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.

Sitting out in the garden with Purplecat Dog. He is refusing to go for a walk as he wants to lie in the sun (he is Spanish so used to it!) In fairness he has just had a bug and is on antibios so is a bit more lethargic than usual!

At the moment BiteyDog is lying next to me. I really don't want a hot dog making me even warmer 😬

I gave up on the doggy ice cream - turns out of course that just freezing a pot of the plain non fat yoghurt we use for her kong does the trick nicely.

Today had been much cooler. BiteyDog has definitely found it a lot easier to cope with as have I

I’m glad it’s cooler here today. I was not enjoying being woken up at 4am by a panting dog, for some reason insisting on lying on my chest and licking my ear.

On the other hand, I also don’t really enjoy having a damp dog insisting on lying all over me on the sofa either.

English weather problems.

Finally the rain has come this evening - was expecting it from lunchtime but it was actually pretty hot again today (though "only" 28 degrees). A dog died locally (a tourist dog) from heat stroke the other day Has made me really conscious of making sure we don't overdo things with Ddog even though it should be cooler from Monday onwards. We always carry water with us and that was the problem - the owner ran out of water - but still...

And a bit of an incident last night - we have very small old converted barn here that is a social area/bar. Big thunderstorm last night (as expected) and then there was a massive crack of thunder and all the electricity went off and a car alarm started going off just outside the door - we'd clearly been struck... so of course that is when Ddog gets spooked and runs out of the ajar door. Cue DH and me desperately trying to lure her back in with food from the doorway and me having to tell DH he couldn't go and get her because the lightning and thunder were still so very close the storm was still obviously right above us. She was so spooked even the lure of food wasn't working but once she was within a couple of metres of the door DH dashed out and dragged her back in. She is not usually bothered by thunder and lightning at all but last night was something special.

I have only had thunder and lightening directly above me once and it was so loud I can completely understand distantDog being spooked.

BiteyDog went for a groom yesterday and he was actually really happy to go in with his tail and bottom wiggling. Haven't seen him like that for ages which is a breakthrough. He doesn't get dried anymore as she thought it was the dryer that was terrifying him so I end up with a wet dog trying to rub himself dry in the back of a car on the way home

That's good Bitey - Ddog gets wet most days now, either from going in the river or from rolling in poo and needing a flannel bath when she gets home. We have no chance of getting the hairdryer on her but she absolutely loves being towel-dried by DH now - he doesn't mind it when I do it and will happily sit there waiting for her post towel-down treat... but turns it into a game when DH does it and rolls about and does tug of war with the towel... quite sweet really.

she doesn't mind it!

Took SquirrelDog to local dog-friendly cafe this morning after our walk, where he acquired a fan club of people queuing up to ask me if they could say hello.

That made me smile about distantDog playing tug with your DH with the towel

I bet squirrelDog enjoyed the admiration in the cafe .

BiteyDog has been playing 'catch and eat the flies in the house' game all day

SquirrelDog thinks it's no more than his due.

He plays the fly game too. He also does it with wasps. I really wish he wouldn't.

Mugdog played catch the bee the other day. Ended up looking like Kim Kardashian 😂 top lip all swollen. She was rubbing her face on the grass then ran off to have another go! Note to self remove all flowering plants in the garden

We have zillions of bees in the garden as we specifically planted bee friendly plants everywhere 😆.

Fortunately our bees are far superior to our flies and he just air snaps at them as they taunt him by dancing about. I haven't yet seen a fly outwit BiteyDog for long which is great as I hate flies .

I'm digging up my flowering 'bee' plants and putting them in the front garden. Trying to make like a cottage garden theme with wild flowers etc. I've got a curry bush in the back garden which mugdog loves rubbing herself against. She smells lush then and makes me hungry 😂

Ooo I bet curryMugDog smells lovely

Took mugdog to the park , in between showers, and met a dog trainer. So had an hours training . In an hour she no longer pulls, will walk next to another dog. They asked her story, so based on that we have gone back to puppy training. Got new leads and another long line ( she ate the last one) to work on her proper recall and get her focus on me and not other dogs. They said she got so much potential, but can see I get stressed walking her.

That sounds really promising drinkswine. Just having someone to show you what to do can make all the difference.

The trainer congratulated me for saying my dog is a pest and a nuisance to other dogs and their owners.
Too many people say ooo dog is just been friendly.
I spend half my time apologising for her behaviour when it's not her, it's me.
She's now worn out and asleep. I'm walking round the house with a squeaky toy in my pocket !
And it works! She ran outside to bark at the neighbours, squeak , and she's back in!
Pissed me off in a way as a behaviourist told me it was learnt behaviour with her. Why didn't they show me this 7 months ago.
The trainer said it could take a month or so but if I do what I'm doing, and get the rest of the family involved, walks will be better. He told me to train her on the park when there are other dogs around as her focus needs to be me. Totally the opposite of what I was doing 🙄 I was doing recall when the park was empty. I feel a fool now. I was astonished the difference in that hour!
Ordered a slip lead which arrives tomorrow and the fun begins.

I think the key is to find a trainer that works for both you and your dog.

I definitely think one method does not fit all and try to avoid trainers that have only one view point. Certainly the best trainers I have had watched how BiteyDog responded and adapted their approach and training method accordingly.

So glad you have found what sounds to be the right fit for MugDog.

They said that they have watched me for a while trying with her and now thought to step in.
Highly appreciated. And no charge as they were out walking their very well behaved dog!

Wow - that is really great of them to have given you that no-ties free trial and that it's worked! We're going to have to get someone in to help us with separation anxiety I think... Sunday will be our first anniversary of having Ddog and she is just a million times better than she was and that is so great but the time is going to have to come that we can trust that we can leave her for, say, 2-3 hours, completely on her own, and she won't be awfully distressed.

We know it's going to take quite a while to work up to so think we need some professional help with it.

I just can't believe how well the squeaky toy has worked! She comes straight back to me. Has a treat and no woofing or charging around the garden! Something so simple.

Well blimey. Used the technique I was shown last night to walk mugdog to Tesco. By the time we started walking back she was walking next to me. Small victories. She even sat when I wanted her to. Waited and didn't pull across roads. Girl did well

That's so good drinkswine. Well done MugDog.