Doing Things Together With Your Pet with CheckOut Veterinary

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Eight thirty six thirteen ten WIB and ask the experts
with check Out Veterinary. Joined this morning by doctor Marty Greer.
Of course, doctor Greer is recognized by the Westminster Kennel
Club as Veterinarian of the Year. You can learn more
about doctor Greer. You can learn more about checkout Vet,
their sister clinic check in Vet the clinic and Marshall

(00:21):
as well. Great website checkout vet dot com. That's checkout
vet dot com. An amazing practice with openings right now.
They are accepting new patients as we speak at checkout Vet. Oh,
I got to pick up phone, get McCall six oh
eight three one eight sixty seven hundred. That's six eight
three one eight sixty seven hundred. Or of course the
website checkout vet dot com. That's checkout vet dot com.

(00:43):
Got all that great information available to you right online again,
that's checkout vet dot com. As mentioned. Joining us this
morning is the doctor, doctor Marty Greer. Doctor Greer, how
you doing this week?

Speaker 2 (00:53):
I'm doing great? Thank you. It's a beautiful summer day.
Can't go wrong, it is.

Speaker 1 (00:59):
We were talking early. You're just I we don't have
to get way into this, but We were talking earlier
today about about pets and swimming, and uh, I know, uh,
as we get towards the end of the end of
the season, for a lot of the municipal pools, they
kind of do like a dog day, and I know
here in Madison with Goodman, they have the dogs come
out for a little fundraiser. Dogs do love and cats,

(01:19):
some cats. I have a cat that likes water, but
a lot of dogs do really enjoy spending time in
the water. But you do want to you do want
to be be careful and cautious with with what they're
what they're swimming in, don't you, doctor.

Speaker 2 (01:32):
Oh for sure, right, you want the water to be
pretty clean. We've talked before about the blue green algae concern,
so definitely that. And there are things that can be
hidden in murky water that you're not aware of, sticks
and wire and all kinds of things that dogs will
come out of the water with injuries. So you want
to be thoughtful and cautious about it. If you're not
sure how your dog is going to do in the water,
I would suggest that you first get a life jacket

(01:54):
for them and that you give them a test drive
before you just plunk them in the water. In some
places they can wade in, and you know, dogs are
often more comfortable they can weight in on their own
rather than jumping in until they really run the swimming skills.
And of course there are swimming tools for dogs so
that you can take them for physical therapy and for
other activities for weight loss and those kinds of things

(02:14):
around the Madison area. So we do have a lot
of different options. And some dogs love the water, and
frankly some just don't.

Speaker 1 (02:23):
Mine's one that does not. He does not care for
the water. He has my looking at it, but doesn't
want to go anywhere near it. It's i think for
a lot of a lot of folks as well, getting
to these you know, whether it's these events or maybe
taking taking your dog on vacation up north or something,
it's really also an opportunity for them to experience different
environments a little bit of socialization. And we're going to

(02:44):
talk this week about the importance of socialization with both
both puppies, kittens of course, grown and growing dogs and
cats as well. Socialization is a really really important thing
for your pet for some very obvious reasons and sometimes
not so obvious reasons, things like you may not think
about this, but a well socialized pet, and I would

(03:06):
say you would obviously know this firsthand, tend to do
a little bit better when it comes to things like
vet visits or other things as well.

Speaker 2 (03:12):
Aren't there a benefits, right doctor, Oh for sure. And
we want the dogs to be as comfortable as they
can be in all setting. So some dogs just inherently
seem to have temperaments that are a little nervous or
a little anxious. There's a lot of breeds and a
lot of individuals within breeds that are very gregarious, very
happy to be wherever you are, happy to join in
on anything. The Labradors, the Golden Retrievers, a lot of

(03:34):
those dogs. The Retrievers in general tend to be pretty happy,
go lucky dogs. They come into the vet, they hop
on the table, they eat a cookie. They're having a
great time. You know, no matter what you do to them,
they're still having fun because you're paying attention to them.
Other dogs are a lot more wary, oftentimes the smaller
breeds of dogs, and sometimes they're pretty protective of their owners.
If we have a little dog sitting on someone's lap,

(03:55):
we'll often have them hand us the dog rather than
us pick up the dog, and it seems like a
subtle difference. But if I reach towards the owner and
the dog, sometimes the dog is protective of the owner
and not really aggressive toward us. But just because they
think that they're protecting the person whose lap they're sitting
on them, they'll be a little bit defensive. So it's
kind of interesting and you need to be aware of

(04:15):
those things and watch those But starting off from little
puppies on, there's some really important things that we can do,
and kittens too, but kittens are typically not socialized the
same way that dogs are, unfortunately, So if we can
do it right and we can get our puppies started
off with really fun experiences from the very beginning, we
can make a big difference. So back during the pandemic,

(04:37):
I wrote a book Your Pandemic Puppy because we had
concerns that there were going to be a lot of
dogs that were socially isolated. During the pandemic. People got
a lot of dogs during that time. They were staying home,
so the dogs weren't getting out. I mean, frankly, people
just weren't going anywhere, so their dogs weren't going anywhere either,
So we had a lot of dogs that were socially isolated,
and we're still seeing some of that effect. I had

(04:57):
a client and with two dogs the other day, and
that was her. You know, Rationale is first of all,
she has a sight hound, so they tend not to
be a very gregarious breed. And secondly, they were raised
during the pandemic and they were raised as brothers at home,
and so they're highly dependent on each other and not
super social. But if you do the right things with
your puppies, you can really make a big difference in

(05:17):
how they develop. So Sophia in a few years ago
wrote a really nice bit of information and that's included
in the Your Pandemic Puppy book called one hundred Experiences
in one hundred Days. So by doing those, you get
the puppy out and you just pick something off of
the list, and it's really helpful to have some structure. Now.
It doesn't mean those are the only things you can do,

(05:38):
or you have to do them one at a time
or in any particular order, but it gives you some
structure to saying, Okay, I can do all these interesting
things with my puppy and they maybe things you hadn't thought.

Speaker 1 (05:48):
About with that as we talked this morning with doctor
Marty Greer of Checkout Veteran Area of course website checkout
vet dot com. That's checkout vet dot com. Full minds
are open. Also if you've got a question for doctor Greer,
love to have you join us more telephone number to
get on the air six eight three two one thirteen ten.
That's six eight three two one thirteen ten. Talking this
week about socializing and developing social skills for your pet,

(06:11):
whether it's your cat or your dog. And you mentioned there, doctor,
sometimes cats and it seems like a kind of a
running thing is kind of get get the short end
of the stick with some of this stuff. It's obviously
it's different, but it's equally important to socialized cats as well,
isn't it It is?

Speaker 2 (06:28):
And I was outside yesterday at my clinic and the
Maira and I was walking between the buildings. We have
a couple of buildings on the campus and I'm walking
along and this woman gets out of her car and
she's walking into the door. She's she's carrying a carrier
and she's walking into the door with a pet on
a leash, and I realized it wasn't a small dog,
it was a white cat. And she had this cat
in a harness and he was just trotting up the sidewalk,

(06:51):
no big deal, just completely confident, just like you would
expect a dog to. And I realized she was one
of my new employees that I had just barely met.
And I'm like, oh, my goodness, look at this. And
they said, oh, yea, yeah, he high fives, he sits,
So she's basically raised him as a dog. And you
can do a lot of those things if we work
with our cats to be social. Cats are not necessarily
socially isolated animals, and if we do a good job

(07:12):
with them, they can do a lot of really fun things.
I've seen cats run and agility courses if you train
them correctly. I mean, there's some fun stuff you can
do with cats. So we shouldn't write cats off and
just say, oh, you know, they're just grouchy, you know,
couch potatoes that don't really want to socialize, or don't
like other cats, or don't like people. It's really not
true if we give them the opportunity. So given the
right experience, as cats can be equally social as dogs.

(07:35):
But a lot of the things you can do with dogs.
Some of the stores will let you take dogs to them,
So some of the lumber yards will let you take
dogs in. The pet stores oftentimes will of course, you
want to make sure that it's okay to take a
pet in. You want to make sure that it's safe,
that there's not a dog there that's not going to
be friendly with your dog. And then you know, there's
some really simple things that you can do at home
that give them a hundred experiences in one hundred days.

(07:56):
So that basically just means one time a day you
have to think of something new for your dog. And
during the pandemic, I went to Walmart, and Walmart made
eleven different kinds of bath mats. There were briskly ones
and shiny ones, and ones with roundhios round holes, and
some with square holes, and you know, dark colored ones
and light colored ones and all kinds of things. So
I could give my puppies eleven different surfaces to walk

(08:17):
on without having to leave the house. I would go
to the store and buy fruits and vegetables and other
than grapes and raisins, and we typically don't use potatoes
and corn because they're kind of starchy. But you can
feed watermelon and cantalope and bananas and apples and carrots
and celery and lettuce and broccoli and all kinds of things,
and that's a new experience. Every day you can give
them something new. So you can go through the fruit

(08:39):
and produce department at the grocery store and get twenty
or thirty experiences without having to try very hard. And
then you need to get them around people that use
walkers or wheelchairs or umbrellas, or have hats on, or
that have beards, and all the different kinds of people
that you can think of that your dog made somewhere
along the way come across. Because if a dog is
raised in a household with only men are only women,

(09:00):
and they see someone of the opposite sex, they dress differently,
they walk differently, they talk differently, it can be a
little startling to a dog. So the more experiences we
can give them as young puppies, and the more we
can make their brains elastic, the better able they are
to cope with differences and adjust to different situations. When
you go to the vet, go to the park, go

(09:20):
you know, have someone come to your house to do
a repair on your washing machine, whatever it happens to be.
We want our dogs to be comfortable and social.

Speaker 1 (09:27):
What about the importance of positive reinforcement? And I know,
you know one of the things talking about the experience
that checkout vet is I know you've described it as
as like like going out to dinner at a fancy restaurant.
You really want these new experiences to be positive. You
really want the pets to to really be excited for

(09:49):
these experiences, don't you right.

Speaker 2 (09:52):
And for some pets, they're food motivated and that works
really well, and you can do chicken baby food, or
peanut butter, or squeeze cheese or you know, a a
lot of different things. For cats, we do anchovies, or
we do anchovy paste. We'll do tuna. There's a lot
of things we can do. And then there are some
pets that are just not food motivated at all. Either
they're a little too nervous or they're just simply not
a food motivated kind of dog. Scenthounds like bassets their

(10:15):
food motivated. Sidehounds like greyhounds not so much. So it
really depends on the dog. So by doing some other
things like if they love tennis balls or they love
a certain toy, then that's what you use as your
positive reinforcement. And so you start to use those things
to reinforce the behaviors that you want and to try
to extinguish the behaviors that you don't want. So, for instance,

(10:35):
if your dog is afraid of other dogs and you're
out on a walk and you see a dog coming
before the dog sees it and starts to get nervous
or stiffened up, then distract the dog with the tennis ball,
with the toy, the squeaky toy, with the food treat,
whatever it happens to be, and you get them in
a mindset that they're paying more attention to that or
the siren that goes off, or whatever it happens to be.

(10:57):
Really try to focus on what your pet is experiencing
and get ahead of that so that you're already predicting
that you need to get their attention and give them
the confidence that you're cool about it. And if you're nervous,
they're going to be nervous too. So as soon as
you act a little nervous, say your dog often isn't
good around other dogs or this dog looks like it
might be a little scary, and you tighten up on
the leash, the dog's like, uh, oh, she's nervous. I'm

(11:19):
gonna have to worry. As soon as you do that,
you telegraph that information right down the leash. So it's
important that you're confident in those situations. If you don't
like thunderstorms, your dog is going to learn not to
like thunderstorms too. So really be cognizant of your own behaviors,
your own reactions, and try to prevent you from giving
the dog a message that you don't intend to give them.

(11:41):
One of the things I wrote in the book, and
it was commented on multiple times, is even when you
think your dog's not learning something, they're learning something. And
that may be if you're nervous during the storm and
you turn on the radio and you sit at the
kitchen table and you know you're staring at the radio
or staring at the TV to figure out if there's
bad storms coming, your dog picks up on that because
that's not your normal behavior. So any of those things

(12:01):
that you can do to overcome your signals to the
dog is also going to help your dog to be
more confident. So those are really subtle things that oftentimes
people don't identify because they're so focused on themselves that
they forget that the dog is picking up things. If
you're in the kitchen making dinner and your dog is
trying to tell you they need to go out to
go potty, and you're not paying attention, and the dog decides, well,

(12:23):
I'm going to go under the dining room table because
there's nobody there to yell at me. They just learned
by you, not meaning for them to learn, but they
just learned that when you're cooking dinner, urinating on the
dining room floor is okay. So those are really subtle
things that you need to be super aware of because
your dogs are They spend every waking moment watching you,
staring at you, every bite you take, every move you make.

(12:45):
There's a T shirt like that that says I'm watching you,
and it's really true. They're picking up things that you
aren't aware of.

Speaker 1 (12:52):
Talking this morning with doctor Marty griv check out Veterinary again.
That book too, Your Pandemic Puppy. You can find it.
I know what's on Amazon, on and uh many bookstores.
The ones that are that are still around they carry it,
but the easiest thing to do and order it, to
order it online and get that brace. Doctor two. When
you were talking about some of these talking of course,
doctor Marty Greer, checkout Veterinary the website, checkout vet dot com.

(13:14):
When you were talking to about about, uh, some of
the behaviors and things that that pets is there sometimes
like like pet owners will reinforce stereotypes. Is we have
a Chihuahua at home, and I always heard all these
stories about you know, they're a one person type of breed,
they're they're loud, they can be nippy, and those type
of things. And and Homer's got our dog has has

(13:35):
some of those traits. He's kind, he likes to bark,
but like he's very much a family dog and likes
to socialize. Do we sometimes make the mistakes We'll pick
out a specific breed and kind of reinforce some of
those some of those stereotypes that may not always be
be the case.

Speaker 2 (13:52):
Yeah, I think that's absolutely true. The other thing we
see is we'll oftentimes see the same behaviors in one
pet to the next from the same owner. And I'm
not sure if they select the dog that has those
traits or if they have created the dogs, because those
are the way that they interact with their dogs. So
it's definitely the case. And if you can change your mindset,
change the way you do things, you can really make

(14:12):
a big difference. So you don't have to assume that
al chuahas are going to be nervous and fearful. You
can treat them like a labrador and just say buck up, buddy,
here we go, and you know, kind of teach them
that those are the things. And there's some really good
dog training classes in the community, so take a look
at those anytime you get a puppy. I think all puppies,
I don't care how many puppies you've owned. I don't
care how experienced a dog person you are. I think

(14:34):
all dogs benefit from a training class, so getting them out,
getting them with other dogs, getting them different people, different settings,
being forced to do certain exercises, so that if you
go back to class the following week and you haven't
done your homework and your dogs still can't do any
of the things they taught you last week, you kind
of look like a heel. So you want to make
sure that you're doing those things in those classes will

(14:54):
kind of encourage you and reinforce your behaviors to train
the dog. It can be really important. Badger Kennel Club
teaches classes. Dog's Best Friend is really an outstanding place.
Patricia McConnell's started that the behaviors from UW that used
to do the radio shows. She's no longer there, but
she started the business and they still perpetuate a lot

(15:15):
of things she does. There's a number of dog turning
opportunities around the community, and then there's really fun classes.
There's agility, there's scent work, there's nosework, there's search and rescue.
There's all kinds of really fun activities that you can
do with your dogs, dock diving and flyball. So if
you have a dog that needs a job or wants
some exercise, or you're looking for some kind of activity

(15:36):
to participate with the dog, and take a look at
the dog clubs like Badger, or take a look at
what your choices are. There's some really fun things that
you can do. S network is an absolute blast. You
teach the dog to find things around the room. Doc
diving really fun. If you have a dog loves the water,
they basically dive as they jump off of a dock
and see how far the dogs can leap across the water.

(15:57):
Based on their size, they get different scoring systems. So
there's some really fun stuff that you can do with them.
If you're looking for some of those activities, or if
you've got kids, put them in foro H with their dog.
Put them in some of these activities because it's a
great family option. Badger Kennel Club has a couple of
dog shows a year if you want to go watch those,
those are Renaissance dog shows at an Alliance Center. So

(16:20):
be an active dog owner. Don't just you know, hang
out on the couch or take the dog for a
boring walk around the block, because that's not enough for
your dog. Dogs need more interaction than walking slowly around
the block. That is not enough for most dogs. So
give them what they need and really pay attention because
they're going to tell you what they want. If they
want to do hurting, go find ducks, you know, not

(16:42):
the ducks at the park, but go find somebody that
keeps in duck hurting glass, you know, just don't randomly
go pick them some ducks. So there's some really fun
stuff that you can do with your dogs if you
seek it out and if you're interested in doing those
things and it'll fit your needs. Not everybody has the
same ability to so you may not run agility, but
your dog may run flyball because they can do that

(17:02):
without you. Running fastcat is really fun. That's very popular
right now, and basically it's chasing a lure and timing
the dog on a relay. And it's a simple thing.
Most dogs don't need to be trained to do it.
You can take a couple of classes and then go
compete and it's really a blast. It can be really
fun to act with your dog.

Speaker 1 (17:20):
In those ways, and you think, got this great buddy
that just wants to hang out and have fun. What
a great great way to get out and have fun,
socialize and it's really good for everybody, including your pet.
As we talked this morning with doctor Marty Greer of
Checkout Veterinary of course online check out vets dot com.
That's checkout vet dot com. They are accepting new patients

(17:41):
right now. It's a great opportunity for you and your pet.
Don't forget that first visit that exam at checkout Vet.
It is free. Learn more online about Checkout Veterinary on
the website checkout vets dot com. That's checkout vet dot com.
Continue our conversation with doctor Marty Greer next as ask
the experts with Checkout Veterinary. Continues right here on thirteen
ten WU I B A eight fifty six thirteen ten

(18:07):
WI b A and asked the experts with Checkout Veterinary
talking with doctor Marty Greer of Checkout Veterinary. The website
checkout vet dot com. That's checkout vet dot com. Of
course check out Vet open seven days a week, nine
am until five pm. Also got their sister clinic check
in VET and the clinic in Marshall, all three in
our area and get details online checkout vet dot com.

(18:29):
That's checkout vet dot com now accepting patients. A great
opportunity for you and your pet to start that relationship
at Checkout Veterinary. Great opportunity there again, that first visit free,
that exam is free. All the information we make appointment
online checkout vet dot com or get MC call six
oh eight three one eight sixty seven hundred. That's six
oh eight three one eight sixty seven hundred. And One
of the things I love talking with you about each week,

(18:51):
doctor is getting getting a doctor's insight into into our pets.
And I think sometimes people uh don't always take that
opportunity when they have an appointment to talk with their
vet and this type of conversation about socialization. These are
perfect questions to be asking your veterinarian, aren't.

Speaker 2 (19:10):
They oh right? And so when you have a new puppy,
you want to talk to them about do they make
any recommendations for where to take a class? What are
they doing to help your puppy to have the dust
experience that they can. If they're providing you with squeezcheaes
and peanut butter and cream cheese and all the fun
stuff on the exam table, great. If they're not, take
it upon yourself to bring along some treats. I often

(19:30):
have people that will say, oh, no, don't see them anything,
and I'm like, no, no, no, you don't understand. This
is really important that we make this as great as
the experience as possible. We use a lot of ginger
snaps in our practice because if we have dogs that
get carsick, ginger settles their stomach, so they'll often eat those.
So there's some definite things that you can do if
your dog loaves chicken. We typically can't keep chicken in

(19:51):
the exam room very effectively because it needs to be refrigerated.
So if your dog loves chicken, bring a little zip
lock bag of chicken or whatever it happens to be
that your dog's favorite maybe their favorite toy, their favorite ball,
maybe their favorite blanket, So we can put it on
the table and just make it as comfortable an experience
as we possibly can, because most veterinary staff and veterinarians
are really interested in helping your pet have that good

(20:13):
experience because it makes all the future visits easier. If
they have a bad experience, if we have to do
something that makes them unhappy, if it's something that really
imprints in their head and they remember. So we don't
want those experiences for your pet, and you probably don't
want them for years either, But you have to get
ahead of it. You have to think about what's going
to happen so that you can predict that you can
give your pet that opportunity to be comfortable in that setting.

Speaker 1 (20:37):
Talking this morning with doctor Marty Greer of Checkout Veterinari,
it's an absolutely great day to get on into check
Out Vet. As we talked this morning about the experience
at Checkout Veterinarian, of course talking about social skills as well.
It's a great model, a great design, and a great
opportunity for you right now and your pet to get
in for a visit again that first visit. It's free,
that exam is free. They are now accepting new patients

(20:59):
at chout Checkout Veterinary. The website checkout vet dot com.
Real convenient to get to write and sun pray right
off the highway, right near to the interstate. If you
can hear our voice this morning, you are near checkout Vet.
Make an appointment online or give them a call. Six
oh eight three one eight sixty seven hundred. That's six
oh eight three one eight sixty seven hundred. Doctor. It's
always informative, it's always great chatting with you. You enjoy this
great day and we'll do it all again soon. Thank you,

(21:21):
doctor Mardy Greer of check out Vet again that website
checkout vet dot com. Met Kittle comes your way next
right here. I'm thirteen ten Wiba