JT Lawson:
Yes, we are back with the Make Your Dog Epic podcast. I’m JT Lawson. I own the Tulsa dog training location, dog training Tulsa some would call it, but this is the Make Your Dog Epic podcast. You can go to makeyourdogepic.com or give us a call. Go to makeyourdogepic.com. We give our first lesson for 50 cents. Now I am joined here today with Carter and he’s here with us. Hello, Carter.
Carter:
Hello.
JT Lawson:
How are you?
Carter:
Hello. Hello.
JT Lawson:
That’s good. Today we are talking about OCD in dogs, and you might be saying, “Is that a thing?”
Carter:
Yes, yes, yes.
JT Lawson:
Now, what Carter’s doing is human OCD, but I bring this up because we had… Our first lesson is 50 cents, and I went to a first lesson and the person is super convinced that their dog has OCD. What they said was happening was that when they had a ball, they would take the ball from the toy or from the dog and they would put the ball away and the dog would just stare at that spot where they put the ball away for 10 minutes. Their vet told them that the dog has OCD. What are your thoughts on that, Carter?
Carter:
Interesting, interesting, interesting.
JT Lawson:
Okay. What happened was they did that and their vet convinced them that their dog has OCD and they ended up getting rid of that dog. Then, they got a new dog, because they thought their dog had OCD.
Carter:
I snapped out of my OCD with my eight-week training program.
JT Lawson:
That’s good. That’s good.
Carter:
They just got rid of the dog because of OCD?
JT Lawson:
Yeah, well, they got rid of it because they thought the dog needed special treatment because it had OCD. But honestly what it was, it was a lab and what they had was an extremely high drive dog. All the dog wanted was to play fetch, and so it just wanted that toy. That toy was that dog’s world. That’s not dog OCD. I would never argue with a vet, because I’m not a veterinarian, but I will take a stance in just saying that I personally would love that dog. I want that dog. That dog has extreme drive and not OCD. I want that dog, because as a trainer-
Carter:
Go get that dog.
JT Lawson:
… you want a dog that has high drive and you want that because the dog can work for long hours and never be tired. That’s what my dog, Riley, you’ve seen Riley.
Carter:
I’ve seen her.
JT Lawson:
Riley’s a lab/German Shepherd mix. She will play fetch until she dies. Literally, you know the toy that the dog… They bring the ball back. The dog drops it into the bucket, and then it shoots the ball for them. You know this toy?
Carter:
No, but I want to know this toy.
JT Lawson:
This toy, it’s like a round thing. I’m going to look it up for you, but it’s a dog toy that shoots the ball out for…
Carter:
Boy toy?
JT Lawson:
Let’s see, here it is.
Carter:
It’s like the basketball machine that you put under a hoop that just keeps passing it to you.
JT Lawson:
Correct. Yeah, but for dogs.
Carter:
Yeah.
JT Lawson:
It’s like that but-
Carter:
I could probably get a human to use this.
JT Lawson:
It if I did that with my dog, like your dog, Tulo, would do great with it. My dog Achilles would do great with it, but Riley would never stop and would die, legitimately. Riley is too high drive. She would just die because she wouldn’t stop. That dog that they said had OCD, and we deal with this a lot in Tulsa dog training or dog training Tulsa, as some would say. What do you call it, Carter?
Carter:
I use both. I say dog training Tulsa, but I also have been known to say Tulsa dog training.
JT Lawson:
That’s fair. Ever since I’ve known you, you typically say Tulsa dog training.
Carter:
I would say it’s a 50/50 split between Tulsa dog training and also dog training Tulsa.
JT Lawson:
That’s fair.
Carter:
Who’s to say?
JT Lawson:
Yeah. Who’s to say? I’ve heard it both ways. But these toys are great, but not for high drive dogs. That dog that they said had OCD can’t have it, won’t have it, cannot allow that dog to sit outside with that toy or it will kill itself.
Carter:
Know your dog before you get him an automatic toy ball launcher.
JT Lawson:
This is true. Now, it’s a really cool thing, but honestly, it’s kind of a cop out for, controversial opinion, people who don’t want to play fetch with their dog. That’s my controversial opinion of the day is these toys, you can get them, but honestly, it’s just a cop out. There’s other cool things. We’ll talk about toys on the next podcast we do, but you can get the guns to shoot the balls out. That’s fine. That’s fine. You can get the… Now I’m blanking. The ChuckIts. Those are fun. Do you know what ChuckIt is?
Carter:
No.
JT Lawson:
We’ll get into it next podcast, but it’s cool. It helps you throw the ball farther. You can use Frisbees, you can use whatever.
Carter:
I can already throw the ball really, really far.
JT Lawson:
Didn’t you almost blow out your arm in college baseball? Now you don’t throw anything anymore.
Carter:
Correction, I did, but I can still work through it.
JT Lawson:
Now you don’t throw anything anymore?
Carter:
I can throw the ball at least 10 feet.
JT Lawson:
That’s good, which is good for your chihuahua.
Carter:
He’s a Great Dane mix.
JT Lawson:
Yeah. Carter’s in denial about that. If you have not heard of the podcast, then that joke doesn’t make sense to you, but it’s fine.
Carter:
And we’re not going to explain it.
JT Lawson:
These toys are great. If you are thinking your dog has OCD, it probably doesn’t. It’s not a thing. I’m not arguing with your vet, I’m just telling you my personal opinion.
Carter:
It sounds like you’re arguing with her vet.
JT Lawson:
If your dog is one of those dogs that has super high drive, a lot of people think their dog is energetic, but if it’s like you’ll throw… Riley, for example, with my dog, she will be laying on her side and if she sees a ball run past her, all of a sudden she has all of her energy back and she’s like full speed. Then, she sprints back, lays down, drops on her side, but if you throw that ball again, full speed. If she had a toy like this, she would just-
Carter:
Keep putting it in the launcher.
JT Lawson:
Yeah, and she would die.
Carter:
Yeah. I have a question.
JT Lawson:
Yes.
Carter:
You’ve seen my Great Dane mix and-
JT Lawson:
Chihuahua.
Carter:
Yeah, disregard. Anyways, what’s one of the OCD behaviors that you’ve noticed? Something involving a couch and licking it incessantly.
JT Lawson:
This is a good question.
Carter:
He does it.
JT Lawson:
Your dog nonstop licks the leather couch.
Carter:
Oh, yeah.
JT Lawson:
Nonstop.
Carter:
Nonstop.
JT Lawson:
But it’s not just the leather. He also does it to your bed.
Carter:
Yeah, but he prefers leather.
JT Lawson:
That’s true, and now-
Carter:
If he had a choice, it would be like, “I want that leather couch.” If you put the bed in the couch and front of him, he would go for the couch every time.
JT Lawson:
Now this, again, I would argue not OCD. I would just say that we just need to teach him off and it would be as easy as that. He just-
Carter:
But why is he doing it?
JT Lawson:
He just enjoys it. That’s the thing with us at Make Your Dog Epic. I’m not a behavioralist and even a behavioralist can’t Doctor Phil your dog and be like, “Hey, Tulo, why are you licking the couch nonstop for three hours now?” Because they don’t speak English. Now, but how you correct it is important because if I say Tulo starts licking the couch, but then we pull Tulo away and then we give Tulo a treat, which is… If you go to a positive reinforcement strictly trainer, that’s what they’ll do, but now you’re rewarding for the bad behavior.
Carter:
He’s like, “I’m going to go lick a couch so I can get more treats.”
JT Lawson:
Exactly, but also if Tulo does that and you beat Tulo with a newspaper, now Tulo thinks, “Hey, every time I get close to this couch, Dad’s going to be pissed.” Then, it doesn’t help. It just makes either Tulo do it when you’re not watching, because Tulo will learn, “Oh, I can lick as long as dad’s not around. I won’t be in trouble.”
Carter:
I can lick that couch.
JT Lawson:
Yeah, or now every time Tulo sees a couch, he now starts associating that with the negative thing. With us, what we’ll teach is off, which means move away physically and mentally, but not that you’re in trouble. For instance, my dog, Achilles, he gets itchy seasonally. We have to get him a shot so that he’ll stop itching. I tell him off because he’ll just sit there and scratch and I’ll tell him off and he knows it means stop.
But he’s not like, “Oh, Dad’s pissed. Frick.” He’s like, “Okay, well, frick. Now I can’t keep itching.” But he’s still going to, they’re still dogs. They’re still going to do it. If you’re gone for like 10 hours, I can’t promise that Tulo will never lick the couch again, but I can promise that we can control and manage it.
Carter:
Oh, he definitely will. Yeah.
JT Lawson:
But if you’re interested, our first lesson is 50 cents. We’ll come out, we’ll work with your dog. We’ll figure out what’s actually going on. We’re going to talk to you about the different types of training where we fall. That’s at makeyourdogepic.com. Makeyourdogepic.com. Carter, do you have anything there?
Carter:
Yes, yes, yes.
JT Lawson:
That’s good. Yes. Carter is not OCD, but we are. You can call us a (918) 550-5557, (918) 550-5557, because we have dog trainings in Tulsa or Tulsa dog trainers, whichever one you want to call it.
Carter:
Tulsa dog training. Tulsa dog training. Tulsa dog training.
JT Lawson:
There it is. Well, as we like to sat on the show, we’ll talk to you in five minutes.
Carter:
Is your dog and furry friend holding you hostage?
JT Lawson:
Will your dog not stop pulling on its leash and eating your sausage? Who wrote that?
Carter:
Well, I don’t mean to brag, but I actually wrote it and it rhymes.
JT Lawson:
Wow.
Carter:
People dig it like a dog. You get it?
JT Lawson:
Okay, so I’m just going to keep reading. Will your dog not stop jumping on you or pooping in your house like you’re on the set of Jumanji or living in a zoo?
Carter:
It only took me two weeks to write that line, while sitting at the base of a waterfall while gazing upon my epic dog. The dog that once held me hostage was now my best friend.
JT Lawson:
It’s so good.
Carter:
The dog that would never listen was now all ears.
JT Lawson:
It’s so good. I just want to cry.
Carter:
Pull yourself together, man. If you to want to transform your dog from a furry terrorist into your best friend, what you need to do is schedule your first lesson at makeyourdogepic.com, where your first lesson is always just 50 cents. With the savings, you can use that to pay the rent. Again, your first lesson is always just 50 cents at makeyourdogepic.com.
JT Lawson:
Wow.
Carter:
Stop the endless barking. Reduce the aggressive behaviors. Prevent dog jumping. Stop your dog from chasing the elderly UPS driver as he attempts to deliver a package. Stop your dog from biting Pam, your yoga pants wearing neighbor as she just attempts to speed walk in peace. Stop your dog from eating your wife’s wedding dress and peeing your closet on top of your Christmas gifts. Stop the madness at makeyourdogepic.com. Experience the revolutionary focused-based positive reinforcement training and methodology. Our goal is dog obedience, but never at the expense of dog personality. It’s the same dog, but now it’s all ears.
JT Lawson:
Wow. Man, Carter. You are a talented vocal artist.
Carter:
Well, well.
JT Lawson:
I can feel the passion. It’s contagious.
Carter:
Well, my friend, I am passionate about the product. I once went 60 days without sleeping.
JT Lawson:
Really?
Carter:
My wife’s wedding dress got eaten and my neighbor Pam was bitten by my dog.
JT Lawson:
Oh, man.
Carter:
My quality of life was an all time low. I actually, I didn’t invite people over to my home for months because of the new dog. I always smelled like urine.
JT Lawson:
You do still smell a little bit like dog urine.
Carter:
Before I made my dog epic, I was hostage, and that’s where the passion comes from. You’ve got to believe in your product and you’ve got to project from the diaphragm.
JT Lawson:
The diaphragm.
Carter:
You’ve got to bend your knees.
JT Lawson:
Bend the knees, bend the knees.
Carter:
You’ve got to drink ginger.
JT Lawson:
Drink the ginger.
Carter:
You’ve got to ingest apple cider vinegar.
JT Lawson:
Apple cider.
Carter:
With a dog bone. You want chew on the dog bone before the-
JT Lawson:
Hard pass, not going to-
Carter:
Recording so that you can emulate the dog, and you should listen to Atomic Dog.
JT Lawson:
I can do that.
Carter:
But you’re not a dog.
JT Lawson:
Right.
Carter:
But you want to just chew on the bone, the oversized bone, not the regular sized bone. You want to-
JT Lawson:
Hard pass, hard pass. Not going to chew on the bone.