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The doghouse

If you're worried about your pet's health, please speak to a vet or qualified professional.

Original poster

General dog chat

993 replies

BiteyShark · 20/01/2018 13:29

Anyone fancy a general dog chat thread?

BiteyDog is now almost 15 months old and it's about time we ditched the puppy survival thread for general chit chat but it's still nice to chat about our doggie dilemmas and days so if anyone wants to join me in wittering on saves BiteyDog having the listen to my incessant talking at him then welcome aboard.

How's all the dogs coping with the snow in the northern parts? I am sick of the rain and I guess fortunate enough that BiteyDog doesn't like it much either so apart from a 20 min ball run we are snuggled up in the house today.

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Original poster
BiteyShark · 01/02/2018 09:46

We use nexgard spectra which kills the ticks but they have to bite him first. Bloody hate the things.

Loving reading about all the doggie quirks. They are so full of character aren't they Grin

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Original poster
BiteyShark · 01/02/2018 09:59

Last night I got a wet nose shoved in my face at 3am. I know he loves me but I wish he would wait until morning to tell me Hmm

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Soubriquet · 01/02/2018 10:12

How's this for a quirk...

My female dog cocks her leg to pee. She gets it right up, sticks her bum out to aim and then has a wee Hmm

Original poster
BiteyShark · 01/02/2018 10:19

Does that work Soubriquet or do you end up with a wet dog? Grin

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Soubriquet · 01/02/2018 10:34

Oh no it's very effective. She manages to aim it just where she wants

rightsaidfrederickII · 01/02/2018 12:03

@Bitey
I was woken recently, 20 minutes before my alarm was due to go off, by a single lick across the lips. I was not impressed. He knows face kisses aren't allowed, because I know where he puts his tongue, and the fact he licks his genitals are the least of my worries Envy

Original poster
BiteyShark · 01/02/2018 12:05

Haha rightsaid they are such disgusting creatures but just want to share their love Grin

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steppemum · 01/02/2018 13:10

Oh I have just got back from a walk and had a lovely dog moment.
We ar eworkign a lot on recall, so steppedog is right on the other side of a big field, and I call his name and he looked at me, so I shouted 'COME' and held out my arms. He came flying towards me over the field, full flat out springer run, bouncing over tussocks, ears flapping, tongue hanging out, straight out of a dog food ad.
Stopped right at my feet, chin up looking straight in the eyes, poised for whatever I was goign to ask him to do.

Gave him his treat and a big fuss, and found myself going
Oh my loverly wuverly doggy, whose an good boy den? What a clever doggy woggy.
In a manner most unsuitble for a 50 year old woman!

he is now curled up on one of the dcs beean bags, perfect ring of blakc and white with nose resting on the edge.
Awwww.

Original poster
BiteyShark · 01/02/2018 13:21

Awww steppemum that's so lovely and I know what you mean about how they look when they coming running back as mine is a cocker Grin.

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Soubriquet · 01/02/2018 13:37

Beats what mine did......she was walking lovely. Called her to stop she did.......until she spotted another dog across the field.

Little bugger shot off and started to run circles around owner and dog. No amount of calling or trying to grab her worked.

The other dog was getting a bit annoyed and did bark snarl at her which I hoped would stop her but it didnt.

Eventually managed to get her to stop where I got her lead on immediately. Little fucker. Good job I love her

thegirlsallgrowedupnow · 01/02/2018 13:43

Flapping spaniel ears are the best. We had a very well behaved walk today too, must be the sunshine😁 she does wait for me, stays relatively close and when she wants a big energy burst she tends to loop round in a big circle and comes back to me. However, this is after months of recall training, focus work and impulse control and if there is too much distraction then I still have my work cut out.😕

steppemum · 01/02/2018 13:45

soubriquet - I didn't mention the 25 other times when he was -ahem- less than quick off the mark!

(actually he was pretty good all round today!)

We met another dog, someone we know and steppedog has been very reserved with other dogs, he is supersubmissive and tends to circle round until I am between him and other dogs! (he was living with a lot of other dogs before he came to us) But this dog he was happy with, and they chased each other round in circles happily. It was nice to see him playing with another dog for once

steppemum · 01/02/2018 14:10

thegirls - tell me what you did for impulse control?

thegirlsallgrowedupnow · 01/02/2018 15:00

A lot of wait games, we play tuggy and then I stop the game, lay toy on my knee and she has to wait for me to resume game. She has to wait while I hide bits of food around the house or garden before being sent to seek them out ( favourite game ).
I put bits of chicken on the floor near to her, covered with hand to start with a leave command, when she backed away I fed her the treats one by one...progressed to not needing to cover treats, then to waiting until she gave me eye contact before feeding a treat. Eventually I can call her over the treats, now kibble, to get the better treat. I started this inside and progressed to outside and still do it out on walks sometimes. Have two balls, drop one and ask her to leave it and throw the other one, progress to throwing one ball in one direction, leave and then throwing second ball. Cocodog hates this and makes it quite clear that she doesn’t want to play unless ball is a fun game....no more training mum please!
The other thing I have found really good for impulse control and recall is using my whistle to call her in from the garden timing it for when something good is going to happen anyway, ie, walk, Kong , supper. Even better when it coincides with a dog trotting past our gate.😁
Cocodog is much better now but we are far from perfect and deafness still occurs☹️

AstrantiaMajpr · 01/02/2018 15:55

Does anyone care to explain worming and flea treatments to a newbie?

Original poster
BiteyShark · 01/02/2018 16:13

AstrantiaMajpr what specifically do you want to know?

Some people don't worm or treat fleas unless they have them. You can send off poo samples for worm counts.

Personally I prefer to treat monthly for both. I use stuff from the vets as over the counter treatment isn't as effective. I could never get on with spot on treatments as BiteyDog was hyper and would not sleep with the smell of advocate and I hated not being able to wash him around treatment days as he likes to get muddy. I therefore use nexgard spectra for ticks, worms and fleas every month which is a tablet plus every 6 months we use a drontal tablet for 'other worms'

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Soubriquet · 01/02/2018 17:53

I tend to treat as when needed.

I don't buy anything from a pet store as they aren't as effective. Same with frontline

I use advocate or advantage. Which ever the vets advise at the time.

One is a wormer too so when she gets flea'd she gets wormed too.

AstrantiaMajpr · 01/02/2018 18:28

I have just got a new rescue dog. I notice on the vet notes that she had worming. I did not know if it something you do regularly. Also fleas is it a regular thing you have to do?

Soubriquet · 01/02/2018 18:33

THey usually reccomend you flew and worm every 3 months,but I do believe over medicating can be bad for health which is why I only do it if I see them.

However it's up to you. I live in a low tick area and fleas are common during the summer which is when I tend to flea more but in the winter, I rarely do it. This winter I've done it once since August

Original poster
BiteyShark · 01/02/2018 18:34

It really is a personal decision but some worms they can contract can be serious like lungworm but only some medications treat it and my dog will eat anything including slugs and snails. I moved into a house which was full of fleas from previous owners and we had to get the fumigator in as it was that bad so I prefer not to do a wait and treat. I also live in a high tick area and lymes disease is a real risk for both humans and dogs.

However, some people are happy to treat only if their dog gets fleas and worms etc.

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AstrantiaMajpr · 01/02/2018 18:58

Thanks for that.

thegirlsallgrowedupnow · 01/02/2018 19:28

I tend to take a middle road, we live in a high tick area so we use Bravecto which covers three months protection, wormed monthly up until 12 months, now three monthly. My previous dogs never had worms so I am going with that until proven wrong.

rightsaidfrederickII · 01/02/2018 19:33

Some branches of Pets at Home do prescription only flea treatments and wormer e.g. Drontal. You just have to hand over your name and details at the till / online checkout.

Original poster
BiteyShark · 02/02/2018 16:49

How's everyone doing?

We have a busy weekend ahead with training on both Saturday and Sunday and right now after a week at work I would quite happily just sleep but I don't think BiteyDog would let me.

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thegirlsallgrowedupnow · 02/02/2018 18:34

Uh oh, slippery slope. Cocodog sleeps in the kitchen happily on a memory foam bed and has a couple of day beds around the house, she has always been allowed on our bed in the mornings whilst I shower etc but never on the sofas. Since she has had a poorly tum she has cuddled on the sofa with me in the evening for an hour or two but also has chosen to lie in her basket or in front of the fire too. We had a busy day today and mid afternoon seemed unsettled so I allowed her up on the sofa with me for a nap. After a very muddy late afternoon walk, wash in sink and supper she enthusiastically tried to jump up on sofa but she is wet, normally dries off in front of fire so I stopped her. She is now in basket looking soulfully at me...what shall I do?

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