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

Vinny just somehow set himself up for the perfect cosy photo. I need to photoshop in a Christmas garland above the fire and it would make the perfect festive card 😄

Me too. Thanks @lookwhatyoumademedoo!
Took Bear on the train today - not her first time, but still a novelty. She was very good, and lots of people liked her. She slept well afterwards - I think doing something new can be really tiring!

Yes Milo is permanently on his back because he is a lazy little shit 🤣
Hasn't V got big, he's bigger than Milo and Milo is 16 months. Milo is 14 kg, Milo is all chest but is a smaller cocker if that makes sense 😬

Yes he's massive! People are always surprised when I say he's not even 6 months yet. He was almost 12kg when we were at the vets just over a month ago so not sure what to expect when he gets weighed again next week. He's such a unit 😂

Ahh fab, well done Bear! The train line runs along the bottom of our street and we are a couple of minutes walk from the station and V is fascinated when the trains go past but we've not taken him on one yet. I am sure the time will come soon.

Oh hang on a minute I do have a picture of Milo actually... Sitting up 🤣🤣
I think dog driving cars should be a thing 🫢

Hi @CaptainBeanThief
It's nice to see you and Milo 😊

@PyreneanAubrie
How are you and brie? 💕

Come to say goodbye from me & Brie.

I hope you all have a lovely Yuletide xxx

I hope the person on that other thread re resource guarding hasn't put you off @PyreneanAubrie, you'll see now that a poster who is an actual vet has agreed with you! It would be a shame if you are going because of that

Oh @PyreneanAubrie don't go because of that thread!!

Oh god what's happened

@PyreneanAubrie MN forums are a jungle! This thread is a nice safe garden. Stay here with us and my handsome pup. You can almost hear him snoring, can't you?

PS this half-a-cocker-spaniel is a chonky 22 kg at seven months 😳My gym trainer is giving me special exercises so I can keep picking him up to lick the postman's nose.

@Bupster 22kg! He is a (lovely) tank.

I told him you said that 😄

Christ and I struggle to pick Vinny up at 12kg 🤣 I am very weak though. I love those floppy chops!!

@YorkshireFelix he’s just as soft and squidgy as he looks too - you think his coat’s going to be coarse like a Lab but he’s only got a stripe of that like a Mohican down his back. I thought he’d grow out of his squishiness but he never has 😍

Thanks All. Yes, I panicked again (you know me so well). Husband found me crying - yes I, the one who has never cried over anything my puppies have done, but I cry over things said to me on MN threads. Pitiful.

I need to stop trying to be helpful on puppy threads or thinking any of my experiences are relevant. I'm old school; I didn't learn any of this stuff from trainers, I made it all up as I went along. I was on my third dog before anyone even had internet! So, I thought the feeding thing was helpful as I had three dogs that I could feed together in my kitchen, and I'd taught them not to be food possessive as well as teaching them to eat lying down and not bolt their food. Is that useful? Clearly not. 🙄 So yes, the vet agreed with me but she gets kicked in the head on MN threads even more than I do 😆

With the next puppy I'm still going to do the same thing of sitting messing with their food while they eat. Because for me it has always worked and my dogs have had beautiful manners with food.

So I just felt really sad to be told I'm doing everything wrong.

After my chap found me in a puddle of tears, we took Brie out in the car, to one of our three usual local places. She didn't panic or glue herself to the hedge to avoid getting in the car, so last Sunday's behaviour is a complete mystery.
Fine getting in, fine getting out, really seemed to enjoy her walk, trotted along beautifully on a loose lead, then back in the car and home.
Doesn't mean we won't get a repeat of the weirdness, but the cause remains a mystery, so only time will tell whether it was just a one-off.

@PyreneanAubrie bless you, this place can be very toxic sometimes. But I was glad to see others chip in saying if you've raised 9 pups you must be doing something right! I am glad you are back with us though.

And SO glad to hear she was fine in the car! What a strange episode though. I wonder what triggered it?

@PyreneanAubrie they're not worth your tears! Very glad to see you haven't left the coven, of which you are a crucial member. As I always say, you can only train the dog in front of you and if it works for yours then sod what they say. I have precisely zero opinions on the subject as the whole extent of my feeding experience is serving up her ridiculously gourmet meals and dropping extra bits of ham in her bowl when I'm making my lunch – and that's doubtless frowned upon too!

Very weird about Brie and the car! But excellent news that it didn't happen again today. Maybe she just got out of bed on the wrong side and it took the brunt of her bad mood. Very odd. Happy news too that she walked so nicely for you.

In the least weird way possible I'll be curious to see when she has her first season as my only very vague understanding is that giants mature later (hence not letting them jump around too much when babies), but that may also be wrong. Pupsy was ten months when she had hers and I thought that was quite young though the vet said it was fine.

@PyreneanAubrie PS, all your experiences are relevant and I think I speak for us all when I say that we love hearing about them! I genuinely hadn't even heard of PMDs before we met here and it's a joy to learn about them from you x

@YorkshireFelix
Thank you, you are sweet.

I have social anxiety; I panic when I think I've said something wrong. Then I kicked myself for deleting my post because I had said useful stuff about teaching sleepytime and I mentioned the puppy thread and this one.

No idea what the car issue was but we won't push her if there are days when she doesn't feel like a drive.

@brushingboots
How could I leave? I'm the real Lancashire Witch in the coven - I'm only a stones throw from Pendle!

10 months sounds about right for a first season, I would have thought... D'you know, it sounds awful but we can't remember at what age our other three girls came into season. I seem to recall Sylvie was a late starter and her cycles were definitely lengthier; Rose was every 6 months but with Sylvie it was around 9 or 10 months between. That was great as we had an entire male too, so one of them would get packed off to stay with my parents up in Cumbria.

I have actually broached the subject of getting a male, which will likely mean Brie being spayed, as my folks are sadly no longer around to help us with bed and board for an in-season bitch. Amazingly, the idea of a boy was not totally dismissed 🤔

I should know by now to 🤐on some of the threads, but I never learn not to be drawn in. I'm a contrary child. I stick my tongue out and run away 😜
This is the best thread, this is a safe place and you do know I love your handsome pup ❤ 22kg is big. He could easily cope with being leant on by Brie, I'm sure he's robust enough! Is it leant on or leaned on...🤔Well anyway, it's what she does.

I did think I could hear Bill snoring just then, actually...but it could be my chap, in bed, upstairs... I'm having a sofa night with Brie, just because we had a fire lit and I was slobbing in my pyjamas. So now it's nearly 2am, my brain won't switch off from being anxious, and Brie is fast asleep in the kitchen doorway, dreaming and kicking hell out of the washing machine.

In today’s Times, a LGD in action!