, train

13:22

your dog. If you train your dog , um

13:25

, using these safe commands that I've been discussing,

13:27

your dog has the best chance of responding

13:30

to you. You have the best chance of

13:32

keeping your dog safe when you're out there in the wild

13:34

world.

13:49

I've left the comfort of my presenter's chair

13:51

to wander down to the lab at Paw HQ. And time

13:55

to see what our canine nerd has been researching

13:57

for this episode, Scott what's

14:00

under the microscope?

14:01

Well there's been a new study that has attempted to map

14:03

out personality changes brought on by

14:05

the passage of time.

14:08

All right . So take us through the study then.

14:10

Right It was published in scientific reports

14:13

by, Oh God forbid.

14:15

This is where my linguistic skills are going to

14:17

be massively challenged.

14:19

Go on then I'll try not to laugh.

14:20

Borbola Turkson of

14:22

Turkon. Now she's a

14:24

researcher at the, oh, now

14:26

I'm seeing symbols that I don't think anyone should

14:29

be able to read. I could only

14:31

guess that [inaudible]

14:32

loren university

14:34

in Budapest.

14:35

Okay. If anyone , uh

14:37

, who's from Budapest and who

14:39

is listening to this and cringing, we,

14:42

we sincerely apologize.

14:44

Absolutely massively. And on my behalf,

14:46

I'm thoroughly ashamed, but at least I had a go. Right back

14:50

to the study. So they recruited

14:52

217 border collies

14:54

from, and I love this name.

14:57

The clever dog database in Vienna.

15:02

Never was a database So aptly named.

15:06

I love it. Anyhows the

15:09

dogs ranged from six months to

15:11

15 years old. Now

15:13

the dogs were evaluated over

15:15

a series of tests known as the

15:17

Vienna dog personality test

15:20

.

15:20

What's that about them ?

15:21

Right? So it's a series of

15:23

tests which explore a few different

15:25

things. Okay. Um , it's broken

15:28

down into about six different parts. The

15:30

first part is an exploration test.

15:32

So the dogs explore a room with different objects

15:35

in for one minute, whilst the owner ignores

15:37

the dog, then the next test is

15:39

the frustration test.

15:41

We've all been there.

15:43

Well, to be honest I'd find this extremely frustrating

15:46

because what they do is they put a little piece

15:48

of sausage on a string and they dangle it just

15:50

out of reach of the dog for one

15:52

minute. Now

15:55

myself, that would make me crazy. And then there's

15:57

a novel object test. So

15:59

they have this little toy that moves on its own and

16:01

makes a sound and they leave the dog to interact with that

16:03

. Then there's the ballplaying tests. So

16:05

they get the owner to play fetch they just repeat

16:08

it three times, then there's the

16:10

obedience test, but it has a little bit of a

16:12

twist. So the owner runs through

16:14

sit, lie down, stay, come, whilst

16:17

an experimenter in the room

16:19

makes rustling noises, I presume

16:21

with a paper bag or something.

16:23

So this is an attempt

16:25

to distract the dog. Is it?

16:27

Yes.

16:27

Right okay.

16:28

And then finally, there's the problem

16:30

solving test where the owner

16:32

shows the dog a piece of sausage, places

16:34

in a bin, places the lid down, lifts off the lid to show

16:38

the dog how to do the task , and then they

16:40

leave the dog for one minute to see if the dog will repeat

16:42

the performance.

16:43

Okay. It's almost like a Krypton factor

16:45

for doggies.

16:47

Absolutely. Now four years later,

16:49

the researchers invited the

16:52

living dogs or whoever could make it back.

16:54

And only 37 of the dogs actually

16:56

showed up.

16:57

Significantly smaller group than

17:00

the first group.

17:01

Yes. So this is a group that was 217.

17:03

It went down to 37.

17:05

Ok. The findings then what were they?

17:07

And what does it show us?

17:09

My first instinct was to say

17:11

that, you know , it was quite obvious. They found that dogs

17:14

that were the most active and curious

17:16

in the first test were the most active and

17:18

curious in the second test.

17:19

Okay. So no change there. Yes the only thing

17:21

was that individually, each dog was less

17:23

curious than they had been if that makes

17:25

sense? The dogs attentiveness

17:28

and their ability to solve problems changed

17:31

quite a lot. So the

17:33

problem solving ability continued to improve

17:35

up into six years of age before

17:37

remaining stable. Um

17:40

, the interest in novel items didn't change

17:42

so much in early life, but at around

17:45

three years old, the dog's curiosity

17:47

decreased. And the

17:50

ability to tolerate frustration. So remember

17:52

the sausage on a string? Now this

17:54

remained the same as did the desire

17:56

to socialize with other dogs and people. Okay.

17:59

So the findings then illustrate

18:01

what exactly?

18:02

Essentially dogs continue to develop

18:04

mentally when you think of cognitive

18:06

function with problem solving, that cognitive

18:08

function is still strong, but up until six

18:10

years old, but there isn't a noticeable

18:13

decrease. The other thing is

18:15

you would imagine that a dog would be much more interested

18:17

in new items when it was a puppy, but

18:20

actually continued until three

18:22

years old,

18:23

Cast your mind back, if you will, all

18:25

the way back. A number of weeks ago, the pilot

18:27

episode, we discussed dog

18:30

aging, does this study

18:32

correlate to what we discussed

18:34

then, maybe it has no correlation at all?

18:36

Interestingly, it's actually quite surprising. So to

18:38

remind you or to reference

18:41

it for anyone who didn't listen. In the pilot episod

18:43

we discussed t he study that h as disproved

18:46

the idea that a dog, one year

18:48

of a dog's life is the equivalent to seven

18:50

human years. Okay.

18:52

So we found, u m, an

18:55

incredibly complicated equation

18:57

was required along with a scientific

18:59

c alculator, u h, and immeasurable patience

19:01

to calculate t he dog's age. So, you know,

19:04

I just referenced the, u m, problem

19:06

solving and the cognitive ability of dogs.

19:08

So when you think in terms of the

19:11

age study that this shows

19:13

that dogs cognitively improve

19:15

into their sixties. S

19:18

o if you remember a five-year-old dog

19:21

was the equivalent of 60 human years

19:23

by their DNA, a

19:25

s even y ear o ld dog would be 62.

19:27

Now this study suggests that the

19:29

cognitive ability in terms of problem solving,

19:32

u m, c ontinued to improve and attentiveness

19:34

continued to improve until the d og was six. So

19:36

it would make a dog 61. And

19:39

I suppose the other point is curiosity. So the interest

19:42

in novel objects n ow, I just mentioned

19:44

that you'd i magine it puppies would

19:46

be the most interested in new things. However,

19:49

we know that these dogs continued to be interested

19:51

in novel items until they were three.

19:54

Going back to the age study, a three year old

19:56

dog by DNA is 49

19:59

years old. Obviously I

20:01

don't want to embarrass you at all, Caroline, but

20:03

how interested are you in novel items?

20:06

Honestly, the age I'm at the moment,

20:08

really the only three things I'm interested

20:10

in are tea, chocolate and red wine.

20:14

Those are about the only things that still get

20:16

me excited after all this time, Aand I've

20:19

been here quite a while . The study

20:21

then just extrapolating for that and maybe

20:23

this is me kind of going off in a slight tangent,

20:26

does it, or should it make the future brighter

20:28

for the older puppies?

20:30

You would hope so. However, I

20:32

suppose the first thing to consider is

20:34

that this study was based upon the smartest of breeds

20:37

they've taken border collies.

20:39

We all know that border collies are incredibly

20:41

bright, incredibly agile, inquisitive.

20:45

Yeah. So just because a six year old border

20:47

collie is able to do cognitive gymnastics

20:50

the same may, well not be true of a beagle

20:52

or a chihuahua. Realistically, we

20:54

would need more testing to have any idea

20:56

about the relevance of this study.

20:58

So the cognitive skills, the cognitive functions

21:01

you're saying , um, are breed

21:03

dependent?

21:04

No, just

21:06

to contradict myself nicely . Right?

21:10

In my own experience from working with dogs

21:11

it is the , the

21:13

dog's own experience and the stimulation

21:16

that you give a dog in its early life that tends to create

21:19

intellect . Now I have read other

21:21

studies that suggested that brain

21:23

size in a dog finishes development

21:25

around two years old. So

21:28

if you've had a dog living in a home that he

21:30

hasn't been shown attention and he hasn't had stimulation

21:32

in his formative years

21:34

he is less likely

21:36

to be a doggy Einstein. But

21:38

if you , you know , if you're take a younger dog and

21:41

you fIll it's life full of enrichment games and

21:43

scent work, and you know , you're constantly

21:45

offering problems for it to solve, the chances

21:47

are that it's going to grow up to be

21:50

an absolute doggy genius. Realistically,

21:54

what this does tell us about older dogs is

21:56

that the older the dog is the calmer it tends

21:58

to be. And logically,

22:01

the older dog has more experience

22:04

to draw upon. There's less new situations,

22:07

less novel items and all of these different

22:09

activities that tend to distract a dog,

22:12

are quite mundane once a dog reaches

22:14

a certain point in its life. All this has highlighted

22:16

is things that we knew to be true, but what

22:18

would be wonderful would be if they extended

22:21

this study to include a wider variation

22:23

of dog. And hopefully

22:25

with larger numbers of dogs, because that

22:27

would tell us just how deep

22:30

the truth of this study lies.

22:33

We want this dogcast to be as interactive

22:35

an experience as

22:37

possible, so please get in

22:39

touch. You can talk to the paw on

22:41

Facebook, www.facebook.com/talk2thepawpod, Twitter

22:51

@talk2thepawpod. Find us on Instagram

22:53

@talk2thepawpod, email

22:56

info@talk2thepaw .co.uk . All

23:01

the podcasts are available to listen

23:03

and download on Apple podcasts, Spotify,

23:07

Google podcasts. Picture the

23:16

scene. The family's watching

23:19

TV all cozy and comfy.

23:21

And the doorbell rings. The kids shout

23:23

mom the door. To

23:26

which you nonchanlantly say nah it's okay. It's only the

23:29

dog. Too bizarre to be true? Apparently not.

23:33

Scott reveal the gadget, uf

23:36

you please.

23:37

It's the Pebble Smart Doggy

23:39

Doorbell.

23:42

That sounds like a tongue twister. Oh

23:45

Lord. What have we got ourselves in for

23:47

this time? Okay. You better

23:49

explain what this is then .

23:50

So it's a doorbell.

23:56

Okay.

23:56

Right, the clever thing, what they've done, they've attached like

23:58

a , a yellow target disc

24:01

to the front of a doorbell. And this

24:03

is pressure activated. So a dog can touch

24:05

this disc with its nose or with

24:07

its paw and it will ring the doorbell. Additionally,

24:10

on top of the doorbell, they've actually got a treat

24:12

dispenser. So when the dog hits

24:14

the doorbell, then a treat should fall

24:16

out from the doorbell. Now these doorbells

24:18

they can be placed inside the house or outside

24:20

the house. The idea is

24:22

to eventually train the dog, to

24:25

use the doorbell when it's leaving or entering. And

24:27

it did remind me when I saw it of a slightly

24:30

older device called a poochybell.

24:33

While you're explaining all of that I have all

24:35

sorts of mad, mental images,

24:37

floating around, maybe unfair on my

24:39

behalf I think this sounds like a

24:42

great big gimmick. You're

24:45

laughing at me now as if to say no,

24:48

it's not a great big gimmick.

24:50

Well it's conceptually sound right. Imagine

24:53

this situation. You've got an elderly dog.

24:55

Yes. Guilty.

24:57

Right so your front doorbell rings, not your

24:59

poochy bell, but your front door rings and

25:01

you go to , um , to

25:03

open the door and there's the postman . You have nice

25:05

little chat, as you are getting your letters or parcels or whatever.

25:08

From a socially distant perspective though let's add.

25:12

Obviously. And then you come back into your kitchen or

25:14

wherever the dog was and you find

25:17

an ocean of urine sitting there.

25:19

Oh yeah. That's an all too familiar tale with me.

25:22

Yeah.

25:22

One of the issues we have. And you know , the same can be said of puppies

25:25

is dogs not been able to tell us that they need

25:27

to go and do their business. The problem

25:29

is it's such an abstract concept

25:32

for a dog to try to teach a dog, okay,

25:34

you need to use a doorbell, knock on the door, do this, do that

25:36

to get in or out. It's not exactly

25:38

straight forward.

25:39

What's wrong with just letting your dog

25:42

out at regular intervals , say

25:44

every hour or so to do its business

25:47

and then bring it back into

25:49

the house. Shouldn't you be doing that

25:52

as best practice anyway?

25:54

Obviously the easier it is for a dog to actually

25:56

go and evacuate it's bits

25:58

and pieces the better, but

26:01

you're a human. Have you ever had a bad

26:03

kebab or a spicy curry on a Saturday night?

26:05

I know what you're trying to say. Yes. I have absolutely

26:08

had an upset tummy and err, situations

26:11

have arisen where I need to make, I

26:13

think what would be called an emergency

26:16

toilet stop.

26:17

So that's one situation, right ? Your

26:19

body doesn't always give you a warning as to when you need to

26:21

go. Another typical situation and

26:24

again, with puppies and older dogs, when

26:26

the doorbell rang, maybe your dog was asleep and you thought

26:28

yourself oh, you know, Fido's

26:30

asleep, it will be no problem. And

26:32

one of the most common times dogs do need to go

26:34

is as soon as they wake up. The issue here

26:37

more than any is, if you can take this abstract

26:39

concept and you can teach a dog to

26:42

indicate when it needs to out, then

26:44

you've got a better chance of not having

26:46

these accidents at home. But the question

26:49

and the true question is how

26:51

you do that?

26:52

Yeah. That's just what I was coming on to. You

26:54

talk about this, this target

26:57

device being placed on top of the doorbell

26:59

and a treat dispenser and all of that sort of thing.

27:01

How on earth do you go about training

27:04

a dog to use this?

27:06

If this seems like something that

27:08

any of our listeners would be interested in.

27:11

I'm sure there'll be some. Who wouldn't

27:12

want their dog knocking on the door when you've got some

27:14

friends over, it will make them very, very confused

27:16

indeed. But okay

27:18

. First and foremost, it's incredibly tricky. I

27:21

watched the promo video for the Pebble

27:23

Smart Doggy Doorbell.

27:26

Rolls off the tongue that doesn't it?

27:26

Oh it just does. And when they were

27:29

training a dog to use it, they were actually using

27:31

a clicker and every time the dog pressed the doorbell,

27:33

it got a click and it got a treat. And

27:35

when I watched this, my first thought was okay,

27:37

granted they are teaching the dog to use like

27:40

this pressure pad . But

27:42

how is that being connected to the door opening

27:44

? It's really hard to know how

27:48

each individual dog would need to be trained

27:50

to use it. A lot depends on the character and

27:53

the experience. For example, my Scottie freely uses

27:56

his paws and uses his nose to mark

27:58

things, but it's still an abstract

28:00

concept. I suspect the best way to do

28:02

it would be to encourage

28:04

the dog, to use the pressure plate. And as soon as

28:06

it does open the door and let that be the reward. But

28:10

again, because it's such a concept,

28:13

it might be tricky. I personally suspect

28:15

some dogs will get it and some dogs won't,

28:18

and the biggest problem could

28:20

be, you might inadvertently teach the

28:22

dog that you want them to ring

28:24

the bell.

28:25

Yeah. That's just what I was going to say.

28:28

You're explaining that and I'm thinking

28:31

the scenarios, the opportunities

28:33

for this to go hideously

28:36

wrong and throw

28:38

up a range of unintended consequences

28:41

are plentiful. Funny story for you. Actually,

28:44

when I was growing up, believe this

28:46

or not, any of my family are listening they

28:48

will recognize this story and chortle

28:51

heartily at the memories.

28:53

When I was growing up, we had a cat

28:55

that was able to use the knocker

28:57

on our front door. I know

28:59

sounds bizarre. This

29:01

is true hand on heart. We

29:03

didn't actually know for a number

29:06

of weeks, possibly months from memory

29:08

until one of my late

29:10

brother's friends was up visiting the house and

29:12

it was a little black cat. We had numerous animals when

29:14

we were growing up. Can't remember the name of the cat

29:17

at the time. All I remember is the

29:19

front door would knock. Someone

29:21

would go to the door. There'd be nobody there.

29:23

But the cat would be there. A cat comes

29:25

in. Didn't think anything of it. One of my

29:27

late brother's friends was visiting. They

29:29

were outside in the car talking, cat comes

29:32

to the door. Cat stands up on its hind legs,

29:34

lifts the doorknocker. Somebody

29:37

opens the door, nobody there, but the cat's

29:39

there, the cat goes in and

29:41

he says to my brother, your cat just

29:44

rang the knocker on your door. And my brother was like, what?

29:47

But yeah. And we saw it for

29:49

ourselves . Sorry. I digress. Carry on.

29:52

Now, that is quite remarkable. I think that's more

29:54

witchcraft than anything else.

29:55

Oh, it

29:57

was.

29:57

It wasn't by any chance a black cat?

29:59

It absolutely was a black yes.

29:59

What I

30:04

was going to say, right? The success really

30:06

depends on the dog's character. Okay

30:08

. And you know , when people talk of dogs characters they

30:11

think about personality. I actually

30:14

want to think more about certain behavioral

30:16

characteristics of a dog. So

30:18

let's take dog number one I'm going to call sir

30:20

Francis Drake or the great explorer. Now

30:23

this is a dog that loves going outside, that

30:25

has access to a window, so can

30:28

see movement, grass moving, cats passing by

30:30

or whatever. So every time it sees

30:32

movement, it's going to be running back to the back

30:34

door. It's

30:37

not going to be doing it to eliminate. Cos it would already

30:39

have worked out haha you know that's

30:41

the gateway to everything good. Or

30:44

for example, the quiet pooch, like

30:46

Sir Macho, my

30:48

own young man. Now, when he wants to come back in the house,

30:51

he just stands by the back door .

30:53

Yes, he's a silent little poppet isn't he?

30:55

He, he won't bark. He won't scratch.

30:57

He'ss just stand there, sit there.

30:59

Even if it's a warmer day, lay down.

31:01

He'll just wait however long it takes.

31:05

I'm quietly convinced I could spend at these

31:07

40 hours trying to teach him to use this doorbell and

31:10

still he won't. He's a gentlemen . And then

31:12

for example, I can think of a certain Sheltie

31:14

who is a people lover. You

31:18

let her out the back door and she goes and stands by the

31:20

back door the whole time. Are we going in yet? Are we going in?

31:23

Now, now, now, now.

31:23

If you happen to be outside, she'll be looking at

31:26

you, looking at the door, showing her glance. I want to go

31:28

in. I want to go in. I want to go in. I want to go in and

31:30

I can imagine if we had one of these

31:32

doorbells, all you would hear is ding dong, ding dong, ding dong, ding dong. So one

31:38

of the problems is first assess your dog's character

31:41

because you might well end up being driven

31:43

around the bend by a dog

31:45

hammering on the doorbell.

31:46

You will be a slave to your dog's

31:48

wishes and commands. Yes rather than

31:50

it being used to the intended purpose.

31:53

That's it. So as I can say, it's

31:55

a beautiful idea and I've not had

31:57

direct experience with it so I don't know whether it's possible.

32:00

I would love to hear from anyone who has

32:03

about the good and bad experiences of

32:05

giving your a dog a doorbell. This device, you

32:07

can put inside your house, outside your house. They

32:09

even do double packs. So you can have one

32:10

and one for going it. Now,

32:14

I don't know if they've got different bell sounds

32:15

for in and out.

32:18

Um, please, if anyone does

32:20

have experience of this device and

32:23

has used it, as Scott says, if you have

32:26

any experience of operating this

32:28

or something similar, please get in touch.

32:30

We would love to hear how you got

32:32

on. Our

32:57

Wagtastic Woof this time around is a

32:59

pint sized pooch with the biggest

33:01

of hearts and she comes all the

33:04

way from the U S of A. Mackenzie.

33:07

A little Chihuahua from New York was

33:10

named the 2020 American

33:12

Hero Dog at a gala bash

33:14

in Los Angeles. This tiny

33:16

tot weighing in at just four

33:18

pounds fought off competition

33:21

from over 400 other entrances

33:23

to trot off with the top prize at

33:25

the American Humane Hero Dog Awards 10th anniversary

33:30

celebration. Mackenzie had

33:32

a challenging start to life. She

33:34

was born with a cleft palette and

33:36

developed aspiration pneumonia,

33:38

which almost killed her. But

33:40

despite all of this and her inability

33:43

to bark, she spent her life

33:45

nurturing other rescue animals

33:48

and teaching school children. The importance

33:51

of kindness. This chihuahua super pup

33:53

is a doggy mentor to baby animals

33:56

who can't stay with their birth moms

33:58

because of specific medical issues

34:01

and she's nursed and cleaned, cared

34:04

for and comforted countless kittens

34:06

and puppies, a mouse, a

34:08

goat, a squirrel, even

34:10

a great Dane. Mackenzie also

34:12

spends her time, visiting schools, teaching children

34:16

valuable and vital life skills

34:18

like patience and kindness when

34:20

caring for animals. Competition organizers

34:24

were in awe of this powerhouse pooch and

34:27

praised her as a shining example of

34:30

how rescuing animals often

34:32

helps save more than

34:34

just one life. A huge

34:36

well done to little Mackenzie, a pawfect

34:39

example of how good things

34:42

come in the smallest of packages

34:45

and for your outstanding achievements as

34:47

a doggy foster mom and mentor

34:50

a very well-deserved round

34:52

of applause. Remember

34:53

you

34:53

can

34:53

nominate

34:53

your

34:53

own

34:53

Wagtastic

34:53

Woof,

34:53

get

35:06

in touch and tell us all about that very

35:09

special dog who's made a difference

35:11

to your life. Contact us

35:13

on Facebook or Twitter. Talk2ThePawPod,

35:17

email info@talktothepole.co.uk

35:22

, your stories and comments, questions,

35:25

and suggestions are all welcome.

35:28

That's all for now. Thanks so

35:30

much for your company until

35:32

next time. Goodbye.