Adolescent Dog Survival Thread - Bark the Herald, furry angels sing!

[YorkshireFelix]

New thread to get us through the festive season! Angelic and naughty teenage pups all welcome

Maybe this will be the thread where Vinny finally hits the right age to officially be here. Lord help me! 🥴

Yay :-) thanks for starting the new thread @YorkshireFelix
LemonPalms here with a name change to LemonPalmTrees
🌴🌴

Thank you @YorkshireFelix
Great title for our new thread.
Vinny may be the baby here but he is very much part of the pack already!

My little horror is 8 months old tomorrow!

Hello @LemonPalmTrees , nice to see you here too.

Happy 8 months for tomorrow @PyreneanAubrie! V will be 6 months on 7th Dec. Time is flying by so quickly, I can't believe it.

My reply I couldn't post on the last thread said it sounds like Brie had a whale of a time. Also I don't know what the going rate it for enclosed fields but £5 sounds so reasonable, I thought it would be much more. Definitely worth doing every couple of weeks.

@YorkshireFelix fab name, love it! Thank you for doing the honours x

Now I need to reply to what @Bupster posted on the other thread:

Yes, Brie absolutely would love to run around the dog field with Bill and, unlike his friend Philip the Akita (Bill 'n' Phil, sounds like a comedy duo), Brie does not turn other dogs into Flat Stanley. Although, I have to say that given the size of her arse, she undoubtedly could rival Philip's puppy squashing ability, should she choose to do so 😆She has already sat on the cat several times.

I do love the words "squidgy headed numpty" as a term of endearment for your gorgeous boy. He is very special.

@PyreneanAubrie so glad you had success with the field! I agree that seems very good value and it sounds like it was worth it for Baby Brie too if she's been conked out all evening.

I have spent all evening when I should have been working watching training videos and I need to stop before I convince myself that pupsy is doomed. Not doing well at following my own advice not to compare... @YorkshireFelix

We have reconvened here pals – hope I haven't missed anyone?

@CaptainBeanThief
@BrodiePup
@Cavalierchaos
@thewalrus
@tizwozliz
@lookwhatyoumademedoo
@Libismum
@MooseBeTimeForSnow

Vinny almost 6 months now? It certainly has gone quickly!

I wish Brie had a friend to run about with really, but chucking a ball and doing a bit of off-lead heel was good. Half an hour is plenty, so yes, £5 well spent. The field has 7 foot deer fencing and a metal gate so it's very secure.

Can't post a pic of her off-lead heel walking because I'm on them 😝but she did really well! She also did a good recall from the other end of the field to have the lead put on, although I was waving a bag of cheese cubes at her, so it probably doesn't count...

It was good @brushingboots a fiver well spent and a peaceful evening with a snoozing pup.

Why would you think Pupsy is doomed? Pity we aren't closer, I'm sure a training session with Brie would put things into perspective somewhat 😆

Found you.

Did anyone else have the strong winds at the weekend and abandon dog walks? Libi, who was oblivious to fireworks, was very spooked by the noisy trees and kept going out to bark at them then rush back inside when they seemed to be talking back to her!

Didn't risk raking any of them out and losing them - I could hear panicked owners calling various dogs in the field at the back of my house. Just stayed home and periodically checked the fences - they were all reinforced after parts came down last winter. So far so good. With 4 dogs and a large garden it was nightmare until the fence was repaired, especially as I have a mini schnauzer whose nickname is Houdini.

@LibisMum Sorry, I think my tagging of you failed but glad you found us!

@brushingboots it's the training videos that get me too. I love a good doomscroll on TikTok (don't judge!). But you're definitely not doomed. If it helps, I want to be like you and pupsy when we grow up 😁

@PyreneanAubrie ahh we just failed at some drills this morning when she didn't want to engage and fancied (safely) free hunting instead. I had gone out with the intention of doing a few specific things and she stuck two fingers up at me, basically. A few things I tried she just couldn't be bothered with, and I can see what I need to go back and reteach, hence the mental viewing of training videos all night.

As I was typing that out she jumped onto the sofa and licked my face so I've given her a big cuddle and told her that we will try again tomorrow with something easier.

On a positive note, she was superb with her new friend today, definitely showed herself to be the grown up dog of the two of them and so that I can be very pleased with.

I only want the best for her and I'm very competitive, even with myself. And the best for her is making sure she works with me not against me and sometimes she just doesn't!

@pyreneanaubrie sounds like Brie's doing great! Good to hear training session went so well. Trainer and vet must see a lot of dogs so it says a lot that they both commented on how clever she is and that so many others have too, may help with training? Good to hear you all enjoyed her field trip too. Sounds like a good plan and very reasonable cost to go a couple of times a month
@brushingboots pupsy sounds like she's doing brilliantly with her training and happiness. It sounds like you're a natural at dog training espescially given how young she is and that she's your first dog as an adult. It sounds like you work with her age, (for example not focusing too much on steadies until she was a year to prioritise her youthful joy de vivre), and that you work well with her breed (for example making flushing a training exercise, and teaching search patterns). She sounds like she can do so much. I think you said it all when you said she just wants to do whatever you ask her to. You're clearly good at letting her know what that is and working with her. I've no doubt that whatever you'd like to achieve with her you can. And that she is and will remain one of the happiest dogs in the meantime x
@yorkshirefelix it also sounds like Vinny is doing exceptionally well for his age. I loved your description of his response to "leave it", his backwards shuffle. Sounds so cute! Lemondog does something similar which is also one of my favorite things he does. When I say "leave it" (which we practice for a few seconds every meal time) he sits back a little further, looks up at me with a look of sheer determination and his chin held very high as if saying "I will !!"

@YorkshireFelix no judgement from me at all – I just fell down a Mordor Gundogs hole and now want to move to Perthshire to be trained by Charlie!

That is so lovely of you to say, thank you <3

Glad your fences stayed intact @LibisMum but sorry Libi was bothered by the wind. One of our past girls, Rose, used to get terribly spooked by strong gusts but oddly, she wasn't bothered by fireworks either.

We didn't get out for a walk on Saturday because it started off with snow, then turned to torrential rain and our back garden flooded. The rain never let up and Brie was drenched just from setting foot outside.

@brushingboots our last posts crossed, sorry to hear you had a bad day's training experience with pupsy. So sweet to hear her jumping up on sofa licking your face and you both agreeing to try again tomorrow. Tomorrow's a new day.

@LemonPalmTrees oh you are kind, thank you. Sometimes I just wonder if I didn't focus on the right things in the right order and despite holding off on steadying her up I've somehow still managed to squash her desire to retrieve. I think I just need to go back a step and work out which parts she is 'failing' at and reteach.

And you know what, at the end of the day she's a very happy dog who is spoilt to death and utterly adored. That's all that matters really and I shouldn't take it so seriously! You're right, tomorrow is a new day and she won't even remember what we did yesterday.

@Libismum Lemondog was spooked by the winds too. Late at night, for his last toilet break before bed, the wind was creating noises in the darkness all around us which sounded like something or someone there. Lemondog gave a loud bark at it which startled me too as he rarely barks (and when he does its often just a quiet 'wuff')

@brushingboots
I suppose dogs have off days just like we do. Funnily enough we had a conversation about that yesterday when the dog trainer told us that one of his bitches had a real off-day when he was using her in a training demo...

Hopefully pupsy will have a better day tomorrow and do what you need her to do.

Thanks @LemonPalmTrees Brie is a bright girl but I must stress that my idea of "training" is not like the sort of proper training that brushingboots is doing. Mine is more like Brie ignoring me 9 times but actually listening on the 10th attempt and me being childishly delighted by it 😬My expectations of obedience are fairly low....😆

@brushingboots you're right all that matters is that she's happy and adored. But it really does sound like she's doing exceptionally well with her training too. Not sure which training videos you're comparing her to but they'll likely be the dogs on their best days not their worst. I could compile a video of Lemondog that makes him look brilliantly trained. It would take hundreds a lot of editing though!! I second @pyreneanaubrie 's sentiment to you. If you spent 10min with Lemondog you'd feel much, much better I assure you ;-) x

@pyreneanaubrie I think your idea of training sounds lovely. You've a great understanding of Brie and her breed, what you want from her and your training of her which all sound completely compatible and achieveable. The way you've described Brie at home and your other dogs all show dogs who're well behaved and easy for you to live with. I hadn't appreciated before getting Lemondog that's the most important part of training.
Re-call for cheese does count!
I've been thinking more about the gender differences between the dogs I've known and realised that one of the girls - a guarding breed - was different. She was so clever - knew to the second her daily feeding times for example. She was more alert about her territory. She made her own decisions more. For example one day when she was chased off lead by 2 unfriendly dogs for 20 metres in the park she decided simply to run home alone (it was a mile away) rather than wait for me, she completely ignored my calls. (Although she likely would have behaved differently if she was my dog). In the surface she appeared less needy, sensitive and emotionally attuned. But looking back now I see she just expressed those characteristics differently. By sitting beside people she loved, waiting outside the shower for them etc. So I suppose what I'm trying to say (badly) is that I see real merit in your experience and theory that girls of guarding breeds may be more independent than boys. And I suppose it makes compete sense biologically. I believe female dogs are more biologically predisposed to look after their puppies which gives them a lot of gorgeous traits. Guarding dogs ways if looking after their puppies would include intelligence, a willingness to make their own (right) decisions, a willingness to protect their own.in a way amplifying the best of their breed traits. I'm rambling, you know your breed best.
I'm loving hearing your updates with Brie this week. And your £5 field does sound like money very well spent for the joy of a happily exhausted puppy :-)

Pup is just about still adolescent I guess.

All I can say is if males are more affectionate/needy thank god I haven't got males! Pup's major bad habit is hitting for attention, wouldn't be so bad if it was a gentle tap but she digs her claws in!