Pet Talk
Pet Talk 11-30-24
Laurie Fass recaps her Thanksgiving and shares what she gave her pets, discussing which human foods are safe and unsafe for animals. She also addresses leash manners and dog walking, emphasizing the importance of training while offering tips and statistics. Laurie takes a call about introducing a new cat into a household with an existing cat, providing advice on the process. Additionally, she responds to a question about choke collars versus harnesses, sharing her thoughts on the use of these tools.
- Duration:
- 42m
- Broadcast on:
- 30 Nov 2024
- Audio Format:
- other
Shop Cyber Monday deals now on Amazon with up to 40% off home goods to deck their home Toys to stuff their stocking and electronics like noise-canceling headphones to silent their night Shop Amazon Cyber Monday deals now Look, we're all human. We push pull doors We blow on ice cream to cool it down and sometimes we forget to check our blind spots That's why the 2025 Hyundai Tucson hybrid offers class-leading advanced safety features like an available blind spot View monitor which shows you a live video feed of your blind spots because the Tucson hybrid is made for humans who are just that human Visit hondausa.com or call 562-314-4603 for details This holiday season surprise everyone on your list with the best gifts tickets to see their favorite artists live Choose from thousands of concerts and comedy shows including Mariah Carey, Mary J. Blige, Matt Matthews, Talica, Thomas Rhett, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Sarah Silverman and so many more. Share a memory together or give a gift They'll never forget. Find the most exciting gift for every fan at live nation.com/gifts. That's live nation.com/gifts Welcome to WTIC's pet dog. Today, Laurie Fast takes your pet behavior questions This is a show for you and your best friend. Call in now at 522 WTIC 1-800-966 WTIC or start WTIC from your cell phone if you have AT&T wireless and now pet talk Hello and welcome to this week's edition of pet talk on WTIC. You're listening to Laurie Fast on this Behavior edition of the show. I Mentioned last week that I was gonna come back again and here I am and next week starting in December the first week of December will be Dr. Dennis and For the month of December, there's gonna be pretty much a straight rotation. So after her show it's me, then it's her or then it's me and What happens after that is a little bit? We're confusing so if you want to know when I'm gonna be on the air and well anytime really you can check my website Laurie Fast Dog Training.com and I invite people to check my website for up-and-coming classes when I'm gonna be on the air here as I just said and there's some training tips on my website and Just general contact information if you don't feel like calling into the show You have a question. Maybe you thought of it later or maybe you don't want to be on the air So you can email me or you can call me at my business line Which is all listed on my website, but if you'd like to call in the show live today I'd love to hear from you and the numbers are 860522 WTIC so when I was coming in the studio Kevin in his usual polite manner Ask me how I was doing and I told him my my stomach was a little glitchy Some friends kept giving me. Oh here You should bring this home and you should bring that home and here's some candy and here's some pie and here's some this and that and the other thing And I've been eating it and my stomach is not having a fun time with this. So anyway I'm sure a lot of people fit into that category, but I had four thanksgiving given my cat and my dogs some special treats and it wasn't candy and pie it was turkey they all had turkey dogs and cats and The dogs also had some sweet potato and I suppose the cat could have had some sweet potato, too but I thought she might just enjoy having the turkey and They were thrilled and so I just took out whatever portion of food they might normally have had and substituted that and You know something like that is a healthy good add in and this is a conversation that I've had with people many times about you know giving animals people food Well, I mean food is food. There's human-grade food and human-grade food is generally held to a much higher standard Then what is considered to be okay for a pet? so assuming you're not giving your dog you know Twinkies and potato chips and lots of greasy God knows what I mean there are certain types of foods that we eat and a dog should not have for example grapes A dog should not have grapes and you know, you can easily Google what a dog Can and cannot eat what a cat can and cannot eat but it's my opinion that I'm giving A pet the same old thing day after day, you know, especially if it's very processed up It's a little pellet is not only just boring, but I don't even know how good it is I think fresh food that is human-grade is not only a special treat for your pet But I think it's also Nutritionally beneficial and so throughout the year I do a lot of add-ins to my pets foods and I think they appreciate it and I think it is healthy So as long as you're making sure you're not, you know, feeding your dog a bunch of junk or in massive amounts I remember years ago. I had this little chihuahua who's just shy of five pounds and one of my son's friends Was visiting and giving her little scraps from the table and I said, you know, don't do that because What you're giving her is, you know, that's too much food She weighs not even five pounds and he kept doing it, you know, when I wasn't looking and Ended up she threw this all up which I can imagine she would have considering how much she gave because the amount of food a Little tiny animal would eat This particular dog was named one-eater and what she would eat in a week would be less food then, you know, my master would eat in For a snack so, you know, you have to be mindful of that and a lot of animals including cats, not just dogs Will act like they're hungry Even when they're really not hungry, they just want to snack people do the same thing and so, you know If you're trying to indulge them in some sort of way because you're giving them healthy Alternatives, you're giving them variety, you're giving them something healthy I'm all for that but if it turns into, you know, just feeding them feeding and feeding Well, that's not good for them or for you so anyway, I just thought I'd share that because I did actually make a big pot of Turkey, I took got some ground turkey and so I made some sweet potatoes and I mixed it all up and I was giving it out to Friends dogs and my dogs and you know, so I think I cooked more for the pets this year than I did for humans But hey, that's what the holiday is all about as far as I'm concerned. So anyway I'm always Keeping track of weather not because you know, I want to make small talk about weather Although I might do that too, but I need to be mindful of what's going on because a lot of what I do Has to take place outside So if it's pouring rain or we're having some kind of slippery, sleety snowstorm We're probably not gonna want to be doing lessons outside certain types of behaviors I can deal with inside in fact There are certain types of behaviors that I really need to be inside to deal with but I would say by and large the number one Issue that I work with with most people's dogs is how they behave on a leash whether it's, you know, they think they're training for the I did a rod and they just won't stop pulling or very frequently they become reactive when they see another dog or a person or a squirrel or whatever the case may be but Just leash manners is very very Commonly a problem and it's also something that even if people aren't identifying it as a problem If you don't have good control of your dog on a leash you probably don't have good control of your dog period because the leash is your first line of communication literally and if you're actually hanging on to your dog and They have utter and total disregard and think if you as an inconvenient meat anchor then, you know, probably things aren't gonna be going the way you had intended them to go and Very often this problem of pulling on the leash can lead to some serious consequences I know when I'm teaching people how to get their dogs to behave people are oh, you know, that's mean I don't want to hurt my dogs feelings and you know I want them to just be able to do whatever they want and you know I don't want to hurt them and I'm thinking, you know the amount and I've said this to people many many times over the years that The amount of people that I know who have been hurt by their dogs far exceeds the amount of dogs I know that have been hurt by people in fact, I'd have to really stretch my imagination to think of when that might have occurred partially because Nobody's going to the kind of person that would do something that would hurt their dog Is is not going to be the same kind of person who's going to hire professional training services You know, I mean the types of hurt that I've seen with animals are you know some sort of an unfortunate accident of some kind but I suppose you could say if an animal is Hurting a human it might fall under the category of accident But boy, could I tell you some stories and I'm gonna tell you some stories and I'm gonna tell you some other information about an article That I happened to run across while I was sitting at the chiropractor's office and it was an article that appeared in AARP magazine on it was talking about the number of injuries that people have had happened to them just through friendly dog pulling kinds of behaviors and I Certainly as I said, I knew this was true But I didn't I didn't have the actual numbers and statistics that were quoted in this article. So When we come back after the break, I'm gonna share that with you and some other stories. Hello You're listening to pet talk on W T. I see this is Laurie Fass and this is the behavior edition of the show and before the break I was talking about walking dogs and the kinds of things that can happen to people getting hurt with their dogs pulling them and I mentioned that I Had warned people that you need to be careful. I can tell you many many stories of situations were friendly dogs just because they're strong and Over more coordinated than the people that are having them in some instances but I happened upon an article in AARP magazine while I was in the waiting room and They were actually giving statistics, which I thought well, that's interesting So I have some of those statistics. I'm gonna share with you. So between the years of 2001 and 2020 there were 422 thousand six hundred and fifty nine adults which kind of summarizes down to about 20,000 per year in this country who sought emergency room treatment for injury sustained while walking their leashed dogs And this was according to a study by John Hopkins University but that would not include all of the uncounted number of injuries where people would go to their primary care doctors or Maybe you know withhold their own treatment or whatever the case may be And I'm not sure how this is recorded. So I can imagine that if somebody goes in Because they sprained their wrists. They broke their leg Whatever the case may be that it might not be Recorded with whoever the medical care provider was as being caused by a dog I don't know who collects these statistics. So I'm gonna say that that's you know, probably a Lot fewer than what is actually happening, but that's still quite a lot and according to this article It says older people of course, it's AARP magazine but older people are three times more likely to experience a fall related injury while walking a leash dog and What I thought was interesting is when they were referring to older people they were saying People older than 40 So that is pretty broad range of people that you know, this would apply to And this is kind of horrifying, but it said 60% were more likely to sustain a traumatic brain injury So, you know, when you're thinking about you're walking your dog And you know, you don't want to be mean and you don't want to do this and you don't want to do that And you just want to let them do whatever they want You really need to think and consider that you could end up really really hurting yourself by allowing that to happen, so then the article continues with some Some general ideas on how to control this some of it is okay advice But I don't think that the article isn't necessarily intended to be a training article But I thought it was you know a little bit Maybe not the greatest thing that they didn't suggest that people would get actual training advice as opposed to just some of these little tips And some of the tips okay like for example where the right shoes Yeah, well, you know You would think that when people are going for a walk and doing any kind of dog training there They would wear the right shoes But I had a woman and one of my group classes who was literally coming with heel Shoes that were if they weren't stilettos. They could certainly be rival to stilettos I even I said to her, you know, I don't think it's really safe for you to be wearing those shoes, but She didn't really want to hear it and you know, I wasn't gonna throw her out of my class, but it certainly made me nervous I didn't see her hurt herself while she was there, but you know, I don't I can't say I endorse that either Then the article says build strength and balance well, okay, you know, that's probably a good idea Just in life in general not just for walking your dog and This one stick to a route a more familiar terrain someplace where you know what might be coming up upon you I remember many years ago. I was hired by someone who had Two rescue rottweilers and one looked very much like a pure red and the other looked like a rottweiler mix and She was a student of mine and she had started a job where she was working 14 hours a day and she wanted somebody to take her dogs out for a walk while she was gone and normally That's not something that I do, but she wasn't comfortable just hiring a dog walker because her dogs would get very reactive when they saw another dog and so I'm thinking of it because this article saying, you know, consider your root and where you're going because when I Met to I met her at her house to discuss what we were gonna do She was telling me well don't go down that road over there and make sure that you know You don't go around the corner over here and I was like, okay you know what I'm a dog trainer and I'm gonna walk wherever I want to walk and they're gonna learn how to behave and they did and they did a wonderful wonderful job and I was very proud of them for the two dogs For learning how to behave themselves, but certainly it's a testimony that if you train your dogs You don't have to worry about walking here or walking there and that's not always realistic You know, it's all very well and good to say you know, you know This particular very barky dog is on and some invisible fence in their front yard He's gonna lunge at you and you don't want to go there But that's not to say that on any given day Somebody may just show up who isn't normally part of your route or a dog gets loose or something like that So to rely on what we're gonna only go on the safe Roads, you know, it might be helpful and probably there are some places that you might want to avoid anyway But I don't think that's the answer by any stretch of the imagination Then the other suggestion is we're out your dog before you take them for a walk. Well, you know, okay, maybe but you know part of it is Excitement, I think especially the first part of the walk and so even if your dog, you know Let's say you play ball with your dog before you take him for a walk I don't know that dogs who get excited for walks are gonna be so tired that they're not going to pull you because you just played ball with them So yeah, might it help a little bit again? Maybe but I don't think that's a good solution and I do like this suggestion where it says stay off your phone Yeah, I don't think you should be walking your dog and talking on your phone I mean, I've seen people well I saw that this isn't nothing to do with dog training But I remember watching a video of somebody who was at a mall that had a big Fountain and they were fiddling around on their phone and they were so glued to their phone that they walked right into the fountain So that was pretty bad but if you know obviously you don't want to be on your phone when you're driving and I'm not saying walking your dog is as dangerous as driving But you're not gonna see what's you know, you might not see that there's maybe a pothole or you might not see that there's a curb You might not see there's a squirrel. You might not see that there's a dog coming up You might not see a little kid who's running at you in your dog. There's a lot of things you're gonna miss So yeah, that one I do like that one that they said stay off your phone if you're gonna walk your dog You're spending some quality time with your dog. You know, give it some focus Really pay attention and don't talk on your phone. So I wholeheartedly agree with that one but I wanted to talk about other things including some of the other suggestions and training equipment and Also some of my own personal stories that I can tell you about things that have happened Which you know are kind of alarming. 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Learn more at CH ministries.org/enroll Presented by T-Mobile the official wireless partner of Odyssey Sports with an awesome network and great savings There's never been a better time to join T-Mobile visit your neighborhood store to make the switch today I'm Jenna Fisher and I'm Angela Kinsey and together we have the podcast office ladies Just because we finished rewatching the office does not mean we're going anywhere every Wednesday will be sharing even more exclusive stories from the office and our friendship with brand new guests plus you can revisit all the office ladies Rewatch episodes every Monday with new bonus tidbits before every episode So follow and listen to office ladies on the free Odyssey app and wherever you get your podcasts Hello, and welcome back to pet talk on W T. I see you're listening to Lori fast on this behavior edition of the show Next week's edition will be the veterinary edition so you can save up whatever medical questions You might have for next week But if you have a question you want to run by me or something you'd like to share I'm here until two so we do have some time to take some calls And I see somebody's calling in now, but the numbers are eight six zero five two two w t I see or If you prefer to contact me off the air for whatever reason I always tell people to Contact me through my website, which has my email and Also has my phone number my business phone number as opposed to the on the air number So just check out my website lori fast dog training Dot com and you can talk to me off the air if you don't want to talk to me on the air But we have somebody who does want to talk to me on the air. So we're going to connect up with lori Hi lori Hey, how are you? Good. What's up? So I have a question. Um, I have a cat. She is 13 years old. Um, I've had her her entire life she um She tends to think she's a dog Uh, she's She's she's just uh, she's a great cat. She's got a great personality Um, there was a short time in her life where I did live somewhere where there was a dog that was In the in the house at the same time. Um, and but it's been a while since uh, we've been on our own and I wanted to bring in Uh, another cat. Okay. And I'm supposed to introduce the cat slowly fortunately Um, the cat is at a friend's house. And so, um, you know, he he's been on me I know that I probably picked up his son. I know she has smelled him on me Um, some, I'm hoping that uh, it won't be a difficult transition But what are some of the things that I should probably Okay. Well, let me let me ask you a question and the question is the cat that you're bringing in Has that cat ever lived with other cats before? Yes, yes, there's another Um, there were four other cats. Okay, and that cat had no issues with those cats No, not at all. He's he again has a great personality. He's are even six So there's no issues there. Okay. He is He gets four years old and my my cat is 13 years old. Okay. Now your cat. I know has lived with, uh, dog Has your cat ever lived with a cat? No, so that's okay. Well, you know, I can give you some ideas, but um, it's Honestly, it's one of those situations where exactly how it goes and how it works out You're gonna have to see and find out in most cases cats, um, work it out to a point where they're coexisting Uh, in some cases they're really good friends and of course that's ideal You want that would be the best case scenario and in some cases the worst case scenario is they're very hostile and antagonistic towards each other But generally you're gonna find some something somewhere in the middle Um, so if you're introducing the cat to your cat Cats are very oriented to their environment. In other words, you know, dogs are oh, we're visiting a new home. Isn't this great? Yeah, looky looky here and looky there and if you bring a cat into a new environment that the new environment is going to be very Um, disorienting to them. So bringing the new cat in I think the first priority Is going to be to get the new cat comfortable with your house before you get the cat comfortable with your cat Okay, okay, so that would be, you know, you pick a room you get the cat used to that room Um, maybe when you have the new cat explore the house Temporarily you put your cat in a different room so that they're not absolutely confronting each other right away And in some cases i'll actually set up Um, like a wired dog crate and put one of the cats in there so that they can be they can see each other But there's not going to be any kind of conflict Um, but usually I mean a lot of people I can't tell you how many people to get a cat They just oh, here's the here's your new home buddy. Here you go And they don't do any of this and it still somehow works out But I think I guess my my main point is that if you're if the new cat coming into a new environment Is nervous and scared that's going to make your cat uncomfortable because your cat's not going to understand what's going on Why is this cat all sketched out and who is this character anyway? So if you can get the new cat comfortable with its environment We're already halfway there and then alternate who has what space and then maybe introduce them Close up where one is in a carrier if not the dog crate Uh, so they can actually you know smell each other and kind of see what how that goes and you know If you can get them comfortable behind some sort of a barrier or something where you have some sort of safety If need be uh, that's going to help also. Um, does your cat have any particular place where It she likes to run to if she gets nervous Um, usually under my bed. Oh, okay. Okay. All right. So when you get the other cat You know and and the cat starts wandering about see where that cat tends to like to go So maybe they're not going in the same places and also I think this is always a good cautionary note is to have their nails cut Okay, so they're not as sharp Um, and if there's a little bit of you know a lot of times people say well the cats are having a fight And it's really it's more of a squabble. It's not really a fight where they're sort of You know scratching at each other or hissing and a little bit of hissing and a little bit of swatting I don't think is the end of the world because how would you feel if all of a sudden? Um, you know, I had a big box and out of the box hopped this human and they started, you know eating breakfast with you You'd be like, what the heck is that? So, you know, there's no real heads up. You can give your cat It's going to seem kind of strange to her. Um, so, you know, you want to make sure that uh, if the cats nails are very very sharp They're more likely to you know, possibly hurt each other, but uh, you know, I think it's just getting The new cat used to the environment getting your cat used to the smells of the new cat And and as I say a lot of times I'll use a carrier or a dog crate to have one or the other of them in there So they can sniff each other and you know, we don't have to worry about anybody getting hurt But you know From what you're telling me, I think it's you know, there's no red flags here I think it's just going to take a little bit of time Um, but with a new cat, you know, putting a priority on getting that cat used to its environment So that's not a handicap for the cat to get used to your cat. Does that make sense? Yeah, and the other the other concern I have with that cat was because he said he used to the internet My cat, I'm sorry. You're cladding up a little bit. Could you repeat that, please? Yes, sorry. Um, so my cat's always been an indoor cat, but the cat coming in has been both indoor outdoor. Okay, so I'm going to try to turn him into an indoor cat So that's a little bit of well is he being an indoor cat now at your friend's house He tends to be indoors in the winter time. He doesn't really want to be bothered with going outside Um So I think that if we're going to do this now is the time to kind of get in use to being indoors because You know, he doesn't really have much of a desire to be outdoors. Anyway, he may not Be as attached to it as you know, I mean cats that are really hardcore. I'm an outdoor cat They don't care if it's winter or there's not winter. They have to go outside or they're going to give you a problem Okay, so you know, he may be a little more flexible that way Um, and you know, you want to have enrichment things, you know, have some catnip Did you ever hear of silver vine? It's like a plant stick that cats like to play with and chew on No, okay, you can get some of that Um, and get some cat toys, you know, things that you can play with your new cat To keep him busy and maybe set up some things where he can climb up on Um, sometimes people even put like little Wall bookshelves and put carpet on it so it's not slippery. So, you know, so you keep things interesting Um, and I think cats appreciate attention just like dogs do, you know, so you know having little snacks in different locations and keep moving things around Um, I think all of those things are helpful But there's you know Probably it'll work out fine because people do this all the time And there's no reason to think it's going to be a big problem, but just you know, just be patient Okay, all right. Well. Thank you so much. I appreciate the Okay. Well, I hope everything is great with you and um, thanks for calling Thank you. Okay. Take care. Bye. Bye. Bye Okay, so um We have Fred on hold, but I think we need to go to a break So Fred, if you can just hold on we'll get to you after the break Hello and welcome back to pet talk on wt. I see I'm lori fast and i'm here with you and for the next 10 minutes To talk about your pet and specifically your pet's behavior And we have Fred who's been patiently waiting on hold so i'm going to see what I can do to help him Hi, Fred I Good afternoon. Uh, thank you for taking my call Um interesting discussion that you had about people getting injured by their pets that i'm wondering your opinion of a Especially with a new dog or working with a dog A regular really walking a dog of a regular collar or some type of choke collar versus the harness that we see So common with people now. Well, you know in general, I would say to you that harnesses are Used for dogs who pull sleds and pull carts and for the most part if a dog is a big polar And they're on a harness. Uh, they are going to be able to pull you all that much more better Um, there are front hook harnesses that make it awkward for dogs to pull Uh, and some people find that they work okay, but part of the problem with harnesses in general And particularly the front hook harness is it's hard to get them to fit properly Which means that potentially your dog could slip out of it. Okay, uh, if you're talking about a collar Um, you know, if you're talking about a traditional choke collar, which is like a slip collar that kind of tightens and releases Um, the problem with those is most people don't use them properly meaning that if the dog is pulling that Um, you know, the the collar continues to constrict and it's kind of gagging the dog. There's supposed to be Kept loose and if the dog tightens it up You need to make it loose which you have to learn how to do that and then quickly snap it back and right back to being loose again So there's a little bit of a learning curve with that, but you know moving a dog from point a to point b Let's say, you know, I just picked up a dog and I could put a harness on it or I could put a choke collar on it And I want to get it in the house safely I'm going to put the choke collar on it because I don't want it to escape out of a poorly fitting harness Um, there's also a type of a collar called a martin gale collar Which is adjustable on the bottom. So imagine like an adjustable u shape And then the top part has an attached i'll call it an o shape And that's where the leash attaches and that pulls the collar tight like a choke collar But only to the point that you adjusted the u part to and some of the martin gale collars Have a chain on top and the chain is kind of this motion that I described about making it loose quickly Snapping it back and making it loose again can be done pretty effectively with a martin gale collar Particularly the kind with a chain and those are also safer from the point of view of the dog not ducking out of it Um, so, you know, if you're going to put a collar of any kind on your dog You have to make sure that it fits properly Because a lot of people have them adjusted much too loosely And i've seen dogs back out of collars on a regular basis And if you have a martin gale collar it can fit loosely, but if your dog pulls on it It snugs up in such a way that they can't get out But you know, there's other types of collars like there's prong collars There is a collar that looks like a prong but it's plastic It's called a star mark collar and those are configured very similar to the martin gale collar that I just described to you Okay, um, so, you know, there's so many different types and there's different types of harnesses There's a sporn harness which uh kind of goes up underneath dog's armpits Um, and it's sort of it's got a little fleece lining but it does have a Release motion to it for training purposes, but it really depends You know for me to say this collar or that harness And apply it to all dogs across the board That wouldn't be completely fair. So If i'm at you know if somebody's asking me which type of training tool is best for A dog. I usually want to know what dog and and what circumstances and what have you used? So are you just asking me a general question or are you asking me a specific question relating to a particular dog? I think it's a general question because We've had a dog and and and she left a few years ago, but uh, I watch people walking dogs on the harnesses And it drives me nuts because the dog is is totally out of control Um, my wife had uh helped take care of a neighbor's dog when there's some issues going on in the family and she would walk the dog And it was it was just totally out of control on a harness And um, it actually started bothering my wife sciatica and things like that and I When I would walk the dog, I made a choke collar and walked the dog And then I was able to get the dog to heal and many other things with it with with a with a collar on as opposed to the harness at the The owner who sounds like you might have some sort of an idea of how to use the choke collar Uh, okay Because I mean I I knew somebody that had a beagle and had it on a choke collar And the beagle was pulling like a freight train and just kept the collar tight the entire time and it it caused some injury But that's kind of defeats the whole purpose of having any kind of training collar on If the point of a training collar or whatever you're using is to train the dog not to pull I guess that was a fail all the way around so, you know, um, yeah, there's there's just so many different choices Um, but I think what you said that you basically didn't let the dog do it That has to do not just only with equipment, but also with a mindset So if you have a mindset of well, I'm just gonna let this dog do whatever it wants Um, it doesn't even matter what kind of equipment you have on the dog is going to do whatever it wants You know, my guess is if you had that same dog with a harness You probably could have got it under certainly better control than the other person anyway And maybe the choke collar helped you, but you know, if if people have this attitude of just i'm going to let my dog do whatever it wants Uh, it doesn't like I say it doesn't really even matter. There's no magical equipment. Do you get what i'm saying with that? I do. Yeah, because I mean, yeah, I mean when I'm as I said earlier leash manners is like the number one thing That I work with and most people who hire me hire me with an open mind of I have a problem and I want to fix it and I want to change it But even with those people who are paying me money and set aside time for a lesson I still sometimes have to argue with them about well, you can't just follow your dog all around you have to stop that But you know, there's plenty of people that would never hire me and those are the people that you're complaining about right now So I don't know what to say, but there's all you know Unfortunately, I think that the norm is for people to have out of control dogs and that's sort of sad, but I think that's true All right. Well, thank you very much. Okay. Well, I appreciate your call. Thanks for coming. Bye bye Okay, all right, so that was a good question by by Fred But you know the thing is you know equipment there's certain types of equipment that um, I just can't endorse Really at all. So, you know back to this article that I was talking about They were talking a little bit about equipment and one of the things they said that was used the right leash So, you know, Fred was bringing up different types of collars or harnesses, but And I've said this before but retractable leashes are not a really good idea They're not a good idea for a lot of reasons for one thing They can release and zoom out very fast and the possibility of getting tangled On yourself on somebody else on a pole on another dog is pretty high Um from a training point of view leash manners means for me. This is how I do leash manners that Your dog is supposed to understand They're not supposed to put pressure on the leash and if you're putting pressure on the leash It's because you're trying to show them where you want them to be and they should yield to the pressure and that's not A normal will just say instinctual response that a dog would have most dogs If you put pressure on a leash their instinctual response to that is to pull back on it Um, so, you know, that's something that needs to be taught and the dog needs to learn But guess what happens when a dog puts pressure on a retractable leash? They get even more freedom And you know trying to keep your eyes on your dog I mean, I've seen people with dogs on retractable leashes and they're behind them and they're off to the side and they have no idea What in the heck is going on? So that was in the article don't use retractable leashes 100% agree with that Um, I met somebody who had a badly pulling dog The dog was about 70 pounds a mix and she had a leash that I'll call it a waist leash. It was basically something that she had secured to her waist, okay, and she wanted to walk this very Reactive super strong kind of nutty dog with this leash attached to her waist I said, please don't do that if that dog starts pulling you you can't even get out of a leash now We're gonna have a serious problem And she seemed to think somehow in her imagination that this was gonna be a great leash So no retractable leashes and no hook the dog permanently to your waist is your walking leash because both of those are horrible Training tools and you know, what I was mentioning to Fred is I'm pretty flexible with what will be good in different circumstances But those two things, you know, there might be special circumstances where they'd be okay But for training tools, no forget it. We don't want to talk about that All right, so you've been listening to pet talk on wtic. I'll be back in a couple of weeks And next week will be dr. Dennis and I hope you enjoy the rest of your week and thanks for tuning in take care
Laurie Fass recaps her Thanksgiving and shares what she gave her pets, discussing which human foods are safe and unsafe for animals. She also addresses leash manners and dog walking, emphasizing the importance of training while offering tips and statistics. Laurie takes a call about introducing a new cat into a household with an existing cat, providing advice on the process. Additionally, she responds to a question about choke collars versus harnesses, sharing her thoughts on the use of these tools.