Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

The doghouse

If you're worried about your pet's health, please speak to a vet or qualified professional.

Adolescent Dog Survival Thread - get teenage licks right through the night!

992 replies

Bupster · 17/01/2025 14:03

I've buckled and started the new thread - welcome to the horror of adolescence!

OP posts:
Thread gallery
98
brushingboots · 25/01/2025 20:47

@Nella68 Well, I still am and she’s going on 20 months so I reckon you’ve got a while yet! I think it was a fawn now I look back, and it makes sense that mummy muntjac would be nearby which explains why there were two together. Blasted things, except for eating as they are tasty.

@YorkshireFelix Hurrah! I’m glad at least one of us has had some modicum of success with something today!

brushingboots · 25/01/2025 20:48

Also thank you all as I have told precisely no one about this morning in real life and have no particular plans to xxx

Bupster · 26/01/2025 09:38

Utterly wiped out today. I think Bill is too as he's been a whiny nightmare this morning and he's actually curling up with me on the sofa at 9:30am instead of bouncing off the walls till 11. Can confirm that @brushingboots is a truly wonderful person as she let me bail out from our planned walk - even the thought of getting him in the car today is exhausting.

Lots of naps (for him) and farting about (for me) and let's hope he stays sleepy or we'll be singing the 'selling him for kebabs' song again....

ETA: the sleepy lasted precisely three minutes and now he has decided to bark at every person walking past our house, which happens at about 90 second intervals, giving me a heart attack every single time. I am sitting on the armchair with him so I can give him treatos for seeing people and not barking, and making up the 183rd verse of the 'selling him for kebabs' song. The chorus goes "you're driving me mad, you're driving me mad, you're driving me craaazy, you're driving me mental and completely round the bend". Set to whatever ear worm is going round your head right now. You're welcome.

OP posts:
YorkshireFelix · 26/01/2025 10:11

@Bupster ugh sorry the sleepiness didn't last. I also sing insane made up songs to Vinny and he is probably sick of it 😂

He had a really unsettled night and DH ended up sleeping on the sofa with him. But I think the problem was DH got back from service at the restaurant at 11ish and can never get to sleep as he needs a couple of hours to unwind, so when he eventually got up to go to bed it woke Vinny up and he thought it was party time. I've told DH he has to come to bed early or deal with the consequences of an annoying dog!!

YorkshireFelix · 26/01/2025 11:40

Current situation

Adolescent Dog Survival Thread - get teenage licks right through the night!
Nella68 · 26/01/2025 12:38

@Bupster sorry to hear you are feeling rubbish. I hope Bill settles. I don’t think the weather helps. It’s windy again here and Midge is whiny.
It’s lovely that you and @brushingboots have met in real life.

This is the current situation here. I feel like Frasier and Eddie. Midge has sat staring at me for a full 10 minutes. I’m trying my best to ignore him as we’ve just come home from a long walk!

Adolescent Dog Survival Thread - get teenage licks right through the night!
YorkshireFelix · 26/01/2025 12:52

@Nella68 😂 I find it SO funny when they just sit and stare at you. I sometimes wish Vinny could talk so I knew what he was thinking about but he would probably be so irritating and never stop, and the novelty would wear off very quickly.

brushingboots · 26/01/2025 13:32

Pleased to report no deer chasing this morning in miles of open fields, but it was SO windy and pupsy was slightly on another planet with her nose stuck right down. But she listened and we have now taken refuge on the sofa so I can write (and watch Grantchester) and she can sleep on my lap.

Ahh @Nella68 he’s so lovely!

Wishing only good things (and sleep) for @Bupster and her hooligan with whom we will walk another day soon x

Nella68 · 26/01/2025 13:42

@brushingboots hurrah for a better walk and a dog that listens!

My husband has decided to mend the doorbell. We still have the original servant bell which is quite cool but it hasn’t been working for a while. He’s been tinkering for ages and it’s intermittently ringing or clicking. Pups is intermittently barking or jumping to attention. It’s not my idea of a relaxing rainy Sunday afternoon.

Nella68 · 26/01/2025 13:47

Oh, and he’s still staring. At least from a distance and he’s lying down so fingers crossed he’ll go to sleep (until the next time the doorbell rings).

Please excuse the muddy threshold- the garden is a quagmire!

Adolescent Dog Survival Thread - get teenage licks right through the night!
tizwozliz · 26/01/2025 14:21

@Nella68 - your garden clogs look very unchewed. Ours ended up as chew toy.

YorkshireFelix · 26/01/2025 15:15

Oh my GOD Vinny has just done the worst thing he's ever done on our walk and I genuinely feel sick with stress.

We went a longer route today since it's the weekend, and there's a way you can go through the woods, over the canal then down the river. All good, we have been that way before a couple of times and he likes the river path as there's some streamy bits to paddle in. He was doing so well the whole time. His recall was spot on and I was literally thinking in my head 'how funny, I am going to post on MN about how amazing he has been after being a shit the other day.'

And right at that moment he shot off through a fence into the farmers field and wouldn't come back!! He kept zooming around and coming back to the small gap in the fence and wouldn't let me grab him, then zooming around again. I couldn't even climb over as it was all barb wired. I was literally on my knees at this gap for 10 minutes trying to grab his collar and genuinely thought I'd never get him back. I even tried walking off where he couldn't see me but because the gap was so small he couldn't work out how to get back through and follow me so just howled, but then kept running off when I came back. I eventually managed to grab his collar but I had to physically pull his legs and yank him through. It was absolutely awful and I am so so so so so mad at him now.

I spent the whole way home trying not to cry and then spoke to a lovely lady who had the most gorgeous dog I've ever seen which calmed me down a bit. She said he was a 'lilac' border collie which I've never seen before. All the images online are white and brown but this one was a fully dusky brown and he was just lovely.

We've just got back now and I still feel on edge and just horrible.

YorkshireFelix · 26/01/2025 15:15

Nella68 · 26/01/2025 13:47

Oh, and he’s still staring. At least from a distance and he’s lying down so fingers crossed he’ll go to sleep (until the next time the doorbell rings).

Please excuse the muddy threshold- the garden is a quagmire!

I always think he looks like a human in a dog suit and he definitely does here 😂

brushingboots · 26/01/2025 15:47

@YorkshireFelix Oh no, not you too!! It's the weekend for it evidently.

Don’t be mad at him for too long as he won’t remember why you’re cross, but I 100pc hear you loud and clear. I felt sad all day yesterday and couldn't even look at her after our incident and it was only later that I put it in perspective. They really can be naughty buggers – especially if he could see you and wasn’t even going ‘for’ anything, but just messing around which is what it sounds like!

I lost pupsy once at twilight when she was about V’s age for the longest five minutes of my life and genuinely thought I was going to have to call the police as I couldn’t see her AT ALL and if she could see me she wasn’t making herself known. Just horrifying.

YorkshireFelix · 26/01/2025 15:52

brushingboots · 26/01/2025 15:47

@YorkshireFelix Oh no, not you too!! It's the weekend for it evidently.

Don’t be mad at him for too long as he won’t remember why you’re cross, but I 100pc hear you loud and clear. I felt sad all day yesterday and couldn't even look at her after our incident and it was only later that I put it in perspective. They really can be naughty buggers – especially if he could see you and wasn’t even going ‘for’ anything, but just messing around which is what it sounds like!

I lost pupsy once at twilight when she was about V’s age for the longest five minutes of my life and genuinely thought I was going to have to call the police as I couldn’t see her AT ALL and if she could see me she wasn’t making herself known. Just horrifying.

It's awful isn't it! He's currently humping his blanket unaware that he's traumatised me today.

Bupster · 26/01/2025 16:22

@YorkshireFelix That must have been so awful and so scary, I'm so sorry - and so glad you've got him back safely. It makes you feel like you can't keep them safe, doesn't it? It's horrible.

Bill kept disappearing through the broken fence in the dog park, and I thought I'd lose him, as if he got through to the care home I didn't know where he could get to. It was awful, as it meant the one local place I could actually let my guard down turned out to be unsafe.

As it happened, one of the other owners went and talked to the care home, and it turns out that there's another, more secure fence the other side, so he is effectively getting into a tunnel. I've relaxed about it a bit now (not completely, as I'm not convinced there are no other holes, but there's only so much you can do). I think the moral of the story for me is that (a) I can't ever completely relax but (b) most things turn out to be okay.

Still absolutely wiped out here. Took hooligan for a freezing trip up to the dog park for a poo, where he redeemed himself by coming back every time I called him, even when he was getting all hormonal-sexy-time with his besty. Then he stole my glove and, while I was hanging on one end of it, trying to wrestle out a treato of sufficient value that he'd swap, his besty came and fastened onto the bloody thing as well. At that point I was freezing, covered in mud and salmon paté, soaking wet, and doubled over, crying with laughter.

We're back and curled up on the sofa - himself finally napping - and when he wakes up I plan to have a very hot shower, watch shite TV, and be in bed by 8:30pm (thank you @brushingboots ).

OP posts:
YorkshireFelix · 26/01/2025 16:35

Thank you @Bupster. It really does make you feel like you can't keep them safe! Even if he was on a longline it wouldn't have helped matters at all. He's now sleeping off all the excitement...

The two dogs on the glove made me laugh out loud just now. The way you describe his antics is just the best 😂

Nella68 · 26/01/2025 17:20

@YorkshireFelix What is it with these pups? I’m sure I didn’t find toddler twins this stressful, even when they were running in different directions. I trained them to ‘STOP!’ and to walk close by me, and they were always very obedient! I feel at a complete loss with my dog.

We went to a new area today and had Midge on the longline so he could scamper around. I’ve found I’m getting really anxious when I see dogs in the distance. The boxer dog attack has affected me more than I thought it would. We encountered a few dogs today and I was really grateful to the owners that they put their dogs on leads when passing. I think Midge has been affected too; when a big dog went past, I got M to sit, but he wouldn’t take any treats until the dog had gone. He may be picking up on my anxiety though.

Nella68 · 26/01/2025 17:23

tizwozliz · 26/01/2025 14:21

@Nella68 - your garden clogs look very unchewed. Ours ended up as chew toy.

He doesn’t really chew things, he’s very gentle with his soft toys and sucks them. I’ve spent a fortune on toys that he can chew and he tends to ignore them.

YorkshireFelix · 26/01/2025 17:39

@Nella68 oh my gosh twins!! You are hard as nails. I barely coped with just one!

I'm sorry you're feeling so anxious. You're doing so well getting back out there, and it's totally understandable how you're feeling. I think we would all be the same. It may take some time so don't beat yourself up about it.

YorkshireFelix · 26/01/2025 18:23

@brushingboots I've been doing your recommendation of double treating to get Vinny to stay in his sit, by the way. It's starting to work I think!

It's a bit hit and miss because I only ever remember to do it when we are out in the woods and sometimes there's something more interesting he wants to be doing, but today he stayed sat for maybe 30 seconds before I released him. Trying not to push it any longer yet so will build it up, but glad he's starting by to get it. So thank you for your help 😃

CaptainBeanThief · 26/01/2025 20:28

Hey - I don't post on here often anymore as I don't have anything useful to add but, here is the love of my life ❤️

Adolescent Dog Survival Thread - get teenage licks right through the night!
CaptainBeanThief · 26/01/2025 21:24

By the way, no more mental breakdowns!
Adolescent dogs are knobheads, you'll all be dead by month 10 if you carry on 😂
Tomorrow is another day and they will probably do something worse.
Oh.... I did warn you 👍

YorkshireFelix · 26/01/2025 21:30

CaptainBeanThief · 26/01/2025 20:28

Hey - I don't post on here often anymore as I don't have anything useful to add but, here is the love of my life ❤️

Gorgeous boy!!

brushingboots · 27/01/2025 12:00

@YorkshireFelix Oh I’m so glad! Always happy to help and glad it is working for you and V.

I think for my own mental health I must refrain from looking at/posting any further on the recent cocker thread as it’s just annoying me, and think I might hide it. Apparently all cockers are feral and will die without a working lifestyle. Sigh.

Swipe left for the next trending thread