Stress-Free Doodle Care: Laura Monaco Torelli on Collaborating with Vets and Groomers

Join me in the first of my two-part interview with expert animal trainer Laura Monaco Torelli about making veterinary visits and grooming sessions less stressful for your furry friends. Laura and I dive into understanding dog body language, creating positive experiences, and the vital role of communication between pet parents, vets, and groomers.

Show Notes:

1. In this episode, I'm thrilled to introduce you to Laura Monaco Torelli, an expert animal trainer, who shares her wisdom on understanding your Doodle's needs and stress signals.
2. We discuss how to help your Doodle enjoy a positive experience at the vet by observing their body language and using positive reinforcement techniques.
3. Laura emphasizes the importance of trust between pet owners, veterinarians, and groomers to ensure successful and stress-free visits.
4. We talk about not rushing through the process and staying mindful of your Doodle's stress levels during grooming or vet visits.
5. Laura shares insights on identifying potential stressors for your Doodle and implementing strategies to address them.
6. We highlight the value of visual illustrations and handouts in educating pet owners about their Doodle's body language and stress signals.
7. Laura and I explore the concept of "get it done" and how to balance the needs and wants of your Doodle during grooming or vet visits.
8. We discuss the importance of collaborating with your Doodle's groomer and vet to create a plan that supports your dog's wellbeing and reduces stress.
9. Lastly, we delve into alternative approaches, such as requesting outdoor exams or video snippets, to minimize stress for both you and your Doodle.

Catch part two of our conversation on episode #48.

Learn more from Laura at https://www.lauramonacotorelli.com/

Do you know your doodle's learning style? Take our free quiz to find out and make training together easier and more fun! Visit https://thedoodlepro.com/learning now!

Visit instagram.com/thedoodlepro for behind-the-scenes peeks at the doodles Corinne works with daily!

Transcript

For my client teams who have brains with bicker coats, it's doing that every day. Assessment, feeling fur, lumps, bumps. Are there any mats in the fur, potential ticks? Anything on the hike like sticks, mulch, debris, pebbles that get lodged in their foot pads. To me, that's sry. That's every day. It's not a specialty.

Thing, or some people call it cooperative care. Mm-hmm. Which to me is every interaction that we have with our animals. Yes. Even putting a harness on and off the collar, on and off going on hikes. To me that that's husbandry, that's animal care. And Ken defines it eloquently in his book as well, but, It's an opportunity for us second by second to be the eyes in the ears for our groomer and or our vet team, and say, something's not right.

Something's a little bit off, and I'd like you to look at it before it becomes a bigger issue.

[00:00:57] Corinne Gearhart- The Doodle Pro™: Doodle breed. Dogs are easy to love, but can be challenging to parent. I'm Doodle Expert Car Gearhart, also known as the Doodle Pro, and I'm here to help doodle parents have a more fulfilling and rewarding experience with their doodles. No one has professionally worked with as many different doodle breeds, or has more experience with doodles than I have, and I love to share my expertise in a fun, compassionate, and non-judgmental way.

From my years of work and education in the pet care and dog training industry, I have an incredible network of skilled training. Grooming and veterinary professionals to share their knowledge with you and give you the doodle-specific answers you are looking for. I hope you enjoyed today's episode as I help you parent your doodle like a pro.

Today's guest since I first saw her present on stage at a dog training conference.

Her skills and husbandry and cooperative care unmatched. And I truly admire has she starts from a place of empathy, not only for the dogs that we get to work with, but for the humans who love them as well. Enjoy part one of my interview with Laura Monaco Terelli today and make sure to catch next week's part two. 

Where we conclude our conversation. This is a fantastic guest that I feel so honored to share with you today. 

[00:02:27] Corinne Gearhart- The Doodle Pro™: am thrilled to welcome our guest today if you work with animals be it in zoos or with pets in training. You have already heard of our guest today, and I'm thrilled to share her message more widely directly to pet parents. Welcome, Laura. I'm so happy to have you. 

[00:02:48] Laura Monaco Torelli: Oh, I'm so thrilled to be here. Thank you for having me.

I know we've been emailing for a while. Yes. And scheduling this to happen and I'm, a big fan of yours on social media, so I know we enjoy following one another and we travel with the same friends and colleagues as well. I'm the lucky one and I have one of my dogs and Topina one of my little kittens here too, to kind help.

I saw that 

[00:03:16] Corinne Gearhart- The Doodle Pro™: tails swishing next to you in the little bit. That's 

[00:03:20] Laura Monaco Torelli: little, 

topina and santino. And our other pup is resting in the other room. And then our other cat. She's somewhere doing cat things. So yes, thrilled 

[00:03:30] Corinne Gearhart- The Doodle Pro™: to be here. Thank you for having me. We'll see a little visitor for coming behind you.

You mentioned your own little zoo at home there. For those who aren't familiar with your work, can you share a little bit about the breadth of species that you've worked with, just to give an idea for our doodle parrot? 

[00:03:49] Laura Monaco Torelli: Oh, sure. Hello. Hello, doodle lovers. I started my career as a marine mammal trainer at the John G Aquarium in Chicago.

32 years ago now. So that was in 1991, if anyone knows of Ken Ramirez. He hired me when I was a young pup. I was still in college, but I had the qualifications to be offered a full-time animal care and trainer position. And I'm so thankful that my career began under that mentorship with Ken and Lisa Takaki was the supervisor of training very early in my career that really set the tone for how things have just set this amazing opportunity to keep learning from animals.

Then over the subsequent years that followed, so started at shed aquarium with marine mammals. We had some penguins as well, and then Was there nine years And then San Diego Zoo offered me a job as a supervisory keeper trainer a lead is what it's called. Yeah. And I sat down with Ken and Lisa and they're like, you've been here nine years.

It's really time to spread your wings. Leave, the nest and work with other species. And so I went from marine mammals for almost a decade with birds to San Diego Zoo and the only species that was in the department that I shifted to, that I was familiar with for river Otters, cuz I got to help with the river otters in the aquarium part at shed.

We had sea others. And then it was. It just like this full immersion of working with primates and reptiles and amphibians and helping to raise tiger cubs and working with just so many amazing species. It was like the, laws of learning applied from what I learned as a marine mammal trainer.

But the amount that I was learning about different species of animals and getting to know them and familiarizing myself with. With them as an individual, not just species specific, but them as an individual. And then you layer on that working with the care team and the vet team. Oh. And it just kept, it was like pew and then I'm, a Chicago girl, maybe evident I've heard I have a Midwest or Chicago accent.

But I am, I'm a Chicago gal and then Brookfield Zoo offered me pretty much the same job, but back here. So I moved back to, the Chicago area and then kept working with exotics and some rescue wildlife animals as well in that department. And recently been helping with wildlife rescue, with Raptor rescue and some small mammals as well at a nearby facility here in Northern Illinois.

So it's just been this. Yes. Wonderful. It's like all of a sudden a blink of an eye where, have 30 years gone, so whenever I'm mentoring individuals that are newer to the field, I'm like document like journal take photos, because before you know it, you're gonna be like, oh, like, all this time went by.

Oh slow down. Yes. 

[00:07:15] Corinne Gearhart- The Doodle Pro™: I thank you so much for sharing that because for our listeners, if you think I've got a hard doodle, my dog is hard, Laura, the techniques I could work with a tiger, cub and a raptor. If she can be using these techniques with them, they're so applicable and can be so successful with your doodle.

So I just love sharing the breadth of what you have worked with or who you have worked with. Thank 

[00:07:43] Laura Monaco Torelli: you. And I, often get asked how did I get involved in working with dogs? And at Brookfield Zoo, the department that I was in, we have rescue dogs that were part of the children's zoo.

And so when I accepted that position, I started to work with the four dogs that were in the department at the time. And we would bring them out and guests would get to meet them. We would talk about do you have a dog at home? What does grooming care look like? What do vet visits look like?

What do you do with your dog for fun? What do you love about your dog? And so we've got these beautiful pups with us. At the time I was there, two were border col rescues, and then the other two were just a mix of good things Yes. That were from, a local rescue in the Chicago land area. And it was just a in-person.

Hands-on discussion as they're watching us work with the dogs. And using their food and some treats as a reinforcer. And then just trying to bridge that as ambassador animals. And then hopefully the guests would leave from their visit at the zoo and then maybe look at their dog and say if they're using food to reinforce part of the grooming procedure.

Maybe if it's just maybe if it's just pretending like you're looking for a little matte in the coat for just one second and then following it with food that's something we didn't think about and that, so that was my way into dog training was Oh, actually through the zoo community, believe it or not.

Yeah. That's 

[00:09:18] Corinne Gearhart- The Doodle Pro™: wonderful. So you mentioned looking for a little, Matt, can you define for our listeners what in your experience, husbandry and cooperative care mean to 

[00:09:28] Laura Monaco Torelli: you? Yeah. Yeah. Excellent question and I'm gonna swing it back to what I learned early from Ken Ramirez and he has a great book titled Ken Ramirez Animal Training.

Yes. And I view every. Waking moment is, an opportunity where our animals are always learning. From their environment. And so to me, husbandry isn't a specialty behavior, it's an everyday behavior. I have shorter coated dogs. I have Rhodesian Ridgebacks Smart, so I'm not, yeah. Not like for any particular reason.

It's just a beautiful breed. Yes. But we've had this particular breed for over 20 years now, and Being a shorter coated breed we can identify things like lumps, bumps. Anything that might be compromised in their coat condition or their nails. Cause we could see their nails easily.

Yes. Every day. This, is a shoutout to my zoo and aquarium background, where we would start every shift with doing a full walk around of all the animals that we were assigned to. So first thing in the morning after we check in and punch in and put our uniform on we immediately walk the area and we do a visual of every single animal, whether it's a tarantula or a tree kangaroo, or a, sea otter or Yeah.

A parrot, we would immediately piggyback the night keeper. Who there would be like a night crew that they would be walking around overnight and checking on the animals. And back then there weren't like video cameras all the time. Now I'm sure there's a lot of like video cameras, like monitoring, 

[00:11:11] Corinne Gearhart- The Doodle Pro™: live streaming into our homes of the penguins and Yes 

[00:11:15] Laura Monaco Torelli: Like, with our dogs at home do you want video access to see what your dog is doing when your dog or not?

I dunno. You, decide. But it would be this, initial Assessment. If, are the animals okay? Is their habitat look okay? Is their gate okay? Are they walking okay? Did they hydrate overnight? Are they eating? Are there any social activities? So if, like in my home, I've got multiple dogs.

Multiple cats. And so that's something that I immediately do with my animals is before bed, everyone's good, right? Yes. Everyone's eating, drinking eliminated things. The gate looks normal. We don't have any itchy ears. We don't have any nibbling at the pause, which could be indicative of.

A, a host of things. Yes. And then first thing in the morning, it's how's your coat? And so for my client teams who have breeds with thicker coats it's doing that every day. Assessment, feeling for lumps, bumps, are there any mats and the fur potential ticks? Anything on the hike like sticks, mulch, debris, pebbles that get lodged in their foot pads?

To me that's, husbandry. That's every day. It's not a specialty thing. Or some people call it cooperative care. Which to me is every interaction that we have with our animals. Yes. Even putting a harness on and off the collar, on and off going on hikes to me that, that's husbandry, that's animal care.

And Ken defines it. E eloquently in his book as well. But it's, an opportunity for us second by second to be the eyes in the ears for our groomer or our vet team and or our vet team and say, something's not right. Something's a little bit off, and I'd like you to look at it before it becomes a bigger issue.

[00:13:08] Corinne Gearhart- The Doodle Pro™: And I had a client once the do claw on her, doodle, like grew back in and pierced the skin. And she said, I didn't know because she hates me handling her paws. And so I didn't identified. So when you're talking about those full body checks, if we haven't done the investment in creating that happy experience for our dog, for us to be doing those checks, we could be missing so much.

And then when something's wrong, And there's urgency. Yeah. In treating something we're starting from behind so much. 

[00:13:44] Laura Monaco Torelli: Yeah. And just to spring off two points on that is Yeah, and I'm just I'm just surmising on this, but. Did her dog hate being handled because the delaw was so painful, right?

So hate being Yes. Taken her the avoidance, yes. So if, I have client teams come to me and say my dog hates having me look at their paw, and I'll say what does hate look like in observable dog body language terms? So when you say, Hey, I know what it looks like with what your dog does.

Yes. Or if it's within safety I don't want anyone to get injured dog or handler. Can you just take a 15 or 32nd video and, email it to me about what the baseline looks like when you're trying to look at your dog's paw? But don't, do it if you're gonna get bit, and I don't want your dog to be so scared that just getting me this video or when I show up we'll just watch a lesser version of what you're trying to do.

Or a smaller approximation. But then two has our dog learned. That moving and shifting away stops being touched, and that, that is an option that rather than us label and say I'm just gonna say my older dog's name Santino knows to let me look at his paw. He knows I'm not gonna hurt him.

He, knows it's not a big deal. And I will help to support my client teams by first of all saying if you're scared to clean your dog's paw you should feel scared. Feeling scared is a very real emotion, and I don't wanna minimize that feeling. What, about feeling scared?

To trim your dog's paw where, on the spectrum of the steps to do it, do you find yourself going, I'm not enjoying this. Yeah. And when are you tensing up 

[00:15:46] Corinne Gearhart- The Doodle Pro™: and reluctant? 

[00:15:48] Laura Monaco Torelli: And I've, heard really valuable feedback of one. I feel like it's having a detrimental effect to my relationship with my dog.

My dog hates me. So my dog hates having their, paws examined or they're due claw assessed. And now when they see me approach them, they run away. And now that, hurts my feelings. Yeah. So these are very real, right? They have we love our animals. I love you. Why are you running away from me?

And so then leaning on the laws of learning, I. And using that as a let's talk about how your dog getting space from you is an effective reinforcer. And how we can use that to our advantage and then, I will unravel a plan for you. Yes. 

[00:16:36] Corinne Gearhart- The Doodle Pro™: And when you're describing how the pet parent can feel I don't want my dog to feel fear with me and associate negative things, and I feel bad I'm doing this thing they hate.

A lot of times it means, then I'm going to bring them to the groomer more often. Or have the vet take them in the back and do the nail trims. I'm going, I'm not solving how my dog feels about it. I'm just gonna have somebody else do the bad stuff. So I'm keeping my relationship feeling more intact.

What are your thoughts about that as a 

[00:17:07] Laura Monaco Torelli: strategy? 

[00:17:10] music: More 

[00:17:13] Laura Monaco Torelli: from the perspective of empathy. And really trying to lean in. And understand why I'm gonna use Santino again. Yeah. Santino won't let me check his footpad. He will not let me trim his paw. It's very stressful. And so I'm just gonna let my vet handle it, or I'm gonna let my groomer handle it.

And first of all, I think that the fact that the owner's recognizing what I'm doing isn't building more of a positive association between me and my dog. Yeah. And I don't want this to keep unraveling the way that it is. So just for an owner and, a dog family to recognize that feeling, I think is is a compassionate way to support their very real avoidance behavior.

Yes. Of doing it with their dog and also saying, this is not my wheelhouse. And my vet is much more fluent with it. But then I'll also ask my client, plus I have a, veterinary certificate for training that I ask their vet to fill out. Yes, that has a handling section. But then I'll say, you know what?

Great. You are not obligated whatsoever to trim your dog's nails if it's stressful for you. So have you asked your vet How does it go when your vet does it? If you're not in the room with your dog, or if you are in the room with your dog, what have you observed? And then I put that back on empowering dog owners to ask the vet team when they say, oh, your dog did great.

And I'll say, oh what did great look like? Did I love how you explained that? Yes. Yeah. What did it look like? Oh I. He did growl. So he ended up putting a muzzle on him, but the muzzle wasn't that long. And I'm like, oh. So he growled at you. What part of the nail trim did the growling start?

It's when the vet tech had to restrain him. And I'm like, so is it the restraint that's aversive or punishing, or is it the nail trim? So then we're really digging in deeper where I'm like, it might not so much be the nail trim itself as it is the presence of a second person that's restraining your dog.

So how often do we practice that? And then I just keep pulling this out. I pull it out and it's helpful. Love it. Information for groomers. I've had some client teams. I'm here in downtown Chicago. I've had some client teams, wonderful groomers here in the city where you know, when they're asking what are some tips that you want me to ask my groomer?

And I'll say so I'll pop out, just two or three tips so the groomer doesn't feel overwhelmed by their trainer saying what my trainer said to ask you. Their groomer's thanks a lot. What's your trainer's name? Yeah, I'm gonna block her on Instagram. Just things like when you know, when you stage your puppy or or your newly adopted doodles first appointment do some reconnaissance first and ask can I come visit your grooming salon without my dog?

And just see what the setup looks like. Like where do I pull up? Where do I stage and wait with my dog or other dogs around my dog? Cause my dog is scared of other dogs. So if my dog is in a waiting area with another dog, that's going to sensitize them to be more on their threshold for the rest of the grooming to not go so well because they started off being close to another dog that they're scared of.

And helping folks assess the environment. First and saying it's okay to ask you're not micromanaging. Or I hear again, I hear Ken saying to me as a young trainer, be a polite pest. It's okay to ask every now and Hey, how are things going with this?

Or how's that job application I submitted coming along? Am I tap on your list for an interview? But I think there's also part of it where maybe some folks, they're so busy, right? They're, busy with their personal or their professional life. They love their dog to bits and pieces.

But for them, it's, this is the bet and I trust them. And the vet says it goes great, and I believe them. And my dog goes in wiggly. They say, my dog eats the treats. I pick up my dog. My dog is wiggly with them. My dog hops in the car. I, don't feel the need to know more, right? So all hear all, I hear all sorts of answers, all sorts 

[00:21:47] Corinne Gearhart- The Doodle Pro™: of, I find I like the polite pest way to put it.

It gives the professional that you're working with permission to give you more detail that they might have thought would be uncomfortable. Yeah. A lot of groomers are loathed to work with, and we talk about this in other episodes, or loath to work with doodles because they feel like the doodle parents are hard on them if they need to be shaved or that it's, it could be a difficult conflict-ridden relationship right now.

Yeah. Yeah. And to know, there's no blame here. I would love to know if my dog was uncomfortable, what did that look like? Was it certain parts of the body? And then I can help work on it more at home. Exactly. Yeah, that's giving them permission to be more direct as to what signs they saw. So they don't look like they're complaining to 

[00:22:39] Laura Monaco Torelli: their client either.

And you, really mentioned a really important point where Which part of the body. Yes. So maybe in the grooming it was all fun in games if it was like the mid torso. But then as soon as maybe the groomer got near the head to the right ear, perhaps there is an underlying ear infection. Yes.

That hasn't been detected yet. And hands up in applause for all the hard work that veterinarians and groomers do as well. To also be the eyes and ears for the family to say, yes you might have not noticed this, but the dew claw is really long and you might have not noticed it at home, or no, whatever.

But that's, such a really good point. Is there a certain part of the body where it just seems to fall apart? Yes. And I, 

[00:23:34] Corinne Gearhart- The Doodle Pro™: every single time I go to the groomer, every time I say, I always wanna learn more about how he's doing. So the more you can share with me, the more I can make this a better experience for him.

And I find it starts with, they did fine till I get so much more detail, which equips me to help him more at home. And I let them know I'm open and 

[00:23:58] Laura Monaco Torelli: happy to hear it. Exactly. And have you ever had experiences or maybe on on your other podcasts dealt with challenges with maybe some, dog owners are just from the view of just get her done.

Yes. Here's my dog. Maybe you see it. Three, three or four times a year. I'm just throwing a number out. Oh 

[00:24:27] Corinne Gearhart- The Doodle Pro™: yeah. There's the every six 

[00:24:28] Laura Monaco Torelli: months shave down. Yeah, just get her done. I don't have time to keep coming back and forth. And Dr. Kelly Valentine, who's a, veterinary behaviorist based here in Chicago, we talked about this at our Clicker Expo live presentation this past January.

And Dr. Valentine was giving her expertise about the owner request of just get it done. But the vet team is coming back saying, we would like to stop cuz you're well that's the vet I wanna work with. So stressed. Yeah. And I know a lot of vet veterinary practices here in Chicago that are really moving forward with programs where they invite swing by stop by more often for shorter duration, which is what I do with my dogs.

But it's. It's that, it's that,

I hate to say delicate conversation. It's finding the wording when we say we're gonna call it. Because your dog is at their threshold and someone might get hurt. Like your dog might get to the point where they're gonna bite to say, please stop what you're doing. I am biting to communicate louder and louder that this is becoming increasingly painful, stressful whatever.

For the dog that's of value. But the owners are like, my dog is fine. Just get it done. Just put a muzzle on him and get it done. And that's hard, isn't it? It's very hard. 

[00:26:07] Corinne Gearhart- The Doodle Pro™: I think there's a piece of not seeing the more subtle cues and not recognizing the level of stress when it's lower. And then I think almost some of it comes from like a level of love and care and anxiety. Just like when I used to bring my babies, my human babies to the pediatrician and I knew they were gonna get vaccines and the nurse would pin them down and give the vaccine in their thigh. And it broke my heart to see my child restrained, but I had a greater fear of what would happen if they didn't get that m r vaccine, right?

And so we were getting it done. And I give my children choice and consent and all these other at different times in their life. And I think it could feel that way when it's eardrops or they need to get this injection or whatever, that there's a feeling of, I love my dog and I worry about their health.

And the same can be with, I know if they don't get this haircut, they're going to get Madden and they're going to be in pain. It feels like you have duct tape wrapped around your body, so we just gotta get it done. Or the nails, I know it, and it could be pulling the ear out of the ear canal. Just get it done. 

[00:27:25] Laura Monaco Torelli: I 

don't see it as 

[00:27:28] Corinne Gearhart- The Doodle Pro™: laziness in any way. I, don't think people know there's a different way. 

[00:27:34] Laura Monaco Torelli: Does that make sense? It does. And you, touch on another important teaching moment that a lot more practices and even grooming professionals are doing more and more of is having visual illustrations there.

Like in the exam room, or maybe in their orientation folder for the new dog owner. The new puppy owner. Yes. Where when when the groomer or the vet or even the trainer that's there helping which is what I do as a trainer to help make husband recur less stressful, whatever.

Whatever, like less stress could mean in that moment. But just like you said, we're seeing the subtleties of, and then more of the vet clinics that I've been working with will have, like Dr. Sophia Yins. Yes. Reading dog body language handouts behind them that, Lilly Chin Illustrated or they'll have the fear free handouts that are available saying so in these handouts, We see your dog lip licking more.

Your dog is, hiding from us. Your dog is trembling. Your dog is. And so rather than say your dog is getting really fearful, you're bridging it back to a really important point of observable des describable behavior. Of what we're seeing. And then I think about like, toward rug's, la escalation of stress, which I think is available.

Or Dr. Kendall Shepherds canine like a ladder, of aggression. Where if we don't stop right now, your dog is gonna get to the red and then your dog is gonna learn backing away. Didn't work. So now I'm gonna growl. Growling didn't work and that got punished.

So now I'm gonna air snap. Air snap didn't work. Now I'm gonna bite. And you and I know about the six, I think it's the six levels of a dog bite. I think Dunbar. Yeah. Yeah. Dr. Ian Dunbar's handout about the six levels of a dog bite. We're not talking play biting, we're not talking puppy haha.

No soft mouth. And so again, just bridging it back to your point of, I try not to get into this wordy, place where I'm like, here's some great handouts that have great illustrations, or here's an email with some links just to read a bit more about dog body language. This is what we're seeing. And this is why we're recommending that we stop the grooming process or we stop this that. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, great night. Great. So these are 

[00:30:14] Corinne Gearhart- The Doodle Pro™: loving parents that are really dedicated to their dogs. Do you mind helping me explain why just get it done has fallout and, why that isn't the route we wanna take.

[00:30:31] Laura Monaco Torelli: First I would ask the owner, what does get it done mean to you right now? What about this, vet visit or this grooming visit do you want to get done so I understand what get it done means to you? That would be my first question. And 

One, one, trial learning is very effective. So if I'm just gonna use Santino as an example. My, my older boy, let's say. I bring him in for his vet visit. One of the things that I do proactively when I make the appointment is I'll, ask the vet team, as Dr. Valentine says, what are your needs versus your wants love?

What do you need from Santino with this visit? But what, do you want? And I split apart my dog's vaccines. I choose to not do multiple vaccines in one visit, and my vet supports that. So if they say your dog needs rabies that's, by law. That's our need.

Your dog that's, our need. But they also need their updated distemper, parvo. Lepto. We need a poop sample. That's easy. I just bring it in the bag. We, do need a Oh wait, before we can renew their heartworm pill. So I'm like, okay, great. And then they might say, and we would like to check their prostate so I'm like, okay, we're gonna do that last.

And so how about for today's visit? We'll do the rabies. Jumping on a scale is less stressful for my dogs, so we'll do the wait first. We'll do some treats, maybe go outside for another sniff walk, and then after they get a little sniff time, a minute or two we'll come back into the exam room.

Yeah. My vet team does meet us outside and they will do some of the wellness exam outside while my dogs are leashed to me and I give treats. That's something. And that's 

[00:32:29] Corinne Gearhart- The Doodle Pro™: something you've requested? Yeah. That's you, yeah. You've advocated for your dog for that. Yeah. And they're 

[00:32:35] Laura Monaco Torelli: like, they're not worried about a flight risk.

I'm not worried about a flight risk and I'm not worried about a dog coming up on us at that moment. So to answer your excellent question I will ask what does get it done mean to you? And then I get the answer and I'll say Is it difficult for you to schedule these visits for grooming or vet visits with your dog because of your work schedule?

Without me getting too personal, like it's, yeah, it's really none of my business, but if I can understand where the get it all done comes from maybe they have a seriously sick family member that finding caregiver for that family member for them to leave the house to get what their dog needs is what's happening behind the scenes.

Not really in my business. So if I can be there as support to, find out without intruding on their privacy, then I feel I can be more available to be present and listen. Yeah. To what Get it all done means because I don't know. What someone else is going through in their private life.

And it's, none of my business unless they offer it up. It might also be what you mentioned earlier where maybe some, of our listeners underestimated how much care is required for the breed. Thousand percent. Yeah. They just, it wasn't, it's way more 

[00:34:04] Corinne Gearhart- The Doodle Pro™: demanding. People think non shedding, it's, we talk about this all the time, that it's way more intensive than people anticipated.

[00:34:13] Laura Monaco Torelli: And then also from a get it done perspective, is this broader scope of consideration of is this a recently rescue dog? Who's older? So who has a learning history that we don't know. And maybe this dog has never heard a trimmer before. Maybe the dog has never had a Dremel near them.

So it's not just the visual stimuli, it's the acoustic stimuli. It's a proximity issue. So then I will listen to the answer about, let's just get it done. And then putting together a plan after that and saying, okay, maybe the vet or the groomer got it done. They give the dog back to the family with just a few bullet points.

Yeah. Just to say we were able to get these needs done. These are some of the more of the wants that we have, and here's some handouts about how to read dog body language. And if a professional groomer or the vet team then have an immediate referral for, here's some great trainer referrals that focus on helping to make this less stressful. If it's in your budget, maybe you could reach out to them. That's what I do. Yeah. And then we all collaborate. To help so before the next grooming or vet visit, this is what I help you do with your dog. And then I take short videos, I send under the groomer, I send under the vet team, I send them to the owner right away.

Full transparency. Yes. This is what we're working on and we just craft it from there. But again, great question. I feel like I'm just passion talking, which is wonderful too. You're, too nice. I have so much to say. It's just getting it done. Now there's also something that, like for my dogs, if there's an emergency, like this is potential, like this is an emergency.

Yes. This isn't just a wellness checkup. I trust my vet team where I will say, you do what you need to do with them behind the scenes. I'm a mess. I am. I am a mess. I am a no course. You do not want me back there. But I've had my vet teams text me photos from behind the scenes to say, your dog is doing great.

Here's a photo. I've had some of my clients, and even during Covid, where I would join them, I would be sitting in my car and they would virtual with me. Here we are. I'm just pointing to my phone. Yeah Here we are on the Zoom link or if there was another name of a link.

Yes. And so you can see what we're doing, but you can't be in the room with us. So that's another option is to say can you just take like a 32nd or a one minute video of, what you would say groomer goes well with my dog. And then a 32nd or a one minute video of what you would identify as the stimulus where things start to fall apart.

Love. Is it the sight of is it the sound of the dryer? Is it the tub? Is it the is it the water feature? Is it when you put the ladder and you need to soap up My dog? Like where is it falling apart? And that's helpful information cuz it's data. And that's where US trainers can hop in and say, that was really helpful.

[00:37:35] Corinne Gearhart- The Doodle Pro™: Yeah, I like that a lot. It doesn't feel big brotherish, like, why isn't there a camera? So I can watch the whole thing in the grooming salon, but if you could just gimme a little snippet so I can get an idea without hovering over your shoulder. Some, parents have asked to do just that. I wanna be there for the whole gr and I can stress the groomer just like all of us when we do our work and someone's right there.

Yeah. What about clients who say, , my dog will let me if I restrain and they just need to get used to it, be it brushing nail trim, et cetera?

[00:38:12] music: That's 

[00:38:13] Laura Monaco Torelli: a great question

Be sure to catch next week's episode. Where I continue my conversation with expert trainer, Laura Monaco. Torelli. 

[00:38:23] Corinne Gearhart- The Doodle Pro™: Thanks for joining me on this episode of the Doodle Pro Podcast. If you enjoyed the show, don't forget to rate and review us wherever you get your podcasts. And I invite you to follow me on Instagram at the Doodle Pro for behind the scenes peaks at all of the adorable doodles I work with daily.