Dr Jo's blog

So I took Chilli dog along to the Purina offices with me today. Not her first visit but her first since she was 8 weeks old. Now she is 1.

This was not the first occasional she has been to work with me. Generally, however, wherever I work there are open spaces, grass, fresh air. Great for work breaks. None of that in a corporate office. Walls, ceilings, lots of surfaces to echo barks! Yes, Chilli barked… and barked.

Within five minutes she acted, typical Terrier style, as if she owned the place. Then, of course she had the right to bark at anyone who walked past her. To calm her down I had brought her dog house (a portable dog kennel) which she likes to snooze in and I can close screens to block her view. In her house, she went, as always enticed by the promise of a treat ball within. Today, however, she could still hear the girls in the petcare advice centre answering calls. Every time one of them said “Hello”, Chilli thought someone new was arriving and started to bark!

We managed to limit the barking by providing her with a Purina Total Care squeaky toy. Great – no more barks. Just squeaks, loud squeaks!

Purina is a pet friendly office. People who work there are welcome to bring their pets along to work. It is illegal, however, in our State to take your dog into food preparation areas – thus no trips to the office cafe. How does one survive a stressful day at the office with your dog without caffeine?

Home now and Chilli dog is exhausted! Next time I bring my quiet cat!

You didn’t think I had perfect pets, did you?!

(More misbehaviour from Chilli)

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So you think you have pet problems…

Now’s your chance to come along and discuss them. For now, it’s only for those of you in Sydney or willing to come here (everyone else will get a chance in time I hope, if this one goes well). I have just organised (well my friend Cameron from Family Activities) has organised a new event.

I will be talking at Bankstown Sports Centre on April 20th from 6-9pm. Everything you have ever wanted to know about your pet’s behaviour – come and ask me. When you register you will get a chance to tell me exactly what you’d like to know. It should be fun. I will get to meet lots of you and we can all talk pets together.

More here

You can also let me know here is there is any particular topics you are keen to find out more about.

Look forward to seeing you soon. Please pass on to any mates you think might enjoy it.

Jo

Other events here

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Why.. oh why do some animals love to roll in mud?

Yes biologically it’s great. Deals with parasites, disguises smells, cools you down. This does not explain why one dog loves it and will find a puddle of mud in the middle of a desert and another will avoid a water-logged field.

My previous dog Cherry was a princess who would tread gracefully through field of grass, avoiding puddles, avoiding dipping her toes in anything wet, messy and especially avoiding anything muddy. Oh yes, i would return form the park on a rainy day with a dry dog and secretly gloat over owners who had to towel-dry their pooch prior to re-entry to car or home. Doggy paw wipes were made for those unfortunate owners.

Along came dog no.2, Chilli (sadly after the passing of Cherry). Along with Chilli, came mud. And lots of it. Payback time for all those secret smiles and self-congratulations on rearing such delicate dog souls.

Chilli loves mud. Chilli has mud radar. No distractions can possible compete with a muddy puddle. And believe me I have tried all that she loves – her ball, other dogs, yummy treats. Mud wins!

Chilli in mud

...and muddiest

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Tweet up?

Dog owners know what social catalysts dogs are. We walk our dogs and we talk to people, people who we might not normally even look at. Sometimes we even divulge the most intimate details of our lives, safe in the knowledge that the listener must be a caring, sharing kinda person cos they’re a dog lover.

The internet has brought a different means of communication. Take Twitter. I speak to dog and pet lovers from all over the world now. We share knowledge, tips, joys and sorrows. We post pics of our pets and sometimes we even become our pets, talking as our pampered pussycat or pooch.

Twitter on occasion spills out into real life and mutual followers actually meet. Like North Shore Coffee Mornings (#nscm), a group of Sydney people who meet to chat over coffee every week. I went this week and met so many interesting people (roll call).

Got me thinking… I wonder if the pet community are also meeting up in real life. Is this something you would like to do?  Are there any dog walking groups formed out of Twitter or other social media networks? Is it impossible to do with cats? If you are already doing this, please let us know where.

Jo’s website

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Ok so this morning I decided to make a few simple changes to my website. Six hours later and I’m still changing it! Ok I did a radio segment in the middle but that still approx 4 hours of fiddling.
Some of you are probably technology whizzes. Not me. All I’m trying to do is share info. I have:
- website
- blog (this is it)
- twitter
- facebook page
- you tube page
- probably others I’ve forgotten about!!
In am attempt to link these up, I think I am now repeating myself. Did I say I’m repeating myself. Sorry everone who had to read my posts about teaching Chilli to speak six times!

Ah communication! Life must be easier when you are a dog. Just sniff the rear end, allow your rear end to be sniffed and move on. Canine communication rules.

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1.       The interesting friends I follow. Where else can I follow the conversations of a moose, a capybara, a gorilla, a gerbil and her mother? Just as in real life, on Twitter I enjoy the company of cats and dogs and the most followed pet of all is Sockington (@Sockington) who comes up with some fabulous feline life statements such as:

“OH DESPAIR THY NAME IS EMPTY FOOD DISH thy last name is mcglamery WELL EMPTY FOOD DISH MCGLAMERY LET’S SEE IF A YOWL WILL HELP YOU”.

Sockington’s prose has earned him over 500,000 followers.

Sockington 500,000 Followers from Jason Scott on Vimeo.

2.       You can be yourself. It is tempting when you first tweet to try to emulate the style of others. At first I stuck to being a professional, recommending all things pet. Other people were tweeting about the colour of their socks! Now I know, just like real life, Twitter is a balance of both personal and professional. Now I tweet whatever I like. I tweet about how muddy my pup’s paws are or how my cat has woken me again at 5:30am. If my followers don’t like me, easy, simply unfollow. I can do likewise. How many friends can you do that to in real life?

3.       Just because you think something is brilliant, doesn’t mean it is. On Twitter, it is quite a priveledge to be retweeted, Sometimes, you tweet your supposedly brilliant 140 character message and… NOTHING. Not a retweet! Not even a reply. Next, a quick comment and bingo, everyone loves it, retweets it and you get masses of replies.

I once said “Anxiety problems in our pets need to be treated with kindness for both the pets and the owner’s sake.” Nothing brilliant there I thought but the large number of endorsing responses I received showed that my tweet had touched people. Twitter helps me learn what inspires others.

4.       I can find out anything I want to. When I need to know something, such as where to find a book of barking, I can just ask my followers. Yes I could Google but Twitter followers give me their personal recommendations; very valuable. I can return the favour, occasionally giving pet behaviour advice and instead of a 2hr consult and 6months of therapy, all it takes is 140 characters.

5.       Twitter takes you to other worlds. Not only can I find out who twitters in my suburb, I can look for cat owners in Edinburgh or dog owners in Siberia. I can be a mythical creature (if I had the imagination); I can take on my pet’s personality. I can find joy in other’s experiences too. Here is Smudge (@Smudgebestcat), who resides with his people in England, being best cat at Australian Barney to Canadian Alley cats’ Twitter wedding. Only on Twitter?!

If you need more info on pets, visit Pet Problems Solved.

Join Dr Jo on Twitter

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Are you proud to be a pet owner living in your country? My guess is that there are things your country does well in supporting your life with pets. Perhaps your:

·         Government supports you with off leash parks

·         local shelter helps with subsidised desexing (neutering, spaying)

·         Universities with research facilities and budget to explore the human-animal bond

·         individuals with their entrepreneurial attitude or inventiveness.

There may also be pet-related activities that are lacking or annoying within your country and you wish you could change them or live in a more-enlightened society.

Why not share these here and let everyone know what is good and what is bad about your country and their attitude towards pets? Here’s some from my adopted country Australia.

What we do well: 

·         We have some great products and inventors – pet loo, litter kwitter, dog mobile washes and these are now exported elsewhere.

·         We have some great dog bite prevention and other education programs for children. This hopefully means a future of children who can interact and understand animals well. We also have some great pet therapy programs.

·         In my State (NSW) and some others there is a requirement for local councils to provide off leash areas. Although dog parks are not ideal for every dog, they are a bonus for many pet owners.

What we could improve:

·         Variations in laws from State to State make it difficult to have uniform practices. Some pets are banned in some States, some dog breeds are restricted in certain States but not in others and different rules and regulations are in place in every State and Territory.

·         Cats in Australia have a very bad press and are declining in numbers, even though in the rest of the world they are the most popular pets. Yes, they are not native and they are very efficient hunters but it is possible to be a responsible pet owners and keep your cat indoors and really cats are just finishing off the environmental destruction that humans have created.

·         Dogs tend to be outdoors. Nothing wrong with that if they get enough interactions with humans but many do not. And we can’t take dogs many places- not on public transport, into shops, onto beaches, in hotels.

What does your country do well and what could they do better?

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