November 13, 2025 • 28 mins
On this episode of the Seeing Eye Dogs Show, Harriet is joined by two guests.
Breeder and puppy carer Kris Cantwell joins us to talk about her life with Omari and Omari's breeding career and retirement. Kris is a retired teacher, grandmother and an experienced puppy carer who raised, breeder cared for and now adopted Omari. If you've ever wondered about the life of our breeding dogs, or what happens to them in retirement- this interview has you covered.
Dr Ashe Mooney from the Seeing Eye Dogs vet team joins us to talk about foods to avoid to keep your dog happy and healthy.
If you'd like to find out more about Seeing Eye Dogs head to our website: https://sed.visionaustralia.org/
We’re looking for more breeder carer volunteers in select regions of Melbourne listed on our website. Breeder carers care for the dogs in their homes full-time, and transport the dog to the Seeing Eye Dogs kennel facility in Kensington, VIC for breeding activities. These dogs are over 1 year old accepted into the breeding colony selected for their lovely natures and maintain their manners during their time in the breeding program. Find out about breeder caring here: https://sed.visionaustralia.org/volunteer/breeding-dog
We're also open for puppy caring and training dog caring across other regions of VIC, NSW & QLD. If you'd like to find out more about Seeing Eye Dogs, the work we do, other caring roles or becoming a handler, head to our website: https://sed.visionaustralia.org/.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
S1 (00:19):
On Vision Australia radio. You're listening to the synodic show
with me, your host, Harriet Moffatt. Today I've got two
guests for you. The first is Chris Cantwell, seeing eye
dogs breeder, carer and now adopter to retired breeding dog
Omari and a puppy carer of many years and seeing
eye dogs vet doctor Ash Mooney. Chris is going to
(00:40):
be talking about the story of her and Omari, her
journey as a breeder carer and then Amari's new life
as a retired breeding dog and doctor. Ash is going
to be talking to us about some of the foods
to avoid in the lead up to Halloween and the
festive period. I hope you enjoyed these two episodes. Now
let's kick off with my interview with Chris.
S2 (01:09):
Hi Chris, thanks for joining me on the show today.
S3 (01:11):
My pleasure. Thank you for having me.
S2 (01:13):
Could you please start off by introducing yourself? Anything you'd
like to share?
S3 (01:16):
Okay. Well, um, my name is Chris, and I've been
retired for 16 years. But in that time, I've done
a lot of, um, casual relief teaching in preschools. So
Amari has, for the last five years, virtually spent four
days a week in a preschool with either the same
(01:37):
or different children each day, which he absolutely loved doing.
S2 (01:40):
Did you did you say retired? But then four days
a week casual.
S3 (01:44):
I retired 16 years ago and then went into casual.
So I was full time before that and then went
to casual.
S2 (01:50):
That doesn't sound that much like retiring. I think you've
missed the point, haven't you? Aren't you supposed to be on, like,
cruises and not doing anything?
S3 (01:56):
Yeah we did. We did that as well. Oh, but
now I have retired. Last year I have retired fully. So.
So Amari not only has to cope with her being retired,
she has to cope with not going to kindergarten every day.
Oh but She's managing. So I also do a bit
of volunteering. And the one that she likes doing is
(02:18):
coming into an aged care home with me to visit
a particular lady who's got dementia. So I never put
her coat on to go in there because I'm stopped
every few minutes to have a pat.
S2 (02:31):
Yeah, of.
S3 (02:32):
Course, you know, by all the old people that you know, oh,
he comes, he comes the dog again. So and she
goes up to my lady and just puts her head
in her lap and she's, I've got some good photos
of her just sort of putting her head in her lap.
And she's it's not always reciprocated the love, but that's okay. Um,
and I've got four acres where we live here, so
(02:54):
we're busy in the garden. I've got bush and a
little creek. So Amari jumps on all the fallen logs
and goes down to the creek. And out of all
the dogs we've had, she's the only one that doesn't
go wandering because we don't have fences. So she's the
only one that doesn't go wandering, which is very lucky
that we get got to keep her. We do have
(03:15):
the backyard fence, but the property itself is not fenced.
We border everyone else's acres and they're not fenced.
S2 (03:22):
Oh how nice.
S3 (03:24):
I do have fences. Yes.
S2 (03:25):
No no no no.
S3 (03:26):
All good. I understand. Yeah. So in retirement, we're both
busy still and we like to walk. Obviously. I think
all puppy carers like to walk. And we're in a
small community with shops which are, um, tourist shops. So
they've all said, you're welcome to come in here with
(03:47):
Amari now even without a coat on, so we can
still go for our walks and visit the shops.
S2 (03:52):
How nice. And I guess everyone kind of just knows her.
If it's a small community, it's like she is Amari.
They know her together.
S3 (04:00):
That's right. And if I meet people when she was
in kennels the few times that she was in for
having puppies, if I was walking by myself, people would
pull me up and say, where is the dog? So, um, and,
and when I was going into kindergartens as well, if
I went in without her, there was great drama. Oh, really?
I really wasn't very welcome without the dog.
S2 (04:22):
Yeah, well, I like that she had. And you both
have very different ends of the spectrum as well. Like,
you've kind of done volunteering and or work with the
very youngest of our, you know, society and the oldest
of the society too.
S3 (04:35):
Yeah. And she is marvellous with both. Yeah. She's really, um,
quite extraordinary with, um, especially with small children.
S2 (04:45):
And do you have a family as well? Which I
ask this because it's going to lead into some next questions.
S3 (04:50):
Yes I do. I've got we don't have any children
living at home, but we've got eight grandchildren and we
see them all the time. Yeah. And they stay here
and you know, they lived here for a short while.
And so she's very used to having children all over her.
A lot of the time. Mhm.
S2 (05:08):
Was that before she had puppies. Like was that preparation
for the puppies. Do you reckon in a way.
S3 (05:13):
We could say that but no it wasn't.
S2 (05:17):
So how long have you been a carer for.
S3 (05:20):
Um around the 15 year mark.
S2 (05:23):
Wow. That's amazing. I think things must have kind of
changed in, like, you must have had so many experiences
in that time and learnt a lot from first puppy
to last puppy. I'm always blown away by the length
of volunteering.
S3 (05:37):
Yeah. And you learn so much along the way from,
you know, we've had probably just probably just the two different, um, um,
puppy development people. But you learn so much about dog
behaviour and yeah, good dog behaviour and polite dog behaviour and, uh, yeah,
you learn such a lot. And even them having puppies, you,
(05:58):
you know, it's it's a process and it's really interesting
to see how it all happens.
S2 (06:04):
Is she the first dog that you've had that's gone
into breeding? Yes.
S3 (06:07):
Yeah.
S2 (06:08):
Yeah. So. So could you please kind of introduce Amari,
anything that you haven't mentioned so far?
S3 (06:13):
Oh, let me see. Um, well, she's five and a
half at the moment and she's a golden lab and
she's had four litters, which the first two were the
I litters. And then we had a T and a
B litter. Um, she's, as I'm sure Iris is. She's
highly intelligent.
S2 (06:34):
Yes.
S3 (06:34):
Learns quickly and loved when Emma used to come and
train her. She would love doing all the training with her. Um.
Very clever. She retains. She retains her knowledge as well.
And she thinks outside the box. Which is really strange
to say about a dog. But we had a, um.
(06:56):
We had a male dog for two, two and a
half weeks just recently, and he would take all her
To her precious things, a bit of plastic and a,
you know, nylabones and things. And he had her goat's
horn one night, and she was. She's so polite. She
doesn't take it back off him or do anything like that.
So she looked around the room, found a bottle that
(07:17):
he'd been playing with a plastic bottle, went and collected
it and stood in front of him and dropped it.
So he went to the bottle and she went and
got her own. Her, um, her goat's horn. So just
she does things like that all the time. You can
just see her thinking.
S2 (07:31):
It's like barter and negotiation. Yeah, in a dog.
S3 (07:34):
Yeah, exactly. That's right. Um, she she's very intuitive, too.
I mean, I think a lot of the dogs are,
but especially I see it with the children, with any
of the children, like grandchildren or when I was working. Um,
if someone's a little bit sad, she just goes and
sits with them, puts her head on them, and it's, um. Yeah.
(07:55):
So I say intuitive and compassionate as well, too. And
she's good fun. She's fun dog.
S2 (08:03):
You said about the creek. Does she swim?
S3 (08:05):
No, it's not. It's not big enough. It's it's it's
a spring that starts a creek, and it's really just
muddy water.
S2 (08:14):
Okay. Which is, to be fair, generally the preferred format
of water for some dogs.
S3 (08:18):
Yes, yes. We've taken it to the beach only a
couple of times. We don't obviously live near anywhere near
a beach, and she was more interested in the smells
around the sand and the dunes.
S2 (08:29):
So yeah.
S3 (08:30):
Not a great swimmer.
S2 (08:32):
I think Iris's love of swimming might have come from
her dad.
S3 (08:35):
Yes. Yeah yeah yeah, yeah.
S2 (08:38):
So. So you might have kind of covered that, but
what are some of the things that you like best
about Amari.
S3 (08:43):
Yeah I just I think she's she's a really sweet dog.
And I know even when she goes into kennels and
have her has her puppies, they're forever telling me she's
such a sweet girl and she is sweet. She's really
tolerant and yeah, she's just a lovely, a lovely girl.
And she, she's five and a half, so all her
naughty puppy behavior, the difficult puppy behavior has disappeared and
(09:06):
she's now just so easy to walk and to take
everywhere we have to go. So yeah.
S2 (09:13):
I have to say I'm kind of looking forward to
that time. I think that, um, continuing to raise puppies
alongside Iris probably isn't helping her. Yeah, yeah, because I
think they play off each other.
S3 (09:24):
Yes, I'm sure they do. And I mean, if she's
anything like Amari, Amari was very difficult as a as
a puppy, and I think it was because she was
intelligent and needed stimulation all the time. So yeah. Yeah.
S2 (09:37):
So can you share a bit about your family connection
with Inca?
S3 (09:40):
Oh yes. Yes please. Um, so my son and his family,
I persuaded them to start on the the road to
caring for C and seeing eye dog.
S2 (09:52):
Subtly or like.
S3 (09:53):
No no no no no no no no. Um, so
they had had two very sweet dogs, and neither of
them had made it into, um, being a working dog.
And then when they were just about, they were thinking
about getting another one when Amari was pregnant and he
Kieran said, I'll have another one if I can have
(10:14):
one of her puppies. So I think, I think they
had to do a bit of persuading. But anyway, they
got income from, from um, that, that litter and uh,
and because they go away and because we already had Amari,
we did a lot of minding of Vinca and yeah,
she was a, she was a sweet girl as well.
But um, so they were very happy that she has
(10:36):
made it and is working and yeah, very proud of
her and themselves for finally getting one that, um, graduated.
S2 (10:45):
I mean, it's a huge achievement. It's, um, I mean,
I'm sure, you know, having had a number of dogs
over a number of years, you've had some that have
made it and others that haven't. And yeah, it's it's
a real mixed bag as well. Even the ones that
you sometimes think aren't going to make it do and
vice versa.
S3 (11:00):
Well, that's exactly right. And often it's part. If you
follow all the training rules and regulations, it is up
to the dog and their temperament and their personality to. So,
you know, you can't take it to heart if one
doesn't know.
S2 (11:15):
And so how long has Amari now been retired?
S3 (11:19):
I've lost lost track but for 4 to 6 weeks
I think. Yeah.
S2 (11:24):
So she's all like officially kind of a pet dog.
How she settled in?
S3 (11:29):
Well, not a lot is different because we still do
it much the same. We've had we've left her home
a couple of times, um, by herself. You know, when
we've gone out at night. But I think she's loving.
She was never a big fan of having her training
coat on. Um, had body issues. And so now when
she sees the league come out, she's more than happy
(11:51):
to go for a walk. And before she, you know,
sort of almost hide when the code came out. So
she's very happy not to have to wear a jacket anymore. Um.
And oh, I tried. I did introduce the ball to
her to play pitch, you know, not ever, ever having
played pitch before. And she actually was quite good. Yes. So, um,
(12:15):
she does it for about 2 or 3 throws, and
then she thinks this is enough.
S2 (12:18):
But I found it. I'm finished now.
S3 (12:21):
Yeah, I'm finished now. Oh, the other one other thing,
which is really quite funny because you could only really
if we went away, she had to go into kennels
or go to another thing either dog carer. So now
she goes to my daughter's place when we go away,
who's got a German shepherd? And the last time we went, um,
they were very excited to tell me she slept on
(12:42):
the boys beds on their pillows. So never been on
a bed in her life. Never been on a bit
of furniture in her life.
S2 (12:50):
And and she goes, great. This is a perk that
I could get used to.
S3 (12:55):
I know. And so both of them. So they were
both luring her, their two teenage boys, both luring her
to sleep on their bed, which he obliged very nicely.
S2 (13:04):
How very polite. So really, the whole. The whole spectrum.
She's kind of figured it out. She's worked out teenagers,
she's worked out children. She's worked out at, you know. Yeah.
So she kind of runs the place. Really?
S3 (13:15):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, with her intelligence, she knows exactly
what she wants to do and does it.
S2 (13:21):
So luckily, like you said, now that she's a little
bit older, she's kind of her. Probably what she wants
is aligned a little bit more with what you want.
S3 (13:28):
Exactly. That's exactly right. Yes.
S2 (13:31):
But I do think that it's kind of interesting to
think about, um, all of that, kind of like the
particular cheekiness in a way, I'm going to say, or,
you know, like having their own minds. It's like that's
entirely what is needed for the role as well. So
even if you've gone into a seeing eye dog, that
wouldn't have been a bad thing necessarily.
S3 (13:47):
That's exactly right. Yeah, exactly. Uh.
S2 (13:50):
Which I feel I have to put in for people
who aren't as as aware because they might think, hey,
that sounds like a weird trait, but yeah.
S3 (13:57):
Yeah. I mean, Emma used to say that all the time.
That is the trait, you know, that sort of thing
they want in the dog. So, um. Yeah.
S2 (14:05):
Yeah, she's determined and knows what she likes and what
she wants and where she wants to go.
S3 (14:09):
That's exactly right. But she can. She is now obedient,
and she does do exactly what she's supposed to do
most of the time. Yeah.
S2 (14:18):
And I guess as well, probably you feel quite bonded
now or she feels quite bonded to you at this point, so.
S3 (14:24):
Most definitely. And I know she's quite bonded with my
husband too. And he originally you know he wasn't anti
doing all the dogs but he didn't ever want to
keep one of them. But there's no way he could
have given her back. And they had their own special bond. They,
you know they they do things together and um yeah
he loves to tell the story that when we went
(14:44):
away once and she stayed with another person and we came,
I think we'd been away for three months or two months,
and we came and bypassed me. Came racing to us,
bypassed me and went straight to him.
S2 (14:55):
Of course he'd remember that. Of course that would be
the one that would stick to his mind. How rude.
S3 (14:59):
That's exactly right, anyway. He's very proud of that, I think.
S2 (15:03):
I think, I think sometimes there's a little bit of
competition in these things and, um.
S3 (15:07):
Yeah, yeah.
S2 (15:08):
Rude on her part, but, you know.
S3 (15:09):
Yeah, that's exactly right. Yes. And when I go to
bed at night, she goes and just hangs out with
him at his computer. Under under his feet. Yeah. She
just loves it.
S2 (15:19):
Yeah. Does she love being right under the desk because
that's Iris's favorite thing.
S3 (15:21):
Oh yeah.
S2 (15:22):
Oh, yes.
S3 (15:24):
And often, you know, when I was going to work
and if for some reason I couldn't have it out
in the playroom, she went into a co-education in the office,
and she just went under the desk and chilled out.
And I know when my daughter had her just recently,
she took her to work and she just spent the
entire day under her desk. Mm. Yeah.
S2 (15:45):
Cosy and compact, which is nice because she is a
quite nice size.
S3 (15:48):
Yes. And on their feet. You know, you've got that
that human touch with the feet right at you. You know,
your nose level.
S2 (15:56):
Yeah. So what? And is there anything else that you'd
like to add about kind of retirement, like retirement life
for Miss Madam.
S4 (16:05):
Mm. Well.
S3 (16:07):
I think she's enjoying it. I so much, not so
much in that I quite liked going out with her
in her coat and going to places that I couldn't
go to and always people commenting. And so now I
haven't got that. So you know, I'm missing it. But
I don't think she's missing anything in particular.
S2 (16:28):
Do you think you'll do another puppy at some point?
S3 (16:31):
Not sure. Um, bit off the the 0 to 6
month ones in. I mean, they're so gorgeous, but there
are a lot of work. Yeah. Um, we might do.
I've been doing. And I probably will continue doing, um,
temporary care for a bit, I think until we decide
what what exactly it holds. Because. Because she is now
(16:53):
so good. Yeah. To go back to, um, doing all
that training again. But I'm sure we will. Yes.
S2 (17:01):
And is there anything else that you would like to
share about breeder caring or even adopting a retired breeder
like down?
S3 (17:08):
You get to keep a dog. Well, if you get
it back, you know, if you get the puppy, the
dog back, you've got a really good dog that's well
past all the puppy stages. So from that point of view, um,
when you've got a breeding dog, I think it's just
really interesting, as I said before, to see the process
of what they go through and when they inseminate or
(17:30):
when they mate or whatever. All of that is really
quite interesting. And to see the changes in the dog
and to see the changes when they come home, like
the molting and the, um, the licking and all of that,
it changes behavior. So it's just really interesting to see
all of that. But yeah, I mean, who wouldn't want
to adopt a dog that's at that level.
S2 (17:53):
Yeah.
S3 (17:53):
Mhm.
S2 (17:54):
I also I also think one of the perks that
you I assume got to experience was meeting some of
the puppies in the puppy center as well.
S3 (18:01):
Yes. Yeah. Meeting them which was really lovely. And also
um being able to put forward for consideration a list
of names for them.
S2 (18:10):
Oh. Did you get many names through?
S4 (18:12):
Yes.
S3 (18:13):
I think in our, um, Iris's letter, I think I
they chose one that wasn't so. Yeah, I think we've
had most of them chosen. Really? Mhm.
S2 (18:24):
That's that's a good review from Mark there.
S3 (18:27):
Yeah. And because we put it out to all our
grandchildren who love coming up with all these names, not
all of them I put in I might add. Um,
but yeah, it's been really good and uh, to see
the names that have been chosen. So because I know,
you know, we always used to have a goat mark
for the terrible name of shows. So now we've only
got ourselves to blame in those letters.
S2 (18:49):
Now, have have you ever googled the name Omari?
S3 (18:52):
No, but people ask me. I don't know what it is.
S2 (18:56):
I think there's a famous. I think there's a famous, like, actor,
or I'm gonna look it up again. Um. Oh, there's
a restaurant in Bendigo. Um, I think that there's a
person called Omari in it, but the meaning is God
is the like God the highest?
S3 (19:12):
Oh.
S2 (19:13):
Yeah.
S3 (19:14):
Yeah.
S2 (19:15):
Which is interesting. I, I think there is an actor
or someone famous too, as well, with the name Omar Sharif.
S3 (19:21):
Not. That's not who you're thinking of. Omar.
S2 (19:23):
Oh, Omar Hardwick, maybe.
S3 (19:24):
Yeah. Could be a Omar. Never seen an Amari, but no.
S2 (19:28):
Oh, no, no he's not. His name is Omari. Omari Hardwick.
S3 (19:31):
Yeah you're right.
S2 (19:33):
I think a lot of them are. Um. Yeah, a
lot of them are men, I think. Which is interesting. Anyway. Yes.
S3 (19:39):
Yes. Yeah. And so I don't know if Mark shows
that one or if that came from the breeder, not
the true breeder carer. Yeah.
S2 (19:48):
So many, many generations of interesting names that came from
somewhere at some point.
S3 (19:54):
That's right. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
S2 (19:57):
Awesome. Is there anything else that you did want to add? Sorry,
I realize I kind of interrupted you there talking about
names and puppy center.
S3 (20:02):
No, I don't think so. I would, I mean, I'd
highly recommend doing this to anyone, and I have, I
have pushed a few people their way. So, um. Yeah. Yeah.
S2 (20:15):
I mean, I mean, I think if it was that bad,
you really couldn't dob your son in because then you
would hear about it. If it was, if it wasn't good.
S3 (20:22):
That's exactly right. And they did. And they're both teachers.
So Inca had or Inca and the other ones had
lovely times going. They shared, you know, Rachel took Inca
two days and Kieran took three days. And so, you know,
they did lots, um, lots around Inca. So. Yeah.
S2 (20:41):
And it's such a such a great kind of well-rounded
experience for them to have in a school.
S3 (20:45):
Yeah, exactly. It's exactly right. Yes.
S2 (20:49):
Well, thank you so much for coming on the show
and joining me and chatting all about Amari today, Chris.
S3 (20:53):
My pleasure. Thank you for having me.
S1 (21:01):
You've been listening to the Seeing Eye Dog show on
Vision Australia Radio. I hope you enjoyed my interview with
Chris Cantwell, talking about the life and story of breeding
dog Amari and her retirement and their story together. If
you'd like to find out about breeder caring or puppy caring,
you can head to our website at Australia. Now I
have Doctor Ash from the team coming to talk to
(21:23):
us about foods to avoid your dog, and how to
know if your dog has ingested anything they shouldn't have
and what to do about it. Thank you for listening
and I hope you enjoy.
S2 (21:33):
So what are some of the foods that might be? Well,
things that dogs can't eat and that might be harmful
to our pets.
S5 (21:40):
So, um, for me, when in doubt, I always just
do a quick Google search before I share human food
with any animal. Um, the most common toxins would be chocolate, um,
onions and garlic, macadamia nuts, raisins, sultanas, grapes those are
all kind of in the same vein as each other.
They're very toxic. Um, avocado can be toxic. There's quite
(22:05):
a number of different foods, um, that are toxic to animals. And,
and sometimes they can be just in a small component,
you know, if you have a big animal, maybe they
aren't going to get sick immediately. Um, but that doesn't
mean that it's still safe to give to your animal. Um,
some animals take longer to get sick than others, and
some foods that are toxic don't just cause vomiting and diarrhea, um,
(22:28):
like a person with gastro would get. They certainly can. Um,
but there are some things that are toxic that can
affect other systems, like, um, grapes and raisins affect their
kidneys and can cause a lot of damage to the
kidneys quite quickly. So just because your dog doesn't get
diarrhea right away doesn't mean that it isn't potentially a
dangerous thing to feed them.
S2 (22:48):
If they do consume a little bit of these things
that are, I guess, more harmful to like internal organs
and things that you don't see. Is that something that
can build up over time? Does that make sense?
S5 (23:00):
Um, there can be kind of a what we would
call a dose dependent effect, where it can either build
over time or in a small amount. It's okay, but
when it exceeds a certain threshold, it's not okay. Um,
the best thing to do is if you know your
animal has ingested something and you think it might be toxic,
just call your vet right away. Um, we have access
(23:20):
to a lot of toxin control hotlines and things like that,
and we can tell you if it is a dangerous
dose or not. Um, but the best thing to do
is always to bring them in right away. It's better
to just get your dog to throw it up than
it is to wait and see. And all the damage
has been done already, and then you tried to treat
them from that point.
S2 (23:41):
What are some of the signs that if you haven't
seen it, I mean, obviously like an empty wrapper where
there was formerly chocolate is a bit of a dead giveaway,
but if you haven't seen anything like that, there's no
particular evidence. What are some of the signs that they
might have ingested something particularly bad?
S5 (23:59):
Um, sometimes they're just kind of sulking around, looking like
they're feeling quite bad for themselves. You know, a bit
more tired than normal. Not really their normal selves. Um,
you might notice vomiting or diarrhoea. They might be shaking. Um,
they might, um, progress to something like seizures. Um, if you,
you know, weren't home when they ingested something. And you
(24:21):
get home and they're showing these signs, I would go
to the vet and just be sure that, you know,
nothing else is happening.
S2 (24:28):
Are there any things that are in foods that we
might not consider, for example, like sugars and things that
are particularly bad for dogs or even like salt and
fat and that type of thing.
S6 (24:38):
Yeah. So there are ingredients.
S5 (24:39):
That can be in a seemingly okay food. Um, one
is xylitol, which is an artificial sweetener that's quite common
in a lot of like, peanut butters and stuff. And
a lot of people know that dogs quite like peanut butter.
So just checking the back of the, um, ingredient list
and seeing if there's things that you don't recognize, maybe
just googling those individual things. Um, but, you know, it's
(25:02):
always better to it's not good for any of us
to be ingesting lots of artificial sweeteners and chemicals. So
if there's a bunch of stuff on the ingredients list
that you can't pronounce, it's probably not the most healthy
thing to be feeding, um, an animal or yourself.
S2 (25:17):
And in terms of like, um, xylitol, I think they
call it there's some other names for it as well,
which are interesting. Like there was like Bert sugar people
put these different labels on things, which is a bit suspicious.
S5 (25:29):
Yeah, there definitely can be a lot of misleading information
out there. I guess nowadays that we have things like AI.
I'm in ChatGPT and stuff. You can plug it into that. And, um,
it might be able to tell you if one of
the ingredients you aren't recognizing is toxic, but when in doubt,
if you're unsure, I would err on the side of
not giving it rather than ending up in a bit
(25:50):
of trouble.
S2 (25:51):
I guess there's always things like carrots, you know? You
can always be safe with a carrot in carrot form
from the supermarket. Yeah.
S5 (25:59):
Yeah, definitely. Um, and you know, another big reason that
animals will come into the vet for ingesting something they
shouldn't have is, um, like family gatherings or, um, very
young children deciding that they want to interact with the
animal in a way where they give them food and
they accidentally give something, not knowing that it's toxic. Um,
so if you ever have guests coming to your home,
(26:21):
you know, with the holidays around, um, definitely educate people
on what can and cannot be given to the animal.
Maybe even if if you know that there are people
coming over that really want to interact with the dog
in a way where they feed them, have a bowl
of kibble or something like that out so that they
can give that to the dog, and you make sure
that there's nothing else happening. Um, with things like Halloween,
(26:44):
you know, make sure your lolly bucket isn't on the
ground or easily knocked over by the dog. Um, we
don't want any of that to happen. And when it
comes to Christmas time, make sure that you don't have
any edible things under the tree. Um, because that's often
where where animals will get into them.
S2 (27:00):
I guess even the thought of, like, for a dog,
you know, something edible that's wrapped up that will potentially
still be intriguing to a dog, who then might even
try and eat the wrapping paper. Even if the edible
thing is fine, they might then try and go, I'm
going to bypass the wait, and I'm going to go
and help myself to my my, um, Christmas treat.
S5 (27:19):
Yeah. And also sometimes there are things that aren't, um,
dangerous by themselves. Like if you give your animal a
bit of cooked beef, that might be okay. But if
you give them a really, really fatty cut that might
be too much for their system to take. And then
they can get quite unwell because it's just a bit
too rich for them. So, um, always feed in moderation.
(27:40):
And when in doubt, um, if you think it might
not be okay, just err on the side of caution
and don't give it.
S1 (27:53):
You've been listening to the Sing Auto show on Vision
Australia Radio. I hope you enjoyed my interviews with Chris Cantwell.
Seeing Eye Dogs breeder carer, talking about the life and
retirement of breeding dog Omari and with doctor Ash Mooney,
seeing eye dogs, vet talking about foods to avoid. If
you'd like to find out more about the work we do,
how you can help, or volunteering options, or even becoming
(28:14):
a handler, head to our website at. Don't forget to
tune in same time next week for another episode of
the show on Vision Australia Radio.
On Vision Australia radio. You're listening to the synodic show
with me, your host, Harriet Moffatt. Today I've got two
guests for you. The first is Chris Cantwell, seeing eye
dogs breeder, carer and now adopter to retired breeding dog
Omari and a puppy carer of many years and seeing
eye dogs vet doctor Ash Mooney. Chris is going to
(00:40):
be talking about the story of her and Omari, her
journey as a breeder carer and then Amari's new life
as a retired breeding dog and doctor. Ash is going
to be talking to us about some of the foods
to avoid in the lead up to Halloween and the
festive period. I hope you enjoyed these two episodes. Now
let's kick off with my interview with Chris.
S2 (01:09):
Hi Chris, thanks for joining me on the show today.
S3 (01:11):
My pleasure. Thank you for having me.
S2 (01:13):
Could you please start off by introducing yourself? Anything you'd
like to share?
S3 (01:16):
Okay. Well, um, my name is Chris, and I've been
retired for 16 years. But in that time, I've done
a lot of, um, casual relief teaching in preschools. So
Amari has, for the last five years, virtually spent four
days a week in a preschool with either the same
(01:37):
or different children each day, which he absolutely loved doing.
S2 (01:40):
Did you did you say retired? But then four days
a week casual.
S3 (01:44):
I retired 16 years ago and then went into casual.
So I was full time before that and then went
to casual.
S2 (01:50):
That doesn't sound that much like retiring. I think you've
missed the point, haven't you? Aren't you supposed to be on, like,
cruises and not doing anything?
S3 (01:56):
Yeah we did. We did that as well. Oh, but
now I have retired. Last year I have retired fully. So.
So Amari not only has to cope with her being retired,
she has to cope with not going to kindergarten every day.
Oh but She's managing. So I also do a bit
of volunteering. And the one that she likes doing is
(02:18):
coming into an aged care home with me to visit
a particular lady who's got dementia. So I never put
her coat on to go in there because I'm stopped
every few minutes to have a pat.
S2 (02:31):
Yeah, of.
S3 (02:32):
Course, you know, by all the old people that you know, oh,
he comes, he comes the dog again. So and she
goes up to my lady and just puts her head
in her lap and she's, I've got some good photos
of her just sort of putting her head in her lap.
And she's it's not always reciprocated the love, but that's okay. Um,
and I've got four acres where we live here, so
(02:54):
we're busy in the garden. I've got bush and a
little creek. So Amari jumps on all the fallen logs
and goes down to the creek. And out of all
the dogs we've had, she's the only one that doesn't
go wandering because we don't have fences. So she's the
only one that doesn't go wandering, which is very lucky
that we get got to keep her. We do have
(03:15):
the backyard fence, but the property itself is not fenced.
We border everyone else's acres and they're not fenced.
S2 (03:22):
Oh how nice.
S3 (03:24):
I do have fences. Yes.
S2 (03:25):
No no no no.
S3 (03:26):
All good. I understand. Yeah. So in retirement, we're both
busy still and we like to walk. Obviously. I think
all puppy carers like to walk. And we're in a
small community with shops which are, um, tourist shops. So
they've all said, you're welcome to come in here with
(03:47):
Amari now even without a coat on, so we can
still go for our walks and visit the shops.
S2 (03:52):
How nice. And I guess everyone kind of just knows her.
If it's a small community, it's like she is Amari.
They know her together.
S3 (04:00):
That's right. And if I meet people when she was
in kennels the few times that she was in for
having puppies, if I was walking by myself, people would
pull me up and say, where is the dog? So, um, and,
and when I was going into kindergartens as well, if
I went in without her, there was great drama. Oh, really?
I really wasn't very welcome without the dog.
S2 (04:22):
Yeah, well, I like that she had. And you both
have very different ends of the spectrum as well. Like,
you've kind of done volunteering and or work with the
very youngest of our, you know, society and the oldest
of the society too.
S3 (04:35):
Yeah. And she is marvellous with both. Yeah. She's really, um,
quite extraordinary with, um, especially with small children.
S2 (04:45):
And do you have a family as well? Which I
ask this because it's going to lead into some next questions.
S3 (04:50):
Yes I do. I've got we don't have any children
living at home, but we've got eight grandchildren and we
see them all the time. Yeah. And they stay here
and you know, they lived here for a short while.
And so she's very used to having children all over her.
A lot of the time. Mhm.
S2 (05:08):
Was that before she had puppies. Like was that preparation
for the puppies. Do you reckon in a way.
S3 (05:13):
We could say that but no it wasn't.
S2 (05:17):
So how long have you been a carer for.
S3 (05:20):
Um around the 15 year mark.
S2 (05:23):
Wow. That's amazing. I think things must have kind of
changed in, like, you must have had so many experiences
in that time and learnt a lot from first puppy
to last puppy. I'm always blown away by the length
of volunteering.
S3 (05:37):
Yeah. And you learn so much along the way from,
you know, we've had probably just probably just the two different, um, um,
puppy development people. But you learn so much about dog
behaviour and yeah, good dog behaviour and polite dog behaviour and, uh, yeah,
you learn such a lot. And even them having puppies, you,
(05:58):
you know, it's it's a process and it's really interesting
to see how it all happens.
S2 (06:04):
Is she the first dog that you've had that's gone
into breeding? Yes.
S3 (06:07):
Yeah.
S2 (06:08):
Yeah. So. So could you please kind of introduce Amari,
anything that you haven't mentioned so far?
S3 (06:13):
Oh, let me see. Um, well, she's five and a
half at the moment and she's a golden lab and
she's had four litters, which the first two were the
I litters. And then we had a T and a
B litter. Um, she's, as I'm sure Iris is. She's
highly intelligent.
S2 (06:34):
Yes.
S3 (06:34):
Learns quickly and loved when Emma used to come and
train her. She would love doing all the training with her. Um.
Very clever. She retains. She retains her knowledge as well.
And she thinks outside the box. Which is really strange
to say about a dog. But we had a, um.
(06:56):
We had a male dog for two, two and a
half weeks just recently, and he would take all her
To her precious things, a bit of plastic and a,
you know, nylabones and things. And he had her goat's
horn one night, and she was. She's so polite. She
doesn't take it back off him or do anything like that.
So she looked around the room, found a bottle that
(07:17):
he'd been playing with a plastic bottle, went and collected
it and stood in front of him and dropped it.
So he went to the bottle and she went and
got her own. Her, um, her goat's horn. So just
she does things like that all the time. You can
just see her thinking.
S2 (07:31):
It's like barter and negotiation. Yeah, in a dog.
S3 (07:34):
Yeah, exactly. That's right. Um, she she's very intuitive, too.
I mean, I think a lot of the dogs are,
but especially I see it with the children, with any
of the children, like grandchildren or when I was working. Um,
if someone's a little bit sad, she just goes and
sits with them, puts her head on them, and it's, um. Yeah.
(07:55):
So I say intuitive and compassionate as well, too. And
she's good fun. She's fun dog.
S2 (08:03):
You said about the creek. Does she swim?
S3 (08:05):
No, it's not. It's not big enough. It's it's it's
a spring that starts a creek, and it's really just
muddy water.
S2 (08:14):
Okay. Which is, to be fair, generally the preferred format
of water for some dogs.
S3 (08:18):
Yes, yes. We've taken it to the beach only a
couple of times. We don't obviously live near anywhere near
a beach, and she was more interested in the smells
around the sand and the dunes.
S2 (08:29):
So yeah.
S3 (08:30):
Not a great swimmer.
S2 (08:32):
I think Iris's love of swimming might have come from
her dad.
S3 (08:35):
Yes. Yeah yeah yeah, yeah.
S2 (08:38):
So. So you might have kind of covered that, but
what are some of the things that you like best
about Amari.
S3 (08:43):
Yeah I just I think she's she's a really sweet dog.
And I know even when she goes into kennels and
have her has her puppies, they're forever telling me she's
such a sweet girl and she is sweet. She's really
tolerant and yeah, she's just a lovely, a lovely girl.
And she, she's five and a half, so all her
naughty puppy behavior, the difficult puppy behavior has disappeared and
(09:06):
she's now just so easy to walk and to take
everywhere we have to go. So yeah.
S2 (09:13):
I have to say I'm kind of looking forward to
that time. I think that, um, continuing to raise puppies
alongside Iris probably isn't helping her. Yeah, yeah, because I
think they play off each other.
S3 (09:24):
Yes, I'm sure they do. And I mean, if she's
anything like Amari, Amari was very difficult as a as
a puppy, and I think it was because she was
intelligent and needed stimulation all the time. So yeah. Yeah.
S2 (09:37):
So can you share a bit about your family connection
with Inca?
S3 (09:40):
Oh yes. Yes please. Um, so my son and his family,
I persuaded them to start on the the road to
caring for C and seeing eye dog.
S2 (09:52):
Subtly or like.
S3 (09:53):
No no no no no no no no. Um, so
they had had two very sweet dogs, and neither of
them had made it into, um, being a working dog.
And then when they were just about, they were thinking
about getting another one when Amari was pregnant and he
Kieran said, I'll have another one if I can have
(10:14):
one of her puppies. So I think, I think they
had to do a bit of persuading. But anyway, they
got income from, from um, that, that litter and uh,
and because they go away and because we already had Amari,
we did a lot of minding of Vinca and yeah,
she was a, she was a sweet girl as well.
But um, so they were very happy that she has
(10:36):
made it and is working and yeah, very proud of
her and themselves for finally getting one that, um, graduated.
S2 (10:45):
I mean, it's a huge achievement. It's, um, I mean,
I'm sure, you know, having had a number of dogs
over a number of years, you've had some that have
made it and others that haven't. And yeah, it's it's
a real mixed bag as well. Even the ones that
you sometimes think aren't going to make it do and
vice versa.
S3 (11:00):
Well, that's exactly right. And often it's part. If you
follow all the training rules and regulations, it is up
to the dog and their temperament and their personality to. So,
you know, you can't take it to heart if one
doesn't know.
S2 (11:15):
And so how long has Amari now been retired?
S3 (11:19):
I've lost lost track but for 4 to 6 weeks
I think. Yeah.
S2 (11:24):
So she's all like officially kind of a pet dog.
How she settled in?
S3 (11:29):
Well, not a lot is different because we still do
it much the same. We've had we've left her home
a couple of times, um, by herself. You know, when
we've gone out at night. But I think she's loving.
She was never a big fan of having her training
coat on. Um, had body issues. And so now when
she sees the league come out, she's more than happy
(11:51):
to go for a walk. And before she, you know,
sort of almost hide when the code came out. So
she's very happy not to have to wear a jacket anymore. Um.
And oh, I tried. I did introduce the ball to
her to play pitch, you know, not ever, ever having
played pitch before. And she actually was quite good. Yes. So, um,
(12:15):
she does it for about 2 or 3 throws, and
then she thinks this is enough.
S2 (12:18):
But I found it. I'm finished now.
S3 (12:21):
Yeah, I'm finished now. Oh, the other one other thing,
which is really quite funny because you could only really
if we went away, she had to go into kennels
or go to another thing either dog carer. So now
she goes to my daughter's place when we go away,
who's got a German shepherd? And the last time we went, um,
they were very excited to tell me she slept on
(12:42):
the boys beds on their pillows. So never been on
a bed in her life. Never been on a bit
of furniture in her life.
S2 (12:50):
And and she goes, great. This is a perk that
I could get used to.
S3 (12:55):
I know. And so both of them. So they were
both luring her, their two teenage boys, both luring her
to sleep on their bed, which he obliged very nicely.
S2 (13:04):
How very polite. So really, the whole. The whole spectrum.
She's kind of figured it out. She's worked out teenagers,
she's worked out children. She's worked out at, you know. Yeah.
So she kind of runs the place. Really?
S3 (13:15):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, with her intelligence, she knows exactly
what she wants to do and does it.
S2 (13:21):
So luckily, like you said, now that she's a little
bit older, she's kind of her. Probably what she wants
is aligned a little bit more with what you want.
S3 (13:28):
Exactly. That's exactly right. Yes.
S2 (13:31):
But I do think that it's kind of interesting to
think about, um, all of that, kind of like the
particular cheekiness in a way, I'm going to say, or,
you know, like having their own minds. It's like that's
entirely what is needed for the role as well. So
even if you've gone into a seeing eye dog, that
wouldn't have been a bad thing necessarily.
S3 (13:47):
That's exactly right. Yeah, exactly. Uh.
S2 (13:50):
Which I feel I have to put in for people
who aren't as as aware because they might think, hey,
that sounds like a weird trait, but yeah.
S3 (13:57):
Yeah. I mean, Emma used to say that all the time.
That is the trait, you know, that sort of thing
they want in the dog. So, um. Yeah.
S2 (14:05):
Yeah, she's determined and knows what she likes and what
she wants and where she wants to go.
S3 (14:09):
That's exactly right. But she can. She is now obedient,
and she does do exactly what she's supposed to do
most of the time. Yeah.
S2 (14:18):
And I guess as well, probably you feel quite bonded
now or she feels quite bonded to you at this point, so.
S3 (14:24):
Most definitely. And I know she's quite bonded with my
husband too. And he originally you know he wasn't anti
doing all the dogs but he didn't ever want to
keep one of them. But there's no way he could
have given her back. And they had their own special bond. They,
you know they they do things together and um yeah
he loves to tell the story that when we went
(14:44):
away once and she stayed with another person and we came,
I think we'd been away for three months or two months,
and we came and bypassed me. Came racing to us,
bypassed me and went straight to him.
S2 (14:55):
Of course he'd remember that. Of course that would be
the one that would stick to his mind. How rude.
S3 (14:59):
That's exactly right, anyway. He's very proud of that, I think.
S2 (15:03):
I think, I think sometimes there's a little bit of
competition in these things and, um.
S3 (15:07):
Yeah, yeah.
S2 (15:08):
Rude on her part, but, you know.
S3 (15:09):
Yeah, that's exactly right. Yes. And when I go to
bed at night, she goes and just hangs out with
him at his computer. Under under his feet. Yeah. She
just loves it.
S2 (15:19):
Yeah. Does she love being right under the desk because
that's Iris's favorite thing.
S3 (15:21):
Oh yeah.
S2 (15:22):
Oh, yes.
S3 (15:24):
And often, you know, when I was going to work
and if for some reason I couldn't have it out
in the playroom, she went into a co-education in the office,
and she just went under the desk and chilled out.
And I know when my daughter had her just recently,
she took her to work and she just spent the
entire day under her desk. Mm. Yeah.
S2 (15:45):
Cosy and compact, which is nice because she is a
quite nice size.
S3 (15:48):
Yes. And on their feet. You know, you've got that
that human touch with the feet right at you. You know,
your nose level.
S2 (15:56):
Yeah. So what? And is there anything else that you'd
like to add about kind of retirement, like retirement life
for Miss Madam.
S4 (16:05):
Mm. Well.
S3 (16:07):
I think she's enjoying it. I so much, not so
much in that I quite liked going out with her
in her coat and going to places that I couldn't
go to and always people commenting. And so now I
haven't got that. So you know, I'm missing it. But
I don't think she's missing anything in particular.
S2 (16:28):
Do you think you'll do another puppy at some point?
S3 (16:31):
Not sure. Um, bit off the the 0 to 6
month ones in. I mean, they're so gorgeous, but there
are a lot of work. Yeah. Um, we might do.
I've been doing. And I probably will continue doing, um,
temporary care for a bit, I think until we decide
what what exactly it holds. Because. Because she is now
(16:53):
so good. Yeah. To go back to, um, doing all
that training again. But I'm sure we will. Yes.
S2 (17:01):
And is there anything else that you would like to
share about breeder caring or even adopting a retired breeder
like down?
S3 (17:08):
You get to keep a dog. Well, if you get
it back, you know, if you get the puppy, the
dog back, you've got a really good dog that's well
past all the puppy stages. So from that point of view, um,
when you've got a breeding dog, I think it's just
really interesting, as I said before, to see the process
of what they go through and when they inseminate or
(17:30):
when they mate or whatever. All of that is really
quite interesting. And to see the changes in the dog
and to see the changes when they come home, like
the molting and the, um, the licking and all of that,
it changes behavior. So it's just really interesting to see
all of that. But yeah, I mean, who wouldn't want
to adopt a dog that's at that level.
S2 (17:53):
Yeah.
S3 (17:53):
Mhm.
S2 (17:54):
I also I also think one of the perks that
you I assume got to experience was meeting some of
the puppies in the puppy center as well.
S3 (18:01):
Yes. Yeah. Meeting them which was really lovely. And also
um being able to put forward for consideration a list
of names for them.
S2 (18:10):
Oh. Did you get many names through?
S4 (18:12):
Yes.
S3 (18:13):
I think in our, um, Iris's letter, I think I
they chose one that wasn't so. Yeah, I think we've
had most of them chosen. Really? Mhm.
S2 (18:24):
That's that's a good review from Mark there.
S3 (18:27):
Yeah. And because we put it out to all our
grandchildren who love coming up with all these names, not
all of them I put in I might add. Um,
but yeah, it's been really good and uh, to see
the names that have been chosen. So because I know,
you know, we always used to have a goat mark
for the terrible name of shows. So now we've only
got ourselves to blame in those letters.
S2 (18:49):
Now, have have you ever googled the name Omari?
S3 (18:52):
No, but people ask me. I don't know what it is.
S2 (18:56):
I think there's a famous. I think there's a famous, like, actor,
or I'm gonna look it up again. Um. Oh, there's
a restaurant in Bendigo. Um, I think that there's a
person called Omari in it, but the meaning is God
is the like God the highest?
S3 (19:12):
Oh.
S2 (19:13):
Yeah.
S3 (19:14):
Yeah.
S2 (19:15):
Which is interesting. I, I think there is an actor
or someone famous too, as well, with the name Omar Sharif.
S3 (19:21):
Not. That's not who you're thinking of. Omar.
S2 (19:23):
Oh, Omar Hardwick, maybe.
S3 (19:24):
Yeah. Could be a Omar. Never seen an Amari, but no.
S2 (19:28):
Oh, no, no he's not. His name is Omari. Omari Hardwick.
S3 (19:31):
Yeah you're right.
S2 (19:33):
I think a lot of them are. Um. Yeah, a
lot of them are men, I think. Which is interesting. Anyway. Yes.
S3 (19:39):
Yes. Yeah. And so I don't know if Mark shows
that one or if that came from the breeder, not
the true breeder carer. Yeah.
S2 (19:48):
So many, many generations of interesting names that came from
somewhere at some point.
S3 (19:54):
That's right. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
S2 (19:57):
Awesome. Is there anything else that you did want to add? Sorry,
I realize I kind of interrupted you there talking about
names and puppy center.
S3 (20:02):
No, I don't think so. I would, I mean, I'd
highly recommend doing this to anyone, and I have, I
have pushed a few people their way. So, um. Yeah. Yeah.
S2 (20:15):
I mean, I mean, I think if it was that bad,
you really couldn't dob your son in because then you
would hear about it. If it was, if it wasn't good.
S3 (20:22):
That's exactly right. And they did. And they're both teachers.
So Inca had or Inca and the other ones had
lovely times going. They shared, you know, Rachel took Inca
two days and Kieran took three days. And so, you know,
they did lots, um, lots around Inca. So. Yeah.
S2 (20:41):
And it's such a such a great kind of well-rounded
experience for them to have in a school.
S3 (20:45):
Yeah, exactly. It's exactly right. Yes.
S2 (20:49):
Well, thank you so much for coming on the show
and joining me and chatting all about Amari today, Chris.
S3 (20:53):
My pleasure. Thank you for having me.
S1 (21:01):
You've been listening to the Seeing Eye Dog show on
Vision Australia Radio. I hope you enjoyed my interview with
Chris Cantwell, talking about the life and story of breeding
dog Amari and her retirement and their story together. If
you'd like to find out about breeder caring or puppy caring,
you can head to our website at Australia. Now I
have Doctor Ash from the team coming to talk to
(21:23):
us about foods to avoid your dog, and how to
know if your dog has ingested anything they shouldn't have
and what to do about it. Thank you for listening
and I hope you enjoy.
S2 (21:33):
So what are some of the foods that might be? Well,
things that dogs can't eat and that might be harmful
to our pets.
S5 (21:40):
So, um, for me, when in doubt, I always just
do a quick Google search before I share human food
with any animal. Um, the most common toxins would be chocolate, um,
onions and garlic, macadamia nuts, raisins, sultanas, grapes those are
all kind of in the same vein as each other.
They're very toxic. Um, avocado can be toxic. There's quite
(22:05):
a number of different foods, um, that are toxic to animals. And,
and sometimes they can be just in a small component,
you know, if you have a big animal, maybe they
aren't going to get sick immediately. Um, but that doesn't
mean that it's still safe to give to your animal. Um,
some animals take longer to get sick than others, and
some foods that are toxic don't just cause vomiting and diarrhea, um,
(22:28):
like a person with gastro would get. They certainly can. Um,
but there are some things that are toxic that can
affect other systems, like, um, grapes and raisins affect their
kidneys and can cause a lot of damage to the
kidneys quite quickly. So just because your dog doesn't get
diarrhea right away doesn't mean that it isn't potentially a
dangerous thing to feed them.
S2 (22:48):
If they do consume a little bit of these things
that are, I guess, more harmful to like internal organs
and things that you don't see. Is that something that
can build up over time? Does that make sense?
S5 (23:00):
Um, there can be kind of a what we would
call a dose dependent effect, where it can either build
over time or in a small amount. It's okay, but
when it exceeds a certain threshold, it's not okay. Um,
the best thing to do is if you know your
animal has ingested something and you think it might be toxic,
just call your vet right away. Um, we have access
(23:20):
to a lot of toxin control hotlines and things like that,
and we can tell you if it is a dangerous
dose or not. Um, but the best thing to do
is always to bring them in right away. It's better
to just get your dog to throw it up than
it is to wait and see. And all the damage
has been done already, and then you tried to treat
them from that point.
S2 (23:41):
What are some of the signs that if you haven't
seen it, I mean, obviously like an empty wrapper where
there was formerly chocolate is a bit of a dead giveaway,
but if you haven't seen anything like that, there's no
particular evidence. What are some of the signs that they
might have ingested something particularly bad?
S5 (23:59):
Um, sometimes they're just kind of sulking around, looking like
they're feeling quite bad for themselves. You know, a bit
more tired than normal. Not really their normal selves. Um,
you might notice vomiting or diarrhoea. They might be shaking. Um,
they might, um, progress to something like seizures. Um, if you,
you know, weren't home when they ingested something. And you
(24:21):
get home and they're showing these signs, I would go
to the vet and just be sure that, you know,
nothing else is happening.
S2 (24:28):
Are there any things that are in foods that we
might not consider, for example, like sugars and things that
are particularly bad for dogs or even like salt and
fat and that type of thing.
S6 (24:38):
Yeah. So there are ingredients.
S5 (24:39):
That can be in a seemingly okay food. Um, one
is xylitol, which is an artificial sweetener that's quite common
in a lot of like, peanut butters and stuff. And
a lot of people know that dogs quite like peanut butter.
So just checking the back of the, um, ingredient list
and seeing if there's things that you don't recognize, maybe
just googling those individual things. Um, but, you know, it's
(25:02):
always better to it's not good for any of us
to be ingesting lots of artificial sweeteners and chemicals. So
if there's a bunch of stuff on the ingredients list
that you can't pronounce, it's probably not the most healthy
thing to be feeding, um, an animal or yourself.
S2 (25:17):
And in terms of like, um, xylitol, I think they
call it there's some other names for it as well,
which are interesting. Like there was like Bert sugar people
put these different labels on things, which is a bit suspicious.
S5 (25:29):
Yeah, there definitely can be a lot of misleading information
out there. I guess nowadays that we have things like AI.
I'm in ChatGPT and stuff. You can plug it into that. And, um,
it might be able to tell you if one of
the ingredients you aren't recognizing is toxic, but when in doubt,
if you're unsure, I would err on the side of
not giving it rather than ending up in a bit
(25:50):
of trouble.
S2 (25:51):
I guess there's always things like carrots, you know? You
can always be safe with a carrot in carrot form
from the supermarket. Yeah.
S5 (25:59):
Yeah, definitely. Um, and you know, another big reason that
animals will come into the vet for ingesting something they
shouldn't have is, um, like family gatherings or, um, very
young children deciding that they want to interact with the
animal in a way where they give them food and
they accidentally give something, not knowing that it's toxic. Um,
so if you ever have guests coming to your home,
(26:21):
you know, with the holidays around, um, definitely educate people
on what can and cannot be given to the animal.
Maybe even if if you know that there are people
coming over that really want to interact with the dog
in a way where they feed them, have a bowl
of kibble or something like that out so that they
can give that to the dog, and you make sure
that there's nothing else happening. Um, with things like Halloween,
(26:44):
you know, make sure your lolly bucket isn't on the
ground or easily knocked over by the dog. Um, we
don't want any of that to happen. And when it
comes to Christmas time, make sure that you don't have
any edible things under the tree. Um, because that's often
where where animals will get into them.
S2 (27:00):
I guess even the thought of, like, for a dog,
you know, something edible that's wrapped up that will potentially
still be intriguing to a dog, who then might even
try and eat the wrapping paper. Even if the edible
thing is fine, they might then try and go, I'm
going to bypass the wait, and I'm going to go
and help myself to my my, um, Christmas treat.
S5 (27:19):
Yeah. And also sometimes there are things that aren't, um,
dangerous by themselves. Like if you give your animal a
bit of cooked beef, that might be okay. But if
you give them a really, really fatty cut that might
be too much for their system to take. And then
they can get quite unwell because it's just a bit
too rich for them. So, um, always feed in moderation.
(27:40):
And when in doubt, um, if you think it might
not be okay, just err on the side of caution
and don't give it.
S1 (27:53):
You've been listening to the Sing Auto show on Vision
Australia Radio. I hope you enjoyed my interviews with Chris Cantwell.
Seeing Eye Dogs breeder carer, talking about the life and
retirement of breeding dog Omari and with doctor Ash Mooney,
seeing eye dogs, vet talking about foods to avoid. If
you'd like to find out more about the work we do,
how you can help, or volunteering options, or even becoming
(28:14):
a handler, head to our website at. Don't forget to
tune in same time next week for another episode of
the show on Vision Australia Radio.
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