1 00:00:02,680 --> 00:00:05,760 Hey there, it's Jess. If you're new here, I'm a 2 00:00:05,760 --> 00:00:08,560 certified professional canine nutritionist, raw nutrition 3 00:00:08,560 --> 00:00:11,720 certified for dogs and cats, a holistic pet health coach, the 4 00:00:11,720 --> 00:00:15,040 founder of Wild Wellness Pet, and the host of the Pet 5 00:00:15,040 --> 00:00:17,680 Parenting Reset podcast that you're listening to right now, 6 00:00:18,320 --> 00:00:21,960 where every pet deserves the absolute best and every pet 7 00:00:21,960 --> 00:00:25,440 parent is welcome. Learn from the best holistic and 8 00:00:25,440 --> 00:00:27,840 integrative experts in veterinary medicine and 9 00:00:27,840 --> 00:00:31,120 nutrition every Tuesday right here on this podcast. 10 00:00:31,720 --> 00:00:34,920 Or get individualized help with your pet through one-on-one 11 00:00:34,920 --> 00:00:38,800 consultations and take a deep dive into the root cause with 12 00:00:38,800 --> 00:00:41,800 the Wild Wellness Bioenergetics at Home testing kit. 13 00:00:42,200 --> 00:00:45,880 It's time to rethink how we raise our pets. 14 00:00:46,320 --> 00:00:49,520 A reset to naturally healthy dogs and cats. 15 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:52,680 If you've been feeling like there has to be something more, 16 00:00:52,680 --> 00:00:58,240 something better, a better way to raise healthier pets, welcome 17 00:00:58,520 --> 00:01:02,360 to the pet Parenting Reset. Welcome back, pet parent. 18 00:01:02,360 --> 00:01:06,320 Today's episode is another very exciting one for so many 19 00:01:06,320 --> 00:01:09,760 reasons. One is because, well, we talk 20 00:01:09,760 --> 00:01:12,240 about this all the time without talking about this, so we're 21 00:01:12,240 --> 00:01:14,320 going to get more in depth on it today. 22 00:01:14,320 --> 00:01:16,120 I'll tell you what that is in just a second. 23 00:01:16,440 --> 00:01:18,840 But also, I'm just really excited for today's guest 24 00:01:18,840 --> 00:01:21,080 because I've actually been following her for a really long 25 00:01:21,080 --> 00:01:26,080 time and I never really thought about having her on the show. 26 00:01:26,120 --> 00:01:28,920 And then she reached out to me and I was like, Oh my gosh, this 27 00:01:28,920 --> 00:01:31,280 is so amazing. So first of all, we're going to 28 00:01:31,280 --> 00:01:33,240 be talking about canine enrichment today. 29 00:01:33,240 --> 00:01:36,120 And enrichment is again, something we talk about without 30 00:01:36,120 --> 00:01:40,640 really talking about it all the time because it is so important. 31 00:01:40,640 --> 00:01:43,960 It's very foundational. It's in the like 6 step plan of 32 00:01:43,960 --> 00:01:47,720 everything we need to do to make our pets healthier and happier. 33 00:01:48,080 --> 00:01:51,480 But actually getting into like the nitty gritty of what that 34 00:01:51,480 --> 00:01:54,480 means is something we haven't really talked about on the 35 00:01:54,480 --> 00:01:57,040 podcast. So I'm really excited to welcome 36 00:01:57,040 --> 00:02:01,600 Tori Mystic on the Pet Parenting Reset podcast today because she 37 00:02:01,600 --> 00:02:05,080 is a canine enrichment expert. So welcome, Tori. 38 00:02:05,360 --> 00:02:09,240 Hey, Jessica, thank you so much. I can't believe that we haven't 39 00:02:09,240 --> 00:02:11,600 connected face to face before, so this is awesome. 40 00:02:11,960 --> 00:02:13,920 Yeah, I know. I'm really excited about it. 41 00:02:13,920 --> 00:02:17,200 And so is my my little kitten Camden, very involved here 42 00:02:17,440 --> 00:02:20,240 today. He's usually much more of a 43 00:02:20,240 --> 00:02:21,800 menace than what he is right now. 44 00:02:21,800 --> 00:02:24,360 And I see you've got and. I have Burton, little 45 00:02:24,360 --> 00:02:27,400 appearance, He's always napping right behind me and usually the 46 00:02:27,400 --> 00:02:30,280 way I sit, you don't see him. But you come from time to time, 47 00:02:30,520 --> 00:02:31,920 Yeah. I just saw him. 48 00:02:31,920 --> 00:02:34,400 I know my dog is not with me at the moment. 49 00:02:34,400 --> 00:02:37,640 I'm back and forth between. I'm like living in two different 50 00:02:37,640 --> 00:02:40,360 places and just bringing my dog back and forth. 51 00:02:40,360 --> 00:02:41,760 Sometimes I'm like, you know what? 52 00:02:41,800 --> 00:02:45,520 I'm just going to go record at the other place so you can stay 53 00:02:45,520 --> 00:02:48,080 here for a little. While you might enjoy the 54 00:02:48,080 --> 00:02:50,080 downtime, and we can get into that actually too, with 55 00:02:50,080 --> 00:02:51,400 enrichment. Yeah. 56 00:02:51,520 --> 00:02:54,640 So I think first of all, let's just introduce you a little bit. 57 00:02:54,640 --> 00:02:57,560 Tell me about you. Tell me about how you're doing 58 00:02:57,560 --> 00:03:01,240 what you're doing because like, I just know you from having a 59 00:03:01,240 --> 00:03:05,600 very successful social media and like this is what you share. 60 00:03:05,600 --> 00:03:08,760 You share, you know, pet tips and a lot of enrichment. 61 00:03:08,760 --> 00:03:12,160 And that's kind of how I started following you in the 1st place 62 00:03:12,160 --> 00:03:15,200 was like, well, I want to be successful on social media. 63 00:03:15,880 --> 00:03:19,920 Sometimes, sometimes I don't. Sometimes I'm like, this is just 64 00:03:19,920 --> 00:03:21,840 trash. Let me get off here. 65 00:03:22,200 --> 00:03:26,200 I know, I know, but it's a double edged sword to have all 66 00:03:26,200 --> 00:03:30,320 these followers, yeah. Right, I know, but it's, it's, 67 00:03:30,520 --> 00:03:34,720 it's, it's still nice at the end of the day to like when you are 68 00:03:34,720 --> 00:03:39,640 somebody that like yourself, who has a positive message, who is 69 00:03:39,640 --> 00:03:44,560 genuinely trying to improve the lives of pets and pet parents. 70 00:03:44,560 --> 00:03:48,560 Like that kind of to me, I feel like that's what pushes me 71 00:03:48,560 --> 00:03:52,200 forward, even in those times when I'm like, I feel like crap. 72 00:03:52,240 --> 00:03:55,760 And this person just made me feel like, you know, the worst 73 00:03:55,760 --> 00:03:58,360 in the world. But I still feel like, like the 74 00:03:58,360 --> 00:04:00,520 message is important and that keeps me going. 75 00:04:00,520 --> 00:04:03,040 And so anyway, I want to hear more about like how you got to 76 00:04:03,040 --> 00:04:07,480 where you are. Well, I guess it goes back, I 77 00:04:07,480 --> 00:04:12,320 started my blog and my blog is called Wear wagrepeat.com and if 78 00:04:12,320 --> 00:04:16,160 I had known this was going to become my career 13 years later 79 00:04:16,160 --> 00:04:18,920 when I started my blog 13 years ago, I probably would have 80 00:04:18,920 --> 00:04:21,560 chosen a different and easier to say name. 81 00:04:21,680 --> 00:04:26,000 But here we are today. So 13 years ago I just started 82 00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:30,040 this blog as a hobby, as a way to document my passions in life, 83 00:04:30,080 --> 00:04:33,120 which at the time were style and dog. 84 00:04:33,120 --> 00:04:36,600 So that's why it's wear repeat. And my original tagline was I 85 00:04:36,600 --> 00:04:39,520 wear it, they wag it and then we repeat. 86 00:04:39,800 --> 00:04:44,800 So it was equal parts like outfit photos and I love DIY's 87 00:04:44,800 --> 00:04:47,400 and crafts and sewing. And then it was a lot of dog 88 00:04:47,400 --> 00:04:50,000 stuff. And I found out very quickly 89 00:04:50,120 --> 00:04:54,080 that the dog stuff was a lot more engaging even back then 13 90 00:04:54,080 --> 00:04:56,800 years ago when I was blogging. This was before I even had 91 00:04:56,800 --> 00:05:02,120 Instagram, and I know I'm old. I started that before Instagram 92 00:05:02,120 --> 00:05:06,360 like existed. But on my blog, dog people found 93 00:05:06,360 --> 00:05:09,320 me at the time that in blogging there was a way to like kind of 94 00:05:09,320 --> 00:05:13,080 network with other bloggers and the dog people were so welcoming 95 00:05:13,080 --> 00:05:15,840 and so friendly. The fashion bloggers, not so 96 00:05:15,840 --> 00:05:18,720 much. So I ended up just kind of by 97 00:05:18,720 --> 00:05:24,080 happenstance going in this dog direction and I gradually grew 98 00:05:24,080 --> 00:05:26,360 it over time. And at the time, I had other 99 00:05:26,360 --> 00:05:29,800 jobs that I was juggling. I've always been someone who has 100 00:05:29,800 --> 00:05:31,440 a lot of different jobs at one time. 101 00:05:32,040 --> 00:05:36,800 And over the years, I was able to kind of gradually quit and 102 00:05:36,800 --> 00:05:38,480 downsize some of those other jobs. 103 00:05:38,480 --> 00:05:43,680 And then I started doing Wear Wag repeat full time in 2019, I 104 00:05:43,680 --> 00:05:46,040 believe. And so I was doing sponsored 105 00:05:46,040 --> 00:05:49,400 posts and then someone said, you know, you should think about 106 00:05:49,400 --> 00:05:51,600 starting a membership. And I did that. 107 00:05:51,600 --> 00:05:54,680 It was kind of a compliment to one of my podcasts that I have 108 00:05:54,680 --> 00:05:56,760 where I interview women in the pet industry. 109 00:05:56,760 --> 00:05:59,520 So I love all things digital marketing. 110 00:06:00,040 --> 00:06:04,160 I went to school for marketing. So that's kind of how I knew how 111 00:06:04,160 --> 00:06:07,200 to grow my following online. And of course, a lot of people 112 00:06:07,200 --> 00:06:09,880 were like, how did you do that? Can you show us how to do that? 113 00:06:09,920 --> 00:06:13,560 And that's where my podcast and my membership kind of came into 114 00:06:13,560 --> 00:06:16,000 play. And, and I've just kind of 115 00:06:16,000 --> 00:06:18,920 immersed myself in the pet industry and, and it's, and I, I 116 00:06:18,920 --> 00:06:22,600 don't, I don't look back at all because it's just full of so 117 00:06:22,600 --> 00:06:26,480 many wonderful people and so many people are getting new pets 118 00:06:26,480 --> 00:06:29,400 all the time. So there's always fresh people 119 00:06:29,400 --> 00:06:31,200 out there to share your expertise with. 120 00:06:31,760 --> 00:06:35,760 And something that I found in, in this process in the last, I 121 00:06:35,760 --> 00:06:40,000 don't know, 5 or 6 years was that I was, I was getting kind 122 00:06:40,000 --> 00:06:42,360 of frustrated on social media because there were a lot of 123 00:06:42,360 --> 00:06:47,880 people sharing dog stuff that I thought was really bad advice 124 00:06:47,880 --> 00:06:49,960 and sometimes very dangerous advice. 125 00:06:50,280 --> 00:06:53,080 I don't know if you remember in the pandemic, there was someone 126 00:06:53,080 --> 00:06:56,680 who wrapped Saran wrap over their head with peanut butter 127 00:06:56,680 --> 00:06:59,200 and was using that as a trick to cut their dog's nails. 128 00:07:00,120 --> 00:07:04,960 So things like that inspired me to become certified in canine 129 00:07:04,960 --> 00:07:08,600 enrichment and I also am certified in pet first aid and 130 00:07:08,600 --> 00:07:12,720 CPR and I'm always doing lots of continuing education because 131 00:07:13,240 --> 00:07:16,440 people trust what they see you sharing on the Internet. 132 00:07:16,520 --> 00:07:20,920 And I just felt like I had a responsibility to share well 133 00:07:20,920 --> 00:07:26,440 researched science backed dog behavior information online that 134 00:07:26,440 --> 00:07:29,080 people could really trust and that was safe and was going to 135 00:07:29,080 --> 00:07:30,880 enhance their life and their pets life. 136 00:07:30,880 --> 00:07:35,360 So that's kind of how I became the dog enrichment person 137 00:07:35,360 --> 00:07:37,400 online. So, Long story short. 138 00:07:37,840 --> 00:07:40,720 Yeah, no, I get it. I mean, that's my story too. 139 00:07:40,720 --> 00:07:43,200 It's a roller coaster. It's twists and turns. 140 00:07:43,200 --> 00:07:45,120 It's all the things. I get it. 141 00:07:45,120 --> 00:07:47,640 I totally get it. And yes, there is so much bad 142 00:07:47,640 --> 00:07:52,640 information online and I while I hate it, I also like, I'm that 143 00:07:52,640 --> 00:07:57,600 person that I'm like everybody has a right to be present and 144 00:07:57,600 --> 00:08:01,920 talk about where they are. Cuz I know when I started, I, I 145 00:08:01,920 --> 00:08:04,920 restarted a bunch of times, but the first where I really kind of 146 00:08:04,920 --> 00:08:08,480 like have that delineation of this is how I feel like I 147 00:08:08,480 --> 00:08:10,080 started to where I am now at least. 148 00:08:10,080 --> 00:08:13,640 I literally just started. I've started posting a video on 149 00:08:13,640 --> 00:08:17,480 YouTube every single day of this is what I learned today in the 150 00:08:17,480 --> 00:08:21,760 process of me learning how to feed my dog, like actually make 151 00:08:21,760 --> 00:08:24,360 food for my dogs. And it was just everyday. 152 00:08:24,360 --> 00:08:26,840 What did I learn today? And I put that video out on 153 00:08:26,840 --> 00:08:29,200 YouTube and I wasn't like, I'm an expert at this. 154 00:08:29,200 --> 00:08:31,520 I'm just like, this is what I've learned today. 155 00:08:31,520 --> 00:08:35,120 And I want you to know that too. Yeah, no, I think that's so 156 00:08:35,120 --> 00:08:37,559 helpful and like it's a great example because you don't have 157 00:08:37,559 --> 00:08:41,200 to overthink, you know, you don't have to go get some four 158 00:08:41,200 --> 00:08:45,640 year degree in whatever this is. Like we research very 159 00:08:45,640 --> 00:08:49,040 thoroughly, yeah, anything that we're going to do for our pets. 160 00:08:49,240 --> 00:08:52,280 So you and I know how hard it is to research some of that. 161 00:08:52,280 --> 00:08:55,720 So if we can share that with people, I think that's a huge 162 00:08:55,720 --> 00:08:58,480 service. Yeah, well and then canine 163 00:08:58,480 --> 00:09:01,800 enrichment. So this is 1st, I mean, such a 164 00:09:01,800 --> 00:09:05,000 fascinating topic to me because I did dabble in dog training for 165 00:09:05,000 --> 00:09:09,160 a little while and I feel like enrichment is a huge part of 166 00:09:09,160 --> 00:09:14,040 that, at least how I presented it to my clients at the time. 167 00:09:14,040 --> 00:09:18,960 Like enrichment was huge because I think one of the, one of the 168 00:09:18,960 --> 00:09:22,600 biggest like misnomers in dog training is not that we're 169 00:09:22,600 --> 00:09:26,080 training the dog to not do something. 170 00:09:26,080 --> 00:09:28,320 Because I think most people think that they're like, I don't 171 00:09:28,320 --> 00:09:31,720 want my dog to do this anymore. And my question is always, OK, 172 00:09:31,720 --> 00:09:33,600 what do you want them to do? And so. 173 00:09:33,760 --> 00:09:36,160 Look at you like I never thought about that, right? 174 00:09:36,160 --> 00:09:40,680 So it for me, like enrichment was a huge part of that because 175 00:09:40,800 --> 00:09:42,880 we want them to do something else, then we want them to do 176 00:09:42,880 --> 00:09:46,720 something positive. So anyway, let's talk about like 177 00:09:46,760 --> 00:09:50,040 what actually is enrichment. You're the professional here, so 178 00:09:50,040 --> 00:09:52,800 I want to hear it from you. Well, I agree with you that 179 00:09:52,800 --> 00:09:55,280 there's a lot of myths and misconceptions. 180 00:09:55,480 --> 00:09:59,560 So a lot of people think that enrichment is a babysitter for 181 00:09:59,560 --> 00:10:02,960 their dog to get their dog to leave them alone for a while. 182 00:10:03,040 --> 00:10:05,200 You know, a lot of people think that a peanut butter Kong, 183 00:10:05,200 --> 00:10:07,200 that's all there is, that's enrichment and that's what it 184 00:10:07,200 --> 00:10:08,920 is, but there is a lot more to it. 185 00:10:08,920 --> 00:10:12,480 So the kind of analogy that I like to use, if you go to the 186 00:10:12,480 --> 00:10:15,840 store and you buy pasta, I was buying pasta the other day and 187 00:10:15,840 --> 00:10:19,360 on the box it says enriched, made with enriched flour. 188 00:10:19,600 --> 00:10:22,880 And that means it has added nutrients to make it better, to 189 00:10:22,880 --> 00:10:26,480 make it healthier, to make it superior than plain flour. 190 00:10:26,840 --> 00:10:28,120 And so that's kind of what enrichment is. 191 00:10:28,120 --> 00:10:31,760 So like your dog's life is like their normal life, but you add 192 00:10:31,760 --> 00:10:34,240 enrichment to make it better, to make it healthier, to make it 193 00:10:34,240 --> 00:10:37,000 more positive for them. And there's a lot of different 194 00:10:37,000 --> 00:10:40,000 ways that you can do that. So there's like 7 or 8 different 195 00:10:40,000 --> 00:10:42,480 categories of enrichment that you can tap into. 196 00:10:42,840 --> 00:10:47,000 And some of those are passive enrichment, like music or just 197 00:10:47,000 --> 00:10:51,680 having visual around the room. Some of those things are are are 198 00:10:51,800 --> 00:10:54,120 sort of passive, but like calming, like calmly petting 199 00:10:54,120 --> 00:10:57,000 your dog and and touch. Physical enrichment through 200 00:10:57,000 --> 00:10:58,760 touch like that is really important. 201 00:10:58,960 --> 00:11:01,720 And then there's active things, which would could be like 202 00:11:01,720 --> 00:11:06,280 agility or running through the woods and stepping over twigs 203 00:11:06,280 --> 00:11:08,720 and feeling different surfaces on their paws. 204 00:11:08,760 --> 00:11:11,240 And of course there's food based enrichment too, which a lot of 205 00:11:11,240 --> 00:11:14,680 people know about. And often times food is kind of 206 00:11:14,680 --> 00:11:17,640 linked with cognitive because people like to get these brain 207 00:11:17,640 --> 00:11:21,120 game puzzles and you can hide little treats and stuff in 208 00:11:21,120 --> 00:11:22,800 there. But there's, there's just 209 00:11:22,800 --> 00:11:25,480 there's so much that we could go on and on and on about it. 210 00:11:25,520 --> 00:11:29,640 But I, I think that what I am trying to teach people through 211 00:11:29,640 --> 00:11:33,040 my new podcast, which is just called Dog Enrichment with Tory 212 00:11:33,040 --> 00:11:35,520 Misty, I went for a very obvious name. 213 00:11:35,520 --> 00:11:38,680 I learned my lesson with Wear Wagger Pete and I just went for 214 00:11:38,680 --> 00:11:41,880 obvious this time. So on my new podcast, I really 215 00:11:41,880 --> 00:11:46,000 try to encourage people to realize that enrichment is about 216 00:11:46,000 --> 00:11:47,880 something you do together with your dog. 217 00:11:48,160 --> 00:11:50,880 It's not a babysitter. It's not a way to get your dog 218 00:11:50,880 --> 00:11:53,360 to leave you alone. It's something you can do 219 00:11:53,360 --> 00:11:56,360 together that is going to strengthen the bond that you 220 00:11:56,360 --> 00:11:59,920 share, but it's also going to make your life so much better. 221 00:12:00,520 --> 00:12:03,000 So it's going to make your dog's life better, but you are also 222 00:12:03,000 --> 00:12:06,040 going to find so much more joy and fulfillment, and you're 223 00:12:06,040 --> 00:12:09,440 going to enjoy being around your dog more when you do things 224 00:12:09,520 --> 00:12:13,280 together instead of just sending your dog off on their own. 225 00:12:13,320 --> 00:12:17,840 Well, we did a like a new year pet nutrition reset challenge, 226 00:12:17,840 --> 00:12:21,720 myself and Lauren Beck's with Girls Gone Raw and that was one 227 00:12:21,720 --> 00:12:25,920 of the things on the checklist that we put together was like 228 00:12:26,040 --> 00:12:29,040 bonding time. Whether that would it like foam 229 00:12:29,040 --> 00:12:33,760 free bonding time, phone free bonding time and doing things 230 00:12:33,760 --> 00:12:40,840 like acupressure and massage. And I think that is overlooked a 231 00:12:40,840 --> 00:12:46,120 lot for pet parents fun like just the actual physical health 232 00:12:46,120 --> 00:12:50,880 benefits of moving the fascia and, and letting like blood flow 233 00:12:50,880 --> 00:12:53,480 and everything move in the body. Because there's a lot of 234 00:12:53,480 --> 00:12:57,520 stagnation in our bodies and in our pets bodies, especially pets 235 00:12:57,520 --> 00:13:00,760 that are like chronically stressed that we can, we can do 236 00:13:00,760 --> 00:13:03,680 with them, but it helps us. I actually feel like it helps us 237 00:13:03,680 --> 00:13:06,760 even more than it helps our pets because just like that might be 238 00:13:06,760 --> 00:13:09,000 the only time a day we're putting our phone down. 239 00:13:09,360 --> 00:13:10,000 Yes. Not. 240 00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:12,560 I'm not looking at a screen or reading anything or talking to 241 00:13:12,560 --> 00:13:14,080 anyone. You're just focusing in the 242 00:13:14,080 --> 00:13:16,720 moment. That's the gift that dogs give 243 00:13:16,720 --> 00:13:20,760 us. Yeah, and I, I also love the 244 00:13:20,760 --> 00:13:25,240 idea that I kind of, I have like a love hate relationship with 245 00:13:25,240 --> 00:13:30,080 the idea that we can just use trash to create enrichment. 246 00:13:30,080 --> 00:13:33,160 And I do this, I do this more with my cats honestly than with 247 00:13:33,160 --> 00:13:35,520 my dogs. But I, I literally like we just 248 00:13:35,520 --> 00:13:37,720 have trash in the house. I don't know if you're a good 249 00:13:37,720 --> 00:13:41,200 pet parent or you're a good cat parent if you don't just have 250 00:13:41,200 --> 00:13:44,840 random trash that you throw on the floor to have your cats play 251 00:13:44,840 --> 00:13:46,720 with. Like we have boxes from 252 00:13:46,720 --> 00:13:50,880 Christmas sitting like there's like there's like box for it for 253 00:13:50,880 --> 00:13:52,920 my cats and I'm like, I hate it so much. 254 00:13:52,920 --> 00:13:56,640 Like I want this trash out of my house but also they enjoy it. 255 00:13:56,840 --> 00:13:59,800 I know, I know. Well, you know you can get rid 256 00:13:59,800 --> 00:14:02,880 of that, those boxes and you'll I'm sure new boxes will appear 257 00:14:02,880 --> 00:14:06,600 in their place. Yes, absolutely. 258 00:14:06,600 --> 00:14:09,920 But I guess the whole point of what I was getting at was like, 259 00:14:09,920 --> 00:14:11,760 this doesn't have to be expensive. 260 00:14:12,200 --> 00:14:14,280 I know, yeah. So it doesn't have to be 261 00:14:14,280 --> 00:14:15,560 expensive. You don't have to go out to the 262 00:14:15,560 --> 00:14:18,520 store and buy all of these complicated plastic puzzles. 263 00:14:18,880 --> 00:14:21,760 You can make your own puzzles with cardboard boxes, egg 264 00:14:21,760 --> 00:14:26,640 cartoons, yogurt containers. I have an embarrassing stash of 265 00:14:26,640 --> 00:14:31,120 yogurt containers in my basement that I, I just, I, I'm like, I'm 266 00:14:31,120 --> 00:14:34,000 going to reuse these as an enrichment game for the dogs. 267 00:14:34,280 --> 00:14:37,920 And then there's pretty sturdy. And so I get like a few more 268 00:14:37,920 --> 00:14:40,440 uses out of them. So I end up with quite a big 269 00:14:40,440 --> 00:14:42,520 stash. But you can do something as 270 00:14:42,520 --> 00:14:46,080 simple as putting their dinner in in a series of these 271 00:14:46,080 --> 00:14:47,920 containers and kind of stacking them together. 272 00:14:47,920 --> 00:14:50,800 I call that a busy box. That's one of the activities in 273 00:14:50,800 --> 00:14:53,080 my mental enrichment activity pack. 274 00:14:53,080 --> 00:14:57,520 So I, I created this mini online course with 10 kind of novel 275 00:14:57,520 --> 00:15:00,760 enrichment activities and the busy box is just my hands down 276 00:15:00,760 --> 00:15:04,480 favorite one because it's free, it's eco friendly because you're 277 00:15:04,480 --> 00:15:07,440 reusing stuff. You know, most people don't get 278 00:15:07,440 --> 00:15:10,600 like 4 uses out of their yogurt containers like I do. 279 00:15:10,920 --> 00:15:15,160 And what I love about that in particular is when I was 280 00:15:15,160 --> 00:15:18,920 researching for my podcast, what kept coming up over and over 281 00:15:18,920 --> 00:15:21,560 again is how novelty is so important for enrichment. 282 00:15:22,000 --> 00:15:24,880 So if your dog is doing the exact same thing every single 283 00:15:24,880 --> 00:15:28,280 day, the benefits actually start to decline and they can actually 284 00:15:28,280 --> 00:15:32,040 turn into into negatives. So if your dog, if you're giving 285 00:15:32,040 --> 00:15:36,160 your dog the exact same Kong or topple or puzzle or whatever 286 00:15:36,520 --> 00:15:39,280 every single day, not only are they going to get bored of it, 287 00:15:39,520 --> 00:15:41,760 but it's going to turn out to be frustrating to them. 288 00:15:41,760 --> 00:15:44,000 So it's actually going to create negative feelings. 289 00:15:44,320 --> 00:15:48,280 So it's really important to have novelty and with this busy box, 290 00:15:48,320 --> 00:15:50,680 it's different every time because so you're getting 291 00:15:50,680 --> 00:15:53,600 different boxes, you're using different sizes. 292 00:15:53,600 --> 00:15:56,160 You can, you know, mess around with what kind of treats you're 293 00:15:56,160 --> 00:15:58,080 putting inside to add even more variety. 294 00:15:58,440 --> 00:16:02,240 You know, little changes like that actually can make a big 295 00:16:02,240 --> 00:16:04,320 difference when it comes to enrichment. 296 00:16:04,880 --> 00:16:07,600 Yeah. And I actually, I want to get 297 00:16:07,600 --> 00:16:11,720 into some like case idea like with you. 298 00:16:11,720 --> 00:16:15,160 But before we do that, I want to apologize to people because a 299 00:16:15,160 --> 00:16:19,400 very long time ago I put out a video about I was still a dog 300 00:16:19,400 --> 00:16:22,360 trainer at this time. And I was trying to figure out a 301 00:16:22,360 --> 00:16:28,320 way to one of the things I like to do with dogs was like, just 302 00:16:28,320 --> 00:16:32,640 toss their food into the yard to let them go, like better feeding 303 00:16:32,680 --> 00:16:36,280 or yeah, and I'm a raw feeder. And I'm like, how can I do this 304 00:16:36,600 --> 00:16:39,600 with raw food? And at the time I went and got 305 00:16:39,600 --> 00:16:42,240 these like little silicone muffin. 306 00:16:43,000 --> 00:16:44,960 Yeah. Thing I can't remember, I don't 307 00:16:45,200 --> 00:16:46,800 the word is escaping. I used to have. 308 00:16:46,800 --> 00:16:49,840 One of those sitting right to my desk, but I organize and now 309 00:16:49,840 --> 00:16:53,560 it's not here anymore. And so I just put little pieces 310 00:16:53,600 --> 00:16:56,600 of my dog's food in those and scattered them around the yard. 311 00:16:56,600 --> 00:16:59,800 And I want to apologize because I feel like we could literally 312 00:16:59,800 --> 00:17:03,080 just do the same thing with their raw food and toss pieces 313 00:17:03,080 --> 00:17:06,200 out in the yard. Because actually, as long as 314 00:17:06,440 --> 00:17:09,880 with a caveat of your lawn not being treated. 315 00:17:09,880 --> 00:17:13,839 So if it's organic and you're not putting chemicals on on your 316 00:17:13,839 --> 00:17:17,000 lawn, then that's actually beneficial in and of itself to 317 00:17:17,000 --> 00:17:20,000 have your pet eat off of the dirt because of the microbes in 318 00:17:20,000 --> 00:17:22,440 the dirt can be really, really beneficial to them. 319 00:17:22,680 --> 00:17:24,280 So I want to apologize about that, but. 320 00:17:24,680 --> 00:17:27,000 I think, but I don't think you have to apologize because that 321 00:17:27,000 --> 00:17:29,480 is just another novel way that you could do it. 322 00:17:29,480 --> 00:17:32,200 You could use the silicone tray or you could scatter feed right 323 00:17:32,200 --> 00:17:36,160 in the grass, or you can put it in a series of yogurt containers 324 00:17:36,160 --> 00:17:38,400 and egg cartoons and put those out in the grass. 325 00:17:38,640 --> 00:17:41,880 It's just about variety, you know, I think that's what's 326 00:17:41,880 --> 00:17:44,080 important. Yeah, yeah. 327 00:17:44,080 --> 00:17:48,240 So, OK, I do want to talk a little bit more specifically 328 00:17:48,240 --> 00:17:52,760 about non food related enrichment because I do feel 329 00:17:52,760 --> 00:17:55,800 like whether we're just talking about enrichment for the sake of 330 00:17:55,800 --> 00:17:58,880 enrichment or if we're talking about like training or whatever. 331 00:17:58,880 --> 00:18:03,640 One of the biggest like pushbacks that I see very often, 332 00:18:04,000 --> 00:18:06,480 especially with positive reinforcement trainers, cuz I 333 00:18:06,720 --> 00:18:09,760 very big proponent of positive reinforcement is that people are 334 00:18:09,760 --> 00:18:11,520 like, well, you're just pushing snacks. 335 00:18:11,520 --> 00:18:14,160 So of course, as long as you have food, they're going to do 336 00:18:14,160 --> 00:18:16,480 what you want. And that's obviously, I mean, 337 00:18:16,480 --> 00:18:21,920 I'm sure you know, not the point of training that like you slowly 338 00:18:21,920 --> 00:18:25,600 decrease and still get the same response from your dog. 339 00:18:25,680 --> 00:18:29,000 But that is a big thing with people. 340 00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:32,280 And then of course, there are dogs that need to lose weight. 341 00:18:32,280 --> 00:18:35,360 And so we don't want to be doing food all the time. 342 00:18:35,360 --> 00:18:39,440 And there's just a lot of different instances in where in 343 00:18:39,440 --> 00:18:43,080 which we we may not want to use food for enrichment. 344 00:18:43,080 --> 00:18:46,720 So I'd love to have you like, dive into that a little bit 345 00:18:46,720 --> 00:18:49,600 more. Yeah, so I have a million ideas 346 00:18:49,600 --> 00:18:52,360 for non food based enrichment. And then there's also dogs who 347 00:18:52,360 --> 00:18:53,840 just are not really food motivated. 348 00:18:53,840 --> 00:18:57,080 I, knock on wood, hope that I never have a dog that's not food 349 00:18:57,080 --> 00:19:00,280 motivated, but I know that they're out there because their 350 00:19:00,280 --> 00:19:02,040 owners are always asking me what can I do? 351 00:19:02,160 --> 00:19:03,400 So. So there's a lot of different 352 00:19:03,400 --> 00:19:06,000 things and I think it's important to try a lot of 353 00:19:06,000 --> 00:19:09,280 different things and see what your particular dog likes and 354 00:19:09,280 --> 00:19:12,080 enjoys because enrichment is not one-size-fits-all. 355 00:19:12,440 --> 00:19:17,040 So when it comes to non food based enrichment, a couple 356 00:19:17,040 --> 00:19:20,280 things that come to mind would be physical enrichment of course 357 00:19:20,880 --> 00:19:24,080 and that is about giving your dog access to very different 358 00:19:24,080 --> 00:19:26,480 movement. So it might be doing some kind 359 00:19:26,480 --> 00:19:28,760 of agility which you don't have to use treats at all. 360 00:19:28,760 --> 00:19:32,840 As a matter of fact, when you watch agility competitions on TV 361 00:19:32,840 --> 00:19:35,600 at National Dog Show or Westminster or something, a lot 362 00:19:35,600 --> 00:19:38,240 of times the dog is rewarded with their favorite toy, like a 363 00:19:38,240 --> 00:19:40,920 tennis ball or their favorite squeaker or something like that. 364 00:19:41,200 --> 00:19:46,280 So you can use other types of rewards, but also just going out 365 00:19:46,280 --> 00:19:50,120 for a walk in a place that you've never been before, giving 366 00:19:50,120 --> 00:19:52,680 your dog access to sniff around woods. 367 00:19:53,480 --> 00:19:56,320 Physical enrichment also includes walking on varied 368 00:19:56,320 --> 00:19:57,800 terrain. This is one of my favorite 369 00:19:57,800 --> 00:19:59,800 things to recommend to people because I think that. 370 00:20:00,320 --> 00:20:04,000 As people, we overlook this because when we're walking 371 00:20:04,000 --> 00:20:07,640 outside, 99.9% of the time you have shoes on. 372 00:20:08,360 --> 00:20:12,880 So we overlook how different the sensations are of different 373 00:20:12,880 --> 00:20:15,160 surfaces. But your dog is feeling so much 374 00:20:15,160 --> 00:20:17,440 through their paws and they're getting different weight, just 375 00:20:17,440 --> 00:20:19,240 distribution. They're using different muscles. 376 00:20:19,240 --> 00:20:22,520 If they're walking on something like sand or if you ask your dog 377 00:20:22,520 --> 00:20:26,880 to walk along a log that fell down in the woods, or walking on 378 00:20:26,880 --> 00:20:32,120 pavement versus grass, mulch, squishy, the wet mud versus dry 379 00:20:32,120 --> 00:20:35,120 mud, gravel. I mean, there's so many 380 00:20:35,120 --> 00:20:38,400 different surfaces out there. If you just walk out your door, 381 00:20:38,840 --> 00:20:42,040 you'll start noticing more than you ever thought existed. 382 00:20:42,080 --> 00:20:44,800 And giving your dog the opportunity to sort of walk 383 00:20:44,800 --> 00:20:46,480 through those can be very enriching. 384 00:20:46,800 --> 00:20:50,240 And my dog Bert, he's almost 14 years old and he's a Labrador, 385 00:20:50,320 --> 00:20:53,720 so he's getting up there. But we go for walks in the woods 386 00:20:53,720 --> 00:20:56,080 almost every day. And I'm always looking for 387 00:20:56,080 --> 00:21:01,000 places where he can walk over. He's a step over sticks and 388 00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:05,400 stuff or walk up a little incline or walk up or down 389 00:21:05,400 --> 00:21:10,520 stairs there just so that he's getting different different 390 00:21:10,520 --> 00:21:12,960 kinds of interactions, different sensations there. 391 00:21:13,160 --> 00:21:15,720 So physical enrichment is a really great way to do that. 392 00:21:15,800 --> 00:21:18,440 And then I also don't want to overlook or have people forget 393 00:21:18,440 --> 00:21:20,640 about passive enrichment, which I mentioned a little bit 394 00:21:20,640 --> 00:21:23,000 earlier. So there's a lot of wonderful 395 00:21:23,000 --> 00:21:27,160 studies out there about the impact of music on dogs and the 396 00:21:27,160 --> 00:21:31,400 most effective genres of music, according to several of these 397 00:21:31,400 --> 00:21:34,080 studies that have been done mainly with shelter dogs, are 398 00:21:34,080 --> 00:21:39,120 classical music and reggae, and some like classic rock or like 399 00:21:39,200 --> 00:21:41,920 Ray LaMontagne, which I really like listening to. 400 00:21:41,920 --> 00:21:45,200 That kind of his music is usually the right beats per 401 00:21:45,200 --> 00:21:50,120 minute, like a 50 to 60 beats per minute has been proven to be 402 00:21:50,120 --> 00:21:53,480 one of the more relaxing tempos of music for dogs. 403 00:21:53,720 --> 00:21:57,400 One of our goals with enrichment, like you were saying 404 00:21:57,400 --> 00:22:00,800 with dog training, enrichment is so important because enrichment 405 00:22:00,800 --> 00:22:04,440 helps to build your dog's confidence and it helps to kind 406 00:22:04,440 --> 00:22:06,200 of regulate their nervous system. 407 00:22:06,200 --> 00:22:09,320 And, and if you have an anxious dog, if you give them 408 00:22:09,320 --> 00:22:14,040 opportunities to have positive interactions with things, you 409 00:22:14,040 --> 00:22:19,000 know, you know, you might see dogs or, or work with dogs who 410 00:22:19,000 --> 00:22:23,360 are terrified of walking on a tile floor in the kitchen. 411 00:22:23,400 --> 00:22:25,560 And it's because those dogs haven't been exposed to that 412 00:22:25,560 --> 00:22:29,360 kind of stuff in a positive way. So this physical enrichment of 413 00:22:29,360 --> 00:22:33,160 walking on different surfaces, it sounds very basic and not 414 00:22:33,160 --> 00:22:37,120 that interesting, but it does help your dog build confidence 415 00:22:37,120 --> 00:22:40,880 so that they're not as anxious in new situations and new 416 00:22:40,880 --> 00:22:43,840 settings. And so music and playing 417 00:22:43,960 --> 00:22:47,720 different you can actually find on on YouTube and Spotify, like 418 00:22:47,720 --> 00:22:51,640 household noises or city noises or country noises. 419 00:22:52,040 --> 00:22:55,280 Giving your dog the opportunity to hear these kind of different 420 00:22:55,280 --> 00:22:58,960 sounds that they may have never heard before will help prepare 421 00:22:58,960 --> 00:23:01,240 them and give them the confidence if they are in a new 422 00:23:01,240 --> 00:23:05,000 situation where like they hear a cow mooing and they've never 423 00:23:05,000 --> 00:23:08,320 heard that before. So, so there's a lot of things 424 00:23:08,320 --> 00:23:12,320 that you can do that have nothing to do with food and, and 425 00:23:12,320 --> 00:23:15,080 a lot of times they're just kind of subtle like like those two 426 00:23:15,080 --> 00:23:17,840 examples I share. So you mentioned earlier that, 427 00:23:18,080 --> 00:23:21,840 you know, enrichment is not just something that you do to busy 428 00:23:21,840 --> 00:23:25,560 your dog, though I, I feel like that's how a lot of people use 429 00:23:25,560 --> 00:23:28,720 it. Do you ever have like instances 430 00:23:28,720 --> 00:23:31,600 where you're like, I get it, like you just need an hour, but 431 00:23:31,600 --> 00:23:35,200 what do you tend to recommend for people who are like, I just, 432 00:23:35,200 --> 00:23:37,440 I just need a minute and like. Yes. 433 00:23:37,520 --> 00:23:39,880 Help me out. If you do just need a minute, 434 00:23:39,880 --> 00:23:44,640 one thing that I would recommend is a high quality natural chew 435 00:23:44,680 --> 00:23:46,880 and you want to supervise this a little bit because you don't 436 00:23:46,880 --> 00:23:48,560 want it to turn into a choking hazard. 437 00:23:48,840 --> 00:23:51,160 So it's not completely set it and forget it. 438 00:23:51,640 --> 00:23:56,960 But there have been some studies that have measured the saliva of 439 00:23:56,960 --> 00:24:01,720 dogs to see how much the levels of stress hormones and cortisol 440 00:24:01,720 --> 00:24:04,200 in their saliva based on different activities. 441 00:24:04,200 --> 00:24:07,840 And so one of those was licking, so like licking a Kong or a 442 00:24:07,840 --> 00:24:11,400 lickmat or something like that. And another one was deep jaw 443 00:24:11,440 --> 00:24:15,080 chewing on something like an all natural chew, so like a bully 444 00:24:15,080 --> 00:24:18,360 stick or my favorite personally that I think lasts a very long 445 00:24:18,360 --> 00:24:22,520 time is to buy a beef trachea and stuff it with your dog's 446 00:24:22,520 --> 00:24:25,320 food and freeze it. And that has a long lasting 447 00:24:25,320 --> 00:24:27,840 chew. So these these chews that cause 448 00:24:27,840 --> 00:24:30,400 your dog to use, they're kind of like back teeth. 449 00:24:30,640 --> 00:24:34,440 They're deep jaw chewing. 10 minutes of that has been proven 450 00:24:34,440 --> 00:24:40,000 to lower their cortisol levels more than licking a stuffed toy 451 00:24:40,000 --> 00:24:42,080 like a Kong or a topple or a Lick nut. 452 00:24:42,920 --> 00:24:46,880 So if you really do use your dog to leave you alone, I would 453 00:24:46,880 --> 00:24:50,240 recommend doing something like that because it is also going to 454 00:24:50,240 --> 00:24:53,160 help your dog mellow out. It's going to make them less 455 00:24:53,160 --> 00:24:57,080 stressed, less hyperactive, and hopefully more relaxed. 456 00:24:57,440 --> 00:25:01,360 A problem that I see people are a mistake I see people doing is 457 00:25:01,400 --> 00:25:06,480 they go out and they play a really high energy game of fetch 458 00:25:07,200 --> 00:25:11,320 or they get their dog all excited and then they want their 459 00:25:11,320 --> 00:25:13,480 dog to leave them alone immediately afterward. 460 00:25:13,720 --> 00:25:16,480 And your dog does not understand that. 461 00:25:17,160 --> 00:25:21,840 So I would encourage instead to give them a calming activity and 462 00:25:21,840 --> 00:25:26,000 then they're probably going to be calmer after that and I think 463 00:25:26,160 --> 00:25:27,920 you'll be setting them up for success. 464 00:25:29,440 --> 00:25:33,480 So Speaking of mistakes, I want to circle back to you brought up 465 00:25:33,480 --> 00:25:36,720 earlier, the lady that did the like Saran wrap with the peanut 466 00:25:36,720 --> 00:25:38,360 butter. Tell me about that. 467 00:25:39,400 --> 00:25:42,400 Well, this was I think in the pandemic because people couldn't 468 00:25:42,400 --> 00:25:45,600 go to the groomer to get their dogs nails trimmed. 469 00:25:45,640 --> 00:25:49,320 And we found out that no one knows how to trim their dogs 470 00:25:49,320 --> 00:25:52,320 nails because everyone was like, what do I do? 471 00:25:52,760 --> 00:25:57,240 And so there was a woman who on TikTok or something wrapped 472 00:25:57,680 --> 00:26:01,960 around her bare forehead, Saran wrap and put peanut butter on it 473 00:26:01,960 --> 00:26:05,680 so her dog would lick that and then try to cut her dog's nails. 474 00:26:06,240 --> 00:26:09,440 And there's just so many problems with that. 475 00:26:09,640 --> 00:26:15,040 It's very dangerous. I trim my dog's nails myself and 476 00:26:15,840 --> 00:26:18,640 you know, I've never had them react badly to it, but that, you 477 00:26:18,640 --> 00:26:20,240 know, we do it a little bit at a time. 478 00:26:20,240 --> 00:26:24,560 My late dog Lucy really hated having her nails trimmed. 479 00:26:24,880 --> 00:26:27,800 And so sometimes if she was uncomfortable, I would literally 480 00:26:27,800 --> 00:26:31,280 do 1 nail a day and then, you know, we would get it done 481 00:26:31,280 --> 00:26:33,240 gradually. But what that woman was doing 482 00:26:33,240 --> 00:26:36,400 was just so dangerous. I mean, the, the dog bite risk 483 00:26:36,680 --> 00:26:39,400 is very high if your dog is not accustomed to that, it's also 484 00:26:39,400 --> 00:26:42,160 just not very sanitary to do that. 485 00:26:42,160 --> 00:26:44,960 And, and there's a lot of other better ways. 486 00:26:44,960 --> 00:26:47,240 You know, I have a wonder, wonderful lick mat that has 487 00:26:47,240 --> 00:26:51,480 suction cups on the back of it that you could suction it to the 488 00:26:51,480 --> 00:26:56,320 wall of your shower or your refrigerator or whatever, and 489 00:26:56,320 --> 00:26:59,240 you could trim your dog's nails safely that way. 490 00:26:59,240 --> 00:27:02,040 So, you know, there's a lot of things you see people do on the 491 00:27:02,040 --> 00:27:05,360 Internet that's like it becomes a trend. 492 00:27:05,400 --> 00:27:08,600 A lot of people did that after that woman showed that video. 493 00:27:08,680 --> 00:27:10,960 You know, hopefully, I hope nobody was hurt, but it's just a 494 00:27:10,960 --> 00:27:15,240 dangerous idea. Yeah, I was wondering about how 495 00:27:15,240 --> 00:27:19,480 many people got bit even like like not full bites, but just 496 00:27:19,480 --> 00:27:20,720 like. Nipped. 497 00:27:20,760 --> 00:27:25,200 Because because not only are you asking your dog to eat off of 498 00:27:25,200 --> 00:27:30,160 your face, but then you're also performing like this behavior, 499 00:27:30,160 --> 00:27:33,600 this action on your dog that they don't probably like and. 500 00:27:33,600 --> 00:27:35,480 That most dogs are anxious about, yeah. 501 00:27:35,520 --> 00:27:40,360 Yes, I at the beginning of the pandemic, I actually took Doctor 502 00:27:40,360 --> 00:27:42,560 Busby. So she has these things called 503 00:27:42,560 --> 00:27:46,480 toe grips and she has a course that she has out and I don't, it 504 00:27:46,920 --> 00:27:50,400 was probably like 100 bucks, but she teaches you how to trim your 505 00:27:50,400 --> 00:27:53,400 dog's nails like this video series. 506 00:27:53,400 --> 00:27:56,440 And I took that because I was like, I need to learn how to 507 00:27:56,440 --> 00:27:59,320 trim my dog's nails. And I it was one of the best 508 00:27:59,320 --> 00:28:05,160 investments I've made as far as like care for my pets because 509 00:28:05,160 --> 00:28:07,640 it's expensive. I was literally, I mean like 510 00:28:07,800 --> 00:28:11,120 just going, I don't go to the groomers, but because I don't I 511 00:28:11,120 --> 00:28:14,760 tighter test but and the groomers won't accept that, but 512 00:28:14,800 --> 00:28:17,680 I would go take them to the vet to get their nails trimmed and 513 00:28:17,680 --> 00:28:21,240 that's expensive. Yes, yeah, I like I literally I 514 00:28:21,240 --> 00:28:25,280 just took my dog the other day because I just I just couldn't 515 00:28:25,280 --> 00:28:26,680 do it. I'm by myself now. 516 00:28:26,680 --> 00:28:28,160 So I'm like I just couldn't do it. 517 00:28:28,160 --> 00:28:30,920 I had tried and tried and tried so I and it was like 35 bucks. 518 00:28:31,000 --> 00:28:34,840 Yeah, I know, I know. Well, a lot of the things that I 519 00:28:34,840 --> 00:28:39,120 do, I'm a frugal girl, just I love saving. 520 00:28:39,320 --> 00:28:43,400 And so I had, I just have Bert now, but I had two Labradors, 521 00:28:43,560 --> 00:28:47,520 you know, big 80 LB Labradors and vaccines, nail trims, 522 00:28:47,520 --> 00:28:51,160 grooming, vet appointment. Like it all gets so expensive 523 00:28:51,160 --> 00:28:54,760 when you have multiple large dogs and I have found so many 524 00:28:54,840 --> 00:28:58,360 amazing money saving hacks. Like for a while we were we were 525 00:28:58,520 --> 00:29:02,280 getting vaccines and and even check UPS at the local rescue 526 00:29:02,280 --> 00:29:05,440 league and they offered discounted veterinary services 527 00:29:05,440 --> 00:29:07,520 with qualified veterinarian just as good. 528 00:29:07,600 --> 00:29:11,680 So we were doing that for a while and I I love finding ways 529 00:29:11,680 --> 00:29:15,400 to save money on the top. Well, I mean, really though, 530 00:29:15,400 --> 00:29:20,160 like spending money, it's $35 for one nail trim for my dog 531 00:29:20,520 --> 00:29:24,680 versus $100 for this course, which you should really be 532 00:29:24,680 --> 00:29:27,400 trimming their nails like every two weeks or something. 533 00:29:27,400 --> 00:29:30,920 So it's worth the $100. It's absolutely. 534 00:29:30,920 --> 00:29:35,680 And this is not an ad, this is not sponsored, but I'll put it 535 00:29:35,720 --> 00:29:39,080 the link in the show notes because you should know how to 536 00:29:39,080 --> 00:29:42,960 do this with your dogs. Another thing going back, I 537 00:29:42,960 --> 00:29:47,640 think everyone should learn some form of even like don't be you 538 00:29:47,640 --> 00:29:50,640 don't need to become a massage therapist for your dog, but like 539 00:29:50,640 --> 00:29:56,520 just learn some simple tips and tricks on how to, you know, do 540 00:29:56,520 --> 00:29:59,120 gentle massages on your dog. Because that's another thing 541 00:29:59,120 --> 00:30:01,360 that I do pretty much every night on the couch. 542 00:30:01,360 --> 00:30:04,880 Whatever time I do have to sit on the couch in the evenings, 543 00:30:05,320 --> 00:30:09,760 even if I'm working on my laptop, I will still take time 544 00:30:09,760 --> 00:30:13,400 every single night and kind of just go over and touch every 545 00:30:13,400 --> 00:30:17,520 part of my dog because things pop up quickly. 546 00:30:18,040 --> 00:30:22,720 And it's to me such a shame that often groomers are the first 547 00:30:22,720 --> 00:30:26,400 ones to be like, did you know that there's this golf ball ball 548 00:30:26,400 --> 00:30:28,520 sized like mass on your dog, right? 549 00:30:28,520 --> 00:30:32,640 Like that's I could not imagine like not knowing my dog had 550 00:30:32,640 --> 00:30:36,440 anything pop up on her, but not just like things that pop up on 551 00:30:36,440 --> 00:30:40,120 them, but you know, working with their range of motion and their 552 00:30:40,120 --> 00:30:44,240 legs to know like touching their paw pads to do they have 553 00:30:44,240 --> 00:30:49,400 sensitivity anywhere like these. This is really easy and free and 554 00:30:49,640 --> 00:30:53,080 bonding again. Yeah, I'm so glad you brought 555 00:30:53,080 --> 00:30:56,960 this up because this is a type of physical enrichment and it's 556 00:30:56,960 --> 00:30:58,040 something you can do with your dog. 557 00:30:58,040 --> 00:31:02,240 And it actually not only lowers their cortisol levels, it lowers 558 00:31:02,240 --> 00:31:07,240 your own cortisol levels to the action of petting your pet can 559 00:31:07,240 --> 00:31:09,880 actually make you calmer. Your cortisol is like your 560 00:31:09,880 --> 00:31:13,400 stress hormone. So, you know, cortisol can lead 561 00:31:13,400 --> 00:31:15,080 to inflammation. They can lead to health 562 00:31:15,080 --> 00:31:17,600 problems. So actually petting your dog is 563 00:31:17,600 --> 00:31:21,080 making both of you healthier. And I love to do this. 564 00:31:21,080 --> 00:31:24,960 My dog Bert, we he's kind of he trained me into a little routine 565 00:31:24,960 --> 00:31:28,720 where every night before we go to bed, I like, I like to fall 566 00:31:28,720 --> 00:31:31,760 asleep with him not in my bed because he's a bed hog. 567 00:31:31,760 --> 00:31:33,680 So he has to go to sleep on his own bed. 568 00:31:33,680 --> 00:31:35,840 But then in the middle of the night, he comes up here into my 569 00:31:35,840 --> 00:31:38,600 bed. But before we go to sleep, he 570 00:31:38,600 --> 00:31:43,080 always gets up on my bed and I give him a little massage before 571 00:31:43,320 --> 00:31:45,840 we go to sleep and we go to our our separate beds. 572 00:31:46,520 --> 00:31:50,280 And he just last night I was doing this and I was like, you 573 00:31:50,280 --> 00:31:54,000 know, it's so important to be in the moment and just notice kind 574 00:31:54,000 --> 00:31:57,000 of what he's leaning into and what he wants more of. 575 00:31:57,000 --> 00:32:01,200 So I was rubbing his ear and last night he just was loving it 576 00:32:01,200 --> 00:32:04,560 more than usual. Usually I like rub his face and 577 00:32:04,560 --> 00:32:08,640 I do little circles on his chest and rub his shoulders and stuff. 578 00:32:09,000 --> 00:32:12,560 But last night, just the ears, he was like, Oh my God, that's 579 00:32:12,560 --> 00:32:15,360 like the best thing ever. And it's just, if you just are 580 00:32:15,360 --> 00:32:21,280 present and pay attention to your dog, that's what I love 581 00:32:21,280 --> 00:32:24,160 about enrichment. You know, we have gotten, I've 582 00:32:24,160 --> 00:32:27,960 gotten to know my dogs better. We can communicate better 583 00:32:27,960 --> 00:32:31,400 because I noticed their body language and their signals and 584 00:32:31,560 --> 00:32:35,400 and we just have a great bond because because I like to do 585 00:32:35,400 --> 00:32:38,880 things together with them. And I think those routines are 586 00:32:38,880 --> 00:32:44,200 important as well. Like I, I do thrive in routine, 587 00:32:44,480 --> 00:32:48,760 but I think our pets, like, not maybe not every human is going 588 00:32:48,760 --> 00:32:52,680 to admit that they thrive on routines, but I think our pets, 589 00:32:52,680 --> 00:32:56,160 generally speaking, really do. So like, setting these routines 590 00:32:56,160 --> 00:32:59,480 up for them also lets them know what to expect. 591 00:32:59,520 --> 00:33:00,600 And they're less. Yeah. 592 00:33:01,360 --> 00:33:04,560 I think routines can be good, but mixing in some kind of 593 00:33:04,560 --> 00:33:07,320 novelty or variety. I just want to put that little 594 00:33:07,320 --> 00:33:11,520 plug in there because for example, you know, maybe the 595 00:33:11,520 --> 00:33:14,640 routine is you have dinner at the same time every night, but 596 00:33:14,640 --> 00:33:17,920 the variety is that sometimes it's in a slow feeder bowl, 597 00:33:17,920 --> 00:33:22,320 sometimes it's on a mat, sometimes it's in a busy box or 598 00:33:22,320 --> 00:33:23,720 scattered in the yard or whatever. 599 00:33:24,000 --> 00:33:27,320 So I think that there's there's ways to find variety within the 600 00:33:27,320 --> 00:33:31,800 routine and I think that would be something great for people to 601 00:33:31,800 --> 00:33:33,200 explore. Yeah. 602 00:33:33,680 --> 00:33:38,120 So what are some of your favorite enrichment ideas or 603 00:33:38,120 --> 00:33:43,080 what are some of the things that maybe people in your membership 604 00:33:43,080 --> 00:33:44,800 have brought to you? And you're like, that's really 605 00:33:44,800 --> 00:33:49,120 cool. So one thing that people often 606 00:33:49,120 --> 00:33:51,880 ask me about and I, and I see people out in the, in the wild 607 00:33:51,880 --> 00:33:54,800 doing this as well, is, you know, there's a, there's a place 608 00:33:54,800 --> 00:33:57,800 where I walk my dogs and I, I know I'm just in the habit of 609 00:33:57,800 --> 00:34:00,960 saying dogs, even though my dog Lucy passed away last year. 610 00:34:00,960 --> 00:34:04,720 But but you know, if, you know, you know, it's just, you can't 611 00:34:04,720 --> 00:34:06,200 get out of the habit of saying dogs. 612 00:34:06,560 --> 00:34:10,040 So there's this place where we walk and you know, I saw this 613 00:34:10,040 --> 00:34:13,719 woman walking her dog in there and she's like, Oh my God, we're 614 00:34:13,719 --> 00:34:17,560 at the end of the walk. And like, I just let him run 615 00:34:17,560 --> 00:34:20,199 towards the car and he's on leash and she's running like 616 00:34:20,199 --> 00:34:22,280 she's almost falling and tripping over herself because 617 00:34:22,280 --> 00:34:25,400 her dog is running like a Wildman towards the car at the 618 00:34:25,400 --> 00:34:27,840 end of the loop. And she's like, he, I just wish 619 00:34:27,840 --> 00:34:30,040 he would calm down at the end of the walk. 620 00:34:30,360 --> 00:34:33,360 And I was thinking, well, are you giving him the opportunity 621 00:34:33,560 --> 00:34:36,760 to calm down South? One of Lucy's favorite 622 00:34:36,760 --> 00:34:39,560 enrichment activities was something we call Sit and Watch 623 00:34:39,560 --> 00:34:43,280 the World Go by, which is, again, very simple, free 624 00:34:43,280 --> 00:34:45,360 activity. And it's something that you can 625 00:34:45,360 --> 00:34:47,480 do at home. If you have a porch, it's like 626 00:34:47,560 --> 00:34:49,560 porch sitting basically with your dog. 627 00:34:49,639 --> 00:34:53,280 Or if you're out of the park, it is, you know, sitting on a bench 628 00:34:53,280 --> 00:34:57,560 on a rock or something and just watching the birds, the leaves, 629 00:34:57,560 --> 00:35:00,640 the squirrels, the other people, the dogs, the cars, just 630 00:35:00,640 --> 00:35:05,120 listening, sniffing, watching the world around them. 631 00:35:05,160 --> 00:35:09,240 And giving your dog this time to kind of decompress after a walk 632 00:35:09,240 --> 00:35:13,400 or a game of fetch or whatever is a really great way to kind of 633 00:35:13,400 --> 00:35:17,080 regulate their nervous system and signal to them like through 634 00:35:17,080 --> 00:35:20,960 kind of routine where if they know like, OK, I can be wild on 635 00:35:20,960 --> 00:35:23,960 our walk, but then at the end of every walk we sit and we just 636 00:35:23,960 --> 00:35:26,920 chill out. This will kind of help your dog 637 00:35:26,920 --> 00:35:30,240 realize that, you know, cuz usually most people after the 638 00:35:30,240 --> 00:35:32,680 walk, they want their dogs to be calm. 639 00:35:32,880 --> 00:35:34,720 That was like the point of going on the walk. 640 00:35:34,720 --> 00:35:37,680 But this is just a mistake I see people making is that they, you 641 00:35:37,680 --> 00:35:42,040 know, they just do really high energy, high octane things and 642 00:35:42,040 --> 00:35:44,080 they expect their dog to be immediately chill. 643 00:35:44,400 --> 00:35:47,960 And they're not always giving them just like 5 minutes of 644 00:35:47,960 --> 00:35:49,560 sitting and watching the world go by. 645 00:35:50,320 --> 00:35:52,840 And if you can sit and watch the world go by with them, I think 646 00:35:52,840 --> 00:35:55,880 it will do you a lot of good. But you could also use that time 647 00:35:55,880 --> 00:36:00,200 to check your emails if you just can't help it, you know, So 648 00:36:00,200 --> 00:36:03,200 that's one of my absolute favorite activities that I think 649 00:36:03,200 --> 00:36:06,040 is overlooked a lot. And, and when people have done 650 00:36:06,040 --> 00:36:09,280 that with their dogs, I hear great feedback about it. 651 00:36:09,280 --> 00:36:12,800 Another example, another activity that I love that I know 652 00:36:12,800 --> 00:36:15,440 a lot of other people love is doing hide and seek with your 653 00:36:15,440 --> 00:36:18,160 dog. So that's something you can do 654 00:36:18,720 --> 00:36:21,560 outside, outdoors, or you can do it inside your house. 655 00:36:21,560 --> 00:36:25,440 So this is one of my favorite rainy day activities where I'll 656 00:36:25,440 --> 00:36:29,720 ask my dog to sit and stay in his place or his crate or 657 00:36:29,720 --> 00:36:32,880 whatever. And I will go hide somewhere in 658 00:36:32,880 --> 00:36:36,880 another room and then I'll say search and he'll have to come 659 00:36:36,880 --> 00:36:39,520 running. Sometimes I'm upstairs or 660 00:36:39,520 --> 00:36:42,640 sometimes I'm just in the next room and he'll have to come and 661 00:36:42,640 --> 00:36:45,800 find me. And it's, it's really fun and 662 00:36:45,800 --> 00:36:48,480 hysterical game to play with your dog sometimes. 663 00:36:48,720 --> 00:36:51,880 Sometimes he finds me right away and then sometimes like I can 664 00:36:51,880 --> 00:36:55,440 see him and somehow he doesn't see me and can't find me. 665 00:36:55,640 --> 00:36:58,560 So you can kind of realize how much your dog is using their 666 00:36:58,560 --> 00:37:01,480 sense of smell and not as much their sense of sight. 667 00:37:01,480 --> 00:37:04,560 So it's very, it's very fun and and a great way to get to know 668 00:37:04,560 --> 00:37:06,160 your dog. Yeah. 669 00:37:06,240 --> 00:37:08,440 Well, so many things there. So. 670 00:37:08,480 --> 00:37:12,080 And I think that's also a good way to, like, stay in connection 671 00:37:12,080 --> 00:37:15,760 with your dog, especially as they're aging, to see, like, is 672 00:37:15,760 --> 00:37:18,120 their eyesight maybe not as good as it used to be as their 673 00:37:18,120 --> 00:37:19,960 hearing, maybe not as good as it used to be? 674 00:37:19,960 --> 00:37:22,160 Like just staying on top of those, like, health things. 675 00:37:22,560 --> 00:37:25,760 My cat plays fetch. I can see what's happening. 676 00:37:28,240 --> 00:37:30,400 Now is a great time to play fetch. 677 00:37:32,040 --> 00:37:36,000 Also I am such a big conspiracy theorist and I have this. 678 00:37:36,000 --> 00:37:38,880 It's not my conspiracy but I have read about a conspiracy as 679 00:37:38,880 --> 00:37:40,840 to like why we don't have porches anymore. 680 00:37:41,040 --> 00:37:43,600 They don't build houses with porches anymore and it is my 681 00:37:43,600 --> 00:37:48,920 goal to like my forever home is going to have a porch on it. 682 00:37:49,440 --> 00:37:53,720 I had my vision board a couple years ago, was a porch with it 683 00:37:53,720 --> 00:37:57,600 with a Labrador on it because I was like I want to just sit on a 684 00:37:57,600 --> 00:38:01,800 porch with my dog. Right, I know like this is this 685 00:38:01,800 --> 00:38:05,720 is something that we need like especially for women. 686 00:38:05,720 --> 00:38:08,240 I will say like hustle culture to a point. 687 00:38:08,240 --> 00:38:12,600 I get it because like I think you very well understand, like 688 00:38:12,600 --> 00:38:17,120 we are like as women, we are doing so much more and like 689 00:38:17,120 --> 00:38:19,680 being productive and being all the things and being front and 690 00:38:19,680 --> 00:38:23,680 center and like, so we have to hustle to do that. 691 00:38:23,680 --> 00:38:27,200 But at the same time, it's like incredibly detrimental to our 692 00:38:27,200 --> 00:38:29,600 health and completely against our natural cycles. 693 00:38:30,600 --> 00:38:34,320 Like just having literally just having a porch on your house. 694 00:38:35,000 --> 00:38:37,360 So I live in a neighborhood with porches. 695 00:38:37,680 --> 00:38:44,480 My house doesn't have a porch because instead I it was like it 696 00:38:44,480 --> 00:38:47,520 was kind of a porch and then I turned it into an entryway 697 00:38:47,560 --> 00:38:50,840 bathroom kind of situation. So I sort of got rid of my own 698 00:38:50,840 --> 00:38:52,240 porch, but everyone else has a porch. 699 00:38:52,720 --> 00:38:56,680 And I do have to say it's so nice as a way to connect with my 700 00:38:56,680 --> 00:38:59,480 neighbors because if you're just out there and no one's got an 701 00:38:59,480 --> 00:39:01,760 agenda, you're just kind of hanging out and you see your 702 00:39:01,760 --> 00:39:03,840 neighbor over there, you end up talking to them. 703 00:39:03,840 --> 00:39:06,560 And to be honest, I've, I've become good friends with my 704 00:39:06,560 --> 00:39:08,120 neighbor right across the street. 705 00:39:08,120 --> 00:39:11,920 And she fosters kitties and dogs sometimes. 706 00:39:12,160 --> 00:39:15,520 And I'll go over and feed the pets for her sometimes if she 707 00:39:15,520 --> 00:39:17,400 can't get home. And sometimes she'll come over 708 00:39:17,400 --> 00:39:20,320 and give my dog Bert his meds if I can't get home in time. 709 00:39:20,600 --> 00:39:25,200 So, yeah, going out, you know, that's like socialize social 710 00:39:25,200 --> 00:39:27,720 enrichment with your dog and your neighbors. 711 00:39:27,920 --> 00:39:30,560 You never know how it might help you, you know. 712 00:39:30,560 --> 00:39:32,960 Takes a village to raise dog. It does. 713 00:39:32,960 --> 00:39:37,280 And I Speaking of socialization, like I truly that was something 714 00:39:37,280 --> 00:39:41,720 that close to the end of like the period where I was just like 715 00:39:41,720 --> 00:39:44,840 I was so fed up with dog training because dog training is 716 00:39:44,840 --> 00:39:47,120 people training. Like I don't yeah, people don't 717 00:39:47,280 --> 00:39:50,360 quite understand that it's people training and I was just 718 00:39:50,360 --> 00:39:54,360 so fed up with it and I was trying at the very end like tail 719 00:39:54,360 --> 00:39:55,560 into this. I was like, I'm going to put 720 00:39:55,560 --> 00:39:59,280 together this like huge socialization checklist for 721 00:39:59,280 --> 00:40:02,320 puppies. And I started it and I was like, 722 00:40:02,360 --> 00:40:05,040 I got, I just got really frustrated with it because every 723 00:40:05,120 --> 00:40:07,720 time I would post a piece of content about it on social 724 00:40:07,720 --> 00:40:11,640 media, I just got so much like backlash with like, nobody has 725 00:40:11,640 --> 00:40:14,200 time for this. And I just want to take my dog 726 00:40:14,200 --> 00:40:16,840 to the dog park. And this was years ago, right? 727 00:40:16,840 --> 00:40:20,960 Like I feel like I have a different audience now, but it 728 00:40:20,960 --> 00:40:24,160 is. It is enrichment like 729 00:40:24,200 --> 00:40:27,000 socialization is enrichment. Oh, yes, yeah. 730 00:40:27,480 --> 00:40:30,960 And it does not, not don't go to the dog park because honestly, 731 00:40:31,320 --> 00:40:35,200 guys, if you were to ask any emergency vet, they will say 732 00:40:35,200 --> 00:40:38,200 most of the emergencies that come in are a result of the dog 733 00:40:38,200 --> 00:40:40,960 park. So, you know, there are some 734 00:40:40,960 --> 00:40:47,640 places that I take my dog to that are dog parks, but their 735 00:40:47,640 --> 00:40:50,960 trails and streams and they're like acres and acres and acres. 736 00:40:51,440 --> 00:40:56,760 The problem is those small, too small, little fenced in patches 737 00:40:56,760 --> 00:41:02,160 of dirt where not only, you know, is it kind of a little 738 00:41:02,160 --> 00:41:03,960 dangerous and people aren't paying attention to their dogs, 739 00:41:03,960 --> 00:41:07,560 but there's just like germs and like it just don't go there. 740 00:41:09,200 --> 00:41:10,800 Instead. There's so many other ways to 741 00:41:10,800 --> 00:41:15,000 socialize your dogs. Meeting people, other people, 742 00:41:15,520 --> 00:41:19,080 doing a parallel walk where you're walking your dog here and 743 00:41:19,080 --> 00:41:20,640 someone else is walking their dog next to you. 744 00:41:20,720 --> 00:41:24,200 And if your dog's a little reactive, you guys can walk 20 745 00:41:24,200 --> 00:41:27,560 feet apart from each other. That's social enrichment for 746 00:41:27,560 --> 00:41:28,760 your dog. Believe it or not. 747 00:41:28,760 --> 00:41:33,360 They don't have to wrestle and play like a high contact sport 748 00:41:33,360 --> 00:41:35,240 with other dogs just to be socialized. 749 00:41:36,720 --> 00:41:38,400 Yeah. And one of the things that I 750 00:41:38,400 --> 00:41:42,040 started out doing with this list was, I mean, I did all of the 751 00:41:42,040 --> 00:41:45,440 like typical things that you would start out a puppy with who 752 00:41:46,280 --> 00:41:47,840 hasn't had all of their vaccines yet. 753 00:41:47,840 --> 00:41:50,520 So they're not like out in the world and, you know, touching 754 00:41:50,520 --> 00:41:53,200 their paws and touching their ears, getting in their mouth, 755 00:41:53,200 --> 00:41:54,520 you know, doing all of those things. 756 00:41:54,640 --> 00:41:57,720 But then just taking them into like stores. 757 00:41:58,720 --> 00:42:02,680 That's, that can be pretty crazy enrichment for them and can be 758 00:42:02,680 --> 00:42:06,400 overwhelming sometimes too. But there's lots of stores that 759 00:42:06,400 --> 00:42:09,200 let you bring your dogs in. And I will say even like in 760 00:42:09,200 --> 00:42:12,960 Texas, some HEBS will let you bring them in even though it's a 761 00:42:12,960 --> 00:42:16,480 grocery store. They tend to not care. 762 00:42:16,680 --> 00:42:18,520 They're like as long as they're well behaved. 763 00:42:19,200 --> 00:42:22,440 Homes Depot and Lowe's are reliable I think you can always 764 00:42:22,440 --> 00:42:25,840 take your pet there and if it is new to your dog and you have a 765 00:42:25,840 --> 00:42:28,400 smaller dog you can put them in the cart. 766 00:42:29,280 --> 00:42:31,160 So I saw someone do this the other day. 767 00:42:31,400 --> 00:42:34,760 I would recommend you bring like a blanket or a mat because 768 00:42:34,760 --> 00:42:36,760 otherwise they might not like the feeling of the cart 769 00:42:37,320 --> 00:42:38,880 depending on what kind of material it is. 770 00:42:40,480 --> 00:42:41,680 So you can put your dog on the cart. 771 00:42:41,680 --> 00:42:44,880 I, I took Bert with me to Home Depot yesterday and what 772 00:42:44,960 --> 00:42:48,200 probably could have taken me 10 minutes to go in and do myself. 773 00:42:48,200 --> 00:42:51,920 It took like 20 minutes because he loves to sniff around. 774 00:42:51,920 --> 00:42:55,280 I think that people at Home Depot think that he is a drug 775 00:42:55,280 --> 00:43:00,600 sniffing doll because he inspects everything there. 776 00:43:00,640 --> 00:43:02,880 But that's great social enrichment. 777 00:43:02,880 --> 00:43:06,320 He's seeing people around, people are coming up and saying 778 00:43:06,320 --> 00:43:10,400 hi to him and he's also sniffing and just, it's, it's really, 779 00:43:10,520 --> 00:43:13,040 really fun for him. That's important, too. 780 00:43:13,040 --> 00:43:17,720 I think we would be remiss if we didn't say that sniffing on 781 00:43:17,720 --> 00:43:20,720 walks is really important for our dogs. 782 00:43:20,760 --> 00:43:23,520 And like a lot of people, especially if you like work 783 00:43:23,520 --> 00:43:25,960 late, you get home, you're like, I just want to take you out so 784 00:43:25,960 --> 00:43:28,960 that you can pee and maybe poop and come back home. 785 00:43:28,960 --> 00:43:32,320 But like, they've been cooped up in the house all day too. 786 00:43:32,320 --> 00:43:36,440 And they need that time to like decompress. 787 00:43:36,440 --> 00:43:40,160 Sniffing isn't just like, yes it's curiosity, but it also like 788 00:43:40,240 --> 00:43:44,520 helps them decompress and. Yeah, so we didn't even touch on 789 00:43:44,520 --> 00:43:48,520 scent work at all, which is one of the most important parts of 790 00:43:48,520 --> 00:43:51,280 Canon enrichment. But I sometimes don't get into 791 00:43:51,320 --> 00:43:55,400 it because I think like, like letting your dog sniff on walks 792 00:43:55,480 --> 00:43:59,280 is super great, easy, anyone can do that. 793 00:43:59,320 --> 00:44:03,360 But doing scent games, like doing nose work games is a 794 00:44:03,360 --> 00:44:05,400 little bit more advanced. And I think some pet parents, 795 00:44:05,400 --> 00:44:07,120 it's just like a little intimidating to them. 796 00:44:07,120 --> 00:44:10,680 And, and there's a lot of great like inexpensive kits you can 797 00:44:10,680 --> 00:44:14,480 buy online where it'll have like a little scent pack and, and 798 00:44:14,480 --> 00:44:17,560 oftentimes the scent is like cedar or something like that. 799 00:44:17,560 --> 00:44:19,920 So it's not food. And there will be instructions 800 00:44:19,920 --> 00:44:21,960 and all these sets. Actually, there's an awesome set 801 00:44:21,960 --> 00:44:24,880 out there, a woman owned business called Hide and Scent 802 00:44:24,880 --> 00:44:29,120 and it's an awesome little kit that comes with a stone that has 803 00:44:29,120 --> 00:44:32,960 the scent in it and this like little key chain kind of thing. 804 00:44:32,960 --> 00:44:35,680 And it has instructions on how to play different games and how 805 00:44:35,680 --> 00:44:38,480 to do it super simple and how to make it more advanced. 806 00:44:38,480 --> 00:44:40,320 And actually that's something that I do with Burt because he 807 00:44:40,320 --> 00:44:45,120 just has a great nose and it doesn't really have to involve 808 00:44:45,120 --> 00:44:47,400 food. If your dog is food motivated, 809 00:44:47,560 --> 00:44:50,440 giving them some rewards around the scent is a great way to 810 00:44:50,440 --> 00:44:53,200 reinforce it. But it doesn't have to be food 811 00:44:53,200 --> 00:44:58,160 based and doing those kinds of scent games, nose work games 812 00:44:58,160 --> 00:45:01,680 that aren't just sniffing on a walk, but it's an actual 813 00:45:02,040 --> 00:45:05,160 searching for something that's actually really great cognitive 814 00:45:05,160 --> 00:45:09,680 enrichment too. So I'm curious, and I won't keep 815 00:45:09,680 --> 00:45:11,120 you too much longer, but I'm curious. 816 00:45:11,240 --> 00:45:14,680 Before we started recording, you were talking about the episode I 817 00:45:14,680 --> 00:45:18,480 did with Kyle Kittleson. And in that episode I brought up 818 00:45:18,480 --> 00:45:23,160 to him the buttons that dogs and cats push to talk to you. 819 00:45:23,400 --> 00:45:28,080 And he is, I'm very skeptical that these animals actually 820 00:45:28,080 --> 00:45:31,080 understand the words. But regardless of whether they 821 00:45:31,080 --> 00:45:33,360 understand the words or not, I think that could be pretty good. 822 00:45:33,360 --> 00:45:35,200 And what? What do you think about those 823 00:45:35,200 --> 00:45:37,200 buttons? So it's funny you ask, because 824 00:45:37,320 --> 00:45:41,320 on one of my episodes of my dog enrichment podcast, I think it 825 00:45:41,320 --> 00:45:45,360 was the cognitive enrichment episode, I, I did a lot of 826 00:45:45,360 --> 00:45:49,040 research. So for that show, I, I breakdown 827 00:45:49,040 --> 00:45:51,720 the science that each episode is about a different category of 828 00:45:51,720 --> 00:45:54,440 enrichment. And I did all this research to 829 00:45:54,440 --> 00:45:58,360 find real scientific studies and reports that were done because I 830 00:45:58,360 --> 00:46:00,800 think we all talked about like, oh, this is great enrichment, 831 00:46:00,800 --> 00:46:05,760 but I wanted to know like, why? And so in the research for that 832 00:46:05,760 --> 00:46:11,400 episode, I came upon a study or a report done about the talking 833 00:46:11,400 --> 00:46:14,840 buttons. And this report was also very 834 00:46:14,880 --> 00:46:19,600 skeptical of it because I don't know, have you ever had the 835 00:46:19,600 --> 00:46:21,920 buttons? Tried the buttons. 836 00:46:21,920 --> 00:46:25,560 I will say my dog is of all the things I have tried with her. 837 00:46:25,560 --> 00:46:29,040 I have tried scent work, I've tried like touch, getting her to 838 00:46:29,040 --> 00:46:31,640 touch things. I've tried the buttons and she 839 00:46:31,640 --> 00:46:33,880 is just. She literally will just sit 840 00:46:33,880 --> 00:46:36,960 there and stare at me like you're out of your mind, like 841 00:46:36,960 --> 00:46:40,920 you're just out of your mind. She won't participate at all for 842 00:46:40,920 --> 00:46:42,240 anything. Yeah. 843 00:46:44,000 --> 00:46:46,720 Well, so I've, I've had the buttons and I've had different 844 00:46:46,720 --> 00:46:52,280 sets of buttons and some of them the recording quality is better 845 00:46:52,280 --> 00:46:55,200 than others. And so this report that I found 846 00:46:55,200 --> 00:46:57,880 was just saying that the recording quality like what when 847 00:46:57,880 --> 00:47:00,880 your dog hears your voice coming out of your mouth, it doesn't 848 00:47:00,880 --> 00:47:04,080 sound exactly the same as it does coming out of that button. 849 00:47:05,160 --> 00:47:10,000 And so the, your dog might not really know that when you say 850 00:47:10,000 --> 00:47:12,480 the word with your mouth that it's the same word that's coming 851 00:47:12,480 --> 00:47:15,400 out of the button because the sound might just sound different 852 00:47:15,400 --> 00:47:18,720 to them. But you're right, like they, 853 00:47:18,920 --> 00:47:21,480 they might understand that when they press this particular 854 00:47:21,480 --> 00:47:24,640 button, this thing happens or they get this thing. 855 00:47:24,720 --> 00:47:28,960 It's a form of communication. But I think the problem, and I 856 00:47:28,960 --> 00:47:31,040 didn't bring this up on that episode, but this is just like 857 00:47:31,040 --> 00:47:35,760 my opinion is that we always want to impress upon other 858 00:47:35,760 --> 00:47:39,560 animals our own culture and customs. 859 00:47:39,920 --> 00:47:42,920 So we know like we communicate using words. 860 00:47:42,920 --> 00:47:45,400 We say I want some water, we get some water. 861 00:47:46,200 --> 00:47:50,960 But I think that the buttons are asking dogs to use our form of 862 00:47:50,960 --> 00:47:54,840 communication rather than us trying to use their form of 863 00:47:54,840 --> 00:47:57,600 communication. And maybe the buttons are 864 00:47:57,600 --> 00:47:59,920 meeting in the middle. I don't really have a definitive 865 00:47:59,920 --> 00:48:02,160 answer for this. But when I first started using 866 00:48:02,160 --> 00:48:05,080 them, a common button to start off with is like, I need to go 867 00:48:05,080 --> 00:48:06,680 outside, go potty. Yeah. 868 00:48:07,040 --> 00:48:10,200 And the reason why I kind of gave up on it is because my my 869 00:48:10,200 --> 00:48:13,960 old dog, Lucy, we just had such great communication with each 870 00:48:13,960 --> 00:48:17,560 other and she knew how to ask for what she wanted without 871 00:48:17,560 --> 00:48:21,160 using these buttons. So I knew when Lucy wanted to go 872 00:48:21,160 --> 00:48:24,640 outside or when she wanted to eat or when she just wanted to 873 00:48:24,640 --> 00:48:27,920 play or I knew all kinds of things that she wanted. 874 00:48:27,920 --> 00:48:31,160 And so you see people who use the buttons with like an 875 00:48:31,160 --> 00:48:35,040 elaborate vocabulary of words. And so I don't know if I had 876 00:48:35,040 --> 00:48:38,120 that elaborate of a vocab with me and Lucy and our form of 877 00:48:38,120 --> 00:48:40,880 communication. So I love that people are doing 878 00:48:40,880 --> 00:48:42,600 this and I think it's really fascinating. 879 00:48:42,600 --> 00:48:45,640 You know, Christina Hunger, I think is definitely the leader 880 00:48:45,640 --> 00:48:47,360 in this. If anyone wants to learn more 881 00:48:47,360 --> 00:48:49,440 about it, she has a whole book about about it. 882 00:48:49,920 --> 00:48:55,200 And, you know, I think it's very interesting, but I am also 883 00:48:55,200 --> 00:48:57,400 slightly skeptical. Yeah. 884 00:48:57,640 --> 00:49:00,320 And that reminded me actually as you were talking about that, 885 00:49:00,320 --> 00:49:02,280 like I tried a lot of things with my dog. 886 00:49:02,280 --> 00:49:07,240 I even tried like the bell Nope she just has like I will. 887 00:49:07,240 --> 00:49:10,560 I have had other dogs before her that were much more willing to 888 00:49:10,560 --> 00:49:12,960 do things that I have asked them to do. 889 00:49:12,960 --> 00:49:16,200 She's just she's just a no across the. 890 00:49:16,200 --> 00:49:18,200 Board everyone has their own personality, you know. 891 00:49:18,200 --> 00:49:23,240 Yeah, but she is. I definitely, she lets me know. 892 00:49:23,240 --> 00:49:26,720 Like I do understand her forms of communication. 893 00:49:26,720 --> 00:49:28,240 I know when she wants to go outside. 894 00:49:28,440 --> 00:49:31,600 I know when she wants to eat. I know when she's frustrated 895 00:49:31,600 --> 00:49:35,720 with one of the cat. Like, I know a lot of her. 896 00:49:35,720 --> 00:49:37,760 I mean, I've had her for more than 10 years now. 897 00:49:37,760 --> 00:49:41,160 But yeah, like, there's not much that I'm like, I don't 898 00:49:41,160 --> 00:49:43,720 understand what you want. Even if I tell her, like, show 899 00:49:43,720 --> 00:49:47,400 me she'll start walking. We can communicate. 900 00:49:47,400 --> 00:49:50,760 And yeah, yeah, with Lucy, like her favorite, she's favorite 901 00:49:50,760 --> 00:49:53,560 stuffed animal. And sometimes we'd be downstairs 902 00:49:53,560 --> 00:49:56,400 and in my house and I could tell she was looking for this stuffed 903 00:49:56,440 --> 00:49:59,080 animal. And I would say, Lucy, your baby 904 00:49:59,080 --> 00:50:01,520 is upstairs. You got to go upstairs and find 905 00:50:01,520 --> 00:50:05,120 your baby. And she would run upstairs and 906 00:50:05,120 --> 00:50:07,360 she knew what I was saying like go upstairs. 907 00:50:07,360 --> 00:50:11,440 She knew upstairs, she knew baby and she knew find and she 908 00:50:11,440 --> 00:50:13,520 figured that out and she would go upstairs and find her baby. 909 00:50:13,520 --> 00:50:16,280 And and so, you know, we had, we had other ways of communicating. 910 00:50:17,800 --> 00:50:21,680 Yeah, yeah, I like that. I like that viewpoint that we 911 00:50:21,680 --> 00:50:26,000 should be taking more time to learn their form of their 912 00:50:26,000 --> 00:50:27,920 language, their forms of communication. 913 00:50:28,000 --> 00:50:30,960 We're already asking them to live in an environment that's 914 00:50:30,960 --> 00:50:35,880 totally outside of like how they should be living as a species. 915 00:50:35,880 --> 00:50:38,560 I mean, we're living outside of how we should be living, but 916 00:50:38,880 --> 00:50:42,840 we're asking them to live indoors with, you know, 917 00:50:42,840 --> 00:50:45,440 especially like in the winter time, the doors and the windows 918 00:50:45,440 --> 00:50:48,880 all closed and all the toxins in the air and not grounding and 919 00:50:49,160 --> 00:50:51,680 not seeing the mornings. Like there's so many things 920 00:50:51,680 --> 00:50:53,720 we're asking of them. It's like the least we can do. 921 00:50:54,880 --> 00:50:57,240 Yeah, yeah. And I think that, you know, 922 00:50:57,240 --> 00:51:00,680 Speaking of socialization is a lot of people love to take their 923 00:51:00,680 --> 00:51:04,920 dog to a brewery. You know, this is a big thing on 924 00:51:04,920 --> 00:51:08,480 social media to that people feel like, you know, everyone on 925 00:51:08,480 --> 00:51:11,560 social media is taking their dog to a brewery or cafe or 926 00:51:11,560 --> 00:51:13,560 something like that or on vacation with them. 927 00:51:13,560 --> 00:51:16,840 And I think that that not every dog loves that. 928 00:51:17,360 --> 00:51:21,400 So it's just important to put your dog's needs first when it 929 00:51:21,400 --> 00:51:24,800 comes to enrichment because you know, while it might be 930 00:51:24,880 --> 00:51:27,400 enriching for you to go hang out with your friends and have a 931 00:51:27,400 --> 00:51:29,400 beer and talk and laugh and everything. 932 00:51:29,800 --> 00:51:33,000 What, what I found in those situations is that, you know, 933 00:51:33,160 --> 00:51:35,080 you, you don't pay a lot of attention to your dog. 934 00:51:35,200 --> 00:51:38,480 You take them with you, but then you're talking to your friends 935 00:51:38,480 --> 00:51:40,600 and then doing this and maybe people come up and say hi to 936 00:51:40,600 --> 00:51:43,320 your dog and maybe your dog loves it and then you should 937 00:51:43,320 --> 00:51:46,240 keep doing it. But if your dog doesn't love 938 00:51:46,240 --> 00:51:50,240 that activity, I would say, you know, put their priorities and 939 00:51:50,240 --> 00:51:53,920 their needs 1st and that comes to all kinds of enrichment, you 940 00:51:53,920 --> 00:51:56,880 know, like lick mats, snuffle mats. 941 00:51:56,880 --> 00:51:59,760 If if your dog doesn't like it, don't do it. 942 00:51:59,760 --> 00:52:02,240 You don't have to. Yeah, Oh, my dog loves her 943 00:52:02,240 --> 00:52:05,440 snuffle mat. The she likes the one I made 944 00:52:05,440 --> 00:52:07,320 better than any of the ones I've ever bought. 945 00:52:07,600 --> 00:52:11,200 And I think because the one I made is like really thick and 946 00:52:11,200 --> 00:52:14,880 has a lot of different places to hide things and. 947 00:52:15,520 --> 00:52:19,320 Well, did you? Is it like you tied the Lisa? 948 00:52:19,520 --> 00:52:22,600 Well, also think about like your hands touched every single piece 949 00:52:22,600 --> 00:52:24,240 of that. So maybe that's why she likes it 950 00:52:24,240 --> 00:52:26,200 too. It could be, yeah. 951 00:52:26,240 --> 00:52:30,480 It was made with love. Many, many hours, many hours of 952 00:52:30,480 --> 00:52:35,200 love. I actually one year for 953 00:52:35,200 --> 00:52:37,920 Christmas made them for like all of my family's dogs. 954 00:52:37,920 --> 00:52:41,840 And I was like, wow, thinking because it was so much work. 955 00:52:42,160 --> 00:52:46,560 That's a lot of Netflixing it. Was a lot of Netflixing, but 956 00:52:46,560 --> 00:52:47,880 they're amazed. I I love them. 957 00:52:48,000 --> 00:52:51,280 I mean, now I have it and she. Yeah, loves it. 958 00:52:51,280 --> 00:52:54,120 And my cats too. My cats like it better than not 959 00:52:54,120 --> 00:52:57,280 that we're talking about cats, but my cats like it better than 960 00:52:57,280 --> 00:53:00,440 the, like, platters and things I try to get them to eat off of 961 00:53:00,440 --> 00:53:02,400 platters. Like I try to get my dog to eat 962 00:53:02,400 --> 00:53:03,680 off of. Well, she does. 963 00:53:03,680 --> 00:53:05,920 I have transitioned my dog. That's another thing we really 964 00:53:05,920 --> 00:53:07,640 didn't talk about, like how we feed our dog. 965 00:53:08,040 --> 00:53:09,320 Yeah. I mean, you talked about like 966 00:53:09,320 --> 00:53:12,120 the scatter feeding and the the busy boxes and the. 967 00:53:12,160 --> 00:53:15,880 But I also am a big proponent of feeding our dogs off of flat 968 00:53:15,880 --> 00:53:19,160 surfaces because that's how they're, like, supposed to eat. 969 00:53:19,160 --> 00:53:22,520 And the, you know, bowls can actually harm their noses. 970 00:53:22,520 --> 00:53:26,320 And I don't know. I don't know why I keep. 971 00:53:26,400 --> 00:53:28,920 I'm just going to keep thinking of things to bring up if I don't 972 00:53:28,920 --> 00:53:31,040 end this episode. Well, there's endless things we 973 00:53:31,040 --> 00:53:32,960 could talk about with enrichment though. 974 00:53:33,240 --> 00:53:39,040 There are So where can people find you find more information 975 00:53:39,040 --> 00:53:42,800 on enrichment for their dogs? Because this really, truly is 976 00:53:43,400 --> 00:53:46,880 like a foundational piece of health for our dogs. 977 00:53:47,000 --> 00:53:50,480 Yes, enrichment is just as important as taking your dog to 978 00:53:50,480 --> 00:53:52,520 the vet or feeding them healthy food. 979 00:53:52,560 --> 00:53:56,800 It's just one of those building blocks of a healthy, full life. 980 00:53:56,840 --> 00:53:59,000 And I know anyone listening to this show wants to give their 981 00:53:59,000 --> 00:54:01,080 dog the best life, so it's definitely important. 982 00:54:01,080 --> 00:54:05,000 So one of the easiest ways to find me and all the stuff I have 983 00:54:05,000 --> 00:54:10,840 is to go to torinosedogs.com/podcast and 984 00:54:10,840 --> 00:54:13,040 that's where you'll find my podcast Dog Enrichment with Tory 985 00:54:13,040 --> 00:54:14,960 Mystic. You can find that streaming 986 00:54:15,080 --> 00:54:17,560 everywhere on YouTube, the Spotify, whatever. 987 00:54:17,920 --> 00:54:20,480 And then on that page, I also have a link to my mental 988 00:54:20,480 --> 00:54:25,200 enrichment activity pack that has 10, I think, very original 989 00:54:25,200 --> 00:54:28,280 novel cognitive mental enrichment activities to do with 990 00:54:28,280 --> 00:54:31,640 your dog that are not just the basic stuff that come up when 991 00:54:31,640 --> 00:54:33,440 you Google enrichment activities. 992 00:54:34,640 --> 00:54:36,840 Well, that's amazing. Thank you so much for being 993 00:54:36,840 --> 00:54:39,640 here, Tori. I really appreciate you and for 994 00:54:39,640 --> 00:54:44,360 you providing all of this information to our listeners. 995 00:54:45,600 --> 00:54:48,440 Hopefully we'll we'll meet up again one day soon. 996 00:54:48,440 --> 00:54:50,880 Maybe a super zoo. I know I've seen like I've just 997 00:54:50,880 --> 00:54:52,680 seen you in passing there before. 998 00:54:53,080 --> 00:54:54,800 My gosh. Well, you should have flagged me 999 00:54:54,800 --> 00:54:56,720 down. Thank you so much for having me 1000 00:54:56,720 --> 00:54:59,120 on the show and thanks everyone for listening. 1001 00:54:59,360 --> 00:55:03,320 And yeah, hopefully, hopefully we'll see each other actually in 1002 00:55:03,320 --> 00:55:05,720 person. Soon, hopefully. 1003 00:55:06,000 --> 00:55:07,920 All right guys, thank you so much for listening. 1004 00:55:07,920 --> 00:55:11,120 I appreciate you for being here. Give your pets some extra love 1005 00:55:11,120 --> 00:55:14,400 from me and from Tori this week and I will talk to you next 1006 00:55:14,400 --> 00:55:16,440 week. Yeah.