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!

@YorkshireFelix
Oh god, no, he is just excitable as V lol. I'm cringing every second when he's jumping about I try my best to stop him but it makes him worse - he's prancing about with his sheep right now.
All hell breaks loose when my husband comes home jumping up on his back legs I'm like this 😬 millooooo please your legs.
I also feel guilty because I'm having to separate him in the hallway alot - away from me and my husband at the night time because he just becomes a nuisance.
We took him for a 5 minute run about in the small park ( via the park earlier) and straight back on lead but I had an angina attack myself 🤣 it was out of the blue so I had to get back to the car 🤣🤣.
As Milo is older and doesn't theoretically need to go out for wees and poos as much he can do alot more mental stimulation than physical. Even in the garden I'm putting him on the lead because it is huge.
It's sad because there's like there's nothing wrong with him but I know there is and it's sad.

The little swine having a nice rest.

I hope everyone has the same glorious sunshine we have today! I walked V with no coat and sunglasses 😎 It's made me very excited for summer evening walks this year.

@CaptainBeanThief how is Milo doing? Has he had his check up yet?

@YorkshireFelix
He's okay, he's winding me up today - he's been out 3 times, I've taken him 20 mins per time and he WILL NOT POO!! He's farting like mental and clearly needs one and I need to limit his exercise!!
He's going to have to wait now for abit.
His checkup is on Tuesday afternoon so hopefully all is ok - I know he isn't going to be "cured" but the vets may have more tips/treatment's.
How's Vinnie??

It is so frustrating when they won't go and you know they need it! V has taken to saving his poos and wees up until I take him out for a walk, so he whinges and whinges to be let out into the yard but then sits and stares at the sky instead!

He's still not sleeping but doing good otherwise. Currently legs akimbo airing his bollocks.

There was meant to be a picture attached but I don't know if they have banned posting them again!!

@YorkshireFelix
It should show soon once they have previewed it 🤣🤣🤣

Gang, I need some advice. All Betty wants to do is be outside. She loves it out there. Doesn’t matter how much playtime she’s had or how long a walk we’ve just been on, she wants to be outside. Digging and running and chasing leaves. Now, this is a dog who otherwise won’t let us out of her sight – but when she’s outside? She does not give two hoots if she can see us or not.

Is it awful and neglectful of me to let her stay out there by herself? It’s FREEZING here and I have a job so I cannot stand in the garden with her for 45 minutes at a time! I can leave the back door open with the utility room door closed so she can get back inside, I can see most of the garden from my chair so catch sight of her every so often, I can hear her when she barks to be let back in and the garden is 100% enclosed with a locked gate and a 6 foot fence that backs onto a river, so she can’t possibly get out (not even by digging – the fence is surrounded by a concrete path).

Thing is, from her body language she’s totally happy out there on her own – she sees us going back in, closing the door etc and she just turns around and carries on playing. But something in me tells me it’s cruel and wrong to leave a dog outside alone?!

Please be gentle – first dog and all that, and the advice on the internet is so conflicting! DP is a much more experienced dog owner and he thinks it’s fine – he says it depends on the dog whether they like it or not and that its’s good for building up her confidence being alone – but he suggested I asked on here when I was agonising over it earlier.

Aforementioned puppy feeling very pleased with herself after digging up a jumpy beetle and PINNING IT TO THE GROUND (she absolutely failed, it scuttled away unharmed).

@peachgreen
If she's happily playing outside and the risk of escaping is absolutely impossible then let her, it's a brilliant way of burning off energy.
Just be 1 million % sure that she cannot escape and you keep an eye on her I don't see the problem.
( I'm sure someone on Mumsnet will though) X 🤣🤣

@peachgreen I leave M in the garden if he’s having fun. I’ll check every few minutes that he’s still there. There’s one part of the wire fence where the hedge behind is very straggly so I have to keep an eye on that bit. I’ve put some bits of wood there as a temporary fix.
Where in the world are you if it’s freezing outside? It’s been so mild here this week I’ve forgotten that it’s snowed in April before!

@CaptainBeanThief not long until the vet appointment. How very annoying about the poo (or lack of it). He’s a very clever boy and knows how to get you to take him for a walk!

Aww I've not seen a pic of her since she was tiny! She's grown so much.

I'd have no qualms about leaving V to piss about in a secure garden. We have still been using a metal pen to restrict the access to our full back yard (which is very secure as it has 6ft walls but is small!), but I moved it out of the way today as I've cleaned up a load of leaves etc. I've had to move it back because he has suddenly discovered he can jump into the raised bed and dig in the mud, which he's never ever done outside before. So it was over as quickly as it started 😂

Can someone make my dog have a poo?
He still hasn't had one, ALL day, he clearly needs one!! I think he just wants to run off lead myself 🤔
I know your game Milo!!!!
😡😡😡

The pages have gone missing. I’ve just had to scroll through all the posts on this thread to get to the bottom. Has this happened to anyone else/ does anyone know how to get the pages back?

@peachgreen I’d let her crack on if she’s happy, given that your garden is secure. Definitely good for developing some independence and she'll be having a lovely time. I’ve had the back door open for most of this week and pupsy has been going in and out as she pleases, until I’ve got too cold and I’ve had to shut the door. It’s been so warm here, relatively, that the house has generally been colder than outside, which now I think of it is rather a bleak thought.

Thank you all, that is really good to hear, I appreciate your reassurance so much. It really did make her happy – although she promptly came back inside and did a wee on the floor, so that was fun 🙃 Anyway, it was a welcome reprieve from a rather tiring day. Rather like your Milo, @CaptainBeanThief, she takes a long time to work herself up to a poo and in the two or three hours beforehand she runs around like a loon, whines and paces constantly. It really gets her worked up! So that was a fun afternoon.

@Nella68 We’re in Northern Ireland! It was at least sunny today, which helped, but still very windy!

@YorkshireFelix She has got scarily large, scarily quickly!

My husband has just taken him out, within 5 minutes he had one, he takes the piss out of me he does,
Lucky I live within walking distance of dogs trust so that's an option 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

I’m another one who lets their dog play outside by themself - interesting as she won’t be inside herself 😂 I’ve got glass patio doors and I work beside them, so I can see her. That’s necessary to react to digging or poo eating 😫

V had his third physio/laser appointment today so we're half way through the course. The physio said she did some exercises with him at the end where she gets him to walk over a pole, and she said he jumped over it with both back legs rather than hopping over it awkwardly with one back leg which is what he did in his first session when I was there. So it's improving! Hopefully after the 6 sessions are done we can go back to normal walks.

She also said he is one of the crazier spaniels she has seen but I don't think he's that bad?! 😳

I have to confess I had a bit of a meltdown today. Betty had FOUR accidents yesterday and one today, and her recall is atrocious, and it's starting to feel a bit like we're going backwards. The thing is, her recall is great in training sessions, but as soon as she's either distracted or there's something she wants more than whatever treat we have – like to bark at next door's dog, or chase a leaf, or dig a hole – it goes completely out the window.

She's also very clearly developing a strong attachment to DP, to the extent that when he goes upstairs for a bit she paces and whines the entire time he's up there. Of course, the solution to that particular issue is for him to go out more and me to spend more time with her – but that just made me want to cry because my work days are so busy (she says, posting on MN at 4pm, but in my defence I've been working since 7!) and then at the weekends I want to use whatever energy I have left to hang out with my poor neglected DD! And quite frankly it's not very pleasant spending time with her alone when all she does is whine and pace and look for DP! I feel like it's too late and she's just bonded with him now. :(

Someone please a) the training issues will get better and b) she won't hate me forever?!

@peachgreen my current pup scent marked terribly when we got him - our dog trainer recommended cleaning up accidents with a solution of biological washing liquid and water and I’d say it cut accidents down by about 75%. We used it to wash the kitchen floors and everything. Bonus is it smells nice!

Ahhh nooo @peachgreen. The recall going backwards thing is par for the course – I think that’s the original reason why the first of these threads was started. It will definitely get better if you keep at it. Be consistent.

There are a lot of gundog breed people on this thread and most of us use a whistle for recall. I don’t know if that would be any good for Betty? I can also recommend Pets at Home’s £1 squeaky dinosaurs – they cut through the red mist beautifully.

Re being clingy (or not) – can you try and make the time you do have with her super fun times? So when you are with her you can play games and do some tugging with a good toy – something so that she associates you with fun? I think that’s how I’d begin to tackle it, by being ‘Disney Mum’ as it were, making all the fun times with me.

@peachgreen sorry to hear you have had a bad couple of days. I can’t remember how old Betty is.

With the toileting accidents do you wait for her to ask to go outside or do you take her out regularly? You might have to go back to basics for a few days, so taking her out when she wakes; before and after food; etc. You’ve said that she likes to stay in the garden, so I would put her on a lead so there’s less chance of her messing around, and then bring her back in. It will get better!

You have my empathy with recall! I’ve been practising really hard for the last few weeks in a place where there are few distractions like dogs and people, but plenty of smells and crows etc. I’ve been hiding behind trees, zigzagging, running away from him, turning in the opposite direction if he runs in front of me etc etc. I think it’s getting better but I’m not brave enough to take him to the local park as I know he would find the other dogs just too tempting.

I don’t know what to advise re the whinging, apart from trying to strengthen your bond. Can you play sniffing games with Betty and your daughter? My kids really enjoy hiding things for Midge to sniff out and he loves it too. It’s helped with his impulse control, as he has to wait until he’s given permission to go and find. All the sniffing wears him out too!