General Dog Chat Part II

[BiteyShark]

A place for nattering about our canine friends.

Old or new, feel free to come and chat any time

Think I am going to have to do the same Wolfie as I hate for him to be so upset he comes out with some random hair cut at the groomers .

He actually licks the toothbrush now when he used to move his face away all the time so I think he will be ok if we brush him everyday but it's trying to make sure we get in a routine to do it.

My dog barks if I don't leave the kitchen tv on for her all night [hmmm]
She's good as gold otherwise. Have to say 'bedtime' (she gets in her basket), put the TV onto vol 11 and close the door. Any change to that routine and she has a special bark for getting us to come back and do it right.

Would he tolerate a grooming mitt better Bitey?

SquirrelDog loves being groomed. As in, he loves the brush. LOVES IT LOVES IT I WANT TO TAKE IT AWAY AND BITE IT ALL OVER. And then chew on your hands for a bit because it’s SO EXCITING!!!

I did have one of them Squirrel. Might see if I can find it.

Brushing using the ‘bucket’ method (ok, ikea plastic coloured cup) has been successful here for brushing hair, as dog was fixated with eating the brush, but is also very treat receptive. Every time she breaks eye contact with the cup, I stop brushing and wait for her to relax again.

Now just need to be brave enough to do this with her teeth!

We are pretty good with doing his teeth. They will still need scaling at some point as we feed wet food which tends to 'stick' but hoping we can hold off doing that for a few more years. However for brushing him we have been really rubbish and it now shows in how he is reacting

Oh squirrel dog must be related to steppedog. He loves being groomed, as soon as I get the brush out he comes running. Our problem is that he sees grooming as an extended tummy rub, so you have to get in quick to brush his back before he slides down and rolls over for you to do his tummy. And he will stay in that position for hours if you are prepared to keep brushing!

I have given myself a week off nightly grooming cocodog because she has been clipped all over and just needs her ears and tail combed at the moment. The first few times I did it when she was a pup I gave her a tripe stick or dried fish stick to chew on, then I used to put the stick just out of reach and she would get it when I had finished. Then she got so used to the whole routine that I would just fetch the brushes and comb and she would trot out to the treat cupboard with me afterwards. Nowadays she gets a dried fish stick maybe twice a week, other evenings a couple of bits of kibble, sometimes a small squirt of squeeze cheese in the rim of her Kong trax. A couple of times she hasn’t even expected a treat, too busy looking out of the window for bunnies.

Well we managed a bit of a groom shoving training treats at him regularly. He used to tolerate the nail grinder but that has now become the most evil thing in the world so need to go back the basics with that as well especially as his nails are like talons at the moment

I must admit we ignore nails a bit. I make sure we walk on tarmac beginning or end of every walk and when I ask my groomers if they have trimmed her nails, I always get an affirmative but they never look much different to me. If there were to be problems what should I be looking for?

Not sure what to look out for in particular but given we have had a fractured nail previously I would prefer to keep them short.

It has been Cocodogs second birthday today. DH kept singing Happy Birthday to her which puzzled her, otherwise two nice walks and lots of time out in the garden with us. I bought her a bubble gun thing having heard dogs like to chase bubbles but she was totally underwhelmed so we both had a game of football with her before her supper, always her favourite game.

Happy birthday Cocodog!

I am sitting in a chair by the front window. SquirrelDog has his front paws on the arm of the chair, and his bum on my shoulder/ in my face, so that he has the best vantage point for looking for birds (or cats, squirrels, pixies, I don’t know). It’s delightful. Really.

Aww happy birthday Cocodog 🎉

I'm a bad mum. I used the nail grinder on a couple of his nails when he was sleepy on the bed. He gave me the dirtiest look but he didn't have the energy to object much. Think I am going to have to do that for now as they are pushing on the floor when he stands which can't be good for him.

happy birthday cocodog!

Bitey, we never clip or grind nails, (mind you he doesn't go to the groomers, poor thing just gets me and the hose pipe, bottle of shampoo and his brush!)

But I was thinking of your soft pads, plus long nails, and I wonder if it would help to do regular tarmac walking?

Our regular walk is about 10 minutes to the nature reserve, round the reserve and 10 minutes back. Those 10 minutes are on footpaths through areas of trees and grass, but steppedog runs along the paths mostly, so he gets about 20 minutes on tarmac paths every day, and his nails stay naturally short, and his pads are pretty tough.
Just a thought really. If we wanted to, the nature reserve does have hard paths that we could walk, although we usually choose to walk the fields. Might be worth seeing if there is anywhere with footpaths rather than grass paths?

We fostered a bulldog with over long nails, his vet's appointment for his check- over was 10 days after he came to us, and by the time we went to the vets his nails were ok, doing the same walk as above,

I have been trying more road walks on the days I work at home. Clearly not enough

bitey I think lots of people grind their nails. As long as they're not distressed its fine.

Distressed no, plotting to annoy me later as payback yes

I am quite envious of all the luscious sounding fields and woodlands many of you seem to live near. Typical dirty, London terraced streets here where dog will pick up any dirty rag to plastic yuk. That’s of course if she’ll step outside the gate.

At 26 weeks the neighbours are quite bemused by the rooted pup who won’t shift, even for chicken, until carried away by her embarrassed owner. But will quite happily loose lead walk all the way home...

Whether it’s good for nails or not; I’m not sure if street walking is ever going to be thing here!

I know that problem! Definitely cannot carry the bulldog when he stops now!

@Ealing I'm (inner) London too, but very lucky with the parks that are near me. Thing is we have to walk to get there (I don't drive, buses only take us part of the way) so streetwalking is a necessity for us - it's probably 30-60 mins per day of streetwalking + any tarmac he happens to walk over in the parks. I've never trimmed his nails, never needed to, and he must have paw pads like old boots because he's walked over broken glass without flinching before now. I think the times he sees a fox / cat and scrabbles to get there on hard tarmac are also rather helpful for his nails

Naturally I have all sorts of tales to tell about the things he has picked up on the streets - ranging from fried chicken bones to congealed vomit

We’re thankfully close to good parks too Avocado. The not so local trainer says “then drive her”. Clearly doesn’t understand the parking restrictions and limited spaces here.

I’m persevering with the walking carrying until she gets too heavy for me. One day she’ll just walk; I keep telling myself.

Goodmythicalmorning: I’ve started packing snacks FOR MYSELF to prepare for the daily standoff where we both sit on the pavement waiting for the next one’s move...

There's a bulldog in the local park that has a red trolley he can be pulled around in... not that you want to give your one ideas! He is a bit overweight and doesn't look like he's particularly enjoying life, at least from afar.

Haha yes I've seen the pics of bullies in trolleys. I think he'd never walk anywhere again