General dog chat

[BiteyShark]

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.

Wolfie carrying a ball means I can walk though any highly distracting areas and he ignores everything except me and the balls. Even if he sees his nemesis (group of birds on the ground) he chases them in a big circle and comes back for the ball. It means I never have to worry about him running off again. So it has its advantages but it's sooooooo boring .

I'll take a look at the petition later... just cooking dinner and mumsnetting

Good idea to get a signed letter from Owner 4. I'll write it out and get him to sign it.

No vet records really exist as owner 3 claimed to have registered him at the vet, and owner 4 assumed this was really the case. He was registered there for the first time this week by owner 4, prior to the decision for me to adopt him. I've got receipts for all the different treats and accessories I've bought online in the past, and obviously now kibble receipts are going to start amassing. If it ever came to it, there are places I could spirit him away to.

I do tend to worry a bit sometimes

@Bitey PestDog is a ball fiend too. This means we have two types of walk
a) a ball walk
b) a non-ball walk
If I have a ball on me, he will spend the whole time jumping up, trying to get at my pocket and generally making a pest of himself. Once has has the ball, he will totally ignore his environment, including other dogs, smells, and so on. The net result is that ball walks are only done when it's either a cold dark wintery evening and that's the only way to get enough energy out of him (weekdays at the moment), or we're short on time and need to tire him out asap (rare)

She's not a ball fiend but I figured it might attract her attention if it looks like she's going to bugger off!

My emergency secret weapon for recall (if for any reason he ignores the recall whistle) is a kong squeaky ball hidden away in my pocket which we don't play with so he doesn't know I am carrying it .

I did smile today on our 'normal' walk. A few weeks ago someone came up to me and said I was at risk of damaging BiteyDog with playing ball as they knew someone's dog who had to have pins in from skidding a lot. Ha! They have never seen BityDog on an ordinary walk hmmn that trench surrounded by sharp sticks and logs looks a bit wide, I know, I will run at full pelt and hurl myself across, miss the landing and scrabble up the sides

Haha. Risk assessment isn't their finest skill is it? My secret weapon? Dehydrated lung! Boak.

Bitey, given cocodogs mix of genes I am constantly trying to find the right balance between brain and body🙄 I think we may have made the same mistake with too much freedom in exciting environments early on but I find varying our walks helps, on lead , off lead, in and out of the village, quiet lanes, busy roads, fields. Sometimes totally off lead, sometimes more of a training walk. Always a relaxing stroll through the woods in the late afternoon...she pounces around and chases squirrels but no major running off ( unless she spots her best friend in the distance)! Biteydog is so firmly in favour of the ball that you can use it in the forest for recall, stroll along and when and if he strays too far for comfort, recall him and reward with hiding the ball rather than throwing it. Sometimes don’t reward him with the ball, keep him guessing. 😁 He is more mature now and you have a strong bond, no reason why he won’t stay close and enjoy sniffing and travelling with you AND you always have the ball as back up.

Ah yes those pesky squirrels. I am sure they like tormenting the dog . We have one that runs along the fence just to pee him off.

It was so nice strolling along in the forest today that yes I think we will try and slowly transition more normal walks into our mix. I had forgotten how he hates walking on gravel tracks though (he does a funny limp as it hurts his paws) so must remember to put my wellies on so we can go on the muddy trails instead.

PestDog has a great tendency to be very reactive in his training classes. Honestly, he's at his worst there We've just switched training classes as we had gone as far as we really could with the last ones and need a change so we're not just repeating the same stuff forever, but as per he was reactive as hell in classes - he can't cope with the fact that he's not allowed to greet the other dogs. I think me and the other person with a reactive dog were secretly glad that we weren't the only ones, though she definitely had worse-affected dog. Truly, I will never judge another person with a barky dog again.

Bumped into his old trainer / soon-to-be boarder while walking through the park back from training classes and watched her try to hide her surprise as she discovered that what I had been saying about him being great off lead with other dogs was actually true He was polite, he engaged the other dog in play, and he came back when I called

Risk assessment is also not one of PestDog's greatest skills. If it were, he wouldn't run under the feet of joggers and get kicked or eat fried chicken bones off the street.

I sent him across a field chasing a ball the other day. What I hadn't realised was that there was a patch that looked like grass but was actually more marsh. As he was running at full pelt, the sudden change in texture meant he lost his footing, barrel rolled twice (think action movie car crash), got straight back onto his feet and then continued running, newly covered in mud. It's a good job he's a tough little terrier!

He's well insured right?! Bitey you wicked slave. You must buy boots!

Sadly I did have my walking boots on but off piste I need the wellies that come up to my knee. The trails start off quite nice but in this weather half way in they become a muddy river. BiteyDog just does the running at speed and jumping over most of the mud but I have to do the suction squelching walk where I am sure I will fall flat on my arse in it one day

Avocados I bet you were a mix of and during his barrel roll.

I may land on my arse and pull those exact faces. Hope to let madam off lead tomorrow for the first time in a while (due to season). I hope I can stand. I've come over all cold and shivery.

I would hate to have to hide away on the lead to avoid other dogs when yours is in season. Hope WolfieDog enjoys her freedom again and hope you don't fall in your arse or if you do make sure no one is around to see it

I keep an emergency squeaky ball in my coat pocket too. Naively thought cocodog didn’t know it was there. Rushed through back door the other day, threw coat on floor , desperate for a pee. Little missy ferreted the ball out of the coat , I could hear her bouncing about squeaking it all over the house with muddy paws😬 Then silence, as she carefully buried it where she puts all indoor treasure...under DHs pillow. She must think I never do any housework😁

Haha clearly she thinks her stash is safe under there

No falling onto my arse! And she loved running free. She kept coming back and headbutting me to say thanks. She's knackered now!

hello again!

steppedog is better, 24 hours rest and he stopped limping. Dh took him for long walks fri and sat and there was no sign of the limp.
But last night when I let him out for late night wee he was favouring it again. Then no sign today.
He has to go to vet's anyway on Tuesday, so I might ask her advice.

I am really interested in all the stuff you are all saying about walks. I think we are probably making the mistake of too much freedom in exciting environments.
His recall is getting better and I have noticed that he doesn't go quite as far in his huge running circles.
Bitey, do you have a link to that article? Or the name of it? I would be very interested.
Can you explain, more about why he needs a ball, not a forest walk? I am not sure I get it. I thought that sniffing zig zags through the forest would be just right for a spaniel.

I now have a squeaky ball in my pocket after a dog walker friend, who walks 6 spaniels, recommended it as a way to get their attention. It is brilliant, and he loves it.

We used to do just forest walks but he would get his nose down and go hunting (rabbits, deers, anything) and go quite a significant distance. At the time he was also going through the teenage phase so a number of times I 'lost him' in thick forest (I suspect he knew where I was but I couldn't see or hear him). If you let a spaniel get 'too far away' then essentially you have less control of them as they can pick up a scent and go. Ideally you need to keep them close and hunt with them.

The ball was to get his attention on me. I throw one to chase and then when he is getting that I throw another in the undergrowth and tell him to 'find it' so essentially he is hunting and retrieving with me so he stays close and is doing the stuff he is bred for. He is a crap retriever as he finds the ball but doesn't bring it back but hey ho you can't have everything. I am also trying to train him not to just chase balls so I throw one but he has to sit until I tell him to go get it rather than just chase.

It was a print out so not sure I know where it came from but it described the issues I was having to a tee which was basically allowing him to do his own thing on walks getting further away from me so I was losing control. When I stopped waking for miles and did the ball thing (you can buy proper dummies instead) suddenly he wanted to be with me rather than running off to hunt on his own.

I think thegirlsallgrowedupnow is right in that now I am fun to him I could probably relax a bit and let him hunt but close beside me so I can stop him from getting a scent and going too far.

Essentially it's now letting him do what he is bred for but with me as his guide.

I am still learning lots but when I started to do the things the gun dog training sessions showed us on our 'walks' his behaviour really changed for the better.

I'm reading the excellent book total recall.

I'm sure my dog is defective.

Every dog I've know adores walking on the river bank. They run off sniffing everything, come back with joy, will even walk for miles.

Not mine. She hates the river bank. She sulks the entire way. Sticks close to my ankles with her head and tail down. Finally perks up when we hit concrete again and is happy.

Haha at defective dog! At least you avoid the mud.

steppemum I dug the printout out and it's just information from our gun dog trainers so nothing to link to unfortunately. It essentially describes why walking miles for a working (or pet) spaniel isn't necessarily the best thing to do and can cause issues for the pet owner if they don't understand the instincts and behaviour.

I honestly bought into the working cocker = very long walks every day. Actually he doesn't need or want that.

Thanks Bitey, hmm, that is definitely our dog! But he can't find a ball, or retrieve it. Now if the ball were bird shaped....

We have had so much to work on, that I haven't yet started on the yourtube videos to teach him to fetch!

Squeaky ball works well though, so I'm going to get more and try and use them to play more on the field parts of our walk.

I had a bit of a revelation moment this weekend. (nothing to do with spaniels and forest walks!)
I stayed with a friend when I was away for work last week and she has a dog. Much smaller than mine and different breed.
She lives in a big city, and dog gets and morning and evening walk. Morning walk round the block, 20 minutes. Evening walk round a bigger block 30 minutes. There are very few places to walk, there is a park, but given she is in the city the park is busy, and loads of dogs and people. Dog never goes off the lead (she is a rescue and not 100% trustworthy)

I guess I have always assumed that walking a dog meant 1 hour in an open space and a bit of nature.
Now I understand why I need to feed steppedog more than the recommended amount, because he does more exercise than the average?!

Oh my first post x with you Bitey.