Where the Wild Things Are

[barbarianoftheuniverse]

I have an eight month old Border Collie called Meg. She is far from perfect (and so am I).
Today she has been about 60/40 good. The 40 included chewing up my camera memory card which DH is sure he put safely on the mantelpiece. Every time I look down at this screen she takes a quick munch of the coffee table with her eyes on mine. This despite a 2 hour walk which included much in and out of streams.

Maz is living up to the 'wild things' title today. Ds had a special assembly today so we were on a lunchtime walk rather thsn early morn dog buddies. Sun is shining and lots of people strolling around park and museum. I got the dreaded flexi out (i hate it but use it considerately, locking short near anyone. Anyway, a combination of the warm sun and and wet paws from the pond and he got the puppy zoomies and just went mental spinning round me like a loon. It took 10 minutes to calm him down during which he jumped in the pond trying to pull out a fallen tree.

I'm glad we were tucked away round the old farm pond (parks only lonely spot) so no one saw a tiny dog making a complete ninny out of me!

Oh and he is now in my face breathing his chicken liver breath at me

Punter, you'd be surprised. I bet he knew where you were even though you were out of sight. If you'd carried on walking he'd have used his superior senses to suss out which direction to find you.

My two are both upside snoozing in the sunshine in the kitchen after just a 45 minute run in the local park. They're both a bit loopy out and about at the moment, I think most dogs get a bit like it when they get a whiff of spring in the air.

Pip had me spinning in circles yesterday, thanks to Lurcherboy running round and round us taunting him when he was offlead. He's blooming strong these days and my dsis found it all highly amusing.

Just been watching Sport Relief Top Dog on catch up with my younger two dcs. They were howling with laughter at Ainsley Harriot's Labrador ragging the fake coconuts instead of bringing the ball back!

Yes moose, so reminded me of Monty our lab! He would have done the same I fear.

Love the pics of Finn, Pip and Monty. They look lovely dogs.

Barbarian - thanks for suggestion for kennels. Unfortunately they were fully booked for Easter and we have left it very late due to the conflict in the family over taking/leaving minty! We have found another kennel near Chesterfield recommended by our trainer and got a space so all sorted. Despite how much minty has settled in last two weeks, I feel a massive sense of relief that we won't have to put him through a 10hr drive and then keep him under such tight control in holiday cottage.

How are you all planning on managing holidaying with/without your dogs this year? In terms of driving long distances and staying in an unfamiliar place?

We are taking Maz with us.

We are in South Yorks and the first trip will be to Kent to stay with relatives but this is a trip he had done twice already, the first at about 6 mnths old. He is an easy going dog and in typical BT style just goes with the flow of whatever you are doing. I get the impression from other owners that this is common in them. The first visit he was still crated. In second visit my uncle ( and mum who comes too!) were happy to have him loose....i.mention my mum too as he slept on her blow up bed with her in the living room.

The biggest problem is managing two dogs as my uncle has a (rather snappy) cocker. Again Maz takes it in his stride to be honest and has by and large learnt what is expected of him spaniel wise. The biggest problem is that the spaniel gets possessive of people, even me, so poor Maz innocently comes for a fuss and gets shouted at. They settle down though and do play together okay eventually and even pine after. The chickens make me nervous though....

Other trip will be North Yorks in a caravan. We did Northumberand in a Caravan with him at 10 months old last year and again, all in his stride. I'd stopped crating by then and decided to use it so obviously he wasn't too happy about that. I ended up having to take him into bed during my nocturnal wanderings to toilet. I did feel bad but quilts and pillows were all mine (see previous sleep ishooos!) so.don't suppose it mattered. I.don't think I'll take the crate this time, he hasn't seen it for auch a long time.

If we go away this year Finn will go to my sisters, we had her two collies in November for three weeks while she went to Australia so we know they all get on well. We do have a local kennels which we've used before with our other dogs and may have to use that at the end of May. DH is going away for five days and I'm working five 12 hour shifts, a mixture of nights and days, so Finn will not get walked. It's over spring bank holiday so don't think the doggie day care works weekends/bank holidays.

Mint, Pip has already done the trip to our Ireland holiday home. It's a 12 hour journey and his first ever time on a ferry was during force ridiculously scary gales. He didn't bat an eyelid, but I did give both dogs Dorwest Herbs Valerian Compound.

My two will be going into kennels twice for long weekends between now and our summer holiday though. Once when we go to a music festival and once when the dcs get their joint birthday trip to the dreaded Legoland.

We are supposed to be getting Pip acclimatised by taking him for lots of weekend visits, but he can't have his kennel cough vaccine until the vet has checked his completely over his respiratory infection. I'm not convinced he is to be honest, his eyes still look a bit red, but am wondering if that might be an allergy and unrelated. The only vet we trust is back this week, so he'll be seeing her again for the once over and kc vaccination if she gives him the all clear. Then he'll be going for a walk around the kennels with us, followed by being left for an hour, then a visit for an afternoon, then a late drop off and overnight stay with early pick up, then a proper 24 hour stay. He'll have Lurcherboy with him but I have a feeling he's not going to take to kennels easily.

I am just back from taking dd to a very loud disco birthday party and have come back to a completely empty house. Dh has taken the boys to Pokemon League and is walking the dogs while they're there. The house feels so strange without the dogs in it, reminds me why I will never be with about a dog.

Ours are coming with us to Dumfries and Galloway. Last year, we went to the same area with Harry, it's about 3.5 hours from where we live. Previously, we've been up to the Isle of Skye. We also went to Turkey for October half term week, and left him with his breeder, she's said she's happy to have Hector too, but DS starts GCSE's this coming academic year, so we may not do this.

Not walked the dogs for 2 days as DH has been overseas and flew back Thursday, so has taken over. In some ways it's been lovely and in some ways horrible

Pip has managed to injure himself again.

We're not sure what he did, he was in my pil's garden running around with Lurcherboy, they ran up the steps on the decking, dh and I were both watching him and he suddenly started really screaming. Neither of us saw what happened but we shot over, checked his whole leg and couldn't find anything, so had to scoop him up and get him inside - lord knows what pil's neighbours must have thought was going on!

Couldn't find anything at first, but he was totally lame and we were worried he'd broken something for a few minutes. Then we found one tiny graze on the top of his shoulder and we think he must have clipped the corner of one of pil's ornamental flower beds as he was running past.

There's no swelling and he's tentatively walking on his leg again now, but is still lame. I've cleaned up the graze, although it was very minor and smothered the surrounding area in arnica and a few hours later there is a purplish bruise about the size of a 50p piece around the graze.

Brought him home in the footwell of the car, as it didn't seem fair to squish him in with Lurcherboy to be potentially leaned or trodden on. He was fine, until we got home, then couldn't get up to get out of the car and started screaming again. Think he's seized up, as once he manouevred himself into the right position to step out of the door he was fine again and walked into the house with just a slight limp.

He's pottered about and been happy to go out in the garden (up and down the back doorstep) with no problems since, so we're keeping a close eye on him and if he doesn't seem any worse tomorrow, will take him to see our vet on Monday.

He is a massive wuss, it has to be said. He screams horrifically for the most minor things (I'm told this is pretty common in sighthounds) so the level of screaming doesn't really indicate a serious injury at all. Poor pil's were really concerned, but we've been through him screaming similarly over practically nothing several times before - he even used to do it when we first got him if he thought Lurcherboy might bump into him when they were running in the garden!

Oh bless him, I hope he is ok tomorrow.

Poor Pip, hope he feels better quickly

We are going away at Easter and Fitz will either go to my sister and annoy his doggy cousin (he thinks she's his bestest, bestest friend, she just about tolerates him ...) or he'll go and stay with his dogwalker who is fab but expensive.

In the summer we're going to Wales staying in a dog-friendly cottage, Scotland (ditto) and having a couple of days with family in Norfolk - Fitz will be coming along for all of those trips

His new thing today was learning how to bounce on the trampoline with dd

Poor Pip - is he ok now? Funny that a dog can have drama queen tendencies! Hope that's all it was.

BB - trampolining must be bit confusing for a dog - not sure minty would like that at all, he's bouncy enough as it is!

Quite a few people travelling with pups for holidays. Our compromise for leaving minty at home while we go to Scotland is to have a week on the Northumberland Coast in the summer with minty as it's only 2-3 hrs drive. Anyone know any locations or cottages? DH wants it to be walking distance from a dog-friendly beach in a self catering cottage.

We went to the Druridge Bay area last year Mint. The beach is long, walkable and was lovely. Great for the dog. There is a bit of industrial stuff in the vicinity but was only aware of it driving to and from, couldn't see it from the beach.

We also managed to visit quite a few EH properties where the dog was made very welcome.

We were in a Caravan though.

Hmm, not sure Mint. He's still lame and yelling out if he moves the wrong way or tries to run.

Have taken advice from some very experienced lurcher folk who said I've handled it right and wait and see how he goes, but he's feeling so sorry for himself, I will admit to being more than a touch worried about him. Vets tomorrow unless he dramatically improves overnight.

basil, Pip loves the dcs' trampoline, although it's a smaller, lower to the ground one. I've known quite a few dogs to enjoy the odd bounce.

Oh dear Moose that's not good. You could do without a vet trip I'm sure.

Thanks Fan, I'll search that area on the web. There look to be some gorgeous beaches. I'm sort of getting the idea that to have a really good holiday with your dog, it's best to focus on the dog walk/activity as being the thing you do each day and focus on beach/EH type places rather than trying trips where the dog can't go, like Alnwick Castle, as you can't really leave them behind like you might at home so could be bit stressy. Northumberland looks perfect.

Yeah, we didn't do Alnwick. But Ds is HP mad now so we have said that if we go again, I will take DS and DH will take the dog out.

We visited Warkworth Castle, Belsay Hall, two of the Hadrians Wall sites, Lindisfarne Priory, Seahouses (another lovely beach just past here) and Amble. We didn't leave the dog at all except to go swimming a couple of mornings.

We had a lovely week. Ds wanted to go again this year!

Pip seems much better this morning, thank goodness.

He's still ever so slightly lame, but back up to full norty strength and no yelping, so think he's on the mend.

I on the otherhand have had an almighty crash this morning. It's my own fault, I started feeling a bit better last week and have done far too much since last Thursday. So, it's a beautiful day outside, but I am curled up on the sofa with the curtains drawn - again.

How's Pip, moose?

I am happy to report (drum roll please) that we have had No Humping for a week!!! Yay!!! He's also not cocking his leg every five minutes (more like ten ...). He even told off another dog for trying to hump him - just one woof, and the other dog was being v persistent

Apart from that, no other noticeable effects at all from the op
He's still happy, sociable, a wuss - no change :)

He has lost a bit of weight though which may be me taking the vet a bit too literally when he warned that he would be prone to put in weight now but also may just be him bring lanky teen

Hi basil, he's still limping a bit, but fine in himself and it's more a case of us having to try really hard to keep him quiet, than him not wanting to charge about.

Great to hear Fitz has shown such a vast improvement since his op. That's exactly why I say there is no one-size-fits-all answer to the spay/neuter question, what's right for one dog may not be for another and you obviously knew what was right for your boy and made the right choice.

He won't be that prone to weight gain at this age, as he's still growing and expending plenty of energy being a lively pup. It's when they hit middle age like Lurcherboy (who has most definitely developed a case of middle-age spread in the last few months, despite no change in food intake) that you need to really watch their weight.

Pip had a go at Lurcherboy last night! I ordered a kong wobbler and buster cube for them, that arrived yesterday. Put a handful of kibble in each and put them on the floor. Pip approached them first, then when Lurcherboy came towards them Pip showed him his teeth and snarled! I was so shocked, he's never shown a hint of aggression before and they usually share treat toys and antlers quite happily, if anything it's usually Lurcherboy that does the telling off if Pip tries to nick his antler. I put Pip behind the dog gate and let Lurcherboy have the toys for a few minutes, then when the cube rolled near the gate Pip had a go at him through the bars. Seems like my pup is starting to grow up and try and enforce his place in the household.

I was a bit worried leaving them for the school run this morning, as without his green feeder and kongs Pip makes a right racket, but I left his usual stuff and put down a treat ball and the buster cube for Lurcherboy and there was no trouble at all. The only thing is, they hadn't managed to finish anything other than Pip's green feeder, so I'm not sure what would happen if one finished and the other had some food left. Need to keep a close eye on it and see if it was just a one off, caused by a high value item (being brand new exciting toys with food inside) or if I might have to look at leaving them on different sides of the dog gate when I go out.

I have been challenged by ds2 and dd to teach Pip to tidy his toys into their box by the end of the day!

We've made a start, although cheating really, by catching his toys in the box and then giving him a huge fuss when they landed in there. He definitely made the connection and within 10 minutes was dropping them in when we said 'in the box'. Need to get the clicker out now and do it properly or I'll be in trouble when the dcs get home!

Good news on the humping Basildon. Harry rarely humped pre being neutered, he doesn't hump at all now.

I wondered how to get the to tidy toys Moose. I have an agility tunnel which is the flavour of the month at the moment

Hector can be a bit grumbly about me actually, if Harry wants some fuss, I generally make Hector sit if he starts to growl, then continue to fuss Harry, but it's hard.

Hector starts his Bronze award tonight, slightly nervous as he's only 16 weeks and a bit timid, but does know all the stuff to pass his test, so the puppy classes seemed a bit of a waste of money.

Otherwise, busy with study and working extra hours. Feel crap as I have to leave Hector for nearly 4 hours twice a week. I make sure they are both well trained and fully exercised/toileted, but still feel crap.

ps. Are you feeling any better Moose, and glad Pip is doing ok.

Monty, 18 month old Lab, has suddenly grown up ie his recall has returned (if that is not a pun!), he is polite to people at the door and does not jump up at all. He has always been relaxed with us at home but loves other people and dogs so much that gets caught in the moment and I was despairing of him listening to commands again. So it may all go to pot tomorrow but thought others may like to know that the teenage phase does not last forever!

Well clicker training him to do it is going to be a slow process, so I may have to have a rethink.

As soon as I got out the clicker and treats he lost all interest in his toys, so I ended up having to shape him to pick one of them up, before we can even start on actually getting him to put one in the box. I think it could take some time!

Actually I reckon capturing the behaviour is going to be the best way. He's always bringing me his toys when I first get up in the morning. So, I think I need to sneak past him, hide some kibble in my dressing gown pocket and grab the clicker before he brings me something and do more of what ds2 and I did this morning - rewarding him for accidentally dropping it in the basket and putting that on cue.

I am feeling a bit better thanks needa. Resting on Monday helped a lot, but I'm still having to take things steady and remember not to overdo it.

Good luck with Hector tonight. I'm sure he'll do fine in your capable hands.