075- Playtime Paws with Debbie Cilento
Brought to you by Time to Pet. Go to timetopet.com/confessional for 50% off your first 3 months.
Summary:
Debbie Cilento, owner of Playtime Paws and host of the ‘Your New Puppy Podcast’ shares all things puppy. As pet sitters, we often care for brand new puppies for first-time dog owners. It can be a real challenge to remain consistent and offer the best possible care. Debbie breaks down some simple things we can all do when watching even the most challenging puppies.
Topics on this episode:
Debbie’s training philosophy
Preparing to care for a puppy
Basic training skills we should have
Keeping potty training consistent
Safe ways to socialize a puppy
Common reasons people surrender a puppy to the shelter and how pet sitters can help.
Biggest misconceptions about puppies
Leash training basics
Recommended resources
Main take away? When in doubt, take them out. Remember, consistency is king! And offer a puppy package, your clients don’t even know they need it yet.
About our guest:
I first fell in love with dogs at my grandparents farm. I don't remember exactly when but I'm sure it was before I could even walk. It's only fitting I am now living in the same place that the love affair started and have dedicated my life to dog's and their owners.
My journey with dogs hasn't always been a smooth one. I've had to call in help myself when I was having trouble with my own dogs. After speaking with a number of trainers and getting advice like "she's a dog, just make her do it" and "put a muzzle on her and she will eventually stop" AND "you will have to give her up" (WHAT!?) I came away with an uneasy feeling. These trainers just assumed they understood my situation and gave me their cookie cutter advise.
Luckily, as a pet sitter, I was already a student of dog behavior and I KNEW there had to be a BETTER WAY!
Purely by fate I came into contact with an amazing trainer who actually listened to what I had to say and helped me with solutions that fit into my life and resources. By the way, after A LOT of work my dog's behavior and our bond is better than I could ever imagine.
I started to think "would if I didn't know better?" "would if I took these other trainer's advice as the best out there?" "how many dog owners have been in my situation?" SO, remember that amazing trainer I mentioned, yeah, I called him and trained with him to bring dog owners a better way!
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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
puppy, dog, owner, clients, pet sitter, training, socialization, people, pet, walk, leash, trainer, crate, socialize, big, Debbie, play, months, dog trainer, dog owners
SPEAKERS
Collin, Debbie
00:17
I'm Collin and I'm Meghan.
00:19
And this is pet sitter confessional,
00:21
an open and honest discussion about life as a pet sitter
Collin 00:24
brought to you by time to pet. One of the hardest things about being a pet sitter is being consistent with the trainings and commands that a client is trying to teach their dog, especially a brand new puppy. And during the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a record number of both adoptions and purchases of dogs for people who were going into quarantine. So as everything starts to open back up, there actually is a real need for us pet sitters to be consistent in administering that training and being able to provide good quality feedback to The owners on how their dog is or isn't doing. On today's episode Debbie, the owner of playtime paws and the host of your new puppy podcast, joins us to discuss how we as pet sitters can make sure that a puppy is set off on the right path from the very beginning and how we can be consistent in communicate well with the clients. Let's get started.
Debbie 01:23
Um, well My name is Debbie Salento and I live in New Jersey born and raised. And I'm a dog trainer I actually think of myself as more of a dog owner trainer because I like to focus on owner education and teach about dog behavior. Because I think of it as more of a teach a man to fish type of thing like I want you to be able to when I when you walk out of my class or you walk out, I walk out your door, I want you to have enough knowledge to continue training your dog. So I come in and I just tell you how to to You know, fix one behavior. But what about the three other behaviors that might happen after that? So that's why I like to teach, like, why and help you help my clients see the world through their dog's eyes and how they best learn. Overall,
Collin 02:15
I feel like that can get lost in the shuffle sometimes of how much onus is on the owner to to be trained and to be knowledgeable, as opposed to trying to quote unquote, fix the dog.
Debbie 02:25
Right? Yes. And it's something that I focus on because I do struggle with it sometimes and kind of why I love the online training. And you know, my own podcast because it removes me and the dog relationship kind of out of it. You know what I mean? Like, when I walk into a house, my owner just expects me to like train their dog and I'm like, No, no, I need to show you how to train your dog. And it kind of removes that, you know, expectation, or it's like, Okay, I gotta learn this. So then, as everybody's almost like a mini dog trainer that specializes in their own dog,
Collin 03:07
really what it comes down to where did your passion come from for training dogs and being a dog owner trainer?
Debbie 03:13
Oh my goodness, that I can back that back a very long time. I was one of those kids. If there was an animal, especially a dog within like a five mile radius, like I would find it and try to pet it. Oh, I really was. I mean, I don't I can't remember any school project science fair. Anything that didn't center around some kind of animal. It's funny. I have a story. When I was in like fourth or fifth grade, we had to do a book report on a biography. And somehow I found the biography of Sandy the dog from Annie. I did it on that like that's that's how like God the obsession was, wow.
04:02
That's I had no idea somebody wrote would have written a biography about that dog.
Debbie 04:07
I, you know, and I've looked for it since and I can't find it play. But I and I remember thinking like the teachers never going to approve this and she didn't seem surprised that I found it. Um, but you know, and then it just manifested from there and, and you know, so I've always had dogs I've always been surrounded by dogs always been in an adult family. The training part of it really happened when I got my girls because I was already in like the pet sitting realm. I had left my corporate job to do pet sitting and ultimately I want to open up a doggy daycare, but when I got my girls things kind of took a different path because it was before I knew better. And I adopted two female dogs that weren't already bonded that were around two year old so it was like this trifecta of problems waiting to happen. And they did And I went through a line of really bad trainers or trainers who just wouldn't listen. Because I knew that they had a good relationship. They just had these triggers that would just would send them into a fight. Until I found an amazing trainer who came in said, like three things to me and like changed my world. And I was like, there needs to be more trainers like him out there. And I hired him as my mentor. And here we are today. And I that's why I focus on you know, the, the trainers, they weren't bad trainers, but they focused on like the dogs and what needs to happen with them. And I'm like, No, no, teach me I'm willing, I have the time I want to do the work. And like they didn't even like, want to hear that. Well. I'm like, I need to get out there and do more owner education because that's really where it starts.
Collin 05:54
So how would you describe your training technique? Well,
Debbie 05:58
I focus on Dog behavior. So it's more I want you to have a well mannered dog. So I'm going to teach you how to build good habits, both for your dog and starting with your own. So I don't I don't do a whole lot of obedience like I do the basic stuff. But I kind of stopped there because I feel like if you just have every day and I mean don't get me wrong, I think obedience is very important and it's definitely part of training your dog. But I feel like if you focus on the habits that you build with your dog, you'll have that well behaved everyday dog without having to tell them what to do every moment. So that's that's what I focus on and that's why I gear myself towards puppies because that is like the best time to start a new habit.
Collin 06:52
Yeah. And so today we are going to talk about about puppies and I and you mentioned it earlier you you have you haven't host your own podcast. About puppies and what made you want to start that?
Debbie 07:03
Well, that's because I just felt, you know, I wanted to start a podcast. And I looked around and I was like, you know what I'm like it's puppy owners. There's so much more information that you need and specific information you need when you get a new puppy. And I didn't see any podcasts out there doing that. So I'm like, I'm gonna focus on puppies. And I knew that and what I just mentioned before, I'm like, that's when I want to get in there. You know, like, if I can get in there right away and give even future puppy owners because there's a good portion of my listeners that are preparing for their puppy. And I can give them really simple like down to earth. Real Life information to prepare them and be able to deal with the puppies that they have like Want to set them up for the rest of their relationship? You know, like if I can help like one dog at the age of 10 months old to not go to the shelter, because the parents just weren't prepared for how much work I put the date, then I would that would satisfy me like that. What are my life? You know, that's why I was like, and plus a lot of information on puppy owners need, right are the same as what any dog owner needs. So I knew that a lot of that information would overlap and get myself in there.
Collin 08:34
Yeah, so there's there's a lot of crossover between there and then you know, us as as pet sitters. We're kind of in this, this weird little bubble off to ourselves, because we're not the owners, but we interact with them a lot. And so, you know, how should we prepare ourselves before we take on sitting and caring for a puppy as a pet sitter?
Debbie 08:56
Oh, that's a that's a tough one. puppies. Take a lot of energy and a lot of time, and you need to have like, eyes on dogs all the time before you go in and even like pets at a puppy, whether it's walking them or or, or boarding them or whatever it is, you're going to want to talk to the owner and get like what are their house rules? And what is the puppy's general schedule because even more so with like an adult dog like that's going to be you were in because a puppy is learning everything. And you know, to all these habits are going to be new. So say the dog isn't allowed on the couch, right? They don't want the puppy on the couch and say you let them on the couch because in your house, that's okay. Well, they're going to go home with this bad habit. And that can happen with an older dog too. But like when the dogs four or five years old and for four years they weren't allowed on the couch in their own home. Like their It's gonna take the owner what twice to show them off the couch, and then it's over with a puppy and everything's new and they're learning everything you really want to hold tight to what the owners house rules would be. And their schedule is really important, especially when it comes to like, potty training and you know, getting the exercise and getting outside, when they're used to when they're used to going you don't want to have them start having accidents inside because you didn't realize that the owner gets up at 5am to let them out.
Collin 10:31
That's, that's always a fun surprise during the meet and greet of Oh, they sleep through the night and then their night is quote unquote, from like 11 until four in the morning. That's not a normal night, but okay, I'm glad I know that now. But it's
Debbie 10:44
Right, right. And I mean, just like with any dog, if you're boarding the puppy in your house, like with the different environment, all of like that can change. But, you know, like they can be really uprooted with their schedule, but you try to hold close to it. I think that's more important. Or puppies more even more so than an adult dog.
Collin 11:05
So as pet sitters, again, since we're not not there all the time, but we do interact with them a lot. What are some basic, maybe training or handling skills that we should have when dealing with a puppy?
Debbie 11:15
Well, like I mentioned before, I mean, the the foundation that I always start with my clients is supervision. Like That is, it seems so like such a simple concept, but like, I almost have to teach clients how to supervise the dog like its eyes on dog because puppies will get in trouble in a second. And it's incredibly important, and they need exercise and you need house rules. Like those are like the three foundations of puppy training, you should probably also have a good understanding of crate training and how that works. of the biggest thing with great training that my clients struggle with is when the puppy whines in the crate. They're like, Oh my gosh, the heat is crazy. I gotta let them out. It's like no, no, not the crate they hate. It's being separated from you that they hate. And you gotta let them wine it out because they need to learn that. So knowing kind of the nuances of crate training can be very important. And of course, potty training.
12:17
Those are probably two really big topics. It's been spend all day on,
Debbie 12:22
yes. episodes, maybe two or three, dedicated, right? I mean, I'd love to get into them further. But I mean, sure. Three or four episodes, no problem.
Collin 12:34
Well, I think we can touch on we can touch on potty training, because as you mentioned, again, the schedule is so important. So what else can we do to help that process and keep it moving forward?
Debbie 12:46
Okay, well, when potty training, there's, you know, besides knowing the schedule, there's three only three places a potty training puppies should be outside, closely supervised, maybe even tethered to You or in their crate, that's it, because that's gonna prevent the accidents inside that's creating a habit like potty training is a habit training, you know, we're getting them into the habit of going outside. So to Brett accidents, they're only one of those three places. So if you're not in their crate, you're supervising them. Because if an accident starts, you're scooping them up and bringing them outside. And then the crate itself is what prevents accidents and teaches them. Alright, I can't just go when I have to go, I have to hold it until I get to where I'm supposed to go. So those are the only three places of potty training puppy should be. And then on top of that, when in doubt, you take the puppy out. Like that's the mantra like I have like a little poster that I give to my clients like put on your wall, that if you have any kind of idea, it's like oh, do you think the puppy has to go? Like even if it's like, say a stop by and they drink water while you were there? And you're like, should I bring them outside again or just put them in there. Bring them out. Yeah, like if it's ever like this little inkling or tickle in the back of your mind that he the dog has to go take
Collin 14:05
them out. If you're doing drop ins, take them out as soon as you get there, let them play then take them out once or two more times before you leave. Just to you know, just more is is never enough in those instances.
Debbie 14:17
Yeah, yeah. Like I'd rather you take them out 16 more then have an accident inside.
Collin 14:24
Yeah. And if you're not, if you haven't been around puppies, or if you never grew up with puppies, and you only had older dogs, then that can be hard to keep track of. Because, you know, you're you're busy doing other stuff you're playing with the dog and time can get away from you. So it's it's something to just have on your brain. And I like the idea of having a giant poster by the door or maybe a reminder on your phone or something like that. It's time to do this.
Debbie 14:49
Oh, alarms on your phone. Oh my goodness. That's like how I live. Seriously, you know, because typically, I mean, it also depends on the age of puppy. You know, the rule of thumb is they, they can hold it for every hour, or every month they are old. So a three month old puppy can hold three hours. If they're a medium to large raid, you can push that an hour. And so I always I'm like, if you're home, if you're around, like cut that in half, and set alarms on your phone, you know, and also control the water. That's a big one that a lot of people resist is you control the water as much as you control the food, you can give them water as much as you want. But don't just let them have access to it because how easy is it for them to go and take a drink? And then 10 minutes later, they have to go when you took them out 10 minutes ago? Yeah, you know, so it's you can offer it to them. But then in your head, you're like, Alright, in 10 to 20 minutes, I got to take stock back out.
Collin 15:50
And that can be hard for people to have I don't want to withhold the water. I feel like I'm denying them something they should have access to that. But in these critical stages of potty training like that is A a keystone feature of that.
Debbie 16:02
Yes. And that's why that's why people resist it. And I totally get it. Because I used to think that I was like, like when my trainer first told me that or my mentor was like, you know, teach me about puppies and stuff. I was like, I don't know, I don't know about that. But you can offer it. I mean, if you want to offer the puppy water every hour, that's fine. But just so you are conscious of when they are drinking, like if you offer a puppy water every two to four hours during the day, then they're going to be fine. You know, if there's extra exercise or if it's super cold or super hot out, sure offer to the more, but it's more about the controlling of it not withholding up.
Collin 16:42
Yes, that being remembering to be mindful of, you know, all those things that we just talked about. It's being mindful and really watching that clock.
Debbie 16:49
Yes. Yes. And when in doubt, you know, take them out more than than they need to go.
Collin 16:55
I think a kind of a unique feature or something that's a unique problem to pets. Pet Care Providers is that we get a lot of like one time visits, we're only going to see the dog or the puppy one time because the owners moving or you know, they're they're just coming into town for one time or something like that. I'm interested in it because this has happened to my wife and I, we've had people who are moving and the only time they need us is because they need us to watch the dog while they're emptying their house or something like that. And they're moving off to California and I'm never going to see them again. How can we make as a pet sitter? How can I make the most of a one time sit one time care session with a puppy? Or is that even possible?
Debbie 17:42
Well, then yeah, I mean, that's that's the thing is is you know, when you only see a dog once, how much effect can you have, but you know, a puppy his biggest needs is exercise. When I see the exercise with a puppy that's more like like an enrichment. It's not necessarily taking them for a long walk. In fact, young puppies shouldn't be going for or don't even like going for long walks and getting some socialization in there because a puppy cannot be over socialize. And this is something that even though a lot of people are like, Yeah, I know socialization is important, like they really miss how important it is. And it can be something as simple as, like handling the puppy. You know, like checking their teeth and, and playing with their paws or bring them to a new park, or something like that. And if you go and socialize a puppy, and you bring them back to a owner that's moving that puppy is going to be exhausting, because that exhausts a puppy more than anything, discovering new things. So even if they're moving, they're going to tell your five friends their five neighbors Hey, I have that's it.
18:57
Tire dog. It's the best Yeah.
Debbie 19:01
You know, having a sleeping puppy is like, a novelty a lot of the time. Yes. And, again, the socialization is not only going to tie them out, but it's so so so incredibly beneficial to the dog itself, that that would probably be your best bet. Um,
Collin 19:20
you mentioned socialization there and and that's something else that I wanted to touch on too. And you talked about handling the puppy checking their teeth taking to the park, is there any other good, safe ways to socialize a puppy? Maybe, you know, amongst other dogs too?
Debbie 19:35
Oh, that's a that's another big topic. Well, socialization, it's, it's, you know, yeah, it's playing with other dogs, of course. And it's also it goes from playing with other dogs meeting new people, not just people, you know, like women, men, men and hats. You know, kids kids is like a whole separate category. If you Because, you know, they make all different noises and their body language is so erratic and environments and sounds. So the biggest struggle I have with convincing my clients they need to start socializing their puppies is with vaccines. Oh my dogs. I've accepted that. But the prime time to socialize the puppy, get them out there meeting new people seeing new things between three and 16 weeks, which is exactly when they're not vaccinated. Yeah. I mean, I can, you know, up and down tell you about all the studies and all the all the stats that a puppy is more likely to go into a shelter because of behavior problems because of lack of socialization than to get sick from their puppy. But that still doesn't convince them because I understand there's vets that tell you this and I'm not a vet, and they have a lot more schooling than I do, but totally get that. So you want to be you still want to get the socialization in there. But you take that to places like a walk down your street is going to be fine. You know, or, you know, a walk in the park will be fine, as long as you don't let the puppy like eat things in the grass, or, you know, go where there's a lot of other dogs but don't bring them to a dog park. Don't bring them into a pet store. You know, because the diseases that they're worried about aren't airborne. It's not like you're going to take them somewhere outside your house and they're going to catch a bold and get super sick and die. You know, it's Yeah, they might get, they might say, yes, they might get a cold, but that's not that that does that's not debilitating, like they're worried about Parvo, which you can only a puppy can only get from another infected dog by eating their feces or eating their vomit or like something like they have to ingest something from that dog. So it's not easy for them to get it. And if you're careful about it, then you're Really minimizing those reps. So that's something that I always like I constantly have to like educate owners about.
Collin 22:07
I can see your first instinct is new puppy, I'll put them around to all the dogs and they'll be just fine. But But as you mentioned, if they're not, they're not vaccinated yet. So you're really putting them in danger and kind of walking that fine line of maybe having some serious repercussions. So doing other things in lieu of putting them around a bunch of dogs that big dog parks, those kind of things. Right. Yeah, you get to that point.
Debbie 22:30
Yeah. No, no dog parks, no parks. For puppies, I say not even until they're like six months to a year old. And that's only if you've been socializing them with other dogs because you never know what you're gonna find at a dog park. I mean, don't work for free. And they're such a great resource and dogs have so much fun with them. But for puppies, it's you never know what's going to be there. Yeah, and puppies are targets for like the bullies on the playground. You know, like if you have a dog that's really an adult dog. It's really not that well socialized. You know, there's no stopping the owner from not realizing that because sometimes they just don't know. And they bring them to a dog park and your puppies. They're the puppies get picked on. Because they're the, you know, they're the weakest member of the pack. And that's why I love, love, daycares. I love that. Because, you know, all adults are healthy. They're all temperament tested. And, you know, there's one, maybe two people that are that are trained to know proper play it so not only is are they being socialized with other dogs in a nice, safe, clean environment, but any inappropriate play is taking care of. So your puppies learning how to appropriately play with other dogs, which is key. And so I'm always a big advocate of daycares. Like just bring them a few hours a week, you know, and that they get so much excited. And for a dog who isn't vaccinated yet, and isn't really fully socialized yet, it's such a great option. B classes too. That's why I like that too.
Collin 24:10
You mentioned it a little earlier about people surrendering a puppy. And and what are some common reasons people do that? And I think for this discussion, more importantly is, as pet sitters Help me Help the owners avoid that, what kind of tools or things can we push them to educate them with?
Debbie 24:27
Ah, I love this question. Because it hits on why I started, you know, training and specializing in puppies. You know, the biggest reason why dogs get surrendered is because of behavior problems. Now, why are those Why do they have behavior problems? I find that a lot of surrendering happens, like right around a year. Like if you go into the shelter that seems to be like a really popular age, and I think it's because dog owners, especially new ones, like new puppy owners who've never owned a puppy before, like underestimate do amount of work a puppy takes and how long that work is, you know, it's not just for a few months during potty training like a puppy is going to have high energy rebellious stages need a lot of management and supervision and training up through like 18 to 24 months. And people don't realize that I mean, of course, it's still front loaded in those first few months. You know, you can't leave an eight week old puppy alone for more than a couple hours, right. But it's still you know, you have those like pockets of, you know, rebellion where it seems like all your training went out the window as pet sitters. It's actually kind of wonderful because you can get in there. And I mean, one of the biggest things is exercise, right? Like that is one of the main reasons for misbehavior. There's too much energy and the dog is trying to figure out how to entertain itself and it Does that poorly? You know, an overextended dog does not make good decisions. So a tire dog is always a good dog. Like I would love to see like pet sitters, and especially dog walkers like almost have like a little puppy package. Cuz a lot of my listeners for my podcasts are future puppy owners, and they're trying to figure out how to prepare for the puppy, which I absolutely love. Like, it floors me and like, they're my favorite people in the world because they're like getting ready. And like, they're concerned about like, well, I work. So how many times a day? Do I need to come home? Or, you know, how many stop bys when I'm like, you might need two or three they really hesitate because of course it's a cost. Yeah, of course it is. But you know, like, how long can I leave the puppy in the crate and everything. So like, I feel like if and I always tell them I'm like create a relationship with them. dog walker or pet sitter right away even if you think you might not need them because you're going to need when when the puppy comes home you're going to be like, Oh my goodness, I like you told me this was going to be worked but this is crazy. So if you have like well this is what I think you're going to need you know to stop buys a day and that's going to help with potty training and crate training and this is why and or maybe you have some like little socialization plan in there where you have certain parks and certain dogs that you know are super friendly and well socialized Of course, you know, that goes with what you're, what you're willing to do, and what your insurance allows and all of that like on the business side. to kind of give the owner that little bit of a relief. You know, like they might not even know they need that stuff yet. But if you're like here, you're gonna need this. And you give like, think of them like a new pair You give them that little bit of relief, you know, because they have no idea that when they come home and they have a puppy who's been in a crate all day, that's a lot like you're gonna feel that if you've hired a dog walker or a pet sitter, that's already come a couple times, and taken that burden off of you a little bit. Like you give them that and you're gonna have a client for life. You know, and and just that extra enrichment and extra exercise and and like taking a little bit of that burden off the client like even if they don't work like say there's an adult that's home during the day. They having a dog walker a few days a week, so you don't have to walk dog every single time they have to go or a dog walker that has like a park that they can bring their your dog to and run around a little bit and, and and get some extra exercise. I mean, that can make a big difference. Huge difference.
Collin 28:58
Yeah, I really hear that there. A lot of just being being available and educating them along the way. And of the of the benefits of these things. Because as you said, they might not even realize what they do or do not need. But if you're standing over there going, Hey, I have this puppy package. This is what I do. This is why it's good. It helps to potty training, socialization, help them get access to new things. It's there, you know, we can try. We do a trial run or something like that, but just to just be available to them.
Debbie 29:30
Exactly. Like it's almost it's like, telling them what they need before they even know they need that right. Oh, and just seeing that, like if I'm if I have no idea, like if I've never owned a puppy and I'm on stuff and I'm like, Alright, alright, I listened to this podcast and they told me I needed a pet sitter. What does that mean? And I see a puppy package. I was like, Oh, I didn't even know that I might need that. And, you know, that, that can help tremendously because like I said, I think that's like the number one thing, like, especially families, like parents with kids, like this puppy comes into their life and they're like, Whoa, I was not ready for this. Yeah. Like, you can't get a puppy and go back to your old life. And a lot of people are very thrown by that. Yeah. You know, because they have these, this image of this wonderful dog playing in the park and loving the kids. But there's so much work to get there. It's so easy to underestimate.
Collin 30:31
Yeah, yeah. You you touched on a little bit there of what are some of the biggest misconceptions that people have about puppies and one of them sounds like just the the lack of understanding of the amount of work and duration of it.
Debbie 30:43
Yes, yes, definitely. I think I think even I think the duration of it is the bigger one only because like people don't Yeah, I know puppies a lot of work but it's like it lasts a long time. Some other like misconceptions, well Again, socialization is another one, like people totally underestimate the importance of it and how how early you need to start doing it. Like even before the vaccines happen even before you're ready to get out of the house. You can't over socialize the dog impossible. You can just socialize to talk. That's very possible. And I can't even tell you the myriad of havior problems that don't even surface until they're like 18 months old. So that's why it's also hard to really convince people if they have if they don't already know if they're not a dog trainer in this study dog behavior. They don't know that. That's definitely the other really big one and crate training, pre training a lot of people don't like because they think it's a cage. Yeah. We put our kids in cribs and playpens to keep them safe. The same thing. does you know same thing, like I'm sure there might be parents out there with toddlers that have had them like crawl out of the top of their crib 100 times where you wish you could put something on top of it. Well, guess what? It's now okay. You know, but that's our view. It's not our puppies view. And the number one reason why puppies resist a crate isn't because they hate free. It's because they don't like being separated from their owner. But that is something that we have to do or else you're going to have separation anxiety forever. Yeah, so they resist the crate because the puppy doesn't like it right away and they think of the cage and it's, you just got to change your mindset around it.
Collin 32:38
Have you heard about time to pay for sand from raining cats and dogs as this decided
32:43
becoming a time to pet client has been a game changer for us. We can give our pet services clients real time cloud based information they never imagined they'd be interested in. And most importantly, to me personally, I can better manage my company and look forward to more Another small thing times a pet is responsive to my requests for new features and modifications to existing ones.
Collin 33:07
If you are looking for new pet sitting software for your business, give time to pet a try. listeners of pet sir confessional get 50% off their first three months when they sign up at time to pet.com slash confessional. On the opposite end of that I have we've had clients I know that that word for word, they said, Oh, when the dog starts misbehaving or gets too excited, just create them for a couple hours and they'll be fine. How can I as a pet sitter work with that client who just doesn't either understand what crate training is or is that interested in working with their dog?
Debbie 33:49
Hmm, that's tough. That's tough and depending on the level of that can be very heartbreaking. Yeah. Well, the big advantage of a pet sitter is That you have pretty regular contact with the dog. Your best option in that case would might be to show the owner, you know, like, do what you know is right. And be like, Listen, I tried this with your dog and it worked. Like maybe you even like take a little video of it saying, you know, when they got excited, I played this game with them or I started doing a little bit of obedience because that's a big one. Like when they get super, super excited, you start like working their mind a little bit. I find that really focused as a puppy and it kind of like takes that edge off. So then you can like their behavior. Um, even if it's like a silly game like you know, going underneath the table or teaching them roll over like just work their mind a little bit in focus, if you do something like that and address their phone overexcitement without putting them in the Cree and then be like, Hey, I Try this It was great. They loved it. Look, it worked. Like maybe that can help the dog owner be like, oh, okay, like they didn't even know that was an option. And that's what that's what's nice because like me as a trainer, I walk into a house like I meet the dog walk once or twice. And if the owners not gonna listen to what I'm saying there's nothing I can really do but as a pet sitter, because you can actually be hands on and like, work with the dog a few times in a row and see the results you could present that to the owner be like, Look, this is working. Have you tried this this way, too?
Collin 35:30
I'm realizing that even during the the meet and greet before you get to the owner saying those kinds of things, asking them what kind of training are you doing? Where are you at in that just to give yourself a feel for anything going on? Because a lot of times they'll offer Oh, they know these tricks or they know this or they know that but being a little bit more specific of like how exactly are you working with your new puppy so that he can be consistent and be I can you know, maybe get Have some pointers or show you some other ways to possibly do it.
Debbie 36:03
Right. And if you present it in the way like, well, I've done this before, like, I've tried this and it really worked. Do you mind if I try it? Yeah, um, you know, when if there are a dog parent that's like that, you know, like, whatever, like, they'll probably be like, I don't care. You know, and of course, there's always having like relationships with with trainers in the area to have to recommend but that can get tricky. Like, even as a trainer, like I'm a soft sell. Because unless a parent is like asking for help, it's really hard to give it to them. Yeah. And that's why it's like, it's like, in my experience, like that gentle nudge is gonna be, it's gonna work better than Hey, you're doing this wrong. Yeah, this is better. You know, it's just just like what training dogs it's so much better to, to show them what to do instead of just yelling them for what not to do. Like, huh? He kind of wanted to do that. It's like, oh, look what I did. And it worked here, you know, like, show them what, like an alternative. And if they don't like, I mean, at some point, like, there's only so much you can do.
Collin 37:12
I think of the number of times my wife and I have been very tempted to go out and buy gift certificates to dog trainers for people that we sit, but we've reserved
37:23
but we've resisted and instead
37:26
car nonchalantly on the
Collin 37:28
app, you've been like, hey, Merry Christmas, here's a here's a three free sessions for your dog. We've resisted that and instead have have just talked to them about it and been like, Hey, we noticed that this is kind of a struggle. This is what we're doing. How are you working with that? And then and then that way, because most of the times they respond with I really need help with that. Yeah, that one thing. I don't know how to get over that. Do you have any suggestions and then you can go Oh, there's a great trainer across the street or whatever. Really? So there are ways to work into that.
Debbie 38:03
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, definitely like, yeah, they almost have to ask for it. It's, it's, it can be, it can be tough. I mean, I mean, once you get to, if you like, really know the client, like, obviously, and you have a relationship with them, like, it's gonna be easier to be like, Hey, I know this better way of doing it. Yeah. But, you know, if they're newer, especially if they're a puppy client, I'm gonna assume their client. Like, you can even say, I've worked with this trainer before and they showed me these tricks and, you know, let me try them. Or maybe we can try them.
Collin 38:35
Let's talk about maybe some leash training basics. And when as a pet sitter, we can start working with a puppy on them and encourage the learner to do the same.
Debbie 38:44
Super young puppies like I'm talking like two to like four months old. At that point, all you're doing is getting them used to wearing the leech or wearing the harness. Like at first. A lot of puppies need to get used to just wearing a collar Huh, cuz at that point, they're not really going for walks. Like maybe if you don't have a fenced in backyard, then you always need to wear at least you know, you're always walking them on a leash. Um, but like they're not really going to go for a walk down the street, that's when you're going to find them like this lay down. Yeah, and that's fine. Because when they shouldn't be going on those long walks, because their joints are, you know, growing so rapidly at that point. And that may be why they don't like it because they're like, this kind of hurts. I'm tired. But once they get to like four or five months, that's that's when they really start to take to like bleach in the walk and everything. And that's, that's when you should start working with them. It's really easy for a puppy to get bad habits on a leash because they're small and they're not that strong. You know, so when you have like a 1015 pound puppy pulling you down the road. You might not think about it too much. I mean, this goes with I guess any dog really. Then when you have your your full ground grown 60 to 80 pound dog where all the sudden you're like, Whoa, you need to fix this. Yeah. But if you start right away with proper leash manners, even though you know it's easy to let the polling go right away then that then they don't build that that habit. Now the thing is with puppies is that they're more about exploration than actual like walking, you know, and it kind of goes back to the whole socialization thing like that will tire them out even more like because they they want to explore everything. They don't want to walk a straight line down the street.
Collin 40:40
That's not fun.
Debbie 40:41
Yeah. And that's to me like that's okay. In fact, you can use that to your advantage where you know, if they say they like take off and they want to go chase a leaf or grass or go see what's over there, that tree or maybe there's even another dog walking down the street. You know, you do the whole, you know, you stop and they can't go anywhere if they're pulling, but as soon as they're like kind of slack in the leash, they're walking next to you and walk nicely, then you bring them over and let them explore and that they'll reward for a puppy. There's no greater reward. So But yeah, I wouldn't even bother until they're like maybe four or five months, because like I said, walking really isn't a big thing for puppies younger than that.
Collin 41:24
And one of the reasons you said is that they have joints and there could be some potential injuries from that. I'm curious as to what other puppy specific injuries or health concerns we should be watchful and mindful of,
Debbie 41:36
um, well, there isn't much, you know, besides like, the Parvo thing that I that I we already talked about with the vaccines and everything. Mm hmm. Puppies tend to have very sensitive stomachs. You know, especially if the clients are traveling and they're not around and like you're in charge of all their food or they're staying at your house or there's other food around. You want to be really mindful of that because a sudden change in public diet can give them tummy problems, and especially if they're still being potty trained. That can throw a lot of things like up in the air, but I do, most people grow out of it. But I do notice that a lot of them do have that sensitive stomach. And then like I said, younger puppies, the exercise should be kind of on their terms, you know, like they can play and play and play, but when they should have the option to just kind of sit there and rest. So it's like a game of fetch or a game of tug with a toy not like a walk down the street. Come on, let's keep going. Other than that, I mean, it's probably the same as as an adult dog. I mean, maybe even less because cuz puppies are very agile. Like they can be, you know, pull down a flight of stairs and get up and keep running. You don't throw your puppy down. You get my point where that it might even be less detrimental to them than an eight year old dog. Oh yeah, but those couple things and just about every puppy out there is gonna have worms at some point. And that's, that's just something, you know, if they're having a little trouble eating, like they're not really eating a whole lot, or you see them because you'll see them and like they're there boop. That's definitely something to, to address and just about. So that's something to watch out for. That's usually when they first get puppy because they get it from their litter mates. And it's very hard to get rid of because they just keep giving them to each other. Until, you know, you get them to your own vet and you get rid of them. There's so it's easy to get rid of, and it's just kind of gross. And sometimes it's hard to tell your client um, yeah, your dog has something going on over there.
Collin 43:42
Yeah, that's that's not an easy conversation to have, because especially if it's their first dog, or maybe like you mentioned earlier, their first puppy, it can just saying the word worms really sends people off into some bad, bad places.
Debbie 43:57
Yeah, like and that's the thing that when when they when I say Cuz I mean, I see it from a while away now because I've seen it in almost every puppy I've encountered. And that's what I say. I'm like, Listen, every single one has it. It's just, you know, your vets gonna tell you that too. You know, it's just a week worth of medicine and you're done. Like, you know, keep them away from other dogs like yeah, for that time, but it's, it's the most common puppy Ellen
Collin 44:22
out there. I want to give you a chance to tell us about your your podcast that you have, because it's an amazing resource. I think the title where people can find it, all that good stuff.
Debbie 44:32
All right, well, it's your new puppy. And it I mean, you can find it anywhere on iTunes, Google Play, Spotify. I think I even looked up it's on I Heart Radio, like really anywhere. And if there is a place that it's not please tell me because I'll get it there. And also on my website, play time, pause, calm you can always listen to it from there any podcasts you can go to the website and listen to it from there. But yeah, it's really super short like 1015 minute episodes, where I just talk about one topic relating to puppies or young dogs. Yeah, I mean, I have a lot of fun with
Collin 45:07
this. No, that's really cool. Yeah, I there's just a ton of information there. And so I think I know you said it was mostly geared to new puppy owners, but as as pet sitters a just knowing that this kind of resources out there to recommend to clients, but be you know, a lot of this stuff also applies to us. Whenever we're taking care of the puppy too.
Debbie 45:29
Right? Like, just like with the questions that you asked me like to have that information to help your clients like, I would imagine that they would appreciate it so much like to be like, Oh, I know this about cre training. Oh, I know this about separation anxiety, like, I mean, I would imagine, you know, the more information and resources you provide them like that, that ups your own service.
Collin 45:53
Do you have any other puppy related resources or information that that, you know, we could share with our clients Did you did you reference a lot?
Debbie 46:01
Well, anything by Ian Dunbar and Patricia McConnell, I'm a big book reader and I take a lot of like online courses and stuff, but anything by them, I will read and gobble up, and I love it, especially Patricia McConnell. I really like her because she really breaks things down and gives really great examples. In fact, if you do read her, you will see how, by styles of teaching and the podcast is very much influenced by it. I also really love there's a book canine body language. Because I also think that anybody who works with dogs including dog owners should have a general knowledge of canine body language and it's just canine body language, photographic guide by Brenda and then there's there's other there's other resources out there, but that's something like I said, you know, knowing when a dog is a little anxious knowing when they're a little nervous or when they're excited. sighted and about to pounce on something, you can see it in their entire body. And especially as a pet sitter who's working with dogs all the time, it's an amazing thing to be able to recognize and see.
Collin 47:14
Yeah, that's one of those really basic fundamental knowledge blocks of a pet owner and a pet care professional, that that is will just pay its dividends for years and years and years to come. Take the time to learn that at any stage. And it just it's amazing how much of a difference that can make in your interactions and how you introduce dogs and how you get to know them and just it changes the whole thing.
Debbie 47:40
Yeah, especially especially if you have other dogs playing you know with with other you know that you have like, say you born multiple dogs in your home or something. And that's what I started with. So that's why I like dog body languages were like my, I guess training education. You could say started Yeah, I mean, I would spend hours at all Parker's watching jobs and seeing what like nobody else sees, you know, you can see the pet owners like reacting in the in the like, because they just don't know, you know, yeah where I'm like I could see a fight happen you know 10 minutes before it happened now and to be able to do that is not only great for the dogs but again it's a service to your dog owner even if you can say hey look that you know they're about to do that it's definitely one of the cores
Collin 48:31
as a dog trainer and interacting with dogs on daily basis. Do you have any favorite products or services that you you recommend a lot that people should have on hand or should be using? Well,
Debbie 48:42
um, I use I always I never leave home without my liver treats as stewards pro treats. They like come in a bucket and they so I buy them. I buy them by the bucket and you can get them in there at any pet store online like they're very they're very common. I love them because I try to I try to go for like the nutritional like natural route and so there's only one ingredient just liver and I like the chicken ones because they break apart a lot easier and they're smaller and I've never met a dog that didn't absolutely love these treats. So if you're teaching them something new or saying you need to bribe them for a second I'm not above bribing in emergency situations Yeah. Especially as a pet sitter when it's like all right, I just need to get you inside. I've they work every time like dogs love them and let me tell you every time I need to like buy stock in this company because when I walk out a client session like they're always on like Amazon like when I get them.
49:52
dog, the dog love them.
Debbie 49:55
My my other essential training tool is like a long line. Love long lines I mean especially if you even if you have like a fenced in backyard like to give them a little bit of freedom especially when you're training like recall and like playing different games with them to give them that freedom but you still have the control where you can bring them to you quickly. Um, it's really great if you take them to like a park and you want to socialize them and you find like a nice big open area to have a long line not a retractable leash along line.
Collin 50:27
Yes, yeah, let's Yeah, we need to emphasize that those are two very different things. And and if you need the dog to be further away from you when you're doing those specific training, socialization and exploring long lines all the way don't don't don't even bother with retract.
Debbie 50:42
I like want to go into all the pet stores grab all the retractable leashes and just like run away with them
Collin 50:51
and then light them on fire, right?
Debbie 50:54
Yes, I'm like I just how can I how much money do I need to be able to afford to buy Everyone in existence like just so nobody else does.
Collin 51:03
Yeah, that's that's an uphill battle and, and up and a point of education for clients because that tends to be the default that most dog owners get. And, and that is a great conversation starter into into other things right that's just
Debbie 51:18
right and and you know what, that's one of the main things it's one of the first things I do is I'm like, you know what here, like when I see them with the retractable leash, I like hand them my leash and be like here, just use this for like a week, you're gonna see the difference. And almost every time they come back, they're like, Oh my gosh, it's so much better. Like they don't even realize how much less control they have over their dog with a retractable beach. Yeah, and I think it's just because they see everybody happy to check the leash so it must be better. Like just try it. Just just switch for a week. And then let me know what you think. And like, every time they're like a convert because it just feels better.
Collin 51:57
Debbie. I am so thankful for Coming on our show today and just sharing just gobs of information and I know we barely touched on, on puppies in general, there's so much more out there. If people have more questions and they want to reach out and follow along with your work, how can they do that?
Debbie 52:16
Um, well there's my website, like my companies play time pause. So my website is a time pause, calm and then social media, Facebook and Instagram. I'm on there a lot. I'm in my DMS and my messages all the time. You can find me there too. Both our play time pause
52:34
and your podcast again was
Debbie 52:36
was your new puppy and it's under usually confined to under like pets or animals like category but if you just put in either playtime paws or your new puppy, it pops right up.
Collin 52:46
Wonderful. Well, well, Debbie, again, thank you so much for coming on today. We really appreciate it.
Debbie 52:51
Thank you. This was a pleasure and so much fun. I absolutely
Collin 52:54
loved the idea that Debbie had or pet sitters offering a puppy package. Whether that was for walks or frequent visits or frequent potty breaks throughout the day, I can definitely see that being really popular moving forward with everybody having adopted new puppies or maybe having a new dog for the first time. But so important is to not only communicate that you offer it, but also communicate why it is so needed to potential clients or maybe even existing ones. Debbie gave us a lot of resources to go and check out so look in the show notes for this week's episode to see links to all of those that she mentioned. Or you can go to our website at pet sitter confessional.com and click on this week's episode we'd like to take this moment to thank our sponsor time to pet for making this week's show possible. We'd love to get connected with you so check us out on Facebook or Instagram at pet sitter confessional comm shoot us an email at feedback at pet sir confessional we love hearing your stories. We love learning from your experiences and helping to share those with other people.
