Radio 2SM Breakfast Segment #23 with Kaye Browne

*** RADIO 2SM PET SEGMENT #23 WITH KAYE BROWNE ***
THIS WEEK...
Dogs love to smell don't they?... But what motivates them and can you train your dog to do 'Scent-Work'?

PLUS...
Some people think they just have to fill a bowl with kibble or a can of dog food – and think - that’s enough?  Dog’s fed, he/she will be fine… really? So what about bones, are they actually ok for our dogs?

00'00" - Welcome Tim Webster and Kaye Browne
00'40" - How Smells (Scents) Affect Our Dogs!
04'10" - Chewing Bones... Are They Ok For Our Dogs?

TRANSCRIPT:
TIM: Well, with all of the drama going on in the world, of course, there’s one thing you can rely on, and that's your pet. Well, you know, just on that, our new rescue, Ellie, who's adorable, and you get home and you've had a long day, and down she comes down the stairs, tail wagging, and wants to give you a lick, and, you know, welcome home, Dad.

I mean, it's a very comforting thing, and we love them, don't we? The world begins and ends with us, with them, and so how do we make life better for them? And it's something I suppose we all think about doing as much as we can. Well, we promised you last week the latest, best scientific stuff on bones and chewing. We'll do that.

They're all good, but they're all kinds of chews that you can use with your pets. So let's have a yarn to Kaye Browne, from VETtalk Online, whose company provides the latest and the best helpful hints on your pets and for your vets as well. G'day.

KAYE: Good morning to you.   TIM: Good morning to you. Now, I think this is a fascinating one when you talk about scent work. I mean, how good is your nose? We're not talking about determining a Shiraz from a Pinot, but rather we lucked out compared to our canine friends. But haven't they got a fairly acute sense of smell, canines in particular?

KAYE: Oh, absolutely, their sense of smell is like 300 million times better than ours. Yeah, right.

And I always think it's amusing when people say, put your hand out so the dog can smell you. The dog smelt you the minute you entered the room.

TIM: Yeah, that's interesting, isn't it? Because when we do put our hand out so the dog knows who you are. Yeah, they know you are already.

KAYE: They do and do. But we can actually take advantage of that smell-ability, if you like, by actually doing scent work.   And if you haven't heard about this, you can do it at the Northern Suburbs Dog Training Organization. They do it regularly and it's a great thing because you know how we try and counter condition our dogs towards not being fearful of things and don't worry if you see another dog, but their brain isn't really always on the job. Whereas if we rewire their reactive behaviour through their nose work or through their nose, through scent work, then they'll actually feel a lot happier.   Now, what happens is that they are trained to find initially pieces of food, but then it progresses to finding particular scents on cotton buds. I know this sounds weird. They feel a sense of success when they actually find the right thing and get told, yes, you've got this.   You've got the most amazing sense of smell because they basically are running the game. It's a very, very good tool. A lot of people say that the dogs that are doing scent work actually sleep better, they're calmer and they feel very confident instead of very anxious because they know they can do something really well and it's fun for them.   TIM: Yeah, right. By the way, is that dog training centre, the one up at St. Ives, is that still there? Same one in Sydney?

KAYE: Yes, that's still there, the St. Ives one. I used to do MC, the Doggy Days there with my husband. But yes, the NorthernSuburbsdogtraining.org.au is the place where people can go and check out when they're doing the scent work classes. But it really is a good thing to do.

TIM: Yeah, interesting, we bought, actually not for Ellie, our rescue, but for my son's dog, one of those little devices and you put their biscuits in it and they have to figure out how to knock the thing over so the biscuits come out the little hole. And I would imagine that's based on scent too, wouldn't it be?

KAYE: It's based on scent and it also activates part of their brain that says, okay, I've got a problem here, I need to solve it. And like all of us, we like to solve things, so it's the scent that's also working out how they can push the button to get the treats out.

TIM: Yeah, clever, isn't it? I mean, and their noses, aren't they, I'm thinking, are always going. And it's the first thing they do when they approach anything, that nose goes and they have a sniff and try and figure out what it is, I guess is what they're doing, is