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.

[MaxatAgincourt]

I have big brown eyes looking at me too Steppe. I'm off work today so he has me all day instead of DH or day care. He is very snuggly so I'm not getting much done while I make the most of it.

Can I ask how much does Steppedog weighs? We are having trouble keeping weight on Maxatdog. He is 1 and Springer crossed with collie. When he was admitted to DT he weighed 19.5kg but at our first vet visit was 16.5 which our vet says was a good healthy weight for him. (He hadn't been exercised previously).
He is still losing though despite changes to food treats etc. It worrys me but my last one was a greedy lab so we had the opposite problem!!

[steppemum]

interesting you say that max, steppe dog is full size male springer, but only weighs 18.1kg. You can really see his ribs.
vet said he could do with putting on a kilo or so, we have increased his food, he now gets 1/3 more than the recommended on the bag, and he still weighs 18.1!

He is incredibly active though, we go out for over an hour, and for about 50 minutes of that he is off the lead. the whole time he is off the lead he is running, and not jogging along sniffing and looking, but flat out sprint a lot of the time. eg if I cros a field, he will sprint to the other side and bakc to me and then off to the left and circuit the whole firld and bakc to me and then off to the right and jog along sniffing the hedge for a few minutes and then I call him, sprint bakc to me.

I do about 5 km when I walk him, and he does, I estimate, 20km, and most of that at full sprint.

he is a rescue, but the 3 months before we had him was in a good home/foster care, so he was fully wormed and fed properly etc.

[ZivaDiva]

I’ve got a 4.5 year old border collie who weighs 14.5kg and you can easily feel his ribs ( his coat is too long/thick to see them) but our vet says he’s very healthy so not to worry. We’ve upped his food and he has oily fish quite frequently. I sometimes think we’ve lost sight of what’s a healthy size for dogs.

[BiteyShark]

Oh no Yoko our neighbours fence is in a bit of a state and they don't maintain it so I am always worried a hole will appear and I won't notice it until BiteyDog disappears.

Well we tried to go out before the heavy rain appeared but it appeared about 1 hour early just when we were at our furthest away from the car this morning

steppe we get the are we playing ball?? Isn't it ball time?? Where's the ball??

Maxat have you looked at the guides online which say to check weight visually e.g. you should feel the ribs and see a waist etc. BiteyDog won't hold any excess weight and is really skinny but our vets keep reassuring me that it's good to be lean and a bit underweight for his health and joints than the other way.

[MaxatAgincourt]

That's good to read Steppe. I will stop worrying as much. I would like to keep him around 16.5 and have increased his food too . He has treats at home but is less interested when out and about as he prefers a ball.

Maxatdog is very active too. Poor lad's paws bled when we first had him as he wasn't used to running. He hadnt been neglected as such but his previous owners hadn't realised the work/ exercise needed for a cross of two lively breeds and thought pottering in the garden was enough. He also missed out on some key socialization so is fear reactive on lead but amazing off lead.

We do a lot off lead ( 1-2 hours perday) with a couple of on lead walks ( training). He is very laid back at home and I'm really proud of him and how far he has come since we got him in September

[MaxatAgincourt]

Ziva and Bitey. Thank you. I did check when we first got him. Charts say for a full grown male about 18_25kg. He is only just 1 though.
I absolutely agree that people don't always recognise a healthy weight for a dog these days. My lab was lean but only through hard work, food control and exercise and was at the higher end of the scale but because he wasn't the overweight labs people are used to they would comment how thin he was.

[BiteyShark]

BiteyDog weighs around 12.5kg and you can often see his ribs. He gets to around 13kg when he has been on enforced rest but as soon as he is allowed to run about he loses it all again. If we feed him more his poos become sloppy and he still doesn't put any weight on so we are clearly feeding him the right amount. To be honest though I would rather have it this way round than an overweight dog where you have to restrict the food as I would feel awful with sad pleading eyes looking at me every time I ate

[MaxatAgincourt]

Oh I had the pleading eyes with my old boy and he drooled!!

I will worry less. He is healthy and fit and (can't believe I'm saying it) has lovely poo

[MaxatAgincourt]

Here he is on his first snowy day

[BiteyShark]

Aww he looks lovely Maxat

[snowy1982]

What a gorgeous boy @maxat

[steppemum]

I have to say, steppedog is a lot skinnier than every other springer that I meet, but then some of those are overweight, and most seem to be happy pottering along beside their owners, whereas steppedog runs.

He is very calm (but super alert) at home, which I think is because he gets plenty of exercise.
We upped his food because vet said he could add a kilo, and since we upped it, he is calmer, and I think he was hungry. He is a terrible food thief, but has been less obssessed since we upped his food

[steppemum]

ahh he's lovely Max.
veyr like steppedog too. I'll see if I have a photo...

[steppemum]

this is an old picture from before he was ours, but none of the rest are downloaded on my PC

[steppemum]

He lookos more solid round the middle in that picture, I think it is the harness

[BiteyShark]

steppe he looks a good shape but I tend to see lots of working spaniels at our gun dog training group which are all really lean.

[MaxatAgincourt]

Steppedog is lovely and is like Maxatdog. I do love Springers in fact most spaniels. Had a Springer growing up and DH had collies.
We had settled on a cocker though until we saw this boy on DT website.
Thanks all for your lovely comments

[Mustang27]

Oh maxat your springer collie is beautiful!!! I nearly brought one home from the shelter I used to volunteer in but I had a house and garden full, chickens, rabbits and dogs and it would have been too much but they are just a lovely mix. Now there is a fashion breed I can buy into lol. You should start a trend.

Thank you everybody for the kind words. Yesterday was hard as I got her back from the vet, my 2 year old was so excited and kept saying get her from the vets all better (tried to explain) dunno where he got the better from . I was ill prepared to be handed a box and crumpled. Sorry for anyone else that's had to go through this it's bloody awful.

Steppemum I loved your wet dog comment, strange how tolerable the whiff becomes when it's your own.

[DeepfriedPizza]

Pizzapup up-ended the locked kitchen bin yesterday and left a trail of rubbish and food waste everywhere...I wonder how her bowels will be today with the dog walker.

Mustang

[DorynownotFloundering]

Hello, can I join this lovely thread please? 😁

I have a very pup like 8 yr old Goldie rescue who's just joined the Dory family.
He's a typical loving nutty type, bit of a handful, some on lead issues, pulls like a train at times but loads better than he was. Lots or training is paying off thank gawd.

The DoryCats are Not Amused & we have a mexican standoff with them living upstairs at the mo as he chased anything that runs,initially.
( rude not to really eh?)

One of them has bopped him on the nose & he is wary of her now thankfully, so she just struts past him now in the evenings & sits in the armchair pointedly ignoring him (little git) while I tell him what a good boy he is.
Her sister however, who is a complete wuss, still runs & sometimes there's a scuffle & a huge wruff as he pretends to go for her- I say "NO" sharply he looks at me with a sorry, not sorry grin on his face. Bugger!😁 He just needs to learn who is the superior race & normal order will be restored.
I'm a firm believer in every dog needing a bop on the nose by the resident cat to sort things out. 🐶🐱

[Wolfiefan]

Dory can I borrow that cat? Both of mine tease the dog and wind her up which makes her want to play. Buggers!

[steppemum]

Hi Dory - we have a cat standoff too!

cat is very much mine, and he sleeps on our bed. Our room is cat territory (was goign to be the whole of upstairs, but steppedog has wriggled his cute little way into ds bedroom at night, and dh's study floor if I am out suring the day)

Cat is definitely boss, dog is VERY submissive. Big breakthrough this week as cat has voluntarily gone into the lounge. Dog sits on floor whining and waggin his tail. Cat ignores. If dog gets too close cat hisses ans spits, dog backs off!

[AstrantiaMajpr]

dory, how did you train her not to pull off the lead? Does anyone use a clicker?

[DorynownotFloundering]

Ha - well done Steppecat get those pooches in line, love it 🤣
Wolfie any time, she's a fussy bugger with food though & only cuddles on her terms !
Astrantia I use quite a hefty harness as he is very strong & just keep bringing him back nearer me & praising & giving a treat.
First thing in the morning he still pulls a bit as he's excited to be Going Out but now he walks much better almost on a soft lead.
Some people make their dog walk right next to them looking at them all the time, but frankly I trip over that close, so am quite happy with trotting along just beside or in front enjoying the view.😁

[BiteyShark]

Welcome Dory at least one of your cats has the measure of the new dog .

I think it's a result when BiteyDog doesn't trip me up when he tries to zigzag infront of me walking on the lead.

Deepfried how on earth did PizzaPup manage to knock the bin over?. Mine has given up trying to get in ours as it's too tall.