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Speaker 1: Hey, everyone, Welcome to The Houndation's podcast. I'm your host,

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Speaker 1: Tony Peterson, and today's episode is all about puppies and

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Speaker 1: the dumb ways we allow them to get injured. Springtime

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Speaker 1: is puppy time and a lot of folks will be

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Speaker 1: adding a new member to their family in the next

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Speaker 1: couple of months. There are few things more exciting than

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Speaker 1: getting a fresh recruit, and all of the excitement for

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Speaker 1: the future usually culminates in a shopping trip for new

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Speaker 1: leashes and collars and dogbeds and toys. It's all hope

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Speaker 1: and optimism and I don't want to doom too hard here,

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Speaker 1: but puppies are prone to injuries, dumb injuries usually, and

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Speaker 1: almost always ones that we can prevent, which is what

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Speaker 1: I'm going to talk about right now. I was sitting

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Speaker 1: in the steam room of the gym a couple of

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Speaker 1: weeks ago, trying to listen to some death metal when

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Speaker 1: I couldn't help but overhear a conversation between two women

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Speaker 1: who are talking about dogs. Now the conversation had gone

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Speaker 1: anywhere else, I probably wouldn't have paid any attention, but

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Speaker 1: I liked dogs, and I got the feeling that the

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Speaker 1: conversation might go in an interesting direction, and it did,

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Speaker 1: with one woman saying that her dad had bought her

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Speaker 1: kids a surprise King Charles spaniel puppy. Now listen here, folks,

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Speaker 1: before I go any further with this, let me say

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Speaker 1: that you should not buy a puppy for anyone as

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Speaker 1: a surprise, and you should make it clear to anyone

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Speaker 1: who might even entertain the thought of buying you a

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Speaker 1: surprise puppy that you would rather put out a roaring

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Speaker 1: campfire with the more sensitive parts of your undercarriage than

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Speaker 1: receive a tail wagging present. Anyway, I ended up talking

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Speaker 1: to the ladies who happened to be sisters and found

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Speaker 1: out that the new owner of that spaniel was not

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Speaker 1: super stoked about their dad's gift, but that she wasn't

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Speaker 1: the kind of person to return a puppy either, and

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Speaker 1: even if she were that kind of person, her kids

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Speaker 1: definitely weren't seemed overwhelmed, and I don't blame her. She

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Speaker 1: also said that her dog had eaten some batteries that

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Speaker 1: were plugged into the wall and charging, to which I said,

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Speaker 1: your dog ate some batteries?

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Speaker 2: Is it sick? Is it dead?

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Speaker 1: And she said, well, I don't think he ate the batteries,

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Speaker 1: but he chewed up the charger. There's an important distinction

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Speaker 1: in there somewhere. Now, before you judge her, let's take

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Speaker 1: a second to think about this. In a simple move

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Speaker 1: to get the puppy some freedom, she let it roam

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Speaker 1: her living room. Now, anyone with young kids and who

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Speaker 1: has handled a puppy knows that there is only so

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Speaker 1: much attention to go around, and one of the charges

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Speaker 1: in your care might get into trouble even under the

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Speaker 1: most watchful eye. It just happens, and with electrical stuff

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Speaker 1: it happens kind of often. Now she got lucky and

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Speaker 1: that the dog apparently only nowed away on the charger

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Speaker 1: for a little bit and didn't get like two hundred

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Speaker 1: and twenty volts of electroshock therapy, because that happens.

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Speaker 2: Now.

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Speaker 1: I have a wife and two thirteen year old daughters,

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Speaker 1: So if you walk around my living room, in our bedrooms,

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Speaker 1: you'd see phone charging cords snaking their way across furniture

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Speaker 1: in the floor everywhere, as if some stringy spaghetti like

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Speaker 1: fungus was taking over our house. When I bring a

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Speaker 1: new puppy into this mix, I will fight a long

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Speaker 1: and probably mostly losing battle against keeping all of those

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Speaker 1: cords away from tiny sharp little dog teeth. Our lamps,

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Speaker 1: our TVs. Our world is powered by electricity, and that

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Speaker 1: moves through chords and power chords are kind of the

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Speaker 1: right size and texture to appeal to dumb young dogs,

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Speaker 1: and they are often accessible because they are often on

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Speaker 1: the floor. Usually, if a dog goes deep enough into

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Speaker 1: a power cord, they'll get a burn mouth.

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Speaker 2: And learn a valuable lesson.

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Speaker 1: Sometimes they have seizures or die, and occasionally, when they

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Speaker 1: get to working on a power cord, they create an

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Speaker 1: extremely unsafe situation where your house could burn down or

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Speaker 1: one of the two legged members of your family could

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Speaker 1: touch a live wire by accident. If someone who recently

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Speaker 1: tried to repair a microwave and forgot to unplug it,

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Speaker 1: I'll say that it's a real relief to only have

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Speaker 1: to buy a new pair of underwear and not to

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Speaker 1: feel man made lightning shooting through your body. But it

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Speaker 1: was a close one for me. And if forty four

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Speaker 1: year old outdoor writers occasionally almost electrocute themselves, what hope

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Speaker 1: does a puppy have?

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Speaker 2: Not much unless.

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Speaker 1: You're careful about it. Just like you would kid proof

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Speaker 1: your house if you had a baby on the way,

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Speaker 1: take a long look around the communal areas where you

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Speaker 1: might allow your puppy to have some freedom. And it's

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Speaker 1: not just electrical cords that can get them.

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Speaker 2: Of course.

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Speaker 1: While a young puppy can lose a few teeth chewing

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Speaker 1: on rocks or maybe your gut or down spouts or whatever,

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Speaker 1: once it has its adult teeth, you really don't want

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Speaker 1: it gnawing on something that could easily break a tooth,

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Speaker 1: or even just cut the crap out of their mouths.

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Speaker 1: While that will usually resolve itself on its own, there

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Speaker 1: is an opening there for infection, and oral health with

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Speaker 1: dogs is really really important. There are other ways our

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Speaker 1: puppies get injured. I'll never forget when my twin daughters

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Speaker 1: were maybe like two, I don't know how old they were,

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Speaker 1: but they weren't great at walking or talking yet, so

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Speaker 1: whatever age that was. Anyway, I was doing something in

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Speaker 1: the kitchen when I heard a thump that sounded about

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Speaker 1: like what it would sound like if a two year

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Speaker 1: old jumped out of her crib. Then I heard another thump,

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Speaker 1: which sounded pretty close to what it would sound like

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Speaker 1: if a different two year old jumped out of her crib.

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Speaker 1: It turns out that my daughters had figured out how

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Speaker 1: to go from the top rope of their crib and

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Speaker 1: hit a pile of stuffed animals on the floor. Little

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Speaker 1: kids don't really think about danger, and neither do little puppies,

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Speaker 1: and when you mix the two, that's when bad things

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Speaker 1: can happen. Now here's the deal. If you have youngsters

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Speaker 1: in your life, and by this I mean literally any

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Speaker 1: child that could hold your puppy in its arms, then

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Speaker 1: think about that, because what happens sometimes is that kids

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Speaker 1: want to hold puppies.

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Speaker 2: Shocking, I know.

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Speaker 1: But what's even crazier is that sometimes puppies do not

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Speaker 1: want to be held by kids. And when that happens

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Speaker 1: and you get a squirmy puppy that is determined to

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Speaker 1: get back to earth, kids often just drop them. Now,

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Speaker 1: if you have a toddler on soft grass holding a

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Speaker 1: puppy in that situation, it's probably gonna be okay. The

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Speaker 1: drop is short and the landing is soft. But what

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Speaker 1: about a I don't know, a six year old holding

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Speaker 1: that same puppy in the driveway or maybe the kitchen

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Speaker 1: where the floor is tile or hardwood. Now you might think, well,

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Speaker 1: big deal. It's only a couple of feet, but you're

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Speaker 1: also talking about a baby dog that is a foot

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Speaker 1: tall to begin with. You imagine getting dropped the equivalent,

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Speaker 1: which would be you know, two to three times your height.

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Speaker 1: Even if we all knew it was coming and could

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Speaker 1: do our best to tuck and roll, some of us

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Speaker 1: would roll ankles, break femurs, and probably worse.

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Speaker 2: Now.

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Speaker 1: We aren't babies, of course, and I absolutely do not

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Speaker 1: recommend this. It's just a thought exercise. But if we

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Speaker 1: dropped babies on various surfaces from heights that are two

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Speaker 1: or three x their height, some of them would inevitably

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Speaker 1: get injured. Even the toughest babies are honestly weak as shit. Now,

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Speaker 1: I will never forget watching one of my daughters drop

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Speaker 1: a puppy in this exact scenario and the look on

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Speaker 1: the dog owner's face. It was not fun, even though

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Speaker 1: that little black lab shook it off like nothing. Because

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Speaker 1: they mostly will, puppies are tougher than human babies. Probably

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Speaker 1: a better way to approach this is by having any

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Speaker 1: youngsters who want to hold your puppy go to the

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Speaker 1: dog's level. In fact, remember that all strangers should go

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Speaker 1: to your pupp's level for interactions. It's just a good

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Speaker 1: idea because then you can teach the dog not to

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Speaker 1: jump up on everyone to get attention. With kids, this

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Speaker 1: move alleviates the concern that your new pupp might fracture

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Speaker 1: a leg bone or something that is really not good,

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Speaker 1: because a kid sitting crisscross applesauce just can't really drop

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Speaker 1: a wriggling puppy in a way that will produce much

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Speaker 1: of an injury. My daughters and I got into a

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Speaker 1: weird documentary watching pattern this winter where we went pretty

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Speaker 1: deep on the free solo mountain climbers and rock climbing

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Speaker 1: in general, and then eventually the folks who put on

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Speaker 1: a wingsuit and jump off a peak to fly right

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Speaker 1: next to a mountain at like two hundred miles an hour.

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Speaker 1: While I can't even imagine the rush, I also can't

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Speaker 1: imagine the mindset it would take to look at a

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Speaker 1: sheer rock wall and think it would be a good

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Speaker 1: idea to climb three thousand feet with no ropes, And

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Speaker 1: if I'm being honest, even with all the best ropes

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Speaker 1: in the world and a giant mattress on the ground

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Speaker 1: below me at all times, that could stop my fall

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Speaker 1: if either of my twelve thousand other safety features didn't

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Speaker 1: cover it. Can't imagine it, let alone putting on a

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Speaker 1: goofy flying squirrel suit and hoping that in the eight

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Speaker 1: seconds I have before I become people paste on the

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Speaker 1: rocks below that I get just enough lift to start

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Speaker 1: shooting headfirst down a mountainside. Gravity always wins with these folks,

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Speaker 1: and it wins with dogs too if you don't pay attention,

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Speaker 1: because it's not just little kids yeading your puppy onto

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Speaker 1: the concrete that can injure them.

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Speaker 2: A really common one with.

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Speaker 1: Dogs that are a little older but could definitely still

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Speaker 1: be considered puppies, is just jumping off the tailgate of

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Speaker 1: a truck. Generally, the landing there isn't all that soft,

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Speaker 1: and any of you folks who are past a certain

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Speaker 1: age know that you kind of have to consider that

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Speaker 1: distance of a jump, As embarrassing as that might be.

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Speaker 1: Do you think a five month old German short hair

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Speaker 1: pup is going to consider that jump and carefully climb

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Speaker 1: down or wait for the assistance of someone instead of

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Speaker 1: just going for it. Not a chance, especially when that

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Speaker 1: jump means they get to instantly run or play or

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Speaker 1: just do something their little puppy brains really want to do.

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Speaker 1: What's worse is that we often transport our pups and

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Speaker 1: crates in the back of our trucks, so this situation

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Speaker 1: happens a lot. But puppies can get injured jumping off

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Speaker 1: just about anything, including your couch in your living room.

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Speaker 1: But it's not just gravity that might injure your pup though.

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Speaker 1: The dog that doesn't true through your lamp cord and

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Speaker 1: short out the whole house could just as easily eat

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Speaker 1: about anything that might make them sick. I would guess

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Speaker 1: that ingesting something that is not meant to be ingested

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Speaker 1: is probably the number one way puppies get injured. Because puppies,

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Speaker 1: just like human babies, experience the world at least partially

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Speaker 1: through their mouths. They just need to put all kinds

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Speaker 1: of things in their mouths, and some of those things

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Speaker 1: can be bad news. Again, this is just a matter

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Speaker 1: of what your fresh recruit has access to. You can't

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Speaker 1: keep a dog from eating all kinds of gross shit

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Speaker 1: because it just happens. A lot of puppies will numb

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Speaker 1: right down on goose or deer droppings, and they'll carry

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Speaker 1: around dead toads. They're more like amphibian jerky than anything

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Speaker 1: else after baking on the asphalt for a few days.

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Speaker 1: If it resembles food, they'll probably check to see if

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Speaker 1: it is, And if it doesn't resemble food but can

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Speaker 1: fit in their mouths, they'll probably check just in case.

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Speaker 1: This is mostly a cautionary tale about paying attention to

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Speaker 1: your puppy when it's roaming the world with you, But

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Speaker 1: there is another issue here that can be big trouble freedom.

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Speaker 1: One thing that we as dog lovers do is give

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Speaker 1: our dogs too much credit when they're too young. Look

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Speaker 1: later in life. This is great. Sometimes freedom's good if

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Speaker 1: the dog has earned it and is under control. But

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Speaker 1: where we get into trouble is when the puppy goes

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Speaker 1: from the sausage legged, easy to catch phase to the

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Speaker 1: lanky run like the wind phase. With some breeds, this

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Speaker 1: might be the difference between a four month old dog

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Speaker 1: and a five month old dog. They grow quickly and

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Speaker 1: they are quite literally born to run. So if you

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Speaker 1: have a puppy in that stage, that can put on

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Speaker 1: the afterburners and you don't have them leashed up or

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Speaker 1: have them at least trailing a check cord behind them

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Speaker 1: that you might be able to grab. You have a

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Speaker 1: situation that can get dangerous in a hurry. I've heard

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Speaker 1: a few horror stories from vets and pro trainers about

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Speaker 1: this issue, and it almost always involves traffic. Animals do

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Speaker 1: not instinctively understand the dangers of roadways in the big

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Speaker 1: old cars and trucks and vands and semis that roll

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Speaker 1: down them. Puppies just aren't smart enough to think that

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Speaker 1: one through, and they often run just to run, and

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Speaker 1: in fact, when they are just tasting freedom, they often

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Speaker 1: run specifically to get away from us, since we are

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Speaker 1: the ones who can keep them from freedom. Now, if

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Speaker 1: this happens in the middle of a thousand acre park

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Speaker 1: that is nowhere near a road, it's inconvenient but mostly

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Speaker 1: just a teachable moment. If this happens in a ten

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Speaker 1: acre park that is banked in with busy roadways, now

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Speaker 1: you have something really, really scary. I know a few

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Speaker 1: people who have watched their puppies sprint across a road,

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Speaker 1: and none of them said they were eager to see

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Speaker 1: it again. Some people who that happens to don't have to.

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Speaker 2: Worry about seeing again.

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Speaker 1: If you catch my drift, Now, if you're noticing a

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Speaker 1: common theme with these examples. It's that we are the

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Speaker 1: ones that have to anticipate how things could break bad

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Speaker 1: in a hurry and try to get ahead of them.

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Speaker 1: The people who are most in tune to this are

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Speaker 1: pro trainers, anyone who runs a doggy daycare, probably professional

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Speaker 1: dog walkers, and really anyone who has their hands on

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Speaker 1: other people's dogs. That's a situation you just don't want

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Speaker 1: to screw up, because it's not like overfeeding a goldfish

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Speaker 1: in a TV sitcom type of scenario, where you can

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Speaker 1: just replace it with a similar looking fish until you're

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Speaker 1: found out because the new fish doesn't have some little

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Speaker 1: identifying mark that the old fish did. Puppies are different,

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Speaker 1: and it's not only the dogs that run hell bent

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Speaker 1: for the interstate that can get into trouble really fast.

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Speaker 1: I had a professional trainer tell me about a puppy

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Speaker 1: that lost its eye once because it had just a

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Speaker 1: little too much freedom and was encouraged by its owner

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Speaker 1: to do something that a lot of dog owners do.

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Speaker 1: But I don't think they really think through the pup

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Speaker 1: was meeting a strange adult dog for the first time. No,

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Speaker 1: we think that dogs are like us and they should

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Speaker 1: just meet other dogs. There are controlled scenarios with older

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Speaker 1: dogs where this is just fine if you know what

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Speaker 1: you're doing. After all, our dogs will eventually have to

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Speaker 1: interact with other dogs. It's just how things work. But

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Speaker 1: your ten week old setter puppy doesn't really need to

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Speaker 1: meet the one hundred and sixty pound bowl mastiff that

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Speaker 1: is out for a walk in the neighborhood park. They

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Speaker 1: aren't going to become longtime friends. It's just one of

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Speaker 1: those deals that is at best a net neutral thing.

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Speaker 1: But if that puppy does what puppies do, and it

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Speaker 1: will because puppies are predictable idiots, then it's going to

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Speaker 1: jump at the head and face of that strange dog.

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Speaker 1: Some dogs will tolerate this really well. Others are a

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Speaker 1: little less tolerant and are quick to a correction. Now,

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Speaker 1: in our world, a correction can mean an awful lot

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Speaker 1: of things, But in a dog's world, it's going to

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Speaker 1: be a nip or a little bit of a bite

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Speaker 1: to the offending party. Now, if that works out right,

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Speaker 1: the puppy gets that instant dog to dog message that hey,

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Speaker 1: your behavior sucks and I will end you, and it

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Speaker 1: will react appropriately. But if that correction goes wrong, a

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Speaker 1: tooth might just go into the eye of your little pupster,

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Speaker 1: or through its ear or whatever. So you have to

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Speaker 1: ask yourself, is it really worth it to have your

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Speaker 1: puppy meet a strange dog that will probably never see again,

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Speaker 1: just because for some reason we think that's a thing

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Speaker 1: we should do. The answer is no, no, it's not.

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Speaker 1: And to put a finer point on this, you might think, well,

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Speaker 1: I wouldn't let my puppy meet a strange pit bowl,

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Speaker 1: but what about an adorable female golden retriever. Same rules

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Speaker 1: apply here, chief, It's just not worth it now. Of course,

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Speaker 1: just like with kids, you can get away with a

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Speaker 1: lot of shoddy parenting and not have an er bill

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Speaker 1: or I guess an emergency vet bill in this case.

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Speaker 1: But being aware of the common ways that puppies get

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Speaker 1: injured is just a good idea for any of us

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Speaker 1: who might have a fresh recruit coming to spring, or

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Speaker 1: who will eventually be in the market for a new

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Speaker 1: puppy at some point, which is all of us, i'd guess.

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Speaker 1: So think about that and think about coming back in

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Speaker 1: two weeks, because I'm going to talk about exposure to

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Speaker 1: a wider world of working dogs and how that can

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Speaker 1: open our minds to so many possibilities. That's it for

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Speaker 1: this week. I'm Tony Peterson and this has been The

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Speaker 1: Houndation's podcast as always. I just want to thank you

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Speaker 1: so much for all your support. It's been really fun

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Speaker 1: into this dog arena a little bit and we're going

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Speaker 1: to go a little bit deeper, I think soon, but

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Speaker 1: I just appreciate everybody showing up and listening. If you

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Speaker 1: want more content, you know we've got Clay's Bear Grease

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Speaker 1: podcast and Brent Reeves on there with this Country Life.

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Speaker 1: We have tons of podcasts, tons of articles, and tons

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Speaker 1: of videos going up literally every day at the meeteater

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Speaker 1: dot com. So whether you want to learn a new

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Speaker 1: recipe on how to cook something, maybe the spring turkey

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Speaker 1: you're gonna shoot this year, or maybe you just want

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Speaker 1: to live vicariously through one of the Mediator guys as

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Speaker 1: it goes and does something cool. Whatever, the mediater dot

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Speaker 1: Com has you covered.

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Speaker 2: Thanks again,