General Dog Chat 5

[BiteyShark]

A thread for general chit chat about our wonderful but sometimes pain in the arse dogs.

New or old, feel free to join. Everyone's welcome.

PestDog is loving the heat - he's been sunbathing on the concrete patio in direct sunlight, possibly because all of Facebook is sharing stuff about not walking your dog in the hot weather in case they burn their paws / overheat / self combust.

The parks, however, are less than fun as all and sundry have now decided that parks are a lovely place to go. We've successfully dodged the picnics, but I did find him tucking into someone's vomit (probably containing a healthy dose of booze) the other day, which didn't agree with him one bit. Bloody animal won't have learned his lesson mind you.

I even had to defend him against a case of mistaken identity (no, he wasn't the dog that stole a burger off your bbq last week ). On the plus side he was very good with a rather nervous puppy who was trying to initiate play but then snapped when he came too close, helped him gain some confidence and they had a lovely extended game of chase together while I chatted to the owners and doled out a bit of advice.

Yuk at PestDogs choice of a snack. BiteyDog is also ignoring all the sun advice and running about with his ball in the heat

Oh pestdog!

I was sat out on the terrace having a glass of wine with my sister and Ddog was intermittently sunbathing, then shifting into the shade, then back again but we could then see she was panting quite heavily and overheating but not really getting the message so had to take her down to the stream where she just lay down in the water and didn't move - despite the high 30's temps the water here is always icy cold all year-round so she then had a minute of chattering teeth when she finally got out!

SquirrelDog’s currently having an ice cube. I’m hoping it might be cool enough to take him for a walk soon, there’s a footpath nearby next to the river which is pretty much in the shade.

GrouchyPuppy (and her owner) hates the heat and is extremely lethargic. I'm not going to complain about that, though I need to control my worry re her not eating properly. It's apparently normal for Newfs in Summer.

We've got a thunder storm happening right now and she's barking at the loud claps of thunder, which is fun.

Afternoon all. Mugdog had her early morning run and has just lay in any shade she can find. She has hardly drank even though I'm put fresh water out for her. Not eaten much either.
We are going camping next week for the weekend so it's her first holiday. Thought we need a dry run before we spend 2 weeks in a tent , in France, miles from home. At least it's wales and by the sea. And 90 mins away .

Hmm the heat hasn't hurt BiteyDogs appetite and the chicken cooked on the bbq didn't touch the sides on the way down.

Tomorrow is meant to be cooler which should be better for all of us.

Being from Spain PurplecatDog can take any amount of sun and Is happy as Larry! Even when temps are ridiculous, he will bask in the sun

Ah Purple - Ddog is from Cyprus but is definitely not on top form in the heat! We were so worried about how she'd cope in the Alps - she came over last August when it was really hot here (let alone in Cyprus which was all she'd known) right through to November so assumed she was a sunny dog and we didn't know how she'd fare when the temperature suddenly dropped in December and the big snow came... turns out she bloody loves the cold and wet!

SquirrelDog’s currently having an ice cube

My sister thinks we are officially bonkers as we've been giving Ddog "doggy ice cream" all week (it has been mid-high 30s since last weekend to be fair). Blended banana and yoghurt frozen in the yoghurt pot... works a treat as takes her ages to work her way though and definitely distracts her from the uncomfortable heat.

Frozen yoghurt and banana sounds absolutely delicious! Wish someone would make me some...

I bought some of those ‘ultra low salt’ stock cubes the other day, so I can have a go at making ice lollies for him if it gets hot again. (At the moment I’m a bit cold, sitting out in the garden in a vest top. Might have to go and find a jumper. )

must stop reading as I want to start making doggy ice cream and ice lollies but he's spoilt enough as it is

Poor Ddog has not had much fun today. DH took her of a dip in the river but the temperature drop today was not as significant as we were hoping for. Was still 30+ degrees and - very unusually for us here - humid despite a huge electrical storm last night which meant a poor night's sleep all round and I finally decided I was too hot and tired to walk her. Fortunately she is not at all scared of the giant thunderstorms here (though sort of wish she was to justify the money we spent on her totally unused thundershirt)!

Hopefully going to be mid 20s for the next few days... right now I'm jealous of Ddog's ability to lie in the icy river and am seriously contemplating running myself a cold bath!

It was a much nicer temperature here today. I would hate those temperatures distant.

We have been to the vets to have his anal glands emptied again. One side was full but the otherwise wasn't too bad so that must have been the side he managed to empty himself all over the blanket

Yes I'm tired and bored of it now - as is the dog - and we want to go back to a pleasant low to mid 20s please! We had to speak to the vet about something else on the phone and discussed the temperatures, and she said that dogs just generally are not animals that adapt to the heat very well, even those from Cyprus, so those of you with the sun-worshipping pups are very lucky!

Glad Bitey's bottom is better!

Arghhh he has been biting his bottom again. I presume the glands have filled again and irritating him .

This whole anal glands thing is something I did not know about pre-dog. Hope BiteyDog is OK.

GrouchyPuppy has been a right pest this week. On Monday & Tuesday she woke in the middle of the night and wouldn't go back to sleep without one of us there. Then last night she was attacked by a dog on our walk (not hurt, thankfully, but it was horrible to watch) and she wouldn't go to sleep by herself and startled at every noise so I spent most of the night on the sofa. She also spent the rest of the evening barking. I am a zombie today.

After she was jumped on by the other dog she was very cute, though. She went round the three people who were with the dog (after they put him back inside their house), in full submissive pose (I also found that hard to watch), asking them for cuddles for reassurance, which they were very good at giving. Had to bribe her away from there.

I'm not sure whether we should walk her this evening or give her a day to get over it. What would you do?

Oh, I also meant to ask: when she was attacked my instinct was to drop her lead so she could move more freely. She didn't run off, just away from the dog, and came to me as soon as he was gone. Was this the right thing to do? Should I have kept hold of the lead, if I could? She's over 40kg and the other dog wasn't much smaller, so not sure if I would have been able to safely keep hold, tbh.

I think many years ago, certainly when my parents had dogs, they used to think scooting meant worms. It's only now I know it actually means anal glands.

Grouchy I think I would perhaps skip a walk today and do one tomorrow. It's horrible as I know when my dog has been bounced on by bigger dogs who won't go back to their owners you feel helpless. It's good though that she didn't bolt. I tend to try and get inbetween the dogs and am effectively assertive telling the other dog no and away. Probably not the right thing to do but BiteyDog runs behind me. The other thing I do is to walk off quickly as BiteyDog follows and then I turn and say no to the other dog and honestly at that time I tend to think sod it if the other owner loses their dog if they follow unless they are actively trying to call their dog back

Oh poor Grouchypup. Ddog is so, so much better than she was when got her 10-11 months ago but she is still a nervous dog and when she feels threatened she is much happier off the lead so she is in control of her own escape. So I would have let go too. She loves the other dogs here now and is happy with them jumping on her (she's faster than all but the only one who doesn't jump on her, so can get away and gives them a warning growl if they start to get too much for her). Prior to that, when it scared her, I behaved exactly as Bitey does - no idea if it's the right thing to do (probably not) but instinctively I just have to do that, then was calm but jolly with Ddog after as she is so sensitive to her owners' moods!

Thanks both. We missed our her walk last night and she seems much calmer. She slept through too. Hooray!

Oh that's good Grouchy!

30 degrees again today. The drop to mid-20s seems to have ebbed back to Monday now.

Ddog is shifting between the hallway (from where she cant' see me in the living room) and under the kitchen table (where she can see me) - very, very unusual for her to take herself off to a different room from me so she obviously is really needing her cool spots today. DH is also away so think that has unsettled her a little.

Glad she was calmer Grouchy.

Temperatures quite high here today as well. BiteyDog is lying on the bathroom and kitchen tiled floors a lot to cool down.

We went out for a few hours last night but BiteyDog was really upset and barking a lot on camera. He is fine in the day being left for a few hours but in the evening he just doesn't settle. I guess we have to accept that nights out now involve more money to pay for someone to dog sit so we can relax.

Back from our camping trip. Mugdog loved it. Long runs on the beach and she even dipped her paws in the sea. I'm shattered no proper sleep due to karaoke 😒 loud drunk people 😒 and cotton eyed joe on repeat 😒😒

Glad MugDog enjoyed her holiday. Lots of rest and sleep for you drinkswine.