Transcription of Creature Comfort #24
Speaker 1: You’re listening to the Doctor Lisa Radio Hour and podcast, recorded at the studio’s of Maine Magazine in Portland, Maine and broadcast each Sunday at 11 AM on WLOB 1310 AM and available streaming online at WLOBRadio.com. Podcasts are available at Doctor Lisa dot org. Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 1: The Doctor Lisa radio hour and podcast is made possible with the support of the following generous sponsors, Maine Magazine, Mike LePage and Beth Franklin at Remax Heritage, Robin Hodgkin at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, Doctor John Herzog of Orthopedic Specialists in Falmouth, Maine, Tom Shepard of Shepard Financial, Pierce Atwood, Booth, UNE, The University of New England, and Akari.
Lisa: Hello, this is Doctor Lisa Belisle and you are listening to the Doctor Lisa Radio Hour and podcast, show number 24, Creature Comfort. Airing for the first time on Sunday February 26, 2012 on WLOB Radio Portland 1310 AM, streaming online WLOBRadio.com. Perhaps you are listening on our website, doctorlisa.org or by subscribing through ITunes to our weekly podcast. This shows topic, Creature Comfort, will include conversations with Doctor Doug Andrews of the Falmouth Veterinary Clinic, Kristen Smith of Planet Dog, and John Lockee the therapy dog owner of Jake and Gypsy, who works at the Maine Medical Center. Across the microphone from me today we have Genevieve Morgan my co-host; hi Genevieve.
Genevieve M.: Hi Lisa. I have one question for you, did you ever have a dog?
Lisa: Yes, actually I did. In fact, I had … well currently Lightning is still alive, he lives with his, he lives with my kids and their father across town from me now, but yes, Lightning is a good ole’ dog; he’s been around quite a long time. We also had Daisy who was a little beagle, and unfortunately she had an untimely demise. Beagles they follow their noses and they sometimes get themselves into trouble. Also we had Blacky, and that was the first dog I remember. I could go on-and-on, we’ve had lots of dogs in my life.
Genevieve M.: You’ve always had dogs or a pet in your house.
Lisa: Oh, and yes cats ad nauseam, we’ve … Yes, we have. How about you?
Genevieve M.: I have as well. I had my first cat was Jane, and I lived in Manhattan and we still had pets my entire … actually I think I had a turtle before I had Jane. We had dogs even in an apartment, so I grew up with animals, you grew up with animals. I think that’s one of the reasons why we find this so interesting.
Lisa: We … That’s one of the reasons that we find this so interesting. Also, this sense that, which we said before, that you may be a creature walking on two legs, you may be a creature walking on four legs or perhaps you’re a swimming or a flying creature, but there’s a lot of genetic consistency. In fact, we’re closer to our fellow creatures than we are far apart.
Well, one of the reasons I became interested in this topic pretty early on was, in addition to having my own pets, was that when I was a resident at the Maine Medical Center, and then a fellow at the University of Massachusetts in the preventive medicine program, there were very active animal communities, therapies, that were going on within these institutions. There was the acknowledgment that indeed animals could be helpful to hospitalized patients. We also had Sarah Armentrout come in and talk about Equest and the Carlisle Writing Academy and talked about horses and how they were helpful. It just, it’s … I think this is going to be probably the first show of many in which we will go back and forth between creature health.
Genevieve M.: Well, and I think companion animals in particular add so much to our emotional enjoyment, they get us out in society and out in the environment, with dogs you have to walk them. Also there’s just nothing better than coming home to a dog that’s waiting to see you, it can make your day if you’re living alone or if you’ve recently lost someone. I’m glad we’re showing some appreciation.
Lisa: I think it’s important, especially given that we know that we’re very connected via Facebook and email and we have all this electronic connection with the people in our lives, and sometimes that causes us to lose the physical, emotional, social connection with the people in our lives. It’s … we can be as connected as we’ve ever been to Aunt Jon in California, and yet we haven’t hugged her in months. I think pets are filling that interesting void and really helping deal with some of that loneliness that we’re feeling, that disconnection that we’re feeling from our fellow humans.
Genevieve M.: Well, we are pack animals, correct? Homosapiens are pack animals.
Lisa: Yeah, we are meant to be with other animals. I’m hoping that, I’m hoping that we’re going to come back around, everything, if you look at history, it always goes too far in one direction and then it boomerangs back to the other direction. I’m hoping that all of the social media and the connectivity from an electronics standpoint, a digital standpoint, is going to … We’re going to realize that we really do need to be with other people, and we’re going to come back and be with other people. In the mean time, we’ve got our pets.
Genevieve M.: Well, I will say one thing to toward, to the connectivity piece that maybe we should address. I noticed when I go to pick up my children, I’m surprised how many people, and myself included up to a certain point when I started to notice this, were talking on their cell phones, and their children would come out of the school door and they won’t put down their cell phone. Here’s a moment where your child is coming out of a day with all this energy, and we don’t, you don’t know what’s happened, it could be good, could be bad, and it’s the perfect moment to embrace them and hold them and hear their day. Yet, you’re having a relationship with the person on the cell phone, not the relationship with your kid. I’ve been trying in the past couple months to just put the cell phone away when I pick my children up at school and be present with them. Same goes for my dog.
Lisa: Well, that being present piece is just supremely important. It’s, that is what we need to keep doing with the individuals in our lives who are the most important. It is probably getting rid of our electronic tethers. It is being able to sit across from somebody and have a conversation. It is being able to … even just sit with them, not saying anything at all, but just being physically present. In the mean time, we can use our dogs and our cats to train us to go back to this, because they’re not judgmental, they’re not going to give us negative feedback typically.
Genevieve M.: They can’t use a Blackberry, they don’t opposable thumbs.
Lisa: They’re not tethered, so this is why animals can be very valuable. We are going to talk with Doug Andrews and Kristen Smith and John Locke about how animals can be helpful from a human standpoint, a socialization standpoint. We’re also going to talk about how there’s an intersection between animal and human health, so that will be interesting conversation as well. A little bit about the impact on animals and the pets, the pet owners, that the current financial situation in this country is causing. It will be a broad ranging conversation, but we think that people will enjoy it.
Genevieve M.: I’m looking forward to it.
Lisa: The Doctor Lisa Radio and podcast is pleased to be sponsored by the University of New England. Each week we feature a wellness innovation as part of this affiliation with University of New England. This week’s innovation comes from ABC News. According to ABC News, fun and play are key to survival for bears, dogs, humans, birds, and maybe even ants. It sounds like a paradox, how could play defined as apparently purposeless activity, that’s fun to do and pleasurable, be vital for grim survival in such an often random and dangerous world? Not just in … not just play in childhood, but throughout life, and throughout life, not only humans, but in all sorts of animals including hungry polar bears, chained to sled dogs, rats, cats, otters, migratory birds, and yes, maybe, yes, ants.
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Speaker 1: This portion of the Doctor Lisa Radio Hour and podcast has been brought to you by the University of New England, UNE; an innovative health sciences university grounded in the liberal arts. UNE is the number one educator of health professionals in Maine. Learn more about the University of New England at UNE dot edu.
Lisa: Today’s show is called Creature Comfort. Appropriately enough, we have Dr. Doug Andrews of the Falmouth Veterinary Clinic in to speak with us about creatures and their comfort and humans and their comfort and their interaction between the two. Hi Doctor Andrews.
Doctor Andrews: Hi Lisa, how are you today?
Lisa: I’m doing well. I have next to me Genevieve Morgan.
Genevieve M.: Hi Doctor Andrews.
Doctor Andrews: Hi Genevieve.
Lisa: Doctor Andrews, you have been doing this veterinary medicine for a really long time.
Doctor Andrews: I am growing roots right now. I’ve been doing this since … I graduated May of 1979, and I started off in a mixed animal practice for three and half years. It was the all creatures great and small lifestyle, and decided to move from there to primarily companion animal practice. Due to the fact that the demographics of Portland area were changing, and there’s just such an information explosion that was very difficult to be very good at one, multiple species. It was quite frustrating. I’ve been at Companion Animal Practice since February of 1983. I don’t want to count the year; I know it’s 30 plus at this point.
Lisa: Yeah, 1983 was a few years back now.
Doctor Andrews: It was. I … Scary, a lot of my staff wasn’t even born then.
Lisa: Well I was born then.
Doctor Andrews: Oh it was, oh my gosh.
Lisa: Where I’m not …
Doctor Andrews: I’m feeling old.
Lisa: No, okay, so I’m interested because … Well, you and I met and we talked in the fall. You were describing Falmouth and Portland as being a very different place than it is today. Even the corridor in Route one, I think you were talking about farm land, you were talking about open fields, and there were large animals back then even in the space … the greater Portland area.
Doctor Andrews: Sure, there were dairy farms in, off of Winn road in Falmouth. Those have been around remember Pete Zacharias He still has some dairy cattle I believe, I haven’t been out to his farm for ages. There’s horse stables on Black Strap Road that were Norton stables I believe. There’s another, I think it was a Guernsey farm off of .. oh I can’t … one of the roads that connects Route 26 to Black Strap. You get … the further away from Portland that you went, up to Grey, there’s a lot of beef cattle, sheep farms, you name it. They’re still around, there’s just fewer than there were certainly back 25, 30 years ago.
Lisa: Well, and that was going to be my question is, how has the animal landscape changes from what you can see in the greater Portland area?
Doctor Andrews: Well it’s the urban sprawl certainly. A lot of the Zacharias land went to development, and areas that were large ranges or large expanses of land have had houses placed in the areas that were graze land for the cattle and the horses. This is just motioned out in the greater Portland area going up Route 26 past Falmouth HadLocke Road, if there’s some stables out there, there was very few houses at that point. They have all filled in the last 20 years, especially during the growth of the mid-80s and the growth of the mid-90s.
Lisa: So the animals have gotten smaller.
Doctor Andrews: The large animals have gotten smaller. There was a large amount of … The majority of cats were outdoor cats at that time. We did not have any vaccination for Leukemia virus until I think 84′, 85′ when it came out. We would see a lot, experience a lot more infectious diseases especially in the feline world that I would say one cat a week or more would come in with that virus, which is essentially a devastating immunosuppressive disease. They would .. You’d be seeing clinical illness of any kind due to the virus that they were fighting off.
Lisa: So, the urbanization and suburbanization of this area has actually caused crowding amongst the animal kingdom and has caused disease.
Doctor Andrews: Well, yeah and crowding amongst the human kingdom; they’re finding that a lot of the emerging diseases are not occurring because of the pets going from outdoors, especially dogs where they’re in dog houses into the bedrooms and living rooms and having a closer relationship, but they’re finding a lot of these diseases that are coming are at the encroachment upon the urban rural or I think there’s a peri-suburban area that transitions zone. We’re flushing a lot of these diseases out ourselves because of the growth of, well the previous growth up until 2006 of the greater Portland area, and that’s really true all across the country. Certainly that’s … A prime example are ticks. Growing up in the 70’s and 60’s there were no ticks in the area, but the whitetail deer population has exploded. They’re directly correlated with a number of ticks, but you have houses that are on the, in the two acre to eight acre wood lots where the whitetail deer are, and it’s not that they’re moved in, we’ve moved out to them.
Lisa: It’s an inte- … that was actually my next question, which is to talk a little bit about the interaction between human and animal health. You have … You talked about feline Leukemia virus, and that is animal, that’s not an animal human cross-over.
Doctor Andrews: Right, correct.
Lisa: You’ve talked about ticks, and actually that is, there is a cross-over. You don’t get Lyme Disease from your dog.
Doctor Andrews: Correct.
Lisa: Could dogs get Lyme disease, cats get Lyme Disease. Speak a little …
Doctor Andrews: Cats, there haven’t been … If you talk to the parasitologist they have stated there haven’t been any documented Lyme Disease cases in cats, but if you talk to a feline practitioners they feel they have seen them, so that’s a little controversial. These are all vector borne disease; therefore, you can’t say they’re strictly zoonotic where they go from animal directly to pet, but they’re going from tick to human tick to dog.
Lisa: Tell me what’s a vector, for those people who are listening.
Doctor Andrews: Vector is, let’s say it’s like a Trojan horse. It’s a disease, infectious agent, parasite that is transmitted via another host. Whether that’s the flee, whether that’s the tick, those … a mosquito would be a vector for transmitting Equine Encephalitis; those are what … That’s my definition of vector. I’m not a parasitologist, and that was 35 years ago, but that’s the best shot I can make.
Lisa: That’s a good shot, because I’m sure people listening, most people are not parasitologist either, so good job with that.
Doctor Andrews: I’m happy about that.
Genevieve M.: Some of the change that’s come it’s people’s relationships with their animals. In 25, 30 years ago if you’re working on a farm with animals there, you work with your animals and you stable them, you don’t bring them in your house. Now, our companion animals are almost like our children.
Doctor Andrews: That’s definitely a transition that we’ve all seen over the last 20 years. Again, in the feline world the majority of cats are now indoors. We … I have de-clawed many cats and I still de-claw, but that’s a very controversial subject. You go to other areas of the country and it really depends on the culture of the area, there’s de-claws done quite frequently, it’s presented as an option. I’m neither for nor against, but there … You can’t say that a procedure is never warranted because you have elderly people that have thin skin and things don’t work when the cat uses them as trampoline. There’s … It just is situation specific; that doesn’t answer your question though.
Genevieve M.: Well, are there risk associated with this new closeness between animals and humans?
Doctor Andrews: I think there’s increase risk, but you have to take them in proportion to the statistical probability and the incidents for small children and immunosuppressed adults were the companion animal parasite counsel or CAPC. We get about 10 thou- … we documented 10,000 cases of Larval Ascarid Migration exposure in the United States, which isn’t a huge incidence considering we’re 300 million plus people.
Lisa: Wait, what did you just say?
Doctor Andrews: Larval … they’re Ascarids. Ascarids are what we call round worms that are passed in the feline world, canine, and also raccoons. Their eggs are pretty sturdy . They can provide, probably survive a nuclear holocaust. They’re something that everyone gets exposed to outside at some point. With that risk we have gone, especially with small children, and like I told you elderly people, it’s best to have your pet on a product that will control these parasites and test the worms. Not only in their warm summer months, but we’d recommend it throughout the year. They are inexpensive, they’re very safe, and you want to protect for that segment of the population that is susceptible.
However, there’s a … on the other side, if you look at these, all these infectious diseases. Back 30, 40 years ago we’re outside playing in the mud puddles, we didn’t have these little Clorox wipe it that you want to disinfect your house with. It’s not good that our immune systems, as young children and young adults, are not getting these exposure. These exposures from zero to five years of age shape your life as an adult, create all the lymphoid immune tissue to prevent diseases. There’s a real fine line between getting very paranoid about everything, and going through your early childhood never exposed to anything living in a bubble; that is not good.
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Lisa: How do you feel about pet insurance?
Doctor Andrews: I think pet insurance is a great product. There’s several products out there. It’s not one shoe fits all, but there’s all sort of premiums, depends on your level of risk. There’s one company that provides a 10 dollar, 15 dollars a month premium that’s essentially a catastrophic policy for events such as a chair falling on your pet, even inside, breaking a leg. It’s not going to cover you for wellness and routine annual vaccinations, but it’s for those disasters that you absolutely do not have the 500, 2,000 dollar fee to help with the repair of the pet.
There’s a … Certainly that’s another area veterinary medicine has changed, is we’ve gone from the general practitioner where we rely primarily on history and physicals, probably similar to physicians back in the mid 1900’s, 50’s, and 60’s, where we were relying more on more technology. This is all consumer demand. There’s … You can have the ultrasound imaging and CAT scan imaging. CAT scans are now almost becoming as routine as ultrasounds and x-rays. As these machines and technology become less and less expensive, similar to the personal computer. It’s been really a demand of our clientele. It’s not 100% of the clientele, but the demand has been there, so we’ve gone to that extra step to provide those services.
Genevieve M.: Clearly people love their pets, which is why they want these high-end services. We’ve talked about some of the risks that can be alleviated through basic veterinary care, so what are the benefits of having companion animals close to you in your house?
Doctor Andrews: Well, the benefits of having indoor cats certainly I think is one a meditative benefit. There’s nothing like having a cat on your lap purring while you’re sitting down watching the television or reading a book. I think that helps entrain your brain, and you become more relaxed. On the other hand, if you look into the dog world, dogs have to go outside. I know that when I … I don’t have a dog right now because I’m in the process of hopefully moving and I’m in transition, but I was out far more often in the winter because I’ve become less tolerant of cold as I progress in my years. I used to ski and do all these outdoor things, but I was out all the time with this dog running on the trails on the Portland Trails, and without a dog I’m not doing that. There’s no question there’s a health benefit for exercise and getting people out; not even counting the psychological benefit of having … coming home, dog or cat is always happy to see you, unlike some of our children or spouses. There’s always other issues, but there’s unconditional rewards that they’ll always give you.
Lisa: Well we’ve been speaking with Doctor Doug Andrews of the Falmouth Veterinary Clinic. We appreciate your coming in and talking to us about creature comfort.
Doctor Andrews: My pleasure.
Lisa: One of my creature comforts is writing on my bountiful blog, on a somewhat regular basis, at bountiful-blog.com. This blog post is from January 2, 2012, and it is called, Oh Possum. New Years Eve was a raucous adventure at my house. There was banging and slamming, body’s throwing themselves against doors, and there was slumber. I engaged in the ladder. Follow a long run that morning, myriad errands and multiple rides given to my progeny, their social lives more active than mine this particular evening, I had retired early with a container of shrimp pad thai on a stack of Redbox video. My 11 year old eventually back in the house, we Lockeed up and readied ourselves to greet 2012 from supine positions. Then the banging began. Having two teenagers, I thought little of the strange noises emanating from our first floor. I assumed that the kids had returned for a forgotten item, neglecting to greet me in their hast. Soft bumps and muffled crashes ensued, somewhat masked by the sound effects of the DVD I was watching. I asked myself whether it might be worth moving from my upstairs lair to investigate. Hearing those scream or human cries I surmised the sounds might be instead coming from an especially vigorous dryer load.
Unconcerned, I slumbered. New Years Day rose bright and fine, I thought nothing further of the prior evening’s audio disturbances. Until I noticed that our porch door, normally propped open for the cats ease of entry, was strangely shut. A very cat like mound of fur rose out of the large Tupperware container, containing our feline’s food. Except this fur was stripped gray, and our cat is black. I realized that a possum friend has come to call, and finding a place of warmth and sustenance and welcomed herself in. The porch door shut behind her, this possum curled up in the kitty chow for a long winters nap. I propped the porch door open and pushed the food container on its side, wishing for all the world that I had a man in my house to help with this ever so revolting task; call me sexist, I don’t’ care. Not one, but two possums waddled straight out the door blinking lazily in the winter sun.
I wondered what message the universe might be sending me. What hidden meaning there might be in my crittersom New Years adventure. Something about ignoring even the most obvious of disturbances and getting an unpleasant surprise in return, something about taking advantage of warmth and food when offered. Maybe something about hiring a man to live in my basement to take care of noxious tasks that hold no interest for this single lady. Perhaps simply that I can no longer keep my porch door open, despite el gato’s pleas. Hard to say, but I was glad that someone, something, had a raucous time this past New Years Eve. I wasn’t the only one to ring in the new year with a belly full of food and a comfy place to sleep. Read this blog post, and others like it, at bountiful-blog.com.
Genevieve, we just finished speaking with Doctor Doug Andrews of the Falmouth Veterinary Clinic, and he referenced an organization called One Health Commission. Which speak to the idea that there really isn’t any line between creatures of different sorts, be they human or animal, and you have somebody in to speak with us today who’s going to maybe talk a little bit about that.
Genevieve M.: I do Lisa, thanks so much. Today on the Maine Magazine minutes we have Kristen Smith, who is the brand ambassador for Planet Dog. At Planet Dog they have a mission to amuse, explore, support, innovate, create, educate, celebrate, and philanthropate all in the name of dog. Welcome Kristen.
Kristen Smith: Thank you very much for having me.
Lisa: Part of your philanthropy is, I think it said think globally, act doggedly. Is that what I’m reading?
Kristen Smith: That’s right, that’s actual a motto for Planet Dog overall. That we are interested in things at the local level, but also globally to enhance the lifestyle that people share with their pets.
Genevieve M.: How does that benefit our well-being?
Kristen Smith: Well there’s study after study that will show that people who have a pet have lower, their blood pressure is lower, their anxiety levels are lower. There are studies that show that the social interaction of taking a dog for a walk, in addition to the health benefit that come from taking regular walks, there’s also a social component there that gets people talking to each other, can help to alleviate loneliness. Obviously to enhance the joy that people experience every day when they have a nice little friend to share it with.
Genevieve M.: Well, and one of the things that Planet Dog does is to make that life with your dog more fun and easier. I know from just being in the store, you’ve got great items and toys and great food, and it all seems to be just about ratcheting it up a notch.
Kristen Smith: Absolutely. I think what we really want to do, again, is to enhance that lifestyle that people have with their dogs. When people want to be healthy themselves and provide the healthiest options for their family, they want to do the same for their pets. We really do carry a very high-level of food for example at the store. We don’t have any … All the foods that we carry are, have incredibly strong ingredients, there’s no fillers and bi-products and things that you might find in some of the other pet foods out there. We promote a very healthy diet for pets. We have raw food there for people who want to try that for their dogs, and bridges in between the raw food and fully packaged foods. I have a very knowledgeable staff that can help people figure out the healthiest way for their pets to eat, but then in addition all sort of great games and toys and ways to interact with your pet that keep your pet healthy and fit.
Lisa: I’m hearing that you have organic dog food, you have healthy dog food, you have raw dog food, and it’s all very holistic. Do you have other products that are equally holistic for animals and their owners?
Kristen Smith: We do, we actually carry quite a broad range of holistic supplements, vitamins for dogs, additives to the foods, salmon oils, and all sort of great things that can help promote dog’s health. We have a couple of different Maine-based companies that provide, that pull together herbal supplement recipes to address, to help … For example, to help dogs naturally fend off ticks, as a natural way to help avoid Lyme Disease. As well as some treatment options for arthritis and for joint problems, supplements that can help boost a dogs immune system without having to rely necessarily on pharmaceuticals all the time. Again, different ways to supplement the dog’s diet to really have a holistic approach to their health.
We offer sometimes training programs at the store as well. We’ll have speakers come in and talk about comprehensive dog nutrition and how to cook for your dog and make sure that you’re meeting all of the nutritional requirements, what some of these different supplements are and how they can help boost for specific problems. There’s a lot of dogs that have food allergies, and you’ll see a dog that’s really itchy and people don’t necessarily know why. We have all of these range of products that can help address a whole range of, just like people, dogs have a whole range of sensitivities to different foods and different health issues, different problems with coat and skin and all that kind of thing. A holistic healthy approach to that is what we really strive for through the store.
Genevieve M.: Well, and there’s nothing better than a happy dog.
Kristen Smith: No, there really isn’t. A happy dog makes a happy person, and a happy person makes a happy dog. They all go together so well.
Genevieve M.: How did Planet Dog get started?
Kristen Smith: Well, our founder, Alex Fisher is his name, he in 1996 or seven was very interested in some of these other lifestyle companies that … For example, Ben and Jerry’s and Patagonia, companies that really had a mission behind what they were doing, had a real philosophy about the company and what it was promoting in addition to just the products. He realized that there wasn’t such a company out there doing this for dog products. He was so in love with his dogs, and really wanted to find a great way to incorporate the values-based companies that he was so found of and so impressed by back then.
Genevieve M.: Is Maine a good place to have a dog?
Kristen Smith: Oh, it’s one of the most dog friendly states out there. Portland, you know there’s a dog on every corner, everywhere you go you see people with their dogs. We have so much wonderful outdoor space to explore and enjoy with the dogs year-around, it’s really great.
Lisa: What are some of the organizations that you support philanthropically?
Kristen Smith: Well we have … Planet Dog has always been giving back, it’s part of the central values of the company. We have a non-profit foundation, The Planet Dog Foundation, and a percentage of every sale of every Planet Dog toy that is sold anywhere, here at our store, on our website or at any of the thousands of retailers that carry our products online, we take out those funds and give them to organizations that work with dogs to help people in need. Again, it’s an extension of the way that dogs and people really have such a symbiotic relationship and how dogs can be such a great compliment to a lifestyle.
We support therapy dog programs, where dogs might visit people in the hospital or reading programs where dogs might help children who are struggling with literacy. Service dogs and assistance dogs for people with disabilities, they might have dog that helps them with mobility or independence. There’s diabetic alert dogs that we funded programs where the dogs are able to actually sense a drop in a person’s blood sugar, and can alert the person before it turns into a life-threatening situation. We also support K9 search and rescue programs to help find lost hikers or maybe someone, an elder who has wondered off and can’t be found. Police and fire dogs that help our armed services and the military, all these different … There’s just scores of programs out there where dogs are helping people in need, and we support all of them.
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Genevieve M.: Can you help people navigate dog ownership as well? Because obviously when dogs and people overlap there are great things that can happen, and then there are also where people get annoyed with in living next door.
Kristen Smith: Maine is a great place to have a dog, but there are also a lot of place that don’t like dogs.
Genevieve M.: Right. Do you guys help out in…?
Kristen Smith: We do a lot, in fact, through our companies store we provide training classes at our company store. We have a puppy playgroup at the store, where when people get a new dog they can come in and learn how to socialize the dogs together. We have some trainers that come in every Saturday and Sunday morning, and it’s a free service, people can just come in and let their dogs play and learn a lot about K9 behavior K9 interaction, and that really early interaction really sets the stage for the dogs’ life. If they’re well-socialized early on, they’re going to be easier to train for the rest of their lives and have a more successful …
Lisa: Well, they do say there are no bad dogs, just bad owners, right?
Kristen Smith: That’s right, and a lot of it is about management and training. We really do support a very positive training methodology at the store, and we have trainers that we can help pair people up with to help address problem behaviors. Again, a lot of it is about getting an early start with a dog, and making sure that you understand how to work with the dog’s natural behaviors instead of trying to control them.
Lisa: Do you think that sometimes a person’s relationship with their animal might be a manifestation of underlying problems in their lives? Do you think that there are patterns that sometimes will get established in an individual that then shows when they try to train an animal?
Kristen Smith: Well, yeah, sure. I think that the personality of the person can really have an impact of the way the dog behaves. The inconsistencies are what can cause behavior problems with dogs. If you’re trying to train one behavior, but then you are, without even maybe realizing it, actually reinforcing a different behavior. Just having a better sense of how dogs learn and how dogs learn how to interact with humans, all dogs are teachable and trainable, a lot of it is the consistency. I think sometimes people who are busy or people who are stressed, aren’t always able to focus on what that consistent message to the dog is. It’s an important thing to know so that you are consistently helping the dog to be the best dog that you want.
Genevieve M.: Kristen, do you have a dog?
Kristen Smith: I do.
Genevieve M.: What kind of dog ?
Kristen Smith: Of course. I have a little rescue dog, she’s a little terrier mix, she’s about 20 pounds. Her name is Roxy. She’s got more personality than any other dog I’ve ever had before, in a tiny, tiny little body.
Genevieve M.: Does she get to go to work with your sometimes?
Kristen Smith: She does. Planet Dog is a very, obviously, a dog friendly work environment. We have, on any given day at the office, I’d say we have about seven dogs there. Then of course at the store, our store staff brings their dogs in as well as our customers. There’s dog everywhere on Planet Dog world.
Genevieve M.: Does that enhance your enjoyment of going to work?
Kristen Smith: It does, I think it enhances everything about Planet Dog. We really are trying to develop products and come up with innovative ways to enhance this lifestyle, so having the dogs around gives us inspiration, we get to see what things they’re attracted to. They’re are best product testers, as we’re trying to develop new toys and new interactive things for the dogs to do. We have this amazing product development posse with us at the office every day. It gets you away from your desk, you get up, you get outside, you take that walk.
Genevieve M.: Fun meetings too.
Kristen Smith: Fun meetings. We’ve been through a couple of different UPS delivery drivers, who some who don’t love dogs as much as others, and it can get a little barky sometimes, so sometimes a phone conversation can be challenging. Again, it’s all part of the training process and we’re all learning how to curve that behavior too.
Genevieve M.: Now, Planet Dog has grown to be quite a company, here, locally based right here in Portland. What’s the trajectory?
Kristen Smith: Well, in … we were founded again in 1997, so actually this year we’re celebrating our 15th anniversary. We started out with about 30 different skews, 30 different products, and a tiny little trade show booth and a very small little mailing list. We now have over 400 product. We have about 4,000 retailers here in the United States that carry our products. In addition to global distribution, we have distributors throughout the UK, throughout the European Union, we’ve got distribution in Australia, New Zealand, South America now. We really have become a global brand, which is very exciting for us. Our customer base just keeps growing and growing. We’ve won some really amazing industry awards, which I think is really a special recognition for us. We’ve been an award-winning company since the beginning, because our innovation and the product design that we bring to the table is really phenomenal. Those awards just keep coming, coming in, so it’s nice to get the recognition from the industry as well.
Genevieve M.: Terrific, love to hear that about our home-grown companies.
Kristen Smith: Yes, it’s nice to be Maine based. The majority of our products are made in the United States. We’ve had manufactures in Maine, in Massachusetts, good New England roots, and able to employ a really great group of people right here in Maine as well.
Lisa: Kristen, can you give us the retail location of the Planet Dog store and the website?
Kristen Smith: Yeah, our company store is located at 211 Marginal Way in Portland, it’s right off exit seven on 295, so it’s easy on easy off for people coming through town. We have a great parking lot there, so it’s easy to park, easy to get in and out. Our website is Planet www.planetdog.com. From there you can link to our company store page and learn more about the training events and some of the other events that we have regularly at the store, as well as to the Planet Dog Foundation site where you can learn a lot more about the philanthropy, the grants that we give away, and the type of work that we support that way.
Lisa: We’ll be sure to link through to your website on our website, so people can find it very easily after they’ve listened to your interview.
Kristen Smith: Thank you, that would be fantastic. We’d love to have people learn more about the company and how to improve your lifestyle with your dogs and give a little something back at the same time.
Genevieve M.: Well it’s been so fun to talk to you Kristen. I’ll guess I’ll see you tomorrow at the dog park.
Kristen Smith: All right, thank you so much for having me and it’s been a pleasure.
Genevieve M.: Planet dog is one of the many entrepreneurial companies based in Maine that is profiled every month in Maine Magazine. To subscribe or read articles online, go to the Maine Mag dot com or pick up an issue at a local newsstand near you.
Speaker 1: This segment of the Doctor Lisa Radio Hour and podcast is brought to you by the following generous sponsors. Mike Lepage and Beth Franklin of Remax Heritage in Yarmouth, Maine, honesty and integrity can take you home. With Remax Heritage it’s your move. Learn more at R Heritage dot com. By Tom Shepard of Shepard Financial, with offices in Yarmouth, Maine, the Shepard financial team is there to help you evolve with your money; for more information on Shepard Financials refreshing perspective on investing, please email Tom and Shepard Financial Maine dot com.
Lisa: Thus far today we’ve had a chance to speak with Doctor Doug Andrews, who’s a local veterinarian, and also Kristen from Planet Dog. Now we have a different dog owner in the house, and this would be John Locke, owner of two, well I don’t even know if you’d call him owner, but companion to two therapy dogs. Nice to have you John.
John Locke: Thank you, nice to be here.
Lisa: Your dogs’ names are?
John Locke: Jack is a nine year old Labradoodle, and Gypsy is a rescue, she’s approximately four years old, she’s a Golden Doodle.
Lisa: Your orga … You work with Therapy Dogs Incorporated out of Cheyenne, Wyoming.
John Locke: That’s correct, that’s where we’re … I’m certified with them, but I work primarily at Maine Medical Center with the volunteer services of therapy dogs at the hospital.
Lisa: There are about 50 therapy dogs from what you’ve told me at Maine Medical Center.
John Locke: Yeah, we’ve … Since I came aboard, the last few years we have really increased our number of volunteers and therapy dog teams. Yeah, we’ve up to 50 teams at this time. Working seven days a week in most areas of the hospital.
Lisa: How did you come to be interested in having therapy dogs?
John Locke: That’s a great question, my current dog Jake led me to it. He started coming to work with me on a daily basis. I saw the interaction that he was having with people and children and people of all kinds, and what a positive effect he was having on my business and just in people in general. People actually told me, “You should have this dog as a therapy dog.” I did some research and many months later Jake became a therapy dog, by recommendations to me. Now I’ve been very active and I’ve now completed training and now have my second dog working. I was truly led to being a therapy dog handler by my dog.
Lisa: You’ve been doing this for five years.
John Locke: Yes, approximately five years.
Lisa: Now, you’ve shown me the pictures from Maine Medical Center of your dogs, everybody gets scanned in you said.
John Locke: Yes.
Lisa: You get scanned in, your dogs get scanned in. From what I understand, the dogs and the pets that work through this therapy program at Maine Medical Center, also leave calling cards.
John Locke: Yeah, what we do is we get scheduled on rotation, it changes weekly, we get different floors. For instance, last week I worked at Barbara Bush with the children. We scan in when we get to the hospital, both myself and their dog. We … so the hospital knows that we’re there, and they record and track our hours and they know who’s in the building at any time. We take the K9’s through the hospital … Hospital’s ambassadors walk through the hospitals. We go up to the floor, we announce ourselves and we have a liaison at Barbara Bush Ward that walks with us from room-to-room, introduces us to the children that are in the room at request if they’d like a visit from us. I’m happy to say that we are usually always welcomed in the rooms.
We spend anywhere, as much as the children want us to spend with them. It conjures time for the children to get their minds off what’s maybe going on at that time in their life, as well as their families and their other siblings. We talk about their dogs and we talk about why they like dogs. Usually the children share a lot of nice stories with us about their dogs. You can just see the amount of just relief and enjoyment that the K9’s bring to the children. It gives them that little, whether it’s a five minute or ten or more minutes, amount of time that we spend with then, you can just see how exciting. Then we get to cap it off with leaving behind an actual real-life photograph of the K9 with all of their little snit-bits of what those K9’s enjoy from their brothers or sisters K9’s or foods that they like or things they like to do. We leave that behind so the visit keeps going on after we leave. A lot of the children, and a lot of patients that maybe come to the hospital on a more frequent basis unfortunately, get to collect the cards.
Lisa: It’s like a baseball card.
John Locke: Yeah.
Genevieve M.: Is it hard to train a therapy dog?
John Locke: We get asked that a lot. We have the website that you can go to and get the information, certainly you can talk to Maine Medical Center volunteer services. It’s not really that hard, it’s some things that you have to download and you can read on the website, therapydogs.com. You can download the information, you can review it. Pretty simply what the certifier, after you feel you’re prepared, you would actually meet with a certified person from therapy dogs, that would usually in most cases do several visits with you in the environment that you want to work in. If you wanted to work at Maine Medical Center, you might have three visits in Maine Medical Center, and that observer is going to be looking for things like no tension in the lead, the K9 not jumping up on people, just being a good citizen and being comfortable in the environment. What’s equally important is they want to make sure the handler is comfortable in the environment. They don’t want the K9 to be under any stress whatsoever in the environment that they’re working in.
You’ll find with therapy dogs, as well as Maine Medical Center, as well as all the handlers, we’re very proactive for the K9’s. We want to make sure they’re enjoying it and having fun and they’re safe. Most importantly, that the patient is safe. Those are the things that the observers are going to be checking into.
Lisa: I understand there’s another dog business in the family that’s not therapy dog, but it’s an interesting side bar here.
John Locke: Yes. I do have specially trained K9’s for the, a scent detection. I know it’s always going to be a little bit … people are going to be a little bit freaked out about it, but it’s a great service. It’s a great way for a K9 to find a job that they truly love, and so they’re working hard and they’re providing a great service, and the sense service is bed bugs. They have the ability, up to a 97% accuracy, to scent live bed bug or viable egg bed bug infestation in hotels or anywhere else you may think bed bugs could be.
Lisa: Unfortunately, I think this is a growing necessity, the ability to have animals scenting out bed bugs.
John Locke: Yeah, yup, and it is. We’re busy seven days a week. The fun thing is our dogs come out of Florida, they receive 800 hours of training in the academies that they go to. The dog of preference, from a lot of handlers are beagles, but any dog could be trained I’m sure; we use beagles, preferably rescued beagles. Beagles that have found their ways into … away from their current owner and into whatever rescue operation that you can rescue them from. Those are the dogs that are most desired, because they are probably rescues for a reason. For whatever reason they have been a little frustrated in their environment, and when they get a job, like scenting bed bugs, because we train two to three hours a day most days, and they are food generated, training positive. The only way they eat is to find scent. They’re … Every time they eat, and believe me they’re fed well, but they have to earn that in it’s a food reward system. They’re working seven days a week. They find a job and they love it, so they love doing it.
Lisa: It sounds like all the creatures in your family are working hard these days, your scent dogs, your therapy dogs. Do you ever sleep?
John Locke: Actually I sleep very well. I sleep with all my dogs as close to me as I can, and I’m sleeping well. They are too, because they’ve been working.
Genevieve M.: That’s a good insight, that happy dog is a busy dog.
John Locke: Well, that’s my opinion. I like to keep them busy and it makes for a great pet.
Lisa: Tell me how people can learn more about being a therapy dog or even your services with the bed bugs.
John Locke: If anybody is interested in a therapy dog, what I always recommend for people is go to a local nursing home or something like that, and ask permission. Make sure your dogs are, they have all their vaccinations and you feel that they’re safe. I think if you present yourself at the … at most nursing homes they’re going to welcome you with open arms. Go in and see if you like visiting and spending time with people. People are lonely, and especially at nursing homes, they don’t get a lot of visitors. You being able to come in with therapy dog and come in and spend some time, I can speak from experience, I think I’m getting more out of it than the patient is. It’s a wonderful thing to do. I can’t encourage people enough to really look into it. Your dogs I think will absolutely love doing it, and have so much fun doing it.
You can go to therapydogs.com, and visit the website. If you desire to work at Maine Medical Center or Mercy or any other hospital here in there greater Portland area, talk to volunteer services, find out what their protocol is. It’s all consumer or user friendly stuff, It’s nothing to be intimidated about. If you’re a dog lover and you’ve got a well-behaved, good to citizen type K9, people are going to welcome you with open arms.
Genevieve M.: Your bed bug sniffing website.
John Locke: Yeah, our bed bug, I don’t … that’s a little bit more of a commitment. I would caution people to, with that if anyone had interest certainly contact me. Our website is Northeast K9 detectives dot com. That’s a big, major commitment. We do have some outside certification protocol that we follow, insurance, and a lot of things that we do. That’s a very full-time position, but if anyone has any interest in it it’s a growing industry and you can travel, you can work at in all 50 states.
Genevieve M.: You can call and get … if you think you might have bed bus, you can call and get your services there can’t you?
John Locke: Oh absolutely. You can always call us and do a search. We would be glad to do a search, it’s very affordable, great piece of mind. That’s all … that’s something we’d be all to happy to help you with.
Lisa: Well we’ve been speaking with John Locke about his therapy dog experience and about his therapy dogs Gypsy and Jake. Thank you for coming in and talking to us today John.
John Locke: My pleasure, thank you.
Speaker 1: Our bodies are often the fist indicators that something isn’t quite working. Are you having difficulty sleeping, anxiety or chronic pain issues? Maybe you’ve had a job loss, divorce or recent empty nest. Doctor Lisa specializes in helping people through times of change, and inspiring individuals to create joyful sustainable lives. Visit doctorlisa.org for more information on here Yarmouth, Maine medical practice and schedule your office visit or phone-consult today.
Lisa: You’ve been listening to the Doctor Lisa Radio Hour and podcast show number 24, airing for the first time on Sunday February 26, 2012. Our show Creature Comfort included visits with Doctor Doug Andrews of Falmouth Veterinary Clinic, Kristen Smith of Planet Dog, and John Locke a therapy dog owner who works at the Maine Medical Center.
This week’s show was all about how our creatures give us comfort, and how in turn we can give them comfort. We also delved into some of the associations between health in animals and health in human beings, and the social benefits of having animals in our lives. As John Locke pointed out, there are health benefits as well. We hope that you are inspired to give comfort to the creatures in your lives. We hope that you will listen to next week’s show, Oceans and Islands.
Visit Doctor Lisa dot org for more information on this show and our sponsors. Become a podcast subscriber at ITunes, and like us on the Facebook page, Doctor Lisa or send an email to us through our website to receive our monthly emails. Thank you so much for being a part of our world. This is Doctor Lisa Belisle. May you have a bountiful life.
Speaker 1: The Doctor Lisa radio hour and podcast is made possible with the support of the following generous sponsors: Maine Magazine, Mike LePage and Beth Franklin at Remax Heritage, Robin Hodgkin at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, Doctor John Hertzog of Orthopedics Specialists in Falmouth, Maine, Tom Shepard of Shepard Financial, Pierce Atwood, Booth, UNE, the University of New England, and Akari . the Doctor Lisa Radio Hour and podcast is recorded at in downtown Portland at the offices of Maine Magazine on 75 Market Street.
It is produced by Kevin Thomas and Doctor Lisa Belisle. Editorial content produced by Chris Kast and Genevieve Morgan. Audio production and original music by John C. McCain. Our assistant producer is Jane Pate. For more information on our hosts, production team, Maine Magazine, or any of the guests featured here today visit us at doctorlisa.org. Tune in every Sunday at 11 AM for the Doctor Lisa Radio Hour on WLOB Portland, Maine 1310AM or streaming WLOBRadio.com. Podcasts are available at doctorlisa.org.