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.

@PyreneanAubrie Hahah yes it is the perfect Spaniel Woman colour!!

Strongly recommend a heated blanket! We have two from Dreamland, one of which I bought with my Boots points so it was free, and this winter I've invested in a second because I couldn't bear having to drag it up and downstairs, poor me. They are so worth it. I also have an Oodie that I bought off Vinted, and which makes me look utterly foul but I don't care. The combination of both Oodie and heated blanket is slightly too much, incredibly, in a house that is currently... 14 degrees. It is very cold and very old.

Next to me on the kitchen table is 'wolfie', complete with a big hole in his back that dog-dad is going to sew up for me later. Pupsy is not immune from the occasional chewing of soft toys either!

I also have the Oodie and heated throw combo, and heated blanket on the bed too 🤣 We have single glazed sash windows so this house gets super cold. Would definitely recommend a heated blanket @PyreneanAubrie, I think you would enjoy it very much. They are cheap to run too. I'd replace mine in a heart beat if it broke!

@brushingboots she looks very swish!! I kind of want a human sized one...

@brushingboots
14 degrees 😨You're a hardy soul! Brie would absolutely love to live in your house 😆

Poor Wolfie. Obviously I should have mended Flavia Flamingo instead of consigning her to the bin 🙁

Things I’ve had to repossess from my floppy headed liability since 4pm alone:

My glove, which he pinched out of my pocket at the dog park while I was trying to clip on his lead, then trotted off with 100 yards away to see what I’d do;
A brand new bar of soap, which he’d unwrapped;
A tampon in a plastic applicator which he’d got out of the box and unwrapped (couldn’t work out why there was a string hanging out of his mouth);
The socks that were drying on the radiator (and which are now on a high bookshelf);
A flowerpot. Obviously.
The sodding breadknife

Things he has not touched: any of his eleventy billion toys (except a frisbee which I hid under his bed and he couldn’t get at because he was standing on the bed).

I do have two half-disembowelled toys I keep meaning to sew up but I just end up restuffing them and giving them back to him to finish disembowelling.

@Bupster
My chap has just asked what I'm cackling at. Soap, unwrapped naturally, tampon likewise, breadknife.

My Dogchild has so far today:
Fallen off the sofa twice,
Picked a hole in the hearthrug
Eaten a mouthful of very old coal from the hod
Stolen an entire box of Sheba catfood off the kitchen counter (but thankfully only chewed the box, not the food cartons inside)
Shredded up her last intact tug rope/ball toy.

She is now still in faffing mode and refusing to switch off and go to sleep.

Puppies are exhausting 😩

@PyreneanAubrie
But we love 'em 🤣

ETA: can now add to the list my reading glasses, which fell out of my pocket in the pitch black dog park when I was trying to dig my head lamp out of my pocket, and which are Bill's absolute favourite treasure. That cost me about half a pouch of treatos scattered on the ground, when I could get close enough to the little sod to scatter them...

Brie has finally crashed out and gone to sleep 🤗So I can get into my new book for a while.

Thanks everyone, for your kind comments on Lemon Dog's photo the other day.
I was another one laughing out loud at Bill's list this morning. Only because it made me feel slightly less alone with Lemon Dog's list.
Lemon Dog's list this week includes: stealing a punnet of blueberries and a sweet clem,
a bag of ice cubes, mail and a kitchen roll; knocking over a closed 10 litre tub of emulsion (causing it to spill); chewing his only lead in two whilst I slept, resulting in him wearing a makeshift 'bandage lead' for a few toilet breaks, which he milked to the max. with a sympathetic (to him) neighbour. He also made some headway in his ongoing plight to convince me that he wouldn't have to resort to stealing food if only I would feed him a proper amount by Lab standards.

Brie's list also made me feel slightly better, although at 14mo Lemon Dog is more than twice Brie and Bill's age so should probably be starting to know better?
I think the trouble with Lemon Dog is that there are no repercussions for stealing stuff. For him it goes like this.
"Jump up while Lemonpalm's back's turned, steal pot of treats from desk. Fun! Lemon squeals 'no!' and stands to chase. Wow, food AND a game of chase. More fun! Do a play-bow, wag tail, quickly scoff treats. Lemon does a play bow (blocks my exit), offers me a treat in exchange for what's left, I take it. This is the most fun game ever!"
Other than not leaving anything lying around ever - which I do try my best not to - I'm losing this one on the daily.
I win most games through prevention or quick interception but he keeps trying when my back's turned so I never win game, set and match. Any advice welcome on how to welcome.

I love hearing the naughty antics!! The tin of paint! 😱

V got hold of my glasses a couple of weeks ago too and I had to buy replacements and not be able to see for a while. They are little terrors. Good thing they are cute!

The silver linings with the spilled paint were that he was wearing half of his chewed lead which has traffic control handle near collar so I was able to use that to quickly steer him away from walking through it. And the little bit of paint he did get on one paw and his tail he let me wipe off easily and fuss free with a microfibre cloth and plain water. This was a big improvement on the last time he got something on his paws several months ago when he wouldn't let me wipe them. This admitedly felt like more progress until I saw it written down!

The stealing glasses and not being able to see for a while. Gosh puppies and young dogs do have a way of testing and developing our patience don't they. V looks like a lovely family friendly little pup. Was nice to hear he was good being left alone for first time too :-)

Actually, I have to admit that I've been a bit complacent because Brie was a very easy pup in most ways and (aside from the lead biting) she's never been much trouble. I think this week's misdemeanours are down to me taking my eye off the ball because of my health; I'm under doctors orders to rest at the moment, because of neuro stuff and low weight/low blood pressure. She hasn't been getting as much play or interaction (although my chap has been giving her good walks after work) and I think she's a bit bored/attention seeking. I'll have to make more effort. But overall she is pretty good, it's really me letting her down at the moment.

PS - Coincidentally my reading glasses got nicked last night too, but not by Brie; turned out it was my husband using them to look at some tiny writing on a label 😆

@LemonpaIms Lemon Dog sounds lovely if a little tricksy! Bless him, though the paint situation is not ideal!

In all seriousness, if possible I'd not ever chase him. I used to get really stressed when pupsy took stuff and now, unless it's actively dangerous (like, I don't know, a battery, not that she'd have access to one), I just completely ignore. She was carrying around my new suede Birkenstocks yesterday which are Not For Puppies but it didn't last as I just didn't give it any attention and she put them down. It's mostly attention seeking and when I stopped caring about her taking the peg bag while I was trying to hang up washing or whatever, she just stopped taking it.

Sorry to hear that @pyreneanaubrie hope you're feeling better soon, wishing you lots of tlc meanwhile. Brie sounds like a great pup and I think you're doing a great job. Please dont feel complacent taking it easier. It's doctors orders after all and your chap's helping too. In every dog's life there must be times when they get more and less attention for whatever reason. You're far from being complacent. Brie sounds well walked, well loved, and very well cared for by her perfect match (you, a very experienced dog ownner who knows and respects her breed traits and individuality). She couldn't have hoped for a better home imo. I really do think you're doing great with Brie. Take care

I agree with everything @LemonpaIms has just said.

Also here on the not chasing, though I broke my own rule for the reading glasses at the dog park as I did need those back and I do have tooth marks in at least one of my other pairs (luckily they're only cheap ones as I tend to sit on them). But I still had to approach with treatos in hand to swap, or he had far too much fun playing keepaway. I really need to teach a retrieve to hand.

I could have recalled him, as that's the one thing he is pretty good at, but the little swine would probably have dropped the glasses in the middle of the pitch dark dog park, and they would have got covered in mud (let's pretend it's mud).

For the rest, he's usually great at swapping and is trusting enough of me that I can take things in emergencies (bread knife 🙄). When I remember, I also carry clothes pegs as I learned early on he wouldn't swap those, so they're high value treasure to be traded 😄

I keep forgetting I shoved half my socks on the bookshelf and wondering where I've put them all.

Sounds like good advice @brushingboots. My main motive for chasing has been to prevent any reward he gets from stealing but I guess I'm inadvertently adding reward by "playing his favorite game of chase". I'll definately try completely ignoring it for a week unless dangerous and feed back how that goes.
Lol at boots being Not for Puppies.

The paint incident wasn't my finest moment. In my humble defence, the paint was in a tightly sealed tub, in a walk in cupboard (which he has no access to without me), it was wedged in and very heavy.
On a more positive note, this week Lemon Dog has been really enjoying off lead heal training. When he's running free on walks, I always re-call him to me at least a couple of times, I generally only let him off lead atm where there are few distractions so he invariably sprints back at full speed (seems like 25mph) and I always treat him. I've started immediately after that sometimes asking him to heal for 10-20 seconds (still off lead), which he trots along happily to. I then give him another treat and release him with an 'ok'. He then runs off looking at his very happiest ever, seeming so proud of himself and seeing the freedom to run as a reward.
He's making some progress in his day to day training (e.g. not attempting to come out door with me if I tell him to stay, not attempting to get into shopping bags as I bring them in from car or rubbish bags as I take them out etc). He's also started paying more heed to whether I'm pleased with him or not and he's enjoying my positive attention much more. I'd say he's more bonded.
Overall he's a really great dog.
He's signed up to start new canine good citizen bronze training classes next month. He started it before but I missed a lot of the classes. He was doing well with all the exercises but I didn't put him forward for the exam (for his bronze award) as he relies too much on treats during training and no treats are allowed in exam. This time I'm going to aim to go every week and to work as much as possible on engagement and praise with minimal treats now that he knows the exercises.
Sorry for the succession of long posts. I hope everyone's having a good weekend.

Thanks @Bupster, sounds like good approach and I'm definately going to try the not chasing him now unless 'emergency' as you and @brushingboots have suggested. Thank you both. Game of keepaway is perfect way to describe it too.
I'm so glad of these threads (this and the puppy survival ones) as a way of sharing what has worked and what hasn't for others and I agree with all the comments (from a few days ago) on it being a kind supportive space. Thanks to everyone for that.

@LemonPalms I fear you might be adding to his reward with a chase! But he sounds like he's coming on really well overall – you are much more positive than you were when we first met you, and it is absolutely lovely to hear. And he is growing up too! I am amazed by how much older pupsy seems now at 18 months (and she is actually 18 months old today!) than she did at 13, 14, 15 months.

Offlead heel sounds like it's going well! That's a really good idea, to do a bit of heelwork before they're released again. One thing my gundog trainer suggested to me ages ago which I try and do but am not always successful in is when I let her off to start with, I try and get in a few paces of offlead heel first, so that her reaction to being let off isn't just to bog off. I don't go/let her off anywhere where it would be dangerous if she did so but it's a nice idea to try and get them to engage more – just as you're doing with heeling before releasing after recall.

@PyreneanAubrie It won’t hurt Brie at all to manage herself a bit and learn to be bored and just exist – you must take care of yourself and I hope your chap is looking after you too. She is so loved, she has everything she needs. Please don’t be hard on yourself, you have a lot going on x

@Bupster you are not alone in hiding socks in random places! I find them everywhere, presumably where I’ve stashed them to stop a situation from developing. Currently I’m down a slipper – luckily I have a ‘decoy’ pair but of the four slippers I own, I only have three in my possession. The fourth’s location is a total mystery.

Happy 18 mo birthday to puspy 🐾She looks great in her new green aquafleece. Looks ideal for the possible snow that's coming.

The heel before first releasing off lead is a great idea. Should be do-able as I could start it on lead before progressing to off lead. Seems like a good prelude for a 'stay close' command which I'd like to learn how to teach him too.

Great to have that as a new idea, thanks. I'm a bit stuck in training rut at moment. I've often got a pack of chicken in my hand wanting to do a 5-10 min training session with Lemon Dog and can't think of anything new to do. He knows the basics (sit, stay, down, wait, leave it, re-call etc and we've done them all a thousand times). Atm I'm tending to focus on learning good behaviour day to day and using known commands with increasing distractions rather than training sessions as such. I'd love to build many more new training exercises into the day though. I'd really like a highly trained dog. I may look out for an obidience club locally.

I'm always interesred to hear about anyone's day to day training routines / exercises from anyone who would like to share.

Thanks for the kind words @LemonpaIms and @brushingboots

Yet again I'm not up to a walk so Dog Dad has taken the girl across the fields. The local hunt was out on that side of the village this morning so I'm sure she'll be hyper sniffy and trying to eat horse poo and he'lI come back exasperated.

I hate missing out on so many walks, but when I'm in a spinal pain flare I can't eat and my blood pressure gets low, so I'm grounded. It had me in hospital twice at the start of the year, with stroke symptoms but then I was a lot better for about 4 months, up until Mum died and that's triggered another flare up, so I've lost half a stone. I have to rest, drink Complan 😝 and try to switch off from stressing about stupid stuff, until I can get on the right side of the head pain. Got a pile of books to read but I'd much rather be out on a walk up the moor with my girl.

Dog Dad is being good, she is bonding to him more now, which is nice; mostly she is pretty much glued to me at home, in her unofficial capacity as my therapy dog (as previous boy was, also).

I'm loving reading about your training experiences and all the naughty tricks your pups are getting up to.

In agreement with others here regarding chasing to retrieve a stolen object.

Brie does steal things but she's always been brilliant about giving stuff up. I'm not (as you know) great at training or a stickler for obedience, but the one thing I am very strict about is being able to take away food, toys or stolen items. I won't tolerate resource guarding and I had a falling-out with a family member over this when Brie was about 4 months old 😠They snatched a toy away and held it over her head and I went bonkers at them for it! They still haven't forgiven me 😬But I'd been working so hard at building her trust, it made me really angry that they did what I had asked them not to.

Anyway, she steals things to get attention (she loves to grab small fabric items like linen coasters, knitted mitts etc, sometimes cat toys) but then she makes it so very obvious she has the thing, that I can just calmly walk up and take it. Sometimes I offer a treat in exchange but often she gives stuff up just for a kiss on the top of her muzzle. She doesn't steal food, she will ask for cheese and politely wait, her food manners are good. At home I keep her very, very calm. No chasing or running; she still does occasional zoomies in the garden but we just get well out of the way! 40kg puppy zoomies is insane.

The downsides with her: no recall, no walking to heel. She lead walks nicely until she sees a dog then she pulls like crazy to go and say hi and that's still the area I need to work on. She met three miniature poodles today and was apparently fine with them.

Greetings all. Mixed bag here. Rundle had a successful first trip to the groomer, who loved him and described him as one of the most handsome dogs she’d seen.

Puppy classes not quite so good. There seems to be lots of sitting around whilst the trainer talks and goes through the exercises with the other dogs. R was at the end of the line, so by the time it was his go he was bored of sitting around and a little uncontrollable. As he’s at least 36lbs now I’m finding it hard - I have callouses on my hands from the leash pulling.

And the temperatures are plummeting here. We’ve already had snow - he's obsessed with the stuff. Trying to get him to wear boots was a disaster, so we’ll use a mushers wax instead.

Festive groomer photo for puppy tax.