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

[Bupster]

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

Midge doesn’t lick, thank goodness. He’s just come in from the garden licking his lips and looking very pleased with himself. I’m assuming he’s just hoovered up some cat shit 🤢

My older one is also strangely selective about vacuum cleaners, she's fine with the small hand held, she's ok with the plug in upright, fine with the cordless if it's got the nozzle on but hates the carpet attachment. It's actually much more convenient that she takes herself off to another room, the younger one just lies in the way.

I think mine would be quite happy with the same rotation of walks forever, it's me that gets bored

Hope everyone is ok!

I’m getting a bit despondent with Midge’s recall (or lack of). Some days he is great and charges back. Other days, like today, he’s more interested in the smells and will go off following a scent without a backwards glance. Calling / squeaky Dino/ running the other way/ hiding all are ignored. I don’t want to call him too often so I’ve been hiding or walking the other way just to see how long it takes before he realises I’m not there. It can take a few minutes.

I tried him back on the longline but I’ve found he’s just too strong and the extra length means he can get some speed up = me pulled flat on my face.

I can tell how good a session we’ve had by how many treats are dispensed. Today was a bad day with zero checking in, lots of pulling towards smells and ears turned off!

they lead you into a false sense of hope when they have a good day don't they @Nella68!
@YorkshireFelix how is sleep going?
Max has had a upset tummy for almost a week now, very very runny poos but still eating, drinking, wanting a walk and to play. spoke to the vet who said to just keep on with the plain food diet he's probably had a virus and it's still flushing through. But i'm worried, i'm a anxious person anyway and this is pushing me over the edge. Has anyone got any words of wisdom, advice or had similar?

@lookwhatyoumademedoo Midge had terrible diarrhoea when he was about 6 months old and had it on and off for the next couple of months. He was absolutely fine in himself good appetite, lively etc, so not sure what sparked it off. We think it was related to chicken as his diarrhoea came back when we put him back on his original food (chicken based).

We spent a fortune on the tins of Hills ID prescription food and probiotic firming paste but this, and a change to a salmon based feed seems to have sorted it out. When we introduced his usual feed back in we did it very slowly over a couple of weeks.

If he’s over fed (too many treats) he gets quite runny, so it’s a fine balancing act.
My husband says I’m obsessed as I need a daily poo firmness report

Hello @Nella68!

Commiserations – some days are just hard, aren’t they? It really sounds like you’re doing everything right and he’s just being a teenage boy.

Have you done much offlead heel work with him? Might be something interesting to try as part of a bonding and training exercise. It’s really satisfying when you get it, but it’s also a useful skill that you can work on close to him rather than something where he gets to practice being away from you. It’s possible that you might judge him too much of a flight risk to try but you could do it with the longline trailing as a backup.

We had a session with our gundog trainer today and though she is excellent and gave me the help I needed to fix my problem, and also said how well we were doing, I feel quite sad and like I’ve raised a terrible dog. Rationally I know I haven’t but I’m just very competitive.

Ahhh @lookwhatyoumademedoo, the poor baba. Have you got some prokolin paste? That can often help, if the vet hasn’t already suggested it. The other thing often recommended, including by vets, is a bit of Chappie, for a poorly tummy. My best advice is, to the best of your ability, not to stress. If he’s eating, drinking and keen to do things, and the vet says not to worry, then he’ll sort himself out.

I too require a poo report if dog-dad walks pupsy alone, @Nella68. Sometimes I think back to my pre-dog life and am amazed I got through the days successfully without the regular poo commentary.

Thankyou for the advice @Nella68 and @brushingboots. We've been giving him white fish and paste for the last 3 days but his poos aren't improving. i'll get some prokolin today. i've booked him to see the vet today again.

Aww @lookwhatyoumademedoo I'm sorry you've been having tummy issues! Hopefully it settles down soon as that must be awful for you all.

Also thanks for asking about the sleep. He's now up in our bedroom every night and we have a good routine going. I make him a kong (although he gets bored when he has to work for the bottom part 😄) or a stuffed stinky hoof and that seems to settle him. He's sleeping better each night and I even slept the past 2 nights with no ear plugs in!! The most annoying thing was DH snoring. I feel so much better for getting some decent sleep!

It's his first physio/laser session today so fingers crossed that goes well.

@YorkshireFelix Hooray for some sleep! I really think the same routine helps Midge settle. He goes out for a last wee/ poo then husband says ‘shall we find something nice’ and opens the freezer and Midge scurries in to his crate for his Kong.

@lookwhatyoumademedoo I hope the vet can help. How old is your pups?

Check the price of the pro biotic support paste. It’s far more economical at Vets4Pets to buy the 60ml tube. Midge was having 5mls twice a day, so the 30ml tube really didn’t last long! I seem to recall that the equivalent at pets@home was more expensive too.

i'm glad your getting some decent sleep @YorkshireFelix !! how did his physio go?
he'll be one next month @Nella68. he's been back to the vets today, they've checked him over and everything is normal except for the poos so they've gave him a injection, a vitamin drink and some promax paste and said he should improve in the next. 48 hours.

Fingers crossed for you @lookwhatyoumademedoo 🤞🏻

His physio was fine. I stayed for the first 5 minutes but he wouldn't settle so I waited in the car. The physio managed to do a laser session on both of his back legs and said he was good after I had left. She kept saying how he was such a typical boy spaniel, whatever that means 😄

He's been absolutely awful since 3pm. We've not had a day like this for a long time. Just running and jumping up at me, biting my arms and legs constantly. I am so worn out. I just took him for a quick walk hoping it will chill him out a bit and he pulled with his absolute full strength the whole time. It was horrible!! I feel like I need to lie down in a dark room for 365 days 💀

Just to counteract my last post, he's been an angel today so far. I have been deep cleaning the house and he's been so chill, and then we went for a walk and had minimal pulling. Why do they go insane one day then nice the next 😂

I think my hooligan is going through a third fear period. We had a horror of a few days after our lovely walk with @brushingboots last week - he was bouncing off the walls, and absolutely losing it outdoors, barking at every dog we met. I was at the crying in the shower stage, and messaged my daycare and my puppy class trainer (due to start next week) because I wasn't sure they'd let him in, he was so bad. Little bollocks was absolutely fine at daycare in the end and the trainer was lovely, but my confidence took a real knock, hence disappearing from here for a while.

Anyway, today he barked at a cement mixer, and he's been barking at men, too, with his tail wagging at the same time - clearly conflicted - and the penny dropped that this was what he did last time (back in October) when he was losing his shit over unexpected bin bags.

I hope I'm right, as I miss my lovely curious pup, and if it is a fear period, then I only have to hang on a few weeks and things might get a bit better. If not, then he's just a reactive little thug now, which is quite depressing. Even if I am right, I still have to just hope he hasn't had one of those single learning experience things where one bad encounter during a fear period imprints it. He's generally so resilient, but he is on such high alert now every time he sees a dog he doesn't know; every outing is stressful. And don't ask me about bloody cats. Adolescence is shit.

On the upside he is still hilarious.

@Bupster sorry to hear you are having a challenging time. I fully get that crying in the shower feeling. For me it was on a park bench last week after being dragged into a bush for the umpteenth time.

How are you tackling the fears? Midge was really scared when we had the builders on the flat roof above his head- he could see them through the roof light and went crazy. I shovelled treats into his mouth every time he looked towards them/ pricked his ears up. I think it helped as he was able to settle.

M has been on high alert as well recently. Since the boxer attack I’ve been taking him to a really quiet location where we only see dogs in the distance. Now If he sees dogs on the other side of the road he’s on high alert and really staring at them- he’s been too aroused to take treats/ focus on me.
I’ve spent the last couple of afternoon walks sitting on the park bench clicking when he looks at a dog and giving him a treat. He seemed to be a little better at disengaging from other dogs this afternoon.

I’ve booked a dog field tomorrow for an hour and as it’s half term I’ve roped in my daughter to come and help with recall. M was a rotter today- he ignored me but did return to her- must be the novelty!

That's exactly what I've been doing, @Nella68 . I do think he's conflicted about it all - e.g. this morning he had a bit of handbags with a couple of dogs he sees regularly, then literally seconds later he and one of the other dogs were standing next to each other taking treats from my hand. So it's not full-on fear or full-on aggression, it's like he has to yell at them and then honour is satisfied.

I'm planning to take him to the cemetery at lunchtime and do that exact click the trigger thing, as there are quite a few non-social dogs there so everyone walks on separate paths and ignores each other - we used it when he was tiny and over-social as practice for sitting and watching another dog walk by.

With the other fears I'm letting him lead me. So this morning we saw a council guy - he always wants to say hello to them but sometimes he's also scared by their hats or hi-vis, or if they smell of cigarettes. Today he dragged me over to say hello and tried to leap up to lick the guy on the nose, which I'm counting as a positive.

I'm feeling a bit better about it all despite the handbags - I think the idea of this being a short fear period is making it more manageable even though it might not actually be the case! And yes, I know that's bonkers 😄.

@Bupster that’s positive. I’m thinking the more we do just quiet watching the better it will be. I went for a walk with a friend to the busy park. She walks an elderly female Cairn terrier and it’s really good for M as he generally just bumbles along beside her sniffing all the bits she’s sniffed (the Cairn not the friend 😂). Midge was better at disengaging as well, but I do think it helped that the dogs that crossed our path were all elderly and calm so weren’t giving off ‘play with me NOW’ vibes.

I look at M in the house and he’s so calm, I’m hoping this behaviour eventually translates to outside.

Ahh @Bupster, sorry he's being a particular trial. You know he is always welcome with us if you need a break and I will collect so you don't have to go through the horror. You know where we are and we will always help xxx

I am off to see some outstanding gundogs today in Perthshire. Those with good memories will know to what I refer! Have elected not to take pupsy for everyone's sake though it does seem a shame to go all this way without her.

@Nella68 no to crying on benches!! I'm sorry to hear that. Have also been there, except in the middle of a field surrounded by partridges and a previously well trained feral dog with apparently no manners. They are really challenging sometimes. Solidarity and I repeat my offer to B to you too: if you're in our neck of the woods or close ish by we are always available as emotional support doggy pals to you and M x

Eeek have a great time!! Hope the travel isn't too brutal!

@Bupster @Nella68 sorry you're both in the thick of it at the minute. I said to DH that I fully regret ever getting a dog the other day, so solidarity from myself!! I am taking dd for a day out in Manchester tomorrow and I am so looking forward to a few hours of blissful dog free time...

@brushingboots I hope you have a great time, fingers crossed for good weather and that the journey wasn’t too onerous. If you pick up any good tips let us know!

Today has been so much better I can't tell you. Very far from perfect, but it's a testament to how bad the last few weeks have been that I almost cried with joy in the dog park because he was running around squeaking his ball and playing with his friends.

He's still barky at other dogs he doesn't know well, and on high alert as you describe it, @Nella68 ; but as well as this morning's handbags, this afternoon he recalled away from two annoying poodles he was barking at, which is something it's always been damn near impossible to get him to do even before he hit adolescence. I've also been doing a version of click the trigger for strange dogs and he's been really good at disengaging today.

@Nella68 and @YorkshireFelix , this might be worth trying: I've started keeping a daily record on my notes app where I list all the positives from every day, note down anything I've changed, and then list the areas to improve (the idea is that I only pick one for the next day but I keep forgetting to pick any 😄). It's been so good for the overwhelm, and for seeing that he's growing and learning and doing well even when I want to hide in the shrubbery and cry. Today there were 16 positives on the list.

The best bit is he saw one of his oldest friends this afternoon who we've not seen for weeks and weeks - another intact male, much bigger than him now (but almost the same age) who has a very robust play style. I'd been really worried, given Bill's reaction to other males at the moment, but they were better than fine together; Bill was all waggy even when his mate was stealing his ball right out of his mouth (it's a thing they all do, it's hilarious). Honestly, I felt like I could breathe again. One of the other owners said it's like he's a different dog today.

@Nella68 , @YorkshireFelix , I do hope you have a day like this soon. I can't tell you how much a difference it makes xxx

Pictured (eventually, once Mumsnet approves): Mr Not-A-Kebab-Today-But-No-Promises-Tomorrow

He looks absolutely hench here 😂

So glad to hear he's been good today! The diary idea is great, I might adopt that.

We do have glimmers of 'good' occasionally, like when he sometimes decides to sit and wait patiently when he sees a person approaching, so I am holding onto those for now. V has actually been slightly better today although he's suddenly decided he wants to pull towards every dog we pass, despite doing loads of work around being neutral about other dogs. It's frustrating how backwards we have gone but I know it's to be expected.

He's currently running around with his favourite blanket on his head, so I can't be mad at him 😄