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.

steppemum maybe start in a corridor so you throw it and give him a command. I use 'find it' and then make a big fuss and get him to bring it back but don't take it out of his mouth straight away as you don't want to associate bringing it back with you taking it away, instead fuss him and after a while gently take it off him and repeat a few times (not too many at first as you want him to be excited and wanting more than you give). Annoyingly BiteyDog will bring dummies back at our training but not a ball because he expects me to throw another one (basically it's my fault he's shit at it at home ). You can then show him in the garden and then progress outside. Once they get it though they will be hooked .

Soubriquet maybe she is scared of the water. Has she been swimming?

BiteyDog is a bit of a reluctant swimmer. He will wade in to have a drink and then swims about but won't jump in and it has to be the most stagnant disgusting smelling pond otherwise he isn't interested

One problem we have is that he will not give up a toy/ball /anything in his mouth. We have been trying to teach him Drop it! But he is rubbish. Considering that he is a quick learner in everything else, I suspect this a a battle of wills. He will drop it for a treat - usually!. He is learning Leave It! when he is trying to eat fox poo/litter etc, and he is getting pretty good at leaving it, but when he has it in his mouth, it is very hard to get it off him.

He does run after a ball, and sort of comes back in the right direction to get it thrown again, but he just drops it wherever on the way. And if we are in a contained space (house/garden) he comes back, but then won't let go of it!

loving the deficient dog! He missed the memo on Fun Walks

steppemum for spaniels you don't want them to drop the ball but release it when you gently take it from them. Mine drops the ball because we use two and he is so eager to get to the next one grrrrr

Trade is the way.
We do obedience training. They teach a touch then move that onto the dog taking an object into its mouth whilst you holding then release for a treat.

I wish this awful weather would go away. Warnings of wind and it's stormy and raining again. I have another thread on this but I have had enough and going to order the artificial grass as sick of my garden being a bog. I think I am breeding a new mutation of slimy smelling moss that even the dog refuses to walk on.

Hello can TeatimeToller and I join in?

Poor dog is on two weeks of restricted exercise so no off-lead haring about and he’s feeling a bit sorry for himself, compounded by us having to reduce his food intake a bit as he’s not using up as many calories as normal..

I’ve been taking him to different places for walks so he’s got different smells and doesn’t have set associations with different bits of the walk (as in ‘this is the bit where I get to chase my ball’ ‘this is where I swim’ ‘this is where I nearly caught a squirrel two years ago so I need to check if it’s still there’ and ‘this is the bench where someone gave me a treat when I was a puppy so it’s worth seeing if the same person’s there’ etc etc)

We had a few sessions on recall etc with a lovely positive gundog trainer when TTToller was an arsey teenager and she suggested putting hunting behaviour on cue and turning it into a game that you’re both involved with instead of trying to stop it which seems to work to keep him close even when there are squirrels and rabbits around.

Welcome noitsnotteatimeyet due to numerous injuries and illnesses we have had our fair share of enforced rest so you have my sympathies. Mine can go around 2 weeks and then his behaviour really deteriorates.

How come the restricted exercise? Hope he hadn't injured himself.

Equafleece, clean on an hour earlier! And this was the filth that came off PestDog himself in the bath, not including what was caked onto his coat. And people wonder why I say he has to have a bath (no soap, just water) after most long walks at this time of year...!

Eek. The mud!
Sorry if I'm not around for a bit. I said no child should abuse a dog and got called a cunt and a dick on another thread! Not loving MN much at the mo!
Take care all. X

Avocados sane here, BiteyDog has a hose down in the bath after his daily walk as he usually skids along chasing his ball and ends up caked in mud. The flip side is he is all fluffy and soft once dry .

I would say the dirt is the worst thing for me regarding dog ownership. Everything else I can take in my stride but I do find it a chore to have to keep washing them down in winter .

Oh dear Wolfie sometimes I think to myself that giving MN a break might be good for my blood pressure but now I try and pick carefully the threads I am on because some are just very goady.

Equafleece arriving today for cocodog. Intended to keep mud at bay but looking at your pics Avocados, obviously not. They only had the bright yellow one in stock in her size but am now thinking colour doesn’t matter too much as it will be mud coloured😕 soon enough. Roll on spring.
Wolfie, sorry to hear that. Come back soon.
Cocodogs stomach infection has cleared up, normal poo resumed, hurrah! The upside of being more careful with her diet over the last couple of weeks is her renewed interest in her antler and fake wood chew that previously she was rather turning her nose up at.

So glad Cocodog is back to her normal self.

Sorry to hear that Wolfie

I don't think anything could save us from the current mud. It's wet, he's half dachshund so low to the ground, and half JRT so he chases balls and skids as he does it with his chest hitting the ground.

I'm mainly surprised that it's not yet ripped or even showing much wear. It saved a few baths in the autumn, but at the moment nothing short of Teflon carrying the dog would do it!

• Teflon coating the dog!

I feel like I have turned into my mother because I want to say 'it never used to rain this much when I was young'.

Please roll on summer yes I know I will be moaning about how hot it is then

I’m lucky in that mud doesn’t stick too badly to teatimetoller’s fur so after a quick towel down he's fine

He’s got another week and a half of restricted exercise and I suspect we’re both going to be thoroughly fed up by the end of it. The vet isn’t sure what he’s done - he was obviously in pain and to us (me, dh and dog walker) it looked like the discomfort was somewhere in his front legs but he didn’t react at all when the vet moved his front legs and he had a full range of movement however he didn’t like having his back legs extended. He’d already had a week of lead walks only and that had seemed to sort him out but two days after he was allowed off lead again he was in pain. If it’s just a soft tissue injury then two weeks of rest plus painkillers should sort it - if it comes back again then he’ll be referred to an orthopaedic specialist

Hope the rest fixes it teatime

Oh the mud!!

I'm mean, steppedog gets hosed down with the actual hose, outside, everyday when we get back from our walk.
It only takes a minute and then I wrap him in a towle and cuddle him.
The place I walk is massively seriously muddy and swampy at the moment, as I was coming out yesterday a lady was just going in iwth her dog. I don't know the breed but it looked like a German Shepherd with LOADS of thick fluffy coat - pure white. I cringed, I just couldn't imagine how you cleaned her when you got home!

Wolfie - come back - come and sit quietly in a corner on this thread and just talk about your lovely hound.

steppemum same here, can't imagine how muddy some dogs must get, especially the thick curly cream coats. At least with my brown boy he hides some of the dirt well .

I am getting quite excited with our artificial grass coming soon. The thought of playing ball in the garden without him and me smelling of stinking mud fills me with joy. Just hope he doesn't try and eat it .

We have just had our stomp for the day so he's been hosed down and is now nice and clean again.

I grew up with two small fluffy dogs (one white, one ginger). I don't remember them ever getting as filthy as PestDog does on a daily basis - and PestDog is short haired and predominantly black!

I'm seriously considering swapping my white bedding for something that doesn't show the dirt

I made sure our new sofas and throws were dark brown

How long would you leave it before you sought vet's advice for a dog that won't eat?

Been a week now for madam. She will eat her treats and stuff and would probably even eat crap dog food if I let her but she is refusing to eat her food. Won't touch it. Even though it's her usual raw stuff.

She is currently going through a phantom pregnancy so I know that can affect her diet but still...

Mine wouldn't eat when she had her phantom. It was really scary. She dropped loads of weight. She would however chew chicken wings etc in the garden! I think the gnawing helped the nausea!
Is she still drinking? Any other signs of illness? I know our vet wanted a temp check and to know if there were signs of pyometra.
I'm expecting it all again in about a month. In trying to feed her up. Tripe, lamb ribs and duck wings!

Hmmm not sure. Only when he has been ill and won't eat anything have I gone to the vets but that's different from what you are describing.

I know raw is meant to be the 'best' diet but do you think she just doesn't prefer it? Maybe a vet visit to check her over is a good idea anyway, check teeth etc to make sure it isn't something like that which is putting her off crunching her raw food if it's things like chicken wings/bones etc.