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.

I'll have paranoia about my grammar and punctuation now I know you're a writer @brushingboots 😳

A lot of puppy kibbles are too small for Brie, she more or less des need a large breed one. The Purina Robust Puppy that the breeder started her on isn't too bad but I'd prefer to have her on one with a higher meat content. Researching into kibble ingredients throws up all sorts of weird issues like links with peas and DCM then you start worrying. I'm struggling to find one with high meat but no pea protein, but then another controversial ingredient is potato. It's a bit of a black hole once you start getting into it. I found one large breed junior that looked okay but I'm still pondering it.

She eats about 600g a day currently, spread over 4 meals. We do two days just kibble then a day of kibble with meat. She had been okay tummy-wise until now so it's frustrating.

I like some of the hounds; Greyhounds, Whippets and particularly Deerhounds, Wolfhounds and Borzoi all appeal to me although my heart belongs to LGD.

Clearly Bill's friend is a clever girl @Bupster her crafty trick with the ball sounds very much like something Brie would do.

Brie pulled a funny stunt yesterday, she was down the garden with my husband and she kept looking at the back door, then she'd look at my husband then back at the door again, this continued until finally he looked at the door, at which point she charged at him 😄

She often goes into stalking mode at the bottom of the garden, creeps stealthily to about halfway then hurtles towards us and leaps up. It can be quite intimidating as you only have a split second to brace yourself for the impact.

In the house she has all kinds of games or naughty tricks; if I bend forward to brush her she tugs my hair - just a single sharp tug then lets go. If I'm carrying coffee mugs she nudges me up the bum. When I crouch down to get something from the fridge she half sits on me leaning her full weight against me so I can't stand up. She definitely sees these things as funny.

I know when I post a pic she probably looks like a bland pretty thing but she's a real character.

Oh she's fabulous, @PyreneanAubrie ! Bill has his moments, as he hates my attention being away from him. When he was tinier I fitted bells to the back door, which he picked up on almost instantly. He used to ring them when I was eating as he knew I had to get up and let him out, just in case he really did need a poo. He'd then pick up a tiny bit of gravel which he'd toss up in the air with his mouth so I had to swap it for a treato in case he swallowed it. If I didn't, he'd proceed to drop it very meaningfully and loudly on the wooden floor, then pick it up and do it over and over again 😄

@Bupster I love their mind games, infuriating as it is. Same here, exactly; she always squeaks to go outside as soon as I pick up my bowl of porridge 🙄
Little sods they are, the lot of em!

Bit late to the discussion but I use rawhide. I supervise at all times and it's the only thing that lasts a decent while and keeps my crazy puppy busy for a bit!

Taking sick baby to emergency vets 😟

@PyreneanAubrie oh no! What's happened?

She's had horrendous diarrhoea since Wednesday night but we thought it was food related so we'd wait and see. This morning she had us up at 2 and again at 5 by which time she was also throwing up. She was very whiny all night which is not like Brie at all, she is generally the world's most silent guard dog 😆

I honestly think it's Karma kicking my arse after yesterday's chew thread and me getting on my high horse (well, My Little Pony) about rawhide. I'm terrified that she's got a blockage and it's all my fault for tempting fate 😨I'm getting my comeuppance. Just terrified of losing her 😢

The vet checked her over and gave us a tube of probiotic paste and some sort of sachets to mix into her food but if she's no better by Monday am they'll have to admit her for investigations. I swear it's like Pride Cometh Before a Fall, It's me and my big scouse gob that's put the mockers on. So, I will learn to 🤐

Well, this morning @Bupster and I proved to each other that we are not axe murderers but and met up with the pups! They had such a lovely time – played together beautifully, shared plenty of horse poo, and did some wonderful spanielling. They were super neutral with each other and their play was properly two-play. It was gorgeous to see, and I can confirm that Bill really is as squishy and lush in real life as he appears here! A very good time was had by all!

@PyreneanAubrie Oh no, poor Brie! It’s not karma, puppies are silly and are sent to try us. How is she doing this afternoon?

Oddly I don’t imagine you in my head having a scouse accent so now I will update my reading voice for you haha.

Oh hey @brushingboots and @Bupster - that's really nice to hear! I hope that you two got along as well as the dogs did.

I'm still worried; she didn't want food at lunchtime and she normally loves her grub. We'll see how it goes but it'll be another sofa night for me. She was weighed at the vets - 38kg 😱so she's quite a hefty lass!

I'm a scouser in long-term exile, so only a tiny bit of an accent now, not full-on proper Liverpudlian. I often get described as "posh scouse" which generally means either the Cheshire end of the Wirral or a few miles north of Liverpool e.g. Formby or Southport. I still hate hearing myself though😬

Do you have reading voices? Yes, you're an author...does that mean you also have images in your head of how we would all look...🤔 Eeek! Should not have admitted to my scouseness!!! Please don't picture me as Cilla Black (or Lily Savage 😂). I do like the idea of reading voices though 😊

@PyreneanAubrie Oh bless her, poor old girlie. 38kg! She is literally more than three times bigger than pupsy!

Haha I do have reading voices but they're liable to change. The only time I've ever been to your (ish) neck of the woods was to go to Knowsley for work and the only people I met there were farmers so my impressions of the northwest are admittedly limited.

@PyreneanAubrie that sounds very like what Bill had - I hope it is, in a way, as it was over in 24 hours and he is fully recovered (as @brushingboots can testify). I hope you're okay too - it's absolutely terrifying, isn't it?

I can also testify that @brushingboots is just as lovely in real life as she is on here, and that pupsy is astonishingly well-trained, and happy to bestow on Bill her spaniel wisdom - "Grasshopper: you must be the squirrel" 😄

I'm nowhere near Liverpool now but still north west-ish, DH used to work in Knowsley a few years ago. I lived in Cumbria for 16 years but now been in Lancs/West Pennines for nearly twice that! Bit of a Lancashire Witch. Does that change my reading voice...?

I love trying to imagine what the dogs & cats would sound like in human terms, that's always quite fun... and what their style would be (we've had a pink sparkly party girl from the West Country and a Doc Martens & combats lass with a deep Irish lilt). One of our boy cats was a goth 😆Not sussed Brie yet but think she's a tomboy...

That is so cute abut little pupsy girl and Bill @Bupster . Girl dogs are often good at taking the lead (haha) and the boys just tag along happily. Glad you all had a fun time anyway.

Yes, I hope Brie gets over this thing quickly but we are worried. We've just squirted the probiotic stuff into her mouth and it's now all over her face so she looks like a toddler that's been at the easter eggs.

Sorry delurking (I read here like a weirdo to see what your pups are all up to because the puppy thread is dead!) to say i really hope Brie makes a swift recovery @PyreneanAubrie 🩷

Also LOVE to see the two pups @brushingboots @Bupster how lovely!!!

Thanks @YorkshireFelix
She is hating it, poor baby, but she's been so good ❤

Sorry you've been abandoned on the puppy thread - I wonder where everyone is?

@PyreneanAubrie Bill refused to touch the probiotic stuff. I managed to get some inside him only because he stole the dispenser and when I wrestled with one end the other end was in his gob 😄

😄Sounds like a good technique 😂

Two person job for us; partner gripped puppy between his knees to stop her shooting backwards, he held her collar while I prised her mouth open...and...we still managed to get it all over her face 🙄The bloody stuff is £12 a squirt!!! £36 for a tube with three doses. WTF?!

We've got her a goats milk yoghurt she will absolutely love that. £2.40 for a large tub 🤔

@YorkshireFelix Hiii! Welcome to our coven. Both pups had a lovely, lovely walk and now pupsy is sparko next to me on the sofa. Fully recommend a walk with @Bupster and Bill.

This evening we had a little potter down the river (avoiding the weed-smoking yoofs, vom) and I actually said aloud the words: ‘swans are not our friends’. Another sentence I didn’t expect to say, but that’s dogs.

Great to see those pictures of the pups!

Gosh, poor Brie. Hope she gets better soon.

My pup did a wee on the sofa. The last sofa wee was two months ago. Luckily it just soaked into the millions of throws so they're in the wash now. I have no idea how to stop him weeing there....

Despite the severity of the situation that image of her is just wonderful! Bless her. It is bloody expensive. Pumpkin might help too – and it's seasonal, so not too spendy/hard to find?

Heard they can break a man's arm. Or blow up a man's house. 😄

Bill is also completely sparko. Can recommend 90 minutes of spanielling to wipe out a little pup with spaniel legs (and nose) but a great chonk of a Labrador body. I might actually get the extra hour in bed.

Thanks @Cavalierchaos
Oh no! Sorry about the sofa wee, that must be frustrating, just when you think he's made progress. Honestly, sofa throws are a lifesaver for me too. We have cats and they seem to enjoy coughing up hairballs on the sofa 🙄

Oh, great idea @brushingboots , thanks. I will add a pumpkin to the shopping list. We can also oven roast the seeds 😋