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.

How clever is Eric? He always steals my Crocs when I come in from the garden, it seems to be one of his things. Today I'd only just come in and I needed to go back out and so instead of trying to retrieve my Crocs I thought I'd use dh's trainers instead only Eric has gone barmy barking and standing on them so that I couldn't move in them. So ds2 is off work this week and told him to try and put my Crocs on and again Eric has gone barmy. Anyway after various combinations the upshot is he doesn't allow us to wear somebody else's shoes.......amazing

Took Finn to see a home boarding place today where he's going just for one night this weekend. My sister normally has him but can't as it's her daughters wedding we're going to. He was really happy there, going to be the only dog this time as her's are away. I was a bit concerned until I heard that she has Huskies so she's used to high energy dogs. She is happy to play ball with him for hours and he relaxed there straight away so I think we'll be using their doggie day care facility too. Such a relief to find somewhere local and good.
Couldn't use kennels this time as I'd forgotten to get his kennel cough vaccine in time.

How is everyone doing?

I'm feeling really disappointed tonight. We have been really looking forward to training classes restarting for KC scheme locally. I realised my mistake when the 'trainer' was walking down the line throwing water over the dogs which were barking and giving their owners a bottle to keep repeating it. The first lesson was walk to heel which you obviously teach by neck yanking whilst bellowing heel.

Maz was actually one of the best behaved anyway as we work on basics anyway. But the room was full of yapping dogs so he responded in Maz fashion by pulling. I did one lap of their method before I got half a backbone and moved to my 'watch me' method from the positive puppy class. Guess which worked?

We won't be going back. Gutted as I was excited but I cannot go along with that kind of training.

Hi everyone - hope you and your pups are all ok. Fitz is one today :) :) :)

He's had a new squeaky squirrel which he's happily demolishing in the garden (I give the squeak until lunchtime ) and we're going out with my sister and her dog to a park where there are lots of streams and ponds so he can splash about to his heart's content

Fan - that class sounds awful - I can't understand why the Kennel Club doesn't have some sort of national curriculum which meant that you knew exactly what to expect when starting a Good Citizens class

Happy Birthday Fitz

Hi all, can I join with my teenage (9 month old) black lab? She is mostly wonderful but has a terrible habit of bouncing round strangers and occasionally nipping them. It makes walks very stressful!! She is also a bugger with visitors, so I am going to start popping her on her lead when they come round and only letting her near them when she is calm, has anyone had any success with this or is it just something she will grow out of?

Reikezen - we used this to train our dog to be calm with visitors. We keep a spare lead hanging by the door and used to pop it on as soon as door went so one of us could hold him. It's works really well but you need to give it several weeks and use the lead every time. Our dog is a year old and we don't use the lead at all now though there was an In- between stage where I just needed to hold the lead and he restrained himself!

Minty had his first birthday on Tuesday! Our birthday treat was decided upon by DS2 - scrambled eggs which he made for minty! DS2 made it, got minty into sit stay, put the bowl of delicious eggs in front of him and kept him in a stay while we all sang happy birthday. Minty has not been trained to sit during singing so looked bemused but stayed still until given release command then wolfed down his treat!

Wow for Eric that's amazing and happy birthday Fitz!

With visitors I also found telling them not to make a fuss of Finn, look at him or speak to him until they were in, seated and he was calm. He's still a bit nervous of people (mainly men) who he doesn't know but he just backs off which is fine.

We'll need a picture reikizen it's the law.

Great, I'll give it a go but will have realistic expectations about how long it will take

He is beautiful, lovely coat.

Well today is the day, Eric has gone to be groomed. We've taken it very slowly, Eric now strolls in very happily and jumps into the groomer's arms smothering her with kisses. He has been bathed there without any snapping or biting and the groomer trimmed his face with scissors (to help him be able to see) and he was absolutely fine so we aren't expecting any problems and I think Eric will be glad to get rid of some of his coat in this heat. I'll pop up a photo later.

I think you've handled it brilliantly insanity. Fingers crossed it all goes smoothly and you have a gorgeously smart boy at the end of the appointment.

I am having a wobble about taking my two on the ferry next week after the incident with the Pug on the cross channel ferry last week.

I have been taking my dogs over to Ireland on the ferry since the early 90's with no problems at all and I know it was a bracycephalic breed, whereas my two have great long pointy snoots and hardly any body fat, but for some reason it has still rattled me. Just spent a fortune express ordering large window grilles so we can keep all four windows half down, a lock so we can lock the tailgate open to 18" and a cooling mat, then have a road refresher water bowl that clips onto the crate and we will be arriving early so that we can make sure they are already cool when we drive on.

Still doubting myself though and wondering if we shouldn't pay the admin fee and switch to a night ferry.

Don't think all the vitriol towards the Pug's owner has been helping really. As if they don't feel bad enough. I'm sure if they could go back in time and change things they would. So many people saying they'd never take their dogs on ferries - it has be doubting myself and wondering if I'm a bad owner for it. The dogs love it though - not the ferry, but the holiday and the freedom they get over there, they get really excited when we start getting ready to go - surely if they hate the ferry they'd get stresses and anxious instead?

In more positive news. I spoke with our neighbour yesterday and he said they don't hear our dogs at all these days. Huge relief as Pip was being a bit whingey on school runs the last couple of weeks and I wasn't sure if they could hear that through the wall - apparently not. So it seems his whiny whingeing noise doesn't travel like Lurcherboy's howling did and I can stop worrying so much about it.

oh hope it goes well insanity - definitely put up a photo of beautifully groomed Eric :)

I'm sure your two will be fine on the ferry moose - it's not like you've not thought things through - when are you off?

I'm getting a bit anxious about our holiday - we normally go to the south of France and ds2 now knows what to expect there so it goes pretty smoothly without the three days of rocking hunched up with hoodie up we've had in the past. However I wanted Fitz to come with us as he couldn't come away with us at Easter and I thought the drive down would be too long so hit on the idea of the Gower peninsular as a suitable alternative - big, wide surf beaches and lots of beautiful open countryside plus dd and ds1 can go pony trekking. But of course the temperature's likely to be several degrees lower than the south of France and it's Different and therefore needs to be viewed with Suspicion (acc to ds2). So ... it may be ghastly or may be lovely ... don't know which yet! Hence my displacement activity worrying about what to pack for Fitz ...

Not till the middle of next week. I'm sure they'll be fine, I am just a worrier by nature. Dh is getting so fed up of me, especially as I had the whole pet passport wobble last Autumn which ended in us postponing our holiday while we sorted passports and then getting caught in all the awful storms in December on top of dd coming down with Chickenpox while we were away. Honestly - you couldn't make it up!

That's precisely why we've been doing the same holiday for so long. Prior to ds1 we used to go off and visit places in Wales and Ireland, tour around a bit using the holiday house as a base etc, but since we've had him it's been a standard number of days at the house, doing the same things we do every year. Dh and I are soooo fed up of it now and I think ds2 is starting to get fed up of it too - but the chance to stay in a big house with no neighbours and spend hours outdoors makes up for it.

Even knowing where we're going and what we're doing ds1 is still stressed, having upset stomachs and displaying OCD behaviour. The only saving grace is that he visibly relaxes the minute we arrive and is a different child while we're there. Not sure if it's connected to us living there for 6 months when he was a toddler or if it's just the sea, the space, the quiet etc. Whatever it is, it's worth sticking with, because it gives us all a break.

The Gower is lovely - it's dh's favourite based on lots of very happy childhood holidays there. Fingers crossed ds will cope and you'll have a lovely time.

Well photo will be later as I seem to be experiencing technical difficulties but grooming was a total success and Eric looks very tidy, clean and small.
Groomer said he was brilliant, she said she can't understand why the last place had a problem as Eric just wants to please everybody and he will do anything for a bit of fuss.
She had him four hours and because he's a baby he got lots of breaks when he got bored so it feels as though we have put his bad experience behind him.
He was delighted to see us when we oicked him up but made me laugh as just before we left he ran back to the groomer to give her a kiss

Fantastic news insanity.

Can't wait for the photos!

Well hopefully this will work, here is our beautiful boy with his beloved dinosaur toy.

I have had to call in professional help with my giddy lab. She is ok with us but a complete clown with strangers. She goes to nip almost everyone she meets after a display of mind blowing giddiness (way beyond what I would find acceptable in a 9 month old dog). Charges towards other people/dogs on walks and fails to return if any distractions around. We have had one session & already seen improvement. I no longer have to use a harness to stop her dragging me along and even my 7 year old could hold her lead with confidence. Fingers crossed.

Well I think Eric must be hitting teendom as he's being a stubborn little mutt at times. He completely ignores anything dh asks most of the time (a lot like the dc tbh ) but then is faultless when I ask the same He also seems to have perfected the look aimed at dh if he so much as dares to make a demand when Eric's not in the mood. Dh thinks I've gt the magic touch but really it's more that Eric knows he'll consistently get a reward from me whereas dh is a bit hit and miss

Finn is one tomorrow and a typical teenaged boy. You can almost see him say 'whatever' when told to do anything.

We now go to training twice a week for two hours each time plus as many social walks with our trainer that I can go on. Don't know about the dog but I'm shattered and very well trained!

For the whole of September he's going to the trainer three days a week as I'm at uni so hoping that will keep him on the straight and narrow. He's loves her and her enormous white long haired GSD is the love of his life. Am hoping by October we will have cracked recall and he will have stopped chasing bikes and joggers which is our problem at the moment.

Am so pleased to have found a trainer who understands what it's like having a dog who is not interested in treats however high value they are.

It must be really difficult when treats hold no interest NCIS. Eric would walk coals for a morsel of ham, we have to spell out the word nowadays as the mere mention of the word has him sitting by the fridge waiting. We did think of renaming it but Eric picks up words really quickly so for example hat has him looking at our heads to see who has the baseball cap for him to retrieve so I think it would only be a matter of days before he had us sussed.

It has meant a whole new way of looking at training, toys are no good either as he just fixates on the toy and ignores any command. So good to find a trainer who understands this.

Finn is one today. Can't believe he was ever a cute puppy but he is a very handsome almost grown up now.

Oh he's lovely Happy Birthday Finn Will there be ?

Cake for me, he'll have a large bone and he went for a walk with his girl friend this morning as a birthday treat. He's now fast asleep under the hedge where he can keep an ear open for her, I'm not entirely sure she repays his adoration but regards him with slightly amused tolerance combined with bossing him around.