0:02

Hello, and

0:16

welcome to the first ever episode of

0:18

Talk2ThePaw, a brand new podcast

0:21

devoted entirely to dogs. I'm Caroline

0:24

Bartley and in each dogcast, I'll

0:27

be bringing you the latest pooch related

0:29

news and research as well

0:31

as discussing how and why

0:33

these fabulous animals make

0:35

such a huge contribution to

0:37

our lives. Aiding me in

0:40

this mutty marathon will

0:42

be dog trainer and canine nerd,

0:44

Scott Andrews. Scott, welcome.

0:48

Let's set the scene first by

0:50

explaining a little bit about

0:53

your background.

0:54

Okay. Well, I'm a qualified canine

0:56

instructor and I also hold certificates

0:59

in dog handling, instructor skills, canine

1:01

aggression, canine cognition, and canine

1:03

evolution.

1:04

And the idea behind

1:07

this dogcast, what is it

1:09

exactly that you hope to achieve?

1:11

First and foremost, I think one

1:13

of the biggest difficulties nowadays facing

1:16

us is the amount of information

1:18

that we are confronted with every day. So

1:21

for dog owners, when you're looking for articles

1:23

or, you're actually looking online

1:26

for something to be of assistance to you, it's

1:28

really difficult to work

1:30

out what is fact , what

1:32

is useful, what is truthful?

1:34

And I hope somehow that this podcast

1:37

can act as a filter for all of you. The second

1:39

thing that is really important to me and

1:42

I hope important for both of us is

1:44

that we love dogs. We want

1:46

to celebrate them for all the wonderful things they bring

1:48

us and some of the remarkable things

1:50

that they succeed at, that they carry

1:53

out in doing every single week. And

1:56

lastly, on a much more personal

1:58

note, my own poor dog. I have

2:00

a Scottish terrier at home who has

2:02

suffered for a long, long time with

2:05

a particularly nasty illness

2:07

with no cure. And this

2:09

dog is so resilient and so

2:13

unbelievably strong that

2:15

he has taught me things I never

2:17

realized about myself. So

2:20

I feel it's my obligation to him

2:22

to try and pay it back.

2:25

Your passion for dogs comes through

2:27

very strongly, but what

2:29

is it particularly about

2:31

dogs that you love so much?

2:35

Dogs offer us a remarkable opportunity

2:39

to connect with a species that's entirely

2:41

different. I don't know, well actually I'm sure

2:43

some of you at home have experienced that moment

2:45

where you're trying to teach the dog to sit and

2:48

you repeat it, and the dog looks at you absently

2:50

and you get somewhat of a derpy face and

2:53

you're thinking to yourself, 'Oh my goodness,

2:55

this is never going to happen.' And the dog

2:57

looks away, sometimes looks over its

2:59

own shoulder and it has this moment

3:01

of thought before it realizes 'I know!' and suddenly

3:04

it sits down and

3:06

you've built a language that crosses species.

3:09

This is something beyond

3:11

words for me. This is something

3:13

magnificent. And honestly

3:17

it's the best part of every single day for

3:19

me

3:20

We very much want this to be as interactive

3:21

an experience as possible.

3:23

So please get in touch. We

3:26

are on Twitter @Talk2ThePawPod. That's

3:29

using the number two and

3:31

you can find us on facebook @www.facebook.com/Talk2ThePawPod. Introductions

3:40

done. let's get down to business and time

3:42

for the first of our regular features.

3:44

It's The Twilight Bark. So

3:53

what news story has caught our

3:54

eye? Well wonder no more,

3:56

Mail Online featured an article about

3:59

the British public falling out of love

4:01

with the Great Dane, that particular

4:03

breed popular, of course, thanks

4:06

to the hugely successful Scooby

4:08

Doo cartoon. So Scott,

4:11

the love affair is no more.

4:13

Tell us why.

4:14

Going back to the eighties when Scooby Doo was most

4:16

popular, specifically 1980

4:19

, Great Danes reached the peak of their popularity

4:22

and three thousand Great Danes were registered

4:24

in that year. Since then,

4:26

the numbers have been steadily declining. In

4:29

2019, only 855 Great Danes

4:32

were registered which was a decline of about 69%,

4:35

which would make it the lowest number in 50

4:37

years.

4:39

Could you just clarify what

4:41

a registration is and

4:44

the significance of it?

4:46

So, a registration is

4:48

when a pedigree puppy is born, so, it

4:50

could be a dog of any breed that you

4:52

have to register the dog, you get papers from the

4:55

Kennel Club to prove that it's full pedigree.

4:57

That way you're able to show it and take

5:00

it to Crufts or whatever on earth you want to do with it.

5:02

So essentially 855

5:05

full pedigree Great Danes

5:08

were born in 2019.

5:10

Why are people less inclined to

5:12

want a Great Dane do you think?

5:15

Well, the most obvious point to make

5:17

is that a Great Dane is the size of a small horse.

5:19

You know, they are incredibly large dogs and

5:22

we are living very much in a micro world. Many of us

5:25

now live in apartments and flats in big overpopulated

5:28

cities and we simply, we

5:30

don't have the space. The other thing

5:32

to consider is that Great Danes were

5:35

a hunting dog of t ype originally, they

5:37

were used to hunt wild boars back in

5:39

the 16th century,

5:42

Is the UK becoming a nation of small

5:44

dog lovers?

5:45

According to the Kennel Club, I'd say no. Every year

5:48

they release a popular breeds list and if

5:50

you actually look at the very

5:52

top of it would be Labradors, they are

5:54

now the most popular dog within the UK.

5:57

Similarly, there is

5:59

a endangered breed

6:00

list and actually

6:03

within that list, some of the dogs that

6:05

you will find include Bloodhounds, Irish Wolfhounds,

6:09

the King Charles Spaniel, the Mastiff, The Field

6:11

Spaniel and the Queen's favorite, the

6:13

Welsh Corgi. This in itself is

6:16

a great mixture, a great difference in size.

6:18

You know, there are big dogs and small dogs there.

6:21

Okay. So when you talk about

6:23

endangered dogs, what

6:26

actually defines a dog

6:29

as being endangered?

6:31

By definition, it

6:33

refers to a breed of dog where

6:36

less than 300 puppies were

6:38

registered with the Kennel Club within a single

6:40

year.

6:41

So, going back to our friends, Scooby Doo, the

6:43

Great Dane. Are Great Danes

6:45

likely to disappear from UK

6:48

households all together, bearing

6:50

in mind everything that you've just

6:52

told us?

6:53

Well to put into context, the

6:55

Great Dane had 855

6:58

registrations in 2019 and

7:00

the Irish Red and White Setter had only 39.

7:03

So I think it's fair to say that contrary

7:05

to what the article suggests, there's no

7:08

chance of the Great Dane disappearing anytime

7:10

soon,

7:23

Time for the science bit. Here on

7:26

Talk2ThePaw, we know you're passionate

7:28

about dogs and want to play your

7:30

part in making their lives better. There's

7:33

a phenomenal amount of scientific research

7:35

being done to aid this, but it's not

7:37

making its way into the public domain

7:40

where it can be used practically. So

7:42

in this section, the Doggler Effect,

7:45

we're going to try and bust some

7:47

myths, demist those lab goggles

7:50

and make this doggy science digestible.

7:53

Scott, what's the topic under the

7:55

microscope this time round?

7:58

I'm pretty sure that everybody can think

8:00

of one very famously held belief

8:03

about dogs and their age.

8:06

Can you read my mind, Caroline?

8:09

Um , I'm going to try. Um , the

8:13

common assumption that I have, and

8:15

I'm sure many other people will have as well for

8:17

aging your dog, is that

8:19

it's, it's one

8:21

dog year for every

8:24

seven human years.

8:27

Is that right? Have I got that the right way? Now I'm beginning

8:29

to doubt myself.

8:33

I would rather say it's

8:35

seven human years to every dog year. So, for

8:39

instance, think about your own dog. How

8:40

old's your dog now?

8:43

My little dog is actually she's 17

8:45

in September. Oh

8:47

my Lord. That means,

8:50

well, she's extraordinarily old

8:52

anyway, but , but even more

8:53

extraordinarily old, if

8:56

my calculations are correct, let

8:58

me do a quick mental, 17

9:00

by seven. That is, one,

9:02

she's 119 years old.

9:05

Now, does she act like she's 119

9:06

years old?

9:08

In her case? She absolutely does. God

9:10

bless her. Yes, she does.

9:12

You know, interestingly enough, I have a Scottish

9:15

Terrier. Um , n ow he i s s

9:17

even years old, which would make him 49, but

9:20

being a t errier himself an d a particularly vocal

9:22

one, very often, he sounds

9:25

like he's 80. First thing in

9:27

the morning. I'm greeted by

9:31

That sounds more like a sheep than a dog, to

9:34

be honest, but let's go with it.

9:35

No, no, no. Sorry . The first thing in the morning, he likes

9:37

to begin by doing his sheep impression.

9:40

Of course he does.

9:41

And then he makes grumbling noises all

9:44

day, all day and all night. And

9:46

you look at him and you think like, you're meant

9:48

to be seven years old, but with your big distinguished

9:50

beard you're acting like you're 72. Anyway,

9:53

I digress a little bit. So,

9:56

our subject going back to it, aging.

9:59

Recently, there's been a study published that

10:01

has examined changes in dogs DNA.

10:04

Now it's been published in the journal Cell Systems. Strap

10:05

in people.

10:08

This is going to get seriously nerdy.

10:10

Okay. Do we need to go and grab

10:12

a cup of tea?

10:13

You may need a coffee to keep yourself awake.

10:15

I will try to make it as simple

10:18

and sensible as possible. So basically

10:20

in this study, they looked at chemical marks

10:22

in the DNA called methylation marks.

10:26

Now, as you age, these marks change and they

10:28

control growth patterns. Humans have

10:30

them, dogs have them. And this was the first time

10:32

they were looking at these marks in dogs and

10:34

they discovered a few astonishing things.

10:38

Primarily, it was the fact that dogs age

10:40

very quickly during their first five years and

10:42

then they slow down. That basically

10:44

means that the seven

10:47

year myth has been debunked.

10:49

I'm sure that will surprise a lot of people. Did

10:51

this study give or suggest

10:54

any reason why these

10:57

first five years of a

10:59

dog's life were particularly

11:02

affected by this?

11:04

No, no, unfortunately not. The study

11:07

didn't go that far. What I can

11:09

tell you about the study and there are some important

11:12

pieces of information, the study used

11:14

104 Labrador puppies. The

11:16

youngest was just a few weeks old. The

11:18

oldest was about 16 years. I'd

11:21

love to be able to explain the calculations

11:23

in great depth, but I'm not Einstein or Dr.

11:25

Sheldon Cooper. What you need

11:27

to know is that you can find how to do the calculation

11:30

online and you will require a scientific calculator.

11:34

But what I can tell you - a

11:36

one year old dog by his

11:38

DNA is 41 years old.

11:41

No!

11:41

Yes. A two year old,

11:43

sorry, a three year old dog is

11:45

49.

11:48

Okay.

11:48

A five-year-old dog is

11:50

60.

11:53

Okay now even, even with my limited grasp

11:55

of maths, this is making

11:57

no sense whatsoever.

11:59

Just wait for it, it gets better. A

12:02

seven year old dog is 62.

12:06

Okay.

12:06

And a 12 year old dog is 70

12:08

.

12:10

A 12 year old dog is... Okay.

12:13

Yes, and so, you have

12:15

to keep the study in context,

12:17

right? This is specifically on DNA.

12:20

Okay.

12:20

So it doesn't mean that a dog behaviorally

12:22

could be 70, it's just by

12:24

the dog's DNA pattern that

12:26

the dog is 70 years

12:28

by his, I suppose you'd call

12:30

it his genetic makeup.

12:32

Okay.

12:32

The first point I questioned about this when

12:34

I saw this was that, this is a study

12:37

uniquely focused on Labradors.

12:40

Of course, yes.

12:40

Now within dogs, there are

12:42

hundreds of small breeds and large breeds.

12:43

Of course, yes.

12:43

it's commonly

12:45

accepted that small breeds do tend to

12:47

live shorter lives. The study

12:49

needs to be broader for

12:51

us to really know

12:54

how accurate this is. Now

12:56

when I read it, it brought me back to, u

12:58

m , t h ere's a study ar ound a long time

13:00

ago now probably two or three years ago.

13:03

In, u h , t he domestic dog,

13:06

they found that there's

13:08

a great difference between German Shepherds,

13:10

ordinary dogs and wolves. What

13:12

we u sed to refer to as the fear

13:15

stage in a do g. So this is the

13:17

moment when a dog goes from being

13:19

excited about new things and novel

13:21

items to being afraid of them. Does

13:23

that make sense?

13:25

Ah-ha yeah.

13:25

Nowadays, scientists are referring

13:28

to it as the avoidance of novelty.

13:30

The avoidance of novelty?

13:31

Yes, I much prefer the fear stage as it makes much more sense.

13:33

Yeah.

13:37

Now in most dogs, the fear stage doesn't begin

13:39

until eight weeks. Okay?

13:41

Okay.

13:41

In wolves six

13:44

weeks.

13:45

So earlier in wolves?

13:45

But wait for

13:47

it. I do hope we've got some German Shepherd

13:50

owners listening.

13:52

I'm sure we have.

13:52

Because German Shepherds fear stage begins

13:54

at five weeks.

13:55

Oh, no. Oh

13:57

, poppets.

13:59

My question, when I think about this new

14:01

study about dog ages , if

14:03

it's known that German Shepherds mature

14:07

much faster than normal

14:09

dogs, this

14:11

study on Labrador DNA may

14:13

well be different depending on the breed.

14:16

Yes.

14:16

Obviously the whole story about

14:18

this seven year myth being debunked has

14:21

been picked up by some bigger papers

14:23

and bigger magazines because it's, you know, within

14:26

general interest, but there was

14:28

another study published quite

14:30

recently that hasn't gained

14:33

that much attention.

14:35

Okay.

14:35

Now this was by Royal Society Publishing,

14:38

and this was a study that took place

14:40

on potential guide dogs. Within the

14:43

group, it included German Shepherds, Labradors and Golden

14:45

Retrievers, and it was focused

14:47

upon two specific types of behavior.

14:50

They asked the caregivers of the dogs

14:53

to mark the d ogs for social

14:55

behaviors, such as, u m, attachment. Does

14:58

the dog seek attention from the owner? Does

15:01

the dog sit very close? Does it have a

15:03

strong bond with someone in the house? Additionally,

15:06

they a sked them to mark them for separation behaviors,

15:09

such as shivering when they're alone or

15:12

trembling when the owner goes out. And

15:15

what they discovered was that w ith dogs

15:17

who scored high on either s

15:19

cale entered puberty

15:21

a t five months

15:23

Entered puberty?

15:24

Puberty.

15:25

I wasn't aware that dogs

15:27

went through puberty.

15:29

Dogs go through almost every period that

15:33

humans do. They share some of the same

15:35

, um, disorders that we

15:37

do. Dogs, for example, can experience obsessive

15:40

compulsive disorder and a myriad of

15:42

other problems that you see more often in humans,

15:45

but it wasn't unique about the dogs going

15:47

through puberty. What was unique that the dogs

15:49

with the high scores went through puberty at five

15:51

months, but the dogs with low scores

15:53

on either scale went through at eight

15:56

months. Why is this important?

15:58

This showed that their relationships with caregivers

16:02

showed changes in their reproductive development. So

16:04

you think, for example, teenagers...

16:07

Do we really need to think about teenagers?

16:09

Oh yes. I'm going there.

16:10

Okay.

16:11

So you think teenagers who

16:14

have close relationships or more

16:16

distant relationships with their parents have

16:19

been shown to go through reproductive

16:21

development earlier .

16:23

Okay.

16:24

So now scientists can't

16:26

explain this commonality. They

16:28

assessed a separate group of 69 dogs

16:31

. First at five months and later at eight

16:33

months. They asked the dog's caregiver,

16:35

and then they asked a stranger to ask the dog to sit. All of

16:39

the dogs that were pre-adolescent

16:42

sat for both people. But

16:44

when the same puppies reached adolescence, they

16:47

didn't sit for their caregiver. They

16:49

only sat for the stranger.

16:52

How extraordinary!

16:52

So, you know, this is telling us that

16:54

dogs behaviors through adolescence mirror

16:57

t hat of teenagers.

16:59

When you talk about, because I'm

17:01

conscious of , um, particularly

17:04

that last study , um

17:07

, the attachment that

17:09

you mentioned, so would the

17:12

onset of puberty,

17:14

would that potentially make them

17:17

more likely to be , um,

17:20

a good guide dog?

17:21

To be honest, the study doesn't actually give

17:23

us any feedback about that. All

17:26

it talks about is how these findings

17:29

influence our perceptions of dogs and puberty,

17:32

but the important thing, and

17:35

to be honest, the quite wonderful

17:37

development from this study is this.

17:40

If you at home, happened to have a dog between the

17:43

age of five and eight months, and

17:45

it starting to defy you, it's starting to behave

17:47

in a disobedient manner. We

17:50

now have a scientific explanation. We

17:53

now know that bonding

17:55

impacts a dog's obedience.

17:58

Now we need more studies that look

18:00

at the impact of bonding exercises

18:02

is to see if we can lessen the

18:04

impact of this adolescent period.

18:07

The second discovery from this study

18:10

is extremely valuable to dog shelters,

18:13

because when you think you have a dog in a shelter,

18:15

you're looking for a home, you know, you want to rehome

18:17

the dog, the dog is five months old, six

18:19

months old. This dog has been

18:21

in a shelter, it's not going to have had a chance to

18:24

bond. And if someone does come

18:26

to take that dog home, the chances

18:28

are they're going to be met with the defiant behavior

18:30

of a teenager. And this offers

18:32

shelters the opportunity to

18:35

make a plan to ensure that that dog doesn't

18:37

come back to them . Now, this could completely

18:40

change the numbers of dogs that are being returned

18:42

to shelters within that age category.

18:44

Plus the trauma of the

18:46

dog, having been plucked

18:49

for whatever reason from

18:51

the situation that it has been in most

18:54

likely the home that it has been

18:56

put into the quite , um

18:58

, unnatural surroundings

19:01

of a shelter. So that's added trauma

19:04

as well.

19:05

Yeah, and we don't know whether that

19:08

will impact the dog's attachment behavior.

19:10

To be honest, this study hopefully

19:13

will open a body of research into

19:15

this period in a dog's life, and what we

19:17

as owners can do better to

19:20

help them to ensure that they don't have

19:22

this dreadful existence of being

19:24

returned to the shelter again and again. To put

19:27

it into a broader context just to finish up

19:29

that when you combine this information

19:32

that this news that adolescents

19:34

, well adolescent experiences impacts

19:37

canine behavior, and it actually

19:39

changes the biological mechanism

19:41

of a dog. So as I mentioned before,

19:44

dogs go through puberty earlier . And

19:46

when you combine that with the fact that dogs

19:48

do not age in the way

19:50

we have always imagined them to , it

19:53

leaves us with one very tricky

19:55

question. How do dogs age? Because

19:58

it seems that I don't know, and science

20:00

doesn't know, either.

20:09

In each episode we want to talk about

20:11

items that have piqued our interest.

20:14

And for our first outing, we're looking at summer

20:16

toys, particularly cooling aids. It's hard

20:18

to believe, I know, but there are unsubstantiated

20:21

rumors that summer has arrived in

20:24

some parts of the UK. So

20:26

how do you keep a dog cool on a sweltering

20:29

summer day and are cooling toys

20:31

of any real benefit Scott? First

20:34

off , do they actually work?

20:36

Well that's a very good question because

20:39

every summer time you'll find that the internet

20:41

is awash with gadgets and ideas. And

20:44

unfortunately, they're not

20:46

really that useful. You know

20:48

, you think for example, on a summer's day,

20:50

most of us like to eat an ice cream and

20:52

we eat the ice cream, and as soon as that ice cream

20:55

gets down into our stomach, the digestive process

20:57

warms us back up again. The toys

20:59

that I've seen, they include various plastic

21:02

balls and bones that are filled with

21:04

water and frozen. They actually do

21:06

very little to lower core temperature

21:08

In that case then, if

21:11

these toys don't work

21:13

in your opinion, how can dogs

21:15

actually cool themselves down?

21:18

Obviously there's some sort of natural

21:20

process they have?

21:21

Yes, dogs actually

21:24

cool themselves down in a very different way to

21:26

the way we do. Whereas we would sweat

21:29

a tremendous amount on a summer's day. Dogs

21:31

can only sweat through their paw pads. And

21:34

you imagine they are releasing that heat through their paw pads

21:36

whilst wearing a fur coat.

21:38

So it tends to not be that effective

21:40

on a summer's day. The second

21:43

way in which they call off is by panting

21:45

. Now, panting can also

21:47

be a very serious indicator

21:49

of troubles to come.

21:50

So you talk about , um , signs

21:53

of dogs being in

21:55

distress. Can you elaborate

21:57

on what the signs of heatstroke

22:00

are? Because I would imagine that's

22:02

as it is for humans

22:05

can be potentially serious.

22:08

The same would be for dogs as well, is that right?

22:11

Yes. Unfortunately, heatstroke

22:13

can kill dogs if it's

22:15

not seen or treated quickly. Now,

22:18

as I mentioned previously, the panting is

22:20

always one big sign and you do

22:22

often see with dogs that are seriously overheated,

22:25

their tongue hanging out of the corner of their mouth.

22:28

There are a number of other symptoms

22:30

such as dribbling , one, which is easiest to spot,

22:33

you'll see your dog wobbling. So it will be walking

22:35

almost... It will look perhaps

22:37

drunk or, you know , quite uncoordinated.

22:40

Um, you may also see a dog having trouble

22:42

to stand up, at its worst dogs will begin

22:44

to vomit. It's also

22:46

worth bearing in mind that the

22:48

age of your dog will also impact how

22:50

a dog experiences heat. Older dogs

22:53

will have bigger problems, larger docs

22:55

have even more difficulty cooling themselves

22:57

down. Um, also

23:00

nowadays brachycephalic dogs. So

23:02

by brachycephalic, I mean dogs with short noses

23:05

and fairly stubby faces, such as

23:07

Pugs and Bulldogs have an incredibly

23:09

hard time. And of course dogs with thick

23:12

coats will struggle more.

23:14

How do you avoid heatstroke in dogs then?

23:18

Well, the first and the most obvious

23:20

thing that you can do, I don't know if you've

23:22

ever done this on yourself or an elderly relative.

23:25

When we're dehydrated as humans, if you

23:27

pinch the skin on the back of your hand and

23:29

you actually watch it fall back into place,

23:32

when you're healthy and fully rehydrated the process

23:34

happens quickly. But when you're dehydrated the

23:37

skin sometimes can take a few seconds

23:39

to return to normal. You can pinch

23:42

the skin on the back of the dog's shoulders and if

23:44

it takes a little to fall back into place,

23:46

then your dog is dehydrated. There are

23:48

some obvious, common sense things that you can do. If you

23:51

are out in your garden and you're spending some time

23:53

out in the sun, make sure there's a shaded area

23:56

with some water for your dog. When you do

23:58

actually go out and you take your dog for a

24:00

walk, try to use the shade,

24:02

use a slower pace, and

24:04

don't ever forget the pavement test .

24:06

This is probably me being a little

24:08

bit stupid. Elaborate

24:10

on what that pavement test is.

24:12

You're probably going to tell me now it's something very

24:15

simple, indeed.

24:17

It's when you check how hot the pavement is. So

24:20

you take your hand and you place your

24:22

hand down on the pavement and you count to five and

24:25

if you can't hold your hand on the surface

24:27

of the pavement for five seconds, then

24:29

it's too hot to expect your dog to be able

24:31

to walk on it.

24:32

So that would be the , the canine

24:34

of equivalent. And for all you parents out

24:37

there , you probably know what I'm going to say, running

24:39

a bath for , um , your

24:41

, your baby, your , your toddler, you

24:44

dip the elbow in, and if the water

24:46

is too, too hot for your

24:48

elbow, then it means it's too hot for the

24:51

baby. So the pavement test

24:53

is something similar, but

24:55

for dogs .

24:57

Yes, absolutely.

24:59

Yeah, because that's a funny, you

25:01

mentioned that because I

25:03

have been guilty of this too. We automatically

25:06

think as humans that we're

25:08

doing the right thing. It's a beautiful day, the

25:10

weather's lovely, gets to

25:12

around lunchtime and we think 'aww

25:14

such a great day.' Take the dog out

25:16

for a walk.

25:18

Yes, and you know, this is common

25:20

amongst us. I think it was Noel

25:22

Coward that said that only mad dogs

25:24

and Englishman go out in the midday sun. The

25:26

fact is your dog should never be out in the

25:28

midday sun during summer. Personally,

25:30

if I'm walking my dog in summertime I will look to

25:32

go before nine o'clock

25:35

if possible, before the warmth of the day

25:37

sets in . If I'm walking a second

25:39

time later in the day, I won't go before

25:41

six 0'clock. The last

25:43

point I do actually want to mention is for

25:45

those of you out there with anxious dogs, if

25:48

you do share a home with an anxious dog that

25:50

tends to follow you around and

25:52

tends to spend it 's days as your shadow,

25:54

if you've taken that dog out into the garden and

25:57

you're expecting to get some work done, your

25:59

dog is gonna follow you the entire

26:01

time. So if you have an anxious dog, I

26:04

would strongly suggest it's better to leave the

26:06

dog indoors when you're working in the garden, unless you

26:08

yourself are ready to rest in the shade.

26:11

I guess all things considered. We need to be prepared

26:13

for it. If the worst happens and your

26:15

dog succumbs to heatstroke, what

26:18

should you do?

26:19

The most obvious answer is to call the vet

26:21

immediately. Essentially, if a dog cannot reduce

26:23

his temperature they will go into heatstroke pretty

26:26

rapidly. So, obviously

26:28

first thing we need to do is to lower the dog's temperature.

26:31

Step one, get the dog to a shaded

26:33

or a cooler area. Um

26:35

, next douse the dog in

26:37

cool, but not cold water. If you just take cold

26:39

water and you start washing your dog down,

26:42

you risk your dog going into shock. And

26:44

that could be a bigger problem. So ideally

26:46

using something like wet towels,

26:49

if you've got a fan around, get

26:51

the fan out on a low setting,

26:52

You mentioned there about putting

26:54

tepid water on the dog.

26:57

Can you put tepid water directly

27:00

onto the dog, or is it better

27:02

done through a medium there , as you talked about,

27:04

perhaps with a flannel

27:07

or a tea towel or

27:09

a towel?

27:10

Imagine, it's like a child

27:13

with a fever and you know, you're dotting the, the head

27:16

with a wet flannel to cool it down. It

27:18

has to be done gradually. So if

27:20

you was to apply cold water to the dog straight

27:22

away, yet again, it's another way you

27:24

can risk the dog going

27:26

into shock. Um, and

27:29

I know it may sound odd, but you

27:31

must make sure that the dog drinks only small

27:33

amounts of cool water. If

27:35

you give your dog too much to drink that can make

27:38

matters worse, continue to douse the dog

27:40

with cool water until the breathing

27:42

returns to normal. Now, by normal,

27:44

when a dog is too hot you'll see the dog open

27:46

its mouth and it will be breathing through its mouth in an effort

27:48

to cool down. So,

27:51

normal breathing would be with a closed mouth

27:53

or partially closed mouth , and you'd see

27:55

the breathing slower, so if you watch the hindquarters

27:58

of your dog you would see much

28:00

slower movement, much less violent momentum.

28:03

So you've gotten the dog's temperature down.

28:06

You know, you've gradually cooled it down. Even

28:09

if you think your dog is feeling fine,

28:12

I would still suggest you take the dog to the

28:14

vets, for the simple reason, it's always

28:17

better to be safe than sorry.

28:19

Okay, so I'm going to attempt

28:22

to summarize looking after your

28:24

dog on a warm

28:26

day. Don't walk

28:29

the dog in the heat of the midday

28:30

sun. When you're walking

28:33

the dog, obviously first thing in

28:35

the morning or later on in

28:37

the evening, when the temperature has cooled. Walk

28:40

at a slower pace. Use the

28:43

shade, keep the walk reduced

28:46

in length. Don't

28:48

walk on hot pavements. If

28:50

you're concerned that your dog

28:52

has succumbed to

28:54

heatstroke, first point

28:56

of call should always be

28:59

your vet. You try to lower

29:01

your dog's core temperature, and you

29:03

can do that by placing

29:06

cool, but not cold water

29:09

on them. For example, if you use

29:11

, um , a towel or

29:13

a flannel, something of that nature. Make

29:17

sure the dog has access

29:19

to water. And when you're attempting

29:22

to cool the dog down to

29:24

a suitable temperature, make

29:26

sure you don't overdo it and watch

29:28

for signs of shivering. Would that

29:31

be a , uh, uh, basically fair

29:33

summary?

29:34

That would be the best way to keep your dog safe

29:36

through a hot hot summer .

29:38

And of course we must emphasize

29:40

if you are concerned at any

29:42

stage about your

29:45

dog's behavior, how it's

29:47

looking, how you think it's feeling, then obviously

29:49

your vet is the first point

29:52

of contact. Here

30:21

at Talk2ThePaw we want to recognize

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those extra special dogs who've gone

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too. whether it's

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@Talk2ThePawPod. The first

31:02

wagtastic woof is police

31:04

dog Akie, who's stepping

31:06

into a well-earned retirement following

31:08

a wonderful seven years service with

31:10

Nottinghamshire police. Akie's played

31:13

a vital role in bringing a number of cons

31:15

to book, in fact, he holds a 100%

31:18

success rate and he was showered with plaudits during

31:21

his career, including a Crown

31:23

Court recommendation for his

31:25

contribution to recovering a firearms

31:27

haul. Injury has forced

31:30

him to step down from his post, but

31:32

not before he's passed on some barks

31:34

of wisdom to his successor, police

31:36

dog Morse. Have a

31:38

fabulous retirement Akie and

31:40

enjoy a very well deserved

31:43

rest . And

31:55

that signals the end of our very

31:57

first dogcast. Hope you've enjoyed

31:59

it as much as we have. Remember.

32:01

We'd love to hear from you , your stories

32:03

and comments, questions, and suggestions

32:06

are all welcomed. You can talk

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32:14

and remember to use that all important number

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two, in the address. Thanks

32:19

so much for your company, until next time, goodbye.