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.

Squirrel26 we have had a naughty dog here today as well. He had been running off with our shoes which he knows is wrong so he ended up having two timeouts in the kitchen.

Decided to move BiteyDog to the back seat of the car rather than the boot as I am worried about being rear ended and him being hurt. I bought a tether that hooks into the seat belt and attaches to his harness. Putting it mildly It didn't go down too well with him. I think we need a few more trips to get him used to it .

blue aren't mother's lovely sometimes not My late DM also had a habit of commenting on my weight
Last time at the doctors when I got weighed I mentioned that I had got a dog to get more exercise and lose weight but seemed to have gone the other way. My lovely doctor dismissed it entirely and said dogs are so good health wise in many other ways and not to worry

noitsnotteatimeyet I think one of the hardest things to do is to stop a dog for exerting themselves when they want to run about but don't understand they can't

I've been and took madam out for a walk and stopped at her favourite shop!

Got her two new toys, 4 bags of treats and a bottle of doggy wine

Awww bless her, she's going to have a good party

Oh dear, I am full of cold, read that as “dodgy wine”. Happy 1st Birthday little Madam!
What a difference a day makes, brilliant sunshine here and snow all but gone just a few larger drifts in the garden for cocodog to play with.
Noitsnotteatimeyet, he does look fed up. I would like to take cocodog to scentwork classes but haven’t found any close enough. Think it might suit her better than agility which hypes her up too much.

@Wolfiefan - I had a King Charles Spaniel ( the tiny rare toy sort, not a Cav) who attacked a Wolfhound once. The huge dog fled!

Haha Elphmame. Madam has been beaten up by a Yorkshire terrier, a chihuahua pup and a Pomeranian pup. She hides behind my legs. Brave she isn't. Wusshound not a wolfhound!

Ha. Does doggy wine give a doggy hangover?
Happy birthday!!

we meet a tiny dog on our walks. Steppedog is a Springer spaniel, so not that big, but the dog we meet is tiny, looks like a daschund puppy, about half the size of my cat.
Puppy has zero dog manners, meets another dog, massively over friendly, jumping up, between their legs, goes totally nuts, is off the lead too.

Steppedog is not a great fan of other dogs, he mostly ignores them, sometimes stops for a sniff and quick chat, and very occasionally will have a play. He just does NOT know what to do with this tiny thing going nuts round him, I have to walk past and call him on, but tiny dog chases him. Steppedog has tail between legs and is basically trying to walk and can't and lookigng at me going - can't bite/bark at him he is just a baby, but I DON'T LIKE IT

What is funny is that steppedog is possibly the fastest dog on the planet, and is off lead in a huge nature reserve. And tiny dog running at full speed is slower than me. It never seems to occur to steppedog to just run on ahead. He looks at me all confused, and I have to start jogging and go Come on then, lets go, this way, until he gets the idea that he can run off and leave irritating rat tiny dog behind.

The annoying thing is tiny dog's owner thinks he is cute, and says things like, well, he will have to learn won't he! Well, if my dog ends up biting yours, guess who will be the villian?

Be proud of steppedog, he is observing puppy license even though he is uncomfortable. Perhaps you could let the owner know this although god knows how because it is always the owners isn’t it!
I am amazed at how dogs do interact. Cocodog as a pup had very enthusiastic bad manners ( told very bluntly to me by trainer) and we were helped greatly with group socialisation walks. I think she plays quite roughly with some still but they do tend to be pups who seem to love it or dogs her own age and size. We met 12 year old but very game Scruffy today out with his very elderly owner and she played gently with him. Also meets a 9 year old pointer regularly who seems to point her in the right direction. Her best mate is a huge choc Labrador her own age but three times her size. We have met dogs she is scared of though, usually young males who want to push her over and sniff or overly vocal dogs.

Aww poor steppedog, he was probably all 'get this tiny annoying thing away from me'

I have arranged to walk with my friend tomorrow, she has an excitable young labrador, who is very well behaved. She (th lab) is always desperate for steppedog to run around and play with her, but it has taken several meet ups before steppedog has lowered his eyes from the birds to the friendly dog!
When they do connect, they run round together like idiots, and it is lovely to see. Steppedog doesn't really play with other dogs much, and I think this is good for him.

He used to live with several other dogs, in his foster home, and we soon realised after we got him that he actually doesn't like other dogs, I think he was really relieved to be in our house with no other dogs. He isn't anti other dogs, he is just very submissive, and is more relaxed when not having to worry about what other dogs are doing.

PestDog is in boarding for the first time, picking him up this evening.

It's like sending your child off to nursery for the first time, but having a sneaking suspicion that juvenile detention would be a more appropriate setting 😨

I bet PestDog will be very tired this evening with all the excitement

SquirrelDog also doesn’t play much with other dogs, although he’s starting to show more interest in them. I don’t know anything about his early life, but I know he was also fostered by a family who had several other dogs. He sounds a bit like steppedog in that he’s not anti-dog, he just either doesn’t acknowledge them or is very submissive. I do love seeing him with the few dogs he actually gets on well with though, he seems to like other spaniels, collies and beagles in particular

Avocados, I always worry when SquirrelDog goes to stay with his trainer. I don’t know why, because she’s known him as long as I have (we started classes a week after he arrived!) so she knows all his little bloody irritating behaviours endearing personality quirks. She always says he’s been very good though - I think he knows that she’s not as soft as me!

Aw pestdog will probably have a great time,a nd be very happy to be home again.

Had a lovely walk with friend. Steppedog was very pleased to see his friends and they ran each other ragged round the fields. My friend and I wandered and chatted and had two seriously tired dogs at the end. win-win. Nice to see him playing and enjoying another dogs company.

Had to hose him down when we got back, as he tried to jump over the stream river, and missed
He doesn't like swimming and was not a happy bunny!

Having fun with a whiny and even clingier-than-usual 14 month old... I was going crazy wondering what was up with her for the past week or so, and just discovered she's finally come into her first heat (quite late for a small breed). Glad to have an explanation for the weird behaviour since I was almost ready to bring her to the vets even though she seemed perfectly OK physically. Also will have some fun visiting the inlaws next weekend - they have 4 intact male dogs...

Well we have a diagnosis which is what everyone thought. IBD (lymphocytic this time but his bloods were high for eosinophils so he might be predisposed to both). We can't manage an exclusion diet to see if it's food that's triggering the immune response as he goes to daycare so we are going to start him on steroids instead.

Glad we put him through the endoscopy now as we have a diagnosis to explain everything.

So glad you have a diagnosis. Could daycare not manage an exclusion diet? What would they want you to exclude? (Or is it start on a new protein and feed only that?) I know nothing about this condition. Hope the steroids help.

Kurkku can you cancel? Seriously intact dogs around a bitch in heat would be a nightmare to manage. If they get near her you could have a serious fight or a pregnant girl!

Apparently even a mouthful of other food renders an exclusion diet useless (including licking food off another dogs mouth). Not going to be realistic and we aren't even sure it is food related as the cause isn't often known.

IBD is caused by white blood cells infiltrating the stomach and intestine lining causing an inflammatory reaction. When he was very ill last time he perked up instantly after steroid injections so hopeful that the tablets will make a big difference.

Wolfie, we are over there every two weeks rain or shine, since my father in law had a stroke 3 years ago. He is still bedridden. Hubby is an only child and thus the bulk of "stuff to do" automatically falls on him (us).
No worries though since we have been bringing our intact golden along for the past 8 years with no issues for our pup or any of theirs. Just a little more vigilance and care needed than usual.