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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:
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brushingboots · 27/01/2025 12:01

@Nella68 How has this morning been with little M? x

YorkshireFelix · 27/01/2025 12:08

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.

I have stopped looking at any threads on the doghouse now because I just get wound up. Cockers are the devil on here!

Nella68 · 27/01/2025 12:24

@brushingboots It’s M’s birthday! Is he still a puppy?

Quite a good run around this morning, managed to call him back from about 6 magpies and a couple of crows, so I’ll count that as a little win!

I’ve been trying to vary the high value rewards for coming back to keep him guessing. I’ve been using prawns for the last couple of weeks and yesterday added in some beef jerky. I’m thinking the beef might be a mistake as he has now got really smelly farts and was a bit loose this morning. I’ve stopped giving him chicken (really bad bowels) so need to find some fish based high rewards. The smellier the better I think!

I’ve been taking him to a really quiet area where not many dogs are walked. I’m not sure if that’s made him all the more interested in them as usually he’ll accept a treat and walk past them (if they ignore him) but this last couple of weeks he’s been pulling towards other dogs which is a pain.

Nella68 · 27/01/2025 12:27

@YorkshireFelix cockers are the devil and I’m also the devil as I am contributing to puppy farming with my poodle mix

YorkshireFelix · 27/01/2025 12:30

Ahh happy birthday Midge!!

I was literally just going to post again saying, actually MY cocker definitely is the devil recently so I can't really say much 😅

He's decided he doesn't want to sleep the past 3 nights so DH has ended up on the sofa with him. But he's just been faffing about and staying awake so DH is exhausted. We tried just leaving him but he's started howling for some reason and we live in a mid-terrace so I just can't let him 'cry it out.' And this morning I thought I'd be nice and sew up his bed so he could have it back because I felt sorry for him, but then had to confiscate it immediately because this happened...

Adolescent Dog Survival Thread - get teenage licks right through the night!
Nella68 · 27/01/2025 12:55

@YorkshireFelix Oh no! That’s an expensive habit for him to have.

Have you got foxes/ fighting cats around you? Midge is really unsettled at night if he hears foxes. We’ve tried him out of his crate but he barks at any sound from outside. We’ve gone back to having him in his crate covered with a blackout blind and he’s much more settled (same room, same noises). I don’t think you have a crate though, so sorry that’s not much help. I hope he settles again soon. Broken nights sleep are not much fun.

brushingboots · 27/01/2025 13:04

@YorkshireFelix This seems very sensible to me, I should follow your lead and find another way to procrastinate doing work.

Oh no, V, don’t let the side down! Bless him. What’s that all about, do you think? Is it the wind, I wonder? It is so windy here, really bashing the windows and doors, and we’re not even in a bad storm zone.

brushingboots · 27/01/2025 13:05

@Nella68 Happy birthday M!! Definitely still a puppy in my book. Hooray for your birthday bird win, well done him.

Varying the high-value rewards is a great idea. Fish4Dogs do some lovely little training treats that I can recommend, and the JR salmon pate is really good too – and stinky. We are on lamb pate at the moment but usually we use ostrich or venison as they seem the most tempting. All go down pupsy really nicely, no dramas with poos etc.

How heavy is he? I’m trying to picture his stature. And yes, obviously you are enabling the worst kind of breeders with your mutant devil dog raises eyebrow

Bupster · 27/01/2025 13:35

@Nella68 @brushingboots My personal half-feral half-a-cocker loves the JR pate salmon, and the rabbit paté (as I've mentioned before) seems to be puppy crack cocaine.

For recall though I sort of roast/poach chicken thighs or stewing steak (so it stays really moist). He also gets the stinkus on jerky but is fine on the real thing, weirdly.

Bill adores fish more than anything in the world and thinks prawns are the work of the devil but I can't really take lumps of fish out because they stink too much so I'll try Fish4Dogs - thank you! my friend also managed to get some freeze-dried fish and duck that all the dogs at the park adore. Forthglade also do some wonderful stinky fishy treats, but you need the ones that are meaty, not the biscuits.

I am currently sitting in bed attempting to work browsing mumsnet as he absolutely would not nap anywhere else. He has managed half an hour. Surely it's kebab time.

OP posts:
YorkshireFelix · 27/01/2025 14:26

@Nella68 we do have a crate which he usually sleeps in really well. We tried letting him sleep outside of the crate for a few nights randomly a few weeks ago (can't remember why we decided to!) but he kept getting disturbed and waking up. So he went back to the crate and slept really well again. I have no idea what's causing it really. I've never heard foxes here but there's lots of cats, which funnily enough I have never heard fight! I think they must all get on very harmoniously 😄

@brushingboots it's not been too bad here actually. We have single glazed sash windows which are a bit rattley anyway but he seems to be used to the noise.

Our usual routine is he will snooze on the sofa most of the evening and have his last toilet trip in the yard late on, then snooze again and whilst he's sleepy we put him in his crate. Then we go upstairs to bed. But now when we go upstairs to bed he will start barking. So DH has been coming back down, waiting for him to be sleepy and trying again. But it doesn't work. I'm not sure if we should try letting him sleep outside of the crate tonight and see what happens! It's just a bit random as he's always been pretty good at night.

Nella68 · 27/01/2025 17:31

@brushingboots he’s 23kg and I think 24 inches at the withers (will have to check). He’s quite tall and leggy. This him saying “Oi can we go now!”

Adolescent Dog Survival Thread - get teenage licks right through the night!
YorkshireFelix · 27/01/2025 19:09

Nella68 · 27/01/2025 17:31

@brushingboots he’s 23kg and I think 24 inches at the withers (will have to check). He’s quite tall and leggy. This him saying “Oi can we go now!”

He is so handsome. Supermodel legs!

YorkshireFelix · 28/01/2025 10:23

We tried leaving him to sleep outside the crate last night and he woke up at 1.30 barking. I did leave him for 15 minutes but he didn't let up, and I couldn't leave it any longer because of neighbours and I worried about dd waking up.

So I'm putting him back in his crate tonight and trying again. Hopefully it's just a weird adolescent blip and he will go back to normal soon, so I am trying not to worry about it too much.

Weirdly though, yesterday and just now he has gone into his crate to nap with the door open which he NEVER does! Dogs are strange!

Nella68 · 28/01/2025 12:27

@YorkshireFelix that’s very frustrating. It’s hard when you’ve got to think of the neighbours. A barking dog is hard to ignore. It probably is just a blip, but he sounds like a very clever dog and barking is one good way to get you back downstairs!

Our bedtime routine is to take Midge out for a toilet trip and then get him his frozen kong (I put about a tablespoon of mashed kibble in it). We’ve always fed him in the crate so when he sees the kong he skips in there. The crate gets locked and covered and it’s lights out. We don’t go back downstairs once he’s in bed. The bathroom is over where he sleeps so I have to be very quiet in the night when I go to the loo. I’m paranoid about waking him up as he’s very hard to settle if he wakes in the night.

Bupster · 28/01/2025 13:47

Just took Bill out for what I thought would be a quick lunchtime 20 minute walk to get out of the house and because the rain had stopped. He chose the route, which ended up being more of a 50 minute route march round some local streets (we hardly ever walk on tarmac). He was spotless in terms of listening to me, checking in, waiting at kerbs, walking to heel if I asked him. He was, of course, a holy nightmare first thing this morning. So beneath all the adolescent hooliganism and over-excitement in the vicinity of anything small and furry/feathered, the training is registering. How I'll ever get it to the surface when it counts is an entirely different matter, but I thought those of us struggling with teenagers would like a faint ray of hope!

Also I've been told on good authority (one of the lovely admins on the DTAS site) that after 11 months or so testosterone surges have peaked and it does get better. Bill is only nine months old, but still 😄

Lovely squidgy-headed numpty fast asleep for tax.

Adolescent Dog Survival Thread - get teenage licks right through the night!
OP posts:
YorkshireFelix · 28/01/2025 14:05

Nella68 · 28/01/2025 12:27

@YorkshireFelix that’s very frustrating. It’s hard when you’ve got to think of the neighbours. A barking dog is hard to ignore. It probably is just a blip, but he sounds like a very clever dog and barking is one good way to get you back downstairs!

Our bedtime routine is to take Midge out for a toilet trip and then get him his frozen kong (I put about a tablespoon of mashed kibble in it). We’ve always fed him in the crate so when he sees the kong he skips in there. The crate gets locked and covered and it’s lights out. We don’t go back downstairs once he’s in bed. The bathroom is over where he sleeps so I have to be very quiet in the night when I go to the loo. I’m paranoid about waking him up as he’s very hard to settle if he wakes in the night.

I am the same about going to the toilet in the night! I don't dare go just in case it disturbs him, and if I absolutely have to I creep around as quiet as possible. The barking is definitely an attention thing, so it's frustrating that I can't just ignore him. The only solution is to move house 😅

YorkshireFelix · 28/01/2025 14:06

Bupster · 28/01/2025 13:47

Just took Bill out for what I thought would be a quick lunchtime 20 minute walk to get out of the house and because the rain had stopped. He chose the route, which ended up being more of a 50 minute route march round some local streets (we hardly ever walk on tarmac). He was spotless in terms of listening to me, checking in, waiting at kerbs, walking to heel if I asked him. He was, of course, a holy nightmare first thing this morning. So beneath all the adolescent hooliganism and over-excitement in the vicinity of anything small and furry/feathered, the training is registering. How I'll ever get it to the surface when it counts is an entirely different matter, but I thought those of us struggling with teenagers would like a faint ray of hope!

Also I've been told on good authority (one of the lovely admins on the DTAS site) that after 11 months or so testosterone surges have peaked and it does get better. Bill is only nine months old, but still 😄

Lovely squidgy-headed numpty fast asleep for tax.

This is soooooo good, well done Bill! I am genuinely so pleased to hear how good he was!! Also that's interesting re 11 months. V will be 8 months in just over a weeks time (I feel like the months are actually passing by quite quickly) so hopefully I'll get over the worst by the time summer comes around... I am trying to be optimistic 😁

YorkshireFelix · 28/01/2025 14:07

Also hope you don't mind me tagging @CoubousAndTourmalet but just checking in as we've not seen you for a few days. Hope everything is ok!

brushingboots · 28/01/2025 14:13

@Nella68 @YorkshireFelix I can only dream of an upstairs bathroom – if I need the loo in the night I have to GO DOWNSTAIRS, the horror of it, which involves not only very creaky stairs (and remembering to leaving the loo lid up before I go to bed so it doesn’t make extra noise) but also creeping around trying not to disturb pupsy in the snug which shares a wall with the bathroom. Stupid old house layout. Dog-dad is always threatening to buy me a chamber pot but I will not hear of it since it is not 1657.

We are also going through a phase of waking up and woofing an hour or so earlier than normal and I can’t figure out what’s going on, but it is at least 7.15 not 1.30! I got up with her at 7.15 this morning and brought her back to my own bed without a word as a signal that if she wakes me up at that time then she won’t get anything except a comfy bed to lie in/on. Think it might be the heating kicking in so going to try with it totally off in the morning tomorrow and see if it makes a difference. I suspect for V it’s an adolescent blip if you haven't got foxes shagging nearby. It's all the more odd because it's the middle of the night rather than just earlier in the morning which is more understandable. Dogs are weird, though.

@Bupster Hooray for your extended walk! Sometimes they really do surprise us, but you’ve hit the nail on the head – beneath the hideousness they are the dogs that we have trained and loved. Bless him.

Inspired by some ~discourse~ elsewhere (@YorkshireFelix knows!) and because it is chucking it down, I have just done literally ten minutes of ‘scent work’ with pupsy in the house with five pieces of pate. I showed a piece to her and let her sniff it, sat her up in one room and then went and hid a piece in another room, and asked her to ‘go and find it’, which is a different command to her usual ‘find’. Five pieces of pate and a great deal of very active sniffing later, she is passed out totally sparko on the kitchen rug. Will definitely be doing that again – she loved it!

brushingboots · 28/01/2025 14:13

YorkshireFelix · 28/01/2025 14:07

Also hope you don't mind me tagging @CoubousAndTourmalet but just checking in as we've not seen you for a few days. Hope everything is ok!

Seconded @CoubousAndTourmalet – hope you're OK xx

tizwozliz · 28/01/2025 14:24

We play a game that I call Australian immigration. I get loads of bags, hide something in one and get pup to find the bag being used to smuggle foodstuffs 😂

Nella68 · 28/01/2025 14:40

@CoubousAndTourmalet me too. I’m missing hearing how the beautiful Brie is doing.

Nella68 · 28/01/2025 14:41

tizwozliz · 28/01/2025 14:24

We play a game that I call Australian immigration. I get loads of bags, hide something in one and get pup to find the bag being used to smuggle foodstuffs 😂

That’s too funny. I think I might pinch that game!

tizwozliz · 28/01/2025 14:45

Inspired by the spaniel we saw at the airport in Tasmania doing exact that.

YorkshireFelix · 28/01/2025 15:32

Two of Vinnys brothers went off to become ivory detection dogs!!

The scent work game sounds like a great idea. I might try it with Vinny but I do think he will just follow me if he knows I have food in my hand...

DH keeps saying he wants to train V to sniff out truffles. Apparently they favour using spaniels now instead of pigs because the pigs often end up gobbling the truffles up when they find them 😄

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