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.

So glad teatimetoller is feeling better and I bet he got lots of cuddles.

Well done teatimetoller!

He usually does get a chew or a bone in the evenings, but it only works until it doesn't, IYSWIM. Nothing holds his attention over trying to dig his way out of the front window to get to whatever creature he can hear outside

Oh Squirrel26 that made me laugh with the digging, when BiteyDog hears something he doesn't like he gives out this belly growl to let us know there are 'monsters' out there

DH is generally a reliable, supportive, considerate chap but also is the sort whose dirty laundry never quite makes it all the way into the laundry basket, glasses get lost, tools are never put away, gates are left open. It is hard because we have a fenced off area off the patio which is where she has a pee first thing and last thing at night, this area has a side gate and a back gate. She also has access to the paddock where we spend a lot of time which also has a gate. Any of these gates left open give access to the front garden and often open front gates. We also have a stretch of garden which we can’t fully enclose so restrict her access to that unless supervised with temporary fencing and gateways that need opening and shutting to be able to mow. We have done pretty well up until last night. Feeling like I would like to move into the village and have a house with a less complicated garden😬 Your DH cooking cod fillet for biteydog made me laugh, I think my DH needs to get more involved with her training and care , he gets a bit upset that she prefers me but bless him he really doesn’t have a scooby doo but also didn’t with kids really either. Luckily if I am out he really likes to do lists😁

The gates do sound complicated and a lot of them. Fortunately the back garden gates are very rarely opened here and usually only by me.

DH doesn't get involved in any training but he is besotted with BiteyDog so likes to feed him and then get all the attention and cuddles as he knows food is the way to his heart

Good tip, I will get DH more involved in cocodogs feeding. He does do her brushing if i am cooking but she often cuts it short and pads out into the kitchen, he gets quite put out.
Noitsnotteatimeyet, glad teatimedog is feeling better. Was quite a shock last night but we still headed out to our quiz night and when we got back at 11pm she was snuggled up in her bed, we cuddled on the sofa for 10 mins or so and then she went happily off to bed, zzzz

Just woke up to lots of snow

We deliberately kept everything very very calm last night and when BiteyDog looked like he was going to 'start' getting worked up he had a timeout which seemed to calm him so we didn't have a repeat of the previous night. It's like managing a hormonal puppy again

thegirlsallgrowedupnow we share a few of the bad tasks (grooming, cleaning teeth) and the good ones, feeding and snacks which makes us both feel better that BiteyDog won't favour either of us (probably projecting human emotions on him )

I noticed my boy only lies in if i am in bed and he thinks asleep so hiding under cover with my phone and can hear him still asleep
during school week we are up and out first walk at 6am so try to lie in to 7.30 ish on weekends

wheel when BiteyDog was having his early morning wanderings I used to have to pretend to be asleep. That used to be hard when he would push his nose in my face so maybe hiding under the covers might have been better. The things we do

Cocodog loves spending time in the garden with DH and seems to particularly like us both walking her together. Both our previous dogs appeared to favour me in their early years probably because i was around more in the day and did all training etc but when they were older both gravitated more to DH whose default when not working is potter and sit not leap frantically up and down doing jobs😁
Think we will all be pottering today though with the snow.

We are hiding in plain sight. Coco has been out for wee and is curled up at foot of our bed but she obviously is fancying her breakfast, keeps commando crawling up the bed and pushing her nose either under
DHs magazine or nudging my iPad . Five more minutes I reckon till we give in.

Not sure whether I can be bothered to take him out in this snow. I might just play ball inside and practice some of the agility turns round the kitchen chair today.

Just been out for an hour with cocodog, snow was powdery and quite easy to walk in, she was loving it and diving around. We only turned round when I noticed that she had massive snow bobbles all around her feet and legs. By the time we hit home she was quite anxious about them, calmed down when I put her in lukewarm sink of water and dissolved them all, dried her paws and has flaked out on my bed ( a sure sign she really doesn’t want to be disturbed). Hope I have done the right thing? Would some Vaseline be beneficial on her pads?

I relented and took him out, but went for a walk to the park where we played ball for 25 mins then walked back rather than getting in the car.

I just rinsed his paws when we got back but didn't see much snow in them but then we have the fur around the paws trimmed regularly. I have read you can put stuff on them but I figured he would just try and lick it off.

SquirrelDog inexplicably didn't get up till almost 10 today - he was curled up next to me on the bed and changed position a few times, but he didn't do his usual 6.30 jump on and off/paw in the face/mouthing my hands - eventually he just got up and laid down on the floor (he usually eventually does this and then I get up to reward him for being calm...I am not sure he realises this yet...)

My first thought was 'what's wrong with him' but he seems fine - had his breakfast, been for a walk, had a poo, peed on various things, stared at a cat, all his favourite activities. I wonder if the snow was muffling the normal noises from outside?

wheel I started to do this then decided I couldn't hide from the dog forever so introduced an alarm. I never, ever get up before the alarm rings, whether or not I am awake. Ever. If I have to sneakily bring the alarm forward or push it back to suit, I do so.

It worked a treat. He never fusses to get up until he hears the alarm now.

Good job he cannot read the time because on cold mornings I push it back 45mins and snooooooze

We had a lovely long walk in the snow, we were out for over and hour and it was COLD. It felt much colder than when we had the cold weather a few weeks ago.

He just LOVES the snow, he was so over excited and playing with it. It is very cute.

steppedog knows that he doesn't come in in the morning until we have put the light on and opened the door. (he can push the door open, it isn't shut properly)

It's taken me months to establish a night/morning routine mainly because of all his bouts of D&V as I have had to get up every time he got up and sometimes it was every hour. I think he generally gets it now but it's been hard work to break that habit.

I so want my artificial grass to be started tomorrow but they are still forecasting light snow overnight so not holding my breath

Left PestDog with DF for a few days while I went on a business trip. I've come back to find that while he was happy to see me he is equally happy to follow DF around the house and chose to sleep on his bed over mine.

The little traitor

Avocados I feel when I see BiteyDog fawn over DH and my lovely Daycare lady. Because I am with him most of the time I get a short tail wag and a sniff but they get the full on spaniel wiggle dance 😭

so, you know how over the last 4 months I have been lead training steppedog, from dragging-me-along- in-the-mud to walking on loose lease (on a good day)

Yesterday dd1 couldn't get to school because of snow, so she walked steppedog, and they had a lovely time with her throwing snowballs for him to chase.

She came home very excited - Mum! I've taught him a new trick! if you tell him to WALK, he will walk next to you, even off the lead!

bangs head on kitchen table. Yes dear, that would be totally separate from the FOUR FLIPPING MONTHS of BLOODY HARD WORK to teach him to walk on a lead then.

sigh.

Look on the bright side, your dd1 is obviously a dog training genius - she taught him all that in one walk, and you’ve been trying for four months

ha ha

I should send her out ot walk him more often!

Clearly she's found her calling in life!

Thought PestDog looked a bit chubbier after his week with DF. Turns out he hadn't listened to a word I said about portion control and gave him as much to eat as he wanted ("I thought you said he wouldn't overeat" "That was the old food he hated"). I've probably identified the cause of the vomiting at DF's house...