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

He has a FB page where he posts his dogs progress which we have followed for a few years, so always knew we wanted to get a pup from him. I think it's the first ftch-ftch litter he's had. We have gotten very lucky I think!

The pleasure he gives dd in particular is worth it 100 times over. She is autistic and some some crazy affinity to animals, and he has pulled her out of many meltdowns since the first week we got him. She's been asking for a dog since she could talk. It's her birthday soon and she said 'I don't know what to wish for this year when I blow my candles out because my wish has now come true!' 😭

I think V and pupsy would be a very dynamic duo.

@PyreneanAubrie we live about a mile or so from the moors so we definitely must have them all lurking about here. I saw a stoat on the canal once and it was my best day ever 🤣

@brushingboots
She's terrible for trying to leap on people who stop to stroke her. I've got to figure out a way to stop it! I've bought a harness with a handle on the top in the vain hope that it might afford me a bit more control...

Yes, she will be about 5 ft, she puts her paws on my shoulders and she's not far off my height now (I'm 5'3"). She will end up taller and heavier than me, she is a lot bigger than our other girls were. Clearly I need to eat some spinach or something 😆

I can't imagine how big her harness is!

@YorkshireFelix that is the sweetest thing from your DD, bless her. He must know how much he helps her too, in his own way.

Dogs are just the best. We have had a challenging few weeks here emotionally and I don't know what I'd have done with that little wet spaniel nose nudging me all the time.

I can never tell the difference between stoats and weasels so I will mark myself a Beatrix Potter point down. I realised the other day when pupsy woofed at a sheep, safely on the other side of a fence, that she hadn't met one before, so that's something for us to work on. Can't have barking at sheep, however stupid they may be.

I am becoming a bit of a bird watcher, I've realised lately. After I myself googling bird of prey markings on a walk last week I have asked for a book on the subject for Christmas!

Get out and about and you'll see loads of wildlife @YorkshireFelix . It's all up there on the moors. The deer are amazing, they just jump the drystone walls. The hares are my favourites though, especially as me, my chap and Brie are all March birthdays. A house full of Mad March Hares!

Awww, that is so sweet about your daughter and her dream coming true ❤ That bond will just get stronger and stronger.

Gosh, we're all up late tonight! My allegedly nocturnal dog is fast asleep 🙄I suppose I should be too.

Just observations of the dog board here. Don't you think everyone is so bloody dramatic about working cockers? Good god.

Someone on a thread just now said any breeder allowing someone a WCS puppy as a first dog is totally irresponsible 🤣 I understand there are many people who get them and don't know what they are doing, but it winds me up when they tar everyone with the same brush. We're not all idiots!

@YorkshireFelix Some of us are 😄

@YorkshireFelix
No no you're wrong we are all incompetent fools who shouldn't own a cactus let alone a WCS!! How dare we walk our slightly neurotic PUPPY ( who by the way wcs are puppies until about 6 🤣) on the same planet as their shitty little pretend doberman dashaund.
We are shouldn't be allowed dogs because THEY never started somewhere!!!

By the way Milo isn't my first dog or spaniel by the way but he is by far the most challenging dog 😵‍💫

Hmmm. Guess I'd better not widely mention getting a Pyrenean as a first dog whilst living in an upstairs city flat...🤔But I know you people won't tell The Doghouse police on me cos you're my friends 😘

@PyreneanAubrie
Let's hope none of the doghouse police make their way here 🤣🤣

If it's that same Cocker thread where I got held up as a very bad example, I'm not even looking. I'm still hurting. I'm going to join our lovely @Bupster & Bill in keeping a low profile today. Had enough of being on the canine naughty step after that thread and my walk yesterday😢

Training session for this morning was rained off and rearranged for Thursday when it will most likely still be peeing down. My chap braved the rain earlier, Brie returned like a drowned rat and proceeded to have a hysterical fit of zoomies in the kitchen and orangery pretentious extension. My house is disgusting and stinks of wet dog but frankly, I have given up caring. 43 kg zoomies while dripping wet and draped in towels is quite a sight to behold, but her ending up spreadeagled on the tiles wasn't clever and gave us a real scare. She appears to be okay.

to be fair - I was on that thread and advised against getting the WCS.

The OP liked the LOOK of them - she was in touch with a breeder who seemed very dodgy and really hadn't a clue. NOT a good fit for a WCS, especially from what looks like a backyard breeder.

When I told my vet I was getting a Flatcoat she said "you're brave" - well that's because she probably sees the bonkers ones (new vet, never met my previous FCs).

If you know what you are doing with any breed you have a better chance of getting a dog with a temperament that suits your family and circumstances. Yes, Libi is a bit more bonkers than River was (the working lines Golden) but actually she is a calm and steady girl compared to many other pups her age.

Breeding and early socialisation has a lot to do with that, I was very picky about the lines I wanted (working!) and the breeder, plus she's my 8th FC, I know what behaviours to nip in the bud and work on and what I can let go. I don't think FCs, in general, are good first time dogs either to be honest, unless someone really knew what they were taking on.

different thread @PyreneanAubrie 😀

It's so windy here that we haven't been out at all - Libi is spooked by the wind and I'm not risking her getting a fright and taking off.

She's currently going into the garden and barking at the noisy trees and bushes, then rushing back indoors for safety! on repeat.

I've given up any idea of having a clean floor today......

@LibisMum
I haven't seen the thread but I have seen tonnes tonnes of threads where WCS get slagged off to death (and owners) regardless and I think that is unfair because we are not all bad owners and any dog and owners can be badly trained IMO.
Many of the people that are slagging WCS have never had a WCS in their life so have no idea what their talking about.
HOWEVER - someone who wants a dog whatever breed wants one for the look of them shouldn't have a dog never mind a WCS.
Wcs are hard dogs all working breeds are hard dogs, especially for pets I do agree but we are not all bad owners :-(
X

Unless the thread has taken a different turn - there was no slagging off of WCS on it - just pointing out to the OP that she really needed to do her homework re. breeds and breeders. A few WCS owners on there saying the same.

Hi all!
I've not been on MN for ages, and the first thing I read is about WCS 🙄.
Hey, they might be a handful at times, but at least they can breathe, walk, and don't spend their lives suffering like many other breeds.
Didn't say that obvs... that would've opened up another whole can of worms 🤣.
I agree that they can be too much for some people, but then there are many people out there that just shouldn't have a dog, period!

Anyhoo, can Brodie join the 'no dignity' club?

Agree totally, @YorkshireFelix, the second the word ‘working’ gets mentioned, people have a fit. I also get (privately) wound up when they tar us all with the same brush (as pupsy is also my first dog) but then again I am subscribed to various WCS puppy/rehoming alerts and the amount that have clearly been sold to the wrong kind of family initially is horrible. And I do agree with wise @LibisMum that liking the look of them is not a reason to get one. It's a bonus, sure, and did we choose a dog that we liked the look of? Definitely. But that wasn't the reason.

All those horror stories of spaniels not settling on that thread tell me is that the owners haven't trained the dog properly. Maybe that's harsh but pupsy doesn't run around madly for hours not settling and having me in tears because I taught her to settle. It wasn't that hard.

I find I am quite protective of the breed which is silly. This morning I was out with my friend and her cocker and a lady walked past us, admired the dogs and then said, ‘ooh they’re very energetic aren’t they!!!’ as if that was a bad thing, and as if we weren’t literally in a forest where they are meant to be energetic and fun. That kind of thing does annoy me a bit as the implication is that they’re feral, which ours are not, and that we can't handle them, which we can.

@Bupster You are not an idiot. You have raised a wonderful dog who I am excited to see tomorrow despite the horrific weather.

@CaptainBeanThief Lolllll at pretend doberman, that made me laugh. I saw a mini dax in the country shop this morning shouting at everyone, in common with every single dax to have ever lived, anywhere.

I've had a look but I won't comment. I know nothing about WCS but I can sort of see both sides.

Us getting our first PMD could have been disastrous; we did know a little about the breeds origins, but basically we needed a guard dog. As it was, she became our pet for 12.5 years and triggered an obsession and life passion for me. But it could have ended badly because we were pretty clueless about dogs.
I can also see that if someone is determined that a particular breed is what they want, it is better to gently educate them into sourcing a puppy from a reputable and recommended breeder, rather than buying a badly bred puppy on a whim.

We've always done our research on bloodlines and health checks since that first pup, but we have bought two puppies unseen until the day of collection. Both came from Ireland, but both breeders were known to us and we had met them (and the parents of the first puppy) at a UK show. The second came from a very long established kennel that we had been waiting several years to get a pup from. Most people wouldn't recommend doing it this way, but for us it worked out.

So I can't, and shouldn't, pass judgement on threads like that one, because we haven't always gone about things the "right" way. And I could, justifiably, be accused of being irresponsible and hypocritical in choices I've made... I certainly would not recommend a PMD as a first dog for anyone, but for us, it was. We had enough dedication and commitment to make up for our lack of experience, and I'm sure it's been that way for others, even where it has all seemed likely to end in tears. We all have to start somewhere...

Oh FS, can't say anything right.

Hello @BrodiePup 😃
It's lovely to see you and the gorgeous Brodie.

@brushingboots Ah well, I'm off the hook there - (or more likely in hot water) when I say that say we didn't pick our breed for looks, but for their big loud bark.

There is a strange irony in that, given that Brie aka "the silent guard dog" has genuinely only barked twice in 6 months 😂Nope, not a joke, excluding play barks indoors, she has barked outside on only two occasions. I wonder if I should return her as defective...🤔

@CaptainBeanThief ???

What? What happened?

Sorry didn't mean to open a can of worms! I know there's lots of people who just get a spaniel because they are cute and have no idea what they are doing, but it's more the automatically being branded as irresponsible for having one as a first dog even though you've done your research and know what to expect.

Everyone I talk to when I'm out and about give me that 'ooh he must be a handful / I know a cocker who is mental' and are always surprised when I say he's chill 🤣