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.

After much thought when she woke me at 4am (ironically throwing up from eating too many treats that the trainer shoved into her yesterday - my kid is not used to junk food 😆) I have concluded @brushingboots that I could do far more with my girl than what I'm doing.

We've now had several people, including her breeder, our vet and now this trainer, as well as random other people of her acquaintance, tell us she's a very bright pup. She learns quickly. But what to teach her or how to go about training her, I don't know.
You folks here do have me thinking what a lazy arse I am about training, but obviously gundog training is not the answer for a guarding breed....

I may ask the trainer's advice next week. I do know someone who did Canine Good Citizen with a Pyrenean girl, albeit that it took a lot of time and patience to get there.
There is no doubt in my mind that we have a second Mensa child here though (we had one in Rosie), certainly PMD females are more trainable/eager to learn than the big lazy males are. So I should channel that.

We are going to hire the local dog field for a first serious attempt at teaching her recall, though I still won't risk it in the real world with people and dogs. She really needs a friend of equivalent size to run around with too so I'm going to work on convincing my chap that we need to get our names down for a male pup asap 😱

So, am very much following with interest what you are doing. I may even get a squeaky dino for our field training session.😉

Glad your session was so helpful @PyreneanAubrie - sounds like you have a clearer idea of where to go from here (now, of course, the hard part is doing it!). I have similar problems in that Bear is always nipping at my ankles - especially going down stairs or crossing roads - but doesn't do it with anyone else. (Maybe we do have the special bond I was saying we lack yesterday after all! 😂)

Finding all the gundog training info really interesting. (Obviously she isn't really a gundog, but she seems far more spaniel than poodle to me.) I think I need to take advantage of the fact she's not especially well whistle-trained yet to think about what I want the different pips to do. We had a little go at zigzaging in the garden this morning.

@PyreneanAubrie £1 squeaky dinosaur is now a badge of honour on this thread thanks to @brushingboots 😂

I think if you want to do some training bits with her, then do it, but I wouldn't feel pressured if you're not into the idea right now. You've had a lot going on recently!

She has very lovely manners inside the house, and you're working on what you need to for outside the house so I think that sounds perfect for now. Have you looked on YouTube to see if there's any PMD/LGD owners who have videos for the more brainiac type dogs who are keen to learn? Might be a good starting point.

And I definitely think she needs a friend 😉

Funnily enough @thewalrus , I could probably say the same. It seems that Brie and I possibly do have that special bond after all... She was initially very aloof with the dog trainer, which I hadn't expected at all. She walked calmly for him but with me she is quite bouncy and full of fun. Yes, same here - crossing roads with her is a nightmare; she starts bouncing like Tigger and it terrifies me! Clearly I am her special pal and others are just boring people. It's all food for thought. I have to say though, after two quiet males she is a challenge 😬

There are online videos of gundog training with Cockapoo's so your little girl might surprise you, especially as you can see more spaniel in her behaviour. I'm sure it's worth trying the whistle/squeaky dino as our lovely friend brushingboots suggests. She's fast becoming our training guru here, and her girl is older than the rest of the regulars on this thread so her observations are always interesting.

No idea where I start training though, with a guarding breed that has almost no prey drive... 🤔

@PyreneanAubrie Well that sounds very positive – less so the vomming, poor girlie! Hope she's feeling better. I don’t see why you couldn’t do Good Citizen with Brie, even if it takes a while as all the time she will be learning and (hopefully) enjoying herself. Hiring a field sounds like a great idea! I would volunteer pupsy as someone to run around with – she would love that – but I fear they may be slightly physically unmatched.

I should get commission from PaH for this squeaky dinosaur!

@thewalrus I don’t think doing some gundog training will hurt her at all – the thing with a crossbreed is that you don’t know which bit of which dog you’re getting and if you’ve got a more spanielly cockerpoo then why not work with some of their natural instincts. I actually met a working cockerpoo on a shoot last year – she was amazing. I believe so much in working with and not against them and embracing what they choose to do by putting it on a switch, if you like. That’s all I do with pupsy – nothing fancy, I just ask her to do what she wants to do naturally, but with me, ideally.

We’re about to go out and do a load of zig zagging now in the woods and then go and sit and watch some deer without whining.

If my trial and error with pupsy helps anyone that’s lovely and I’m glad to help. She’s not perfect but she’s OK for 18 months with a handler who also has a busy, albeit flexible, job!

We’re going to need a new thread soon as this one is about to expire!

Squeaky Dino is on the shopping list @YorkshireFelix 😆

Any training I do is going to be pretty basic but if it'll help me to feel more bonded and be able to walk her then I'll put more effort in.

You are right though, she does have lovely manners and the trainer was surprised how calm she is at home; she just sat quietly in the kitchen while we chatted over coffee after our training walk. I really should appreciate her more than I do. She is a sweetheart.

I will have a look for some videos again; much of the LGD stuff is centred around them working with livestock and you do get hooked on watching it, but I haven't come across much in relation to training pet LGD. I'll dig deeper though and see.

Thank you for endorsing my idea that she needs a boyfriend...I shall work on it....😉

I don't know anything about guardian livestock dogs but would something like mantrailing suit? So following a scent trail to find a person. We've trailed with loads of different breeds - collies, spaniels, poodles, gsds, schnauzers, Italian greyhounds, beagles, pointers, mastif mixes, cane corsos - and they've all done great. It's all done on a line so doesn't need recall. It's really good brain work

So we've got the dog field booked for 30 minutes this afternoon. It'll be her first time off-lead in a space bigger than our (smallish) garden.

The trainer fellow, although saying non-aversive techniques, has given me a figure of 8 collar to try on her for road walks. I tried it on her inside the house just now and I don't like it. Now I understand what you meant about headcollars @brushingboots and @Bupster . It tightens around her muzzle 😨

The Dogmatic, whilst going over the muzzle, does not tighten when the lead is pulled; there is a separate webbing loop under the chin, and the whole headcollar is also far softer and more padded. I can now see the difference between a Dogmatic and figure of 8 or Halti is significant. So I will not rule out using the Dogmatic on occasion when I need her close eg if slippy underfoot or late night pavement walking, but the other one, no. Don't like it at all. If I can get her better controlled on her ordinary collar (Ezydog Double Up) I will.

She probably would do mantrailing very happily @tizwozliz , thanks, it's a good call. After she's finished growing, it could be worth considering. I'm pretty sure she'd enjoy it.

It's not very physically demanding, our younger one started at 15 weeks, so you don't have to wait. They can also double line them, if you're worried about being pulled over.

This was pups first session
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CvDFbHbt0T2/?igsh=MXNwNm1wNmJ5ZTRsaA==

Oh, thanks @tizwozliz - had no idea they could start so young! I imagined it was a full on hound pack 😆

Awww, that's a lovely bit of video, I love her little wagging tail when she finds her quarry ❤I left you an Instagram like.

I will investigate what there is in our area.

This is fab! How clever!!

It's astounding what they can do. On one of our last trails the person going to hide shook hands with another person, then they sniffed that other person's hand to work out who to find.

Well I had quite a bizarre (but lovely) morning. Was about half way through our walk in the woods when I bumped into a lady with a 7 month old cockerdor (and no, it wasn't @Bupster). We got chatting and she said she hadn't been brave enough to let her off the lead yet, and we just talked about training and I said I'd help her if she wanted etc as pupsy is so good at giving dogs confidence. We walked together for about half an hour before we got back to the cars and she said that she lived in the next village to me and would I live to come and have a cup of tea! So I did, and the dogs played for two hours and then we came home. Incredibly, the dogs have the same name which is bizarre.

I've gone from knowing precisely zero red cockerdors to knowing three in the same number of months! This one was gorgeous but quite different to Bill – leggier and more Vizsla looking than spanielly but to say pupsy and her had only known each other for about half an hour (and she was on the lead) they played beautifully and neutrally at her house, in and out of her bed, sharing chews, sharing balls, bombing around their (huge) garden. Dogs, eh! How lovely they are.

That's lovely @brushingboots
Another new friend for your and your sweet girl.
Dogs enrich our lives in so many different ways.

@tizwozliz That is so brilliant! For some reason I thought it was much scarier than that looks. I have no doubt at all that pupsy would love it so I might investigate some round here.

@brushingboots - i think you're not that far from me, so if you wanted to DM your location I might be able to give some recommendations. We've trailed with quite a few different instructors around the midlands.

Aww that is lovely @brushingboots !!

Well I was going to post earlier saying how V was being a complete shit, but then we went on our walk and he was an angel sent from heaven. I think all the work I've done getting him to sit and wait/be neutral towards other dogs and people is really starting to pay off now as he's not really arsed when he sees one now. There were a few dogs in the woods and he sat by me nicely waiting for them to pass

And we did some very amazing loose lead heel walking for a long time! Usually once he gets the treat he tries to bugger off and pull ahead but this time he stuck around for more almost all the way home. I ran out of treats in the end but we were almost back so it was fine. And he's been chilled this afternoon!

All that sounds really good @YorkshireFelix !

How did the enclosed field go?

Cockerdors everywhere, @brushingboots ! I'm always genuinely surprised there aren't more of them about - I know Bill is my first dog but he is such a lovely character and such fun. Sounds like the common denominator is Pupsy though - she's clearly got lovely social skills.

@PyreneanAubrie Bill would absolutely love Brie; he has an Akita friend called Philip who's about the size of a mammoth and whose play style is to sit on other puppies' heads. Bill insists on going over to play (Philip is always on a lead), gets sat on, I drag him out like Flat Stanley, and he goes back for more 🙄

I really need to get him going on some fun training. I'm doing bits and pieces but work has been a horror for a month, and I've been ill, and honestly just getting him out for half an hour before daycare has been more than I can manage some days. I know he'd be so much happier with a job to do (not that he's desperately unhappy now, the squidgy headed numpty, but you always feel like you could be doing better).

Photo for tax of him nicking my car keys last night (he hoiked them right out of my bag, the little sod).

@Bupster Honestly, they're like buses! I said to the lady, oh is she a small, young lab and she said no and I couldn't believe it. She was gorgeous, I could have kidnapped her – but so visually dissimilar to Bill.

He might be happier with a job to do but he's very, very happy as he is so don't stress yourself out thinking you should do more.

We had a fairly useless training walk this morning before we met our new friends – she just wasn't interested in listening much (and it was safe for her not to) so I need to take things back a step on a few fronts I think. That's fine, progress isn't linear. But maybe we don't need to progress and it's OK to just... exist and get better at what we already do well.

@PyreneanAubrie Also keen to know how your field experience went!

Obsessed with Philip the Akita. What a great name.

It was a bit wet and muddy but she had a lot of fun running around after a couple of tennis balls. I also took the opportunity to do some off-lead heelwork with little cubes of cheese as a bribe. It really tired her out, she's slept all evening! We might try to book a half hour session every couple of weeks now she's big, it's good to let her have a proper run around in a bigger space and I think for £5 it's worth it.