Pet Chat February 3: Celebrating the Human-Animal Bond

When our beloved Beaker decided to give Ginger a surprise lick instead of their usual rambunctious romp, it was a moment that had to be shared. 

That's just a slice of the heartwarming, tail-wagging tales we unpacked on Pet Chat, where we bridge the gap between pet lovers worldwide. 

From the antics of trailblazing beavers caught on cam to the on-screen cuteness of Kuno and Chesnyy sporting their finest bandanas, we celebrated the furry and feathered friends that infuse our lives with joy and laughter.

The magic of our global pet community came to life with Jamie from Australia recounting a cyclone's fury and the steadfast courage of her pets amidst the chaos. The resilience that animals exhibit in the face of adversity is simply awe-inspiring, and we felt honored to bring these stories to light. 

We journeyed through the maze of feline genetics, pondering over Benedict Cumberbatch the cat's weight loss success, and dispelled some of the myths surrounding cat adoptions, proving that every color, from calico to tabby, deserves a loving home.

Training is not just about obedience; it's about connection and adaptability, as we learned from Marla and her rally-ready canines. 

Whether it's adjusting techniques for a deaf dog or navigating the intricate legislation surrounding service animals, we covered the ground on the patience and profound bond required in training dogs for various important roles. Join us for a heartfelt episode filled with laughter, shared experiences, and an undeniable celebration of the human-animal bond that shapes our lives in extraordinary ways.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:09

Hello pet enthusiasts, welcome to Pet Chat. My name is Jason Zakowski. I'm the dog dad of Bunsen Beaker, the Science Dogs on social media.

Speaker 2: 0:20

My co-host is Hi there, I'm Chris Zakowski. I am the dog mom to Bunsen Beaker and the cat mom to Ginger.

Speaker 1: 0:28

Welcome to Pet Chat, the most wholesome audio room video. I'm not sure what to call us anymore, because we are multicasting. Welcome to the Twitter Spaces audience and if you're listening to us live or watching us live, hello. So we are on Facebook live. We are on Twitter video live and we are on Instagram live. So to our Instagram viewers, hello. And everybody else watching the live, hello. Pet Chat is brought to you by Barkandbeyondsupplycom. Barkandbeyondsupplycom is a small, family owned company that started making joint supplements for dogs but now has toys and treats and subscription boxes. You can use the code BUNSEN to save yourself 10% at Barkandbeyondsupplycom, and I have that now in the chiron if you're watching live. We love you, barkandbeyond. And at the end of the show today, somebody's going to win a gift a $20 gift card to Barkandbeyondsupplycom. Okay, chris, do you have a story?

Speaker 2: 1:39

Jason, I am watching Kuno and Chesney. They look so cute in their bandanas. Are you done smiling?

Speaker 1: 1:47

That's what I was thinking is going to happen. Everybody who's watching. We've just lost like 20 people in the audio stream. That's funny. They're now watching on the live. Oh my God, Do you want me to tell my story?

Speaker 2: 2:04

Before. You just want to watch Kuno and Chesney.

Speaker 1: 2:06

Okay.

Speaker 2: 2:08

Okay, eric, look at. Oh hello, they're so cute.

Speaker 1: 2:10

I don't know if everybody saw the beaver video, but I did a shot, a little beaver update. Our trail cam caught Norbert in the day. I don't know if you have time, chris, to throw that into the nest for the folks on Twitter. I probably, actually I can probably do that. Let's see. Here I can. Oh yeah, here we go. You know what I can do. I wonder if this would just crash the stream, but I think I can share my tab. No, that makes it too big.

Speaker 1: 2:41

Anyways, so our trail cam caught the beaver in the day diving into the beaver hole. So it was just fascinating that we caught Norbert diving down into the little beaver hole. So if you're watching live, I've posted this on Instagram and TikTok it's everywhere, right, so you can see that. I'll just share my screen from Twitter and then maybe just pause it on Norbert so you can kind of see what I'm talking about here. But then we've had really unseasonably warm temperatures and, if you're watching on the live or if you've seen it, the creek started to run and the creek started to run and then Norbert was having an existential crisis trying to figure out how to stop all the running water. So if you're watching live right now there's a live shot of that's what our trail cam got Norbert diving down into the icy, slushy water of the creek. We love him so much. We love him so much.

Speaker 2: 3:48

Well, I was really loving the frig off Bunsen and it's just funny to listen to be cursed where like that on those videos. What else has happened this week? It's been a busy week with everything going on.

Speaker 2: 4:07

There's been a lot of meh, meh, meh, meh, meh meh with Ginger and Beaker. You know how Ginger tells off Beaker, so it's kind of like Ginger's doing her own frig off Beaker when they're together. But today it was super cute. Ginger was on the chair and Bunsen and Beaker were nearby and I was petting Ginger on the head and then I also pet Beaker on the head and then Bunsen on the head, and then Beaker came over and licked Ginger on the head. So that was pretty amazing.

Speaker 1: 4:43

Marla, would you like to talk? Are you available? We'd love to hear from you. You're putting on quite the show on live.

Speaker 5: 4:50

I'm here and the funny part is is the dogs are watching you on the laptop.

Speaker 1: 4:56

Chris, can you hear Marla through StreamYard? Yes, I sure can. Yay go technology Okay perfect.

Speaker 5: 5:04

This works. See, now we can have dogs watching dogs watching dogs.

Speaker 1: 5:09

I love it.

Speaker 5: 5:12

And the funny thing is, we don't really even have anything exciting to share. The dogs just wanted to take part. Do you guys want to say hi? Can I get a wave? Can we get a wave?

Speaker 6: 5:21

Everybody wave, Ches wave. It's pretty sweet.

Speaker 5: 5:24

They'll try, but otherwise all is good here. We just wanted to play along.

Speaker 1: 5:37

Well, I'm glad to have you and, as long you're welcome, to keep them on camera as long as possible. They're doing amazing. That's not something. I think even Bunsen, like Bunsen and Beaker, couldn't pull it off for that long You'd have to be feeding them way more treats than you're feeding Kuno and Chesney.

Speaker 5: 5:55

It's just when you froze and you disappeared. Kuno got a little perturbed because all of a sudden the face was gone from the screen.

Speaker 1: 6:02

Oh, that's so cute.

Speaker 2: 6:05

Oh right, so what I did is I shared a bunch of barkingbeyondsupplycom things into the nest, and one of my favorite is GirlMath. It says GirlMath is avoiding shipping costs by buying more, and that is totally me.

Speaker 4: 6:20

I love that. I love that.

Speaker 2: 6:22

It's very true. It's very true.

Speaker 1: 6:27

Some comments on the live video, because it's all amalgamated except for Instagram. I can't see what's going on there. We've got a lot of people saying we've got people liking Norbert and then people liking Kuno and Chesney. So really, Chris, that's what we need to do is just do more Norbert and Kuno and Chesney content on PetChat.

Speaker 5: 6:50

So if you could actually get Bunsen and Beaker in there, then Bunsen and Beaker could be watching Kuno and Chesney who could be watching Bunsen and Beaker? And people would watch the dogs watching the dogs.

Speaker 1: 7:06

I don't know if I could get them into my studio. My computer is kind of a one thing that it's hooked up to so much technology and I promise I won't talk about technology because Chris hates that.

Speaker 5: 7:19

So Chris needs to get you a bigger studio for the dogs.

Speaker 1: 7:21

Yes, well, I do do the show in the Gremlin room. Chris is just in her pajama pants.

Speaker 2: 7:28

Oh, hey, thanks, Hi everybody, beaker, come here, Beaker.

Speaker 1: 7:34

I can't move very much here. I'm all hooked up. There's Beaker, all right. So we've got Beaker, oh.

Speaker 2: 7:41

Turn around Watch.

Speaker 1: 7:43

No, Beaker doesn't know, we can make it bigger.

Speaker 5: 7:47

Go see Beaker oh see now Kuno is watching Beaker.

Speaker 1: 7:50

Beaker doesn't ever look at screens, though. That's the thing.

Speaker 2: 7:54

She looks at.

Speaker 1: 7:55

Benny. She sometimes looks at Benny's yeah and birds.

Speaker 6: 8:00

Okay, okay.

Speaker 1: 8:02

For people on the audio only. What's happening right now is Chris is trying to get Beaker to look at Kuno. Who's looking at Beaker? But Beaker just thinks Chris has treats there she is. Bunsen is much too large to put down in the small space. So, and it's Golden Retriever Day, so you all get to see Golden Retriever because it's National Golden Retriever Day. Oh, she's a sweetheart.

Speaker 2: 8:32

Kuno and Chesney are looking.

Speaker 1: 8:33

They're looking. Yeah, that's cute. Beaker is just once pets, so she's like she loves this part.

Speaker 5: 8:40

Kuno might be thinking that Chris has treats for him and just doesn't know how to get them.

Speaker 1: 8:44

Oh, ginger is here now. Ginger has just arrived. Oh my God, this is a gong show. Okay, we now have a cat. Here we go.

Speaker 2: 8:56

Oh see what Kuno and Chesney think of her.

Speaker 1: 8:58

Oh look, there's a cat, kuno. What's going to happen? What a gong show. Oh, I got to be careful I don't unplug any cords so for folks listening, we still have people on audio. This must be a gong show, trying to figure out what's going on. That's so funny, good grief, okay. So, jamie, yeah, it's you. You know what, jamie? I'll send you an invite DM on Twitter and you can join the live if you'd like. How does that sound? Okay, so I'll just do that right now. Everything crashed for me, unfortunately, so all of my tabs shut down. Okay, I think it's time to move to community sharing.

Speaker 5: 9:49

Absolutely.

Speaker 1: 9:49

this is great, and I mean if anybody has a question or anything for the dogs, they feel free, you bet, okay, okay, so if you would like to share a pet story or have a question about Bunsen, beaker Ginger and Chesney Kuno guess what Now's the time. You can type in the question if you're watching us live, and I will be able to like, move it up to the screen, the Jumbotron, and you can request on Twitter audio spaces and speak. So that's one of the drawbacks of the live is it's not as much interactive unless you get the invite from us. But if you'd like to share your pet story, we'd love to have you up on stage. Jamie, hi, okay, jamie's here. Hello, we'll go to Jamie first. Jamie is live from Australia.

Speaker 4: 10:39

Hello everybody, how are you?

Speaker 1: 10:41

We're good, Jamie. It's so good to see you.

Speaker 4: 10:44

It's been so long since I've been able to be home on a Sunday morning to be able to listen to you.

Speaker 1: 10:51

Aw well, we're so happy to have you.

Speaker 4: 10:54

Hang on. Sorry, I can't stand across the screen turning up my volume. We've had oh God, it's been such a mess here. We've had heatwaves, covid over Christmas, a cyclone. Now my husband has dange fever and you gong shows. Yeah, this is us, the dogs. Oh, rose is squeaking something in the kitchen. The dogs are good.

Speaker 1: 11:28

Oh, I'm glad. I'm glad Jamie.

Speaker 4: 11:32

Yeah, when the cyclone came through. So last Thursday night we had cyclone Kirily come through Townsville. So essentially what we do is you close up everything, take everything inside sheds and houses and stuff like that, tie stuff down and you bring the dogs inside the house and you hunker down and hope for the best and then the power goes off for five and a half days.

Speaker 1: 11:57

Oh my goodness, I just can't imagine how much powerful are the winds when you have those cyclones.

Speaker 4: 12:08

Probably about 130 kilometers an hour.

Speaker 1: 12:11

Oh, my God.

Speaker 4: 12:14

So I have no idea what in miles. We probably only got about 60 miles of rain, so just over two inches of rain. Wow.

Speaker 4: 12:29

But of course, meteorology being what it is, when a cyclone crosses the coast, it changes straight after it crosses the coast and it goes from being really windy and cool to being really really still and bloody, disgustingly hot and 90% humidity. So we get, essentially, we just sat around sweating because there was nothing else we could do, because there's no electricity, and we just cut down all the trees that were damaged. Out the window I don't know if you can see out the window there's piles of chopped down trees and stuff like that, because the wind just shreds trees.

Speaker 1: 13:18

Oh my goodness Constantly. So, jamie, are the dogs? Do your dogs get scared of when it's that windy, like you know how some dogs are terrified of like thunder.

Speaker 4: 13:27

Yeah, so Rose and River were a bit freaked out. Jenna just went, whatever and went to sleep, because she's 10 and a half and she doesn't care. Yeah, but we gave half of each half a Phenergan tablet to each of those two because it was the only way to settle Rose down. She was running around and trying to get out and things like that, and that's when the power's off, we've got to leave all the doors open so that there's some airflow, otherwise you just die of humidity and yeah. So the Phenergan and she just went and fell asleep.

Speaker 1: 14:12

Is your house okay? Did you have any damage, Jamie? I'm sorry if I missed that.

Speaker 4: 14:16

No, not at all. No. What I'm going to do is I'm going to try and find. Rose, okay, she's got a squeaky avocado that she got for Christmas, oh, okay.

Speaker 1: 14:28

So if you're listening to audio only we get to see Rose, and yeah, so Rose does have an avocado. I love her coloring, jamie.

Speaker 6: 14:41

She's got like a white.

Speaker 1: 14:42

She's got like dark, dark, dark black eyes and ears and then a perfect white strip across the top of her head with a white nose, or like a white snoot down through her.

Speaker 4: 14:55

She does have a white snoot.

Speaker 1: 14:57

Yeah.

Speaker 4: 14:57

And she has white toes.

Speaker 1: 14:59

Yeah, it's cute, she's a good girl.

Speaker 4: 15:04

Oh, we got.

Speaker 1: 15:04

Chesney or Kuno is very interested in, kuno is very interested in.

Speaker 4: 15:11

Rose, there she is again.

Speaker 1: 15:12

Oh, she is such a good girl oh Kuno is like trying to knock over the computer. Careful Marla.

Speaker 4: 15:18

Oh, there's a fly. She's going to catch a fly.

Speaker 1: 15:20

Okay.

Speaker 4: 15:23

God, yes, so that's our update. It's been months and I have missed listening and chatting with you guys.

Speaker 1: 15:29

Oh well, I'm glad you're here.

Speaker 4: 15:30

So thank you for the opportunity.

Speaker 1: 15:32

You bet, I can't imagine. I mean, it's as hot there, that breaks my brain as it was probably cold here. That breaks your brain, right.

Speaker 4: 15:44

Yeah, so we had the heat wave. We had feels like temperatures of 46 degrees. That's why is?

Speaker 1: 15:53

stupid. So guess who we just? We just added, we just added keen the herd to the live.

Speaker 7: 16:02

Had Jason and family in the room, not in the room.

Speaker 4: 16:09

Kuno thinks that's fabulous and so does Chesney. What we did have after the cycling was we've got one chicken who? So we have roast Tyler Reigns and we have Jackie Tyler Reigns. Who is this chicken that won't go to bed? She just will not stay in the chicken yard for her own reasons. But she was on the roof of the chicken house, so at like a first story level of the roof, and she's just scratching around being a chicken and she and Rose play and they chase each other and they pick it. You know, they sort of go right at each other and chase each other until one of them decides they're bored and they just wander off. So yeah, she was fine. I don't know where she hid during the cyclone, but she was fine.

Speaker 1: 16:57

Oh yeah.

Speaker 4: 17:00

Bunsen and hello Kuno and Chesney.

Speaker 1: 17:03

Hello, hello, um team. Can we go to somebody on Twitter and then we'll go to you? If you'd like to chat, are you okay? Are you okay just there with Anderson? We're ready to just hang up. I love that you're here. Thank you, that's great, I'm. People will probably just be so happy to see you and Anderson there. So that's Anderson. That's Owen. Oh sorry, oh sorry. Oh yeah, all right, my bad.

Speaker 5: 17:30

I waved, but I realized I was on the wrong side of the camera, sorry, okay.

Speaker 1: 17:35

We'll go to Baden, Rich. Thanks for waiting. Anybody else on Twitter audio who'd like to chat? Come on up, Go ahead, Rich. Hello, how you guys doing.

Speaker 8: 17:46

We're good. Hello, hey Chesney, hey Kuno, good to see you, boys, girls, boy and girl. Um, I'm Arla. There's an interesting lag between Twitter and live, because I've got live up on my um, on my uh, on my iPod and I've got Twitter on my phone. Like, there's just this lag as the words go through and I can see Jason, everybody's nose moving, but then no, but the words have come out already. It's kind of cool, love it. Um, let's see Interesting things. Uh, a cyclone, I think, is what we call a hurricane, which is uh, defined as an extremely low pressure system with winds over 69 knots, uh, which is about 110 kilometers an hour. So 130 is definite, 130 KM is about 85. So that's definitely windy, that is very windy. Um, don't enjoy them. We get them every so often just to keep us on our toes, uh and uh to make sure that we have everything lashed down. And I always say we're not going to get hit by a hurricane this year because I've tested the generator and every year mother nature goes. Nah, you're wrong again.

Speaker 1: 19:06

Well, that's, that's not something that we we're not near an ocean, right, so we just don't get that stuff.

Speaker 8: 19:12

You're about as far away from uh big water as you can get in Canada off the top of my head.

Speaker 1: 19:18

Uh, I think like the middle of Saskatchewan is the most landlocked place in all of Canada, because you it's, you can maybe get the Hudson Bay faster than you can in Alberta. That's true, you, you might be honest up rich. Yeah, you might be thinking Arctic.

Speaker 8: 19:39

Yes, the the other thing, if you'll the other thing is goofball turned nine on the 30th. Oh well, happy birthday. He was well spoiled. I know some of the Some of the people here who are listening know that he got treats. There's a corner store or it's a little farm market called Avery's. We usually go in there for a walk on to pick up our what some people call idiot tax, other people call lotteries, and the the workers in there spoil him absolutely foolish. And we went to a local pet store and he got spoiled absolutely foolish. And then he got even more spoiled when he got home because our daughter bought him all kinds of treats at the pet store. So We've actually he's mad at me because I've reduced his normal food intake because he's gotten so many treats.

Speaker 8: 20:37

Okay how do I know the Labrador? And for everybody in Canada this is a little off topic. I don't know if you know this, but Timmy's is having their Donut for Special Olympians over this weekend.

Speaker 1: 20:53

Oh, I did not know that.

Speaker 8: 20:55

Yes Proceeds, go to support Special Olympics all the way across the country. Okay, special Olympics and not saying it? I've been trying to do what I can to support wheelchair and and dog users, but my personal Battle for inclusion is for special needs people. My daughter is a special Olympian. I'd like to know where the last 28 years went, because all of a sudden she turned 28 a while back and I mentioned this before that. She's off to Calgary for the Special Olympics winner games and support. As part of Emna Voskosia for bowling, we decided to get new flooring instead of going out with her, so well, that's very I know you mentioned that before rich, but that's, you know, that's super commendable, I love it.

Speaker 8: 21:53

Yeah, and so back to the Tim. Back to the Timmy. So if I could just I don't normally show for big corporations, but if everybody could in Canada could wander in and get a Special Olympics donut over the weekend, that would be really cool. We were supposed to go to two Timmy's today to in support of this, in support of the the donut campaign, but Mother Nature decided that we are going to have a blizzard for the next two or three days. So we decided that Valor or discretion was the better part of Valor, no, valor not being the better part of discretion. So we've been hunkered down a snow to snowblow to the driveway once or twice, but I haven't had my Timmy's today.

Speaker 1: 22:42

Well, chris and I have to go in tonight to get groceries, chris hey.

Speaker 2: 22:46

Yeah, and Jason, you'll love it. Like one side is sprinkled on it and the middle looks like the torch. It's like whipped cream that oh my god what.

Speaker 5: 22:56

I know just tell me, in solidarity, kuno volunteers to eat the donut that you can't have rich.

Speaker 1: 23:09

We are getting this donut tonight. After pet chat we ran out of bananas that we use for our breakfast shake, so you know, might as well go in. Well, thanks for the update rich and for letting everybody in Canada know about the Special Olympics donut very cool. Thank you, you bet Okay, We'll head over to live Teen if you want to do an update. If you're available, we'll throw to you now if you'd like.

Speaker 7: 23:36

I do. I want to say first, huge congratulations to riches daughter. Please have a donut for us. On behalf of Key, for Sutherland, the paragraph who does have a pair. We don't have an Olympics category for me up, but we're working on it. On the special needs notes, I stumbled on a young herein who looks just like David Bowie. He is Hard of hearing, not a hundred percent deaf, anyway. He's amazing and and he does sign language along and lip syncs along to the songs and it's really cool. So I took Anderson downstairs, since he's deaf and knows sign language, and we did a duet with the kid.

Speaker 7: 24:17

Oh he sent a message and we're gonna collaborate on doing something that works Specifically with the language that Anderson knows.

Speaker 1: 24:26

Oh, that's so sweet.

Speaker 7: 24:28

So that's kind of fun and upcoming the rest of the updates. Benedict Cumberbatch he's in a biggest loser challenge with Purina, a weight loss program. He is a little bit chunky but he mostly needs to lose the weight for health reasons. He just had hip surgery around Thanksgiving and his kneecap is swung all the way around, floating on the inside of his knee and we've got to get some of this extra weight off. Super proud, he lost one and a half pounds. I don't know what that is in kilogram Now I don't do that, but Um, that's really big. It takes dogs. They don't lose like humans. My understanding is you can you lose a lot right away and then plateau and then it takes time. Jobs, it's kind of it's a slow climb to going down for and for weight loss.

Speaker 1: 25:21

I.

Speaker 7: 25:22

Have new cat. Oh yes, Tori Amos. She's a calico. She has been in the foster system for about four years. She started in California so he's taken in by an organization called best friends in Utah who has an amazing shelter environment. She's been sick ever since she has come into the foster program and They've gotten her over a lot of the problems. But she's since tested positive for Khaleesi virus, which is um. It's a horrible, horrible respiratory infection and the chance of completely curing them is nearly impossible. There is a vaccine for it. It's not in your standard cat vaccines. Well, it turns out my little, you know Already has that. My cats are already vaccinated. I know how to treat it. I'm equipped to handle it. I have a quarantine room, so she just moved in last week.

Speaker 7: 26:18

Oh, my goodness yeah, she's a calico and 10 years old.

Speaker 1: 26:26

Cal. I was talking to a scientist about calico cats the other day, I guess. So she, she, her family or no? When she's absurd is one second. I Got a bit of a dry cough. I apologize everybody, I can't mute to the whole stream, so some of you heard me cough.

Speaker 1: 26:49

Okay, make a long story short. She's a professor, she lives in the country and they're always like getting stray cats. So she has like a whole bunch of them. They all can't live in the house so she feeds them in their barn and then she tries to re-home them right. And then so she was telling her students she's like hey guys, does anybody want who? Who's in the market for a cat? They're a great university pet their way. You know you don't have to. They're not as needy as a dog. If you want to say that, right. And then she's like the funny part with some of some of her students in university. We're like I'd like a black one. She's like no, they're all calico. Your choice is a calico or a calico or a calico. And kids are like Um, is there anyone that's a little bit black? She's like no, they're a hundred percent calico and they're good cats. You don't get a choice. And they're like can we see a picture? And the she's like Google calico cat, that's what you're going to get. They all look the same.

Speaker 7: 27:43

They all look the same Um a mutual friend of ours gr dialogues has a calico named Shanghai and these two cats have the same little caterpillar Smudge on their chin and and eye marking. That's just opposite on there. So they're like, oh, I'm gonna go get a cat, I'm gonna get a cat, and that's just opposite on there. Um, they're adorable, it's um. On the cat thing, it's kind of a myth that the black cats get adopted last. They usually get adopted first because people think no one wants the black cat. It's the calico and the orange tabby's, which is why I have a cow's full of orange tabby's, I think.

Speaker 1: 28:24

Oh, Madison is saying all calicoes are female. I didn't know that.

Speaker 7: 28:27

They are it's. I'm sure there's probably been one male there, Same with the tortoise. They're typically female. I've never met an male calico.

Speaker 1: 28:42

Right, and then most orange cats are male. That's why ginger is kind of rare yeah.

Speaker 7: 28:47

Right, and I have the two females that are. I have one male, legless and the other two are female, so they're kind of. You know, it was always when we got Uno being, you know, the magical cat with the eye and the infections and sick with this and that and just nursing her along for the whole year and her being a female, you know she was like the unicorn. And then I think I've had three other orange cat fosters that were females. I've had a bunch, so not as rare but definitely rare. Never heard of a male calico. So I would love someone to prove us all wrong.

Speaker 1: 29:21

I don't know, I don't know. I don't know anything about cats. I'll throw to Chris. Chris, do you have some folks on Twitter audio? I've just been watching the live stream and doing comments there.

Speaker 2: 29:33

Yeah, so Baden has. Well, Rich has his hand up and I'm going to bring up Jen C. So go ahead, Rich, and then Jen C After.

Speaker 8: 29:45

I read somewhere that the calico coloring is a genetic mutation mostly specific to females. There have been some male calicoes, but they have a whole lack of genetic health issues and don't do well. So that's yeah. That's now. That's off the internet, so I don't know how true it is.

Speaker 7: 30:10

I Trust that 100% that seems seems.

Speaker 2: 30:15

Inhumans is the Kleinfelder syndrome syndrome.

Speaker 1: 30:19

Oh, interesting.

Speaker 2: 30:20

Yeah, so it's a genetic mutation and that's why the orange cats are all male, and if they're female then they are Sterile, they are barren, they can't reproduce.

Speaker 7: 30:36

It's kind of like there's certain fish that can't breed in captivity To well. Maybe not the same, but Probably similar. There's definitely mutations that you know happen and, yeah, I'm sure he knows Goes with it. But it does make sense that you know. If there was a male calico, maybe they didn't thrive and survive long enough to determine what they are we should investigate, jason we should.

Speaker 1: 31:09

That seems like something I should do on the science podcast. Yeah, I just figured out something on the live stream. I can. I can make the guests. Oh, I just made Kuno the main thing.

Speaker 7: 31:23

I see that oh.

Speaker 1: 31:24

There it goes.

Speaker 2: 31:25

Okay, I'm learning, oh oh okay, jason, I with the little bit of leg. I'm always worried that I'm talking over somebody else, so hopefully no one's talking right now. Jen, go ahead. Joe, jen, you have your hand up, go ahead. Welcome, good to see you.

Speaker 9: 31:41

Hi, I you know, with the calico cat, I just had to chime in here, so I had a calico she, obviously a she, but she actually had four colors instead of three and actually a calico was only supposed to have three colors. And I mean she was just a doll and she was just beautiful but not very smart and and my and my, my, you know, my, my neuroscience students nicknamed her brain stamp and, but she was just adorable, but even having four colors is a really big Genetic mutation. So anyway, I just had to add that. But the nicest cat.

Speaker 7: 32:26

What was the first color? Because they're orange, black and white. Did you do? Was?

Speaker 9: 32:30

it well so.

Speaker 9: 32:32

So with the colors, as I understand it, like you either have a lighter, dark on each color right, and she had two oranges, oh, Wow so, yeah, so, like she had a sort of a light orange and a dark orange and there obviously was something you know amok, I Adopted her with another very smart, actually black cat who would, you know, spill things, do things run and leave? You know the cat? Yeah, tabitha, this cat, you know to take the blame. But it was very clear you know that she, something you know was amok. But again, she was just such a nice cat and beautiful and she looked like a caterpillar, you know hmm, very stunning.

Speaker 1: 33:26

Well, thanks Jen.

Speaker 8: 33:30

Do I count as a male calico because before it turned gray, my beard was brown, red and blonde.

Speaker 1: 33:36

I Don't know how many genetic mutations do you have, rich?

Speaker 8: 33:41

I don't know. I've never really dug into it.

Speaker 7: 33:45

I've got a couple with the red hair. I'm gonna say, yes, you can be a cat.

Speaker 8: 33:56

Well, I have to admit I got through COVID, but just watching the cats laying around watching like keeping clean and staying away from people, worked out great. I.

Speaker 1: 34:05

Love it. I saw Jen drop down. Jen, thanks for piping up there. We always appreciate people knowing more than us. I'm not a cat person and I know I'm just good. I probably would just trust whatever anybody said about cats. So, chris, do we have anybody else on Twitter that would like to speak during the sharing section?

Speaker 2: 34:32

Well, I'll just do an all-call. Is there anybody interested in speaking and sharing here on Twitter spaces?

Speaker 1: 34:40

We also got the Instagram feedback.

Speaker 2: 34:43

Oh hooray, Good work, yeah I love that I. Was showing Annalise, kuno and Chesney Because you have them just as the central feature on the screen like they are right now. Yeah, I hope that's okay with teen and Jamie, but I mean there.

Speaker 7: 34:59

Oh, I prefer. Oh yeah, nobody wants to see me.

Speaker 1: 35:02

Well, they sure do, but go ahead rich rich.

Speaker 2: 35:05

You have your hand up. Yeah, I just had a question.

Speaker 8: 35:09

Question for Marla? How many hours a day do you put into training Kuno and Chesney? Because the videos I see it's just so amazing.

Speaker 5: 35:22

It's more. When do I not train Pretty much anything I do with a dog, I'm working on something or I'm reinforcing a behavior that I want so like, unless it's downtime or napping or sleeping, you know, or it's just chill out on the walk we're always kind of working on Something to keep them engaged and interested.

Speaker 5: 35:42

I find they really like the challenge. But you know, I Would say with Chesney she probably gets like dedicated training Most days I don't know if I'm doing it right, I don't know if I'm doing it right, I don't know if I'm doing it right. It's she's just just Staying most days two 20 minute sessions that are just like really focused on something, and. But it's kind of one of those things where, Like you're either training or you're that you trained by not keeping your training up, so they just keep getting better and better at stuff.

Speaker 8: 36:26

Yeah, no, I really I love the videos of you working with them and then, when you're doing the oh, it's the competitions and I can't remember the name of them was just watching the other alley obedience. That's just their abilities and your abilities are just so cool and they they appear to be so focused on you and what you want and you're focused. They're focused on you while you focus on them, so that you're working together as a team and that's just. That's just really, really cool.

Speaker 5: 37:06

Well, we're hoping to do a little bit of a teaching with that. I do some work with a local service dog trainer out here and I'm going to see if she has any clients that we can get started and offer a kind of novice to intermediate level rally class that we will modify for anybody's disability. So maybe we can a few more people involved in the sport, because as far as I know, I'm still the only wheelchair user. I do know a woman who is blind and a woman who uses a walker, but we don't have a lot of people with disabilities and dog sports here in Canada and there's no reason they they shouldn't be. You know, you can teach everything your dog needs to know without having to be able to be super physically interactive with your dog. So there's ways. There's ways.

Speaker 5: 38:07

I think that a lot of people are surprised. That is that, like I say I can, I can train everything sitting from a wheelchair. I don't have to lure the dog's nose to the ground, I don't have to, you know, be able to pull on a leash. I can do it all from a wheelchair. You just have to learn the art of starting to capture the behavior and start communicating with the dog so they can figure out what it is that you want and where you want it. And eventually you enter the dog that knows the behavior. You match that behavior to a cue and then you know you're off. You've got a dog that can do all sorts of things. Like most tricks you can teach well sitting on your couch with a clicker and a mega kibble.

Speaker 8: 39:00

I love it. Yeah, I've, I've got Baden with a few basic commands sit, he 'll occasionally stay and he will, he will down, but I I've used hand cues for those, those behaviors, and I wasn't. I wasn't as consistent as I should have been and there's maybe other people in the house who weren't as consistent as I would like them and I'm not going to mention any names case it gets back to them and I'm in deep trouble.

Speaker 1: 39:40

Watch out.

Speaker 5: 39:40

See, if I'm not consistent, I can only blame me. Thanks, oh.

Speaker 7: 39:47

I'm with Anderson. I, he's deaf, I can't use a clicker, so we did have to use a lead in the beginning and, like, his first couple of weeks of intensive training was just getting him to look at my hand, you know. So we did a real loosely surround his neck and, you know, look at the hand, look at the hand, look at the hand. And now he doesn't need it at all and can learn new skills with it. And Marla has actually inspired me to look into a rally obedience Group competition, something I would love to see how Anderson would perform in public, because we he can do most of the obstacles in my backyard, but he's in my backyard and you know we do when there's no distractions around. And I'm going to try.

Speaker 5: 40:40

The distractions are definitely the challenging part. I mean you, both my dogs. If I can get into a ring and it's just us, it's fantastic. And down the states 80 KC lets you video submit your rounds. They have virtual rally, so that might be something to look at. But up here we don't have that as an option and the dog show environment or a rally trial environment is so different just all the smells, the sounds, the people and things going on and rings beside you and we always seem to end up with like right beside another ring so that you've got, you know, one dog doing a retrieval of a dumbbell while you're trying to get your dog to do a recall over a jump, and it's a lot. So response times are always slower at the dog show. It's never as clean and as crisp as it is at home At home in practice.

Speaker 5: 41:44

Yeah, but yeah.

Speaker 7: 41:46

I don't have to worry about the noise because you can't hear anything. And if I can keep them, you know most of the people on his blind side, but the smell of a new environment will.

Speaker 5: 41:56

The smell is a lot, but if you can train outside, that's how he functions. Train outside of dog parks and if you've got like a summer fair, go practice. You know, near the summer fair where you get that the smells of food and people.

Speaker 7: 42:11

Yeah, I was going to use the skate park. That works too, you know.

Speaker 1: 42:17

Yeah.

Speaker 7: 42:18

Look into the virtual rally.

Speaker 1: 42:20

In Canada, you definitely get some interesting smells at our skate parks.

Speaker 7: 42:28

And it'll be like this smells delicious. I love sweat socks.

Speaker 1: 42:34

Can we go back to Twitter? Somebody has their hand up. Chris said Chris, what's going on there?

Speaker 2: 42:39

Yeah, jen, welcome back. You must have dropped down to listener and now you're back to speak. Hi, hi.

Speaker 9: 42:46

Sorry, I had to ask a question. So I have two special needs kids that are adults now they're living with me. They're 21 and 19. And I think I've mentioned before, across the street from me I have a neighbor that tried to raise a dog as a service dog, claire, this beautiful, I think, red lab. Just gorgeous and such a nice, nice girl, but just a bit too hyper. And I guess my question is for your speakers is it ever too late to train a dog? So I'm a Saskatchewan and I guess there was like a trial period or something and this dog was deemed too hyper to be a service dog. But so is there really a limit or a time limit on that? So I don't know, very curious.

Speaker 5: 43:43

Saskatchewan has different legislations than we have here in Alberta. In Saskatchewan, as long as you have a doctor's note and the dog is task trained it doesn't even specify how many tasks as long as the dog is task trained, then technically they're considered a service dog. So in Saskatchewan there's sort of no real benchmark for the obedience and the temperament of the dogs unless it's through a program, and I'm assuming that this dog was going through a program to be placed with somebody and they deemed that the dog was just too energetic. I know haps that you.

Speaker 5: 44:30

Yeah, in the provinces that have standards we set by the government, we have to retire the dog out by 10. So I mean, especially with the bigger dogs, you're getting into seeing your citizenhood with them. But as far as it being too late, no, it takes longer for the older dogs to learn things, especially whatever tasks you need. Puppies pick things up super fast, dogs between 1 and 2, super fast. But if you've got a dog that's 5, it's going to take a lot longer for that behavior to come about and be shaped. But I mean, it's never too late as long as they're physically capable, have the right mindset, the right temperament. Again, here in Alberta we need vet clearances, so that's something that they don't require in Saskatchewan. At this point I don't know yet if you've even children.

Speaker 9: 45:39

That makes sense. I think this dog was raised as a puppy, but I didn't realize that the dogs were raised for maybe a particular family, and that would make sense. If it didn't work out, is there any?

Speaker 5: 45:55

way With them. They'll raise the dog up to a certain level and start working on. They'll do all the general training and obedience and a few tasks that they feel would be good for that dog or a lifestyle that will be good for that dog. Some dogs are really good with scent so they might look at diabetic detection. Some dogs are just super quiet so it might make a great autism dog. Some dogs have a great on and off switch and can go for miles so it's a great mobility dog. So they kind of see what the dog is like and they start it down that road and then they look at the candidates on their wait list and once they pick that person for that dog, usually try and match it up with the training.

Speaker 9: 46:49

OK, yeah, thank you, that makes a lot of sense.

Speaker 1: 46:53

Jenna, I'll just go to Teen. Teen was going to mention something too, unless Marla covered it, Teen.

Speaker 7: 47:00

The United States seems a little bit more relaxed. We don't require a school or an obedience certificate or really even veterinary records. I have some opinions about that. I know Samson's mom does as well, because that's where we get all of the. This is not a service dog, you just invest on your animal. It's never too late to train a dog, whether it's to be service or support or even just to behave in your house. I get so many senior dogs in here and by the end of their first week they are sitting and staying on my couch with the rest of the pack. I do recommend training them individually so they get that attention and bond with you, and dogs want to please. So if you can really focus on getting that bond built between you, you'll have a bigger success. I know Marla and I both agree that the pack mentality training. There's pros and cons to it. When I say sit and everybody sits, the one who will look around and go, oh, it's time to sit.

Speaker 1: 48:15

That's how ginger does everything but that doesn't really happen, but that's they really.

Speaker 7: 48:19

I mean I expect them to sit because I gave that command.

Speaker 1: 48:24

Thanks, team.

Speaker 7: 48:25

If you're not learned individually. Socializing with other animals and being in a pack and being able to perform their tasks in a pack environment is extremely beneficial. But I guess I don't know. I remember when I was little and we had a doberman and my dad was taking her to training and I went one night and it was 10 other dogs, they were all dobermans and if one dog didn't perform exactly like the dog next to it they would get a check mark of non-compliance. And we have to remember that they are dogs and that they are individuals and it's never too late to train.

Speaker 5: 49:11

And I think they get. That's great, they enjoy it. The challenge they need to still have that feeling like they win and they succeed Exactly Like with Sear. They do a lot of cent work, things like that with so many dogs because it lets them get that win and feeling like they're achieving things and still finding the prey. They need to have a good time and be challenged. They can't just lay on the couch and watch TV all day.

Speaker 9: 49:41

That's really promising, like when I look at.

Speaker 7: 49:45

Claire. It came to me as a horrible mess and I couldn't quite figure out if he could hear me or not, and so we did some. You know there's some, you know snap tests, different pitches to figure out if they have any hearing or a little bit and he has none. But he will sit, he will stay, he will come when I call him. You know, he just had to learn to watch my hand.

Speaker 1: 50:13

I love it. I'm just going to be the bridge between the two because there's a lag. People from Twitter are wanting to talk and then there's a lag with the livestream, if that's OK. So I'll go to Chris and then we'll come back, if that's all right, because there's some people who are wanting to follow up. Chris, go ahead.

Speaker 2: 50:34

Unfortunately, afifa has left. Afifa had a question about kitten food, so they won't hear this now to be able to ask their question, so I guess it'll always remain a mystery.

Speaker 1: 50:51

Jen, you were trying to say something and then it was a, it was a whole thing. What were you saying? It was just a bit of a lag.

Speaker 9: 51:00

Sorry, I just want to say thanks for talking about that. It gives me hope, you know, for the dog me across the street. I, you know I think I don't know if the people that raised Claire will keep this dog forever, but I can tell she really wants to interact with my kids and it's good to know they can still be trained or, you know, be happy doing that. So thanks for letting me ask those questions, and I'm not a dog person, but this dog is making me think I might be.

Speaker 1: 51:32

Marla team. Thank you for your expertise, so I'm going to go to Chris. Chris, I'll go. I'll go to you, you can run. There's some people wanting to speak on Twitter. Go ahead, Chris.

Speaker 2: 51:47

You can run the show from Twitter. Oh, for sure, yeah, so we have Tracy who came up to speak, and then we have Brent. Go ahead, Tracy. Hi guys.

Speaker 1: 51:58

Hi how are you guys doing? We are good.

Speaker 2: 52:04

Yeah, we're doing really well. How are you? How's Ricky?

Speaker 6: 52:08

I'm good, I just got home. He's pretty good. I mean he thinks we like eating better. I have like it's like selectable, but you like like broth that you can put on his dry food, so it's more appetizing to him and he seems to like that. He was a little bit meow-y today, this morning, definitely trying to get in with the cry meow, but I did end up going to work and moving him so, but I just got home, so we should be happy to be home for the rest of the night. I might be taking off tomorrow because it's supposed to be like so bad here with the rain and the wind and it's supposed to start like tonight and then keep going. So last time the bridges were flooded, so I may just be home with him tomorrow, so but that's about everything that's going on here, so I'm going to go ahead and get some rest. I'm going to go ahead and get some rest. You guys see my sister recently, so I got some exfollows and still a pretty happy boy.

Speaker 2: 53:26

Oh, I'm so lucky he really likes all the love.

Speaker 1: 53:35

Thanks, tracy. Okay, chris, we have another speaker on Twitter. Go ahead.

Speaker 2: 53:41

We do Brent. Hi Brent Hello.

Speaker 3: 53:46

Well, I know that I told you last week in the chat about being able to train the God dogs. Well, every week I go, the dogs want me to come back on the days that I don't volunteer there.

Speaker 1: 54:07

They're missing you, yes, aw.

Speaker 3: 54:12

Because the dogs are super like. The dogs were super friendly and I'm scared of dogs, but the dogs are so friendly that I overcame the fear of dogs.

Speaker 2: 54:28

Yeah, brent, I remember your story about the golden retriever that helped you get over your fear of dogs, and today is National Golden Retriever Day.

Speaker 1: 54:38

Woot, woot go golden retrievers.

Speaker 2: 54:41

Well, jason, I think Brent is done speaking, so thank you, brent. Thank you for sharing that. Your mic is off and I don't have anybody else here wishing to speak here on Twitter Spaces.

Speaker 1: 54:57

Perfect. I just want to give a shout out to Indra. Indra's been in the audience for a bit. Apparently she's coming down a mountain, so Indra is our partner. She does wonderful audio shows about mindfulness, wellness and how to be your best self. Sorry, I don't mean to laugh. Just uh, chesney is jumping on the live stream. So thanks for coming, indra. We love partnering with you and please check out her audio shows. Indra's been really busy so I think her shows are just like maybe not every week all the time, but yeah, we'll definitely keep you guys in the loop about those. There we go. Let's go to music. Thanks everybody who came to Pet Chat.

Speaker 1: 55:41

I do want to plug the science podcast. The science podcast is back. I cut together um, I cut together the first episode of season six. Chris, I've done. This is now the sixth season of my podcast show. Can you believe that?

Speaker 1: 56:01

The? The science behind teen cannabis use, the science of tail wagging, and I have Dr Kelly deal who is one of the lead scientists behind the golden retriever lifetime study. So that is a massive, massive, huge study that closed a couple of years ago. Um, that looked at perhaps why gold retrievers do die a little bit sooner than other breeds and they do die of cancer, um, certain types of cancer. So it was a. For me it was a really hard interview because, of course, Kallin died of cancer and we have beaker and we just love beaker so much, but I think it's to it. The reason why I kept that in my pocket was today is school and retriever day, so, um, I think it's important to celebrate goldens and also celebrate the scientists are looking into making them live as long as possible. So we'd love for you to listen to the science podcast On good pods, apple pods, apple podcasts everywhere podcasts are found. Um, and side chat starts next week. Chris, are you excited for side chat?

Speaker 2: 57:06

I am so excited for side chat.

Speaker 1: 57:08

Yeah, so so far every single scientist is going to be on live, so we will have the multicast of side chat.

Speaker 2: 57:15

That's amazing, well done.

Speaker 1: 57:17

But I only have five science guests, so we're going to run out of guests in March, that's okay, we can always find more. That's right. That's right. Take care everybody. Um, I'm going to start shutting down the streams. We've already lost Instagram because it dies after one hour. Okay, goodbye Live streams. I'm shutting you down. Thank you for listening. Thank you for watching, take care.

Speaker 2: 57:42

It sounds like good night moon, good night kittens, good night mittens.

Speaker 1: 57:49

And if to everybody who was listening on audio, that was very cool. Thanks for sticking around there. Bye.