[00:00:02] Speaker A: The Michael Hatfield Re Max team presents real estate and more.
[00:00:07] Speaker B: Bay Area real estate is different than in all of America. And why? What's up with homebuyers? What's on sellers minds? How is the market? And much, much more.
[00:00:19] Speaker A: Now here's your host, Michael Hatfield. Welcome back to the real estate and more show, and thanks for listening. When someone says our family, it likely includes our canine members. As canines tend to animate, situations bring much joy to our lives. A home is not really a home without our beloved pets. We must remember how important dogs are to our well being. Always ready to give us a greet and something to laugh about when the whole world may be frowning. So today, our show is about one of those dedicated individuals who tend to man's best friends when their mama and their daddies are away. This morning I have a lady who is very familiar with dogs, works with them every day, as a matter of fact, and may be more effective in making them mind than we can our own children. Let's welcome to the show. I'm animal behavior's dog lover, one of rovers best independent contractors in the Las Vegas area, and an all around animal enthusiast, Brittany Inoue. Welcome back to the show, Brittany.
[00:01:28] Speaker C: Hi. Thank you for having me.
[00:01:29] Speaker A: Absolutely. I know that you went actually from being in veterinary type medicine and behavior to going to the big animal, which is human beings. Whatever in the world caused you to do that?
[00:01:44] Speaker C: Well, as a child, I always wanted to be a veterinarian, but becoming a veterinarian is quite hard. And what I realized is I didn't want to be doing surgery on animals. I just wanted to interact with animals and help people, people understand their animals. While at UC Davis, I realized, hmm, these classes where I'm learning about animal behavior, I'm also learning about human psychology and got kind of swept up in that and worked in the human world for quite a few years and then transitioned back to working with animals again.
[00:02:15] Speaker A: Wow. Which one was harder?
[00:02:17] Speaker C: They're all hard, but humans are quite hard.
[00:02:20] Speaker A: I noticed a lot of people call you when we're around to find out, well, what should I do? My doggie did this. My doggie did. Dad. My doggie woke me up at 03:00 it's been waking me up at 03:00 in the morning, and they call you and ask you these questions about animal behavior. And I also know that you have veterinary background. You worked for a vet for a number of years, and you saw a lot of the intakes and the patients that ended up at that veterinary place. So you have a passion for dogs. Cats, too. I know, but more about dogs.
Where did you get that passion? And can you not fill us in on that?
[00:03:00] Speaker C: Yeah, so dogs are incredible creatures. And I think learning as a child about how there's no other animal that can be used for search and rescue, for being a service animal, for working. You know, even in airports, you look around, dogs are the only other species that are working alongside humans in a diverse amount of environments. And I think that that's really an incredible aspect of dogs, is that their desire to work with humans is higher than, I believe, any other species. Yes, cats are amazing, too, but you're not going to see a cat taking down a bad guy or a cat. Well, maybe, but you're not going to see a cat working to help guide somebody across the street.
[00:03:50] Speaker A: You know, I always thought that I like the dogs better because they normally don't talk back to you the way the children do. But that's not necessarily.
We have a german shepherd, Nancy and I, and he likes to talk back at times. You know, if he doesn't want to do what you ask him, he will definitely let you know. Do you find that is the case? Most of the time, yes.
[00:04:11] Speaker C: Or my Berner mix, my Bernice mountain dog mix likes to pretend she doesn't hear you. So if you're asking her to do something, she may look you dead in the eye and just turn her head. Like, if I don't see you, I can't hear you.
[00:04:25] Speaker A: Okay. Why animal behavior? Why did you choose animal behavior? I know you touched on it, that you'd rather be dealing with the mental aspects of an animal as opposed to doing surgery on one. I think you would find reward either. Which way would you not?
[00:04:42] Speaker C: Yeah. I think for me, the biggest catalyst for just behavior in general, understanding behavior, psychology, all of that was due to having an animal, a dog that was a one in a million situation where they actually were born with something wrong with their head. And the process of trying to figure out how to help them live safely with humans introduced me to this whole concept of animal behavior, dog behavior, working with canine psychologists, things like that, to try to put the pieces together and figure out what was going on with her and if she could live safely with humans. Unfortunately, she was not able to, but we did all we could for her, and we learned a lot from that situation. And it just really encouraged me to keep working with dogs and try to figure out how to help them, because most of the time you have a dog that makes a poor choice. There's a reason behind that. And if you can address that and figure it out and problem solve it and set up the environment a little bit different, you can help that dog relearn how to be in those situations safely.
[00:05:46] Speaker A: So the average intelligence of a dog, we could say, is around two and a half years of age as compared to human. So they can't really talk with you and give you the feedback that you would like to have with dogs. You know, you're dealing in the dark a lot, so you have to kind of figure out how to actually help them when they can't actually talk with you. Seems like that's a big puzzle, is it not?
[00:06:11] Speaker C: For me? Body language of animals and body languages of humans is pretty clear.
Animals can't lie, whereas humans can deceive and lie, and there's all these other they can't lie. Animals can't lie.
So a behavior that you see is a behavior you see. There may be additional layers or exacerbative reasons for why that behavior is happening, but the behavior you see is the behavior you see. The body language you see is the body language you see.
And to me, that it's pretty clear. And for me, I love to see those moments and be able to translate those moments for the owners. Like, well, you know, the dog was being cornered here. His tail was tucked, his head was back, and you, for some reason, thought that that meant the dog wanted to be pet. And then you got bit. And it's like the body language really, really very clear that the animal was fearful, felt cornered, didn't feel safe, yet you crossed their boundaries to try to pet them, and your reward was you got bit.
[00:07:17] Speaker A: There are several individuals nowadays that actually focus on animal behavior, being that you're one of them. But then there's some very well known public figures that have made their notoriety or fame out of being behaviorist for dog. You know, they call them the dog whispers and the horse whispers and all this stuff. Can you name a few that are popular in your mind that you might reference from time to time?
[00:07:45] Speaker C: So the only reason I'm not going to name names is because I feel that when somebody becomes very popular, whether it's because National Geographic's behind them or because, you know, they get a big following on social media, that then sometimes we find out that all of their techniques may not be what you see. So what I would suggest that if you are interested in finding a behaviorist for your animal, that you develop a list of what you want to work with with that behaviorist, and then you listen to you listen and kind of decipher what type of trainer would be best for you. And I could possibly help in that situation.
[00:08:26] Speaker A: Viewers, you could call Brittany on this one and she would help you out as far as pointing in the right direction. You're listening to real estate and more show. And we have Brittany Inouye on the show today, an animal behaviorist.
I would call her an expert. She might not because she's a little bit shy in saying those words, but she really knows her stuff about dogs. She loves dogs. She takes care of them down in the Las Vegas area.
She does a wonderful job. Glad you're listening. Let's now back to the show.
So you gravitated back to animals, and we talked about that, but just only animal behavior.
That's your thing. You don't try to determine that there's a correlated illness underlying that may need a surgical expert or a veterinary person or you do.
[00:09:16] Speaker C: So the approach that something I did learn working with humans is the big rule in human psychology, in social work and psychology, which is all what I used to do, is that you always rule out medical. So if somebody comes to you, let's just take it to the human. If somebody comes to you and they're acting very bizarre and they're doing these really weird things, you don't just slap what's called a DSM diagnosis on them and go, okay, well, they've got schizophrenia. You go, well, you know, maybe we should take some blood. Maybe we should look, you know, for our older generations, that can be people that have, you know, UTI that can cause some behavior changes. They could be somebody who are experiencing a diabetic crisis that affects their mentality. So the same thing applies to animals. If you have a new onset behavior in an animal and you've never seen this before and you can't easily explain like, oh, well, they tried to bite me because they're hurt.
You want to talk to your veterinarian?
[00:10:11] Speaker A: We're going to take a short break.
[00:10:13] Speaker D: We'll be right back.
[00:10:15] Speaker A: Remax.
[00:10:15] Speaker C: And here's Michael Hatfield.
[00:10:17] Speaker D: 750 Ruth Drive is a rare opportunity to live in the desiree and delightful neighborhood community of College park in Pleasant Hill. Delight in this tasteful single level home that's newly refreshed with attractive updates. Now it's someone's dream home. Enjoy two to three bedrooms, a living room, a huge family room and a dining area. And a total living space of 15 50 sqft with newly refinished hardwood floors, luxury vinyl flooring, updated baths, and new paint inside and out. Just imagine how all will enjoy family and friends gatherings in this home. The charming character of this pleasant hill dream home impresses and just awaits for you to make it your own. Call us now.
[00:11:02] Speaker A: Get help with buying or selling by calling the Michael Hatfield remax support team at 1800 857 63. That's 1800 857 63. And now back to our show and.
[00:11:17] Speaker C: Have a check over because it could be something as simple as an ear infection that has been brewing and they're in pain, or it could be arthritis. It could be a number of things. So if there's a new change in their behavior that you can't explain by, like that we just moved or a baby was born or something like that, talk to your veterinarian because you want to rule out a medical basis before you ever try to do an intervention behaviorally.
[00:11:40] Speaker A: Sounds smart to me. You know, I notice a change in the way that people look at their dogs anymore. They make them part of their family. And thus many of the veterinarians are taking it much more professionally than they used to be in the past. And, you know, I have to recommend folks, if you have a dog, you might want to get pet insurance because it helps if you try to maintain your puppy at the level that you would like him to be as a family member. Because, you know, if you lose a family member as a puppy, it hurts. I have people tell me all the time, you know, I had the best puppy ever, and I love that dog. I had him for 15 years. And then it hurts so bad when they leave you that they no longer want to have all of the love for that 15 years. And really, it's really not the way to look at it. You want to perpetuate that love that you have. Absolutely. I have to say, when we had the one white shepherd that went away from us at 13, she was amazing, amazing dog. Nance woke up in the mornings and she was just whimpering, like, you know, sobbing because she missed that dog. I said, you know what? I can't go on with this. This is not it. But I love that dog so much. You can't replace him. But the fact is we did. After two weeks, we found Harley, and you would say it's a displacement. But then again, you can also look at that as a continuance of the love that the puppies give to the parents. Would you not think that?
[00:13:22] Speaker C: Absolutely. I myself have lost what I've called as my soul dogs. And sometimes it's been months before I can look at another dog as bringing into my home. And then sometimes it's like the house is just too empty. And what I've realized is that you can grieve and start to love a new little furry friend at the same time. Just because you get a new little pup or a kitten or something, and you've lost your other best friend, it doesn't take the grief away. You're still going to have that grief. And as long as you're being honest with yourself, saying, yeah, I miss Piper, I miss Micah, or I miss so and so, but I really still want to have a furry family member, then you go ahead and you do that. But you will still experience sadness.
But having a new little friend will definitely give your heart something to share that love with.
[00:14:21] Speaker A: Right. In the introduction, I alluded to the fact that these dogs come to you. You might have only been gone for maybe five minutes, and then you come back home and they greet you like you've been gone for three years, and they give you a wonderful feeling of love that you can find anywhere.
[00:14:43] Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely. It's pure. There's no motivations except that they just want to be with you.
[00:14:49] Speaker A: Wow. So if you help people to have dogs that are well trained, that do what they need to do, isn't that expensive?
[00:15:00] Speaker C: It can be, yes. For my services that I offer in Vegas, I have pretty flat rates. When I do do my sitter, my sitter, like daycare care provisions for animals, I have people that charge or pay me quite a lot. Depends on how many animals they have, that type of thing. But there is room for working with people that are in really hard situations.
[00:15:25] Speaker A: Yeah, I know. With Nancy and I, we say we only want to work with nice people. We actually interview people, and occasionally we won't take a client because we want a team and we want to work together and have that feeling of working together to accomplish the goal. And when a dog has some type of a behavior issue, you want the mamas and the daddies of the doctor, I'm sorry, the dog, to help you out and be part of the effort and to make things happen, you know, same way with real estate, we feel the same thing, too, so.
[00:16:03] Speaker C: And that's honestly one of the reasons I left working with humans, because you would go into these situations to try to help, and you have this experience. You've seen these things. You. You kind of have an idea of what's going on, and you want to work with the humans involved and guide them.
But there's so many barriers, and the. The hardest personality, I guess, to deal with is the personality where somebody just kind of throws either their kid or their dog at you and says, we'll fix it. It's like, well, that's not quite how it works, because things change because there's a relationship. So I'm never going to be able to change somebody's dog solely on my own. But if I work with you, the owner, the parenthood, and you start implementing those changes, those changes will be bigger, bigger, better, more permanent, because the dog wants to please you. Dog doesn't really care about me. They want to please you. And that's the same thing with humans.
[00:17:02] Speaker A: You know, the interesting thing that I learned was that the type of dog may require a different type of training.
[00:17:09] Speaker C: Absolutely.
[00:17:10] Speaker A: You know, there are several different places that you can go to get dog training, and they'll give you the basic, you know, how to teach them to sit up, to lie down, to stand, to shake, to do these kind of things. But once you've taught them how to do that, there are some breeds that require additional type training that is breed specific.
[00:17:31] Speaker C: Absolutely.
[00:17:32] Speaker A: German shepherds are very much that way, you know, crazy. I've had four in my lifetime, and out of the four, it took this last two, I think, before I really started to realize that you have a german shepherd, you're going to have to have certain types of training to make it happen for that shepherd.
[00:17:51] Speaker C: They are not Labrador retrievers.
[00:17:54] Speaker A: Now, you mentioned Labrador retrievers. Tell us about them.
[00:17:57] Speaker C: So Labrador retrievers, they can be known as kind of like your silly, goofy dogs.
There's not a lot that all the dog trainers out there and behaviors agree on. But they say if you are looking specifically for a specific breed for your family and you maybe have never had a dog before, whether you go to a shelter or a reputable, ethical breeder, they always suggest you start with a Labrador retriever because of the dog world. These dogs just want to please you. They want to be with you.
They want to be your shadow. And they don't really care if they get stepped. I mean, they care if they get stepped on, but they're a lot of times not as reactive as some other dogs.
They tend to have a more gentleness with kids.
They're really a great, what we call starter dog. Of course, there's always exceptions to everything, and I'm not recommending just picking out a Labrador from a backyard breeder, but if you're going to the shelters and they're lab mixes or Labrador puppies, and you're thinking about adding to your family and you don't have a ton of experience those are the dogs you want to look for. Wow. Don't jump to a husky.
[00:19:12] Speaker A: A lot of training for the accurate. What about a Malinois?
[00:19:15] Speaker C: Same thing as german shepherd, but times ten.
[00:19:18] Speaker A: Times ten.
[00:19:18] Speaker C: So if you. If you want a belgian, you better be living the belgian life. So you yourself better be the person that has the personality to go out and do marathons or triathlons or. You're the type of person that never stops working. That's the type of temperament you have in a Belgian. The reason that they excel, pardon me, so well, doing police work, military work, search and rescue work, is because their drive to go, to solve problems, to please their leader, is so high. They are not going to be the dog that's just cuddling on the couch with you on a Saturday morning. They are going to be the dog that wants to be running in the hills, working with you, doing those types of things.
[00:20:00] Speaker A: Isn't that amazing?
[00:20:01] Speaker C: It truly is.
[00:20:02] Speaker A: I've seen some of those. Those films where a Malinois will actually scale, like, about a 16 foot wall.
[00:20:10] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:20:10] Speaker A: Incredible. They hit this, hit that, and up they go.
[00:20:13] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:20:14] Speaker A: I think Malinois and shepherds. And what's the other breed that they use for police work?
[00:20:19] Speaker C: Those are the two big ones. Sometimes they'll have. They're crossbreed, so they'll breed them together because their drive and their intelligence is so high. These are not your dogs that can just hang out in your backyard because they will leave your backyard on their own.
[00:20:35] Speaker A: What about the training for a Milinois or a german shepherd to become a police dog? Quite a bit different. It's intense, what you do.
[00:20:42] Speaker C: Yes, absolutely. So those are. They actually have organizations that do that? Yes. There is some in home, like, training of, like, how to be with humans, but a lot of it is they specifically temperament test these dogs as puppies. And it's amazing to me. I don't know much about how they decipher which out of a litter or which puppy might be the right type, but it's usually the ones that aren't just trying to be social. They're the ones that they can see them solving problems, and they just have this innate drive to be thinking. And whereas most puppies, if you're looking for a friend, for your family, you want a dog, maybe? Yes, being smart is great, but you want a dog that is more relational, wants to be with you, wants to just interact with you. Belgians and shepherds, as such, they really just. They want to work with you while going away from you and coming back and going away from you and coming back.
[00:21:37] Speaker A: Mission oriented.
[00:21:38] Speaker C: Yes, absolutely.
[00:21:39] Speaker A: Very mission.
[00:21:40] Speaker C: Absolutely. Think your SeAL team, individual personalities, the people that end up on a SeaL team, those are your Belgians. Those are your german shepherds.
[00:21:50] Speaker A: You notice I can get my dog Harley to look me in the eye and I can actually talk with him if I talk real slow and he maintains his attention on me instead of everything else that's happening around in the room because they're very protective.
I can get him if he. Do you understand what I'm saying, or do you get it? And I'll explain something like, are you ready to go outside? And he'll give me a double blink, which is an indicator that, you know, hey, yes is the answer. If he doesn't understand, he doesn't give me anything.
[00:22:22] Speaker C: Yeah. He's like.
[00:22:23] Speaker A: But I know darn well that that guy. He actually knows what's going on. He's just an incredibly wonderful pet as well as a smart guy. He really is.
[00:22:33] Speaker C: They're incredible.
[00:22:34] Speaker A: Yeah. So recently, our dog for the second time towards cruciate ligament. So this is another reason that you want to have pet insurance, if you possibly can, because today you want to take care of that cruciate ligament. The actual recovery from that is like 16 plus weeks, and then it's. It's still weak and you have to rehab it. There are actually rehab facilities now for canines where they have them walk in a water, which is up to, you know, the bottom. Their withers, I guess you would call it. And they'll walk in there and they'll prance because the water causes them to lift their leg and to help develop it again back to the strength that it was prior to the accident and the surgery, you know, and then they motivate them and bribe them a little bit with peanut butter. Have you seen that happen?
[00:23:27] Speaker C: Yeah, I have.
[00:23:28] Speaker A: Treadmill.
[00:23:29] Speaker C: Yeah, we do. We actually have a, I believe, one or two facilities in Vegas. I've had a couple clients take their dogs there for rehab.
[00:23:37] Speaker A: It actually works pretty well with Harley. So I've been. I've been really interested in seeing him recover that way. So with your long term involvement with dogs, have you considering authoring a book on helping others just to help other people that possess dogs and love dogs as much as you do?
[00:23:56] Speaker C: It is honestly the to do list. It is on the plans for my life.
It's a little bit busy right now in this season of my life.
[00:24:04] Speaker A: Oh, you have children?
[00:24:05] Speaker C: Yes, I do.
[00:24:05] Speaker A: You have the real dogs and two children.
[00:24:08] Speaker C: Two dogs. Cat, hamster, husband. Husband should be at the top of the list. And it is busy. And sometimes helping the whole household keep their sanity is the priority. So eventually, I would like to write a book, some of my thoughts about working with animals and humans. Down.
[00:24:29] Speaker A: You certainly do a good job with it, for sure.
[00:24:31] Speaker C: Well, thank you.
[00:24:32] Speaker A: If you were to describe dogs in one word, words, phrase, or something of that nature, what would you use to define pet dogs?
[00:24:44] Speaker C: I would describe them as miracles with little jackets on. Fur jackets on. Because they, they're miracles.
[00:24:50] Speaker A: Fur jackets on.
So in conclusion, do you have any words to pass on to doggy moms and dads?
[00:24:59] Speaker C: Absolutely. I would say just like we say to humans, dealing with humans, have a lot of patience.
Also be very consistent.
[00:25:07] Speaker A: Wow. Well, thank you for being on the show, Brittany Inoue. Folks, if you're ever in Las Vegas and you need to know more about rover services and more about your doggie, give us a call 925-32-2775 and we'll connect you up with Miss Anue Inouye. And she's just an amazing lady. She loves pups and she's really puts her heart into it. So I hope you've enjoyed our show this morning with Brittany, animal behaviorist, animal lover, Rover contractor and all around knowledgeable dog person.
I appreciate Brittany coming back on the show. It's the second time around and talking about her dogs being family members as well. You've been listening to the real estate and more show, and we have been talking about men or women's best friend. Next week. I hope that you tune in and just have a blessed week between now and then. Thank you for being on the show, Brittany.
[00:26:10] Speaker C: Thank you for having me.
[00:26:14] Speaker D: Please remember to go to our new YouTube handle my real talk show. That's
[email protected]. and touch that subscribe button. You can also find past aired shows at our handle my realtalkshow on YouTube.com dot.
