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

What age do they stop trying to lunge out into the road to catch a bloody leaf blowing in the wind? 🤦🏻‍♀️

@CaptainBeanThief
That's hilarious about the harness/play dead thing. That's pretty far from being the legendary "hyper" WCS that the Doghouse threads are becoming famed for...

Briellezeebub lies flat out in the garden, the little cow, she scoops up a mouthful of gravel then does this rolly over beached whale thing - drives me mental 😡It's like "nope, you can't get me up!" - she knows I can't do a bloody thing about shifting her or stopping her from sucking a gobful of stones 😬My husband has now given her the nickname "The Beluga Whale".

So today we walked up to see the little Shetland sheep that are now her friends. Two of them like to bump noses with her which is very cute. Don't know what ailed me today but my legs were like lead and it took me forever to walk up the lane. I'd already handed her over to my chap when we met a scary crop eared Dobe on two chains 😱So I was trailing behind them all the way like a grumpy toddler with knackered little legs 😩

How are you doing this week, health wise/MH wise? Hope you're okay...

No idea but it's driving me mad!!!

@PyreneanAubrie
My leg is playing me up a little.
Also, I have atrial fibrillation and I was in a and e the other night because my heart for whatever reason would not go back into rhythm and the palpitations where actually hurting me - the cardiologist is going to write to my GP to put my heart meds up - also my right lobe of my lung is still collapsed so explains why I'm still struggling to breathe ( other than being fat as fuck) 🫢
I'm n still plodding on as usual ha ha
@timeforachange999
Never they will forever chase leaves - in fact they'd deffo rather be ran over for a flying leaf 🌿

@CaptainBeanThief
That sounds like an awful lot of stuff to have to deal with...😔Especially at this time of year when the cold can affect your breathing. Plus going to A&E is really shite at Christmas...

Please tell me Brie won't forever leap into the road after a leaf and twirl around like the Hippo doing ballet in Fantasia...

This morning on the way home from the dog park Bill tried to take a leaf out of a toddler's hand 😄 thank God he and his adult had a sense of humour...

Lucky it wasn't another dummy 😆I still can't get that photo of Bill with the dummy out of my head 😂Your boy is so damn cute 🤗

Question please, lovely people: Has anyone tried a martingale collar? If so, what did you think? Is it aversive or okay?

@PyreneanAubrie I haven't ever used one, or to be fair done much research. I'm not sure they seem any worse than a sliplead, on the aversive scale? I know a couple of people that use them but only one who doesn't have a sighthound, for whom I think they were originally designed. She has a lab cross, and she walks reasonably nicely on it.

Thanks @brushingboots
I think you're right, they seem to be designed primarily for pointy dogs whose neck is wider than their head. We wondered if it might be useful for Brie and I just wondered if anyone here has tried one or has any thoughts. They only ever seem to be shown on short haired breeds for some reason, but we used webbing half checks for our previous girls and it seems to be a similar principle.

Lots of leaf-in-road struggles here too. That's a very evocative image of Brie!!

News here is that the Christmas tree is up and so far Bear largely leaving it alone. I have had two kids at home on the sofa with winter bugs until today though, so she is less supervised than she has been. (I work in the room next door, so will hear any disasters, but perhaps not be as preventative as their constant presence.)

@thewalrus

Visualising Brie as a hippo in a tutu doesn't require a great stretch of the imagination, believe me 😆

Glad kids are better and hope Bear continues to behave herself with regard to the tree.

Horrible morning - I've been struggling for weeks with getting to sleep. Managed to knock myself out for a few hours with a Nytol, but then when I groggily woke up at seven my poor puppy had shat all over the dining room floor. Obviously not his fault - I must have overfed him yesterday, and I did hear him whimper at some point in the night but I can't distinguish between 'I desperately need a poo' and 'I desperately need you to get up and pick up my half-chewed baby's dummy that I just yeeted onto the floor for the fun of it and can't be arsed to get off the bed and fetch myself' so I must have just rolled over to sleep - he'd been out for a poo at 8pm so I didn't think I had anything to worry about.

Then once I'd finally cleaned it all up, got dressed, and managed to have a coffee holding a horrible chew for him while he looked out the window, he had a barking fit at everyone who walked past, and kicked over the coffee. I actually swore at him then which I hardly ever do. Took him out for a sniffy walk and he pulled like a train and it was a total misery from start to finish. Just everything this morning.

I love him more than anything in the world but by Christ there are days when it's hard. I've cancelled all my meetings and appointments today and put my out of office on. He's asleep now with his head completely across my lap, I'm typing this with the laptop balanced against the sofa arm at a ridiculous angle so he has all of my lap to himself 🙄

Oh @Bupster how rotten for you. I think you need to be kind to yourself since you must be exhausted.

Some days they can just be twats and it's always the day when you need it the least!!

I think cancelling meetings/OOO on is the best idea. Try and take it easy, and I hope he is an angel for you for the remainder of the day...

Oh @Bupster , that sounds rubbish! (Though I haven't heard the word 'yeet' for ages and that made me smile.) Take care of yourself, rest up, tomorrow is a new day...

Thank you both, @YorkshireFelix and @thewalrus . It is so nice on a day like today to have a moan here and know you'll get a supportive response - it really does make such a difference x

Sorry you've had such a crappy start to the day @Bupster
Hopefully the nap will help and Bill will redeem himself later.
Keep warm xxx

We all have those days when we remember how easy life was before puppy....🙄 But then they look at us, wag their little tail, shove a smelly chew into our crotch...and we melt 🤗

Tomorrow is another day...provided you aren't superstitious...🤔

Oh @Bupster, I’m sorry. You can always offload him on me – boarding facilities are available. Lots of love from us xxx

Been trying to capture pupsy jumping a ditch for a few weeks like the terrible videographer I am and finally succeeded this morning if anyone needs to see some spaniel joy – have put it on my insta stories.
https://www.instagram.com/brushingboots

Ha she is brilliant! Has she always liked water or took a while to warm up to it? Vinny doesn't seem to like streams but is interested in a big puddle now he's a bit older. He also loves running up and jumping down banks. It's his favourite thing to do in the woods 😄

(Also just sent you a follow request I hope that's not weird!!)

That's pretty fab @brushingboots What an agile little girl she is!

@YorkshireFelix Not weird!!

She didn't properly like water until she was about a year, I think, so keep encouraging him (if you want him to like it) and he'll get there. We did loads and loads of swimming this summer and she got very keen on retrieving into it – pos too keen as now she tries to retrieve ducks from the river. Chuck a ball/dummy into a body of water (as @Bupster experienced at the weekend) and she goes straight in, no fear. She is wonderfully bold and it is a joy to watch.

@PyreneanAubrie Honestly, I never cease to be amazed by her athleticism. I wish I was as lean haha. I was horsey before I was doggy and so I look at her like I'd look at an eventer or a hunter – at her footwork and how scopey, as horse people say, she is. I guess she's super fit which helps.

You'd probably see Brie as a Percheron or a Suffolk Punch @brushingboots , sturdy and functional but still with a certain elegance.

I'm not outing myself by following on Instagram @YorkshireFelix because all I have on there is very bad beginner watercolours 😬

Urgh. Have a session of lead walking with the dog trainer booked for 3pm and have horrendous lower back pain thanks to Brie doing on lead zoomies on the field last night.

Have to say though, am loving the martingale collar, it works really well despite her ridiculously thick and fluffy mane.