Jessica - training and dog care; Dog Care Centre opening

00:10S1

On Vision Australia radio. You're listening to the Seeing Eye Dogs show with me, your host, Harriet Moffat. Today I am joined by three guests. The first is Jessica Jones. In recognition of National Volunteer Week, we're going to be talking about her role as a training dog carer and her experiences volunteering with Seeing Eye Dogs, as well as how her employer, Australian Catholic University, has helped make this happen through their initiatives to allow people to volunteer. And then I'm going to be joined by two managers from Seeing Eye Dogs. Nicola Cotton and Kat Kakafikus are talking about the dog care centre opening and the renovations that have taken place and are now finished. So it's a pretty jam packed episode. So now over to my first interview with Jessica Jones, [welcome to] the show today.

01:11S2

Well thanks, Harriet. Great to be here.

01:14S1

I'd love for you're happy to kind of start off by introducing yourself as well as your role at [?] dogs.

01:20S2

So my name is Jessica. I live on the Central Coast in New South Wales, which is about 90 minutes outside Sydney. And yeah, I work in fundraising for a university in Sydney, and I've been a full time carer for senior dogs since January. And before that I did a couple of weekends of relief care last year. And then Louise arrived. Louise, my current foster dog. She arrived on the 19th of January, so I've had her just gone three months now.

01:51S1

So this program is training dog foster care. Is that correct?

01:55S2

That's correct. Yes.

01:57S1

So when do you have the dogs for?

02:01S2

So with the training, caring, the dogs get assessed at about the 12 month mark down in Kensington in Victoria. And at that point, once they're assessed to go through into training, they get sent up, or our cohort gets sent up to the central coast of New South Wales with the training, caring. They go to school Monday to Friday. So, they'll I come home from work when I work in the city, and Louise has been dropped off. So the carers have keys for her, and we'll just spend the evening together, and, you know, she'll have dinner and we'll kind of hang out and watch telly. And then she doesn't go to school on weekends. So we have all, all the time on the weekends together. And very occasionally she comes to the office. So when I call it Pupil Free Day. So when she has pupil free day, she might join me in the office. So. Yeah, it's been like that for the last three months now.

02:53S1

I guess that people in the office would go pretty wild to see a dog. That would be quite exciting.

03:00S2

Just a bit. Yeah. I had to get permissions from my workplace that on those rare occasions that Louise does come to the office, that, you know, I've, I had sought approval from the workplace and also checked in with all of my work colleagues that they were okay to have a furry work colleague. And I think if anything, they're disappointed that she doesn't come in more. And I she's definitely a favoured colleague over me. So people will, you know, knock on my office door and ask me, Where's Louise? When's Louise coming in? So yeah, she's definitely a favourite at work.

03:32S1

So how did you find out about caring and what made you decide to volunteer?

03:36S2

I found out around this time last year. I just bought a place on the Central Coast and, you know, was getting... having been from Sydney, I was getting really excited about moving to the Central Coast. So I started joining all of the Facebook community pages out there, and I just happened to see a post on one of them. There was this picture of an adult seeing eye dog with his, you know, his jacket on, and things just sat there so politely and it said, Would you like to be a carer for dogs in training? And they explained the program that the dogs are 12 months and older and that they'll go to school most of the time. And yeah, that for me, it was just the most perfect situation that I could have asked for because of the lifestyle that I have. 

So to volunteer, to be able to volunteer and take care of a dog with the routine that it's,  training dog has was excellent. So, you know, I live alone, and I commute to the to the city three days a week. And so the thought of having my own pet dog and having to leave them at home for 12 hours a day, it just wasn't feasible. And it would be cruel. And, you know, then I started to think about all the money that it might cost for doggy day care or dog walking and things like that. So seeing the training caring program, it was just absolute perfection and seemed to fit in so well with my current routine. So yeah, it was a bit of a no-brainer for me. So reached out I think that day and and you know, joined an information session the next week, just to learn more about it. 

And yeah, it just it fits in so perfectly with my routine. I adore dogs first and foremost. I think, that was the main push for me was to have a dog in my life, but just, to be able to do it with support because it was really clear going to the information session and reading everything online that senior dogs provides you with a lot of support.

05:28S1

I think the, I think the cool thing about that training dog care, you know, as well, is to kind of like you said, it's weekends and evenings, so it's kind of chill, chill time as well, which is nice. Like it's it's, you know, it is watching TV with the dog and just having them at home, which is kind of nice. It's like you get downtime and they get downtime. It's just cool.

05:46S2

Yeah, well that's the great thing as well. So when I have Louise in the evenings, you know, she if I'm working from home, she comes in the door and she's, you know, she's full of energy and she'll be Miss Bubbly for about half an hour, and then she just goes to sleep because she's had a full day. Yeah, she's had a full day at school. And so she's got that mental stimulation. She's got that exercise. And you know, they say you can take her for a walk in the evenings if you want to, but you don't have to because she's already been exercised. And that's great because when I come home on a weeknight, when I've been in the office, um, you know, it's already dark a lot of the time when I get home, especially this time of year. 

So, you know, it's been a 12 hour day for me. The last thing I feel like is sometimes is walking the dog. So yeah, it was just it was a perfect way to it's like doggy day care, but you don't need to pay for it in some ways.

06:38S1

So could you tell us a little bit about, I guess, Louise and what it was like looking after her, I guess, during her training.

06:46S2

So, Louise, everyone kind of refers to her as a pocket rocket. So she's a black lab, and she's teeny tiny. She's really small for a lab. And, um, I had never owned a Labrador before. Or as a as a pet. It was a little bit familiar with the breed, so, yeah, she's just she's really quirky and funny and ridiculously silly. So I always used to think, you know, before having experience with senior dogs was that a litter was born and they would pick out the 1 or 2 dogs that were just this stoic, sensible animal that, you know, that you would see out as adult dogs in public. But, you know, through the program, I've learnt that all the dogs, go up into training and that all their different personalities just mean that they're more flexible in offering them out to people with different personalities and kind of ways of living. 

So yeah, I always sometimes like she's so silly around the house and so playful. I'm like, How are you going to be able to like, they're your seeing eye dog? Like, you're so cheeky. Are you sure? Yeah. Like and I kind of ask a trainer sometimes, like she's good at, she's good in harness. Right. Because she is like, just. Yeah, she's just a fun, beautiful, cheeky dog. But apparently, you know, when and when I'm walking around with her and she does have her jacket on. You know, I call that the middle level of being on for her. Yeah. She's sensible. She wants that treat. She's going to do what you say. She's trying to do the right thing all the time. And then my understanding is when she, you know, has the jacket and the handle on. And she's at school, she is like, working. She's working. Yeah, she is focused. So, yeah. And she's gone through training really quickly, which is incredible. So yeah, she's a rock star.

08:30S1

So she's pretty soon to be off to meet her match and go off and graduate. How do you feel about her going off to be matched with a handler, and are you going to take on another dog after Louise?

08:40S2

Everyone kind of asks you that. That's the first question they ask you when you tell them that you're a carer. Yeah. So when you tell people that they, they that's their first question, you know, how will you cope when she goes or they say, Oh, I could never do that. I could never say goodbye. You know, from the minute she walked in the door, I never I don't feel like she's my dog. I don't feel ownership over her. And I always knew she had this kind of greater purpose. And, you know, I've got a lot of analogies about Louise. And I say sometimes she's like my housemate and, you know, I go to work, she goes to school, and then we come together in the evenings and have dinner and watch telly and go to Pilates on weekends and go to the farmer's market. But then, you know, she's also got this beautiful relationship with her trainer as well. And so I also feel like we're, you know, joint custody, exes sharing joint custody of a dog, of a child. 

And, you know, and seeing that bond she has with her trainer has also helped to kind of take a step back and not feel like she's mine. You know, in saying that, we just have this incredible bond and I love it a bit. But I think knowing she's going on to this amazing life afterwards, where she has purpose all day and she's with her human all day, a handler, and that means so much to her. And you know, she'll have a dog sibling and I can't give her that life. You know, if I was to keep her, she'd have to be stuck home all day by herself. And so just that thought that she's got this greater purpose and that she's going to have this beautiful life, absolutely. Cry my eyes out the day she goes. But the best way to fix that is to get another dog. So yeah, I definitely will get one later on in the year when there's another intake for Central Coast.

10:21S1

Very, very exciting. Well, it's yeah, it's a very bittersweet time, but some of them especially you kind of know that it just makes sense for them. It's what their purpose is. And you can you can see it. Or the instructor might tell you what they're seeing and you're like, oh yeah, I guess this makes sense for you. This is kind of your role. Yeah. You're born for this. Literally.

10:40S2

She she literally was born for it. And I don't think she would be happier as a pet. So yeah, she's she's going to make someone very happy. And I know she's going to be really happy in her new life. And what I've found, having done some relief, care and caring for Louise is they seem the dogs seem really resilient to change, and they've been raised from the time they were born. They've kind of, you know, they either go to kennels for a spell or with relief carers. And so all the dogs that have come to me, they're just so chill about being with left with a complete stranger. And so I don't, you know, if I would worry that she was like pining for me or missed me, but I kind of don't think she will because she'd be too busy, you know, with her new handler getting all the treats and all the love. Yeah. So that means that makes it a bit easier.

11:29S1

How do your workplace help kind of facilitate your volunteering? And I mean, will you, I want to say name and shame, but I mean name and, like, the opposite of shame. Like, recognise them, I guess. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

11:44S2

So I work for Australian Catholic University at the North Sydney campus down in Sydney, and there were two parts to being able to volunteer in. The first was having read the description of what a training carer does is knowing that on those very small occasions she might need to come to the office. So first step was to ask their permission for that, because CNI dogs are service dogs. That was a big tick. And then every I'd say about 6 to 8 weeks as a trainer carer, we come together for group training with all the carers and the dogs and that generally happens, you know, on a weekday during the middle of the day. And so Australian Catholic University is really great in that they offer all their staff community engagement time release, which is the equivalent of about five days throughout the year where you can leave, take leave from work to pursue volunteering activities in the community. 

So yeah, it's just nice to know that on those days when the group training happens with CNI dogs, I don't, you know, have to use annual leave or like fake call in sick or anything like that. I just put in my application and I get time off for that. And they've just been so flexible and good about me being a carer with Louise and and open to it. So yeah, it's been really good.

12:57S1

It's a pretty interesting kind of initiative to be able to provide that, because that actually makes a massive difference in whether you're able to do it too.

13:04S2

Yeah, and it takes a lot of anxiety, you know, having to foresee the next 4 or 5, six months when you're in the caring situation, it just takes that anxiety out of, you know, wondering if you'll get the time off. Or, you know, I might miss training because my employer won't let me. So it feels like recognition of the commitment that I'm making to seeing eye dogs. And they're so supportive of that.

13:28S1

Do you have any messages for someone who might be interested in caring for training dogs?

13:32S2

I would say, I mean, I think my hat goes off so much to puppy carers because I feel like training caring is so easy in comparison to puppy caring. So for anybody, maybe that's thinking about it. There's just that level of support behind you. So maybe for people that are haven't had a dog before, or maybe, you know, they haven't had a dog as, as a family, you know, with children and they're kind of, you know, thinking, Will this work for me? I think training caring would be such an amazing way to trial dog ownership and see if it works for you. Because as a trainer carer, you know, the dog's so much of their day, they are taken care of and so much of their mental stimulation and everything is taken care of for you. And then when they are with you, you've got this amazing support community from, you know, the trainers, they're always, you know, available via text message, to answer questions. 

And you're always talking about, you know, I'm finding this with the dog. What do you suggest? And, you know, then you meet the other trainer carers and they've got advice. And, you know, there's a Facebook community group. So I just think that training caring is a really easy step into, you know, caring for dogs. I've just found it really easy. And I have to also say the trainer that Louisa's trainer has just been absolutely phenomenal and so flexible and understanding. And yeah, I've just found the whole thing pretty easy.

15:02S1

Well, thank you for not just joining me on the show, but also for your work looking after Miss Louise.

15:08S2

Oh, no. My pleasure, my absolute pleasure.

15:15S1

You've been listening to the Seeing Eye Dogs Show on Vision Australia Radio. I hope you enjoyed my interview with Jessica Jones, a training dog carer based in Central Coast, New South Wales. If you'd like to find out about more volunteering opportunities, you can head to our website at SED visionaustralia.org. 

I'm now going to be chatting with Dr Nicola Cotton, Seeing Eye Dogs, manager of reproduction and Veterinary Services and Kat Kakafikas, Dog wellbeing and adoption services manager, talking about the new dog care centre opening. So those are the completion of the renovations that I spoke to Nicola about, probably end of last year and very exciting that they're all gone. So we're going to be getting a status update and talking about those changes. Without further ado, here is that interview with Kat and Nicola talking you about the dog care centre. Hi Nicola and Kat, thank you for joining me on the show today.

16:04S3

Thanks for having us.

16:07S1

Nicola joined me probably at some point last year. Giving... announcement of the renovations and the work that was going on site. So those are kind of all finished now, which I've got both of you on the show to talk a bit about. It would be great if you're happy to start off by introducing yourselves and your roles and, in relation to the project in particular.

16:26S3

I'm Nicola, I'm the veterinary and reproduction manager and my role in the project was will mean cat work together on figuring out what the team needed, what the dogs need, how we were going to run the new facility and how we were going to cope in the meantime while the renovations were going on. 

S4

My name is Kat. I'm the dog wellbeing and adoption services manager here at Singing Dogs. Yeah, just pretty much repeating what Nicola said. So just working out kind of how we how we manage. In the meantime, while all these renovations are taking place, manage all of that, manage the dogs and welfare there as well. So it's been a journey.

17:02S1

So could you please give a bit of an overview of the process of these kennels getting updated?

17:09S3

Yeah, sure. So it became reasonably obvious that we needed to renovate the facility because the kennels that were there had been there for a long time, were suffering from a lot of wear and tear. They weren't allowing us to provide the kind of level of animal welfare and comfort that we would have liked to. So knowing that we were going to have to redesign that area, we were able to do research into other similar organisations that house and care for dogs, especially guide and assistance dogs, and what their facilities look like and what features they included. So I was fortunate enough to visit a number of different organizations, including some overseas, and took the pieces of their design that look like they would work well for our program, our dogs, and our site, and then adapted that to what we could fit in to the footprint that we had, and also the budget that we were able to work with. 

So we took that, I guess, what our scope was or the requirements, and then worked with the Vision Australia facilities team to then translate that into something that could be shared with building companies. And then there was a process of obtaining quotes from different building companies and getting their proposal for what they thought their design and build would look like to meet our requirements. And then that went through, I guess, approval from facilities and from the Vision Australia board and budgetary approval. And then we were ready to start and then the pandemic hit. So that was sort of looking like it was about to get underway in 2020. And then everything was pushed back. Of course, with all of the shutdowns and then a lot of interruptions to supplies and building, the building industry, so that we finally got going mid last year. And it's just coming up on a year since the renovation started.

19:14S1

You've mentioned the looking at some of the other facilities. What research was done into these updates to the kennels?

19:21S3

There is a lot of information in the literature around how facilities and housing can impact on animal welfare, so we certainly took that into account. Things like having greater natural light, um, the ease of cleaning and also having opportunities to provide different types of bedding and substrates and also noise dampening and climate control. So all of those things we were able to take into consideration and also, of course, asked our teams what was important to them in terms of ease of use, because if we're able to care for the animals in the, most easiest and most efficient manner, that's really going to make life as easy as possible for our team, and then they're going to have more time to spend actually hands on with the dogs.

20:07S1

Could you please describe, um, the kennels and I guess some of the changes that were made.

20:12S3

The previous kennels were made of, I think it was like a fibreglass type material. They were structures that were sort of tacked into a warehouse building that had walls. And in the front of the kennel was like a cyclone fencing gate. Because of the way that the kennels were just installed into a warehouse, there was no drainage in the kennels, and also there was not much natural light in that building. It is a big warehouse building. And so there was a lot of empty space and that meant it was very difficult to keep it warm or keep it cool. Eventually, with the wear and tear, we found that there were then sort of cracks and holes forming in the material of the kennels, and that was allowing water to pool, making it very difficult to keep it clean. So if you can picture some kind of dilapidated old building, then you're probably close to what it did look like before.

S1

And what were the changes that were made and what do they look like now?

21:06S3

So we were able to put in a window panel in every door. So there is 15 doors in the warehouse wall, which is where the dogs go through to go out to the toilet yard. So they now have a window panel that allows natural light in. We also put in installed walls that went from the floor up to meet the warehouse roof, so it actually closed down, or decrease the amount of dead space that's in the building above the kennels. So that means that there's less space to heat and cool. So there's now air conditioning, which will provide us with heating and cooling and is much more effective than what we previously had with some fans only. So we also have new paint works. Everything's nice and bright and white, and that really helps to reflect the natural light around inside. So it's a lot brighter now. It's a lot cleaner. 

Also the flooring we previously had quite a rough floor surface in the warehouse. That was again very difficult to clean. So that's all been resurfaced now. It's a nice light grey colour that's very easy to disinfect. And there's also drains in every single kennel, and there's a nice long drain that runs the length of the entire facility, in the sort of more open walkway area. Definitely an improvement.

22:21S1

So obviously that was quite a lot of work that went into all of those changes. How did these sidewalks, kind of on site operations continue through the renovations with so much space out of use?

22:31S3

So we had the one building, the main building operational throughout this time, but we continued to house our IFT dogs coming through the process. So we had a lot less physical space to store all of the, the dogs, uh, on site. So we'd had to get creative and we had a wonderful, um, opportunity to work along, um, at ABF out in Buhler, where we had staff actually working off site with a number of dogs that just wouldn't fit in our facilities here. And we did that for many, many months, and our team were able to be really creative in the ways that they were able to provide those dogs with enrichment, just because it's a very different kind of space out there. They house very different types of animals as well. Um, they have a different role, so they do different things. We had, yeah, a crew of people that would work out out there. And then the rest of the team were here. So we were split for many months. 

And when we were nearing the end of all the renovations, we then opened up our outdoor quarantine area. I guess the kennels out there that weren't being used and housed some of the dogs down there, which is not ideal, but it means that we could all be in the same space. It's a lot easier to support our team when we're all together, rather than half an hour away on a different on a different site. So it was a really tricky time. But the team did such an incredible job managing. Yeah, reframing it as as an opportunity to do things a little differently. And yeah, just really grateful for those people who were able to, to be flexible enough to want to work out there and, and really did get some really nice ideas that we've, we've brought back to use here to enrich the dogs. So it's been it's been good.

24:01S1

So how will these new kennels provide better welfare for the dogs? Boarding in kennels.

24:06S3

Yeah, I think we can both touch on that, as well. But from, from my perspective, it's the design of the kennels has been really important in that we have a lot more visibility for the dogs. Before, with the way the kennels were built, you really couldn't see all of the dogs at once, whereas you get a really good view when you're working in that space to see all of the dogs they can, they have better visibility of you as well. So they're a lot calmer. And it's just a lot easier to look after their health and maintain better cleaning standards in this, in this area than we had previously, especially with all the draining, the drainage that's been put in. It's been a real game changer to be able to properly clean and disinfect those spaces for the dogs. Yeah. What do you think, Nicola? What else has been impactful in terms of welfare for our dogs? 

S4

I think it sounds really basic, but the ability to keep the building warm in the cold weather and cool it down when we get the warm months back is really going to have a big impact on keeping the dogs comfortable as well as keeping the staff comfortable. And the staff are more comfortable, more happy, then they're going to be able to interact with the dogs in a much more positive way, as well as, like I said before, just having more time to spend with the dogs because less time is required to clean the facility, because it's all been designed to be really easy to clean and disinfect. We also have doors that open automatically so we can press a button, and all of the doors will open at one time to allow the dogs out to the toilet yard. So this will really help with toilet training and preventing any toileting accidents. 

That's going to overall increase the success of the outcomes of the dogs in training. And so the more successful our dogs are, um, that I guess generally will improve the welfare across the whole of our system, because the more dogs that go on to fulfil the role that they were meant to, the better the overall welfare outcomes for everyone.

26:00S1

And just to finish off, are there any, I guess, thank yous or messages that you have around the opening of the site and making it all happen?

26:08S3

Definitely have to thank Ivan for all of his hard work and looking out for the team and making sure we're safe when all of the construction was going on, and also helping us to accommodate for all of the dogs being in the other building and the way we had to change getting around the site. Also the staff, I think Kat mentioned this earlier, who were flexible to work at a different site as well and work across two different workplaces. Really can't thank them enough for all that hard work. Even just the, um, the staff at ABF have been so willing to accommodate us and just so welcoming for our staff. They really made them feel like they were part of the team out there as well. I think that was really important, given that it's such a distance away and it's a high security kind of facility over there as well. 

So it's... quite different working there than it is here. And I think they made our team feel really welcome. And we're really communicative throughout the whole process, really willing to help us however they could as well. Yeah. We're so fortunate to have them. We've had a really good working relationship with the Border Force team over the years. Of course, we need to thank the donors as well, and our partners who contributed financially. And I have to thank the Vision Australia leadership team and the board for approving the work. So this is a really big chunk of the budget that went towards that. I think prioritising the dogs' comfort and the dogs' welfare is really important, and that was shown as something that's really important to our organisation by the commitment to doing that renovation.

27:28S1

Well, super, super exciting to have it all up and running. Yeah. Like you said, the difference that those of us who have been in the old facility, uh, can attest to, it's very cool to see it finally updated. So, thank you for coming along to talk about the new dog care centre.

27:44S3

Well, thank you for having us. 

S4

Thank you.

27:53S1

You've been listening to the Seeing Eye Dogs Show on Vision Australia Radio. I hope you enjoyed my interview with Jessica, a training dog carer in New South Wales and with Dr Nicola and Kat from our kind of kennels, veterinary and dog care teams. Talking about the opening of the new dog care centre. 

If you'd like to find out more about seeing eye dogs, the work we do or how you can help, head to our website at SED Vision Australia - dot - org. Don't forget that we are looking for volunteers in parts of Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. Those selected regions are listed on our website and head to our website or to our social media for more stories, information and news about Seeing Eye Dogs. Thank you for listening and don't forget to tune in! Same time next week for another episode of The Seeing Eye Dogs Show on Vision Australia Radio.