Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
We love dogs. Cats are great too, no shade, but
Americans really love dogs. According to data from the American
Pet Products Association, sixty six percent of American households own
a pet, and of those roughly eighty six point nine
million households, the vast majority are dog owners. At the
(00:25):
start of the pandemic, there was a surge of new
dog ownership, with shelters running out of dogs as the
new work from home lifestyle took hold. However, as inflation
continues to rise and people return to the workplace and
social lives outside of the home, sadly, some newer pet
owners are struggling to pay and properly care for their
new furry family members. With the number of animals and
(00:49):
shelters now increasing, How can we avoid over committing to
man's best friend and make sure we're really ready for
the responsibility of dog ownership financially, mentally, and time wise.
Start taking notes. Because this is hello, my fellow glow
(01:09):
up grown ups who want a dog but are not
so sure they're ready for it. You have come to
the right place, my friends, because this is grown up stuff.
How to Adult the podcast where we figure out all
sorts of adulting life lessons like budgeting for annual vet
bills and time management for walks in the middle of
the workday. I am Mollie and I am joined as
always by my fellow dog lover who's got real Irish
(01:32):
Setter energy. Matt Stillo. Matt, did you grow.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Up with a dog?
Speaker 3 (01:36):
Sadly?
Speaker 1 (01:37):
No, that's a travesty I feel for you now. Have
you and your lovely wife ever thought about getting a
dog though?
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Yeah, before she moved to the United States, Elena was
thinking about getting a Samoi ed, which is like a big, white,
fluffy cloud like dog. Yeah, but then she ended up moving.
We talk all the time about getting a Golden Retriever,
but every year we go see her family or my
family for excited peer of time, which would make it
really difficult to have a dog. It actually makes me
think about this micro Bigley a quote where he was
(02:05):
talking about kids, but basically he said, I don't want
to have kids until I'm sure nothing else good can
happen in my life, which which I fully agree with, because,
like you know, having a dog really limits your ability
to travel or to go out every night, because they
need you, they need things, they need to go on
walks they need to go to the bathroom. And part
of the reason why I wanted to do this episode
(02:26):
is because I really wanted to drill down on how
a series of a commitment dog ownership is. So I'm
hoping to dive into a little bit of that today
so people can really understand what they're shigning up for
when they get a dog. But I'm curious about you.
I know you don't have a dog now, but did
your family have dogs when you were growing up.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
We are a dog family, but the role was never
more than one at a time. But I want a
dog to call my own so so badly. Literally everyone
in my family has a dog. But I also know
two things. One, I don't think I can afford it
honestly right now. I have grown accustomed to a particular
kind of lifestyle, and I'm also trying to be more
(03:02):
responsible these days. And also the travel aspect, Like you said,
I've got family out in the suburbs who I will
go spend weekends with. I can't necessarily assume they will
allow me to bring the dog with me, but you
never know, maybe I will learn something about preparing for
an understanding dog ownership from our guest today that I
didn't consider that may rock my world and change my
(03:23):
mind about whether or not I'm ready to take this on.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
I think you will, because today we're joined by Eripe Bloom.
Erie is both a certified professional dog trainer and a
certified dog behavior consultant.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
Erie is also the owner and director of Training at
The Sophisticated Dog, a pet training company on the West
Side of Los Angeles, California, and has written several articles
for Chewy preparing first time pet owners for pet and
dog ownership.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
Plus she is also the author of the book Your
Puppy and You, A step by step guide to Raising
a Freakin' Awesome Dog, and the co founder of the
Freaking Awesome Dog Project. Rid thank you so much for
joining us. It's wonderful to have you on the show.
And I'd like to start off to saying that, like
I have a couple of dogs in my life, I
don't own a dog neither, just Molly.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Wish I did.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
But I would say fifty percent of my wife and
I as communication is dog memes on Instagram. We'll find
a cute dog, We'll send it to each other. That's
truly half of how we communicate with each other. And
so I feel like this is kind of the way
that a lot of people are exposed to dog life.
They have a friend who has dog, maybe they see
lots of cute dog content and they think, oh my god,
a dog, how much fun would that be? And I
(04:34):
feel like they think about it like similar to the
joy like buying a PlayStation or a wave runner might
bring into their lives. But the reality is getting a
dog is much more like deciding to have a kid. So,
for those of us thinking about bringing any sort of
new dog into our lives, what are some important factors
we should assess to determine if we are truly ready
(04:55):
for the commitment of dog ownership.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Matt, I just have to say I love the way
you put that, because it is a lot like bringing
a child into your life, especially in the beginning when
dogs are a lot more needy, if you will, and
I don't mean that in a bad way, but they
really do require time, training, effort, and all of that.
So the first thing you need to do is you
need to ask yourself, realistically, do I have time for
(05:21):
a dog? You know, it's a living being, it has
social needs, it has physical needs, and you need to
make sure that you're going to have time to meet
those needs. And I want to put a quick note
in here, which is, it's nice to know that other
family members are going to be interested in having a dog,
but you can't depend on any of them to do
the work. So think about all those little commitments. I
(05:44):
need to walk the dog, I need to feed the dog,
I need to train the dog. Training doesn't have to
take you know, four hours a day, but you should
at least give it thirty minutes a day if you can,
at least at the beginning, and then you would, in
a perfect world, get the perfect dog. But the reality
is most of us don't get the perfect dog, and
(06:05):
so you need to think about what if my dog has,
you know, fear issues with strangers coming into the home,
so I can't have a dog walk or work with them.
Think about those kinds of what ifs and make sure
you're prepared for them. But the big piece of it,
the sort of fundamental is dogs take time, Dogs take effort,
(06:28):
dogs take energy. If you are thinking of a dog
as the perfect thing to come home to after a long,
twelve hour day, so you can just chill on the couch,
it's probably better for you to get a cat. And
I love cats, by the way, just for the record,
I'm not one of those only dogs, only cats. I
love them both. Cats are much more capable of dealing
(06:49):
with being left alone for long periods. Yeah, they don't
even love it that much either, But dogs really don't
do well. They're highly social animals. They really do need
to have time with you. One other category is you
need to have enough money to support a dog, and
that means money to buy them a decent quality of
(07:09):
food that will support their health. And then think about
if I'm going to hire a dog walker or if
I'm going to take the dog to daycare, which is
a totally acceptable option for a lot of dogs if
they're social with other dogs, daycare can be great. How
much is the dog walker going to cost? How much
is the daycar going to cost? And your dog should
see a veterinarian at least once a year as an adult.
(07:31):
As a puppy, they're going to see the vet three
or four times, possibly more depending on certain sort of
vaccination schedule things. And you need to be able to
afford that too.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
Yeah, and that's the biggest thing we want to talk
about is what does that typical monthly expenses or a
monthly budget for dog ownership or maybe even annual budget.
What should that look like?
Speaker 2 (07:55):
So you're probably going to need at least one hundred
to two hundred dollars a month for food. Oh wow, okay,
if it's you know, a decent diet for your dog,
you should definitely allow one thousand dollars a year for
vet bills when they are in the prime of their life.
So not when they're a puppy, not when they're a senior,
but in that like one year to eight or nine
(08:16):
years of age range. Now, just like with everything else,
that doesn't necessarily cover you in the case of a problem,
but just as a number to start with, you might
want to consider getting health insurance for your pet. There
are veterinary insurers out there that cover most veterinary care. Obviously,
(08:36):
just like any other kind of insurance, you buy look
at the details, and then other things are like, let's
say you want to do daycare. Well, in my neighborhood,
daycare could be fifty to seventy five dollars a day.
It may be that where you live it's twenty you're
twenty five, southern California, everything's more expensive, but some of
(08:57):
them will do it as a monthly membership. You can
bring the dog in as often as you want. Things
like that that can definitely help save the cost. The
one other tip I'll give you is the most expensive
place is not necessarily the best place. The cheapest place
is not necessarily the worst place. But do get a
sense for what the price ranges in your area. And
then you're gonna need, you know, occasional things like dog
(09:19):
toys and a leash, and if you have a puppy,
maybe you're gonna want potty pads, and maybe you should
buy a crate. And so that's sort of startup cost.
Not to say that anybody stops buying their dog toys
after they first get the dog. In fact, it becomes
somewhat of an addiction. So toys and supplies and things
(09:39):
allow a couple hundred more dollars at least a year.
You're probably looking. If you're like most dog owners, the
next thing you know, you're buying a new toy every week,
and it's more like four or five hundred dollars a year.
And then even if you have the perfect dog, you
should at least go to a training class with a
(10:00):
positive reinforcement certified professional dog trainer, and that's going to
cost you a couple hundred dollars for the average sort
of beginner class. Now, if the dog has problems, then
you need to hire a professional like me who's a
certified behavior consultant as well as a trainer. Those costs
are going to go up really fast. So you do
(10:23):
want to make sure that you have a few hundred
dollars over and above your rent, your food, your medical
costs if you really want to feel comfortable and not
wind up in a position where you literally can't afford
to keep your dog, which would be so depressing.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
If you were adding all that up just now. E
Read's total budget for dog ownership comes out to a
whole lot of dog biscuits. Whether it's a puppy's first year,
healthy adults prime or a senior's golden age. Taking care
hair of a dog is not cheap. Rover the dog
walking company analyze annual dog expenses at closer to five
(11:07):
thousand dollars a year, whereas a recent report from USA
Today found that gen Z, the demo that spends the
most on their dogs spend about seven grand a year
on their canine companions. MarketWatch reported in October of twenty
twenty three that thirty eight percent of survey participants admitted
to going into debt to pay for their pets medical expenses.
(11:28):
Plus we're not even including how much acquiring your dog
may cost you as well, and that number is dependent
upon where you go to get your dog and what
type of dog you get.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
A lot of what we're talking about is lifestyle and
when you think about the types of dogs. So there's
lots of different types of dogs out there, So how
can prospective dog owners determine which breed might best suit
their lifestyle? Or like, what questions should they be asking themselves?
Speaker 2 (11:56):
So I love that you've brought this up because fit
is really important. I've met so many dogs who would
be a great dog in someone else's house. So first
thing I'm going to say is do research, do a
lot of research. Do not trust social media to tell you.
Even the AKC is gonna tilt it towards sounding a
(12:17):
little better and not maybe pointing out some of the
things that could be problematic. So think about what is
your lifestyle? Are you low key? Are you high key?
Are you always up and doing stuff? Do you have kids?
Because some breeds are better with kids than others. So
those are just some of the questions you can start with.
(12:38):
And then everything I said about getting a dog in
the time and effort involved, multiply it by five if
you get a puppy.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
It's very true.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Puppies are a lot of work. Just house training a
puppy is a twenty four hour a day job.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
I have a friend who has an Aussie Joodle and
he tells the story where like when we went to
go see the litter, you know, there's all these differentes
and they picked the one that was really like happy
and playing with all the other dogs. Are like, that's
the dog we want. But what it translated into is
they had a crazy dog in their house running around
and had all this energy. Yeah, you know, like he's like,
I love her. I wouldn't change anything, but if I could,
(13:14):
I would go back to that room. And he was like,
there was one who was kind of chilling in the
corner and not I probably would have picked that one.
Is energy in the room important? Do you recommend that
people go meet the dogs?
Speaker 2 (13:26):
Like?
Speaker 3 (13:26):
How can they translate to lifestyle?
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Yeah? Great, great question, and this is a tough one.
So the first thing I have to say is that
there's limited research on this, but there's some research out
there that even breeders don't always know what their puppy
will be like as an adult. But having said that,
energy levels and friendliness versus sort of anxiety do seem
(13:51):
to be traits that start really early in a puppy's life.
So i'd want someone somewhere in the middle, but for
you it might be different. The one thing to watch
out for with the really high energy and really low
energy dogs is is that behavior happening because of fear
or anxiety?
Speaker 1 (14:09):
Oh interesting, So you get those.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Dogs that stress up or stress down, and that can
give you sort of a false sense of their personality.
This is where with a really good breeder, with a
reputable breeder who's really paying attention to their puppies, doing
all their health checks and all of those kinds of things,
you can say to them, hey, is he always that
low energy and what's his personality like? And they'll tell you.
(14:32):
But then there'll be the breeder who's like, this is
the last puppy left and I want to get him
out of my house.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
No matter what, and they're going to tell you whatever
you want to hear.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
Yeah, so be aware of that. But in general, if
you can visit the litter more than once over the
course of the time that they're growing up, so then
you'll start to get you'll see these patterns where you know,
puppies six or eight, maybe one day they're energetic and
one day their calmer, and that's just because they played
really hard that day. Right, Yeah, So if you can
possibly go more than once, that's really really good to do.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
Oh good to know.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
I think even before you bring a dog home, it's
probably really important for people to figure out, like what
are the rules and boundaries of their own home, Like
what rules do they have for their house that they
want to make so that they can be consistent once
the dog comes home. So like what sort of house rules?
But we want to like get straight before we bring
(15:22):
a dog into our homes.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
So first thing I will say is this is something
that everyone needs to discuss together, and I personally like
to put it down on a piece of paper and
have everyone sign it.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
Oh great, we.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
All agree these are the house.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Yeah, there's no I didn't say that later on, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
Exactly, so definitely think about what you want as household
rules so that everyone's comfortable with it. Now, with a puppy,
no matter what the rules are, you have to tighten
them up at the beginning. And even with an adult rescue,
you have to tighten it up at the beginning. So
assume the dog is not house trained, which means you
want like baby gates or closed doors or some other
kind of barrier. You want to set up a space
(16:01):
where if the dog has an accident, it's not that
hard to clean. Think about what they can chew on.
I get down on my hands and knees and crawl
around and look for things like electrical cords. I try
to take a puppy's eye's view. And even with an
adult dog, you don't know who they are and how
they're going to react to being in your home. Have
them in just one room until you figure out that
(16:22):
they know how to hold it if they're an adult.
If they're puppies, you need to be aware that confinement
you set up is going to need to be in
place for at least a few months. Most puppies are
not house trained until they are at least six months old.
Some it takes more like till nine months. The other
thing about house training is look up again a positive
(16:44):
reinforcement house training plan, because if you punish your dog
for pottying in the wrong place, often what they learn
is hide before you potty, so then they potty where
you can't see them, or they refuse to potty with
you on walks, neither of which is a good outcome.
And be aware that you are going to need as
(17:06):
a family, you're going to need to have a plan
so that that puppy is getting out on a regular basis,
Like think literally every half hour, oh, when they're away
a lot. Yeah, it doesn't have to be every half
hour when they're asleep, or they will potty the wrong place.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
Got it?
Speaker 2 (17:20):
And set up like a crate or a confinement space
where they can be when you can't take them out
every half hour. If you're going to be letting your
puppy out in the yard, I just have to tell
you yards do not house trained dogs. So don't just
let your dog out into the yard and assume they're
going to know what to do and then come in
and be on empty, so to speak. Watch them so
that you know whether or not they pottied. But I
(17:43):
like to puppy proof the area that that dog is
first in when the puppy comes home, and then as
I expand their world, I puppy proof the areas they
expand into, and then I gradually reintroduce things like, Okay,
now I can actually let's see what happens if I
leave the remote control on the coffee table. Does the
dog grab it or not? And I'm there ready to
(18:04):
ask them to drop it if they grabbed it. You're
gonna want to join a training class as soon as
you can get some training under your belt. It's really important,
not just because it teaches them what to do and
what not to do, but because it also helps you
strengthen your relationship with them. They start learning that you're
fun to hang out with. They get treats for doing
the things you want them to do. All of those
(18:24):
things are going to really be helpful. But more practical stuff,
Like I said, if you're going to have a confinement space,
think about what that'll be. If you get a crate,
make sure you get the right size for your puppy.
Make sure you have a food bowl and some toys,
a leash. If you have a puppy. I recommend a
very lightweight chain leash because it's not as much fun
to chew on the leash when it's made of chain.
(18:46):
With an adult, it usually doesn't matter harness to walk
them on. Collars can cause damage to their neck.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
Oh interesting, if they.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Pull, I mean, if they don't pull, the collar doesn't
do any damage.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
But the other thing.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
About puppies as they can get hung up on their collars,
so you have to be really careful about making sure
you're watching when your puppy's wearing a collar. It's less
likely for an adult dog to get snagged on their collar.
It can happen, but it's less likely get id. Get
the animal microchipped. Make sure the microchip is registered to you.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
And for those of us who don't know what a
microchip is, a microsip.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
Oh yeah, so a microchip is this tiny little it's
an RFID radio frequency ID chip. It's seriously, it's like
half the size of your pinky nail that gets injected subdermally.
They stick it right like sort of where the neck
and the shoulders meet. Because then what happens is if
(19:46):
the local shelter finds astray, they have these wands and
they wave the wand over the back of the dog,
and the chip pops and a number and registration like
which company it is pops up and then go to
their database and they say, oh, I see Erite lost
her dog. And then if they can't reach me and
(20:07):
maybe it was read the dog was registered to rescue,
They're like, let's reach out to National English Shepherd Rescue
and see if they want their dog back. And if
nobody wants the dog back. Only at that point do
they label the dog astray and put them out for adoption.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
And they basically started doing this because it's not on
like you can get tags for your dog on their collar,
but it's not uncommon for you know, a dog who's
lost to have slipped their collar. Yes, and then those
tags do very little good. They're still on the collar
that they slipped out of, right, And I do recommend
having idea on the tag anyway, put a phone number where.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
People can reach you. If you want to be a
little bit cagey, you cannot put the dog's name or
your own name. You just put a phone number and
write needs MEDS. That's a popular thing to do here
on the West Side because people worry about someone kidnapping
their dog for ransom. But if you are worried about
someone knowing who you are, just put your phone number,
put needs meds or please call and that can be
(21:03):
the tag.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
Coming up on grownup stuff? How to adults?
Speaker 3 (21:10):
What are the top five commands that everyone should be
teaching their new dog.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Eye contact is the gateway to having a communication moment
with your dog. So I love to teach eye contact.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
We'll be right back after a quick break and we're
back with more grown up stuff how to adults.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
So dogs crave routine. Yes, So when you bring a
new dog into your house, what should a typical like
daily and nightly routine look like?
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Right, and you asked. You mentioned consistency earlier, and I
will say consistency is the best thing you can do
for your dog. Whatever the rules are, we stick by them.
So for that puppy, your routine in the beginning is
you're going to nap times. This is the time when
I put you in your little confinement space and you
can play with a toy in your own pen, or
(22:08):
you can go to sleep. But whatever it is, it
does not involve me, and it's important for puppies to
learn independence, to learn that they can be alone for
half an hour in the world will not come to
an end. Sleep is a huge part of mental health,
and puppies need to sleep more than sixteen hours a day. Wow,
So I brought my puppy home. I have my house
(22:29):
training plan, I have my nap schedule, I have a
meal schedule. Maybe, depending on how old the dog is
and what the veterinarian has said and how much vaccination
they've gotten in all those sort of things, maybe I'm
taking the dog for a walk once a day, or
maybe they go out into the yard five times. Well,
they're going to go out more than five times day
at the beginning. But whatever that routine is, I'm going
(22:50):
to lock that in and I'm going to say this
is how we always do things, at least for the
first few weeks. And then you might see, oh, you
know what, the puppy does that need as many naps
now that he's six months old, in which case you
can back off of one of the naps. Now, if
it's an adult dog, you do the same thing, but
you do it on a slightly smaller scale. But in
the beginning, it's nice to have that routine it gives
(23:12):
them something to hang onto. And if any of our
listeners out there is someone who suffers from any kind
of anxiety, you will know that routine reduces anxiety and
it reduces stress. And when our dogs first come to
our home, their entire world has just changed. They have
no idea what is going on, and sometimes that routine
(23:32):
is the only thing they can hang on to. So
I'm really glad you reminded me to talk about this map,
because it's really important.
Speaker 3 (23:38):
Little babies, they got to know what to expect.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
They need help. Yeah, when it comes to a puppy schedule,
the American Cannel Club also recommends taking your puppy outside
every two to four hours and between activity changes to
avoid accidents as your house training. Something else you may
want to consider include in your dog's regular schedule is
(24:02):
time to socialize with other dogs and other people. The
AKC also says that the first three months of your
dog's life will be some of the most important and
lasting for socialization. But there's a right and wrong way
to socialize your dog and introduce new environments and stimuli,
and the wrong way it can have detrimental impacts on
your pop's behavior. Let's talk socialization. What is your best
(24:27):
advice for properly socializing them and getting them accustomed to
other people, other animals when we've now adjusted them to
this new environment.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
So first thing I will say is, like everything else
we've talked about today, there is individuality to what kind
of socialization is going to work best for dog A
versus dog B, versus dog C versus dog D. Having
said that, in a perfect world, the dog would just
go about their day and naturally be exposed to things
(25:01):
like other dogs who sniff and then walk on and
they meet people of different sizes and colors and shapes
and haircuts and whatever else. They see all of those
things and they just kind of look and go, oh,
so that exists in the world, and then move on,
(25:22):
and there's a point in their development where they're really
open to that stuff. So you know, you're basically allowing
the puppy and adult dogs benefit from this too, to
just experience the world. If they're acting a little scared
and they want to move away, let them move away.
After they move away, hand them a treat that wasn't
(25:43):
so awful, right, You have the ability to move away
if you think something scary and I'm going to give
you a treat because you were so brave and you
looked at oh. So like the socialization dues are, try
to get your puppy out into a variety of different situations. However,
don't start with a crowded fair or concert or something
(26:03):
where fifty new things are coming at them at once.
And whatever you're exposing them to, even if it's just
a leaf blowing across the ground, which some dogs are like,
whoa how is that moving, let them tell you whether
they want to get closer or not. Never drag a
puppy up to something in an effort to socialize it,
(26:24):
and ask your vet about what's safe and not safe
depending on the dog's vaccination situation. But what I will
say is adolescent dogs, especially so dogs between about four
months and nine months of age, desperately need to play
with other dogs. It is extremely developmentally important, and that
(26:44):
actually ranges up until they're about a year and a
half old in fact. So if you can find puppy pals,
one on one dog play is the natural way for
most dogs to play. They usually play better one on
one than in groups. Okay, find them some pals find
in no in space where they can romp around and
get to know each other. Make sure that the dog
(27:04):
you pick to pair up with is a dog who's
really good with other dogs. And if it's a puppy
that you have in your home, the question isn't does
your dog like other dogs? The question is does your
dog like puppies?
Speaker 1 (27:17):
There are a lot of different schools of thought about
where and when to socialize your dog. You'll often hear
rules about not taking your puppy to dog parks until
they've had all their shots, or some daycares won't even
allow your dog in until they've been neutered or spade.
But a good veterinarian will be able to guide you
on best practices for how to socialize your puppy or
adult dog safely. Which now brings us to how do
(27:40):
you find a good vet who will answer all of
these questions?
Speaker 2 (27:45):
So the first thing I'll say is opinions differ on
how to do vaccination and socialization. And what I will
say is the American Veterinaries SOCTET Society of Animal Behaviorists
has a position statement out there that discusses how socialization
(28:08):
trumps vaccination. It's more important to socialize your puppy. Your
puppy is more likely to have significant issues later in
life due to lack of socialization than they are to
die of a puppyhood disease. However, they have all kinds
of guidelines in that position statement about how to do
things safely, so that the puppy is being socialized safely
(28:28):
and you're not setting them up to get something like parvo,
which I used to work at veterinary hospitals, and parvo
is the worst thing in the world. You do not
want your dog to get it. So the vaccines come
in a series because of certain things having to do
with immunity and how immunity builds in young animals. But
most veterinarians that I know are comfortable having the dog
(28:52):
do safe types of socialization once they've gotten two to
three sets of all of the shots. But we also
need to balance that with the what if your dog
is so scared of the world that they will never
go outside and they can't be comfortable around other dogs
and other people. So that statement from the AVSAB is
a nice place to sort of start, And then you
talk to your veterinarian. How do you pick a veterinarian
(29:15):
look for someone first of all, who maybe people you
know are going to and they're having good experiences. Look
for someone who does continuing education, because that's going to
tell you that they care about making sure that they're
up to date on everything. Look for someone who when
you walk in with your puppy, your puppy likes them
(29:36):
and the puppy likes the staff. So, for example, my veterinarian,
the first dog I brought to that veterinarian, he's six
three sixty four. This veterinarians super tall. Wow, he walks
into the exam room. My dog, sixty pound adult rescue
dog sat down on the floor with my dog, ah,
(29:58):
so he wouldn't be so tall, all scary me and
my dog was like you, I can talk to you.
I understand. And they had a great relationship right from there.
So do look for a veterinarian who makes your dog
feel comfortable because that's important. And then it doesn't hurt
to do just a little bit of like looking around
on places like yelp or next door or whatever you
(30:20):
can ask for recommendations. Just bear in mind that one
disgruntled person can make it seem like someone's really awful
when they're actually a great veterinarian and that person just
had a bad experience.
Speaker 3 (30:31):
So we just want to know about like the basic
commands that every puppy should know. Like what are like
the top five commands that everyone should be teaching there
their new dog.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
Okay, so here are the top things I teach every client.
I like dogs to give eye contact. It's good to
have a signal that says, hey, will you look at
me please?
Speaker 1 (30:50):
Fifi.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
But it's also nice when you're doing anything with your
dog if your dog looks up at you, to praise
and reinforce that because that connection with you is going
to help in everything you do. That eye contact is
the gateway, I guess to having a communication moment with
your dog. So I love to teach eye contact. I
like to teach a dog to lie down, because when
(31:12):
a dog is lying down, they're usually not underfoot and
making trouble, So down is an important signal that I teach.
I like to teach them to settle on an object
in a down leashwalking, which means walking as politely as
possible so that I'm not losing my shoulders or getting
yanked down the street or anything like that. But at
(31:34):
the same time, with the leashwalking, I don't need the
dog to be in heel position all the time. So
what leashwalking to me means is you don't pull me. Yeah,
drop it because that is a safety signal.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
Yeah, and leave it.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
Because it teaches them not to get into trouble in
the first place. All of these things can be taught
through positive reinforcement very effectively. And those are like the
core skills. All the other stuff like sit and heal
and wait or stay five give me Paul, all of
those things, those are bonus. But I have clients that
(32:13):
I teach way more advanced stuff than that. But if
you come to me and you've got a new puppy,
that's where we're putting our focus first.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
That makes sense. Yeah, And for a final question, what
would you say are the most common mistakes or the
most common mistake that new dog owners make that we
should all be really focusing on avoiding.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
All right, So, the most common mistake and the worst
mistake that we make with our dogs, especially as new
dog owners, is assuming that they understand English and understand
what it's like to be a human, neither of which
they have any idea about dogs. Are born knowing that
the entire world is a bathroom, and that anything that
(32:54):
they want to put in their teeth is fine as
long as it doesn't cut them or taste bad, and
that sniffing each other's private parts is good social behavior,
and that you know if you see that someone is mad,
the best thing to do is to look away. People
think dogs are giving them a guilty look. They're not.
They know you're mad, and they're like, oh, I don't
(33:15):
want you to be mad anymore. I'm going to look away.
So what you want to do, is a new dog owner,
is you want to study up on canine body language
so that you will understand when your dog is saying
I'm nervous, can you give me some space? And they're
not saying I know I was a bad dog, because
most of the time they have no idea they were
a bad dog. They were just doing a normal doggie thing.
(33:38):
Don't expect a Disney dog. Don't expect the dog you
see on TikTok who does everything perfectly, because that is
a ten seconds snippet of that dog's life. You can
be perfect for ten seconds too.
Speaker 1 (33:50):
I bet you know.
Speaker 2 (33:52):
You can't just talk to them and expect them to
listen and understand everything A and B when they talk
to you. You should take the time to listen too.
Speaker 3 (34:01):
And the last thing, we want our listeners to know
where can they find you and learn more about what
you do.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
Thank you for asking. So my company is called the
Sophisticated Dog. My website is the Sophisticateddog dot com and
you can find out where I'm speaking and all kinds
of other things there. If you are a pet professional,
you can also check out the other company I'm involved in,
which is called the Freakin Awesome Dog Project, and we
(34:30):
are at Awesomedog project dot com and we published a
book on raising a great puppy. It's called Your Puppy
and You a step by step guide to raising a
freakin Awesome dog. So for those of you with new dogs,
you might want to check it out.
Speaker 1 (34:44):
Eriet Bloom, thank you so much for joining us. This
was beyond informational and helpful.
Speaker 2 (34:51):
Well, thank you so much for having me. It's been
a great pleasure and I hope we get to do
this again.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
Erie, you have shared some very sage guidance about getting
and raising a dog. I can say for certain that
a dog is not in the budget for me right now,
but I think the discipline of creating a routine with
a dog is very possible for me. Here's what else
I've learned from our conversation about dog ownership. When you're
putting together a budget for a dog, do some research
(35:25):
on all the things you'll need, including dog walkers, docky daycare,
and think about how often you'll actually need it. If
you're getting a dog with a partner or family members
are involved, create a contract of what each person promises
to do and agreed upon household rules for the dog,
and have everyone sign it before the dog comes home.
(35:45):
Get down to the level of the dog and look
around your house from their pov figure out what may
be too much temptation, especially for a puppy. This is
going to help you puppy proof your home. Be prepared
to be strict with your rules and puppy proofing from
the start. It's best to follow a positive reinforcement house
(36:06):
training plan. Otherwise your dog may hide when they do
their business in your home and no one wants to
go searching for the puppy or adult dog. Accident when
you're walking your puppy or adult dog Erite recommends a
harness over a collar. If your dog pulls on walks,
a collar can be super damaging to them. Plus, puppies
can accidentally get hung up on their collars. Get your
(36:29):
dog tags and microchipped as soon as possible. Routine is
super important to training and getting your dog acclimated to
their new home and life. Routine reduces anxiety and stress.
Schedule nap times for your puppies because apparently they need
sixteen hours of sleep a day. This will decrease as
(36:50):
they get older, though, and it'll teach them how to
behave independently from you. When you're working on socializing your dog,
let them explore things in their own comfort and tell
you how they want to see things. Never drag them
into a scenario they're resisting. Finally, do some reading about
what your dog is trying to communicate with their body language. Apparently,
(37:11):
the AKC says that looking lovingly into your dog's eyes
can trigger a release of oxytocin in your dog, which
is the same hormone we release when we look at
our children. I just love this for everyone. Honestly. The
eye contact thing reminds me of cooperative eye hypothesis. Which
is the idea that we are aware and sensitive to
(37:33):
the eye movement of others. And what's really interesting is
that researchers have theorized that because humans have more visible
eye movements due to the larger whites of their eyes,
it has allowed us to communicate nonverbally in hunting situations,
not only with other humans, but with early dogs as well.
(37:54):
And there's this theory that this could have been why
early humans outlived Neanderthals. I read about it years ago
in an Atlantic article about this and that modern dogs
can actually follow eye movements just as well as human babies.
So you know, look at your dogs because they are
(38:14):
looking at you.
Speaker 3 (38:16):
I totally agree with you. You know, you hear like sit, stay,
roll over, whatever, But eye contact. I've never even heard
that even once. And I love what I read said
about like that being like the baseline of communication, that
if your dog is looking at you, they're listening to
you and they can follow through with other commands. So
I think that that is huge And am I ready
for a dog? This episode confirmed everything that I thought
(38:38):
about dog, which is they are very difficult, they are
very time intensive, they are cost intensive, and it's just
not a joke to get into, so definitely something to
consider if you're ready for it before taking the plunge.
And I do think that both of us will get
there one day, but maybe let's go on a trip first.
Speaker 1 (38:54):
Yeah, I agree. Honestly, I do get out of bed
every morning knowing that one day, some day I will
have a dog, and that's the hope I need to
continue in this world, honestly. But as we wait for
that day, and as we start planning our trips. In
the meantime, let's tell everyone what is up next on
grown up stuff how to Adults.
Speaker 3 (39:15):
On the next episode, we are learning about laundry. Are
you using too much detergent or overstuffing your washer. We'll
also talk about how to clean and care for your
washing machine and dryer so they don't make your clothes dirtier.
Plus we'll find out why you should never use dryer sheets.
Speaker 1 (39:30):
There was a period in my life where I was
super into cleaning tiktoks, and I watched one where this
person was taking apart their washer and revealed all of
the little like nooks and crannies that contained just like
copious amounts of mold and mildy. That was just like
building up inside the washer, and it was honestly, it
(39:52):
was terrifying.
Speaker 3 (39:53):
Okay, stop that stood up. That's funny. So we'll find
out if your washer is doing the same thing in
two weeks on then episode of grown Up Stuff? How
Do I Alt ed?
Speaker 1 (40:02):
Remember you might not be graded in life, but it
never hurts to do your homework.
Speaker 3 (40:07):
This is a production from Ruby Studio from iHeartMedia. Our
executive producers are Molly.
Speaker 1 (40:11):
Sosio and Matt Stillo. This episode was engineered by Stillo.
Speaker 3 (40:16):
And written by Molly Soosha.
Speaker 1 (40:19):
This episode was edited by Sierra Spreen
Speaker 3 (40:22):
And special thanks to our teammates at Ruby Studio, including
Ethan Fixel, Rachel Swan Krasnoff, Amber Smith, Deborah Garrett, and
Andy Kelly.