Enrichment that prepares for the holiday season

00:11 S1

On Vision Australia Radio, you're listening to the Seeing Eye Dogs Show - with me, your host, Harriet Moffat. Today I'm joined by Seeing Eye Dogs' Puppy Development Trainer Claire Crewe of the Mornington Peninsula region of Victoria, who's going to be talking to us about some hot weather tips approaching our holiday season. Claire's tips are tailored around things that we can do inside when it's too hot to walk, or potentially if you have a dog or a puppy who's not so keen or suited for big shopping centre types of walks to beat the heat, we're going to be talking about some exercises that you can do indoors to occupy them, and also set them up nicely for the holiday season. 

These include things like door manners and greeting, as well as some bits of cooperative care that we can do this advice. General and seeing eye dog handlers or carers are encouraged to reach out to their staff contact, whether that's an instructor, puppy development trainer or breeding operations officer, to discuss whether these are appropriate for you and your dog, or if you need any help implementing them. This is just some really nice things that you can do that will not only occupy the minds of our of our dogs and pups who might struggle when you can't walk as much. Also, to set us up for the best success in this kind of busy holiday period.

If you are a regular listener of the show, you may be aware we had some hot weather tips a few weeks ago from our vet team around heat stroke and also around looking after their feet and their skin in those hot weather days in Melbourne, we seem to be bouncing between 23 degrees one day and then 32 the next, so there's a lot of deviation in the temperature. So just a friendly reminder that that can tend our dogs quite quickly into heat stress. And the most important thing is to avoid it escalating into heat stroke which can be fatal and is very dangerous.

Here's a really... important reminder to familiarise yourself with emergency vet clinics in your area. Have those phone numbers and that location handy, and keep in mind that in an emergency, what your plan might be with your dog, because acting quickly can save lives. But most importantly, it is the safest thing to prevent reaching those temperatures. Exercise, as well as lack of shade and lack of hydration can be factors. And also being a black dog. So you know, some of our dogs are prone to heat stress in the in these temperatures, as well as just not being used to consistently being warm. So head to our Omnia FM for more vet tips about the heat.

Stay safe, stay cool. And when the temperatures get too high for you and your dog, just hunker down inside and make the use of some of these tips. Without further ado, here are my tips and tricks with Claire for some activities you can get up to with your dog in the summer, which will help you in good stead for holiday season coming up. Hi Claire, thanks for joining me on the show today.

03:34 S2

Hey, Harriet, I'm very glad to be here.

03:36 S1

Could you please start off by introducing yourself?

03:38 S2

Okay. My name is Claire. I am a puppy development trainer, and I work with the lovely carers that are down here on the Mornington Peninsula. Um, and a little bit into Frankston. So we get to hang out in some of the most beautiful places and train our puppies. Yeah.

03:51 S1

You can't really feel too... kind of sad about the scenery when you're walking your dog down... kind of by the beach.

03:58 S2

Exactly right. And it's such good training for the pups as well, with lots of distractions.

04:02 S1

Yeah, you do actually forget quite how exciting the the world is out there until you take a dog to, um, to, you know, like Frank's. Yeah. Frankston kind of wacky stuff. And you're like, oh, there's so much going on.

04:14 S2

Exactly. So a little walk down Mornington Pier and you're surprised at how much the dogs have to deal with. From other dogs to people to people with fishy smells that are so delightful and exciting for a pup. So yeah, lots and lots of opportunities for training.

04:28 S1

So we are heading into both summer and also kind of the festive season. So you know, something that I mean, a lot of dog owners, but carers in particular are kind of going to be a bit cautious of now, is this going to be some days where you can't do your, you know, your local walk as... your plan? How can you engage your dog during these hot weather periods?

04:52 S2

Yeah. So as you mentioned, it's a really good time to start thinking about other alternatives for our training sessions because as you say, the weather's going to get a bit hot. And usually your go to for a hot day is going to let's go down to the local shopping centre where it's indoors, it's nice and cool, but you throw in the festive season with that, and the local shopping centre isn't always the best place to take your puppy. When there's people everywhere fighting over Christmas gifts and wanting to get the last minute present that they forgot about Cousin Ricky that lives down the road, you know, so the shopping centres aren't always going to be the best place at this time of year. 

And that's not necessarily only for baby puppies, but also for puppies that are maybe that little bit older, but perhaps a little bit sensitive, um, or might struggle in such a busy environment. I know I find those environments quite difficult, so I wouldn't expect my puppies to be able to cope with it. So today we'll have a chat a little bit about... other opportunities for training that you can do at home. So your dog's not having to go outside in the heat, but then also not having to cope with the crazy busy time of year that it is. And as we were talking about with the Mornington Peninsula, particularly down here in summer, it gets really, really busy because everyone's coming for their holidays. 

So, and that's probably true of those over on the [?Bellarine] Peninsula as well. And anywhere that's a little bit holiday or beachy you're going to find is a lot busier at this time of year.

06:14 S1

Just quickly, how might you kind of recognise when a pub that is in your care might be a little bit, you know... overwhelmed or overstimulated by these things? You know, like what type of pub is going to be the one that's a bit sensitive to these busy times?

06:29 S2

Yeah. So any puppy can be susceptible to, to, you know, finding it a bit challenging in these busy times. And the one thing that you want to be kind of looking out for is a change in their behaviour. So if you're normally chilled out, dog when you're walking along becomes a little bit activated, a bit more excitable, maybe a bit bouncier, or they're taking treats a bit harder. You know, maybe their tails dropped a little bit or their ears are pinned back a bit more. Or if you're indoors and they're panting and it's not necessarily warm enough to explain that through a heat, um, perspective, then chances are the dog's feeling a little bit overwhelmed. You can usually see a difference in the dog that you're used to. 

So if you're paying attention to what your dog does on a normal day, it's going to be so much easier to recognise when they're potentially a little bit stressed. But those are sort of the common signs that you'll see that really a bit more rough taking treats, slightly more jerky or excitable in their movements, or maybe a lowered body posture or even creeping and crawling, depending on how worried they are. Like if they're going really slow and they've got their body lowered to the ground and everything's sort of a bit shrunken away, then they may be feeling a bit afraid. So they're the sort of things to keep a look out for.

07:39 S1

And then I guess in those circumstances take them away and maybe try again on a, you know, not summer holiday period, busy time.

07:49 S2

Yeah, absolutely. So giving them that little bit of time or space. And if you you know, if you are stuck in a shopping center, just find a quiet spot where you can just sit with them for a little minute just to give them a break. And before you sort of expedite your way out of the shopping center as quickly as you can, but just doing what you can to ease their concerns in the moment.

08:09 S1

So assuming that you are not feeling... that it's, you know, the best interest to go into your busy shopping center and, you know, you're at home thinking, you know, my pup's getting a little bit bored, I need to do something. What are some of the, you know, indoor heat-proof activities that we can get up to?

08:28 S2

Yeah. So, I mean, there's obviously the the obvious ones, the basic things, all of our normal obedience training, which is really great to practice at home and just to really make sure that's bomb proof. But that can get a little bit dull. And you can, you know, it's going to take maybe five minutes to go through your sit down stand repertoire. So you can maybe get a little bit creative with some of the... training opportunities. So they're also training opportunities that might be useful when you have guests coming over over Christmas time. So you could work on things like polite door greetings. 

So, you know, getting the dog used to maybe going to their bed when they hear someone knock on the door... or going to their crate when they hear the doorbell. Things like that. Or, you know, putting their lead on when the doorbell comes on and going up to the door asking them to sit. Giving them a biscuit and doing all those kind of things. One thing that can be really, really helpful, and particularly at Christmas time when you're going to maybe have visitors coming over, is to set yourself up and your puppy up for success by having a little sign on your front door and maybe a little bucket of treats, that you can say to your guests, I'm in the process of training this lovely seeing eye puppy. We would really like your help to... help them succeed. Please take a treat and wait for directions from me when you when we come to the door so you can use your guests to help you train your puppy as well. 

So setting them up with a little bit of training beforehand and then using your guests as a As willing participants in your puppy's success.

09:52 S1

I like the idea of having your little bucket at the front too. It's like kind of reverse Halloween where you know you're knocking on the door and then you're giving a treat.

10:01 S2

Yes, exactly, exactly. So it works many ways, because your guests get to enjoy the fact that they're helping with the puppy, and the puppy gets to have treats from the person that comes in the door when they're behaving well. 

10:13 S1

So how do you teach the... you know, alternate response to a doorbell cue or to a door knock?

10:23 S2

Yeah. So you would make sure you have a really good response to, say, going to their bed or their crate to begin with. So you would make sure that you've taught them that. And if you don't know how to do that, obviously have a chat with your puppy trainer or your breeding officer... to go through the steps to teach your dog to go to their bed. But once they've got a really good, solid response to go to bed, you can then start pairing the doorbell or the knock on the door with a cue to go to bed. And so you'd knock on the door and you'd say, go to bed. And then you'd reinforce them for going to bed, and you'd repeat that loads and loads of times until it comes to a point where the doorbell becomes the cue for going to bed. 

Obviously, you chat to your trainers to, you know, to work that out with your specific dog because there might be little quirks that come up along the way, but that's sort of the basic way I would teach it.

11:09 S1

So the other thing that, you know, you do have a lot is guests, like you said, kind of guests coming around. What are some of the important things that we might be able to work on when it comes to, I guess, having your puppy, you know, be nice and settled at an event like that... you know, we can use as a training exercise ultimately.

11:28 S2

Yeah, absolutely. So something you can do, and it's the sort of things that you would do on a normal day to day basis. So if you're going to go out to a cafe, your dog's learning how to settle while you're eating and, you know, not necessarily paying attention to them. So they're the kind of things you can set up at home as well. So for instance, if you've got young kids off school, you can get them involved in the training process, because then you're keeping the kids entertained as well as the puppy entertained. Set up a little fake cafe in your lounge room or in your garden if the weather's appropriate... and have, you know, employ the kids to be the cafe servers to come along and and get used to, you know, teaching the kid sorry, teaching the dogs how to respond in those situations. 

So you can I suppose we did some of these things during Covid as well, where, you know, you can play YouTube videos of cafe sounds or people eating sounds and things like that so that they get used to the sounds as well as the activities. Um, but, you know, employ the kids to come over and make you a cup of tea while you're sitting there and training your dog. So, you know, it's a really great opportunity to teach some of the skills in a really easy environment for the puppy. So you are also in a situation where you're relaxed and you're able to actually give full attention to the dog, as opposed to when you are out at a cafe, you're usually there to have a cup of coffee, so you're half drinking a cup of coffee, half thinking about the dog. 

So this way you set it up at home and you can really go through that whole process and you can do a mock Christmas dinner, whatever it is that you need to do to practice those situations. You can create your own fake setup in the lead-up to Christmas.

13:04 S1

And I think the thing that I like the best about that one is that not only, you know, are you able to kind of focus on things because it's in your home environment and control it, but you also get to get the kids involved. So for any parents who are thinking, I need to both... occupy the children and the dog at the same time - it's kind of brilliant.

13:23 S2

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, kids might be slightly more sophisticated than I was when I was a kid, but, you know, I used to love setting up a fake shop and selling things to my parents and serving them pretend cakes on plastic cake ware or whatever it was that I had at the time. So yeah, it's a really great opportunity, particularly when the weather's sticky and horrible and you can't go outside. It's a great way to get everyone involved and, you know, get some benefit for the puppy as well as the kids and a mum and dad being able to relax a little bit without having to, you know, concentrate too hard on what everyone's doing because we're all doing an activity together.

13:55 S1

One of the things that might be quite good, and that we've kind of spoken before a little bit would be, I guess, working on other kind of husbandry skills, I guess, for want of a better term, that we were thinking about cooperative care. How could you use cooperative care to occupy, you know, your dog or your puppy, on those hot days?

14:16 S2

Yeah. So it's it's a really nice... calming and relaxing activity to engage in. And obviously, if you haven't been introduced to cooperative care with your puppy trainer as yet, then you can certainly ask them about it. It might be something that your puppy's not ready for yet, so if you haven't been introduced to it, don't stress... it's one of our extra bonus activities that we are teaching some of our puppies when they're ready and when we've sort of hit some of our goals with other things. But yeah, cooperative care is a fantastic thing to... do when you can't leave the house because it's a really nice, relaxing, settling kind of program. 

So teaching those behaviors, everything is done in a way that is mindful, with the idea that we're calm and we're relaxed and we're chilled. So we're not doing, you know, sometimes when we're doing training, we're trying to hype our dogs up. And yeah, let's go engage with this, let's do this. Let's go there together. It's a... this is much more, yeah, this is much more Zen. This is very much We're going to settle. We're going to sit down. We're going to do these things slowly and thoughtfully and mindfully. So it's it's a good thing to engage with when maybe everyone's feeling a little bit tired, because the weather's a bit hot and you just want to chill out and relax. 

So they're they're really nice activities to engage with from that point of view. And it's also just bringing stress levels down for your puppy as well. So if you've had a really busy Christmas period or festive period or New Year period, whatever it might be. It's a good way to just de-stress and bring down those cortisol levels for everyone, because it's, you're really focusing on slow, mindful, relaxing behaviors.

15:54 S1

And for anyone that's not kind of aware, what are some of the behaviors that we, that we use and for any of our carers who are... who haven't done it yet? Please wait until you have had this discussion... but you can prompt this, but for anyone who is not aware... yeah.

16:10 S2

Yeah, definitely. So the cooperative care program, for anyone that might not know what it is, the idea is... that we're teaching the dogs to be cooperative in their health care procedures. So we're giving them an opportunity to make choices, um, and have some control over the situation that they're in. And the way we do that is we teach them particular behaviors, and then we teach them how to use those behaviors to say yes, please or no, thank you. So basically the behaviors that we work on. So a chin rest. So they're resting their chin on your hand or on a surface. 

This is a really nice grounding exercise, because you'll often find most Labradors will do this naturally when they want to relax, and they want to have some contact with you. I know my pet Labrador, he loves to rest his chin on my lap to get pet, so it's quite a nice grounding and relaxing position for them to be in. And the other one we do is stationing on a yoga mat. So all of our cooperative care behaviours are taught on the yoga mat. So they're very specific and context specific to that yoga mat. And so all the stationing is, is just being on the yoga mat, having majority of the body on the yoga mat. 

And the other behaviour that we do is a lie on the side. So lie on the side with their head down. So again, another really relaxing position for the dog to be in. And once you're in there and they know how to use those behaviours, you can use them to give the dogs a nice little massage and things like that. So definitely speak to your puppy development trainer if you haven't gone through these behaviors before or you're breeding officer, and to make sure you're given clear instructions on what to do with it before you start training.

17:46 S1

I think the thing that is is nice that you said it's kind of a quiet like cool, cool down one. So even if you think about, you know, potentially your dogs come inside from a bit of a free run and they need to just chill out for a minute, but their brain is maybe not letting them, um, they still want to be doing something that might be a really good way to, I guess, like do that chilling out in a bit of a gradual way until hopefully they're ready for a nap.

18:09 S2

Yeah, absolutely. It's a great way to almost plug their brains back in, because if they've been out and they've been a bit mad, their brains off and floating around in the ether, not really engaged with their body. So this is a really good way to bring body and brain back into one.

18:24 S1

So something that's a little bit more active that... you mentioned before we started recording, was obstacle courses. How could you use an obstacle course in your house or, you know, what does that mean?

18:36 S2

Yeah. So I love an obstacle course. They're a really great way... again, there are more active exercises, but they're still a really nice mindful exercise because the obstacle courses are teaching the dogs how to use their bodies and how their bodies are working in space. So it's really focusing on that proprioception... which is really, really valuable for our dogs because obviously our dogs need to know how to, um, be aware of where they are and then also aware of where their handler is when they're out working and avoiding obstacles. They need to be able to go up and down stairs, and they need to be able to walk over grates and different surfaces. And often this is all very much linked to proprioception.

19:14 S1

Would you mind explaining this specific definition of proprioception?

19:18 S2

Well, I don't know whether I have a very good scientific definition, but it's basically the mind body connection. So knowing what your mind, knowing what the body is doing and where it is in space, so often we find with our puppies they know they have front legs and they know how to use their front legs, but they often forget about the fact that they have back legs and they don't really have full control over them. So that's a lack of proprioception in that the the brain isn't really aware of where their back legs are in the world. So using these obstacle courses can be a really great way to just make them very body aware and how their body is interacting with the environment. 

So a really great way and they're super easy to set up. You don't have to do anything fancy. You don't have to have fancy equipment. And a lot of the times I will use... broomsticks. You know, I've got brooms at home, I'll use cushions. I might use toys. Because if you use toys, it can also become a distraction training thing as well. If you've got, you know, kids that play soccer, you might have witches hats and stuff like that, or weave poles, things, those kind of things. So you can set up a little obstacle course where you're asking the dogs to walk over things. 

So, for instance, walking over broomsticks which can either be flat on the ground or you can raise them up using a pillow or a cushion. Don't make them too high. We're not wanting the dogs to jump over them. It's more about lifting those legs carefully over those... obstacles. 

20:47 S1

If you don't pick them up rather than slacking.

20:49 S2

Yes, exactly. So, you know, a bit like when you do horse riding, you don't want to hear the... horse's hoofs hitting the poles as they're walking over. You want to make sure that they're walking over them, but equally, you don't want them taking a leap over a tiny pole. So we want to have a nice, appropriate response for the level of the pole. If you have a ladder that's like single rungs, you can lay that on the ground and ask them to walk through that as well. That's another really good option. 

But basically you're just teaching your dogs to walk slowly, thoughtfully, carefully through a course and whatever that course might be. Again, have a chat to your puppy development trainer if you've got ideas of what you want to do. There are some suggestions in the puppy carer manual. And also on the... bright space pulse, the online learning system... so I can't think of what it was called for a minute there... there's some, you know, sort of ideas in there as well, usually around this getting introduction to stairs because this is very useful introduction to stair exercise as well. 

But yeah, you can use anything you have lying around the house just to ask the dogs to weave in and out of things, to move in and out of the environment in a careful way... going, putting their legs over obstacles. And they don't even have to be even. They can be uneven. They can be, you know, different sizes, and it's all going to help. Just teach the dogs how to use their bodies.

22:07 S1

I guess, as well... if you've got a dog that's maybe a little bit less keen on, you know, surfaces, just having them even off lead might be helpful to give a bit of a, you know, slower intro to these things or...

22:23 S2

Yeah, absolutely. If you're in the safety of your home or garden you can definitely do these things off-lead, and you're also then going to be engaging some level of choice for your dog to to choose to come towards something and engage with an obstacle, and then you can reinforce them for that. And a really good... thing you mentioned about the surface is there is you can actually use surfaces as part of an obstacle course. So going from grass to paving, going from paving to decking, if you've got those rubber gym tiles, putting them on the ground, you know, if you've got ceramic tiles somewhere, put that on the ground and then walk between... all those things. So just getting them used to having different feelings under their feet. 

So even if you've got a towel or... something like a those metal window shades or the... shiny window shades that go in your car, you know, like the... oh yeah, yeah, shades that go in the car, you can put that on the ground and get them to walk over it, those different things. So just different feelings under their toes just to get them used to it. The one thing I would be very... would just mention though, is if you are doing it outside and it's windy, make sure anything that's floaty and flappy is well and truly secured to the ground, so they don't get a fright.

23:32 S1

I mean, you really don't realise how much the world moves around until the wind, and then your puppy lets you know, Oh, I've seen a thing that's moving now.

23:41 S2

Yes. I'm not used to that thing moving. And now it's moving and I don't know how to deal with it. Yeah, exactly.

23:46 S1

Everything's changed because the world is coming to life now.

23:50 S2

Yes. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. We just don't have any concept of how much the puppies are seeing that we don't even think about.

23:59 S1

Yeah, that's kind of always... what makes me think of surfaces is one of the first times that I was fostering and encountered a shiny floor, and I just had never considered that it would be very potentially quite strange for a dog. And he was like, No, I actually don't want to walk on this. I don't really like it. So it took a really solid amount of time just to kind of like let him consider it and then, Okay, this is, this is fine, but you just don't think about how much random stuff that you walk on that we take for granted is in our environment. 

24:30 S2

Yeah, exactly. I've had a dog previously that I was training. He was a dog, a working dog in training. And so he was over 12 months old, and we'd stopped to have a coffee in a cafe that I'd been to so many times before. And there were mirrors on the roof that I was like, Oh, yeah, mirrors on the roof. And the dog looked up and his face, he was like, Why can I see myself on the roof? What is happening? He was so confused, the poor little guy. But you just don't even think to yourself how that might affect the dog until you see them go. Wait, what? I'm not okay with this. 

So this is where it's really just going back to what we were talking about before is being able to observe our dogs and be aware of their body language and the information that they're giving to us, because they're talking to us all the time. We just need to learn how to listen.

25:16 S1

Well, thank you for coming on the show and and chatting. Is there anything that we've that we've missed that you think would be a good last tip to finish on?

25:23 S2

I mean, the only other thing I was going to mention is using some food enrichment. So on warm days, or when you've got lots of people over and you want your dog just to have something to entertain themselves in their crate, or just to keep them busy while kids are on, you know, opening their presents or whatever it might be so they don't run off with the kids presents, which they hopefully won't be doing anyway because they're all so very well behaved. But using puppies? Exactly. That's right. Puppies. If it's near the floor, it's fair game. So you just always want to be prepared. 

But, yeah, using food enrichment toys. So, like, frozen kongs, so soaking some of their kibble in some water and then putting it in the Kong and freezing it and saying you could do ice blocks as well. So take away containers with a few kibbles in and a little bit of water over the top and freeze that, putting some peanut butter or Vegemite on a licky mat and freezing that too. There are other ways to help with a little bit of cooling down, but also give them a little bit of enrichment when they've been indoors for a while and you don't necessarily have time or energy to do any of the training we've talked about today.

26:23 S1

Definitely. Definitely, perfect when everyone else is tucking into their Christmas lunch or dinner.

26:28 S2

Yeah. That's right. It's always nice to to make sure everyone's catered for.

26:31 S1

Well, thanks for coming on the show, Claire.

26:33 S2

No worries at all. Thank you for having me, Harriet.

26:40 S1

You've been listening to the Seeing Eye Dogs Show on Vision Australia Radio. I hope you enjoyed my interview with puppy development trainer Claire Crewe, talking about some of the hot weather tips or indoor enrichment and training activities that will help set up our puppies well for the holiday season. 

Coming up... we are looking for puppy carers who will be supported by wonderful trainers including and like Claire in parts of Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland to raise our puppies for six months or kind of ten months to a year. Those puppies will hopefully go on to be seeing eye dogs, and we're looking for volunteers to look after them. Food training and veterinary costs are all covered and provided, so it's a really amazing experience. You just get to learn a lot and then hopefully give back to someone who is blind, has low vision and give them the gift of seeing a dog who might help bring independence to them. 

We're really keen for new volunteers to come on board and help join our amazing community. It can be a lot of work and there are some challenges, but it's a really amazing thing to be part of and very, very rewarding, which is why so many of our carers come back year after year to raise more and more puppies for us. If you would like to know more about seeing our dogs work we do or how you can help, head to our website at sed.vision.org. 

Now don't forget coming into summer, please keep your dogs nice and cool indoors or providing them with lots of shade, water and keep away from that. That really hot, hot sun. So thank you for listening and don't forget to tune in, same time next week for another episode of The Seeing Eye Dogs Show.