New Puppy Mummies, Part 3

[DharmaLovesDraco]

New thread, because quite frankly I can't do without you all :)

Sorry you're poorly Moose and BB. I don't think you should feel guilty on the times when a walk isn't possible. They will be fine despite missing a day here and there for whatever reason.

When minty goes to my mum when I have to work a full day which is every 2-3 weeks, he won't walk at all. He is too big for her to walk as she's 79 but he does fine having the company, runs (on own) in garden and lots of chat! He shows no ill effect on non-walking days and by the evening is perhaps more chilled out than usual, not hyper anyway.

If you're really feeling unwell, you just can't walk a dog safely as you never know if you'll need to leap into action.

I'm walking tomorrow morning with a teenage (naughty) dog and I'm not sure how it will go. We will be in the woods and the other dog is a lab who runs off out of sight and somehow reappears whereas I never let minty get that far. I'm worried minty will run off with the other dog rather than hang out with his old mum!

Took Finn's ball out with us on the walk today and he was totally focused on it. It's good in a way as he can be distracted from anything with it and we had no problem getting him to stay close to us but I'm not sure I like him being so obsessed with it to the exclusion of anything else. Think I might restrict it to the middle of the walk so he doesn't get the idea that end of play means end of walk.

NCIS, it's fantastic that he's that focussed on something, it means you can use it as your tip-top, A-grade reward. I try to find something for all my dogs that they love to that extent, as you never know when you might need it. You can potentially use it as a reward for whatever you are having the most trouble with at any given time.

The only dog I've ever had that wasn't at all interested in any type of toy was my Soft Coated Wheaten girl, but she loved to train and spent every walk glued to my side showing off her heelwork and heelwork to music moves. I literally had to train her to go off and run on cue else she'd spend the whole walk heeling with a gorgeous hackney gait without being told to.

Lurcherboy is tennis ball obsessed, my Boxer x GSD boy lived for his frisbee and Oldgirl had a particular squeaky toy that she adored to the exclusion of everything else in the world, but I haven't found Pip's 'thing' yet. He's currently very food motivated, but I do like to have a toy for back-up if I can get them keyed into one. He does like tennis balls, but has got the message loud and clear from Lurcherboy that all tennis balls are his and not to be touched by interloping puppies! He's quite into squeaky soft-toys, so I think it will probably end up being something along those lines.

I am pleased he's focused, it means he stays close and doesn't take off with gunfire or strange dogs barking but he doesn't come all the way back just drops the ball and stands poised a little way off eyeballing the ball until it's thrown.
Have bought him a dog disc today so will start training him to give it to us instead of dropping it. He's totally un-food focused when there's a toy around so can't get him to me with a treat.

Barbarian weighed Finn today, he's 7.95kg and 4.5 months old.

Thanks, NCIS, Meg 22 (weeks is 10kg now).
Have you seen this? www.puppychart.com/ I am a bit fascinated by it!

I save balls for the middle of walks too- I knew a totally ball focussed BC once and to be honest she was a bit sad. Cared about nothing else but the next throw.

I'm just really keen to not get Finn attached to sticks on walks as my previous BC was killed by a stick. He loves toys but has showed an attraction to sticks on previous walks.
Just bought him a doggie frisbee so can play tug with it too to break it up a bit and make sure he comes back close to me. Still have him on the long line atm as it makes me more confident.

How absolutely awful NCIS- was it because of chewing and splinters? (Don't reply if you don't want to talk about it). I am so sorry.

Meg recalled (to a whistle) from three loose dogs yesterday- she was the first one back to base! I should write a thank you to Primula cheese.

No it was a stick I threw for her( 14 years ago before I knew how dangerous it is) which lodged in the soft ground, she landed on it and it pierced her jugular, she was only seven. The vet said she died of an air embolism. The only saving grace was she was dead in less than a minute. It's something I tell lots of people about to raise awareness of just how dangerous it can be, I see so many people throwing sticks and ,of course, dogs love them.

Finn ignores even primula when a toy is on offer, I guess I won't have to worry about him getting overweight, not that I have any worries in that direction atm.

NCIS - I remember you saying what happened to your dog and it's really stayed in my mind so I don't throw sticks now. So sad for you.

Actually a complete stranger came up to me the other day - a really nice woman - to say how upset she was because the day before her elderly friend had been walking her two dogs in the park when 3 men descended on them, bundled sacks over the dogs and ran off with them to a waiting van. She wanted to share it to warn people, she was clearly upset and worried about it- the police said they were likely to be stealing the dogs to sell over the internet but I'm afraid I had an awful thought it could be worse. I've heard about dogs been used as bait for fighting and that's just too awful to think about.

But I was glad she told me as the park is very near us though not one I go to.

That's awful Mint. I'm glad we walk on a common which is well populated with the army, I feel very safe there and as an added bonus, all the ones I have come into contact with are very 'doggy' people.

I like the idea of walking in a place where I'm protected by the army! The park in question is a bit dodgy - I used to walk our family dog there as a teenager partly be issue it was across the road from our house but also because I'd been flashed to a couple of times by odd men in raincoats and kind of liked the idea that it might happen again - weird teenage brain I had!

So I will avoid that park now. Awful for that lady.

I have the added bonus of lots of lovely fit young men to ogle look at in an admiring fashion. They used to be very understanding when my old Springer would find their hiding places and snuffle at them completely blowing their cover and ruining the exercise . Lovely people.

Can imagine that adds a certain something to your dog walks!

Moose - our kong expert, can I ask you a kong question? How do you know when they need a bigger size of kong or does it matter? Minty has a medium sized one and he's been fine with it but recently I find lots of the peanut butter stuck inside. Maybe it's too small now? How do you tell?

Thanks for that link barbarian - according to their graph, Fitz is going to be a very small Toller!! The normal weight for an adult male is 20-23kg, but he's on course to be 18kg. He looks perfect to me and I don't think I'm under feeding him, but now I'm having a bit of a wibble!

According to the graph Finn is going to be a very small border collie, in fact stunted! The vet seems perfectly happy with his weight and he certainly doesn't look or feel underfed. You can feel his ribs and he has a waist but I think dogs his age are supposed to be like that.
He's fed raw food which I think can make growth slower which is not bad for the dog.

Mint - and everyone else. There have been lots of reports of increased dog thefts and attempted thefts in the north and around Lincolnshire. One woman was exercising her sighthounds in a secure field she pays to use for off-lead running when a some men turned up in a white van, opened the gate, came in and started offering her money for her dogs. She refused and they tried to pick the dogs up and get them over the hedge. I do think that was probably sighthound specific, as the description sounded like Irish Travellers and apparently there have been similar reports in the area, but there is a real problem with dog theft countrywide these days, especially pedigrees. Infortunately the rise of sites like Gumtree etc make it easy to turn a quick buck selling dogs on and/or breeding from them, so the incentive to steal them is higher than it used to be when you could only flog the puppies down the local pub.

Sadly Mint is also right about dogs being stolen as bait for fighting dogs - and that's pretty much regardless of breed or age. When we lived in Birmingham I had to stop walking my Boxer x GSD because I was constantly harassed by people either trying to buy him or distract me and steal him. It got so I was scared to walk him on my own. Someone also followed me home one night and broke in the next day to try steal him. Fortunately he enormous was extremely fear aggressive to strangers, so they couldn't get anywhere near him. He chased them off, then came back and waited in the yard for us to get home. We thought the worst when our little Sheltie x Whippet girl was still missing when we got back though. Fortunately she turned up on the doorstep a couple of hours later, but it was a really scary time.

There have even been reports of dogs being stolen from locked cars, if there's enough profit in it. Young (and therefore unneutered/spayed) pedigree pups are usually the targets in those cases.

Right - lecture over ... kongs. First off it shouldn't be small enough for him to get the whole thing in his mouth, as if he gets it too far back in his mouth he could get it stuck with the narrow end down his throat. Check the width of the big opening against the size of his jaw. It should be too small to get the whole of his lower jaw into and not so big that he can get his jaw inside snugly and end up with it stuck. Pip has both XL and L at the moment and they are both fine for him.

Don't get too hung up on the weight chart thing. It is interesting, but dogs grow at different rates, just like people and growth rates can be affected by genetics, feeding and exercise etc. I know of Lurchers with similar breeding that have hit Pip's height at 6 months and not grown another inch, whereas others kept on growing slowly for months after. How much they fill out also varies from dog to dog. It's not an exact science. Reminds me of those blooming growth curves in the dcs' red books and all the angst they can cause with our pfbs.

Gives me the shivers thinking about Legend (GR lost count....erm 24 weeks?) being stolen! I am very vigilant though.

Question for those of you with experience of dog training..........we have just completed our beginner course and we are now ready for either KC bronze or Rally Obedience level 1. I'm inclined to do the Rally Obedience as it looks more fun & also I don't like the idea of taking a test with the KC ones. Any thoughts?

I would go for Rally personally, KC obedience is too stuffy and formal for me. I've seen many a dog drilled into robotic obedience training for KC - not that it always has to be like that, I've also seen plenty of happy clicker-trained KC dogs, but the temptation to keep drilling for perfection is always a risk.

If our club did Rally I think I might be inclined to give it a go. There isn't anywhere around her that does it though.

How's Legend doing these days?

I am laughing at the old Springer sniffing out nice young men! Surely there's a marketing idea in there somewhere?

We did the KC awards because both DH and myself enjoy the training side of things very much, but actually, the trainer has said, if you do the Bronze, then you basically have the essence of a well trained dog iyswim?

Worrying about the dogs being snatched, I can't imagine the poor lady's distress.

Weight - our Springer is only 15kg and hadn't actually put on any weight last time he was weighed, that's way below breed average. Our vet was not in the least concerned! Think vets prefer to see slim healthy dogs, he kind of suggested he sees a lot that are the other way, without actually saying it

DH is home from a week away on business today, Ddog's life will be complete again, he adores DH

Agree with you about the weight thing needastrongone. My vet also says that people have become used to seeing overweight dogs these days and if you ever see a fit working dog they are always much more lean, but still a picture of health and vitality. Very often the working variety of breeds bear very little resemblance to the pedigree/pet variety.

Great, I was leaning towards the rally, so I'll go for that. I'm crap with final tests so I know Id fluff the KC bronze.

How is Legend? Hmmmm ups and downs really. Some positive stuff, like the fact that he is bonkers about my mum, he literally goes happy mad when she comes in my house:) It's a bit odd really as she is so strict with him! My husbands family came for a w/end last week & though there was growling/barking if anyone tried to interact with him, he calmed down enough to be sat at their feet etc and all was happy so long as he was ignored.

We are all getting our faces licked by him atm. We take that as a good thing? It seems very affectionate and he wags his tail. He's been doing it to me for a while, but has recently added DH and the kids!

When we go walking he is pretty good with his recall, and when the kids are with me, he's excellent as he seems to really enjoy playing with them now. Not more so than other dogs, but certainly on a par.

And then yesterday I had to take him out all day as I had no one to drop in on him and the kids had activities all day. So me and Legend spent most of our day sat in the car together & going for little walks around the field. A friend came over & he went into a full on growling/barking frenzy, one of the worst I've seen him do. This lady is a larger than life character & he really feels threatened by these kind of people. I couldn't use my commands with him or anything, he was too far gone to control himself, so I took him out of the situation.

I have 8 hours of email and phone support, so that's great as when stuff like that happens it really knocks my confidence about the whole thing.

My son reported what seemed to be some 'air snapping' at him too. I didn't see it, though I was in the same room, as I always am.

I have recently emailed the breeder again to explain about the behaviourist. Really I think they should know, that's all, because if there were any mistakes on their part when the pups were young or in the genetic line, I feel it's important for them to know. No response yet though!

Are you feeling better Moose?

Agree, I have really started to appreciate this when researching our second dog. We have decided on a working Cocker, and are going to see the litter in question tomorrow, so I will be a bit giddy tomorrow night . Looking at the show type and the working type, there's quite a noticeable difference. I read a bit further about it, and, rather obviously, this is because those that work do not need to be 'breed perfect' and the differences have been extended over generations. Two different jobs to do.

I walked with a friend yesterday, and the two dogs played joyfully the whole walk, I am looking forward to this aspect of having two dogs (hopefully they will like each other)

I also wonder if, as owners, we overestimate how much food our dogs actually 'need'? Bit like we do as humans too!

I started read Culture Clash this week, it's fascinating. I haven't read to far into the book as DH has been away so it's been a bit full on here.

Harry was in the good books this morning as he found his Kong donut that he had lost earlier in the week. Given he had only had it a day when he lost it, and that it cost £5, I was pleased with him

picnic - is your dog a puppy? I am sorry, I have picked up the thread late.

Re the 'air snapping' thing, I really don't know if it even happened tbh. They often say stuff to me about the dog and when I see it myself, it's completely harmless. I think they feel a need to report everything, which is good and what I have told them to do.

can I tell you something funny though?! My husband goes over his training with him every evening & he always does the same routine, sit, lie, stand over and over poor dog! Anyway now Legend have combined all three and whenever DH tries to practise with him, Legend just does this funny sitliestand over and over & its all merged into one! So DH has totally ruined him! I cant get him to sit anymore, he always does sitliestand!:D