Don't Feed the Fear: Allergy Anxiety & Trauma

Sniffing out Safety: Natalie and Harley the Food Allergy Detection Dog

• Amanda Whitehouse • Season 7 • Episode 55

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This episode is a heartwarming and eye-opening look at what life is like with a food allergy detection dog. My guest, Natalie Rice, shares how their family decided to train a peanut detection dog to help manage her daughter's food allergy. Natalie shares how having this remarkable companion has transformed daily life, and how she is using Harley's skills to help others with allergies, too.

We also discuss:

  • How Harley alerts for allergens, and Natalie's handling process
  • What life looks like day-to-day with a working allergy dog
  • How a detection dog supports emotional well-being as much as physical safety

Whether you’re considering a detection dog, have always been curious about how they work, or just love a good story about the bond between humans and dogs, this episode is heartwarming all around.

https://www.detectiveharleyfadd.com/
@detectiveharleyfadd

Harley's trainer: @noseydogdetection

Special thanks to Kyle Dine for permission to use his song The Doghouse for the podcast theme!
www.kyledine.com

Find Dr. Whitehouse:
-thefoodallergypsychologist.com
-Instagram: @thefoodallergypsychologist
-Facebook: Dr. Amanda Whitehouse, Food Allergy Anxiety Psychologist
-welcome@dramandawhitehouse.com



Speaker:

Welcome to the Don't Feed the Fear podcast, where we dive into the complex world of food allergy anxiety. I'm your host, Dr. Amanda Whitehouse, food allergy anxiety psychologist and food allergy mom. Whether you're dealing with allergies yourself or supporting someone who is, join us for an empathetic and informative journey toward food allergy calm and confidence..

Today's guest is Natalie Rice, a food allergy mom who has taken advocacy and safety to a whole new level. She and her daughter's incredible peanut allergen detection dog Harley work together to test everyday products and share those results with their community, helping other families make safer choices. We'll talk about what led her to get an allergen detection dog. What the daily routine looks like And my favorite part, how Harley's work helps to reduce anxiety for Natalie and her daughter. I love the way that talking to Natalie reminds me to think outside of the box when it comes to finding solutions for whatever our hurdles are. As people managing food allergies,

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD:

Natalie, thank you so much for coming on to Don't feed the Fear to tell us about all the work that you're doing yourself and your sweet dog. Harley Food allergy detection dog. It's been so much fun watching you on Instagram

Natalie Rice:

thank you for having me. Um, so Harley is a peanut detection dog. So we use her nose and to obviously find the peanuts or confirm that there are no peanuts, but also to teach about, uh, cross contact. And you know what labels. Are what labels can mean or how they can be very questionable, like, um, processed in a facility or shared lines or may contain. Um, and sometimes very, very broad labels that usually it's okay. You know, we, um, we also do things like, we check foods that are questionable, So, um, we like to. Educate and also, uh, help people stay safe and help open doors for people. So that's

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD:

at all while just being so adorable.

Natalie Rice:

with a little bit of fun. You know, food allergies is always, um, I can't eat this, I can't eat that. I have to carry EPIs around with me and we try to put a little bit more of a lighthearted twist on it.

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD:

Yeah. Well, I love it. Obviously it's serious work that your dog is doing, but at the same time It does just make it so much more interesting and fun. Tell me just about food allergies in your family and how you became a member of this community

Natalie Rice:

Yes, I was, uh, I was a bit surprised. I remember being in baby class with my oldest one,, we started at three months old and you know, before that I had heard about, you know. Food allergies and stuff in kids and I used to think, Ugh, I hope my kid doesn't have food allergies. And then, um, you know, we were in baby class, we were learning about it a little, and I remember when people were trying foods out, there was one mom whose son reacted to. Peanut butter. And these, the kids were a little older at this point, uh, but we hadn't touched that yet. And my daughter had, um, some food aversions. She had some sensory stuff so she wouldn't wanna try certain foods. So we never got to peanut butter until she was four, um, or almost four. And, you know, she was. Very rigid with her foods and you do your best to try and get different things in, but it was always Turkey sandwiches for her. And one day we were sitting in my parents' kitchen and I was tired of making Turkey sandwiches and I said, well, I, let's just make a good old PB and j. Like nobody in our family have food allergies. Oh, my, actually, my ex-husband, my daughter's father, has a shellfish allergy, but not peanut butter or not peanuts. So. slathering on the peanut butter, and I paused and I said she should try a little first. So I put like, uh, you know, like a thumbnail amount on a spoon, on a plastic spoon. And I walked around the island in the kitchen. She was sitting at the table. My mom was with her, and I gave her some. And then I turned around and walked back to the sandwich I was making. And before I even got there, my mom's like Natalie and her ears got. Bright, bright red immediately, and she's going back and forth going, my ears itch. My ears itch. And her mouth got a little bit itchy. I don't even know how much she actually ingested. It didn't go beyond that. we got on the phone with the pediatrician. We didn't have Benadryl, which everybody has questionable thoughts about Benadryl,, and I had no education on food allergies, so we ran out and got that and it didn't go beyond that. Then we. Went to the allergist about a week later and he did the full panel on her and everything came back fine except her peanut allergy, the wheel on her back. And again, everybody has different views on how to test, but we know there was a known reaction. Um, the wheel didn't go away on her back fully for six weeks,

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD:

Hmm.

Natalie Rice:

uh, it was huge. That was our introduction to it. And, um, she was very. Shy and she didn't speak up for herself. Of course, she was only four, but she was still very shy and reserved. And I had read about allergen detection dogs, specifically a peanut one. And you know, everybody looked at me like I was crazy. And so I just put it away. she was in second grade. And, um, she got bullied over her peanut allergy Then this fear set in don't feed the fear. Right? The, this fear set in because uh, you know, she was like, she was threatened to have a spoonful of peanut butter shoved in her mouth, right? And that's to a kid with food allergies. That's as scary as.

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD:

As someone holding a gun to her head..

Natalie Rice:

Else you can make Exactly. You, you said it. So, um, it became difficult to go out. We were always very careful, but we weren't overboard, we were practical about it, which is. The best way to be for your mind, I guess. So we, we had done a good job with that. Um, but then it came to the point where she didn't wanna go out to eat. Her food choices became more restrictive and um, and traveling became even harder.'cause then you're eating out all the time or not. We would travel with my parents and my brother and sister-in-law and all that. So like. We wanted to be able to do more. And, um, I wanted her to not have that fear. And so then the idea of a peanut detection dog kind of came back to me I was tired of everything being so restrictive. We're dog people obviously. We've, always had dogs. We had Joey and I was like, yeah, I'm gonna do this. was kind of one of my, you know, crazy ideas, I guess. I don't know. But it ended up being the best thing we ever did because Harley doesn't just protect her. She also opens a lot of doors. So like now we'll go out to eat and she's. Like willing to try things and she's not a picky eater anymore. I mean, she's also a teenager now, but, but still, this started years ago with Harley. Like she felt better about trying things. She felt more confident about it'cause it was like an extra line of defense. And, um, that was huge. That was huge. So, I mean, going out and traveling with a dog is a lot of work,

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD:

So in some ways it's more work and in some ways it probably, like you said, it opens doors for her. It adds to the safety.

Natalie Rice:

but it's also more peace of mind.

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD:

Yeah. So how long ago then did you get Harley and start?

Natalie Rice:

Harley arrived November of 2019. Harley was training for a year, roughly a year before she came home to us. So we never had her in the puppy phase. but Harley wasn't our first dog. So our first dog, the first dog that we got, um, her name was Phoebe. Um, because we had Joey, so we were gonna have Joey and Phoebe, and if you're Gen X, you would understand that. So we were gonna have Joey and Phoebe, which was like so perfect.

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD:

Aw.

Natalie Rice:

didn't wanna sniff. So Phoebe was a great dog. She got to the trainer, the trainer called me. One of the reasons I love our trainer, um, uh, nosy dog detection partners, Kathy Waters, she's, um, wonderful and she's honest with me and she calls me up and she said, Natalie, this dog doesn't wanna sniff. We've gotta find this dog a wonderful home and we need to get you another one. And that's what we did. Uh, well, and I actually had a backup plan because our very, very close friends are, happen to be golden retriever lovers also. And I, when I told her I was doing this, I was like, so do you wanna be my backup in case a dog doesn't work out? She's like, sure. So one day I called her up, I was, I remember I was in the car and I called her up and I'm like.

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD:

Phoebe's coming home.

Natalie Rice:

Phoebe lives. Two or three miles down the street, uh, you know,

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD:

That's sweet.

Natalie Rice:

way over there, um, with a golden doodle and lovely parents. Um, and then we got, we found Harley and Harley definitely won. It was motivated to work and so she, um, trained for about a year before she came home to us. So the whole process was well over a year and a half.'cause I was also doing the research before that and then, and that was when she came home to us. But, but there's still training that goes on. Um. Regularly, which is kind of how we got into Instagram because Harley came home in November of 2019 to make our life outside the house better. And then we got shut inside.

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD:

Right.

Natalie Rice:

So, so, so she got here and, um. You know, we're in a much more populated area than where she was born and where she was trained. So coming here was an adjustment process and um, and so she and I, we were, it takes about three months or so when, even when you would adopt a new dog just as a pet, it takes about three months to get used to things. So it took us about three months to kind of get into a good groove. So November. December, January, February, and, oops, you can't go out anymore. So that's kind of when I started dabbling around on Instagram a little bit because we were home.

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD:

Right.

Natalie Rice:

wasn't really into social media before that anyway, and that's, that's how this all came about.

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD:

Yeah.

Natalie Rice:

long story short, that was a long story.

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD:

So, I mean, totally unimportant question, but why isn't Harley named Rachel or Monica?

Natalie Rice:

Um, because my daughter's like, okay, I am, I'm changing the name now. My, my brother's a TV writer and at the time, the, the show that he was on at the time, like the main character, the girl's name was Harley, and so, my daughter wanted to name her Harley. So

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD:

That's a good reason, I suppose.

Natalie Rice:

came up. Yes.

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD:

Cute. I'm trying to do the math of how old your daughter was at the time, and then what she thought of this idea of like, I'm going to be getting this food allergy detection dog.

Natalie Rice:

So That's a very interesting question because at the time She was in fifth grade she was. Very excited about it. Harley, uh, she was not gonna be going to school with her because the school was very good with food allergies.'cause we had switched schools to a school that was very good with food allergies. So, um, Harley wasn't gonna be going to school with her. She was very excited and loves Harley and still to this day, sleeps with her with every night and everything. as she progressed into the teen years and as we pulled out of COVID, know, she became a little more self-conscious and so she and I both handle Harley when we go out. I tend to handle Harley'cause she couldn't handle her when we first got her'cause she was too young.

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD:

Right.

Natalie Rice:

so, you know, it's just kind of progressed that way. And of course the Instagram thing, I handle all that stuff'cause I don't my kids on too much. So when we go out I tend to handle Harley most of the time. And. As she became a little self-conscious of it.'cause that's what happens with teenagers. I said to her, you know, don't necessarily tell your classmates or you know her, some of her friends know and some of her less close friends don't know. I said, how come when we go out, you don't seem to care if Harley's with us or not? And she goes, because you're handling her and people think she's for you. And I went, that is a very teenage response. But She gets to have dessert when we go out. Or she gets to participate in birthdays and cake with everyone else if Harley passes it. And she gets to try new things at restaurants. So she loves having Harley. She loves that extra line of defense, but she does have some of the teenage, um, no, it's my mom's

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD:

Right. Don't draw any attention to me on this.

Natalie Rice:

any attention to me. But please do the work for me.

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD:

Yes, it's a new, just a new phase, a new way of seeing and experiencing it. I guess I'll say, and your son, does he have any food allergies as well?

Natalie Rice:

He does actually he didn't before. He

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD:

Oh, no.

Natalie Rice:

now. So last, last summer, um, he had had a reaction to squash of all things and more like an environmental reaction, but it was immediate, it was stomach pain. And I was like, that's weird. And it was. In the beginning of the year of 24, and we always go to the allergist in like June. And so I just, I kind of made a note of it and I said, we're gonna get that checked. And when we went to the allergist, I told him I wanna check squash and I wanna check. always check him on peanut and tree nut because as much as you try to keep it in their diet when one kid has a food allergy, it's kind of hard to do that. So, um, beyond, you know, trace amounts that they'll get exposed to just eating a cookie outside the house. So, um. He was very, he has environmental allergies and he was just very allergic. And so we tested him on a bunch of stuff and of course, back tests are they. accurate or not? And a whole bunch of stuff came back, and then we went and did blood work to see if anything matched up. And a whole bunch of stuff came back on that. But his IgE level was so high that the allergist said, when it's really that high, it's not. Everything else. Isn't that accurate? So this year we went back and it was calmer. Everything was calmer, but he still showed up to walnut and hazelnut and walnut is pretty significant. So, um, so now I have to watch out for tree nuts, but I don't have a dog for that,

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD:

Right.

Natalie Rice:

I'll have to figure that one out going forward.

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD:

Could Harley learn a new allergen to add in, or is that too complicated?

Natalie Rice:

I think at this point in time it would be too complicated. You know, most of the time dogs have one signal, I've never seen a dog with more than one. So there are a few allergen dogs, um, that you might find out there that they, they're very specific to the person. So like there's one, um, there's one dog that we follow who's awesome. Chowders awesome. He is gluten and Shellfish, but he's very specific for his handler. So like if you, and he has, um, he has one, uh, he has one alert basically if, uh, it has gluten or shellfish. So she, so if you have, if you have celiac, but you can eat shellfish. You were going by that dog, um, you would not be eating gluten or shellfish, If Harley was able to alert to Walnut, but she was using the same signal, then um, neither of my kids would have peanut or walnut. If she could be taught a different signal for Walnut, that would be perfect. I don't know, I haven't broached that

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD:

Yeah. That's.

Natalie Rice:

Uh, but yeah, that's a lot to take in and I don't know, you know, can you teach an old dog new tricks? I don't know. Um, so I'm not gonna mess with what we have, but, um, some things that were, that. Are helpful to us and are helpful to other people with tree nut allergies is if it says, you know, may contain peanuts and tree nuts or processed on the same lines as peanuts and tree nuts and Harley alerts to it. For peanuts, I'm gonna assume that they handle tree nuts the same way that they handle peanuts in the facility and she would probably alert to tree nuts. The same thing goes if she passes it. So the question is, what is your comfort level? So, uh, you know, that's where it's not black or white. A lot of gray in this area, as we all know.

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD:

Is true about everything with allergies it seems like, but

Natalie Rice:

no, two people are alike and that's why it, you know, in this space, um, when we make recommendations and stuff, we're always, you know, we're, we're very careful with our words to say, look, this is what we're, this is what we're seeing. If we, if we find peanuts in something like Ritz Cheese, mini crackers, like don't eat'em. Like, we can make a statement like that. If you have a peanut allergy, don't eat these. But if there's something else, it's like, well, I know she passed this box. Um, if your doctor says you can eat something with this label and Harley's past it, um, that's looking pretty good. But you need to figure out what works for you and what recommendations are for you. So it's more information. We're able to give more information.

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD:

That's. Another layer for people. Like I always talk about layers of protection and layers of confidence or safety. And so yeah, it's, it's one layer you're saying into the formula of you have to make a decision for yourself, but we can give you this piece of information.

Natalie Rice:

Yes.

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD:

When a service dog is trained specifically to detect a food allergen, how does the dog learn that skill?

Natalie Rice:

It's a process of imprinting. Um, and you imprint them on a, on an odor. Um, and it can be done with gluten, it can be done with other allergens, it can be done, um, with pretty much anything. Same thing when you see, um, you know, rescue dogs, tracking people down, you know, you see the dog, the dogs given a piece of clothing or something, and that's where they pick up the scent. I mean. Our dogs are trained differently from that, but they pick up the scent and that's what they're looking for. And their sense of smell is so strong, they can pick up trace amounts, but it, they have to learn the signal and they have to learn the smell and it gets put together. But I've never done it before. All I've done is reinforce it.

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD:

Right. You did say there was, that adjustment period when you brought Harley home. So did you have to continue that process with her before she was ready to be reliable and, you know, to reliably indicate allergens? Is that what you meant? Or was she, was she ready to go and give you answers from the moment she got home? She just had to, you know, adjust to the family.

Natalie Rice:

she had to adjust to the family and she had to adjust to, uh, to being out in busier places because, the trainers in Wyoming, the breeders in Montana, and this is la. When I would talk to the trainer, she'd be like, yep, we were in Walmart today. It was busy. I was like, you don't know, busy. And, and, and I know Kathy would agree with me on that, but, so there was, uh, adjusting to that kind of busyness and, but also being in a family, you know, she was with. A trainer and she, there were other dogs there. Um, she being around kids, kids are more unpredictable than adults are. Uh, not, I mean, that was never an issue with Harley. It's just like, oh, there's little people running around. There's Joey, although I will say that we were extremely lucky because Joey is super chill. Uh, both of his parents happen to be therapy dogs, Joey's the best. So Harley Harley kind of walked in that day, looked at him and said, I'm the boss. said, okay. And then he realized she works for treats and he was like, okay, I could deal with this. As far as the training went, it was me learning to work with her as well. So I worked with the trainer in person and, you know, I also, uh, watched a lot of the things that she did, but I have to make sure that when I'm asking Harley to check something, um, especially if we're practicing that I'm not giving her any signals. That would make her, I, so I'm very, that, as you'll see in the videos, I'm very rigid with how I do everything. And even when we're at a restaurant, I tend to sit, you know, I pull back from the table and she just kind of comes out a little bit, which is in some of the videos. I'm also very rigid in how I have her check things there too, because I would never wanna give her any signals one way or another.

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD:

What kind of signals might you inadvertently give if you weren't being, so careful about it?

Natalie Rice:

In some videos you'll see she takes a really long time to smell something, So if, for example, it's a may contain and I think it has peanuts in it, okay. I wouldn't want to be like, are you sure about that? Are you sure about that? And have it in front of her too long because, um, if I did that and kept pushing it in front of her that could make her alert to just alert because she thinks I want her to,

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD:

Right.

Natalie Rice:

I have to be very careful with my hand motions, um, and make sure that everything is very steady, because I wouldn't want to, to that.

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD:

I see Kind of like a person, like if they can tell you're doubting them.

Natalie Rice:

Because, because you're doubting and, and I did make that mistake in the beginning sometimes I've noticed when I put a reel together, sometimes I'll do a side by side and I've noticed the timing of it. I've got'em like they're different checks and they're perfect timing, and I'm like, go me. I didn't have to do any editing on that. Totally different checks, and the timing is perfect because I've stayed rigid with it.

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD:

From watching you do it, I can imagine, yes. It has to be done in a specific way and her indications to you so that it's all very, very clear when it's, it's nonverbal communication.

Natalie Rice:

up on body language. She knows if my daughter's upset, Harley can tell if something is wrong.

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD:

Hmm.

Natalie Rice:

Let's say my teenager is having a rough day and I'm sitting on the floor in her room talking to her, um, Harley will come over either to her, Harley will come up in between us and like lay down right in between us

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD:

Hmm.

Natalie Rice:

Um, Harley she does this thing with me where she will come over to me and she will sit with her, kind of her back to me, and then she wraps her head around me, which it's like a hug.

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD:

Yeah.

Natalie Rice:

she absolutely picks up on body language. Golden retrievers. As, my trainer says, she says they're soft dogs. They're, they're emotional, soft dogs, which they are.

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD:

That makes me curious about, I've never had a service dog. I know though that it's, it's work. When they're working, they're working, but I never thought about the, the part then at home when she's not working and she's still part of the family, what's the transition like? How do you go back and forth between that how does it work?

Natalie Rice:

It's easy when she's home, she's home. When I put on her vest and we go out, or when I put on her vest,'cause we're gonna do a video, she's like, okay, that's pretty much the signal for her. We were away and it was. Very hot. And so, um, I have a, a very lightweight vest for her. And I have, a red leash that says service dog on it. Because technically she doesn't have to be marked. She just has to have a task that helps a person with a disability. But when she's home, she has no problem recognizing I'm home. Time to chill out. I could be a goofball.

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD:

Aw. Can you give us a quick primer on what the appropriate etiquette is, or then if we're around a service dog, I try to teach my kids to just ignore the dog and admire it from afar, but like you are very gracious to answer people's questions, but some people might not wanna disclose the reason that they have the dog

Natalie Rice:

we, yeah, we shouldn't, we shouldn't ask like what they do or anything like that. Mostly it's nodding and smiling. Um, but, you know, if we're at a restaurant and they're watching what she's doing, they might, what, you know, they might ask as the naysayers say, you're teasing the dog with food. You're asking the dog to smell it and not eat it, but she knows what she can eat and what she can't eat. So, um, so there's, there's a lot of that as well, but mostly with, um, with service dogs. Admiring from afar and letting them do their job and, and let the person go about their day, so

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD:

Right. Well, and I'm not a naysayer, but it is amazing. Like I can see myself gawing at you in a restaurant because every time I watch one of your videos, it's so amazing that she doesn't just snatch it out of your hands.

Natalie Rice:

Yeah. It takes a special dog to do that. Uh, Joey. Joey's learned that she sniffs and gets a treat. He, I, I've played around with him just for fun. Not, he doesn't, he's not, he is not imprinted on the scent. Um, at this point in time, he would probably sniff it. I would not put a piece of stake in front of either of them, unattended, you know, if I'm holding, she has had to check steak or pizza or, you know, or meatballs, stuff like that. But I wouldn't. know, I wouldn't put anything on a low coffee table and walk away with either of them. They are still golden retrievers. And if, and if we don't have again that rigid setup then, her vest isn't on, she's still a dog.

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD:

Well that makes sense. But, but it is so amazing. Can you talk about, um, the confidence in her, what you've seen over time as far as how accurate she is and what you've seen her be able to do?

Natalie Rice:

Yes. So, um, the first save she made was during the pandemic. And, you know, remember how, well, I don't know about you around here, a lot of restaurants were doing like, um, you know. Anything to make it fun like Valentine's Day meals. And you could, you know, bring in, and they would have like a set menu. And so one place that we frequent, um, I don't remember, I don't remember if it was a Super Bowl thing or whatever, but we brought in dinner from them and they know to mark, they mark things for us, you know, no nuts and no peanuts. Um, there was a noodle dish in there. And so I had Harley check the noodle dish and she alerted to the noodles and I thought it was really weird. And then I kind of, I had her check again and she was really adamant about it. And um, so I just said, okay, you don't eat those noodles. And I called them up and I said, you know, I just wanna let you know. She alerted to these and they said, oh, well, okay, we'll check. And then they called the next day and they said that it was a Thai noodle and there was some sort of peanut stuff with it that they didn't realize. And so that was the first save. Um, so she, she's had a couple of saves like that, that, something like that. It's like, you know, your stuff and then something like Thin mints where she alerts to the box and she passes one, and then she finds it in the other. Like every time she does something like that, it's, blows my mind. I find it fascinating. Um, but you know, she's, got a great track record so.

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD:

It's, that's so amazing to watch, especially the way you've learned to, to piece it apart, right? Piece apart the puzzle.

Natalie Rice:

Yeah. And you know, I am, I'm sure I've made mistakes in the past. That's why over time I'm like, I need gloves for this. I need to do it this way. Like when I, um, we have a reel where I contaminated crayons and like, I have to think about everything. I have to plan all that out ahead of time and set it all up. And, you know, when, when I know we're gonna do something like that. And then of course, I have to be very careful about cleanup. So.

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD:

Right. Yeah. That's, you're still an allergy mom and all of that. And that's what I was gonna ask. Can you talk about the impact on the stress and the anxiety for you and the whole family, for your daughter, especially that, that Harley has had?

Natalie Rice:

Oh, it, I mean, like, like I said earlier, she can go out to eat and try new things and, you know, um, they'll, you know, they'll take down all the information. They'll tell the chef and, you know, but we still double check it. and, and it's nothing against any chefs or anything like that. We just, we need our peace of mind. And, you know, they, if we're somewhere and they say, well, we don't have any peanuts here, but we brought the cake in from somewhere else, or we brought this in from somewhere else, I'll say, thank you for letting us know. We'll give it a shot. Harley will try it, and my daughter can participate. So it, it the stress, but it increases The participation in things There's a lot fewer nos now. No, you can't have that. There's a lot fewer of those now. She's still very careful and no, Harley doesn't go to school with her. She's gonna be a junior in high school. She is not dragging a dog around. She can manage that and it's good for her to be able to manage it on her own as well. We get. Freedom.

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD:

Will Harley go with her eventually when she's independent? Is that the plan?

Natalie Rice:

Um, I don't know, Spokin has their college guides.

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD:

Mm-hmm.

Natalie Rice:

spoken college guides?

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD:

Absolutely.

Natalie Rice:

think you'll be, um, taking a good look at those because being a freshman in college. Is, um, all about me, right?

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD:

Right, not caring for an.

Natalie Rice:

Yeah. And you know, if you're living in a dorm with a dog, that dog has to be walked. And I mean, it's harder than living in a house with one where you could just let them in the backyard or something. So there's a lot of just daily dog responsibilities that come along with it. Which, um, not saying the safety doesn't outweigh that, but for a freshman at college, uh, probably not. I

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD:

That's a lot on top of Right. The move.

Natalie Rice:

of managing yourself, right.

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD:

Right? Absolutely. I can see that. Tell everybody where to find you if they don't already follow you so they, they can see more.

Natalie Rice:

Um, we are on Instagram, detective Harley, FADD, we are on TikTok and YouTube at those same handles. And, um, and then our website is Detective Harley, FADD.com. We also have a membership on our website where we have a, uh, we have a database of everything that we've checked and, um, and we take requests also. For people with peanut allergies, there's a lot of valuable information in there and we recheck things

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD:

and so if people join the membership, they can send you requests and I want you to check this product.

Natalie Rice:

yes, I take check requests and then I kind of get, you know, a, a shopping list together and I can get the checks done a lot faster than I can get the videos done. But one nice thing we are able to do with the database is that, I'll get the information up and then once I am able to get the reel up, I actually link it to the database. So, um, if, if you're a member of the database and you're like, oh, I wanna see. That reel, I wanna see the, the Ritz Cheese sandwich reel. And you find it in the database, you're able to click on it and it'll take you right to it on Instagram instead of scrolling through thousands of videos. So,

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD:

That's cool. That's a really neat idea. To take something like that and then how can we help people who aren't in our home living here with Harley

Natalie Rice:

we had all this information. I, I hadn't been keeping the database all along. I actually had to go back and like, put everything together, uh, to get it up to speed. And then we've been adding in ever since. I get requests, multiple requests for one thing. And so that'll take priority over other things'cause we can cover more people.

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD:

I love that. That's such a cool idea. And I love, I just love watching, so thank you for sharing it with all of us, because you know, the people listening, if you're not, only managing peanut, it's worth it just to watch and, and see how

Natalie Rice:

and it also helps us recognize what these labels really mean.

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD:

Right.

Natalie Rice:

of helps us break it down and how certain brands handle those labels. So,

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD:

Great.

Natalie Rice:

you know, we can all get something out of it.

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD:

Yeah. Well thank you for sharing here and for sharing all, all that you do on social media so that we can enjoy and benefit from Harley's amazing skills along with you.

Natalie Rice:

Well, thank you for having me today. I've enjoyed speaking with you and getting to know you,

Amanda Whitehouse, PhD:

Yeah, it was great to chat,

Here are three ways you can take action after today's conversation. Support Natalie and Harley. By following them on Instagram, TikTok or YouTube at Detective Harley, FADD, or by checking out their website, detective Harley, FAD Number two, take this as a friendly reminder to respect working dogs and their handlers while they're working so that you don't interfere with anybody's health needs. And number three, share this episode with someone who might benefit from listening to it, particularly someone who's managing peanut allergy. But really anyone who's managing food allergies, would appreciate the cuteness of the channel, but also get a sense of how different companies are handling their labeling. May contains shared equipment. And to help you consider those factors with a little more information at hand. As always, thanks for listening. Please leave me a rating or a review if you like what you're listening to, and I'll see you again next week. the content of this podcast is for informational and educational purposes only, and is not a substitute for professional medical or mental health advice, diagnosis, or treatment. If you have any questions about your own medical experience or mental health needs, please consult a professional. I'm Dr. Amanda Whitehouse. Thanks for joining me. And until we chat again, remember don't feed the fear.

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Amanda Whitehouse, Ph.D.

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Linda Jones Herbert, PhD

Host