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 do think there is an awful lot of bad breeding going on with all dogs today, so bad dogs combined with bad owners really isn't a good combination.

I do suspect that we are similar @PyreneanAubrie do wedding invites send you running for the hills screaming too? They're totally selfish, I didn't inflict my wedding on anyone, so please don't inflict yours on me.
But have a wonderful day without me... I'm not a total misery 🤣

Gosh, I can't imagine handling a dog the size of Brie if she gets on lead zoomies, I bet it is scary! I hope you're ok.

Yes, exactly like that @BrodiePup . I just generally don't like fuss and palaver and nor does my chap, so we really have a very quiet life. In fact, it's the very reason we didn't get married. I hate the focus being on me and even a civil wedding felt too much. I refer to him as husband/partner/my chap but to say boyfriend feels a bit funny at age 60 😳

Zoomies was scary today. We had a nice peaceful walk on Monday and Tuesday but today was different and her strength felt overwhelming. She's so much bigger than our previous girls were, and I have to keep reminding myself that inside her head she's still a baby, which is exactly what brushingboots has just pointed out on this very thread. They're all just babies and we expect so much of them and ourselves.

@PyreneanAubrie We snuck off with my Mum and a friend. We didn't even tell people afterwards, it just came out over the years.

They are still puppies, and I want to enjoy it, not knock it out of Brodie. I'm actually enjoying adolescence, apart from the selective deafness. You can almost hear him plotting his next mischief, he makes me laugh.

Is Brie 6 months now? Have you tried your dogmatic on her yet? I know she's too young really, but you have to consider your safety. Did you choose a bitch because you thought she'd be smaller?

I love the idea of sneaking off to marry. My granny eloped to Gretna when she was 18!

It's hard isn't it, tempering a pups youthful exuberance without crushing their character. It's a difficult balance. Oh yes, the cogs never stop whirring do they, they're always plotting their next silly move.

Brie is 7 months. No, I haven't tried a headcollar on her yet, but she has outgrown the size XL harness now, so perhaps I should.

Ironically, I wanted another boy Pyrenean, because I love the boys best but my chap said we should get a girl because it would be easier for me to walk. I whined a lot about wanting a male but in the end we chose Brie because of her beautiful pigment. So.... fast forward 5 months and she's bigger than Finn was 🙄 That is unexpected. I suppose it happens in some breeds but generally with PMD the size difference between the sexes is fairly significant.

Maybe it's time to try on a very short walk. Brie is a beauty and it's totally understandable why you chose her.
When do PMD's naturally start to calm down? I know with cockers it's usually the week before they depart their mortal coil 🤣.

@BrodiePup So you don't think Brodie will calm down at all...? Then again, look at Milo....😉so maybe you're right....😆

With our dogs, three were calm and quiet right from the start but two were a challenge until they drew their last breath. I honestly don't remember much of an adolescence with any of them; I've said it before here and apparently it's unusual, but they didn't really change that much throughout their life. Our previous boy was very confident and very loud right from 9 weeks whereas the male before him was very quiet and reserved and that never changed.

So I suspect Brie will probably always be challenging to walk, as Rosie was, but around the house Brie is much easier and a lot quieter than Rose. Brie probably barks less than any of the others and I also don't think that will change.

@brushingboots

This thread partly relates to what we were discussing earlier.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5203517-its-not-the-dogs-or-the-dog-breed-its-the-owners?page=3&reply=139609289

@BrodiePup I know exactly what you mean about enjoying them. Bill is an absolute hooligan, an agent of chaos, and hilarious. He makes me laugh from the minute he wakes me up; every morning before breakfast I have to chase him up the stairs as he stands at the top with a stuffed duck in his mouth, waggling his bum. You have to love the dog in front of you, don't you?

That's not to say he doesn't drive me nuts. I'm trying to be a good owner and meet his needs with lots of exercise and engagement, but I need to work too, and he is a high energy puppy with the weight of a Lab and the nose of a spaniel and the brain of Ralph Wiggum in a furry onesie. I absolutely get why people end up out of their depth - but I also get frustrated by it because I feel like if you make idiotic decisions (as I did), you need to step up.

PS let's hire a giant field for the Christmas party and two marquees - one for people that want to talk to each other and one for people that only want to talk to their dogs but would like to be out of the rain 😄

In a way I hope pupsy never calms down. She’s such a wonderful, cheering dog to be with, and aside from a bit of attention barking, largely when she’s overtired, on the whole I can’t fault her. Who’d want to squash that lovely spaniel spirit? She just gives me 100pc joy and love and I never feel worse after a walk than before, even when I simply cannot be bothered at all, like tonight so we did a lead walk – and you know what, it was fine! I wish I was as happy for even half of every day as she is all the time.

Second @Bupster’s idea of a field with marquees! We need to find a genuinely central location...

Excellent idea @Bupster 😀
Us quiet people could pop over and do a bit of socialising, then get some time out...maaan...are we puppies too? 🤣

Lots of lovely pupper love going on rather than us all being driven to distraction 🥰

@BrodiePup We can just pop you in your crate when you need a little nap, perhaps find a nice chew to lull you to sleep? Or a lickimat?

Just so you know, I'm not being crated! I'm free range 😁Don't mind a lickimat if you put some porridge on it though 😋

@brushingboots 🤣

@PyreneanAubrie mmm...Nutella porridge...I'm going to look at B's lickimat in a different way now...

Can't go wrong with porridge - I have honey in mine. Mushy stuff is good - my teeth are not up to chewing on rawhide or Buffalo ears these days, I must be getting too old.

Just a sedate walk around the block and a snooze on the sofa is the order of the day now for this old bitch 😴

@PyreneanAubrie sounds like a lovely life...as long as you're fully house trained 🤣

Just about... although that could change in the next few years...😳

@PyreneanAubrie if things get dodgy don't forget to try every 30 minutes 🤣
Shouldn't joke, I'm only a year behind you!

Rundle is back to say “hi” to the laydees.

It's an old photo, and he's twice this size now, but he still nicks my spot if I get up to use the loo and gives me this 'paint me like one of your French bulldogs' look 😁

I think he'll be the thread pin-up boy. All the pups are gorgeous but this boy is something special 😍

Awww, that little face...😘I sort of want to nuzzle his little velvety ears...

@BrodiePup
I tried the Dogmatic headcollar on Brie. It fits, but she hates it 😞My chap says she'll get used to it but I don't want her to be stressed...

@MooseBeTimeForSnow Rundle is beautiful! Love his name 🥰

@PyreneanAubrie I don't know much about head collars, but I'm guessing she was bound to hate it at first? Keep trying it for short periods. I'm good at saying stuff like that, but far too wishy washy to actually do it!!

@Bupster Bill is a star!

@BrodiePup

I'm a wimp 😢

I'll see if I can persuade my chap to try the headcollar on her because he always put it on Algy; somehow I could never figure out which way up it went 😂

Pup was meant to be spayed today but we're delaying due to hormone levels. Both dogs are now being a pain as we've had a bit of a strange morning.