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.

Just in case anyone needs to hear it, this morning we were going back to the car at the woods where we both emerged totally covered in hawthorn and absolutely filthy, and pupsy decided that, upon hearing me pop the boot open for her to jump into that she was going to jump into… someone else’s car! Filthy. So that was fun. The chap seemed not to mind and laughed but I was mortified.

Love it @brushingboots 😆

I think we all have nightmares about this happening, or about our mucky pup jumping up with wet feet against someone's nice new coat etc.

It's good that the chap wasn't a dog-hating neat-freak at least and saw the funny side.

@brushingboots sorry but that is hilarious but also so mortifying! Someone's massive lab jumped up at me in the woods the other day and left two huge muddy paw prints on my pink wool coat and the owner was so apologetic. I obviously didn't care as V gets me filthy anyway but she was mortified. It happens to the best of us.

@PyreneanAubrie obviously you've had so much amazing advice and I can't really add to it but understand how you feel the way you feel, especially when you had such a deep bond with your boy. Grief does funny things to us, and with you being poorly on top of that it can't be helping. Be kind to yourself

Thanks @YorkshireFelix x

I've just been outside raking up leaves and Little Miss Hooligan was "helping", in her own special way 🙄 I do love her really.
I guess A was always going to be a hard act to follow; he was our once-in-a-lifetime dog. Three years on I'm still grieving his loss. It's a weird thing.

@pyreneanaubrie I think your perceptive analysis of the reasons you were feeling the way you were earlier makes a lot of sense. I love your description of the reasons your Dad would have adored Brie ♡♡ Your reasons for loving male dogs, and your Algy's nature in particular, make a lot of sense too. I've only really known 6 dogs, 3 girls and 3 boys (including Lemondog). 5 of the 6 have belonged to close family and friends. They've all been complete individuals of course. Although if I were to try to generalise I'd say the boys have been more 'live in the moment', more forgiving, more fun loving and irrepresable, more light hearted. The girls have been more emotionally attuned to their families, more sensitive, more nurturing, softer and more ready to fit in.
This sounds different from your experience in some ways. So maybe breed affects these as you suggested. Or maybe individually counts for more. Maybe neutering affects these too. I don"t have enough experience to know. But your 47 years experience of same breed counts for a lot!
@Bupster that's a lovely poem and I like your comment on actively loving dog as he is.
@brushingboots I was laughing so much earlier at your account of a very muddy pupsy jumping into the wrong car that Lemondog came over to gaze happily at me, frantically wagging his tail :-)
I can see how that would have been mortifying at the time but I'm so glad he was a nice man who saw the funny side and helped it become a funny anecdote for you. Hope you're enjoying a relaxing evening after all that x

Catching up - and looking forward to a sunny (if soaking underfoot) walk in a minute.
I really appreciate the honesty and thoughtfulness with which people here are discussing their relationships with their dogs. The love and commitment shines through.
For my part, I love our little Bear and love having her around. She definitely enhances life, but I'm not finding it the simple pleasure I did with our previous dog (who I might have mentioned was possibly the world's easiest puppy/dog).
Walking her is nerve-wracking at the moment. Recall is improving rapidly around other dogs, but hopeless against her prey drive. We keep losing her in the undergrowth (I say losing - generally we can hear her yapping joyously), and finding we just have to wait it out. Generally because of where our walks are, none of this feels completely safe (cliff drops, roads), and DH in particular finds it very stressful.
For me, one change with Bear (which may change as she gets older) is she doesn't feel especially like MY dog. As previously, I do the lion's share of walking, feeding, training, general care, but she doesn't seem any more attached to me than anyone else. This is mostly because she seems to love everyone in the family (and actually everyone generally) indiscriminately rather than because she is unaffectionate, but I don't yet feel that I have a special bond with her.
Final gripe: I can't walk up or down stairs without her snapping at my feet. General mouthiness is imperfect but improving, but that's really annoying and shows no signs of abating!

@LemonPalms Thank you for your lovely kind words yesterday. I hope my ramblings help and am glad to if I can <3

I’m glad everyone enjoyed puppy’s vault into someone else’s car! Just awful. Have never driven out of that carpark quicker. This morning I fell over in a bog again – my own fault, pupsy was sitting waiting nicely – so I have reverted to my previous position of Chief Bog Lady.

We are going to need a new thread (and thread name) soon!

@thewalrus Have you got a whistle? Or, indeed, the famous Pets at Home £1 squeaky dinosaur? I swear by both – whistle as the actual recall method, dinosaur as backup. I appreciate the topography of your walks makes things harder but I wonder whether you can try to work with her on the undergrowth diving, rather than having to just accept it? Ie, set her up to hunt specifically – get her to find stuff in there, so she's motivated to do it, but to do with and for you? I would venture that that will strengthen your bond too.

This morning pupsy and I went on a very gamey walk with huge numbers of pheasants and partridges about, on purpose, so I could practice stopping her after flushing them, ie stopping her chasing them. So she flushes a bird, I pip the whistle, in theory she stops dead. That's the (difficult) skill we're working on at the mo – she gets to flush birds, which is her priority in life, but she gets to do it safely (and I'm also teaching an actual working skill at the same time).

@brushingboots I love your bog descriptions! Hope you are all warm and dry now.
That feels like some useful advice - thank you. I have a whistle, which is a bit more effective that my voice, but not foolproof. Will seek out a dinosaur too. I hadn't thought of trying to embrace it and make it a game we play together - I will get thinking about where might be best to give it a go. I am trying to be a fun companion - I bring a ball, a tuggy toy and lots of treats and vary my pace a fair bit - but nothing seems to compete with the joys of the hunt!
When you say, in theory she stops dead - how is it going? What happens after she stops, do you let her play again?
We did have a lovely walk this morning, including a very happy play on the beach with a sweet little rescue dog and the precious prize of a crab shell that they were competing for.

Spot the pup!

I read something interesting this morning. Apparently puppies at age 10 months have 5-7 times the amount of testosterone than an adult dog, which is the peak amount. After this the testosterone gradually decreases to normal levels.
So I'm wondering that if any of my pup's behaviours like marking and humping are testosterone related, they might just calm down a bit themselves over the next year?

Kinda makes me want to halt the neutering and just wait and see...

@thewalrus You're welcome! My thing about the whistle is that it always sounds the same – it never sounds frustrated, so they don’t hear you getting cross or upset when they're buggering around. But they don’t just get it instantly, you have to teach them what the pips mean. For gundog work (and so this is what I use) it’s one pip for stop, two for turn, three (plus) for recall but you have to show them that. I’ve been teaching a lady near me to use hers on a field across the road – letting her dog (also a cockerpoo) run towards me and pipping the whistle so she learns what action to associate the sound with, and then huge, huge praise. That lady doesn’t want to do any ‘work’ with her dog, she just wants the whistle as a recall aid so it doesn’t matter how many times she pips – the goal for her is to get her dog to know that whistle means ‘come here now’.

I say in theory because her stopping dead every time is still a work in progress – it’s partly my fault for practicing it a lot, and then not keeping it up and assuming she’d always do it. Wrong! So we’ve had to go back a bit which is fine, but she’s steady enough that we can still do these drills as usually if she fails she just creeps forward a bit but she’s still, crucially, not chased the bird. We do a lot of work sitting still and watching things run around in fields which helps too as she’s already sitting and the goal is that she stays put.

When she stops successfully, the bird flies off, I shout ‘good girl’ and then ‘ok!’ which is my release word, and off she goes again to find the next one, or we change direction. I don’t overdo it – it’s better to have two or three great successes and then to do something else (go another way, do some hunting on the floor, do some sit stays etc) than doing five rubbish ones and getting frustrated. Sometimes I’ll chuck out a little retrieve for her as a reward, or she’ll come in for a treat/cuddle.

I always found my boy dogs were more glued to me and needy than the bitches - which is why I wanted bitches this time round. I wanted more independence from them - for them to be my best mates not like needy boyfriends..... do you think it's the same with Pyreneans?

edited to say that reading your later posts it really is the same - and you want in a dog what I actively didn't want!

I think it is very much the same @LibisMum

PMD females are very independent minded, they're also more active and busy and need a lot of mental stimulus. Tired girls fight it and get cranky, tired boys just crash out and sleep. Male Pyreneans are more family orientated and just love to be with you, my chap refers to the boys as being "wimpy", they are definitely more babyish, despite their massive size. I feel more protective of the boys, because the girls can pretty much look after themselves. Does that make sense? I don't baby them too much because with a giant guarding breed you really can't do that, but still the boys have been gentler so I feel more maternal towards them. The girls, if pushed by another dog, will give as good as they get, the boys can be too passive for their own good and I've had two injured by aggressive dogs.

I've had two very special boys, but then, exactly as you say, one of the girls was my best friend for 11 years. I'm pretty sure Brie will take on that role fairly soon but just now, at 8 months, I'm finding her hard work.

Just had a very muddy walk in the woods! V got mega zoomies because we've not done a proper walk through there for a week or so as I'd been poorly, and I've just been having him off to run around the field instead. He was so happy 😃

I've felt a bit anxious recently thinking I need to be doing more with him training-wise, but he did so well on his walk with recall, staying close when seeing another dog or a person, sitting and waiting for dogs and people to walk past on the path etc. He's still pulling on his lead which is a work in progress but it's much better than it was. It's just when he gets distracted and wants to sniff something, or sees a flying leaf, or a long piece of grass to chew etc etc (which happens often!) then he pulls like a train. He's also doing quite well with heel walking but he walks slightly diagonally and then I end up stepping on him or tripping over him, or having to stop every few steps to readjust and stop both of those things happening which is very annoying as he's doing a good job otherwise.

So far we've learnt recall to name/word and whistle recall, sit (also to whistle), sit to heel, stay/wait, a 'this way' command, walk to heel, leave it and drop it, a release word and a basic retrieve. I think that's it. Leave it is my favourite one as he does this fully little backwards shuffle to back away and it cracks me up.

I need to remember he's still only 5.5 months so we are doing ok. I think maybe I've felt a bit rubbish about it as I've been ill for a couple of weeks and not been practicing as much!

@brushingboots that is very clever! If I can achieve that with Vinny at some point I will be thrilled. He absolutely loves flushing birds and his ears switch off as soon as he sees them at the minute 🤣

@YorkshireFelix He’s still so little – you’re doing wonderfully well with him so don’t be anxious! I think you should be very pleased indeed actually and the lead walking will come. I know what you mean though – I go on Instagram in the evenings and think how badly I must be doing when I see my friends’ older spaniels picking geese or jumping barbed wire for retrieves or whatever.

You could start him on ‘go back’ if you want to move him on with something new that will challenge you both? Or some hunting, or an intro anyway – teach him to quarter and cover the ground and find things, and with it comes the turn whistle, ie two pips? You can start that in the garden with treats, just getting him to zig zag and he'll pick it up super quick as it's the most natural thing for him to do.

You could do some sit stays too? But I’d be wary of doing too much steadiness yet – I started doing a bit of steadiness when pupsy was his age but not seriously until she was about a year old because I didn’t want to take the joy out of things for her.

@brushingboots ah thank you! It's hard not to compare isn't it, and I forget he's still a teeny weeny baby because he looks like a proper dog to me now 😄

I saw your post about training 'go back' so I will try that. If I can get him to collect his toys that would be ace. I was wondering how to train the two pips and doing it with treats and zigzagging makes perfect sense!! So thank you!

I think I'm going to sign up to the adolescent life skills class with the trainer we've been seeing which starts after Christmas. With the puppy one, we had already taught him most of what we were learning but she had some good techniques and did some stuff slightly differently in a way which made more sense. And it's nice to solidify that you're doing things right. It's made me much more aware of what I'm saying to him and my body language, which I probably wouldn't have taken as much notice of otherwise.

@YorkshireFelix It is super hard not to compare but it doesn’t do any of us any good!

I found this video really useful last year in teaching her to cover ground properly.

And I also did (and still do) work on two pips by running round a field/the garden shouting ‘this way!’, pipping, and then changing direction back and forth like a mad woman, doing a totally bonkers pattern but just making sure she’s always turning on my command. Sometimes when we’re out and about I test her formally on it and decide that she’s going to do, say, five paces and then turn. Walking kind of behind her I can get her to run for five, turn, run for five, turn in a diagonal zigzag up a field – and that is really fun because you’re working directly with them and asking them to do the thing they’re bred to do so everyone wins. You look mad doing it but I don’t care haha.

Adolescent life skills sounds very useful indeed! There's a huge amount to be said for getting someone to watch you handle your own dog as it's hard to know if you're doing it right – or rather if you could do it better and more clearly. I think I struggle with being clear in what I'm asking her for sometimes and that's on me to sort out as she's desperate to do whatever I ask, bless her.

Reading with interest regarding the gundog training techniques.

We had our lead training session.
Brie did brilliantly, she walked beautifully for the trainer; no pulling. But with me she did boot biting and lead grabbing 🙄

So the good news is, he says she's not a problem puppy at all, he thinks her lead walking is actually really good. The bad news is, the problem is me; or rather my anxiety/fear/panic.

So, I have to work on ignoring the lead biting, because the more I pull against it, the more she thinks it's a game. And I have to work on distraction when we meet another dog; trying to get Brie to focus on me rather than on the other dog. It's all easier said than done of course, but we have another training session next Tuesday then a final one the week after.

So, I think it was worth it, because I'm reassured that she's actually a good girl and he also saw how calm and quiet she is at home.

Oh gosh @PyreneanAubrie that is kind of great news but also really frustrating for you!! I would also be super happy in the knowledge that she is fab and CAN do it. It gives a glimmer of hope. V is the same with me with being mouthy - he won't do it with anyone else but as soon as I'm involved it's fair game and he will bite the heck out of me. I guess it's the same as kids being good as gold for other people then arseholes for the parents 🤣

Brilliant, thank you so much! I will watch the video once dd is in bed tonight.

Doing 'this way' with two pips also makes perfect sense and I don't know why I've not thought of it before. That's one thing I did learn at puppy class - we did a 'this way' exercise, although I was already using it out on walks without really realising. I'll try that too 😁

That's exactly it @YorkshireFelix - I think with their most familiar and trusted person they do play up far more.

I'm relieved that there's not any behavioural issues with her. The trainer thinks part of my fear around walking her by myself is connected with the attack on Algy. He probably has a point, as I'm sure I wasn't anywhere near this anxious when the others were puppies...

Anyway, Brie was so good today and I do feel like a prize idiot for moaning about her 😳

@PyreneanAubrie I would take that as a win – now you can devise a game plan!

I also found that pupsy would walk perfectly and perform like a show dog for our gundog trainer and was gutted when she refused to do the same for me in front of the trainer.

@brushingboots
It is a win, absolutely. It seems we all have the same experience then, with regard to our pups playing up more for us. Obviously 'familiarity breeds contempt' also applies to puppies 😆

But as to a game plan... Other than getting a tube of Primula cheese spread to keep in my pocket, or waiting for her to grow out of lead biting, I suppose my plan should be to somehow work on my own fear of dogs.