Pet-Kiddo Bonding with CheckOut Veterinary

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, thirty six thirteen ten Wiba and ask the experts,
brought you by Checkout Veterinary online. Check out vet dot com.
That's checkout vet dot com. Real convenient to get in
and out at Checkout Veterinary. It's an enjoyable experience for
you and your pet. Mentioned the convenience. Not only is
the clinic just designed to make it very easy for everyone.

(00:21):
The location of checkout Vet is about as perfect as
you're going to get right off the highway in Sun Prairie.
If you can hear our voice this morning, they're right
near the interstate. Really easy to get in and get
out at checkout Vet. A great opportunity. They are now
accepting new patients at Checkout Veterinary, open seven days a week,
nine am until five pm. Of course, they've also got
their sister clinic, check in Vet, as well as their

(00:41):
Marshall Clinic, The Clinic and Lamar Meira as well. I
got a great website to start everything out as check
out vet dot com. That's checkout vet dot com. You
can make an appointment on the website or you can
give them a call six oh eight three one eight
sixty seven hundred. That's six oh eight three one eight
sixty seven hundred. Don't forget that first exam, that first
visit that is free and.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
Joining us this morning from checkout.

Speaker 1 (01:02):
Vett recognized as Veterinarian of the Year from Westminster County
Club is doctor Marty Greer.

Speaker 2 (01:07):
Doctor. How you doing this week?

Speaker 3 (01:09):
I'm doing great? Thank you. It was a beautiful day.

Speaker 2 (01:12):
Huh, it's a great day.

Speaker 1 (01:14):
I was talking with someone who who picked up I
think that listens to the show regularly. They picked up
a copy of your book, Your Pandemic Poppy, and they
said to me, they said, did you know that doctor
career is also an attorney?

Speaker 3 (01:26):
And I said, wah, yeah, how yeah, this is true.

Speaker 1 (01:32):
How do you find time for a doctor? That's pretty
That is amazing.

Speaker 3 (01:38):
Yeah. I kind of kind of just decided that once
my kids got out of high school that I needed
something else to do. So yeah, I went to LA
law school.

Speaker 2 (01:46):
Why not? That is amazing, that's funny.

Speaker 3 (01:50):
So yeah, in twenty ten I graduated from Marquette and
so yes, I have a lot of agree and yes
I have a law license.

Speaker 1 (01:56):
So yes, that is.

Speaker 2 (01:58):
So cool to hear. Again.

Speaker 1 (02:00):
I get amazed every time I and one of the
things I love about talking with you is the opportunity
to ask questions. I know you love getting calls and
getting folks questions. If you've got a question for doctor Greer,
we'd love to have you join us this morning six
oh eight three two one thirteen ten. That's six soh
eight three two one thirteen ten. Get you right on
there with Doctor Greer. You can also email if you
head on over to check out vet you've got a
question for the show, you can email email from there

(02:23):
or send me email Sean at WIBA dot com. And
doctor you mentioned your kid, ohs and I it seems
weird there are families and households that have kids but
no pet.

Speaker 2 (02:34):
And I always thought.

Speaker 1 (02:35):
That just seems like a like a missed opportunity. And
we're going to talk this week about about that relationship.
Pets are Pets are are obviously great for everyone, but
they are they're a really great tool as well for
raising well rounded children, aren't they.

Speaker 3 (02:51):
Absolutely? I cannot imagine raising kids without a dog, and
dogs without a kid. We recently stole the puppy we're
breeders as well, and wet the puppy to a family,
well two families one in Colorado. I'm one in Illinois
that have young daughters when is eight years old, and honestly,
I look at the pictures that they send me, and

(03:11):
these two little girls are just head over heels with
these dogs, and the dogs go everywhere. They're voting, they're
they're doing agility, they're doing hurting, they're out in the
field with them, they're they're sleeping under the blankets with them.
I mean, it's just so rewarding to see these relationships.
I think every puppy deserves a little girl or a
little boy, because man, it's such a great life. Now

(03:34):
that doesn't mean as you're older that you shouldn't get
a pet. I'm certainly not suggesting that that's the case.
But if you have an opportunity to put a child,
a responsible child of a good age, with a young dog,
oh my gosh, it just doesn't get any better than that.

Speaker 2 (03:49):
It is.

Speaker 1 (03:50):
It's such a great relationship that for everybody you think about,
not just the kidd but the pet as well. What
a what an immersive And you know kids have boundless
energy and so do puppies, so.

Speaker 2 (04:01):
What a what a great pairing.

Speaker 1 (04:02):
Right, let's let's talk about looking at and I know
one of the things that that's important as we as
we talk with any with anybody bringing a new pet,
a new family member into their house, a little bit
of research goes a long way. Having a conversation with
your vet goes a long way. Some specifically dogs, for example,
certain breeds are are are really really like I think

(04:23):
of like you know, like a Golden Retriever and labradors.
I'm pretty sure that that they're here for no other
reason than to keep kids entertained and excited. But there
are there, there are there are animal, certain breeds of
dogs that are just perfect for depending on the age
of the kiddo, aren't there right.

Speaker 3 (04:43):
And the lifestyle of the family. There are some families
that are sedentary and so maybe a French bulldog would
be a good choice. We have other families that are
really active, so maybe a hunting dog or a dog
that can do sports with them, doc diving or agility
or some of those things can be really a good choice. So, oh, yes,
I totally agree that you need to have some conversation.

(05:03):
AKC has a great website that helps you find the
right breed, so you could go in and say I'm
looking for this list in this and people have found
us that way is they know what size they want
to say they're an older family and this is going
to be their last dog, or they have young kids,
or you know, whatever your life style happens to be
lived by yourself. You're in an apartment, but some day
you'd like to perhaps have a family and move into
a house. You know, all those things need to be

(05:24):
factored in to your decision. If you're seventy five, what
sized dogs should you get? Should you get a Saint
Bernard when you're seventy five years old? And the answer
is probably not, because if something happens, you can't pick
that dog up and get it into the car. So
I think talking to your veterinarian is a great idea.
I think AKC's website is wonderful. There's an older book
written by Daniel Tortore called The Right Dog for You

(05:46):
that goes through a lot of characteristics of the dogs.
But the websites now are very helpful. So you pick
two or three breeds, you know, kind of look at
those and see if that's something that looks interesting. Watch
the Philadelphia Dog Show in November at Thanksgiving, or watch
the Westminster kennel Club and see what the dogs look
like on TV, so kind of get an idea from that,

(06:07):
and then you can start narrowing it down. And then
you go to a dog show. And there are dog
shows all over Wisconsin, all over Illinois, so there's no
reason that you can't go to a dog show at
some point and see those dogs in person, talk to
the breeders. Don't commit to a breed until you've met
the two or three that you're interested in. And you
might go to the show and see this dogs in
person where you can see six or eight or ten

(06:27):
of them and say, oh, my gosh, I had no idea.
Or you may turn your shoulder and see a dog
that you've never even thought of and go, oh, yeah,
that when we have to go talk to and the breeders,
as long as they're not all foofed up and ready
to walk into the ring, are more than happy to
let you interact with the dogs. Interact with them, but
don't do it when they're just ready to walk in
the ring, like the poodles when they have them all

(06:48):
fixed up to go in the ring. My daughter used
to show poodles with a handler and she would say
to me, mom, don't crush the poodle. So you don't
want to do anything to their coat when they're prepped
for the ring. But breeders are very happy to have
you come visit them, have an opportunity to see their
dogs and make sure because the breeder that's going to
sell you this dog is everybody is interested in making

(07:09):
sure the dog is right for you as you are
that the dog is right for your family. They don't
want this dog to come back to them in a
week or in a year and have you say this
didn't work out well for us. So it's a mutual
opportunity to make sure that the dog suits your lifestyle.
And so we look at activity level, indoor activity level,
outdoor activity level, and those can be very different. A

(07:30):
greyhound in the house blade on the couch. A greyhound
outside is like a dot on the horizon. How much
coke care do they need? Do you need to go
to the grimmer every six to eight weeks which means
they won't shed, but that means you go to the
grimmer every six da eight weeks and there's an ongoing expense.
How big are they going to be? Are they going
to have a long coat or a shortcoat. You know,
how how are they going to behave around strangers? How

(07:50):
are they going to behave around children? Loads are all
really important. And in spite of what you think sean
Golden Retrievers, we're really bred to be a hunting dog, now,
real dog. But I agree with you, Yeah, they were developed.
You know that the Golden Retriever was only developed in
the eighteen hundreds, so lady teen hundreds like eighteen eighty
by Lord tweets. Yeah, it's not a breed that's been
around for a million years.

Speaker 2 (08:10):
That is amazing.

Speaker 1 (08:11):
I would have assumed that it's one of the one
of the oldest breeds. Little did I know, And I
had no idea that they were hunting dogs either. As
we talked this morning to doctor Greer, you were you know,
we think about talking with breeders and reading and talking
with our vet as well about this and and dogs.
There's obviously a lot of different variety out there with dogs,
and they can be you know, different lifestyles and really

(08:34):
absolutely find that Pat, that's a perfect fit for you
and your family. What about cats too, Cats and kids?
I know, when when our son was little, we got
our two kittens and and what a relationship that's becoming.
I always thought when he was little, cats were perfect too,
because the reality is cat ain't cool with something. Cat's
gone Unlike a dog, Cat's not going to stick around.

Speaker 3 (08:55):
You know. Yeah, No, the cats is going to get
up and walk away and just be like done with
a kid. So that makes it pretty nice. And there
are of course cat breeds and cat breeders. Most people
don't have a purebred cat, but there are some out there.
And again it gets back to traits. If you get
something like a rag doll, they're floppy and easy and

(09:15):
loving and really easy cats to live it. Then you
get something and we have bengals, so I'm not negatively
commenting about them, but they the bengals are a little
bit more wild, a little bit more difficult to restrain,
a little bit less likely to be that floppy lap
cat that a rag doll is. So again, you can
look at different breeds, look different breeders and figure out

(09:37):
if you don't want just whatever cat shows up at
the shelter or whatever cat shows up at your door
because you were feeding the mother cat and then you realize, whoops,
she was out, you know, busy as she came home
with kittens, you know, So those are really important things
as well. And there's some lovely breeders, but there's some
really great cats out there too, So there's always a

(09:58):
discussion of should I go to a breeder or should
I go to a shelter or a rescue, And those
are really personal decisions that people need to make based
on what they're looking for. If you're looking for predictability
of traits, especially in dogs, then you want to do
a breeder. If you're looking for I can pretty much
handle anything I'm good with. You know, it doesn't matter
what size the dog is, it doesn't matter how active
there is. They'll fit into my lifestyle great, you know,

(10:20):
go for it, Go to a rescue, go to one
of the shelters, because those dogs definitely need homes. But
be aware that we're getting dogs in Wisconsin that are
sent up from other states where they have an overpopulation
problem and Wisconsin does not. Wisconsin residents are very responsible.
They span neuter, they don't have accidental litters. So we

(10:41):
are taking in dogs from outside the US and inside
the US where those things weren't happening. And there's some
suspicion that some of these organizations may be producing puppies
because it's a revenue stream for them. So again I'm
a little skeptical when people just say, oh, you know,
I rescue a dog. I'm always a little skeptical of
what that really meant. Then there are breeds specific rescues,

(11:04):
which are kind of cool, and there's also breeders that
are so breed specific rescue means that this is a
Golden Retriever that had a litter of puppies and for
whatever reason ended up in rescue. But there's also a
lot of breeders who, when they're done showing their dog
and breeding their dogs, that they placed those retired dogs
in people's homes. And those aren't rescues, but those are
re homing from breeders that have groomed the dog, kept

(11:27):
the dog healthy, have health clearances, have housebroken the dog,
of trained the dog, and you can get sometimes, you know,
like a five year old retired Golden retriever show dogs
that makes a fabulous pet, And it's just that the
breeder can only have a certain number of dogs in
their home or in their kennel, and so at the
time that they're done with their breeding career, and show career.
They'll place them into homes for people to enjoy the

(11:47):
rest of their life, so they can be the only
dog on your couch instead of a dog in a
kennel of other dogs. So it's a pretty great opportunity
to get a dog of a specific breed without feeling
like you went out and did it rescue a dog.
That it's a different kind of relead homing.

Speaker 1 (12:03):
And it's asy you talk about, you know, bringing the
pet in and and giving them that that life and
you know, a part of a family and part of
you know. It's it's such a such a great gift
for everybody. As we talked this morning with doctor Marty Greer,
obviously a lot of different channels, a lot of different
avenues to explore and understand when it comes to welcoming
a pet into your home. It's also a big a
decision about veterinary care and a great opportunity right now

(12:26):
with Checkout Veterinary as they are accepting patients right now.
Great day to start that relationship. I'll get to just
pick up phone. Gave a call six oh eight three
one eight sixty seven hundred. That's six'sh eight three one
eight sixty seven hundred to make an appointment at checkout Vet.
Of course, you can do it online as well. Checkout
vet dot com. That's checkout vet dot com. Don't forget
that first visit, that first exam, it is free. We're

(12:47):
to continue our conversation with doctor Marty Greer of Checkout Veterinary.
We'll do that next and take your call as asked
the experts with check Out Veterinary continues right here. I'm
thirteen ten WUIB eight eight fifty two thirteen ten wi
b A and ask the X spurts talking with doctor
Marty Grera of Checkout Veterinary online checkout vet dot com.
That's checkout vet dot com. A great data start that relationship.

(13:09):
At checkout vet. They are accepting new patients right now,
so it's a great opportunity for you and your pet.
Don't forget that first visit. It's free, that exam is free.
All the details. You can also make an appointment online
checkout vet dot com for to just pick up phone
get a call, you can do that as well. Six
oh eight to three one eight sixty seven hundred. That's
six oh eight three one eight sixty seven hundred.

Speaker 2 (13:29):
Doctor.

Speaker 1 (13:29):
When it comes to selecting, I know, things like with
little kiddos sometimes allergies and other things. We were talking
earlier about about, you know, talking and getting to know
different whether it's folks showing their dogs or or talking
with your vet to understand different breeds, or there's this
great tool called the internet. I know, there's some great
books out there as well. Yeah, it seems to be

(13:51):
taken off. It seems like like you know, finding the
right pat regardless of you know, if maybe the kid
does have allergy, these and other things there are through
some research you can find things that, you know, dogs
that are a little less reactive to allergies and other things.
I mean there's really and cats as well. There's really
for folks that are looking for that perfect pets, there

(14:12):
are a lot of options out there, aren't there.

Speaker 3 (14:15):
There are, and that makes it really useful. So definitely
rely on those things. Some of the breeders, the doodle
breeders and the other breeders will do DNA testing and
some of them will tell us things like how much
shedding will they do? Do they have a wavy coat
or a curly coat, and the curly coats tend to
shed left tend to be less allergenic, but certainly not
exclusively that. So you have to be a little bit careful,

(14:37):
a little bit wise to the fact that there is
no dog that doesn't have some allergic components. The other
thing that's kind of interesting is we're talking about cats,
is there's a lifestyle food now for that Purina makes.
Let me get through this stence that Purina makes that
reduces the allergens of the cat to the people. So
if you have a cat and you have cat allergies

(14:58):
in your household, take a look for that cat food.
I think it's called live Well, So take a look
at that as a food that you can see. We
don't see a comparable food at this point for dogs,
but it might be interesting to see if they're working
on it, it might be happening, who knows for sure.
Once they develop it in cats, then oftentimes it will
follow in other species. So yes, you want to make
sure that you're picking out the right dog, getting the

(15:19):
right information. And the internet is a wonderful tool. Like
I said, AKC's website has this finder on it that
helps you walk through all the different breeds because there
are two hundred and two AKAC breeds so that's a
lot to choose from. But there's over six hundred breeds
in the world. It's just we don't have all of
them in the AKAC somewhere in the US summer not
for instance, the dog breed I have, the Dingish Swedish
arm dog is breed number two oh two. We're the

(15:40):
newest breed in the AKAC. So we're going to be
featured at the Pennsylvania the Philadelphia Dog Shows at Thanksgiving.
So stay tuned because that's going to be on TV
and there will be images of us and our dogs
on that publication or that's presentation on Thanksgiving Day. It's
always between the parade them that football game.

Speaker 1 (16:01):
That will definitely mark the calendar for that. We'll remind
folks as well how.

Speaker 2 (16:05):
Cool that is.

Speaker 1 (16:06):
Awesome, Doctor try I was going to ask you also,
and we could probably do a whole other show on
this about some of the mistakes people make when it
comes to introducing pets to their family, and specifically with
little kids. Obviously, there's some great guidelines and there are
some things that folks may want to avoid as well.
I think sometimes and I see this not just with

(16:26):
with new pets and kids, but new pets.

Speaker 2 (16:28):
And other pets.

Speaker 1 (16:29):
Sometimes it seems that we're over eager to force interaction
and it adds stress to the pet. It can cause
damage that relationship. There are things out there mistakes that
people do make when when introducing a new pet to
the family.

Speaker 2 (16:42):
Aren't there Oh.

Speaker 3 (16:44):
Yeah, and nobody means to do it, but it does
happen pretty easily because everyone's so excited. Don't forget to
put your pet in a crate on the way home
from the breeder or from the rescue, because we don't
want the dog having an opportunity to escape the car.
We had one client that had that happen on their
way home. They sold a puppy and then on the
way home there was a car accident. They'll be really
careful about those kinds of things that those are not

(17:06):
things that happened to you. Introduce the pets slowly, to
the children, to the other pets in the household. I
like exercise pens and baby gates a lot because they
can see each other through the gate but not have
that direct interaction that may be a little too intense.
Puppies will get excited, they'll jump on the children, and
if the child's first experiences that the puppies jumping on

(17:27):
them and scratching them, they're going to be really upset
and they're not going to be happy about this new puppy.
So I'm very careful with that, through the through the expense,
through the gate, through the a leashed puppy, and I
never ever ever let anybody walk around holding a puppy.
They have to sit on the floor, especially children, So
when the puppy is introduced, try and have the puppy

(17:48):
a little bit tired and then have the children sitting
on the floor. The puppy's not going to jump on
them as likely, and they can't fall off the floor.
If you're sitting on the floor, you can't fall off
the floor. So those are some tips for people to start.
If it's another pet in the household, especially a cat,
a cat's going to look with this new puppy and
go yeah, no, I don't think so. So you don't
want the first experience of the puppy with the cat

(18:10):
to be a big laceration on their nose either from
a cat scratch. So again, be thoughtful about it. Be
careful so that you are wise about your introductions and
not just randomly starting off with a two bold of
an introduction, because that doesn't turn out well.

Speaker 1 (18:26):
No, no, They've got their entire lives to get to
know each other and become best fast friends. Just no
rush up front. And that's a great thing too. As
you talk about and consider bringing a new pet into
the family, having a great vet, having somebody that you
can talk with and ask questions of is a really
important role as well. And the nice thing at checkout
Veterinary they are accepting new patients right now. They've got

(18:48):
an opportunity for you to start that relationship again. They
are accepting patients now at checkout Vet. You can learn
more online the website checkout vet dot com. That's all
one word, checkout vet dot com. You can learn more
about checkout vet. You can make an appointment right online.
Don't forget that first visit that exam. It is free.
You can also, of course, if you first pick up phone,
give me call six oh eight three one eight sixty

(19:09):
seven hundred. That's six soh eight three one eight sixty
seven hundred located right at twenty seven to ten Prairie
Lakes Drive in some Prairie. Doctor Greer is always informative.
I learned so much stuff talking with you each and
every week. Thank you so much for joining us. Enjoy
the day. Thank you and again that website. Check out
vet dot com Vicky McKenna, she comes your way next
right here on thirteen ten, Wibi