236. Enrichment Isn’t Extra: Why Your Dog Needs It

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Hey there, it's Jess.
If you're new here, I'm a

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certified professional canine
nutritionist, raw nutrition

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certified for dogs and cats, a
holistic pet health coach, the

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founder of Wild Wellness Pet,
and the host of the Pet

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Parenting Reset podcast that
you're listening to right now,

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where every pet deserves the
absolute best and every pet

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parent is welcome.
Learn from the best holistic and

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integrative experts in
veterinary medicine and

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nutrition every Tuesday right
here on this podcast.

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Or get individualized help with
your pet through one-on-one

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consultations and take a deep
dive into the root cause with

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the Wild Wellness Bioenergetics
at Home testing kit.

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It's time to rethink how we
raise our pets.

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A reset to naturally healthy
dogs and cats.

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If you've been feeling like
there has to be something more,

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something better, a better way
to raise healthier pets, welcome

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to the pet Parenting Reset.
Welcome back, pet parent.

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Today's episode is another very
exciting one for so many

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reasons.
One is because, well, we talk

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about this all the time without
talking about this, so we're

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going to get more in depth on it
today.

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I'll tell you what that is in
just a second.

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But also, I'm just really
excited for today's guest

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because I've actually been
following her for a really long

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time and I never really thought
about having her on the show.

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And then she reached out to me
and I was like, Oh my gosh, this

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is so amazing.
So first of all, we're going to

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be talking about canine
enrichment today.

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And enrichment is again,
something we talk about without

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really talking about it all the
time because it is so important.

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It's very foundational.
It's in the like 6 step plan of

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everything we need to do to make
our pets healthier and happier.

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But actually getting into like
the nitty gritty of what that

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means is something we haven't
really talked about on the

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podcast.
So I'm really excited to welcome

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Tori Mystic on the Pet Parenting
Reset podcast today because she

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is a canine enrichment expert.
So welcome, Tori.

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Hey, Jessica, thank you so much.
I can't believe that we haven't

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connected face to face before,
so this is awesome.

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Yeah, I know.
I'm really excited about it.

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And so is my my little kitten
Camden, very involved here

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today.
He's usually much more of a

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menace than what he is right
now.

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And I see you've got and.
I have Burton, little

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appearance, He's always napping
right behind me and usually the

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way I sit, you don't see him.
But you come from time to time,

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Yeah.
I just saw him.

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I know my dog is not with me at
the moment.

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I'm back and forth between.
I'm like living in two different

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places and just bringing my dog
back and forth.

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Sometimes I'm like, you know
what?

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I'm just going to go record at
the other place so you can stay

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here for a little.
While you might enjoy the

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downtime, and we can get into
that actually too, with

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enrichment.
Yeah.

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So I think first of all, let's
just introduce you a little bit.

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Tell me about you.
Tell me about how you're doing

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what you're doing because like,
I just know you from having a

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very successful social media and
like this is what you share.

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You share, you know, pet tips
and a lot of enrichment.

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And that's kind of how I started
following you in the 1st place

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was like, well, I want to be
successful on social media.

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Sometimes, sometimes I don't.
Sometimes I'm like, this is just

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trash.
Let me get off here.

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I know, I know, but it's a
double edged sword to have all

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these followers, yeah.
Right, I know, but it's, it's,

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it's, it's still nice at the end
of the day to like when you are

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somebody that like yourself, who
has a positive message, who is

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genuinely trying to improve the
lives of pets and pet parents.

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Like that kind of to me, I feel
like that's what pushes me

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forward, even in those times
when I'm like, I feel like crap.

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And this person just made me
feel like, you know, the worst

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in the world.
But I still feel like, like the

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message is important and that
keeps me going.

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And so anyway, I want to hear
more about like how you got to

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where you are.
Well, I guess it goes back, I

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started my blog and my blog is
called Wear wagrepeat.com and if

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I had known this was going to
become my career 13 years later

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when I started my blog 13 years
ago, I probably would have

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chosen a different and easier to
say name.

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But here we are today.
So 13 years ago I just started

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this blog as a hobby, as a way
to document my passions in life,

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which at the time were style and
dog.

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So that's why it's wear repeat.
And my original tagline was I

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wear it, they wag it and then we
repeat.

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So it was equal parts like
outfit photos and I love DIY's

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and crafts and sewing.
And then it was a lot of dog

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stuff.
And I found out very quickly

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that the dog stuff was a lot
more engaging even back then 13

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years ago when I was blogging.
This was before I even had

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Instagram, and I know I'm old.
I started that before Instagram

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like existed.
But on my blog, dog people found

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me at the time that in blogging
there was a way to like kind of

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network with other bloggers and
the dog people were so welcoming

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and so friendly.
The fashion bloggers, not so

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much.
So I ended up just kind of by

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happenstance going in this dog
direction and I gradually grew

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it over time.
And at the time, I had other

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jobs that I was juggling.
I've always been someone who has

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a lot of different jobs at one
time.

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And over the years, I was able
to kind of gradually quit and

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downsize some of those other
jobs.

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And then I started doing Wear
Wag repeat full time in 2019, I

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believe.
And so I was doing sponsored

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posts and then someone said, you
know, you should think about

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starting a membership.
And I did that.

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It was kind of a compliment to
one of my podcasts that I have

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where I interview women in the
pet industry.

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So I love all things digital
marketing.

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I went to school for marketing.
So that's kind of how I knew how

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to grow my following online.
And of course, a lot of people

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were like, how did you do that?
Can you show us how to do that?

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And that's where my podcast and
my membership kind of came into

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play.
And, and I've just kind of

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immersed myself in the pet
industry and, and it's, and I, I

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don't, I don't look back at all
because it's just full of so

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many wonderful people and so
many people are getting new pets

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all the time.
So there's always fresh people

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out there to share your
expertise with.

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And something that I found in,
in this process in the last, I

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don't know, 5 or 6 years was
that I was, I was getting kind

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of frustrated on social media
because there were a lot of

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people sharing dog stuff that I
thought was really bad advice

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and sometimes very dangerous
advice.

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I don't know if you remember in
the pandemic, there was someone

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who wrapped Saran wrap over
their head with peanut butter

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and was using that as a trick to
cut their dog's nails.

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So things like that inspired me
to become certified in canine

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enrichment and I also am
certified in pet first aid and

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CPR and I'm always doing lots of
continuing education because

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people trust what they see you
sharing on the Internet.

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And I just felt like I had a
responsibility to share well

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researched science backed dog
behavior information online that

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people could really trust and
that was safe and was going to

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enhance their life and their
pets life.

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So that's kind of how I became
the dog enrichment person

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online.
So, Long story short.

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Yeah, no, I get it.
I mean, that's my story too.

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It's a roller coaster.
It's twists and turns.

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It's all the things.
I get it.

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I totally get it.
And yes, there is so much bad

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information online and I while I
hate it, I also like, I'm that

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person that I'm like everybody
has a right to be present and

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talk about where they are.
Cuz I know when I started, I, I

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restarted a bunch of times, but
the first where I really kind of

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like have that delineation of
this is how I feel like I

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started to where I am now at
least.

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I literally just started.
I've started posting a video on

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YouTube every single day of this
is what I learned today in the

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process of me learning how to
feed my dog, like actually make

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food for my dogs.
And it was just everyday.

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What did I learn today?
And I put that video out on

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YouTube and I wasn't like, I'm
an expert at this.

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I'm just like, this is what I've
learned today.

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And I want you to know that too.
Yeah, no, I think that's so

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helpful and like it's a great
example because you don't have

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to overthink, you know, you
don't have to go get some four

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year degree in whatever this is.
Like we research very

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thoroughly, yeah, anything that
we're going to do for our pets.

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So you and I know how hard it is
to research some of that.

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So if we can share that with
people, I think that's a huge

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service.
Yeah, well and then canine

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enrichment.
So this is 1st, I mean, such a

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fascinating topic to me because
I did dabble in dog training for

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a little while and I feel like
enrichment is a huge part of

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that, at least how I presented
it to my clients at the time.

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Like enrichment was huge because
I think one of the, one of the

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biggest like misnomers in dog
training is not that we're

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training the dog to not do
something.

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Because I think most people
think that they're like, I don't

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want my dog to do this anymore.
And my question is always, OK,

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what do you want them to do?
And so.

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Look at you like I never thought
about that, right?

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So it for me, like enrichment
was a huge part of that because

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we want them to do something
else, then we want them to do

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something positive.
So anyway, let's talk about like

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what actually is enrichment.
You're the professional here, so

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I want to hear it from you.
Well, I agree with you that

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there's a lot of myths and
misconceptions.

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So a lot of people think that
enrichment is a babysitter for

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their dog to get their dog to
leave them alone for a while.

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You know, a lot of people think
that a peanut butter Kong,

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that's all there is, that's
enrichment and that's what it

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is, but there is a lot more to
it.

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So the kind of analogy that I
like to use, if you go to the

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store and you buy pasta, I was
buying pasta the other day and

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on the box it says enriched,
made with enriched flour.

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And that means it has added
nutrients to make it better, to

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make it healthier, to make it
superior than plain flour.

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And so that's kind of what
enrichment is.

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So like your dog's life is like
their normal life, but you add

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enrichment to make it better, to
make it healthier, to make it

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more positive for them.
And there's a lot of different

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ways that you can do that.
So there's like 7 or 8 different

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categories of enrichment that
you can tap into.

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And some of those are passive
enrichment, like music or just

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having visual around the room.
Some of those things are are are

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sort of passive, but like
calming, like calmly petting

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your dog and and touch.
Physical enrichment through

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touch like that is really
important.

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And then there's active things,
which would could be like

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agility or running through the
woods and stepping over twigs

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and feeling different surfaces
on their paws.

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And of course there's food based
enrichment too, which a lot of

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people know about.
And often times food is kind of

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linked with cognitive because
people like to get these brain

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game puzzles and you can hide
little treats and stuff in

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there.
But there's, there's just

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there's so much that we could go
on and on and on about it.

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But I, I think that what I am
trying to teach people through

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my new podcast, which is just
called Dog Enrichment with Tory

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Misty, I went for a very obvious
name.

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I learned my lesson with Wear
Wagger Pete and I just went for

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obvious this time.
So on my new podcast, I really

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try to encourage people to
realize that enrichment is about

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something you do together with
your dog.

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It's not a babysitter.
It's not a way to get your dog

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to leave you alone.
It's something you can do

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together that is going to
strengthen the bond that you

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share, but it's also going to
make your life so much better.

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So it's going to make your dog's
life better, but you are also

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going to find so much more joy
and fulfillment, and you're

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00:12:06,040 --> 00:12:09,440
going to enjoy being around your
dog more when you do things

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00:12:09,520 --> 00:12:13,280
together instead of just sending
your dog off on their own.

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00:12:13,320 --> 00:12:17,840
Well, we did a like a new year
pet nutrition reset challenge,

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00:12:17,840 --> 00:12:21,720
myself and Lauren Beck's with
Girls Gone Raw and that was one

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00:12:21,720 --> 00:12:25,920
of the things on the checklist
that we put together was like

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00:12:26,040 --> 00:12:29,040
bonding time.
Whether that would it like foam

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free bonding time, phone free
bonding time and doing things

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00:12:33,760 --> 00:12:40,840
like acupressure and massage.
And I think that is overlooked a

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00:12:40,840 --> 00:12:46,120
lot for pet parents fun like
just the actual physical health

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benefits of moving the fascia
and, and letting like blood flow

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00:12:50,880 --> 00:12:53,480
and everything move in the body.
Because there's a lot of

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00:12:53,480 --> 00:12:57,520
stagnation in our bodies and in
our pets bodies, especially pets

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00:12:57,520 --> 00:13:00,760
that are like chronically
stressed that we can, we can do

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00:13:00,760 --> 00:13:03,680
with them, but it helps us.
I actually feel like it helps us

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00:13:03,680 --> 00:13:06,760
even more than it helps our pets
because just like that might be

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the only time a day we're
putting our phone down.

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00:13:09,360 --> 00:13:10,000
Yes.
Not.

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00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:12,560
I'm not looking at a screen or
reading anything or talking to

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anyone.
You're just focusing in the

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00:13:14,080 --> 00:13:16,720
moment.
That's the gift that dogs give

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00:13:16,720 --> 00:13:20,760
us.
Yeah, and I, I also love the

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idea that I kind of, I have like
a love hate relationship with

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the idea that we can just use
trash to create enrichment.

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00:13:30,080 --> 00:13:33,160
And I do this, I do this more
with my cats honestly than with

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00:13:33,160 --> 00:13:35,520
my dogs.
But I, I literally like we just

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00:13:35,520 --> 00:13:37,720
have trash in the house.
I don't know if you're a good

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00:13:37,720 --> 00:13:41,200
pet parent or you're a good cat
parent if you don't just have

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00:13:41,200 --> 00:13:44,840
random trash that you throw on
the floor to have your cats play

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00:13:44,840 --> 00:13:46,720
with.
Like we have boxes from

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00:13:46,720 --> 00:13:50,880
Christmas sitting like there's
like there's like box for it for

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00:13:50,880 --> 00:13:52,920
my cats and I'm like, I hate it
so much.

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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

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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

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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

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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.

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00:14:47,920 --> 00:14:50,800
I call that a busy box.
That's one of the activities in

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00:14:50,800 --> 00:14:53,080
my mental enrichment activity
pack.

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00:14:53,080 --> 00:14:57,520
So I, I created this mini online
course with 10 kind of novel

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00:14:57,520 --> 00:15:00,760
enrichment activities and the
busy box is just my hands down

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00:15:00,760 --> 00:15:04,480
favorite one because it's free,
it's eco friendly because you're

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00:15:04,480 --> 00:15:07,440
reusing stuff.
You know, most people don't get

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00:15:07,440 --> 00:15:10,600
like 4 uses out of their yogurt
containers like I do.

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00:15:10,920 --> 00:15:15,160
And what I love about that in
particular is when I was

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00:15:15,160 --> 00:15:18,920
researching for my podcast, what
kept coming up over and over

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00:15:18,920 --> 00:15:21,560
again is how novelty is so
important for enrichment.

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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

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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.

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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

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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.