How are all the dogs doing?

[BiteyShark]

I know I could legally drive BiteyDog to his usual off lead walks but instead I am mostly playing ball in the garden with the occasional road walk. Any off lead walks close by involve a park which I avoid at the best of times due to other owners so there is no way I am going there right now.

Whilst I think he misses daycare, the owner and playing with his pals he is actually on the whole adapted really well. I know he will go crazy when this is over and he sees them again as he used to love it when he was picked up and you just can't fake that kind of happiness with dogs.

But fortunately he is calm and happily playing with DH in the garden. No issues at night and is actually sleeping better than usual as we are all having more lazy mornings before getting up.

Amazing really for a youngish working cocker.

How are all your dogs coping with their changes in routine?

Not a lot has changed for my dog as I'm retired so I'm here most of the time anyway, although not usually quite as much as I am at the moment.

I'm just thankful I've got her. I live on my own so if I didn't have her at home to make me smile, chat to and go on my walks with my life would be pretty empty just now.

Having said that, I wish she'd stop digging up the garden and bringing the dead grass into the house. She's long haired and low to the ground and the dead grass and moss sticks to her like velcro.

Our working cockers are loving us being home all the time, I'm dreading having to leave them when normality returns, we moved house in September and they'd just got used to being left most of the day in the news house when all this kicked off.

The cat is also loving having slaves to open the door, he scratches at the front door to come back in after his short birdwatching excursions. Before he wouldn't go out because he didn't trust he could get back in.

My newfoundland has become a nightmare, he is barking often. He won't leave my husband alone, cries if he goes out of the room jumps up at him all the time. Normally I'm the one he is attached to but he isn't interested in me at all.. I don't know how he'll cope when we all go back to work and he is on his own more often.

My girl thinks it is her birthday everyday. She goes on her long walk very early as it is the quietest time and then goes upstairs and sits on the bed in my DH "office" If he is late going up the stairs in the morning she stands at the bottom until he "goes to work"

I don't think I realise how well DDog does on a routine, he'd turned into a bit of a pest about walks dashing to the door whenever one of us moved. Now he's much more relaxed on a once a day walk schedule, need to think about how we'll handle that afterwards as we use a dog walker 2 days a week.
He's loving sunbathing too so life seems good for him

Mine is really struggling with social distancing! He's very social and loves other dogs and people. Our park is very quiet so we are still going there, but I'm keeping him on his lead as his recall is awful when he decides to conveniently pretend he can't hear me in the pursuit to sniff another dogs backside.

He's got so desperate to meet other dogs that he now whines and whines when he sees one :(

Some people are willing to let their dogs meet but I'm leaving that up to that person rather than me trying to 'force' myself on them.

He also misses his dog walker.

On the plus side my son will take him for an evening walk (I'm doing lunchtimes) and he's getting more exercise, unlike me.

wouldyouadamandeveit If other family members are at home, why not take the opportunity to work on his recall. It's always easier if there's two of you.

I know how you fell @wouldyouadamandeveit

Mine is very social and loves her playtime every morning with her doggy pals. Her recall is mostly great, but I'm paranoid she'll insist everyone pay attention to her and jump. Everyone we socialise with knows this and it's a work in progress to stop, but with all the new people and dogs out we are avoiding the usual park. I feel awful as she loves her playtime and seems lonely now.

We both worked from home anyway so our Jack Russell hasn't really noticed a change. This has coincided with his retirement though. He's 15 and has slowed down so happy with a leisurely walk each day.

I've got two older dogs and a 12 week old puppy arrived just before lockdown. I work from home anyway but my two older dogs would mainly sleep in my office with me. Now they've got my dd and the puppy to contend with. They look like parents with a newborn. Absolutely knackered, loss of sleep and thoroughly pissed off with having their necks, ears and tails used as a bitey thing for said puppy I think lock down ending can't come quick enough for them. Although I do walk them separately (puppy can't go out at the moment), so they do get a little restbite

@pigsDOfly - he's 8 so its highly unlikely it will improve. In general recall is fine but the lure of an opportunity to sniff another dog at the moment, is making him do crazy things!

@Stellaris22 - yep, sounds exactly like mine! He also thinks that even people without dogs will stop and fuss him. Kids and older people generally do, but not at the moment.

@wouldyouadamandeveit sounds rather like the dog who always attaches himself to my dog's rear end when we see them out and about.

Not sure exactly how old he is, I know he's not a youngster, could be around 10.

He will run right across a field and then just follow her with his nose while my dog continues doing whatever she's doing and completely ignoring him.

He always goes back to his owner eventually but, it's almost like he can't help himself.

My dog is spayed so I'm not sure what the attraction is.

copycopypaste we got a 14 week old dpuppy just before CV and its been challenging!!

Just catching up on all the mostly happy dogs in lockdown.

I keep telling BiteyDog it's good that he has no idea why we are at home all the time.

Mine keeps going off her food. She's had to drop to 1 walk because I'm the only adult in the house and I think she's miserable about it.

She's a fairly reactive dog, who has suddenly decided she needs the company of other dogs!

And she's farting a lot.

Mines gone off her food a bit too. Eager when it's put down but doesn't finish it, normally she loves her food. Taking herself off to quiet areas to sleep during the day as well.

Ddog is fed up because there's people home, lots of sighing, looking for a quiet sofa. He's used to his own space. He's not liking the crowded park either. He's a loner though

Dpuppy seems to have gained some confidence with us all home. She will go outside alone and chew a toy, let me got to the loo unsupervised, has mastered the dpuppy eye pose at the empty food dish. Not quite sure exactly how many lunches she had been having until I spoke to dc about her trick!
She is too heavy to lift now..

Ddog is a bit fed up. She's reactive and worse on lead, and we live in a fairly built up area, there isn't anywhere we can walk safely to nearby for her to have a good run (we have to avoid any routes where we risk being on a pavement and unable to cross over if a dog comes the other way). So she's on a short walk early morning to the other side of the estate where there's a little bit of grass she can have a run round on. Too many dogs around the rest of the time. Luckily she's quite lazy and she likes to just snooze on the sofa with us, I don't think she would mind if we skipped the lead walks completely, it's the freedom of running off lead she's missing I think. She's being so good though bless her.

Ohffs66 our reactive ddog stfu when we turned straight round and went in the opposite way to the dodg she was barking at! Nipped her anxiety in the bud nearly every time!

My 9 year old rescue is over the moon we are home all the time & due to timing, I will be on mat leave from end May until April next year so she will have had someone home for 13 months+

She doesn't walk well (we have to drive to walk her) & thankfully the weather has been so good we are managing with a walk every other day and lots of games in our large garden. We have to make sure we go out for a walk without her on the other days though as she needs to still be used to being left (she is fine once we go but gets v anxious while we are putting shoes / coats on).

She is getting a bit fed up with the toddler sometimes so on the days I am working (DP is furloughed so doing childcare) she joins me upstairs and sleeps while I work.

Our boy is happy I think, he has got even more attached to us though and follows dd and I everywhere. Think he's probably knackered as if we get up to make a cuppa or go to the loo he has to get up and check where we're going!!

He's loving his long daily walk though.

I'm being quite relaxed about him interacting with other dogs and using the same rules as before, he's allowed to approach off lead dogs but not on lead dogs. I really don't feel there's a risk of person to dog to dog to person infection.

Ours are loving us working from home. Junior dog is loving this weather because he likes to sit in the sun on the patio and cat watch. Then he barks his head off and I have to get him in. At least once an hour.
Senior dog is happy sleeping on my feet while I work.

I’m keeping them mostly on the lead for walks. We go down a wooded path to some fields and they have a little run there sometimes. Junior dog is a bit reactive on the lead so I’m trying to avoid places where there are other dogs.
They are both really missing the big park and the beaches and need a really good run and socialisation with other dogs though.

Bella's doing ok. I've altered when and where we walk though as there are so many people about up on the trails where we usually walk. Lots of families and children and so many people neurotic because there is a dog 100yds away not on a lead.

I don't think the council are cutting the grass around here and it's getting long which means that with me being partially sighted and Bella being small that I spend most walks shouting her in a panic only to then realise she's about three feet away with a puzzled look on her face as she doesn't know why I'm shouting her.