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.

The way I have trained Milo ( the same as any of my dogs) may be frowned upon, but I hate judgment - people may think he is wild - but he's young and a spaniel - he needs to learn and is still learn - it annoys me more with spaniel owners judging because their spaniels would have been the exact same!!!
I dunno I just find working breed owners the worst!
I am happy with Milo so far, he drives me up the bend and I'm always moaning about the undesirable behaviours he has but we tackle each one head on and train him as we go!!
Like you say @brushingboots these are dogs not robots!!

Exactly. I hate judgment too so I just don't train my dogs at all. My girl puppy child is a free spirit and shall remain so 🙃A wild child.

I've just got smacked around the head on another dog related thread and basically told I know nowt about . Which is probably true. So, I've spent nearly 50 years around dogs and learned zilch 😂That was fun then.

Apparently I don't understand how "positive reinforcement and classical conditioning work"...

Positive reinforcement seems to be chucking treats on the ground and hiding them in walls and trees on a walk (which I foolishly queried the wisdom of, hence the slapping), but classical conditioning sounds like something they do in a posh hair salon so I'll give it a miss. Anyway, that's me told!!! 🤐

Placemarking as I will be in the teenager mode in a month 😆 the wee cherries 🍒 are forming and I await the switch from my baby to a flipping horror!

Yay @NippyCrab you found us!!
I'm not sure you will get any good tips but you'll get a shit tonne of advice and support off us 💖

Sorry @PyreneanAubrie I thought I posted my devil dog in this thread!! Gahhh there is tooo many threads!!!

I did quite a lot of training with Bill when he was tiny, and I am expecting to have to start that again when he hits adolescence, but at the moment, I'm also letting him be. He has enough recall that I can get him away from other dogs at the dog park; I can get him to sit if I need him to, and to lie down if I shape it, and he remembers touch; and I'm starting to teach him to put his chin on my hand just because I love the feel of it.

I think he can do much more - he's super bright and willing - but I just want to get him through the next months of daycare, and going in the car (which he hates), and me having to work a bit more, with as little overwhelm and as much playing with toys and snuggling on the sofa as we can manage.

I'm sure proper Spaniel Men would think I was letting him down - he's from working lines on both sides, and probably needs a job to do eventually. But he's also just a puppy, and still sometimes wants to be carried up the stairs if he's really tired. So bollocks to them.

@Bupster Bollocks to them indeed – he's still a (very cute) baby. Your car issue, for lack of a better word, is definitely more important than doing anything fancy with him as it will open up your world so much.

Tonight we did a load of sit stays and sit at a distance in a massive rabbity field in the almost pitch black which was fun with a black dog. And then I got a bit freaked out by the imaginary monsters in the hedges so we came home again and retreated back to the sofa and some brain-numbing tv.

Todays walk for us was horrible and I got really grumpy. Not so much grumpy with Brie as irritated at my own hopeless incompetence at 'training' her not to pull me off my feet and not to bite the lead.
Also felt fed up with too many cars and people and dogs today (pavement to field walk, not car to moors), it was busy and I got really rattled and noise sensitive (neuro stuff). Urgh 😒Just horrible.

At home she's an angel though, such a good calm, quiet girl with beautiful manners. I love her. I just wish I could learn to be less anxious on a walk and enjoy it instead of feeling scared and overwhelmed all the time.

Thank you, i can offer tips but they might not be any use 😂 support i can give and can always use... every morning at 6am when middle child opens his eyelids (he's 4) he's always going to be in the teenage stage. I'm glad I found you all. It might save my sanity!

@Cavalierchaos I'm sorry, I can't honestly remember when my dogs calmed down, one was almost 40 years ago, the other 30. I just know that if the first hadn't turned into a lovely dog, I wouldn't have got another.
I do hope it starts to settle down for you.

Goooood morning all from soft arse Milo !

Good Morning,

I hope you've had a restful night and all is good with assorted puplets.

Oh my gosh, what an awful day - the rain is absolutely bucketing down here in Lancs. Miss Aubrie slept in until 7 and was reluctant to go out for a wee even then... which probably makes me one of those cruel, wicked, dog owners who "can't be arsed" because I failed to force her out for a 9 mile hike at 5am...🙄

Here she is, loafing on the sofa with her great big arse plunked on the cats snuggle blanket 😆

(Sorry for manky cat ratched sofa cover. Maine Coons wreck the house 😬)

We got out in the dry this morning but I think it might be a last morning walk for a while until the clocks change. I'm happy we never got ours into a routine, they're quite happy to get up and have breakfast then chill until a lunchtime walk in the winter.

It's dry here but it obviously has rained – we've just gone out to the woods where the scent is super high. I used to always get up and go out at 7 when she was little but I've realised that she doesn't care if it's 9, 10, 11 so if my work day allows I've taken to working for a bit first.

Where do you all live? It's non stop rain here. I think we need to relocate...

@brushingboots Bill definitely had his spaniel head on this morning - a good half an hour on the long line with his nose down sniffing for squirrels. A strange dog stood within two feet of him and he didn't even notice! Conked out on my lap now.

@PyreneanAubrie Lincs! But it is now raining. We got out and in again before it started. Pupsy was limping for no discernible reason when we got back – since revealed to be a huge thorn in her pad.

@Bupster Gorgeous – just how it should be! There is nothing better than watching that nose go, except the chill it produces afterwards.

@brushingboots Oh, how rotten. That must have been painful for her, hope she's okay now.

Ah, you're to the east of the country and we're in the waterlogged west although it is actually drying up a bit so we must have sent the rain your way...
Brie had a 10 minute rainy walk earlier but hopefully we'll do a longer walk in a while.

Hello everyone. I have an 11 month old cockerdor called Bella.
She's gorgeous, full of energy and I adore her. However she still is quite bitey. She does it with things she knows I like, eg cushions, blankets and she's bitten through 3 remote controls!!!
I realise that is done to get attention so any tips on how to stop it will be gratefully received.

Here she is...

Hi @SailorGeri 😃

What a beautiful girl Bella is; she looks very relaxed and comfy on that pic.

Our girl is only 6 months so I'm afraid we're in the same boat with regard to her stealing things. We're still at the point of just hiding anything that we think she's likely to try to grab! Fortunately she's not had a remote yet, but give it time...🙄She did manage to pick up one of my ugg slipper boots this evening so we had to resort to bribery to get that off her!

Hello @PyreneanAubrie Bella also loves my Ugg slippers!! We do have lots of chews and toys to hand, but they don't always work when they're up against something much more fun 😂

@SailorGeri is it you she's biting or just things generally? I still find that at 16 months my cocker is mouthy if she's tired or otherwise over stimulated.

@brushingboots it's a combination of both really. She is bitey when she's tired. So I can distract her sometimes with something to chew.
Otherwise I think it's because she wants attention. She gets two good walks a day and we play with her, but she is not very good at just settling on her own, hence the attention seeking.

Just a quick update to say I have absolutely nothing to report!
Everything is going suspiciously well, some walks are still pretty awful, but showing definite signs of improvement...others are actually quite good.
I've cancelled the 'puppy...free to a good home' advert 🤣.
Hope everyone else is doing ok.

@BrodiePup
I'm glad to see you here, was getting worried that we'd all fallen out... I'm pleased to hear that Brodie's progress is continuing.
That is such a beautiful photo ❤