Adolescent Dog Survival...Sharing Tips & Tails

[BrodiePup]

Moving on from the puppy survival thread, this is for anyone with a hormonal teenager 🤪

Brodie is just over 7 months now, and is a fun loving pup who is (mostly) a pleasure to be around. My main issue is still walking him which can either be almost a pleasure, or like having a Tasmanian Devil doing breast stroke and bunny hopping down the road 😡. There seems to be no reason for which dog gets attached to the end of the lead, but at least it shows he can do it if he's in the mood!

We've also had our first proper tummy upset this week 🤢 no doubt due to some rubbish he picked up and swallowed before I spotted it. Thankfully it seems to have passed now.

@brushingboots @CaptainBeanThief

Yes children, you can fight over who gets the Toast frocks, Oxygen boots and Apocalyptica cd's...provided someone looks after Miss Aubrielle.

So, who's up for being towed down the street by a Polar Bear that thinks it's a Papillon...?

Needed this thread!

My dog is 18 months old. Good as gold during the day but struggles to settle at home in the evenings. Driving me a bit mental! Happy for any tips!

@PyreneanAubrie Yes you may! I hadn’t pictured a twinset – too scratchy and tempting for a large pup to ‘borrow’, I suspect.

@CaptainBeanThief We have a baby gate that divides the kitchen from the snug and if we’ve put her through there before she still barks but just from a distance… but I might try it again tonight as an experiment. She did it as a tiny puppy and my response was to just not eat, which wasn’t sustainable, but then she stopped it and I thought the problem was fixed. Alas no. Last night I offered three different shut-up-now snack options, all of which were ignored, and I just had to leave the table in the end.

I think the meal-time barking is now the only behavioural thing left to tackle for us and that’s why it’s so frustrating. She is such a good girl but the barking does my head in. We had friends staying this weekend with their dog and I noted how mealtimes were quiet because there were two of them, but I must tell myself firmly that two dogs is NOT the answer...

@sameoldie Welcome to the mad house! What breed are you bringing into our ménage?

@BrodiePup
I was packed last week mate!
@sameoldie
What breed and sex is your dog? And what exercise/ games indoors / stimulation are you doing during the day as that's important for settling at night x

@CaptainBeanThief see you there!

@PyreneanAubrie get the kettle on, we're on our way...

@sameoldie if you're asking us for tips you're doomed 🤣
Seriously, we understand a good rant and we will try to make useful suggestions.

@BrodiePup
I'm not even on facebook. Was there for a wee while about 10 years ago because our previous pup's breeder was there, but it gave me terrible social anxiety so I had to leave 😔

@brushingboots

Yay! Two dogs is the answer! It is! We all need two dogs 😁

But seriously, folks.... We had half sister puppies that were only 4 months apart in age. It was fab! I was only about 35 at the time, so a mere youngster. We had a large 4 year old boy at the same time... Pyrenean that is, not a hefty child. No children, I'm just too bonkers for human children but 3 dogs, 3 cats was a lot of fun.

Now, how do I brainwash my husband into believing that we absolutely need a male PMD for Brie to torment...?

@PyreneanAubrie I'm glad I'm not the only one, I only use facebook to follow a few things, dressmaking, shops etc. I did get into the dog training stuff when we got B, but realised it wasn't helping, so I ditched all but one.
I have to say though that this thread has been a lifesaver at times 😊

When we got B we were thinking about getting another dog once he reached adulthood, but I'm not sure we will now, mainly due to the expense as much as anything. However...never say never...

Thanks all. He's a Cavapoo. One hour walk in the morning and I try to give him another half hour/hour in the evening but sometimes tricky.
Indoors we do ‘find it’ game (hiding treats) and tug of war etc. Could probably up our indoor games so open to suggestions.
His main problem is barking at my neighbours security lights after dark 😬

Thank you all for the kind messages. There's not any one problem in particular, it's a mixture of things. Mainly the constant whining, neediness and energy. I love him, but I don't enjoy having him around except when he's sleeping or sitting still.

Think I'm just not suited to a dog.

Hello @sameoldie 🙂
If you can cope with one of our silly days here you can cope with anything your puppy/dog will throw at you...😬

Sorry your evenings with adolescent dog are a bit of a struggle.
I do think it's more difficult as the nights draw in; during summer I was getting evening garden play with our pup - ball, dumbbell, tug ropes etc but now it's too dark by 7 or 8 and it can be hard to keep her occupied. She gets through rawhide chew sticks in about 10 minutes....🙄

Sorry @Cavalierchaos . All that does sound very difficult, I think I would probably struggle with it too... 😔I know that's not really helpful though...

@BrodiePup
This thread/puppy survival is good and you're a really lovely bunch. AIBU gives me the collywobbles though... Some of them out there are sooooo scary 😨

I know I talk and talk on here but in life I'm very introverted/anxious. Even socialising Brie was hard but it had to be done. It has been a welcome relief taking her up the hill this past week and not seeing anybody - my brain gets a rest. She's definitely becoming more aloof around strangers and more focused on us all of a sudden, but I think we've done enough socialising to know that we can trust her and it was the same with our others. The pressure is now off and she can be who she is instead of "cute fluffy puppy". I've been following an interesting thread on the board since yesterday about people wanting to touch/feed your dog and sometimes being overfamiliar...

The cost of keeping two dogs is crazy now, I agree. I used to pay £45 for 15kg lamb kibble for Algy. Three years on and the exact same bag is now £72 😱That was a shocker!!! So for two PMD it would be well over £200 a month for food and insurance.
But I'd still love another boy Pyrenean ❤If only my husband would agree...

@Cavalierchaos if your puppy turns out anything like my two were, when he hits adulthood he'll be a really lazy lump who mooches around the house all day. They are quite needy, but only in as much as having an available lap and constant tickles.

You have to put your own needs first, and if he's making you unhappy, then you've nothing to offer him. My heart goes out to you, it's a horrible situation to be in. I know from things you've written that you have been trying your best. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it works out for you x

@PyreneanAubrie we're so similar in our outlook!

I've not read that thread, but might have a look. It's driven me mad when people think they have a right to approach B, or bring their dogs to "say hello"...no need! Go away! B isn't really interested in people or dogs. He lies down if someone gets near and wags, this of course looks really cute. Then they get within a couple of feet and he turns into hyper pup. One bloody woman got stroppy and said "my dog doesn't like being jumped on" she crossed the bloody road to get to us! Rant over 🤣
H who is a real people person has lots of doggy type friends now 🙄, but it even annoys him when he's obviously training.

It's not so much the cost of food and insurance, I hadn't factored in the vets health scheme, the natural treats, buying every bit of doggy equipment on the market... though I have got a gazillion collars and leads available for doggy number 2 🤣.

Off for first solo walk since Saturdays training... wish me luck 😱

Oh, have fun on your walk! @BrodiePup

We'll be going at 3 when husband clocks off from work.

Do check out that thread later, it's interesting. I've had my Little Miss Opinionated hat on about the "Pup Botherers" 😂

Some old guy once booted Milo when he was about 8? Months old when he approached their horrible little jack russel or whatever it was...
I was fucking furious
They could clearly see he was a young pup, he wasn't in their face we shouted him as he was approaching and he was about to turn around and this old guy booted him
" I shouted get the fuck off my dog before I break your neck"
I'm not a confrontational person really but touch my dog and I will not hold back.

Another story Milo was on lead and some woman had 2 ankle biter type dogs ( off lead may I add) came bounding up to Milo snarling and barking.... Milo being a being a lovely happy boy just gave him a sniff and they started attacking him and she went " oh that could have turned nasty"
Meaning Milo could have turned on them.
I said yeah it could have - put your nasty fucking dogs on a lead.
I can't help myself people have horrible dogs and then blame you when their dogs do something wrong!!!

@BrodiePup @CaptainBeanThief

Ummmmmmm....So is now a good time to mention that I swore at a "Spaniel Man" a couple of weeks back?

We were coming off the field with Brie when this guy sort of jogged past, a moment later a large brown spaniel shot past us, did a U turn and jumped on Brie from behind, snapping and growling.

I suddenly came over all Keira Knightley snooty and yelled in this posh voice (that isn't actually my voice at all) "Will you control your fucking dog!!!" I mean I'm scouse not posh... it just came out very actressy. Anyway it frightened my chap who was mega cross with me and said later it "wasn't neccesary" but yes, it bloody was!!!

I also had to forcibly drag a large male black Labrador off Algy when he was 16 weeks old because it grabbed him by the head. He had puncture wounds all over his face and was traumatised. I grabbed the dogs collar, dragged it off and the useless male owner pathetically said "don't hurt him..." to which I responded "if you don't get this dog on a lead right now, I'll hurt you!!!" And I would have.

This is a woman who has severe social anxiety so yes, I totally get what you're saying. Check out that other thread, it's interesting...

It's always a battle of the spaniel owners
Who's got the best behaved spaniel? If your spaniel isn't sat perfectly in an open field when a dog walks past? You are a shit owner and shouldn't own a dog?

Your spaniel is zooming round the field having fun? Id never let my dog do that it listens to me at all times.

Honestly the amount of snobbery I have come across - it's like Milo is the spawn of satan because he's abit crazy, I haven't got a dog for him to be on his best behaviour at all times - I'm not letting him run around harassing everyone - he minds his own business off lead etc he doesn't jump up at people etc. it annoys me, throughout Milos life of growing up the amount of people that wouldn't let Milo say hello to their dogs like he was an aggressive out of control dogs, I would always ask, can my pup say hello to your dog before we approached, if they said yes, great, if they said no that's fine, I respect that. But the amount of snobbery like they never had to socialise their dogs!
Rant OVER 😂

So sad that we've all had bad experiences with other dogs/owners 🙁.
This is something that has mainly developed in the years since I last had one. There seems to be endless dogs with crap owners.
Yup, I might be useless at sticking up for myself... but if anyone dares to harm my pupper 😡

We're really lucky, we don't seem to encounter anyone who's any bother on walks at all. I once had a spirited discussion with someone about how lead walking is taught with training not equipment when he decided I wanted his opinion on using a harness but that's about the sum of it.

My first thought on not settling in the evening is: is he getting enough during the day? They’re not the same breed, of course, but my spaniel would struggle to settle without a second something, especially having slept for most of the day in between – be it super training session or a walk in the afternoon/evening. Is he just not tired? Tired doesn’t need to mean hours in the fields but even a smaller dog like a cavapoo would, I have thought, need more than one outing a day, if only for sniffs and enrichment purposes.

No that actually is helpful as it makes me feel less unreasonable! Like it's not just me who'd struggle with this level of attention seeking.

@BrodiePup what age is an adult though? Honestly all I want is a dog that will snuggle on my lap all day and be happy for it. I'm very sedentary in the house (of course pup gets his walks) and wanted a snugglebug on my lap.

I didn’t post it on here cos I felt too sad but I did post it on the old puppy thread before it got full – last week’s Spaniel Man interaction which just left me feeling sad. A few days on I feel a bit silly about it but I am just not up for being belittled about appropriating exercising my dog by spaniel (or any other breed) owners who only believe in training and not in walking. We walk and we train, and we train on walks in massive open spaces where we do sometimes just sit around and practice doing nothing, and that’s great because it works her mind and body. I am really proud of how steady she is at 16 months because I’ve worked on it. But I don’t hog perfectly good walking fields with my 200-metre sit stays if I can see someone coming, and if I can I stop training because she’s a dog not a robot.

Round here it’s only the aforementioned Spaniel Man that ever makes me feel bad about the way I do things. There’s a chap in the village whose dog has no recall and I body-block him every single time he approaches us but other than that, folk here are really nice and I feel lucky about that.

I find myself more and more disliking it when random people want to pet her without asking though. We were at the pub on Saturday evening sitting outside and this couple just came over and started smothering her. She loves attention but I was trying to get her to chill out and it didn’t help. I didn’t say anything and just hoped they’d move on quickly but it did mean I had to start the lying down saga all over again.