[00:00:00] Emily: It's July, the pavement is hot enough to fry an egg. In some places, literally because when I was a child, we used to do street cookies, where we would leave cookie dough on a cookie sheet on the asphalt and let it do its thing. So this is not an exaggeration in some places. Your dog has no concept of dangers like heat stroke or foot pad burns. They don't care. They're at the door. They're doing the walk dance. They're staring at you with the full weight of their opinions to make you feel so guilty for not taking them out on a walk. And that doesn't change the fact that you know that if you take them out on a walk right now, you both might die. So let's not do that, friends. How do you deal with those moments when you can't give your dog what they want?

[00:01:02] Allie: Welcome to Enrichment for the Real World, the podcast devoted to improving the quality of life of pets and their people through enrichment. We are your hosts, Allie Bender...

[00:01:13] Emily: ...and I'm Emily Strong...

[00:01:14] Allie: ...and we are here to challenge and expand your view of what enrichment is, what enrichment can be and what enrichment can do for you and the animals in your lives. Let's get started.

Thank you for joining us for today's episode of Enrichment for the Real World, and I want to thank you for rating, reviewing, and subscribing wherever you listen to podcasts.

[00:01:34] Emily: I can't help it. I know you're gonna be like, "Why are you?" And Ellen is probably going to cut this out, but I have to kick this episode off with, when you can't give your dog what they want, you can't give your dog what they want.

[00:01:52] Allie: Ellen's 100% gonna keep this in

[00:01:54] Emily: But if you try sometimes, you just might find you give them what they need.

[00:02:01] Allie: That's it. That's the end of the episode.

[00:02:03] Emily: That's the end of the episode. All right, friends, thanks so much for being here. We'll see you next week. Also, I apologize for my really bad singing. But I did that. It's out there now.

[00:02:12] Allie: It's happened

happened forever

[00:02:14] Emily: it's, it's happened forever. It's, it is now in, in, the uh, the records.

The zeitgeist. It's now in the zeitgeist. I have, I have changed our culture-

[00:02:28] Allie: You have.

[00:02:29] Emily: So how do you deal with those moments when you can't give your dog what they want? We can help our pet adjust to sudden care routine changes. That's, that is how we give them w- what they need, not what they want. And right now we're talking about summertime heat, but the same goes for wintertime snow, smoky wildfire season, the torrential downpours of hurricane season, or just, like, individual things like your dog just tore their CCL and now they need to be on bed rest and physical therapy and careful, carefully constructed activities, not the chaos goblin activities they usually participate in, right? But in terms of the summer stuff that we're talking about now, it brings longer days, hotter pavements, and just hotter everything in general, schedule changes, kids home from school, travel, disrupted routines. That's a lot. For dogs who have learned to rely on routine, which by the way is most dogs, that disruption hits hard, and it can cause them to feel frustrated, and then pass that frustration along to you.

They're like, "If I have to be frustrated, friends, you have to be frustrated, too." That's how dogs operate usually. Not always, but usually. So you find yourself trying to negotiate with this beast. There's this beast in your home that you are embroiled in negotiations with. And you're like, "Why am I having to negotiate with a dog?" But they just keep demanding that you take them on the walk like you always do, and nothing that you say to them help... will change their mind, right? So by the end of this episode, you will have some ways to fill your dog's cup when your usual strategies are off the table, and you'll be able to navigate the frustration that comes with clear communication, very clear communication sometimes, that still doesn't lead to the desired outcome

[00:04:43] Allie: so we have absolutely talked about seasonal enrichment activities before. I have said I think on the pod- probably on the podcast, I know it's a blog post, about winter oso. But now we're talking about summer oso, which is not really a thing, but, you know, just like go with me because, you know, in the spirit of

[00:05:07] Emily: The episode

[00:05:08] Allie: the episode.

The, but like the, the, what's the thing where like there's a thing and then it's mirrored over here

Symmetry?

[00:05:16] Emily: Okay. Okay, in the spirit of symmetry. Got it. Okay

[00:05:19] Allie: In the spirit of symmetry, we'll talk about summer also. The hard thing for those of you who have a hot and often humid summer season is that the strategies that most pet parents rely on, things like walks, and outdoor play, and predictable schedules, are the first things that summer disrupts. As Emily mentioned, heat makes outdoor activity dangerous during peak hours, especially, like, let's say you're somebody who relies on using a flirt pole with your dog, and you have a big kiddo like Oso, and so you can't do it in your house. You're gonna need some other summer activities unless you wanna be out there at, like, 4:00 in the morning when it's cool enough to do flirt pole.

Not saying from, you know, like, any personal experience or 

anything like that. Absolutely not. And then for those of you who have human children in your home, having those kids home from school changes the entire household rhythm and dynamics. Vacations and travel break up your routine entirely.

Summer is just like this Wild West kinda party going on here, which I love, and also my dog does not always love. So here's why our dogs don't always love that. They don't understand seasons in the same way that we do. They go out and they're like, "Ah, it's hot today," or, "Ah, it's cold today." Not that, like, hot happens during summer and cold happens during winter if you're in the Northern Hemisphere.

That's not really a thing that I think dogs fully comprehend.

[00:07:01] Emily: Well, and also they don't, they don't comprehend the consequences of heat and cold. They're not like, "It's hot outside. Ergo, I am at risk for heatstroke," or, "It's cold outside. Ergo, I am at risk for hypothermia," or like, "My little paws could get stuck in the ice," or, "My little paws could burn on the asphalt."

They don't, they don't make those connections in their heads. They're not, that's not a part of doggy logic, right?

[00:07:26] Allie: let's be real, humans also have a hard time 

[00:07:30] Emily: That's also not a part of human logic a lot of times either, yes.

[00:07:33] Allie: Yeah. I, like, I, I'm gonna tell a story that's not really relevant, but I'm gonna tell it anyway.

Yeah, so a few years ago, my dad and I went on a, a Utah road trip, and we hiked Delicate Arch. And for those of you who have hiked Delicate Arch at Arches National Park, it is ... There is absolutely zero shade.

It's a, it's like a three-mile hike there and back. Absolutely zero shade. You're in just the beating down sun the entire time. It was 90 degrees when we went, and it was, like, middle of the day because they had started doing, like, the timed park passes, and that's, like, when we could get in. So, like, we went at not a great time.

But, you know, I had lived in Utah for three years, so I knew that, like, you're not going to feel sweaty because there's no humidity and, but you're going to be losing a ton of water, and you need to bring, like, however many liters it is and all of that. Like, I knew all of that. The other people that were on this hike did not know that, and we sat there resting, watching a woman almost passing out and her husband running down.

And I was like, "Here's water for her." And he was like, "She has water," and she had, like, a single water bottle, and I was like, "Nah, bro.

[00:08:55] Emily: Bless your heart.

[00:08:57] Allie: No." And we had been talking to the husband. You know, he's from New York, and so I'm like, "Oh, you don't know desert. No. She does not have enough water."

So to be fair, you know, it's also hard for humans.

[00:09:11] Emily: It's true. It's true.

[00:09:12] Allie: She's fine, but...

[00:09:13] Emily: She survived. I had an opposite thing where I grew up in Texas, so I learned how to take heat seriously. But when I, when we moved to Utah, I loved the cold, and also I didn't have experience with the cold. So I, like, walked out to our car, which was far away from our house, just the way that our property was set up. I was in a sundress and barefoot, and there were, like, two feet of snow on the ground, and I just went to get something out of the car. And Chuck comes outside, and he goes, "What are you doing?" And I was like, "I'm going to get something from the car." And he was like, "It's seven degrees outside. Why are you barefoot in the snow when it's seven degrees outside?"

And I was like, "I'll be fine." And he's like, " N- no. Put actual clothing on." And he knew because he'd live in cold places. He knew the risks. I didn't, so I was not making good life choices because I didn't know the risks. So I think the lesson here is that if humans are that bad at it when we have, like, higher order reasoning skills, we can't expect our little non-human beasties with their doggy logic to have equal or, or better evaluations of, of their risk involved.

[00:10:26] Allie: 100%.

[00:10:27] Emily: I love that we had opposite stories for the same, same, same human errors.

[00:10:32] Allie: Yeah

[00:10:33] Emily: Oh, good times

[00:10:34] Allie: Oh, yeah. So, so dogs d- if, again, if humans can't do it to that level, dogs definitely can't do it to that level. But dogs do understand patterns, and when a pattern disappears, the nervous system, like, goes on alert. It's, you know, scanning, insisting, escalating. The dog at the door isn't being difficult, you know, wanting to go outside and you're like, "No, heatstroke is a thing."

They're doing exactly what they've learned to do when they need something, you know? They're like, "I want to go outside. I stand at the door. You let me out. That's the, That's 

the rule." 

[00:11:14] Emily: That's the contract. Yeah, that's the rule

[00:11:17] Allie: That, that's what we do. And so when they're at the door and you don't let them out, they're like excuse you, human.

You've forgotten your part of this pattern. Like, what are 

you doing?" 

[00:11:29] Emily: you are in breach of contract.

[00:11:31] Allie: Yes.

And, and so the problem is that, like, the usual answer isn't available, and we can't explain that to them, as somebody who just tried to explain to Oso that the pattern said it was Sunday, but it was actually Monday, and we can't do a thing on Monday that we do on Sunday. And he did not understand, because the pattern said it was Sunday.

[00:11:54] Emily: And I think the thing Ooh, I suddenly have a really bad echo. Nope,

it's gone now. That was wild. There was temporary echo, and then it went away. I don't understand that

And the thing that's funny... Okay, I'm not making fun of anybody because I do this too, so, like, it me and it all of us, it human, right, is that we forget sometimes, I think, that we are the ones with higher order reasoning, and our expectations of these beasts is kind of funny and cute and sad. And so this frustration conflict spiral happens where, like, the unmet needs of the dog or whatever animal we're working with, but usually in this, in this context dog, they, they get frustrated, and that can look like demand barking, pawing, zoomies, destructive behavior, inability to settle. If it's Miley, trying to physically force me to go where she wants me to go by grabbing me by the wrist and pulling. Little 23-pound Miley trying to pull my big body. It's pretty cute, and also no, baby. And then human gets frustrated at the frustrated dog and tries to redirect or just says no or tries to qu- quote, unquote, "correct it," which it, it's wild to me that we humans just don't figure out that that's not how any of this works. So then the dog escalates, and then the human escalates, and then it just keeps building, and nobody's happy, nobody wins, and everybody's like, "Why did I decide to get a dog? Why did I think this was a good idea? You're a terrible beast." I literally verbatim said that to Miley yesterday. Not the why did I get a dog part, but you're a terrible beast.

I said that verbatim yesterday to Miley. I called her a terrible beast. And in my defense, she is a terrible beast, but she's the best terrible beast, and she's very cute, so it's okay. But yeah, it, it... I'm, again, not making fun of anybody. I'm making fun of all of us as a species collectively together, including myself, and probably Ally, right?

It's probably you, too.

[00:14:11] Allie: 100%. 100%. I mean, that, that's like what we talk about with you can't be your own, your own behavior consultant. Like, I always use the example where, like, I was lamenting to you and Ellen where I was like, "Why is Oso doing this?" And you were like, "You know why he's doing this. You do this for a living, actually."

[00:14:29] Emily: Literally yesterday I had to ask Ellen for advice about how to help Kaya adjust to her new cage upstairs because we moved Chuck's office down into what was the bird room, and we're turning what was his office into a, like a library, sitting room, reading room, and Kaya now lives in a cage up there. And Ellen's, like, asking me all the good consulting questions, and I'm like, "Yeah, I knew this was gonna happen," where, like, she's just showing me how obvious the solution is, but I just couldn't see it 'cause I was immersed in it in the moment, right?

So happens to all of us, but if that's you you don't need to spend any time feeling shame or beating yourself up about it. It's normal to, when that happens, to feel like all your progress has just disappeared. This dog that used to be really... like, have a really solid routine and be really chill is suddenly a chaos goblin. That's, those are normal feelings, and also, it's not that dire, friends. The dog hasn't unlearned anything. It's just that the environment has changed, and so we need to adapt our strategies to those changes

[00:15:41] Allie: so this happens sometimes with Oso's adventure walks where the weather just, I, I don't wanna be out there, you know? If it's, if it's like 90 degrees and 80% humidity and I go outside and I feel like I've stepped into a shower,

I don't want to go take my dog on a walk. That's, like, just not a thing that I,

I would like to do at this time.

So, like, my body also is not okay under th- those parameters, so, like, it's just, it's not going to happen. And then there's this, this very consistent annoying thing that happens, because usually, and this is not as much now that, that Oso's in his twilight years, but this was very true for many years with him, where, you know, I'd get done with work around, like, 4:35.

At, like, 2:33, he'd be, like, right here following me, like, "We're doing it? We're doing it." And, like, any time I would get up, he'd be like, "This is it. We're doing it. We're going on our adventure walk." And so normally that is true, but when it's 90 degrees and 80% humidity, nah, that is not true. We are not going to go, even though the pattern of the day says that we are going to.

And unfortunately, that means that he's pestering me for the next several hours because he's like, " It's time. We should go. We should do the thing." And I am talking to him with my words, and I'm like, "No, it's hot out. I don't want to go. I can't go. I'm sorry. We can do other things." And he's like, "Screw other things.

I don't want that. I want to go on my adventure walk." And I'm like, "I recognize that, but we can't." And so we're just having this conversation in part English, part dog body language and behavior.

And it's a standoff where I'm, where he's like, "I want this thing and only this thing." And I'm like, "I see that, and I can't do it, so, like, I don't know how to help you right now because the answer is not what you want."

[00:17:59] Emily: Yeah. I mean, that so, so many times, so many times that happens to, I'm gonna say, with confidence, anybody who shares their life with a non-human beast. Right? The, the negotiations when you can't do what they're used to you doing can, can go real hard.

[00:18:19] Allie: I would say human toddlers, this is all like those of you with human toddlers also understand the standoff of, "I hear you. I know what you want. I still can't give it to you."

[00:18:30] Emily: Let's be real, I've had those same arguments with myself so many times. When, when my internal chaos goblin is like, "I wanna do the thing." And my stoic observer is like, "We can't do that right now, Emily. Physical body constraints or time constraints or budgetary constraints or whatever." And chaos goblin is like, "No, but I wanna." And stoic observer is like, "You know that that's not gonna happen right now, Emily, because reality." And chaos goblin is like, "Reality's stupid" and that. So like, I mean, like, I don't even need another beast to have that argument with. I can just have that argument with myself.

[00:19:10] Allie: That was such a great example of AuDHD

[00:19:14] Emily: Real facts though, ugh, I have a chaos goblin and a Vulcan inside my head, and they are constantly at war with each other

[00:19:22] Allie: The, the tism versus the ADHD

[00:19:25] Emily: It's true. It's true. Ugh. So anyway, how do we get around this? How do we move through these moments in a way that meets everybody's needs, deescalates that frustration, conflict spiral that happens, bring it back down to the, to calm, to reasonable, to satisfactory? Think of your dog's needs as a cup that needs to stay reasonably full. Physical, behavioral, emotional, social, sensory, all of those, all of those things, right? And in, when the weather is mild, moderate, like spring and fall time, unless spring and fall time are, in where you live, are seasons of inclement weather, in which case those aren't the moderate, mild times for you. But whenever that is in where you live, outdoor time may fill a big portion of that cup very easily. We are right now in the sweet spot where it's not raining, but it's not super hot, and so it's just sunny and cool, and the dogs, both of my dogs just wanna live outside constantly. They come in for water, they come in for food, they come in for naps, and otherwise they're like, "Let me outside. I don't want anything to do with you.

I've got adventures to adventure." So that makes my life really easy because the environment fills my dog's cup for me and I don't have to do a whole lot else. It's delightful But in other seasons when weather is not cooperating, when the outdoors is not filling the, the cup and meeting those needs, and is in fact compromising safety, welfare, and wellbeing, that, that tool is limited and the cup still needs filling.

So the tools just have to change. And it doesn't mean that you're starting over from scratch. Everything that your dog has already learned still applies. Relaxation is still a skill, skill they're building. Routine still matters. You're not reinventing the wheel, you're just adapting your routine to make it make more sense with your current reality. And that distinction matters enormously for pet guardians who are feeling defeated. And I'm gonna say probably a little exhausted too, right? Because I know that when I have winter oh- oh-so... I mean, nope, I don't have a winter oh-so. When I had winter Bree or when I ha- Now, so for me, my... It's rainy Miley. It's not winter Miley or summer Miley, it's rainy Miley.

Because when it's rainy outside, she tells me in no uncertain terms that that is incorrect. And y'all, someday I need to get video of it. She has to psych herself up to going outside to go to the bathroom. She runs up to the back door, does a loop around the house, runs back up to the back door, does a loop around the house, runs, like, into the threshold of the door, does another loop around the house, runs, like, the little dip outside, runs back around the house before she can finally muster the courage to run down the stairs, then she potties right by the stairs and comes right back inside. So during rainy season, which in Seattle friends is, like, most of the year, sh- she's not she's, she's not happy with the outdoors. So what does it look like to fill your dog's cup when you are in a place where summer is the not safe season for your dog? There, there, there's s- several options. I- depending on where you live and what your routine, what your own personal schedule is, and what your interests and capacities are. So we'll give you a list of possibilities, but bear in mind that these are just some ideas, and if they don't work for you or if they sound like they would work but you would hate them, you don't have to do them. These are just ideas First, you can either do an early morning or a late evening walk when the pavement is cool. If you live in Texas, that's like your window of time for when that's true is like 1:00 AM to 3:00 AM. So that's not always a realistic solution for everybody. As somebody who spent 30 years of their life in Austin, Texas, I'm just telling you, four months out of the year I just didn't walk dogs at any time of day because it'll still be 100 degrees at midnight. So yuck. Gross. Why did I live there for 30 years? I don't understand. I am not a hot weather person. I'm having traumatic feelings just remembering it. But for many places of the world, including like more deserty areas like the Southwest, it actually does cool down even if it does get into triple digits.

That was one thing I loved about Southern Utah is that even on the days when we hit triple digits, it would be in the 70s at night. So that's a strategy that works better for deserty places where it actually cools down Ally, do you want to get the next bullet list? Do you wanna alternate these bullet points or do you want me to do 'em?

[00:24:42] Allie: The next option is moving things indoors, that could be things like scatter feedings, snuffle mats, licky mats, food puzzles. These are genuinely tiring in a nervous system downregulating way, assuming that your dog agrees with that statement because Oso has now figured out that he can, like, just pick up and shake his snuffle mat, and that works way better for getting the treats out than actually snuffling.

So, it is not a nervous system downregulating activity for him. But assuming that your dog does not do that, then yes, that absolutely can be

[00:25:21] Emily: Or if your dog is like Miley, because what she does is she picks up the snuffle mat and she shakes it so hard that the food flies every which direction all over the place. Like, doesn't even stay in the living room. Some of it ends up in the hallway, in the bathroom, in the kitchen, and then she just, like, upped the ante of her scatter feeding, and it takes her longer to find all the food than if she had just left it in the snuffle mat. So sometimes it's a win even if they do that, depending on how enthusiastically they shake the snuffle mat. So just consider that.

It, j- even though even though your dog is picking up the snuffle mat and shaking it, that doesn't mean that it's an L. It could be a W, depending on how your dog does it. So just, just observe

[00:26:06] Allie: She's such your dog.

[00:26:07] Emily: She is such my dog. I didn't know why I wanted a Basenji, but now that I want- n- now that I have one, I know exactly why I wanted a Basenji. Another option is training sessions, and if you are a fan of capital T training and your dog loves it and you can go on for half an hour, you do you. But you don't have to. It doesn't have to be that way. It can be short, one to three-minute sessions. It can be train-as-you-go training where you just do a, a lesson in the moment when w- when the opportunity arises. My... The extent of my clicker training with Miley, it's kind of somewhere between capital T and train-as-you-go, because what we're working on with her right now is we're refining her ability to listen to Copper when he says no and move away, and that usually happens after dinner.

So it's train-as-you-go in that I don't construct, like, specific times to work on it. I just harness the, the time of day when I know that she's gonna be going hard at, at Copper and he's gonna be like, " Yay" for two minutes, then he's like, "Okay, I'm tired. I'm an old man. I need you to stop." And Miley's like, "We just started." So I kind of harness that time, but I'm literally like, after dinner, just sitting on the sofa with my clicker and my bowl of little snacks, and every time he says, "No, thanks," I click and she comes to me. And so it's like not, It's not a, a long session. It's not... I'm not doing it... I'm not having to think about like, "Oh, when am I going to do this training session with Miley?" The opportunity arises and I do a few f- do it for a few minutes. And then it's like she needed that prompt, and then she can do it on her own better. And so I just can put everything away and let her, like, play with Copper more appropriately and move on to other things in her life and explore other things. You can use training to compensate for the mental stimulation that they're not getting from the outdoors, but it doesn't have to be a big production. You can do it like I do it. If it works for you and your dog, just like, here's an opportunity where we could practice something. This is a moment when she's struggle busing because she doesn't have as much outdoor time.

She has more energy. She's going harder at playing with plops. I'm just gonna harness this to, like, teach her some skills in the moment. So that literally, that is how I accommodate when we're having rainy days and she's not getting as much activity outside 

[00:28:45] Allie: We can also do things like novel indoor environments. That could be maybe exploring a new room that they don't normally go into, or for me it could be taking, because he's allowed in all the rooms except the basement, and I don't want him in the basement, so, except during tornadoes. It's a thing.

Whatever. Humans have rules that don't make sense to dogs is the moral of that story. You can't be in the basement ex- at all except for when I require you to be in the basement. You know, totally makes sense. But anywho, for Oso it could be taking him to one of my parents' houses so that he can explore their house and, and do things and, you know, we could do find it there and, you know, in new places and not the same like 10 hiding places that we have in our home for finding hidden things.

It could be a different surface. One of the things that we're working on with Oso because we're doing a lot of like proprioception and, and mobility work is he's standing on different things so that we're working on his strength, but that is a thing. That's a novel thing, that he's standing on, on different types of surfaces.

It could be a box to investigate. I love me some like 101 things to do with a box, and I don't usually use a box for Oso because boxes equal destruction for him. And so 101 things to do with this random item that has nothing to do with him that I don't think he's going to destroy is the game that we actually play as opposed to a box.

[00:30:22] Emily: Or Miley and I play 101 things to do with this random object that we've never seen before un- until you destroy it.

[00:30:29] Allie: The end behavior is always 

destruction.

[00:30:32] Emily: destruction, and then we just move on to the next. Like, usually what I'm using is the styrofoam inserts that are, that have, like, compartments or little divots in them to hold things in shipping. Like, you know what I mean? So, like, it's usually a styrofoam thing that she can, like, tear up. So I'll get, like, a few sessions out of it before she's like, "I wanna destroy it now."

It's like, "Okay, you do that, baby. I'm sure we'll get another one before too long."

[00:31:00] Allie: So yeah, you can make your indoor environments new in different ways, . And that can be a way to meet your dog's needs when it's too hot outside

[00:31:09] Emily: Yeah, I love living in a place where basements are a thing. Th- they're not a thing in Texas because bedrock. But we have...

[00:31:17] Allie: I actually, I learned the real reason.

[00:31:20] Emily: What's the real reason?

[00:31:22] Allie: it has to do with, like, the frost depth. That, like, the frost depth in Texas is only, like, 10 or so inches, and for foundations you have to go below the frost depth. And so for Texas they're like, "We'll just put an extra big foundation. It's not worth it to, like, dig under."

I mean, and also, like, there are areas with sand and all of that, but that's not true for all of Texas. Versus, like, here the frost depth is, like, three feet or something. And so they're like, "We have to build down at least three feet. We may as well 

[00:31:54] Emily: Just build a basement 

Oh, I had always been told it was because of bedrock

[00:31:59] Allie: I mean, to be fair, I learned this from a Reddit post, so like grain of salt, but like random Reddit comments like that usually are pretty accurate

[00:32:08] Emily: So the thing is, that sounds like a more real reason

than bedrock,

so I'm, I'm into it. I accept that. Thanks for that fun fact today.

Yeah, But so, the reason I like the basement, we have an unfinished basement, but it's not unfinished like your unfinished basement. It's not a danger to my dogs. And we use it as our laundry area, our gardening center, our storage area. It's a multipurpose unfinished basement, which means that it's always changing. Everything in it is always different, and it's always cool, even in really hot weather. So when the weather is really hot, because climate change means that even here sometimes it gets unsafe hot in summer. We have days or weeks where it's in the 90s or higher. So during those really hot times when I'm, I don't want the dogs to just be outside indefinitely I will hide things around the basement, and I let them just explore the changes that have happened in the basement, and they find goodies, and they will spend a lot of time just hanging out in the basement where it's cool and y- and novel. And I don't think you have to have a basement to achieve that. I think you could... A, a room in your house that has some objects that are easy to move around. I'm not suggesting that you rearrange your furniture for your dogs. But if you have a room where you can kind of move some smaller things around, so when they come in it's a new space and they have to navigate the new space to find things, that could be a similar way to occupy their time, and they're getting physical exercise.

They're getting mental exercise. They're using their nose. It, it's a lot of different activities in one, all rolled into one activity. So that can be a thing that you could explore if if you have the op- if, if your environment facilitates that activity Social needs met in cooler spaces is another thing. You can go into a shaded yard if you have a friend with a shaded yard, or if you do. Dog-friendly indoor space. If there are dog-friendly water parks in Austin, there are a few. I actually don't know now because I haven't lived in Austin in 13 years, but my favorite place to take dogs when I lived there was Barking Springs, which is right next to Barton Springs Pool. And it's so cute 'cause it's, like, shallow, cool water, and all the dogs are just, like, splashing around in the water and swimming. And it's one of the safest dog parks I've ever u- used because when dogs are swimming, they're just much less likely to do rude play with each other. You can't fight when you're swimming. There's no fights. It's just such a low-key happy place if dogs like water. Obviously, I'm not gonna suggest if your dog hates water. I would never take Miley to Barking Springs because that would be torture. It would not be enrichment. But there's also these... Like, I don't know what they're called, but they- they're these, like, cement spaces with all these little water features that kind of just splash water everywhere, and it's designed for children. But I would take dogs to those little parks, those little water feature spaces s- because a lot of the dogs that I worked with really loved splashing around and, and having water spray on them when it's, you know, 105 degrees outside. So, actually for those of you who are not familiar with Fahrenheit, that's, like, a little over 40 degrees.

So it was... It's regularly 40-plus degrees in Austin for four months of the year, and that is where I would take dogs to splash and cool off. And they're just maintaining a nice safe body temperature, but they're out in the sun, and they're playing, and they're running around and having a good time. And again, for some reason, the splashy water park, even though they weren't swim- swimming, I just didn't see a lot of dogs doing rude play or being grouchy. I think they're just all having fun in water. They've got something else to focus on other than each other, right? So, you know, shade is cool. Mis- misters are, are great. Water features are great. Anything like that that lets you and the dogs be outside and also mitigates the risk of temperatures can be an option if your dog is not like Miley, who thinks water is from the devil In which case, that's not gonna be a good strategy for you 

[00:36:54] Allie: okay, so let's say you're negotiating that standoff. You know? You have an Oso who says, "It's adventure walk time," and you have... And you are me, where you're like, "Nah, that's not happening." So how do we navigate that situation? Because even though we can fill our dogs' cups in all of these different ways in the summer, it doesn't negate that we're disrupting patterns, and they're going to say, "You're not holding up your end of the contract, human."

Like, that is still going to happen. So when your dog is insisting, and you can't give them what they're asking for, the goal isn't to shut down that request. It's to redirect the need. So I'm saying, "I hear you. We can't do that right now, but here is what we can do." That's the negotiation, and it works better when the alternative is genuinely satisfying, not just a consolation prize.

So for me with Oso, when I, I told y'all that towards the beginning, we had this standoff just this week because we had a Sunday pattern on a Monday instead of a Sunday for reasons, 'cause my schedule was disrupted, and he didn't understand that it was Monday and not Sunday, and we should be doing our adventure walk, but we can't do that on Mondays.

Anywho, so it wasn't that I just, like, sat down on the couch, and I'm like, "Tough luck, buddy. Here's a snuffle mat," because let's be real. Snuffle mat does not equal adventure walk. In no, in no world of Oso's is that true. That would've been a consolation prize. So instead, I was like, "Well, we can't do that, but we can go in the backyard together.

We can have fun back there. We can do different things back there. You can still be outside with me," which is a thing that he loves to do. " And you can be exploring, and you can be eating the tall grass, and you can be doing whatever it is that you wanna do. We just have to do it in this location and not that location.

And I can be sitting for a lot of that, which is lovely." So I still found something that was pretty similar that met a lot of the criteria. It didn't meet some of the criteria, but it was, it was a good second place activity when our first place activity couldn't happen.

[00:39:21] Emily: Yeah. For me, I have, I do have a s- the, my living room is actually open enough to do flirt pole. So that's one option. But Miley tells me when she wants to play flirt pole, 'cause she'll just go get the flirt pole and drag it over to me. So it's very clear when that is what, how... It's like, "Okay, well, if I can't go outside because it's raining and rain is the devil, play flirt pole with me." But otherwise, I, d- I do something that used to work with Bree too, which is sock dance parties. So I will put socks on, and I can scooch around in my socks, and it's low e- low impact exercise for me, which is what my body needs. But I'll do it kind of right on the edge of our rug. So I'm on the slick floor, and I'm getting the slipperiness that I need to do my sock dancing, and Miley and Copper will be on the rug. And I turn on the music, and I do the dancing, and they're just so excited that I'm being goofy and doing goofy human things that they're, like, prancing around and running. And Miley will get zoomies and run around on the rug and, So we'll just sock dance together and that seems to be a really good replacement for the adventure walks o- and/or the backyard ex- exploration time that she doesn't get when it's raining. So when your dog can't get their walk, but they settle happily after a 15-minute sniff session, or sock dance party, or flirt pole, or whatever it is that you're doing, it, that tells you they got what they actually needed. So they didn't get what they wanted, which was the walk, but they got what they needed, which was physical exercise, mental exercise, social bonding, potentially scent work depending on what activity you chose. So the l- the walk was just the delivery mechanism, but the, the whatever it was, physical, mental, sensory, those things were the thing that they actually needed that the walk usually provides for them. But you found other ways to provide the same things. And this is one of those times when that enrichment chart or an enrichment menu based on an enrichment chart can come in really handy for you because you don't have to think about it.

You don't have to create something new. You don't have to expend a lot of cognitive energy constructing a new thing, you can just look at your little menu and be like, "This worked in the past. Let's do this again." So, if you wanna learn how to create your own enrichment menu, you can refer back to episode 146, which is called Try It: Create Your Enrichment Menu

so, let's r- recap this and, and turn it into some clean, clear, simple steps. Step one, audit what's changing. Grab a piece of paper and write down the parts of your dog's routine that are disrupted by the summer heat. Walks, schedule, outdoor play, social time. Name them specifically.

You can't adapt what you haven't identified. Step two, match the need, not the activity. For each disrupted routine, ask what need or needs was that a- activity meeting? Is it about physical output? Is it sniff time? Is it social bonding? Is it predictability? Whatever, and it could be more than one thing. It often is. Then, find a summer-friendly version of how to meet that need. S- what other activities can you do that work within the constraints of summer that will meet those same needs? So again, it doesn't have to be the same activity. It has to serve the same function. Step three, build one new anchor. Just like we talk about in episode 175, which is called Get Your Dog To Relax, you don't need a complete summer overhaul.

Just pick one new consistent touch point, an early morning sniff walk, a daily lick mat, a predictable indoor enrichment window, and let the rest build around it. Step four, give the frustration somewhere to go. When your dog is at the door and you can't go outside, have something ready. It's not a bribe, it's genuinely redirecting that frustration onto something that will help them meet the need. The reason they're frustrated is the need isn't met, so let's give them something else to meet that need. So, a frozen Kong, a sniff mat, a short training game. The dog learns not that, like, no, we can't do that, doesn't mean we're not doing anything. It doesn't mean, "Sorry, kiddo, you don't get to meet your needs today." It means we're not gonna meet your need in the way that we normally do. We're going to meet it in this other way instead. And if you're exhausted, this is the kind of thing that our team helps with often. You don't need to have a big old beastie of an issue, and misery, and complex, multi-layered distress complicating factors- We help, there, we have a lot of clients who are like, "I just need help.

How do I, how do I enrich my animal and make it work for me and them?" We help a, we help clients adapt their care routine for life events, moves, seasonal changes, family additions, surgeries, and more. Because by doing that proactively, we're preventing the big complex behavior issues that we also help with. But if we can prevent it so it never happens, that's even better, right?

So for this week, pick one thing from your dog's routine that's likely to get disrupted. Let's be proactive and, and look ahead into the future summer months. Figure out what's likely to be disrupted and decide now what you'll swap it with.

Don't wait for the door standoff to try to figure that out. Have a plan beforehand so that you avoid the frustration conflict spiral. You don't have to go through that. You can just solve the problem before you have the the feedback loop of misery. That's it, friends. Go forth. Enjoy the summer

[00:45:53] Allie: I hope you enjoy today's episode and if there's someone in your life who also needs to hear this, be sure to text it to them right now. If you're a pet parent looking for more tips on enrichment, behavior modification, and finding harmony with your pet, you can find us on Facebook and Instagram at Pet Harmony training. If you're a behavior or training professional dedicated to enrichment for yourself, your clients, and their pets, check us out on TikTok and Instagram at Pet Harmony Pro.

As always, links to everything we discussed in this episode are in the show notes. Thank you to Ellen Yoakum for editing this episode and making us sound good. Our intro music is from Penguin Music on Pixa Bay. Please rate, review, and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. That helps more pet lovers and professionals find us so they can bring enrichment into their world too.

Thank you for listening, and here's to harmony. And also my body has trouble with those particular set of situa- like the, the, the-

Parameters. That is what this little hand flapping motion 

means 

[00:46:58] Emily: What I adore about you, Allie, is that when you're searching for a word, you just keep repeating the same motion, and you tilt your head and furrow your brow and look at me like, "Come up with the word, 

Emily." 

[00:47:10] Allie: you know what this means

[00:47:13] Emily: Yes. I, I actually, I'm two for two today. I'm really proud of myself

[00:47:17] Allie: I mean, that's the thing is you do know what it means. That like, I have been reinforced for this behavior.

[00:47:24] Emily: wild that I can't retrieve my own words, but I'm really good at retrieving yours.

[00:47:28] Allie: Mine with my, like, awkward, like, hand gesture.

[00:47:32] Emily: I know.