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.

punter, that's exactly what we need to hear. Always good to be reminded that 'this too shall pass'.

Ds2 has discovered that he can sing Pip to sleep by singing him the Minions lullaby from Despicable Me! It's both funny and cute at the same time.

Good to know punter, Harry is nearly 18 months and hasn't had a teenage stage yet really, so here's hoping!

Love the minions moose, I would like a pet minion, aww to your DS

Hector was fab tonight, and slotted right into the Bronze class easily. I was worried as he's only 16 weeks, so I felt I was asking a lot of him. He seems to be naturally timid, and will just creep behind me until he feels safe, then he will quietly say hello in his own time, both to humans and dogs.

There was another cocker, who was mental, a lab and a patterdale, all lovely, but all 8/9 months, so I was really proud that my 16 week old working cocker just sat calmly and did everything that I asked of him. Even the trainer remarked 'he's very calm, especially for a working cocker isn't he?'

Just need to teach stand (god knows why I haven't!!) and put in the voice command for 'stay', which he does, but to hand gesture at this stage.

I liked the class, small, friendly and run by a ADPT instructor.

And we have to learn a new trick for demonstration each week, for a bit of fun. Lots of ace 'catch it', and fancy heelwork on display tonight

That sounds adorable Moose! Glad you're feeling a bit better.

You guys are doing great with the attempts at tidying! We have a long way to go but none of the humans in this family are tidy so we could do with getting the dog onto it.

We had a funny moment today - a friend who often walks home from school with me and minty in the mornings offered to walk him on her own today as I suddenly had to work all day at my desk to get something finished. I got Minty ready with him going through the usual excitement pre-walk (once he sees his lead or sausage bag from fridge the barking starts!) but as soon as I said goodbye to minty & friend at front door, he refused to budge. Literally, bottom on floor, not moving at all. She tried jumping, calling, sausage, crouching, all the tricks we used to try when he was learning his recall but he would not go on the walk without me! So stubborn.

I had to run outside in my slippers and slouchy-work gear, hair up in a heap, and pretend to go on the walk with them - then as soon as it was going smoothly I slunk off into a neighbours path and hid! Bless him, he loves his mummy!

Apparently walk was fine, but he was super bouncy when he got back and totally exhausted despite the walk being half his usual length.

Aww moose that's so sweet

Let us know how the tidying attempts come on - it's one of the things I've been meaning to teach Fitz

Need - well done to Hector, sounds like he coped really well. Fitz's stand is a bit hit and miss - he's got sit, down and stay nailed but looks a bit confused with stand - I'm assuming I'm doing something wrong!

Mint - we have the opposite here - Fitz is such a flirt he'd happily go off with anyone who cooed at him. When the dogwalker comes to pick him up he's all wriggly and giggly and trots off without a backwards glance ...

My two try to stay with me too Especially Hector!

Harry has a hit and miss stand too Basildon, we hardly use the command in everyday situations, which doesn't help.

Why is there so much alpha male and dominance shit still entrenched? I walked with some friends today who I met on the way. One has a GSD with serious anxiety issues, the other has a family member with an adopted lab. Tried to explain that dogs don't operate in packs, there is no alpha male, dogs don't try to dominate, and just got a load of old bollox back.

Am walking on my own tomorrow.

That drives me batty needa. As you discovered though, very often these people's views are entrenched and they will not listen to reason, even when presented with peer reviewed studies as evidence.

Wish me luck, I am off out for coffee with my Mum this morning ... leaving the dogs at home for an hour and a half.

The neighbours are both out at work, so it's a good day to try it and see what happens.

I've discovered he's fine in the kitchen with the door closed for up to two hours when I'm upstairs or in another room, so am thinking the kongs etc are giving him the heads up that I'm going, plus he needs to go out as soon as he's finished scoffing. Today, I'm going to do what I do when I go upstairs and just shut the door, leave the tv on, then quietly slip out the front door. Will record them while I'm out and see what happens.

I'm ridiculously nervous about it and trying to check myself so I don't give them any vibes.

Funny - we don't do 'stand' in this house either unless my arm is placed under trunk for support - but then dog looks at me as if I'm potty!

Moose - big step but it sounds like you need a decent coffee and cake after all your recent challenges. I hope you can sneak out and then properly switch off. They will be fine and this should help them get used to what is a normal ask of a dog.

I had a lone walk this morning and loved it! Dogs are great company!

Well, I was only out for an hour and fifteen minutes in the end, but ... no noise and dogs both sleeping when we got back! .

• Shut the door half an hour before I went out.
• Left the TV on.
• Had a sudden brainwave that I have my laptop on an awful lot of the time I'm home too - so set up a 2 hour long video lecture on that too (ironically, one on training anxious dogs ).
• Went up and downstairs a few times.
• Opened and closed the front door, very quietly a couple of times.
• Went in and out the kitchen a couple of times to do things like put rubbish in the bin and return my towel to the bathroom - last time 15 minutes before I went out.
• Crept out and shut the front door quietly with my key.
• Met Mum on the road at the end of the drive, instead of opening and closing car doors on the drive.

The only time there was a noise from the kitchen was when the phone rang. Answermachine didn't kick in and Pip whined quietly for a minute or too - but then he stopped!

So, now we need to do more of the same and work on reducing the subtefuge and increasing the time I'm gone for - verrry slowly.

Had a lovely cup of coffee and huge slice of delicious carrot cake and even had time to peruse the gift shop and buy a couple of treats for the dcs for Easter.

Interesting about the stand. Pip does it, as he had to learn it for his 2nd club certificate. Ds2 was so proud of himself last night, because he has finally got him to do it for him, whereas he would only do it for me before. It's not the most useful of skills for them, unless you use it for grooming or paw wiping or are doing traditional obedience. A lady at our club uses it for her dogs at kerbs, but I just use the wait there as Pip knows that means we're moving off again in a minute. I prefer to use a sit or down if I don't want my dogs to move, as I think there's less temptation to shuffle about if they are in a more reclined position than there is with all four paws on the floor.

That is a great breakthrough Moose. I hope thosw little changes help. And I hope you enjoyed your cake!

I have felt like a lone voice against the old pack theories on the BT pages at time needa. It seems fairly well subscribed to but I am quietly resiliant in own little way, kikopup recomendations on a repeat until dead setting

I am feeling a little guilty as Maz's walks this weeks have been limited to an hour in the park at a steady pace. I am really feeling rough and struggling. Roll on tomorrow when blood tests are done and I can cut out the gluten again and cross my fingers that it helps like before. Met my friend this morn (shes having a way tougher time with a mix of toddler, junior and a teen with complicated cancer treatment) and had a lovely catch up but oh my, I am paying for that cooked breakfast!

Heard a horrible thing today, had a safeguarding training session at work at was told that a relatively new way of committing child abuse was to get a dog and then incite the dog to bite the child, if it's discovered then the dog gets blamed and the abuse can continue.
What is wrong with people, is there no limit to their vileness?

Hooray Moose! A breakthrough. Good news. Do you think think that your concerns about leaving Pip have contributed at all? I only ask this because I think that I worry about my dogs too much, DH is far more relaxed about the whole thing, think 'they are dogs, they will be fine, you don't need to be worrying and entertaining all the time' (although, he's fab with them, especially out and about, very interactive). Just a thought, you know my first months with Harry were tough, that's where I'm coming from, that's all

NCI - I have a friend whose a social worker, for children. Nothing surprises me at all.

fan - I just can't believe how entrenched it all is, for some reason, probably because I'm tired today, it really pi**ed me off.

Dogs asleep, just got in before the rain came. Agility tonight.

fan, don't feel guilty. My lot have been getting the same and it's more than a lot of dog gets. Yes we'd both like to do more in - and we will when we're feeling better. I won't kill them/him for a short period, they're part of a family and we all have to give and take sometimes - even the dogs.

NICS that's awful. I really despair of human beings sometimes.

Needa, I get what you mean. I do think my anxiety about leaving him (based on the complaint from my neighbours when Lurcherboy developed SA in the spring last year) held me back to some extent, but at the same time I had the recordings of him yelling his head off when I was just five minutes late from the school run to tell me he would definitely upset the neighbours if I tried it too soon. I played one to my sister yesterday and she couldn't believe the noise he makes - it's like a cross between a loud seagull and a banshee!

It's really helped that the neighbours seem to be working consistent days/hours at the moment, because if I know they are going to be out I can plan to leave him on those days, see how it goes and tweak the routine if necessary. Mum is busy tomorrow, so I am going to just do a couple of short trips to the village shop, being a little less sneaky about my exit and see how that goes. I need to do some quick/short trips as well as the longer ones so that he realises I'm not always gone for ages.

Daft pup came back to my whistle a little too enthusiastically when I caught him digging at something and eating it (

Fabulous Moose! Well done, you can do it again now it went so well. Maybe Pip just needed time, a really good length of time to feel secure.

I also can be really varied in terms of length of walks - our usual daily total is an hour and a half but as that's quite a lot for a large breed at 8/9 months, I sometimes skip a day without any difference in subsequent behaviour of dog at all. We skipped two days in a row followed by two day short walks once which I wouldn't recommend but sometimes priorities of other family members has to take precedence. Not a habit here but quite reassuring to think it can be done and causes no problems.

Just to reassure, Harry didn't get walked for 4 weeks when he had his recent injury, I thought he would get completely OTT, but actually seemed more depressed than anything.

Well Moose, at least you can do some stuff out and about now, which will be great, without having to worry about the dogs. Do they get left together? I haven't left Hector much on his own yet, and wondering if I need to start training him to be alone. In reality, even if I do train him, he will rarely BE alone, so may not benefit from the training iyswim?

Harry was really good at agility last night, three jumps then a tunnel then another jump The seesaw will be a challenge!!

I have to admit I haven't done much about getting Pip used to being completely alone. It's a glaring omission in his training, but knowing how badly he reacted even when left with Lurcherboy I felt it was more important to get him used to being left at all.

Realised when I got home from the school this morning that ds2 had managed to leave his lunchbox at home. Ironically, one of the neighbours is home today, after weeks of being out all day every Friday. (I did wonder as he seems to have worked two other full days this week. Such a pain really as because he's on shiftwork I can never predict when he's going to be out and therefore can't plan to go out myself while I'm still working on Pip.)

Anyway, I really appreciated the fact that I've got into the habit of closing the kitchen door for an hour every morning while I get a few jobs done and have a cuppa after the school run. I was able to just shut the door, quietly go out the front door and deliver the lunchbox to school. I was only out for 10 minutes, but again - no noise from the dogs. A few weeks ago that wouldn't have been possible - especially on a Friday morning, as when Lurcherboy's SA was at it's worst he always seemed to make the loudest racket on Friday mornings and that was what my neighbour complained about. Of course Friday mornings are 'parents' assemblies' and the ones that certificates etc are all awarded at, so I really can't avoid going out then sometimes. Before Christmas I was having to put the dogs in the car so I could go to assemblies, so I am really starting to feel like we're making progress now.

Oops, meant to say well done Harry - and needa - for doing so well at agility.

Yay moose - sounds like you and the dogs have really turned a corner

Lucky you need - agility sounds fab. Dd is desperate to take Fitz to agility but there's nowhere near us which does it - there's a really good club in surrey but it's at least 45 mins drive from here not taking traffic into account and there are a couple of smaller ones about 30 mins drive away. The problem is dd does so much stuff which already involves me ferrying about that I'm reluctant to add even more driving into my week ...

We do however have a flyball club very near us - what are your thoughts on flyball vs agility? Fitz is ball-obsessed and fast!!

Basildon - It is great fun and the trainer is hilarious, she has 8, yes 8 collies. She the mum of one of my friends, a spade is most certainly a spade (last night 'the dogs are fantastic, it's you humans that are bl**dy crap!'). She has an 18 month old bitch, who flew, I mean super fast round the course, who she hasn't even competed with yet. Two of her others have been at crufts, so guess she knows her stuff.

I know what you mean, with Hector's training, agility, Dpony and DS's activities, I feel stretched, particularly as DH is away a lot.

I don't know much about flyball but it did look like fun, you could always go for a taster?

Moose - every morning, regardless of whether I go to work, I put the dogs in the study, sometimes just to have a shower in peace, sometimes to go out and do errands, sometimes to just get some stuff done. Radio pretty loud to distract. Sometimes, it's less than an hour, sometime 2, but it's their routine and allows me to get some stuff done without distraction. That's more for the puppy tbh, as Harry would just chill, but it's nice too sometime

Good to know needa, I felt bad about it at first, as I tend to feel if I'm home, we should be together, but I know this is just me athropomorphising them and they need to be used to having time alone. Now I've got used to doing it I actually really enjoy the break and I do think it's doing them a power of good too.

Just spent a hour doing the dogs teeth, nails and grooming. Can't believe how much fur Pip's shedding - he has such a sparse coat I honestly don't know where it's all coming from!

Dh was off yesterday so Maz finally got a great walk off lead and was careering round like a lunatic in the woods. He was shattered after! I must have been too...I had a migraine last night and fell asleep on the sofa at 1am and give or take a transfer to bed at 1 am slept for about 11 and a half hours last night I'm a 5 hours a night type normally!

I am however struggling to motivate myself this morn and still haven't had a bath! Doesn't help that dh and ds are on route across the penines for the football today and Maz has not stirred except to change sleeping places every now and again!

Sorry, fell asleep at 9...1am would be more like it usually.

Sounds like a perfect day Fan - peace to recover and a chilled dog! If you're anything like me the day after a migraine will be a slow one - I feel as though I get migraine hangovers and just feel low/slow sort of generally dull.

We were off at 8am for DS2 x country running in a huge open park - left dog at home not realising we'd be gone 5hrs but other DS was with him. But loads of people had their dogs at the race - all well controlled, on lead, no poo around but I was really surprised, I hadn't thought people would take dogs to a kids event - about 200 kids plus siblings & parents so a massive event. I wouldn't ever take minty - the school run with 20 kids is enough stimulation for him, he would have barked, leapt about and stressed me out so at least he was warm & cosy at home and I had free hands to clap the kids along and clasp my coffee!

fan, make the most of your peace and definitely rest after a migraine. I always get a migraine hangover, even with the lesser ones.

My day started at 5.00 am when something disturbed Pip and I had to go and let him out and settle him because he was whining. That disturbed dd, who then needed to go to the toilet at 5.30 (toilet is downstairs through the room the dogs are in, so we have to take her) which then woke up ds and thundered downstairs to the toilet, followed half an hour later by ds2. By that point I gave up, dh made me stay in bed until 9.30 though, as I've done too much this week and am struggling a bit as a result.

Took both dogs with us on a run out in the VW camper to see a paint specialist about getting it resprayed. Fully intended to stop at the country park on the way back to walk them, but no sooner had we spoken to the paint guy, the temperature dropped a lot and it started seriously throwing down icy rain. None of us were dressed to handle that sort of weather, so we came home instead. An hour's drive later, we arrived home and started making a late lunch ... and the sun came out. So, dogs have had had to make do with a walk in the local park instead of a nice run in a country park. Will make it up to them tomorrow if the weather is more reliable.

I took it nice and easy all morning whilst the weather was nice. I get the cotton wool head the next day too. I was snapped out of that as that icy rain you just described Moose started 5 minutes into our walk. I only had my thin Berghaus jacket on and it was rather bracing!

We walked to the country park round the corner - park was dead and tea rooms were bursting at the seams

But we went and had a little walk round the ponds and a poke around the old game keepers cottage so I can keep the fantasy alive until the lottery draw tonight It is located at the bottom of the park and in a decrepit state but has just been put on rightmove (the old fellow has just died ) and oh my, what a gem it will be for some lucky soul with bottomless pockets! It is untouched! It is literally within the park too, no proper road access and stunning views. The lotto jackpot is mine tonight and then I am buying it