Sexier Than A Squirrel: Dog Training That Gets Real Life Results
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Sexier Than A Squirrel: Dog Training That Gets Real Life Results
Feeding for Calmness: Supporting Your Dog Through Spooky Season
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Welcome to this episode of the Sexier than a Squirrel podcast, the podcast that brings you real-life dog training results, and sometimes human training ones too!
Dark evenings, blustery weather, strange shadows and Halloween decorations popping up everywhere. Spooky season brings plenty of changes to our dogs' everyday environments, and even the most confident dogs can find themselves a little more worried or reactive than usual.
This week, Lauren is joined by Michelle to explore how we can use food, feeding strategies and enrichment to support our dogs' calmness through spooky season.
They start by looking at why autumn can be such a challenging time for dogs. With unfamiliar sights and sounds, changing routines and a whole host of little stresses adding up, it's easy for a dog's stress bucket to become fuller than we realise. And when that happens, even something that wouldn't normally bother them can suddenly trigger barking or an anxious response.
So how can we help? Lauren and Michelle share some of their favourite ways to feed for calmness, including why how you deliver your dog's food can be just as important as what you feed.
From batch-cooking pumpkin and squash for frozen lick mats to creating enrichment bowls with seasonal ingredients like sweet potato, apple and banana, you'll discover plenty of simple ideas that don't require hours of preparation. They also discuss supporting your dog's wellbeing through nutrition, gut health and supplements, including practical ways to incorporate these into meals for fussier eaters.
But feeding for calmness goes well beyond what's in the bowl!
You'll hear how recycling boxes, scatter feeding, stuffed chews and scent games can encourage sniffing, licking, chewing and problem-solving, giving your dog something positive to focus on when the world outside feels a little overwhelming.
Lauren and Michelle also explore the importance of recognising stress stacking early, preventing the rehearsal of unwanted behaviours and making thoughtful choices about your dog's daily activities. Sometimes that means swapping a busy evening walk for a relaxed enrichment session at home, giving your dog the opportunity to rest, reset and enjoy something they love.
Spooky season doesn't have to mean weeks of worry for your dog. With a little preparation, some creative feeding strategies and an understanding of what your dog needs, you can help them navigate the changing season with greater confidence and calmness.
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Spooky Season Stress For Dogs
SPEAKER_00We're heading into spooky season. We are heading into that time. We're talking calm feeding. We're talking calm delivery of food. We're talking calm ingredients, and we're talking how you actually use that brain in between. Welcome to the Absolute Dog Sext in a Squirrel podcast. I'm Lauren Langman. I'm one of the world's leading dog trainers, and it's my mission to help owners become their dog's top priority. In each episode, you'll discover how to gain trust and communicate with your dog like never before, creating unbreakable bonds that make you the most exciting part of their world. So, Michelle, it's the spooky season. We are in the season of the stick. And the season of the sticks means, Noah Khan says, that basically we need to feed for calmness.
SPEAKER_01Definitely, most definitely.
SPEAKER_00It's a big time.
SPEAKER_01Oh, it's huge for the dogs. It's getting darker earlier. It's not light till later. It's wind, it's windy outside right now. It's chilly.
SPEAKER_00It's a spook, isn't it? Yeah. And we've got something that looks like the Halloween scene out of the front here because they've got like we should have just put pumpkins under it and a few lights, and it would look like you set it up. Yeah, yeah. Because you've got things blowing and flapping, and you know what? It's just not an easy time for a dog. And then you've got some places that like decorate the Halloween, and you've got like boom and ghosts, and you've got like pumpkins blowing in the wind. What can we do to help dogs?
SPEAKER_01There's a lot we can do. So, first of all, it's recognize that it's a hard season for them. You've got people also out with head torches, you've got high biz on, and people are still walking their dogs. They're still out and about in the evenings, but it's darker now.
SPEAKER_00And there's a transition period, isn't there, for dogs? Because I noticed mine barked the other day and they haven't barked for ages. And it was between the Halloween scene that's going on at the front. We've got some building work going on, and there was like flapping stuff. There was a guy underneath it, which was just not cool. And then someone walked in the yard and it was going dusk at the same time. Yes. And it was just too much for poor crafty, who interestingly, her kennel name is we have like posh names for the kennel club. Her name is Witchcraft, which did make me giggle because I was like literally giggling away as her name being Witchcraft. But but it's just a lot for them to handle. But there's a transition period where they just will get used to it.
SPEAKER_01They will. And during that transition period, you have to understand their stress bucket is quite full. And I've honestly never heard crafty bark.
SPEAKER_00Ever.
SPEAKER_01At any time. Ever. So for a dog like her to bark, you know that she's she's topped out.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So there's a lot we can do to support them.
Supplements To Support Calm
SPEAKER_01I mean, one of the first things I would be doing is looking at what supplements they're getting to help to help them out. So your AOK9 supplements, your calm.
SPEAKER_00Calm, your pro. Yeah, your calm, your calm or your calm senior, which I actually I've gone back onto again recently with Blink because I thought she was okay, but she's needed it for a bit of cognitive decline support. So you've got your calm, your calm senior. Next one. Shroom.
SPEAKER_01So I popped them onto shroom because of medicinal mushrooms. There's five medicinal mushrooms in there. It's going to help really support them.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and we love shroom. Shroom's nice in your hot chocolate, your coffee, shroom's great in your in your when you're cooking. So you could add it to your broth, you could add it to your soups, you can add it to so many different things. So shroom is a really, really nice supplement. So definitely shroom.
SPEAKER_01Probio. So let's make sure that tummy's in good shape because I don't know about you, but when I get anxious, when I get worried, when my bucket's full, my digestive system goes out of kilter.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So I want to make sure that those healthy probiotics are in there thriving and make sure that I'm supporting them because then I'll start to feel better. So there is that link between good gut health, good brain health.
SPEAKER_00So I think that's a really nice space to start. Actually, are we feeding our dogs correctly for the spooky season? What types of food can we be adding those supplements to? So, how might we be able to think about feeding again or even strategy in the way that we're feeding? Because that
Pumpkin Calm Mats And Easy Prep
SPEAKER_00also makes a difference.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so I try to make it convenient for myself. I don't want to make extra work for myself. And right now there's a lot of squash and there's a lot of pumpkin out. It's Halloween. So cooking a batch of that up and having it mashed up.
SPEAKER_00And also, pumpkin is fantastic again for digestive system, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01And pumpkin seeds and all of those things. Really good, really good. And pumpkin seed is in bug. So it's going to be good for helping try to prevent those worms and things like that and parasites from getting into your dog's digestive system. But it's really, it mashes up really well. And then there's how you feed it. It can spread into one of those calm mats really nicely. Adding a bit of yogurt if you want to, but to be honest, just the pumpkin's fine. It comes out mashed up nice and watery, mixes calm in nicely, some shrooms, some probio, smear it on a calm mat and freeze it.
SPEAKER_00And it's so easy. And it really isn't going to take a long time. And you could probably make five or six of them up and then you've got them ready to go.
SPEAKER_01Yep. And what I tend to do is I'll put, I'll cut the pumpkin up a bit, put it in a slow cooker overnight on low. By the time it comes to morning, it's all cooked, scoop it out, spread it on the mats. Or sorry, mix in the supplements first, spread it on the mats, wrap it all up, spun it in the freezer, and I'm ready for the next.
SPEAKER_00And it didn't take you any work. Like there wasn't like any big time prep, right? No, it like 10 minutes. 10 minutes. Oh my god, like crushing it, smashing it. This is the way we live. And the other thing is, if you want, you could then make a little bit of a healthy soup for you too, right?
SPEAKER_01Yes. And I quite often will do that if I'm prepping food for myself. I'll prep it for the dogs at the same time. So apples, a lot of apples out right now. So taking shredding an apple, shredding it up, and mixing it with some banana. My dogs love banana. I've always got bananas in the fruit bowl. I'm a bit like we've got one of our uh ladies who helps us out, Alison. She's the same as me. Absolutely no colour on the banana, it's going to be yellow. So the second it turns pure.
SPEAKER_00Oh, I am the same. I am the same. It should be like pure yellow. The only way I can use it otherwise is if it goes in a smoothie. I can use it in a smoothie, but other than that, no, it has to be like really yellow.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and it it I'll grade up an apple, mix it with some banana, smear it on a con mat, or I put it inside something stuffable like a cong or fill a bone up or a trachea or anything like that.
SPEAKER_00Super duper.
Stop Rehearsing Barking And Reactivity
SPEAKER_00And then I think the other thing to think about when we're thinking of spooky season is actually prevention of rehearsing the wrong thing. So one of my thoughts is, and I said to Matt earlier, Matt, listen out for Crafty. If she hears anything, it might be Irene walking in, it might be a different dog shaking, it might be a dog tag on a collar. She's in a worried space already. So it won't take her a lot to really freak. And you know that even in your own life, like when you're in a space where you're not quite yourself, and you're like, actually, that's razzled me or frazzled me or whatever the word might be. And I'm already a bit frazzled. You know what? Just give me a minute. And sometimes you're like, that's where our dogs are, but we don't always recognize it. We don't always like acknowledge where they are, but that is where they are.
SPEAKER_01Definitely. And it it sort of things in place to where are you gonna move her? So if if she's outside and there's I've got to Are you even listening out?
SPEAKER_00Are you even listening out? Like, are you actually paying attention? Is that your dog? And so I saw Matt literally perk his ear up early and run outside to go move her because she's in the garden, which is appropriate if everything's going well. But if something scares her, she will become really scared because it's already stacking. Yeah, effectively you're stacking trigger on trigger on trigger on trigger, and suddenly you've got a very reactive dog. And like you said, you've never actually even heard her. Nope. So we didn't even know she could bark. Nope. And then suddenly we've realized she's got a bark. But that if a dog like her is doing it, then there's definitely a chance for most dogs to do it.
SPEAKER_01And then what you don't want to have happen, you really don't want to have happen, you don't want to come out of the season with a dog that barks at thing because that rehearsal will stick. So the quicker you tackle it and the quicker you dress it and the quicker you recognize it and do something about it, you're gonna come out of this with a really well-rounded dog and they can learn from it. And it's a great season to actually apply your training, come up with some strategies with your food and get yourself your dog into a really good position to handle anything.
SPEAKER_00So, what are the foods can we feed for calming? And also, what are the methods can we use to feed for enhancing calm? And I'm gonna say sweet potato. And I actually don't know the research on it, but what I do know is I always feel calm after eating it.
SPEAKER_01So it's a soluble fiber and there's it's a good, healthy carbohydrate as well.
SPEAKER_00Just feels great. Like whenever you eat it, it feels great. You feel it's very good. Yeah, you do, you do, and I think that's a fantastic thing. Anything else you might offer up, Michelle, is in types of food what we might add our shroom, our probio, our um calm canine, or our calm canine senior. So I'm thinking the fussy eaters.
SPEAKER_01So some dogs won't like those different things in their food, they can be quite picky. And I've got a little papillon who can be at times quite fussy. So I'll cook him an omelette. So I make his mix his supplements into an omelet and it's gone. Sardines, tennis sardines can be really
Enrichment Feeding For Noisy Nights
SPEAKER_01good because sardines have such a strong flavor, it can mask it. But also, it's got omega 3s, it's got lots of good healthy fats in it. And again, it's gonna help your dog. Like, I don't know, after I've eaten fish, I always feel good.
SPEAKER_00Agree, agree. So you so basically thinking through cleverly what you're actually feeding your dog, and then let's think through another couple of ways of feeding. We've talked about karmas. What else could we use?
SPEAKER_01One of my favorite ways with lots of noise going on around is to take actually a box of my recycling. I might take some of my supplements, shake them into their kibble. So you do like a bit of a shake and bake almost, and then scatter it through the tins and plastic bottles, and yeah, basically, and it's in a box. And when there's noise outside, it's quite windy out tonight. So there's a lot of noise I can hear out, and it's drawing my attention away. It's going to be doing the same thing to the dogs. If they're busy rummaging in their box, that noise is gone. What are horses like in the spooky wind? Oh, it's they get the wind up their bum. And how do they behave? You can feel it, they get quite they're on edge the whole time.
SPEAKER_00And also horses when they've been clipped and freshly cut, effectively, they they're they've had their groom. How are they then?
SPEAKER_01So they're jumping around and leaping around. I guess it would be the dark dogs would do zoomies, horses do the equivalent.
SPEAKER_00Because it kind of like it's the wind touches your skin and it feels different. And so I think it's worth acknowledging that because again, it might be that we put like a warm cut coat on a dog or something that gives them a warm hug. Because effectively that's what like some of the therapy coats will do. But I would just potentially just use some sort of fleece or or normal regular dog coat to do the same thing, it just takes an edge off. Yeah, the other thing for me, like we said, we've we've thought about feeding like a shake and bake. You put the treats in the or the kibble into the or whatever you're using into the bag of supplement, you shake it all up and then you scatter that in their noise box so they actually get a chance to do it in there. Um, and we've also talked car mats. We're also going to talk enrichment bowls, our lovely Tokyo enrichment bowl. How might you use that?
SPEAKER_01So I like those like Halloween. I've already got my little plan. And sometimes I'm feeding, I like to eat. I love to eat. We both love to eat. So we both love eating. So I will do a Halloween enrichment bowl. And part of it is, I'm sorry, it's for me as well, because I like decorating. Oh, you love it. Michelle loves it. It's part of her, it's part of her enrichment. That's myrichment. Yeah. So pumpkin, sweet potato, some some boiled egg, some broccoli. Oh, it looks great. Yeah, it looks really good. And I'll make supplements in. And if I do it creatively and cleverly, that's going to take the dogs a couple hours to pick every little bit out of it.
SPEAKER_00And the best bit is if you've got multi-dogs, you give it to your least fussy, sorry, your most fussy eater, and then you go all the way down your chain into the least fussy eater. So blink off and finishes mine because she is the least fussy of them all. Yep.
SPEAKER_01And they're the what the dishwasher of the dog world. You've got the best. Every nook and cranny out.
SPEAKER_00And then the other one I would say would be long-lasting shoes and long-lasting bones and filled bones, because I'll make up my mix and then I'll stuff it into a bone. Why is that a good like practice for a dog to actually rehearse emptying that bone or that stuffed mix?
SPEAKER_01So the the licking, the way of licking is really relaxing for them. It also teaches them. So if you've got a dog that has an issue with getting quickly frustrated, so they want that quick win, they they're not very tolerant of certain situations. If a bit a bit of something falls underneath the sofa, they start barking at it. Being able to finish uh something that's stuffed, that's frozen, teaches them how to work through and problem solve. And basically they're licking through it until it's done. And it takes them absolutely ages. And I love a filled bone because afterwards they can chew on it.
Coats, Chews, And Frustration Tolerance
SPEAKER_00So, Michelle, if we think through back to spooky season, are there days when you might not walk your dog?
SPEAKER_01Oh, absolutely. Definitely. I am not walking my dogs on Halloween day. So we'll probably go to a secure field, get some fresh air, have a leg stretch, but I'm pretty much going to try to keep them as calm and things as as vanilla joe as I possibly can. I want an empty stress packet.
SPEAKER_00And you're in the fortunate position that you've got the training center, we've got a massive entrance to the arena, we've got big fields outside, we've got an enclosed paddock here, and we've got an enclosed paddock that you have like access to um at all times. So we're very fortunate with spaces. How about people that aren't
When Skipping Walks Makes Sense
SPEAKER_00fortunate with spaces? What have they got?
SPEAKER_01So you've got if you've got a garden, you've got your garden, you've got your living room. So I would set up like an explore area for my dog. So I'd be hiding their food through the living room. I'd be getting them to use their nose and their nose, like the act of searching for things, really dopamine. It's a happy hormone. It's going to make them feel good, but it's also going to tire them out. I I make it in a way that they'd climb over things, they'd go under things and make it like really adventurous for them so that they get that use of their body, the use of the brain, problem solving. And the goal would be that in the evening they get their filled bone and then they fall asleep.
SPEAKER_00And how useful is scent for a dog that is maybe struggling with enrichment right now?
SPEAKER_01Oh, it's brilliant. So a dog that's struggling with noises outside, that's struggling with seeing things like lights and things like that, switch their nose on and it slows everything down and they stop looking at things, they stop listening for things.
SPEAKER_00Does it help with focus?
SPEAKER_01100%. So and can any dog do it? Oh, for sure. And you've got the dog that is visual, you teach them to use their nose. The dog that uses their nose too much, and I've got a few of those spaniel types, you actually give them a purpose behind sniffing. So they're not just sniffing to pick up scent on the ground, they're sniffing to look for their dinner.
SPEAKER_00Like amazing. So, guys, we're heading into spooky season. We are heading into that time. We're talking calm feeding, we're talking calm delivery of food, we're talking calm ingredients, and we're talking how you actually use that brain in between. Yes. Michelle, I think smashed it. Absolutely. Smashed it. We come back soon and we're going to talk some of the more typical struggles that we're seeing out with the students. I
Scent Games To Switch The Brain On
SPEAKER_00think it'd be really good to do a bit of a student deep dive.
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah, definitely. Definitely. Because we're seeing this on a day-to-day basis and helping, I mean, God, in a year, we must help hundreds and hundreds of people with their dogs.
SPEAKER_00So if you haven't already, share, like, love this podcast. Make sure that other people know about it. And we'll see you all real soon. See you soon, guys.