Episode 22: Pets on the Big Screen and Beyond

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00:00:00:04 - 00:00:14:17
Chris (Voice Over)
Pets Add Life. Your guide to the latest in pet trends, products and the joy of the human animal bond, with Kristen Levine and Chris Bonifati powered by the American Pet Products Association and Dog TV.

00:00:14:18 - 00:00:16:07
Chris
Hey, Kristen.

00:00:16:09 - 00:00:18:17
Kristen
Hey, Chris. Good to see you.

00:00:18:18 - 00:00:43:09
Chris
So we've been doing this a while, and you know how I could tell how this is the last unique shirt I own to wear on the podcast. This is it. My wardrobe is dry. We've officially. We. I'm calling it the shirt threshold. We have surpassed the shirt threshold. So I apologize to all of our YouTube viewers. You're going to see some repeats.

00:00:43:12 - 00:00:58:07
Chris
I just don't have it in the budget to get more shirts right now, nor the closet space. So yeah, I'm I know, I wish I could be that fashionista bringing you a fresh look every time, but this is the last one. It's watermelons and we're just going to.

00:00:58:09 - 00:01:01:01
Kristen
It's my favorite. It's actually my favorite shirt you've worn.

00:01:01:03 - 00:01:02:01
Chris
Yeah it's a.

00:01:02:03 - 00:01:02:08
Kristen
It's a.

00:01:02:08 - 00:01:22:11
Chris
Deep summer shirt. Right. You can't wear the watermelon shirt too early in the summer. You really have to wait for the dog days. And boy, it's been hot. and speaking of hot, we got a hot. So we got a hot episode for everybody. we've got some really awesome stuff. Kristen, why don't you give them a little tease on what to expect?

00:01:22:11 - 00:01:42:22
Kristen
Yeah, sure. Well, in addition to what we always deliver, the two stories, two guests, two products and two questions. both of our guests today are really fast. one, if you've ever thought about making your your dog or your own pet a movie star, you definitely want to stick around. And then we had a super smart cookie.

00:01:43:00 - 00:01:53:13
Kristen
guest that's coming on. I don't want to. I don't want to give anything away. But if you're a geek, if you're into technology and, want to learn more about how it can benefit you and your pets relationship, you definitely.

00:01:53:18 - 00:01:59:05
Chris
Think you guys need to guess which pets had pen pals. You'll never guess. Yeah, that's.

00:01:59:05 - 00:02:01:19
Kristen
Right.

00:02:01:21 - 00:02:08:06
Chris
so without further ado, let's go ahead and get into this episode of the Pal podcast.

00:02:08:08 - 00:02:12:18
Chris (Voice Over)
Kristen and Chris present story time.

00:02:12:20 - 00:02:19:11
Kristen
So, Chris, it is story time and I feel like I always go first. So would you like to do the first story today?

00:02:19:17 - 00:02:40:10
Chris
I will, but I feel like you always say you always go first, so I go first. But, I'll go first. I'll go first. Okay. I have a fun story today, but it kind of goes into the theme of, like, all these fun therapy animals and where we've seen, more therapy animals pop up and the increasing type of animals that be being used for therapy.

00:02:40:10 - 00:03:01:19
Chris
So this was, an article coming out in Newsweek, but it's really based off of a viral TikTok of this woman who is in the, Portland International Airport. And we've seen a lot of therapy animals pop up in airports here or there. you know, little petting, dog areas. But I bet you have never seen llamas at the airport.

00:03:01:22 - 00:03:30:10
Chris
That's right. Llamas at the airport. They were brought in through an organization called the Mountain Peaks Therapy Llamas and Alpacas, based out of Washington. Like. Whoa. What? Who would have thought? But, yeah, they were walking these llamas around in the airport, around the places where flights were being canceled or delayed, and you could go interact with them. they were trained really well because in this, this minute, long clip I watched, they weren't really spinning that much.

00:03:30:10 - 00:03:31:10
Chris
And, you know, that's.

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Kristen
Not.

00:03:32:13 - 00:03:33:18
Chris
That is something that they.

00:03:33:20 - 00:03:36:13
Kristen
I would be spinning if my flight, if my flight was canceled, I have to say.

00:03:36:18 - 00:04:04:19
Chris
There we go. Yeah. That is that is actually their job. They walk up to all the rude, counter worker and spit on them. but I mean, the the TikTok is hilarious. The the, account for the llamas is Rojo the llama. And the account for the video is, Cheyenne Willis zero. I'll throw those into the the show notes.

00:04:04:19 - 00:04:25:22
Chris
Everybody can see this great video. what makes the video even more hilarious is the reason this person was flying. They were going to a Harry Potter convention because they have a spot on professor McGonagall impression. And so in the video, they're doing, ISMA from The Emperor's New Groove, which is a, Disney animated movie about an emperor being turned into a llama.

00:04:26:01 - 00:04:34:19
Chris
So it's a riot. Wow. Therapy animals being used everywhere. Now we have therapy. Llamas. Count me in. that would definitely make my airport experience much, but it.

00:04:34:19 - 00:04:47:00
Kristen
Would be very difficult to be angry at the airport when. When llamas are present. And, Chris, we were just honestly are on the same wavelength. We've really, you know, developed our chemistry with this show because I two have a therapy animal story.

00:04:47:01 - 00:04:48:09
Chris
Oh yeah.

00:04:48:11 - 00:05:11:05
Kristen
Although you may have trumped me there with the llama, but, as you know, the Olympics start this Friday, and, Olympic athletes have been known to rely on different routines or different rituals to kind of relieve their stress in competition. But this year, there is an official Olympic therapy dog, and his name is beacon. He's a four year old golden, golden retriever.

00:05:11:05 - 00:05:32:09
Kristen
And you can find him on Instagram at at Golden Dog Beacon. And, let's see, he, he was attending the Olympic trials a couple of weeks ago, and he was just there for all the different competitions. And, gymnast Suni Lee, actually posted about him after she completed her balance beam routine, and she said, Thank God beacon was here.

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Kristen
I couldn't have gotten through it. So beacon is just really absorbing all of that, you know, competitive stress for the athletes. And I'm assuming he's going to be at the actual Olympics, too. So it sounds like, he's a big help to the athletes.

00:05:46:05 - 00:06:02:19
Chris
Somebody get that dog a gold medal. All right. You're right. It doesn't come home with hardware. I'm going to be. I already have enough reasons to be ticked off at the Olympic Committee. But if that dog doesn't come back home sporting some hardware, I'll riot. That's a gold medal effort if I've ever heard of one.

00:06:03:00 - 00:06:06:19
Kristen
That's right. Check him out on Instagram at Golden Dog Vegan.

00:06:06:21 - 00:06:18:23
Chris (Voice Over)
Beyond the Leash exploring the untold stories of pet passion and professionalism. For our first guest, we're thrilled to welcome Colleen Wilson, the visionary founder of Pets on Cue. Colleen's

00:06:18:23 - 00:06:35:04
Chris
journey began in 2014 when she adopted a deaf puppy named Charlie, who had been returned to the pound multiple times. Through dedication and love, Colleen trained Charlie in American Sign Language, transforming him into a successful therapy dog, influencer, and actor.

00:06:35:09 - 00:06:54:21
Chris
Recognizing a gap in the entertainment industry for animal talent, Colleen founded Pets on Cue to connect vetted animal talent with opportunities in marketing, entertainment, and beyond. So I am pleased to welcome an actual superstar, the agent, to all those star pets that we see on.

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Colleen
Our.

00:06:55:00 - 00:06:59:08
Chris
TVs and smartphones. Welcome, Colleen Wilson to the podcast.

00:06:59:13 - 00:07:04:17
Colleen
Thank you so much. And I have to take a second away my, my room. I came into my room and was about to wake up.

00:07:04:17 - 00:07:07:15
Chris
My dog does like count as a pet.

00:07:07:17 - 00:07:12:19
Colleen
I we call him Sharky, so he's a he's a shark. He has a name. We call him Sharky. Yeah.

00:07:12:21 - 00:07:15:10
Chris
So we're going to say yes for our purposes. Yes.

00:07:15:14 - 00:07:22:16
Colleen
Yeah. He goes, yeah, well we'll say I have a few. We got my goldfish and snail and my dog. They're all, they're all in the room. So.

00:07:22:18 - 00:07:24:01
Chris
Oh good, good, good.

00:07:24:03 - 00:07:30:11
Kristen
So Colleen, tell us about, tell us about the whole journey of starting Pets on Cue and how Charlie played played a role in that.

00:07:30:13 - 00:07:48:10
Colleen
Yeah. Honestly, you played the biggest role in all of it. I was working in finance in Manhattan, and, I pulled him from the pound and I had another dog before, and he was super aggressive, and I kind of converted him to be a nice, nice earth dog. and then I got this def puppy who was insane.

00:07:48:10 - 00:08:08:02
Colleen
They actually recommended him for euthanasia, the last owners, and he was crazy. so kind of over six months. Then he became a therapy dog. He became, you know, a lot of training, a lot of teaching him time. and it kind of took notice to someone from, I believe it was BuzzFeed saw me yelling at him in sign language to stop humping.

00:08:08:04 - 00:08:27:05
Colleen
Think, stop humping another dog. And the reason they were there was like, jailhouse dog. And I'm yelling at my dog in sign language to stop humping J. Lo's dog. And it just is like, my life is chaos. It's crazy. and, yeah. So that's how it all got started. And then they did a story on him that was deaf, and, he started to grow a following.

00:08:27:05 - 00:08:50:03
Colleen
I saw other people doing it, and I was like, okay, there is there's a marketing thing here because brands are calling me to promote their product. And I kind of saw that almost ten years ago. We're coming up on our ten year anniversary and, was training dogs and cats to work in production as well. So kind of merged my two loves together business and that and yeah, that's how it all got started.

00:08:50:03 - 00:08:52:12
Colleen
There's a long winded way to say it, but yeah.

00:08:52:14 - 00:09:04:16
Kristen
No, that's that's a great story. And the whole I love the what does it look like. Show us what it looks like for those listeners are also watching us on YouTube. What does that look like to yell at your dog in sign language?

00:09:04:18 - 00:09:24:10
Colleen
a lot of like, stop that guy. Okay, stop. Hump it. And it's like, well, I also do like no biting. So like, stop biting tap. And he was a puppy, like. And he was chaos. Like, he's a Dalmatian. If anyone knows anything about Dalmatians, he's like, on the hyperactive side for a Dalmatian living in New York. But he needed four hours of dog park exercise every day.

00:09:24:10 - 00:09:38:23
Colleen
He was annoying. but he's 11 now. He's ten, ten, 11 now. I don't know, holidays that he's he's sleeping until now. So I took a lot of training, but he got there and then he went from that to, like, booking a shoot with GQ magazine. I'm like, what is my love?

00:09:38:23 - 00:09:42:04
Chris
It's. Yeah.

00:09:42:06 - 00:09:45:02
Kristen
But you managed to connect those crazy dots.

00:09:45:04 - 00:10:00:11
Colleen
Yeah. And did like and with deaf dogs specifically like they're great on set because they can't do anything and all the loud noises don't bother them. So people are like, oh, they won't be good. And I'm like, oh no, they're better than like the dropping of a boom doesn't bother them. So that's kind of how I fell into it.

00:10:00:11 - 00:10:06:21
Colleen
And then I just kind of fell in love with making the industry better and using animals that want to be there. And yeah.

00:10:06:23 - 00:10:28:19
Chris
So, Colleen, let's say I've got a pet at home that I think would be perfect for the movies. What are some, some, some advice, some do's and don'ts? What traits should I be really trying to bring out in my pet? Which creates should I be trying to suppress through some training? What makes a good superstar pet?

00:10:28:21 - 00:10:46:11
Colleen
That's a great question. when we take on animals to do set work, first we want to make sure they're healthy. So, like your animals, healthy. We can't put them on that, that they want to be there in their temperament and to be there. There's, you know, if you have a cat or dog is that he's a cat guy.

00:10:46:13 - 00:11:00:18
Colleen
Okay. So, you know, you know, you have that straight. So if you like, let's say you have two cats at home and one of them when you walk in the door or a stranger walks in the door, they're hiding under the bed and you don't see them. Like you should never force them to do that. We're like, let them live their life and let them be comfortable.

00:11:00:18 - 00:11:23:18
Colleen
It's the cat that like it's like, hey guys, look how beautiful I am. And like, look at me. That's the one that we want to work with and that we want to bring that out. catch, get booked. Because there aren't that many people that train their cats. so if you have a really great cat that loves that and have getting a cat into therapy work is a great way to transition into this.

00:11:23:20 - 00:11:43:00
Colleen
So having them certified as a therapy animal, there's plenty of organizations that do it and go out and get them exposure through meeting new people and in weird environments like hospitals and see if they like that. First is where I would, because a lot of people will force or animals do, and we're trying to avoid that now, trying to make it better.

00:11:43:01 - 00:12:01:07
Colleen
So going into that first, if you have a therapy approved animal or a if you've a dog that has CDC or CDC on our marketplace, the animal is you can instantly be temperament approved to do that work. And then someone can come in and evaluate them and the tricks that they know and move them up to an animal actor and advanced in the elite.

00:12:01:09 - 00:12:16:22
Colleen
but that's the best way to get into it, because if you have a therapy certificate or a CDC, CVA, you can get temperament approved to be able to do that work. So that's the best way. And then posting them on the animal list so people like us can find them. Yeah.

00:12:17:00 - 00:12:23:10
Kristen
So do you have a a favorite campaign or success story that you could share with us?

00:12:23:12 - 00:12:49:18
Colleen
Oh, none that I can share in, but yes, I do. Yes, I do. My favorite, my favorite artist we have worked with and is many of people's favorite artist right now. Oh, we have we have worked with that. I'm pretty sure you can pick up on who that is, but we've worked with that, person on a few things, and I just one I'm a fan to their so they are so nice and.

00:12:49:20 - 00:12:52:05
Kristen
You have the coolest job ever.

00:12:52:06 - 00:13:04:08
Colleen
That's the coolest part of my job. Well, we also did a show with Netflix and that was really amazing, too. I think that was a big success story for us, the Pet Stars. But, yeah, other than that, working with the one and only you know.

00:13:04:10 - 00:13:07:10
Chris
I the the one and only, you know.

00:13:07:12 - 00:13:08:19
Colleen
You know, you know.

00:13:08:21 - 00:13:11:13
Chris
Like, you know who it is if you're listening, you know who it is.

00:13:11:16 - 00:13:23:20
Kristen
Yes. It's I have a I have a question for you, Colleen. I noticed on your website, it talks about how Pets on Queue ensures the welfare and ethical treatment of animals in the entertainment industry. Can you talk a little bit about about how you do that?

00:13:23:22 - 00:13:30:00
Colleen
Well, starting before they go on set and making sure they're temperament approved and healthy and willing to be there, I think.

00:13:30:01 - 00:13:30:13
Kristen
Yeah.

00:13:30:15 - 00:13:48:06
Colleen
Being able to evaluate an animal's behavior before they even go on set is so important because when you're there, there can be I mean, on a big shoot that we've done, there have been a thousand people there, like on a big TV show and movie, like there are hundreds if not thousands of people. They're all like making sure an animal performs.

00:13:48:06 - 00:14:09:18
Colleen
And it's really high pressure for the Wrangler and high pressure for the animal. So making sure we have a really confident animal, making sure the animal loves doing it and it's a dog, that or cat or horse that will do it over and over again because they're like, I love attention that the animal that should be there because we just saw so much of you and the industry is still very old school and still very gate kept.

00:14:09:18 - 00:14:33:20
Colleen
So we're pushing in to like, change that. So a lot of people that work with Peta, a lot of people that are for animal rights, they've kind of shifted and come to us. We've also done stuff with I mean, I should say that this is my favorite thing that I've done because it's pretty great. Like we'll go into shelters and pull kittens and puppies and usos and commercials, and then they all get home, and then the money for them ends up going to spaying and neutering more animals.

00:14:33:22 - 00:14:38:14
Colleen
So that's my feel good part of my job.

00:14:38:16 - 00:14:46:12
Chris
Which is that's great. That's awesome. I love it when a cute animal gets adopted because they were. Yeah, just being so cute. Yes.

00:14:46:12 - 00:14:47:13
Colleen
But you talked a.

00:14:47:13 - 00:15:11:19
Chris
Bit about the the industry changing and evolving a bit. Let's look forward like the next few years with animals taking over social media. There's I feel like there's more animal influencers than there are people influencers now who where do you see things sort of going? is it just going to keep on getting more popular, or do you think that there's going to be more talented pets?

00:15:11:20 - 00:15:14:04
Chris
Are we starting to reach the plateau?

00:15:14:06 - 00:15:34:17
Colleen
Well, I think so. In my company we have influencers, we have animal actors, and they tend to be different. They're only like a few animals that cross over into both, that are temperament and, and trained to do set work. and a few of the people that do set work post about their pets on social like they really it's not really this crossover, with influencers.

00:15:34:17 - 00:15:56:22
Colleen
I see it like reality TV that the, we, we followed that trajectory with reality TV. Like it's not going anywhere. Reality TV is going to be around. However, it's very diluted. And the valuation of those influencers has gone down significantly. So the want and need to do it has gone down. do some influencers still make a lot of money?

00:15:56:22 - 00:16:12:17
Colleen
Yes, of course they do. but it's just changed a lot on the animal actor side. I think with the push to the safety of animal push, that has been happening for a while, I think that it's going to open up more opportunities for regular people to have their animals in stuff, and to train their animals too.

00:16:12:17 - 00:16:29:14
Colleen
So for me, but like, I'm biased because that's what we're trying to do. Like we're trying to make it more accessible for new wranglers to come in, for new animal actors to come in, because we know how some of the animals in the industry are still treated, and we're trying to make sure that those people are not hired and just.

00:16:29:14 - 00:16:42:05
Colleen
Yeah, and giving people the education on how to train their animals to do it, and wranglers on bringing their and bringing those animals on set, making sure they're safe. we have safety protocols. We have I mean, I could talk for hours about.

00:16:42:05 - 00:16:42:23
Kristen
Safety.

00:16:43:01 - 00:16:48:01
Colleen
Like that. Is that my bread and butter? Like, I love it. I love that stuff making.

00:16:48:04 - 00:16:50:13
Chris
I'm not going to make you talk about it for hours, but it's it's.

00:16:50:15 - 00:16:51:01
Colleen
Funny that.

00:16:51:02 - 00:16:57:18
Chris
There's somebody out there. Yeah, who could do it because that's the person I want in charge. Yeah.

00:16:57:20 - 00:16:59:19
Colleen
Well, I appreciate it.

00:16:59:21 - 00:17:06:22
Kristen
Colleen. You were just talking about Wranglers. Are wranglers specially trained? I assume these are the handlers for the pets. Yeah. Right.

00:17:07:00 - 00:17:33:20
Colleen
Yeah, yeah. So for me, a Wrangler is was a very old school term that kind of came out in trainers came in, but on set, if you're a Wrangler that's a certified Wrangler to work on production, I think you are a handler, you are a trainer and you're a behavioral lift. So you have all three of those things, and you're able to work with a variety of animals like I've worked with from horses, cows, rodents, snakes, dogs, cats on set like I've done all that.

00:17:33:20 - 00:17:44:06
Colleen
We just don't do exotics because I think they should be in the wild. but yeah, we did get a request for Lion and Tiger yesterday, which is crazy, but that's just that's what happened.

00:17:44:07 - 00:17:48:05
Chris
Somebody call up what what was the the Tiger King?

00:17:48:07 - 00:17:51:00
Colleen
definitely. Definitely not. But I know.

00:17:51:02 - 00:17:55:13
Chris
I know where are like, all of them in jail now is that. I think so, yeah.

00:17:55:14 - 00:17:59:02
Colleen
I feel like they should all be in jail. They all should be in jail.

00:17:59:04 - 00:18:01:00
Chris
And we'll say that they all should be in jail.

00:18:01:01 - 00:18:04:01
Colleen
They all should be in jail. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:18:04:03 - 00:18:14:10
Kristen
Is there a particular type of animal that is in more demand than in demand that you don't have enough on your list? Cats. Cats okay. Yeah. You mentioned earlier.

00:18:14:10 - 00:18:32:00
Colleen
So Cat well, actually the cat influencers we have enough of like I mean, not that we don't have enough of we can continue to grow our cat influence our roster, but there are so many really well trained dogs that are exposed and socialized properly. There aren't as many socialized cats, but I've definitely seen a trend of people getting purebred cats.

00:18:32:00 - 00:18:55:15
Colleen
Now they've getting, and they're spending a lot of time training those cats, like people that train dogs are like, ooh, let's do a challenge and train a cat. I actually love working with that. And I'm really allergic. But I love training cats. I think they're so fun. and you have to earn their respect. And the way I train them is like, I'm having them think they're tricking me into giving them a treat by doing something that I'm asking them to do.

00:18:55:17 - 00:19:09:22
Colleen
It's a weird it's completely different dogs. It's like, hey, it. Yes. Now you get a treat. Good job. Cats like I know you shouldn't because I that's that's it. You shouldn't. You don't need to sit and. Oh you did. Here's a treat you like they're so different I love it.

00:19:09:22 - 00:19:11:22
Kristen
It's a psychology on cats. Yeah.

00:19:12:00 - 00:19:32:03
Chris
Yeah, you have to. You have to negotiate with a cat. Yes, you have to negotiate a dog. It's cause, in effect, a cat. It's like. It's like the tree of sales. You got to get everybody at the table. You really have to lay out what the deal is going to be. But listen, if you ever need a 20 year old deaf tabby mackerel who could sleep through construction.

00:19:32:05 - 00:19:36:04
Colleen
Oh, yeah, I, you know, I love Duffy's. That's my thing.

00:19:36:06 - 00:19:53:03
Chris
Well, it's it's it's hilarious because she I mean, she's old, she sleeps all day, but she'll sleep through everything because she can't hear that she is sleep through everything. So if you ever need a cat that's going to sleep 16 hours in a row, wake up for two meals I've got.

00:19:53:03 - 00:20:12:13
Colleen
Yeah, that's your cat. I actually wish I did. I did a job very recently with this cat, and, I had to tell the owner by the end of the shooting. I'm like, oh, how long is your cap and death? They're like, she's not half my oh, yeah, she is, sorry to tell you. And they're like, oh my God.

00:20:12:13 - 00:20:24:18
Colleen
She had an ear infection when she was one. And I was like, oh my God, you didn't know your cat was deaf. But our entire life that's so crazy. But like, it's so hard to even tell. There's so many deaf animals and people don't hear. Yeah, like I, you just so.

00:20:24:23 - 00:20:27:02
Chris
Other senses are just so good.

00:20:27:04 - 00:20:27:20
Colleen
So good.

00:20:27:23 - 00:20:28:06
Chris
They're just.

00:20:28:06 - 00:20:28:22
Colleen
So brilliant.

00:20:29:01 - 00:20:29:14
Chris
Yeah, yeah.

00:20:29:19 - 00:20:32:13
Colleen
Yeah, yeah. But like the sweetest cat. The best cat ever who's amazing.

00:20:32:18 - 00:20:48:07
Chris
Yeah. that's. Yeah. So. So, Colleen, let's say we're coming up at the end of time here. So let's say I'm convinced I'm 100% convinced that my dog cat snake tiger has what it takes. So tiger can I know Tiger.

00:20:48:08 - 00:20:48:23
Colleen
Yeah.

00:20:49:01 - 00:20:54:03
Chris
No real tiger. Please. If you have a tiger at home, go to jail. I.

00:20:54:05 - 00:20:55:06
Kristen
Go straight to jail.

00:20:55:08 - 00:20:56:20
Chris
Just go straight to jail.

00:20:56:22 - 00:21:13:10
Colleen
The safari. you would want to log in to the animal list and list your animal for hire. So that would be kind of the first step to take. And I to find someone that just posted their dog, and they color him to look like a tiger. Like it's the funniest thing.

00:21:13:12 - 00:21:16:02
Chris
Yeah, that's movie magic right there.

00:21:16:04 - 00:21:18:14
Colleen
Special you don't you don't use a tiger.

00:21:18:14 - 00:21:22:18
Chris
You use use a Doberman painted like a tiger. Exactly. Yeah.

00:21:22:20 - 00:21:24:20
Colleen
It's the same thing I say.

00:21:24:22 - 00:21:29:22
Chris
Same thing. They'll fix it in post. Yeah, they'll do that.

00:21:30:00 - 00:21:31:12
Colleen
It'll do the best to, you know.

00:21:31:12 - 00:21:33:02
Chris
Yeah.

00:21:33:04 - 00:22:01:02
Colleen
yeah. No. Log on to the animal list. you can list your animal for hire as a creator to animal actor and anything in between. That's where you can kind of get picked up from someone or picked up by a wrangler who needs that kind of animal. There's every day I get calls and I'm like, I need a dog that can bite someone for next week, and I need to find six different breeds to present to them and have them make their final selection of the angriest looking dog for this TV show that's new.

00:22:01:04 - 00:22:07:00
Colleen
so, like, we and I go to the analyst to find them, so and then call them and do my work there. So that would be the place to start.

00:22:07:01 - 00:22:11:06
Chris
Yeah. There we go. Well, Colleen, thank you so much for joining us. This was a.

00:22:11:06 - 00:22:12:03
Kristen
Lot. Yes.

00:22:12:05 - 00:22:13:04
Colleen
Thanks for having.

00:22:13:04 - 00:22:14:18
Chris
Me. Until next time. Thank you so.

00:22:14:18 - 00:22:16:23
Kristen
Much. We'll see you on set, Colleen.

00:22:17:01 - 00:22:18:20
Colleen
Okay. Cool. I'll talk to you guys soon.

00:22:18:22 - 00:22:20:22
Chris (Voice Over)
Pets Add Life

00:22:21:00 - 00:22:28:02
Kristen
that was a fun interview. I think I'm going to put tulip on the, the animal list, see if I can't get her a job.

00:22:28:04 - 00:22:46:20
Chris
Yeah, I think I think that would be the smart thing to do. you really have to. You got to get tulip to start, contributing, to the family budget. They're a little bit those those treats, those pet products don't pay for themselves. They don't. Right. That's right. Don't you hear that, tulip? You're getting put to work.

00:22:46:22 - 00:22:50:08
Chris
All right, Kristen, why don't you tell us about our next guest?

00:22:50:10 - 00:23:18:00
Kristen
All right, listeners, you are going to love our guest today. She is fascinating. her name is Doctor Illeana Douglas. she's a trailblazer in the field of animal computer interaction. and we'll have her explain exactly what that means. She leads the animal computer interaction lab at the University of Glasgow. and her pioneering work focuses on developing interactive computer systems that allow animals to control their environment and access the internet.

00:23:18:02 - 00:23:24:20
Kristen
I don't know about you, but I definitely want to learn more, so welcome, doctor. Doctor Douglas, do you go by Doctor Douglas?

00:23:24:22 - 00:23:25:16
Dr. Ilyena 
Husky Douglas.

00:23:25:19 - 00:23:29:12
Kristen
Husky Douglas. it is a pleasure to have you on the show today.

00:23:29:16 - 00:23:31:17
Dr. Ilyena 
Yeah. Thank you so much for inviting me on.

00:23:31:19 - 00:23:42:07
Kristen
Yeah, I know there's a connection between you and dog TV, which we'll talk about a little bit later, but, my first question for you is really how what led you to this really unique field of technology?

00:23:42:09 - 00:23:59:00
Dr. Ilyena 
Well, I, like many people, I got a dog, and I sort of just fell in love with my dog. at the time, I was doing my master's, where I was looking at, I did a lot of work around building technology and looking at how people use technology. And I started to think that maybe I could do the same for dogs.

00:23:59:00 - 00:24:02:00
Dr. Ilyena 
So how can we build technology for different dogs?

00:24:02:02 - 00:24:04:12
Kristen
So what are oh go ahead. Sorry, Chris. Go ahead.

00:24:04:14 - 00:24:38:17
Chris
That's great. I mean, I'm just I'm still stuck on animal computer interaction. I think I think a lot about, like, that, scene from Zoolander where they're trying to get the information out of the computer and they start kind of acting like chimpanzees. But I imagine that your work is actually incredibly different from that. So for all of the, ignorant people like myself listening to this, can you please, give us a peek behind the veil on what, animal technology interactions really like in some of its practical applications?

00:24:38:18 - 00:25:01:06
Dr. Ilyena 
Yeah. So animals have been using technology for a long time. We can go way back to like, the 1950s. We use pigeons inside of, military defense items to packet screens to guide, military things back then. We then used a lot of things like early Apple iMac to, for instance, was used with Koko the gorilla to press different buttons to speech and things like this.

00:25:01:06 - 00:25:23:19
Dr. Ilyena 
Dolphins use technology. So underwater they press different buttons to speech. so animals have been using technology for a long time, whether it them directly interacting with it or whether they're wearing collars that track. So we have lots of colors nowadays that track tax movements or you know, our dogs, they run away from home, for instance, or things like this.

00:25:23:21 - 00:25:47:13
Dr. Ilyena 
we have lots of apps nowadays. So animals are really embedded so much into the technology just because they're embedded so much into our lives. And what my research and other people and animal computer interaction research do is they look at how we can make these technologies better for the animals that use the technologies, in the same way that increasingly we have smartphones that fit better with our hands and work with our gaze and all.

00:25:47:13 - 00:25:56:12
Dr. Ilyena 
We're increasing in the technologies to work better with us as people. How can we do the same for the animals in our lives?

00:25:56:14 - 00:26:03:12
Kristen
That's helpful. what are some of the things that you're working on right now in terms of technology and animals?

00:26:03:14 - 00:26:19:16
Dr. Ilyena 
So at the moment, I shifted a little bit in my research and do a lot of work with zoos. So we have a lot of animals in zoos that have very little control of our life. We take for advantage the ability for us to be able to turn on and off our lighting, or listen to music or do all these various different things with technology.

00:26:19:18 - 00:26:35:19
Dr. Ilyena 
And so I'm looking at a lot of how we can support animals in zoo environments, controlling that home environment, how we can spot animals as individuals. So, for instance, we don't want to just blast music into a whole house. Maybe one of us wants to listen to one type of music, and the other one wants to listen to another.

00:26:35:21 - 00:26:56:00
Dr. Ilyena 
So how do we support them as individuals controlling technology? And how do we make, technology interfaces better for them? So not all animals have the same hands as us. Some prefer licking things. So with a lot of my work with parrots involves how do we make clickable interfaces? so when giraffes, they use a tongue. So, you know, pulling down leaves of trees.

00:26:56:00 - 00:27:03:04
Dr. Ilyena 
And how do we make technology that works with this tongue licking behaviors? So you get into all these sort of crazy, lovely questions.

00:27:03:06 - 00:27:30:11
Chris
That is absolutely hilarious. lickable interface is not exactly what I thought I'd be waking up to discuss today. but we see a lot in in the pet space. We see some more interactive pet technology coming out. There's those feeders that can be activated. by pets interacting with them. There's a lot of, like, puzzle toys and things like that that sort of, stimulate those natural instincts in our pets.

00:27:30:13 - 00:27:40:10
Chris
What are some ways that we could marry this cutting edge, technology in the zoos and bring it over to our more domesticated animal friends?

00:27:40:12 - 00:27:57:15
Dr. Ilyena 
Yeah. Women are increasingly getting a right. A lot of technology for our pets. We get a lot of technology coming in in health care sectors. So how do we recognize health of our animals? More effectively? You know, this is like the number one thing most people want is to be able to know if your pet's in pain, is your pet doing well?

00:27:57:17 - 00:28:17:18
Dr. Ilyena 
especially because we're so locked out in so many ways of how we're doing. so there's a lot around this. And with all this automatic machine learning, eye tracking of animals, bodies, animals, movements, animals, facial interactions, all of this to do with the grimace scale. So how much you can learn from that face? but with Patek, we're getting a massive explosion.

00:28:17:18 - 00:28:39:09
Dr. Ilyena 
I would say the last well, I've known run for a while in the last, like five, ten years. we're getting this huge market increase of technology to entertain our pets when they've left alone. And part of this entertainment is also to how can we check on our pets are doing okay. So we get a lot of this ability to quickly log in and see if our pets, where they are.

00:28:39:09 - 00:29:15:17
Dr. Ilyena 
They sleeping well supposed to be they barking get them. maybe we they can play different games when they're at home by pressing different buttons or different things like this. so I would say in, in zoos and in pets, we're getting technology in both of these sectors to sniff very different way, because the technology for zoos is really designed a lot of time to look at how can they control their environment, as pet tech is really looking at how do we as people check on our pets and make sure our pets are coming to stimulated and entertained, and that they're where they're supposed to be?

00:29:15:19 - 00:29:24:08
Kristen
and staying with the domesticated animals, how do you think technology, can enhance the bond, the human animal bond we have with one another?

00:29:24:10 - 00:29:52:10
Dr. Ilyena 
Yeah. So I, I made, last one when I make it, I made last year, video called technology for Pet Parrots. I don't know if you've seen this. So the idea was we we have, especially in the US, there's a lot of parrots that are kept as pets, and they're not always calling to be stimulated. They in the wild pet parrots, in the wild, parrots in general have extremely complex and living large social groups that they don't always have access to is pets in our homes.

00:29:52:10 - 00:30:11:17
Dr. Ilyena 
Sometimes the cat one, or sometimes with only one other bird. It's like if I kept you, would just you and your friend in the house. Maybe you'd want a bigger social group than this. And so, me and my collaborators ended up building device on a screen device that allowed parents to video call other parrots while home alone.

00:30:11:19 - 00:30:14:04
Kristen
That's incredible.

00:30:14:06 - 00:30:43:16
Dr. Ilyena 
Yeah, I was there is a really nice project, all the parrots we had involved. So we had 20 parrots involved in the study. Ended up video calling other parrots. We found out they had favorite parrot friends they preferred to call. But even though this technology was designed to connect parrots to other parrots who are physically separated, when we spoke to the caregivers of these parrots, they spoke about how increased their bond with their parrots, how increased their trust, how, they felt it gave their parents more autonomy.

00:30:43:16 - 00:31:05:04
Dr. Ilyena 
It helped with their relationship and understanding the parrot in a different way. So I think why we traditionally think, okay, technology will help us understand, animals through how many steps they've walked and things like this. It can also increase bonds in different ways to through. And a lot of this is just about training and doing something with your animal to get to learn that behaviors.

00:31:05:06 - 00:31:26:10
Chris
That's great. That's, I can't imagine parrots having pen pals. That's, hilarious, but I kind of want to pull on that thread a little bit. So, you know, in in movies and media and social media, we see some really intelligent dogs using technology, sometimes some primates and monkeys using technology. Well, I was shocked to hear, I know parrots are smart.

00:31:26:10 - 00:31:44:03
Chris
I shocked to hear them interacting with technology like that. Are there any other animals in your research that have really overperformed, despite maybe the stereotypes about their intelligence, like some shocking stories of some stranger animals that are doing really well with this stuff?

00:31:44:06 - 00:32:00:23
Dr. Ilyena 
Yeah, I guess it really depends how you see smartness in animals, right? Do we see smartness as how well they are smart compared to we as people think things are smart, you know, able to solve a puzzle. It comes a little bit back back to the philosophy of like how well a fish can climb a tree. Right? So how well, what do we see?

00:32:00:23 - 00:32:27:18
Dr. Ilyena 
The smartness. I think all animals are smart in their own individual ways. and what we I think it's a little bit of a fallacy to say some animals are more intelligent than none of them are intelligent. What we see is intelligence. So typical things like tool usage and language acquisition and things like this, but animals always surprise me in different ways, more in how they use technology.

00:32:27:18 - 00:32:47:04
Dr. Ilyena 
So for instance, when I did work with AI, I did work with white faced monkeys. They're a small type of monkey. They typically have quite high up in the canopy, so not a lot about them. It's node and I built interfaces for them to be able to trigger different audio in their enclosure. So tunnel interface and when they entered inside they would trigger different audio.

00:32:47:06 - 00:33:05:22
Dr. Ilyena 
and they lived in a zoo. It was a group of seven. And the most audio I triggered out of anything was traffic noise. And this is something you thought they. Why why traffic noise? They live in the in an island in Helsinki in the middle of, you know, calm and peace. but turns out what they want to listen to mostly traffic.

00:33:06:00 - 00:33:29:13
Dr. Ilyena 
And I think it's more about having not predictability, a bit of novelty in what they hear. and you wouldn't, you wouldn't think about it when you see this monkey, most people think, okay, maybe they'd want to hear jungle sound. So, you know, we start projecting into all this different sorts of things. And people afterwards started asking me, why don't you create audio for them from the vocalizations like we do with humans?

00:33:29:13 - 00:33:36:21
Dr. Ilyena 
We have like humanoid audio. And I thought, okay, maybe that would be pretty cool. But if you had to do anything like that.

00:33:36:23 - 00:33:52:03
Kristen
That's just really incredible. so we had heard from our producer, Ron, that you, had done a study about dogs and TV working with dog TV. How did that go? And, what did you learn about dogs interfacing with with dog TV?

00:33:52:06 - 00:34:12:05
Dr. Ilyena 
I, I did my whole PhD on how to create visual interfaces over screens. The dogs in control, home alone. So my my idea was my dog and me would often watch TV together in the mornings or in the evening too. And he'd sit on your sofa watching TV. and I thought it would be really cool if my dog could have control of the TV as well.

00:34:12:07 - 00:34:30:20
Dr. Ilyena 
So it was, rather than just me flicking through channels, what if your dog could also have the ability to do this? So I started to look at, okay, how do we even quantify a dog watching TV? You know, how do we know it's watching if they're watching TV or not? So I started doing a lot of research methods around measuring a dog watching TV.

00:34:30:20 - 00:34:51:03
Dr. Ilyena 
How do they typically watch TV? So a lot of my research showed that they watched TV in very short bursts of typically like three seconds. And on that, glancing at the screen, and then I started think, okay, can they follow, contact between screens, like, maybe if we, they stare at a screen and it'll play. This will be a nice interactive method.

00:34:51:05 - 00:35:07:11
Dr. Ilyena 
but from the little bit of research I did on this, I found that they can't really follow contact between screens. So you can't use, like, you know, you look at something and you can select it that way. Seems like it wouldn't really work for dogs. so from this, I just made a TV device for my dog.

00:35:07:13 - 00:35:21:16
Dr. Ilyena 
for other dogs that recognize when they stood in front of it and then would play them different TV devices, play them different media, and just install this in my home, in other people's homes. And I started to see how dogs would use this.

00:35:21:18 - 00:35:31:23
Chris
That's fascinating though. I rue the day that the the dog gets control over the remote. Okay. That is that sounds like a nightmare.

00:35:32:01 - 00:35:40:20
Dr. Ilyena 
It depends. I mean, maybe maybe your maybe your dog likes the same sort of TV a D or. Yeah, maybe they're not a nice companion. We don't know. We don't, we don't really know.

00:35:40:22 - 00:35:54:21
Chris
I have a feeling that the dogs in my life would really enjoy, like, trash reality television without even, like, the headline stuff. Like the stuff that plays like on Bravo at like one in the morning. I don't know, it's just a feeling I'm getting,

00:35:54:23 - 00:36:04:00
Kristen
Well, doctor, doctor. Husky Douglas, this has been fascinating. Where can our listeners follow you and or learn more about the work that you're doing?

00:36:04:01 - 00:36:23:15
Dr. Ilyena 
Yes, I post a lot on, I guess you call it, but I post a lot on Twitter X. Okay. and then also on my website, this is intercom. I post about all my research on there. You can find out about all my stuff with, monkeys and lemurs and giraffes that I mentioned Lickable interface. And also, of course, it's fantastic.

00:36:23:15 - 00:36:32:01
Kristen
Well, we'll make sure to put the that your handle in your, website in the show notes so people can follow you along. Thank you so much for your time today. It was.

00:36:32:01 - 00:36:35:01
Dr. Ilyena 
Really lovely. Thank you so much.

00:36:35:03 - 00:36:43:09
Chris
Well, that was, absolutely awesome to talk about. I can't believe, that that's her job. to do all.

00:36:43:09 - 00:36:44:03
Kristen
This amazing.

00:36:44:03 - 00:37:05:12
Chris
Research with these animals, enriching their lives. And, I mean, it must be a riot. We see all these videos all the time on the internet of these animals interacting with their iPads or their smart feeders and things like that. And it's always so goofy and funny and a little awkward. So, I am definitely a little jealous of the job.

00:37:05:14 - 00:37:09:13
Kristen
I know I kind of wish I could go back and start all over again and pick a new career.

00:37:09:15 - 00:37:19:19
Chris
Don't we all? I am proud of myself, though, because when she said Lickable interface, I had about 1000 inappropriate jokes.

00:37:19:19 - 00:37:21:12
Kristen
I was going to say, well.

00:37:21:14 - 00:37:23:19
Chris
I managed to holster all of them.

00:37:23:21 - 00:37:25:07
Kristen
Congratulations.

00:37:25:09 - 00:37:27:12
Chris
So I'm so I'm doing well. I'm doing well.

00:37:27:14 - 00:37:28:20
Kristen
I saw your eyes get real big.

00:37:29:00 - 00:37:42:05
Chris
Yeah, I like a lot of it. It's just divine inspiration. So I believe now we get to move on to our p- p-

00:37:42:08 - 00:37:44:05
Chris (Voice Over)
product of the week.

00:37:44:07 - 00:37:45:15
Kristen
All right.

00:37:45:17 - 00:38:04:12
Kristen
I've got a fun one. It's called bake a Bone. It is this cute little, like, waffle maker that you can bake dog biscuits in. And I thought, you know, with it being summertime kids are home. You're looking for activities for the for the kids to do. Maybe it's a rainy day. this bake a bone. And I found it on Amazon.

00:38:04:12 - 00:38:23:15
Kristen
I'm sure you can find it other places. There's actually a lot of companies that make this type of thing. but it also comes with dog bone treat recipes, healthy recipes. So I thought that would just be kind of fun. And you pop them in there close a little like a waffle maker lid, and they come out shaped like perfect little dog bones.

00:38:23:17 - 00:38:24:20
Kristen
So there you.

00:38:24:20 - 00:38:51:12
Chris
Go. There's actually, you know, at Global Pet Expo, I've seen quite a few, businesses started, home baking dog treats. Yeah, yeah. started off as a hobby, something they just did out of love and has now become a full blown business. I mean, early on in this season of of the Pal podcast, we talked to Ava from Avis Pet Palace, and that was a very similar story.

00:38:51:12 - 00:39:01:20
Chris
So who knows, maybe you could be the next, dog biscuit Mongol, mogul, mogul, mogul. I think a.

00:39:01:22 - 00:39:02:06
Kristen
Bad.

00:39:02:06 - 00:39:04:10
Chris
Thing. I don't think I want to be a Mongol.

00:39:04:10 - 00:39:06:09
Kristen
Okay? No, it's not mogul.

00:39:06:09 - 00:39:24:09
Chris
Yeah, you're right, I'm right. That's that's typically how that goes. Anyway, so my product of the week, comes from a company in Italy, which is exciting because I'm going there and it's hilarious that it comes from Italy because it's kind of about transporting your pets. And this was built with sort of Vespers in bikes in mind.

00:39:24:09 - 00:39:51:03
Chris
It's very European, but there's a lot of regulation around, especially in Europe. But now coming up in the United States about how you can transport an animal on a two wheeled motor vehicle or bicycle, they often now have to be restrained in some capacity. And there's not a lot of options out there. So this is a product called, Pet on Wheels, or P.O.W. for short.

00:39:51:09 - 00:40:12:15
Chris
And it's essentially a specialized carrier for, a small dog. I think they recommend up to a certain number of kilograms. But imagine a basket on the back of a bike. So it's not for your pitbulls, it's more for your Chihuahua mixes. but it's so cute, it bolts right onto the back of the bike. on on any sort of, it looks.

00:40:12:15 - 00:40:14:13
Kristen
Like a giant. It looks like a litter box. Kind of.

00:40:14:13 - 00:40:36:03
Chris
Yeah, like a litter box with a little head that they could they could pop out. And inside there is a, sort of like a fastener, like a UK style fashion, fastener and harness. so the dog is sort of double protected if God, God forbid, you were to wipe out right there inside this hard case, they're sort of fastened in.

00:40:36:03 - 00:41:01:00
Chris
So they're going to be able to, roll with that accident a little bit more than if they were just sort of tumbling or if they were to, you know, be ejected. So it's a great safety product. If you are, planning on doing some, some biking or if you own a motorcycle or Vesper or some type of scooter, if you go vacationing down in, you know, maybe the Outer Banks, we're using those electric bikes to do some, some sand biking.

00:41:01:02 - 00:41:09:13
Chris
this is a great option to bring bring your, your dog along. So check it out. Link's going to be in the show notes. looks like it could be a lot of fun.

00:41:09:15 - 00:41:11:10
Chris (Voice Over)
Q and A's.

00:41:11:12 - 00:41:27:13
Chris
Well, let's move on to our final segment where we, the two pals, answer your burning pet related questions. So if you have a question for Chris and Kristen, you could go to Petsaddlife.org/podcast.

00:41:27:19 - 00:41:47:11
Chris
Scroll on down to the bottom of the page. There you can type your question out. Or if you're feeling brave like a pet at their first audition, you could leave us a voicemail where you will hear your question played on this very show. So without further ado, let's get to our first question. Do you want to go ahead and take it away?

00:41:47:11 - 00:41:48:13
Chris
Kristen you haven't pulled up.

00:41:48:13 - 00:42:01:21
Kristen
For I will take it away. this first question is, was submitted by Mike in Dallas, so thank you. Mike. He says I have a hyperactive Jack Russell terrier. is there any other kind really?

00:42:01:23 - 00:42:04:04
Chris
Yeah. What are some effects? What are some.

00:42:04:04 - 00:42:25:06
Kristen
Effective ways to calm him down and manage his energy levels? Well, Mike, as I said, as he sounds like a perfectly normal Jack Russell terrier. You know, they're they're great. They're really are great family dogs for the right families, usually for more active families. They're super smart, they're goofy. They're highly energetic, they're very athletic. And they can also be stubborn.

00:42:25:08 - 00:42:48:22
Kristen
So it's going to take kind of some strategy to, to find some things to manage his energy. Now, I would suggest if you're able to or whether it's you, Mike, or somebody in your family could get get your dog involved in agility or maybe some lure coursing or some kind of activity where he really tap into his energy overdrive.

00:42:49:00 - 00:43:09:16
Kristen
it could be even, maybe he's if you're not home during the day at work while you're working, it could be maybe sending him to doggy daycare a couple days a week. because Jack Russells or any other active dog breed, when they're bored, if they don't get that energy expelled in healthy ways, they're going to find other ways to expend that energy.

00:43:09:16 - 00:43:34:10
Kristen
And typically those are ways that you wouldn't want them to like, like chewing up furniture or things like that. So, yeah, I think I would, I would try to get him into some regular, high energy, activities. And, if you're not able to do that, maybe if he's spending too much time alone at home, maybe have a pet sitter come by during the day to let him out, once or twice a day.

00:43:34:12 - 00:43:38:13
Kristen
so. Yeah, give those a try, I can you think of anything else? Chris?

00:43:38:15 - 00:43:57:20
Chris
Yeah. Sometimes with really high energy dogs, the trouble comes from them just not paying attention when you're trying to train them, because they're just so distracted that they have have high energy. So with high energy dogs, I highly recommend you. You run them for like an hour, right? Like just bring them to the dog park. The park, your backyard.

00:43:57:20 - 00:44:13:20
Chris
If you have a big backyard, give them an hour to just go nuts, right? Really, really get that energy out of them and then do training because when they're tired, they're just going to pay a little bit more attention. They're going to be a little bit more submissive, and they're going to receive that instruction a little bit. Well.

00:44:13:22 - 00:44:36:21
Chris
So if your problems are stemming from a lack of training, don't train and then have fun. The the the dogs aren't seeing that sort of like reward center go off if it's not immediate. So if you're gonna like train them and be like, oh good job training. Now let's go to the park. That's not going to fire off in their brain, so you might as well just bring them to the park, get all that energy out, bring them back, and then do do some lists.

00:44:36:23 - 00:44:46:02
Kristen
Yeah. And, you know, might be helpful to have some enrichment toys at home too. But those enrichment toys are not going to replace their dog's need for physical activity, especially.

00:44:46:02 - 00:44:46:17
Chris
Your jack Russell.

00:44:46:22 - 00:44:48:02
Kristen
Yeah.

00:44:48:04 - 00:44:56:07
Chris
They'll they will mellow out as they age up like all dogs do. But for now, you've you've got your work cut out for you. So best of luck.

00:44:56:09 - 00:44:59:03
Kristen
Thanks for the question, Mike. What's our next question, Chris?

00:44:59:08 - 00:45:23:20
Chris
Sure. Our question. second question. It was submitted by Laura from the great city of New York, New York. My dog gets very anxious when we take the elevator, and we live in a tall Manhattan building. Are there any other, how can I help? Feel him? How can I help him feel more comfortable during elevator rides? this is a great question.

00:45:23:23 - 00:45:47:03
Chris
The elevator could be like, a very precarious place for a dog to be in. especially, you know, bigger dogs might get a little territorial. Being claustrophobic. Smaller dogs just might be anxious and scared. So it's just like any other behavior that you have to train a dog for. It's all about immediate reward. You know, when you're waiting for the elevator, you tell him to sit, you give him a treat, you get near the elevator.

00:45:47:03 - 00:46:09:14
Chris
You tell him to sit. You give him a treat. Make sure they try and stay calm. Maybe give them like their heel or stay command. And then they get a treat. And then when you exit the elevator and everything went well, they get a treat. And that sounds like a lot of treats. But if you see some of the the most high end dog trainers in action, these dogs are these dogs are getting a lot of treats out of the deal.

00:46:09:16 - 00:46:28:02
Chris
when when that behavior is being reinforced. Dogs have short memories. If you were to do the whole elevator thing and then just give them one treat at the end, they're not going to remember what they did at the beginning to earn that treat. So you should be rewarding good behavior immediately in the moment. If the dog is waiting for the elevator patiently, that's a treat.

00:46:28:08 - 00:46:51:05
Chris
The dog gets into the elevator and immediately that's another treat. And that's going to trigger their brain to be like, oh, this is how it's I'm supposed to behave. And guess what? Food is a great motivator for dogs. Food overrides anxiety and stress and and being scared. The elevator ride's typically short, so it's not like a big car ride where you're really going to have to fundamentally change the dog's attitude.

00:46:51:07 - 00:47:01:13
Chris
You just sort of have to get them through it. and eventually they're going to associate elevator time with fun things like going for walks, being able to use the bathroom, go to the park and get treats.

00:47:01:15 - 00:47:03:04
Kristen
Exactly.

00:47:03:06 - 00:47:08:23
Chris
I don't know if you have any experience. Christian with elevators. I've never I've never had an elevator before, so.

00:47:09:01 - 00:47:24:05
Kristen
my tulip doesn't mind elevator. She doesn't have any problem with them. But our previous dog, chilly, he was very he was anxious about getting on elevators. And, you know, we did kind of what you were talking about. It wasn't frequent that we were on elevators. So it was just when we were traveling and maybe staying in a hotel or something.

00:47:24:07 - 00:47:42:23
Kristen
and he was not too terribly afraid. And he got over that. The treats. I guess I would just add that if if this dog is already very she says, very anxious. So I don't know if, you know, it's hard to know exactly what that means if she finds it. sorry, Laura, you shouldn't call Yoshi your Laura.

00:47:43:01 - 00:48:04:12
Kristen
Laura, if you're if you're still having trouble or your dog is kind of past that point of whereas he won't even pay attention to the treats, I would definitely enlist a certified dog trainer, preferably one that has a behavior consultant. Canine knowledge. It's I think it's called the Ccbc a certification. This is a dog trainer that has a lot of special expertise in behavior.

00:48:04:14 - 00:48:23:06
Kristen
because you're going to need to, as Chris was saying, kind of change the meaning of the elevator for your dog to be something positive and happy. so hopefully you're not, you know, there yet. But, I would say that's kind of a backup plan if, if you find that it's a little overwhelming for you to manage.

00:48:23:08 - 00:48:37:17
Chris
There you go. Well, thank you, Mike and Laura, for the questions. So, Kristen, I have, good news and bad news. bad news is it's the end of our show. The good news is will be right back here next Tuesday for another.

00:48:37:17 - 00:48:39:00
Colleen
Episode or not.

00:48:39:02 - 00:48:56:15
Chris
Hey, I, like always. So in the meantime, hold on to your butts. If you have an all star pet, we want to hear about it. Jump into the comments. Tell us all about your pet. That would make an excellent movie star. If you have a funny video of your animal, interacting with some technology like the doctor is researching, go ahead and let's let's see that.

00:48:56:20 - 00:49:12:17
Chris
Let's see him in the comments. Let's let's tag us in your funny videos. We'd love to maybe even share some of them on on our channel. so be sure to, send those over. We can't wait for our next episode. I think it's going to be the best one yet, even though this one was quite fun.
00:49:12:18 - 00:49:16:21
Kristen
Yeah, I thought this was going to be the best one, and it was the best so far. It was the best.

00:49:16:21 - 00:49:23:05
Chris
So the best so far. Until next time. So we'll see you right here next Tuesday folks. Bye bye.

00:49:23:08 - 00:49:24:05
Chris (Voice Over)
Pets Add life.