Christina: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Taking the Lead podcast where we empower people to be unstoppable. I'm Christina Hoeppner with my co-host Leslie Hoskins and Timothy Kuo. I cannot believe this year is almost over and we have so many things coming up at later dog and in life in general. You know, Thanksgiving and whatever holiday you celebrate in December.
Just so many things happening, but I'm excited. I hope the weather's good for our light up Leader Dog event. It's now like, um, on campus, Well, it's always been on campus, but now you can get outta your car this year. Yes. So Light
Leslie: Up Leader Dog in the past was kind of like a drive through, uh, event on the Leader Dog campus and we light luminaries and our facilities team does an amazing job of putting up beautiful Christmas lights and it's just, it was really fun to kind of drive through.
And this year they've really changed it up a little bit or we've changed it up. I shouldn't say. Although I'm not responsible for it, so [00:01:00] I can't take credit for it, but, uh, we've switched it up so that people can actually come and walk through and then there's gonna be vendors and stuff.
Christina: Yeah, and it's really cool because you can really participate from anywhere in the country or Canada, wherever you're at, because you can just purchase a $10 luminary on campus and we'll take pictures of all of them and have them up on social media for you to see.
And so we place luminary on campus in your honor. And that's how you know people can walk through because we need the luminaries to light up campus or else it's gonna be dark. So
Leslie: So everybody's gotta get their luminary. And this is taking place Saturday, December 10th, and the actual event on campus is from five 30 to eight.
Christina: Yes. So you have, I think, up until then to purchase illuminary, which is, It's cool to. Incorporate people from everywhere as well. Yeah. Um, but it is gonna be really cool if you can make it out to campus that day.
It's a free event essentially. Um, but [00:02:00] you can, you know, purchase beverages and food. And all of that fun stuff and you know, actually be around people. It's kind of cool to be back in person for events like this. I know.
Leslie: I think that's why it was a drive through event originally. Yeah. Cause it's not a very old event.
No, it was. I think it's, it started during the pandemic, I think as a way to at least get people out a little bit and come to campus. Yes.
Christina: So it's gonna be cool to see everybody in person. Have everybody on campus. Cause I'm sure it's been a while for
Leslie: some people. Yes. And fingers cross. The weather will be nice.
We're not all living in Georgia. Right? Well
Timothy: if I remember last year was really windy cuz uh, Christina had audio problems
Christina: on Facebook. I did have audio problems on Facebook. That was not fun because I was my first, I was gonna say you were here very long. I was not here very long at all. And that was my first event and we had tested that mic.
Three times I had done like private lives on my own personal Facebook to test it out. and it worked perfectly until we actually had to go live, cuz it was [00:03:00] postponed a week last year because it was so windy, but it was still so windy. So fingers crossed that we don't have that problem this year. But then in January, um, we have a new event, um, a 5k, the frozen Paul 5k, that's January 22nd.
So if you're a runner, um, that would be a cool one to check out, but we'll talk about that more when it comes up. We got some time, but light up Leader Dog is gonna be
Leslie: coming up pretty fast. I know so many things are happening. Well, that is absolutely wonderful. I look forward to that. I look forward to Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, all the holidays, whatever it is that you celebrate.
Um, it should be a really fun end of the year. And then, oh my gosh, 2023 is right around the corner.
Christina: And it, That would be a one one year of
Leslie: our podcast in 23. Oh my, We can't even talk about that. That's gonna be a holiday soon. I know it's not yet, but I'm sure it will be a holiday someday. Yeah. Who's,
Christina: who's getting us a cake?
You know, . Oh
Leslie: my gosh. We should have like a ceremony or somehow Yeah, we're gonna have. Send one down to Timothy, who's [00:04:00] planning that party for us?
Christina: I don't know. It shouldn't be us. It should be somebody else. Surprise party. We gotta talk to some people. Yeah. So if you're hearing. And you work with us, we would love a surprise party.
I
Leslie: love a good themed party too. Yeah, . Anyways, lots of really exciting things coming up and today we are really excited because we have a special guest who is very, very critical to Leader Dog and the care of our dogs. He and his team are incredibly busy, so we're very fortunate to have stolen some time of his today.
Yes,
Christina: Dr. Smith is the Director of Veterinary Services at Leader Dogs for the. Supervising the Leader Dog Veterinary Clinic and team. He's a member of the Leader Dog Breeding Committee, and he supervised the development of the Leader Dog's Cryogenic Laboratory to preserve semen of highly regarded male breeding dogs outside of Leader Dog.
Dr. Smith is a member of many associations. He has been recognized as a member of Southeastern Michigan Veterinary Medical Association Academy [00:05:00] for Educational Excellence, and was awarded for outstanding contribution to the c. That's just a few of the many accomplishments of Dr. Smith. I don't know where he finds the time, and we are so happy to have stolen some of that time today.
Timothy: welcome to the podcast, Dr. Smith. We're excited that you're here. Can you tell us a little bit more about what you and your team do for Leader Dog?
Dr Smith: Sure done. And thank you for having me. It's, it's a pleasure to be here with you. Um, on a, on a daily basis, actually, our, our team runs 24 7. Um, and, uh, so we're on call weekends and in evenings and such, but predominantly our work is 40 hours during the middle of the week, Monday through Friday, where we, um, evaluate dogs that are going into the training program.
Continually perform physical exams on dogs as they're in training, and, uh, take care of the breeding stock dogs, uh, moms and dads, uh, as well [00:06:00] as the local puppies that are being raised for us. That's
Leslie: a lot of dogs to hear on a regular basis. How do you keep all the dogs like organ? Like who's who? .
Dr Smith: You know, they're, they're all micro chipped.
Um, and they also have collars on, uh, tags on their collar. And we keep, uh, obviously medical records, um, hand copies and, um, electronic database so that, uh, That's essentially how we
Christina: do it. So a lot of organization goes into that, is what I understand. You have to be very organized. . Um, yes. Yeah. So Dr. Smith, how long have you actually been a part of the organization?
Been with Leader Dogan? Um, running the team. Uh, I've been
Dr Smith: here since 1986, so that's about 36 years. That's crazy. . It is crazy . It's gone by very fast.
Leslie: Yeah, I can imagine. And so what does your team look like now? Like what has [00:07:00] changed from 1986 to now? How has your team developed and grown?
Dr Smith: You know, in, in 1986, there was a part-time veterinarian here, Dr.
Eastman and I joined, uh, the staff, this full-time veterinarian, and he went down to four hours a week and it was myself and the trainer. That did all the veterinary care and work. So one member of a team would be my surgical assistant. One person would do anesthesia and one person would do prep and, uh, dentistries one would take x-rays.
So the training staff at that time was, uh, was instrumental in veterinary clinic.
Leslie: Wow. I have a hard time even fathoming that cuz you know, we've had them on too, and their schedules are so tight. They have to keep, you know, so many dogs up to par and all of that. I can't imagine also adding on that knowledge of the veterinary
Dr Smith: care.
Right. And they also administered all the medications that need to be administered, uh, at that time too.
Leslie: And so now what does that look like? What does [00:08:00] your team consist?
Dr Smith: So we have a, another, we have two full-time veterinarians, including myself. We have a part-time veterinarian. We have two volunteer veterinarians that come in, uh, about a half a day a week to help with surgery and outpatient care and care of dogs on site.
And then we have veterinary technicians that support us all in this role. And they're very critical members of, uh, of our.
Christina: You went basically from one full-time person to now two full-time volunteers, part-time, vet techs, all of that stuff. I mean, what your team does is amazing. What, I guess I, I can't say, you probably don't have a typical day.
It's probably ever changing. What is kind of a day in your life like?
Dr Smith: It is ever changing. And we have, uh, as they say, fires to put out on a regular basis. We, uh, we take calls from our graduates and puppies that are being raised across the country. Uh, we [00:09:00] see dogs, um, regularly for their outpatient exams, vaccines, and any care that they need.
And we have regularly scheduled physicals about every four to six weeks for every dog that's on. And not only that, anytime anybody wants to have a dog seen by us, we set aside an hour day that we can bring dogs in on a drop in basis. So these are dogs that are on site, but that, but that someone has a concern about them.
So I imagine, cause
Timothy: I've seen the facilities, it's a state of the art. This is just not a ordinary veterinary. You get able to do surgeries and all kinds of stuff at this
Dr Smith: facility. Yeah. We're very proud of our, um, of our veterinary
Leslie: clinic cause we remodeled recently. And so what was the, the design process like?
Like how to, do you guys think about that, uh, when you were faced with this opportunity to kind of build a whole new veterinary?
Dr Smith: Right, because, um, we do so much more than we had done in the past. We, we've always x-rayed the dogs, the [00:10:00] hips and the, and the chest. But now we x-ray elbows and any other joints that are involved.
We have one room that's dedicated to ultrasonography. Um, and it's just predominantly for pregnancy ultrasounds. Uh, but we can ultrasound all the parts of the body. Also, we have another room that's dedicated just to endoscopy so we can retrieve objects that some of our dogs have inappropriately eaten.
Oh, no, . Um, With, with a scope instead of opening their abdomen and, and doing a surgery. So that's been very helpful. And that same room is used for, um, artificial insemination, which we do, some of them endoscopically to, to achieve a higher success rate.
Leslie: That's nice. And for anybody who hasn't been to our canine development center, it's very, very nice.
It's brand new within the last few years. Um, and the veterinary clinic kind of sits in the center location so that all of the dogs in training have quick and easy access. Same with all of our puppies who [00:11:00] are on campus and or our breeding. Um, so the location is really important, but also what's really cool is if you're doing a tour checking out, Um, the, the Kid and Development Center, you can walk by and actually there's a window into the surgical room.
Um, and sometimes you'll see surgeries happening. I am, I've only seen it once because I don't get to spend enough time over there, but it's crazy. Like, you know, the dogs are laying out and you guys are just working and, and sometimes have an audience. What is that
Dr Smith: like? We do, you know, we design that. So our, so our backs are actually toward the observation window, so we're not distracted.
Yeah. But, um, if we have an assistant, um, they would be, um, staring toward the, or looking towards the folks that are on, on tour. Um, we see a lot of interested faces through that window and they're just in awe. And for days that we don't have surgeries, we've got giant four by four foot collar. Pictures of surgeries going on.
So people have an idea of the flow [00:12:00] is we do have two surgical tables, both to have electro artery, um, and uh, gas anesthesia pipe to them and waste gas extraction. So it is state of the art to provide the safest, uh, anesthesia and safety for our team members.
Christina: Yeah, I got to witness a C-section one time Did,
Leslie: I've always
Christina: wanted to.
Yeah. Oh my gosh. How fast you guys worked and seamlessly and all of a sudden, like you guys took the dog back and then there was a puppy and I was like, Wait a minute, what just happened? ? So it's so cool to be able to like witness that outside of that window. Um, but you know, if you are squeamish, you might not wanna look.
Dr Smith: Right. That, that's one of the most interesting surgeries and one of my favorite surgeries to do. Um, and, and we do them, uh, you know, if there's an urgency in, in the birthing process, but we also do them proactively every once in a while. If a dog has had a problem giving birth before, um, we want to make [00:13:00] sure that the puppies do well and the mom does well.
And if we do an elective c-section, just like in people, um, the, uh, the outcome is, uh, for the most part favor.
Leslie: Cuz it doesn't happen often. Most times puppies are born in people's homes and so when do happen? Yeah, I know it's kind of a little bit of an ab. Abnormality, , is that the word? I think I wanna say?
Dr Smith: Right. And I'm very proud of the team we can pull together at the last minute, in the middle of the night, and on weekends for c-sections that are, that aren't planned, that, um, are coming about. Because like I said, there's some difficulty in giving birth. And, um, you know, within an hour we can get a whole team together, uh, nurse, uh, veterinary nurse anesthetists and preppers, and.
Puppy catchers we call 'em, which are one person for every puppy that we expect is there to, to help assist and revive, uh, puppies and monitor them as as they're warming up, [00:14:00] which is
Leslie: so cool. I have yet to go through that training, but that is on my list of things to do next time. It is offered. But yeah, you guys pull in people and it's, it sometimes is in the middle of the night or middle of the day.
And some of our team has gone through that, that training. What puppy catchers I think is what you just said. And then they like warm 'em up. Right. And like kind of keep 'em, That's crazy. I got to
Christina: watch that cuz I obviously was not, I was just observing. But they let me, Puppy who that was wrapped up in a little burrito is what I like to, He looked like a little bere.
It was so cute. And their puppies are, I, you know, I didn't realize how small a puppy is when it is born. It grows so fast. Right. They're
Dr Smith: about a
Leslie: pound. Oh my gosh. Well that's on my list. That is on my list to be one of those people and to have that experience at some
Christina: point. And Dr. Smith is writing Leslie's name.
I,
Leslie: now I seriously, I think it's so cool cause you see the people when they come back, like, I remember like Ashley one day or Carrie, um, two of our [00:15:00] trainers have done it before and they're like so excited the rest of the day like, Feel their energy cuz they got to be a part of such a cool process. So, um, definitely on my hit list to do, but I think it's awesome.
And I also love that we play a fun little song when puppies are born on campus. Um, What? Yeah, I never heard this. We still do that. Don't we still do that?
Dr Smith: We do. You know, we're not as good about doing that as, uh, as we should be, but I'll make a note to make sure we do that regularly because. That's a fun thing for everybody to hear in all the different
Leslie: departments.
It is. It's definitely one of those things. You've not heard it? No, I, I know we changed the song cuz there was like a vote on it at one point, but it used to be it's your birthday and and so you'd be like anywhere on campus and it would come through the phone and it was just one of those things. Yeah.
That brightened your day. You're like, Oh, puppies were just born. It was very cool. Yeah. So I'm in favor of making sure that happens.
Dr Smith: I just wrote that down, .
Leslie: Thank you. [00:16:00] Special request. I have already started thinking about my holiday shopping, and one thing on my list is getting gifts from Leader Dogs for the blind
Christina: gift shop.
That's great, and guess what, You're in luck because for the month of November and December, if you use code taking the lead, you'll get free shipping. But remember, you can only use one code per
Leslie: order. This is amazing news. I am heading to leader dog.org and clicking shop right now.
Dr Smith: So Dr.
Timothy: Smith, what's it like to see a baby that's a baby puppy that's born, and then you see what it goes through for the next maybe 18 months, and you do the final examination knowing that this dog is changing somebody's life, what does that
Dr Smith: do for you? You know what? That's amazing. And, um, this position is so rewarding and, and I'm surrounded by, I always tell everybody I'm surrounded by good people and good dogs and, and everybody's very passionate.
And, um, my veterinary peers are usually [00:17:00] very jealous when they hear of my, my role here and stuff. Not jealous of the twenty four seven, uh, on call status, but all the rest of it. They are, yeah, very, very supportive by the c.
Leslie: And you and, uh, Dr. Wilson is the other full-time vet. You guys have worked together for a long time.
Dr Smith: Yes, Dr. Wilson's been with us for 15 years this year and, uh, she was in private practice for 12 years before that. So she came with a wealth of experience and, uh, we really compliment each other in our, our approach and our styles. So that's beneficial to, uh, Us as as team members together and as lead dogs as a whole.
Yeah. It's almost like working with three people instead of just two. Yeah.
Christina: Well, and that really goes to show how much you guys love your jobs for your tenure and how long, Oh my gosh. You've been with a leader dog, would you say, do you have like a favorite moment of your job or a favorite memory? I know that's a hard question, I'm sure for how many years you've been here.
Dr Smith: There are, you know, there are so [00:18:00] many different things that we've done and I mentioned. Pulling, uh, we call 'em foreign bodies or taking things out of animal stomachs that allow them to recover real quickly, um, without the, uh, discomfort of having gone through surgery. Uh, Tim was mentioning, uh, me.
Watching a puppy come through and then grad, uh, go out with a client at the end. It's also fun to see a similar puppy that grows up that we've taken care of for its whole young adult life that is pulled for the breeding program and then the, and has puppies itself. And the circle of life just continues, uh, again, and, um, this, the circle of leader dogs, uh, empowerment for, to help.
Absolutely.
Leslie: Yeah. Every dog has a very important role. I'm sure. That's really fun. It's kinda like being a teacher a little bit. Mm-hmm. , I don't know. Yeah. Like you get to see 'em and see what they end up doing with their lives. It's kinda cool. . Yeah. . So you also mentioned, um, you know, you guys are on [00:19:00] call a lot of the time.
You guys kind of rotate, I think. How often do you guys get called in during that time? Are there a lot of late night calls or emergencies where you have to go back to campus?
Dr Smith: It really varies. Um, this weekend I had about five calls on Saturday. Dr. Wilson, I think has the record of eight calls before noon on a Saturday morning.
Oh gosh. Um, on most weekends we're on call. We end up coming back to the facility to. To take a look at one of the 135 to 150 dogs we have on campus at any time and at and at nights. We may or may not take a call, uh, maybe after we've gone to bed, it might be while we're having dinner and such. But we, we all know that that's a very important part of us, uh, providing value and taking care of the healthcare of these dogs.
It's part of our role
Leslie: that really is, but I can't, I mean, are there a lot of veterinary jobs where you have to be on call all the time? I mean, that's a really big commitment. [00:20:00]
Dr Smith: No, not anymore. When I was a young lad, we used to work all day and then take calls at night and come in and see our clients at night.
But nowadays there's emergency clinics and critical care facilities that will do that. And so it's, um, it's probably more important. The veterinarians are bright minded during the day, and then if they have to send something for critical care at night, there's someone that's there. Around the clock with them.
Leslie: Yeah, I was gonna say cuz there are kind of, yeah, like animal hospitals and stuff like that for those emergency situations that I would imagine in most vet. So you guys are really putting in the ring , right? The commitment you guys have. That's incredible. Um, another thing I was curious about, I know we talked about some surgeries and c-sections and stuff that we do on campus.
Is there anything we can't provide our dogs, any sort of medical, something that we can't do on campus that we need outside resource?
Dr Smith: You know what? There, there are. It's, um, it's probably less than 5% of [00:21:00] the services that we have to do here. We've been in the field for a long time, so if a, a dog needs to have, um, abdominal surgery or um, bladder or surgery or a splenectomy or something, we can do that right here.
Uh, things that require, uh, cardiac ultrasounds, like all our breeders have an ultrasound exam to make sure their hearts are. Um, healthy and they don't have any congenital defects that they might pass to their puppies. So that's one example of something that's sent offsite for care. Something that needs to have an MRI or a CT would be al also be sent off.
So some of the dogs that, um, one of the conditions that these, uh, retrievers can get is called elbow dysplasia and sometimes it doesn't show up on an x-ray easily. And, and those go out for, uh, for CAT scans. And then the last part is critical care. If something is in, um, needs round the clock care with direct [00:22:00] site, um, of a person and someone monitoring them carefully, we have, uh, a numerous local facilities that will provide that critical care for us.
That's.
Christina: Amazing. It to me, sometimes it blows my mind to think about how much care dogs need. It's kind of like you going to, you know, the doctor getting mri if you have knee problems or whatever it is. It always blows my mind to think about like, dogs need just as much care as the humans and especially our dogs who are going on to, you know, provide a service to someone.
Um, so what. That Like for you, you know, I guess how many years of schooling did you need to become a vet and do you have to do classes throughout the years? Cuz I can't even imagine like keeping up the skills for
Dr Smith: that. Right. So most veterinarians go to school for eight years, have eight years of college and stuff.
One of the. Proudest things that we do here, um, is we support veterinary externs [00:23:00] from veterinary schools across the country. In the Caribbean. We have about 15 to 18 senior veterinary students that rotate through here at two to three week intervals that, um, see what it's like to work at a guide dog facility to see the importance of these dogs and to, uh, understand the, the facets that go into raising and, and training them and providing their, he.
Timothy: That's fascinating. I didn't know that. Did y'all did that with the uh, interns? That's pretty cool.
Leslie: Yeah. I've had an opportunity to speak to some of the interns and they always love this rotation. Like they get so much out of it cuz it's so fast paced and you get to do so
Dr Smith: much. And it helps us too to, to see these bright young minds come through and share their new experiences and, and new knowledge with us.
And you also, uh, asked about keeping up to speed on all these advances. Dr. Wilson and I both do 50 hours of continuing education a year that, um, to maintain our [00:24:00] skills and medical knowledge. Find out what's new in current in the field. Yeah,
Christina: I can imagine. You guys never get bored, .
Dr Smith: No, No.
Leslie: What does it look like to support, um, our clients out in the, in the world, if you will, at like their phone calls or what are some of the most common questions that you get?
Dr Smith: We do, you know what? While the clients are here, get a new dog, we do a health lecture and during that health lecture, and we also do a physical exam with them, present with their dog, so they can get an idea of, of what that's like and what to expect. But in terms of supporting them when they leave, that we have an emergency fund of, um, monies that can be used for expenses that are over and above what would normally, uh, Be expected to handle for dogs and we provide, uh, consult support for the clients and for their veterinarians, and then for unusual situations or medical care [00:25:00] that their dogs need.
They need some more education on or assistance in, in choosing treatment plans. Um, we do the same thing for puppies that are out of our area, uh, in terms of the phone consultations and consultations with the local veterinarians. So if, if you see us sitting at our desk at, that's part of what we do. Lots of emails, lots of phone calls, and, um, that's an enjoyable part of the job that goes with it.
I'd like to ask
Timothy: you a question, Dr. Smith, that everybody, there's a lot on the Facebook page for the alumni for, uh, Leader Dog. What kind of nutrition do these dogs need? Uh, we know we got some good dog food. We got some bad dog food. What are the main things that we need to be looking in the ingredients for these dogs
Dr Smith: to be healthy?
We always like to feed a national brand food that's complete and balanced. Um, we've fed Purina since, um, I think for the last 40 years or so, and we've evolved into feeding Purina Pro Plan. [00:26:00] So all of our dogs are raised on, on that food and continue it in. In training and then we recommend that food as they leave, or, or a similar complete imbalanced diet.
So the important part of nutrition for the dog is, is to maintain an ideal weight. And, um, and that, that's so hard. These are working dogs, but they're not sled dogs. And so, We have to be careful of their client, their caloric intake, just like people, um, if we're sedentary sometimes it's, um, it's hard to maintain a, a lean weight.
And, uh, and we know the importance of that is that. A dog that's kept at a lean working weight will live up to two years longer than a dog that's not. And so that's all based on a 14 year study that was done at Purina. And we share that, that information with our clients as they, uh, as we're doing the health lecture.[00:27:00]
That's
Christina: very awesome that you not only, you know, you don't just. Give the dog up, you give a health lecture and you really, um, educate our clients too on what to do when they go home. And that's sort stuff cuz I can only imagine. Um, and I mean, I've just learned so much in this short amount of time that we've had with you on the podcasts, so thank you again so much for joining us.
You're
Leslie: welcome. And I, after hearing all of this, am convinced that you guys have extra hours in the day because I just do not understand how you are possibly supporting all of these puppies and dogs out in training, Plus the dogs on campus, the breeding. I do not understand how you possibly have time, so I really, really appreciate you spending this time with us this morning.
Dr Smith: You're welcome. Happy to do
Leslie: it. All right. Well thank you so much for listening to the Taking the Lead podcast. I'm Leslie Hoskins with host Timothy cuo and Christina Hepner. We hope you enjoyed hearing about the amazing work Dr. Smith and the entire veterinary team [00:28:00] are doing at Leader Dog. Please join us next week as we continue to dive into the world of blindness.
And if you'd
Christina: like to learn more about applying to Leader Dog for our free services, you can head to leader dog.org or call us at (888) 777-5332. And don't forget, you can reach us at taking the lead@leaderdog.org with any questions or ideas. If you like today's podcast, make sure to hit subscribe and check us out wherever podcast Street.