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!

@Bupster are you up to hiding stuff for him to find?

Obviously I'm an idiot and trying to push on through like normal through the power of Lemsip and stupidity. I did him a box game full of treatos and kibble and egg boxes and Amazon wrapping stuff and that seems to have knocked him out for a bit. I got him out for a walk this morning but there was pretty much no training going on, just trying to get him there and back without disaster. Once he's awake I'll take him up to the dog park and stay as long as we can manage and hope there are no puppies, as that should knock him out for the day. Then tonight I'll take a Covid test just in case, as I'm feeling far too rough for the 24 hour bug I was hoping this was, but not rough enough for this to be flu if you see what I mean.

He did go to daycare yesterday and he's due there Thursday and Friday - if I'm feeling terrible tomorrow again I might see if they can pick him up and/or drop him off on the Thursday as driving is really nerve-wracking when you know you're stupid and sick.

And thank you everyone! I feel very supported as well as having lots of extra ideas for managing him. Actually I think he needs more days of doing very little - I worry about not doing enough but when I ask him to sleep most of the day he does so quite contentedly. Wish I could.

I wouldn’t worry @Bupsterif you are ill you’re ill! He honestly won’t care if you’re phoning it in and doing the bare minimum with him. Plus if he’s at daycare Thursday/Friday and was there yesterday that more than makes up for it. I have only walked Vinny round the village today because I have loads of work on and have done nothing else, but we did lots of off lead training yesterday and will do the same tomorrow so he will be fine 😃

@Bupster as ever if you can get him here you can come and die quietly in our spare room, I'll die quietly in my office, and the dogs can entertain themselves xxx

Happy Friday all. Hope you are both feeling better now @Bupster@brushingboots??

V just had his final session of the block of 6 with his physio and she/we are thrilled with his progress. We are going to do some more but spaced apart just as a maintenance thing and to see how he gets on, so next one is in 4 weeks time. We can extend his off lead time too now, but I’m still going to keep it short as he stops engaging with me and gets distracted after 10/15 minutes!

Unfortunately he does have luxating patella but in the back left leg - the cruciate ligament damage was in the right. She said she can feel it but it’s very slight so we have caught it early. Physio didn’t seem overly concerned and said as long as we manage/keep an eye on it whilst he’s young it shouldn’t be a huge issue. It is worrying, but it’s reassuring that she wasn’t that concerned about it so I am going to put my trust in that.

@CaptainBeanThiefdid you make any progress with seeing the PDSA with Milo for a second opinion?

The physio sent me this pic of him having his laser session this morning, loving life under the heat lamp 😂

@YorkshireFelix that is good news! And doesn’t he look like he’s having a sun bed 😂

That’s really good news, @YorkshireFelix ! We’re recovering here, both of us are tired and grumpy and whiny. We just had to come in from the garden because one of the neighbours coughed in a scary way 😄🙄

@YorkshireFelix
We are just waiting for an appointment.
My little swine - he's thinking of what he can do next.
He's been fine in himself but waiting for his appointment is a long - we are waiting for them to contact us.

Thanks everyone. I am not thrilled with the luxating patella news but it could be a lot lot worse!

@CaptainBeanThief glad to hear he is doing ok. Hopefully they get in touch with you soon and you can get the ball rolling with some treatment.

I have been upstairs running a bath and just checked the camera, and laughing as V has dragged the (still plugged in but not turned on) heated blanket across the living room and made himself a bed… You can just see him poking out behind the door 😄

Hope you’ve all had a good weekend!!

Also I don’t know if I just bruise really easily but is anyone else constantly covered in bruises? My legs look ridiculous. He has a tendency to jump up and trample all over me in bed, or when we’re on the sofa etc. My DH doesn’t have it as bad so maybe it’s just me, but not sure I’ll be able to wear anything short when the weather is nice at this rate!!

@YorkshireFelix
Haha the cheeky sod!
Noz it's not just you, I'm on blood thinners, I've got constant bruises, big black/purple bruises, mainly from Milo bouncing on me 😲

I walked V in the woods today for the first time since January! 🥳 I much prefer it to boring pavement walks or the playing field, but he was getting a bit too brave again and started buggering off like he did a few months ago which was annoying. We stuck to the flat paths so it wasn’t too much on his legs, as his physio said we’d basically be throwing money down the drain if we let him bomb about up and down all the steep parts of the woodland.

There’s a woman who has a black cocker who could be V’s twin and I spoke to her today. He’s just turned 1 in March and she said she’s struggling with the adolescent stage too. Which made me feel so much better because I always see them and think she’s doing so well and it makes me feel like a failure 😄 So it was nice to know they are going through the same problems!

We also encountered two absolutely glorious Old English Sheepdogs (literally the most beautiful dogs I have ever seen IRL), and one was only 8 months old and desperate to play with Vinny and he went all panicky, jumping up at me and howling. I’m not sure if any of you remember when he has done this before in the past. He freaks out massively, especially if a dog likes to play chase, and I don’t know what to do about it. He seems to love other dogs but only if they are calm and have a bit of a sniff. I am worried that one time it will end up turning nasty and obviously I want to avoid that happening. He is a very friendly dog but it’s when he panics and feels threatened, he can snarl and snap at the other dog that’s just trying to play. He didn’t snap at the sheepdogs but did at a crazy out of control Springer puppy (which was being walked by a frail 85 year old man who apologised as he said he’s not fast enough to catch up with her, which is a whole other story 😳) earlier on in our walk.

We saw my Dsis last weekend with her JRT and Vinny has the same reaction with him too. He is very intense and playful and doesn’t seem to get the message that V is scared and doesn’t like him.

Anyway I don’t know if anyone has any advice about what I can do to help encourage being playful and realise these other dogs aren’t a threat to him, or if I just need to accept that he simply doesn’t get on with certain dogs vibes and that’s just his personality 😄

Ok ignore the above part about not liking other dogs. I posted on the cocker spaniel group on FB and had some good advice!!

@YorkshireFelix Hello! I am still a bit sickly but considerably better, thank you <3

V sorry to hear your patella news, but at least you’ve caught it early. I too am always covered in bruises – always on the front of my thighs where she launches herself at me when retrieving. It beats having cuts on my hands/wrists though from the puppy biting phase so I’ll take the bruises.

Have you been swimming with him yet/has he swum anywhere? That might be fun for him and good for him at the same time. Water retrieves are super fun for them and it's really good value exercise for them. We were doing some really fun retrieves on Sunday, sending her down a dyke, through the stream, back up the dyke and into the next field for a dummy/ball until one time I chucked the ball slightly too short and it bounced off and landed on… a dead fox downstream. Vile. Duly reported to the council. Hoping it might have gone tomorrow so I can get my ball back but do I want a dead foxy ball? Perhaps not.

I remember you saying about him being scared and not liking being chased. It’s sad really because pupsy’s play style involves a lot of (consensual) chasing and it’s lovely to watch, but it does have to work for both dogs. I think you just have to advocate for him and know when it’s getting too much/listen to him when he tells you. (Having read further down I will now go and read the advice you were given as I’m intrigued to know if there’s a more pro answer to it all!)

Sorry to hear you’re still a bit ill!

The general advice was that some dogs just don’t like that style of interaction and there’s nothing wrong with that, which I’m glad to hear as I was convinced it was a result of me maybe not socialising him ‘playing’ with other pups when he was small. He can be a bit cautious generally anyway so it makes sense that it’s just his personality. I’m just going to make sure I advocate for him more and not put him in a situation which will frighten him - difficult with many dog walkers who let their dogs piss about miles off in the distance and don’t give a shit!

He hasn’t been swimming actually. I have no idea where to take him around here. We have the river Aire but it’s fast in this area (and full of sewage 🤢). There’s some shallow streamy bits he’s been paddling in before but unsurprisingly he was scared of it. I might ask on the local FB group if anyone knows somewhere we could visit that might be suitable. I’ve lived here a few years but have barely explored the area really, and I know we’re so close to many nice places. There’s a Victorian lido close by to us in Ilkley and on the last day of the season before they shut and give everything a deep clean, they have ‘doggy day’ where you can take your dogs for a swim!! Maybe we’ll have to do that this year 😄

Milo is seriously, seriously, seriously in the dog house!!!
Myself and my husband could smell a whiff a wee for a couple of days, we thought it was Milo himself - i.e he's caught himself whilst cocking his leg up - nope, not that.

Then the rabbits? No they have been cleaned out. Smell not gone.

Then I lift my sofa cushion up - then BAM, piss all over my sofa base. My head nearly blew off, we've cleaned and cleaned it!!!
We are hoping to god we have done a good enough job, otherwise it will need a need a professional clean - might just go ahead with that anyway.
From now on - he's forbidden from going on any furniture anywhere.
I am so disappointed in him.
I don't know where I have gone wrong??? Why has he done this ???

Checking in after a looooong post-spay recovery – everything went backwards and it was very disheartening. We seem to be back on the up though – two days accident-free, much more chilled in the evenings and best of all, her recall (with whistle) has come on so far that we’re letting her off lead at the beach and in the park – it’s made a HUGE difference to us all as it’s way more fun to take her out and she’s getting much better exercise and enrichment. Hooray.

Took her for her first big girl groom yesterday and they said “Kerry Blue Terrier / Shih Tzu cross?! What do you want us to do with her? Shih Tzu or Kerry Blue?” and we said “well she’s a Kerry Blue shape but with Shih Tzu fur so… whatever you think is best?!” and they did THIS… 🤣 I actually love it, I think she looks adorable, but DP is horrified because he misses his scruffy terrier (“before” picture included for comparison)!

Catching up on all your posts now…

@peachgreen
Oh no what have you done to the scruffy terrier!!!!!!
She does look gorgeous obviously!!! I do need to get Milo in for a full clip and groom but I like him looking like a scruffy little shite bag 🤭

Oh nooooo poor you!! That is frustrating. I wonder why he has done it?! Sorry I have no advice but wish I had.

Awwwww she looks like a completely different pup!! That is so funny! She is very cute. I’m glad to hear she is doing so well after having a rough time after her spay. What a good girl 😇

OBVIOUSLY after posting this, she weed on the floor this morning. Grr. So I feel your pain @CaptainBeanThief!

Hope you're feeling better @Bupster. It's the WORST when you have to keep going when you're ill. Not quite the same (tbh probably easier as I didn't have to go outside!) but I remember having a chest infection when my daughter was 3, and it was during lockdown so I couldn't have anyone in to help or send her anywhere (and I was a solo parent at the time). I remember crawling to the stove, dragging a chair behind me so I could sit on it and stir her beans for beans on toast!

@YorkshireFelix So glad Vinny is on the mend post-surgery.

@CaptainBeanThief How annoying! I doubt you have done anything wrong though, they all have their moments of driving us crazy with different things!

@peachgreen She looks cute both ways! Glad to hear she's getting better and also doing well on her training.

Belle had another gundog training session on Saturday, was fun and she was loving it - worked really hard to find one of the retrieves and was all chuffed with herself which was great. Tried to recreate it myself this morning, but she found it, sat beside it and wouldn't come back to me. Don't know what I'm doing wrong but maybe she just wasn't in the mood!

@CaptainBeanThief Oh my god Milo. What a horror. You haven’t gone wrong anywhere. Could it be linked to his being bored having less exercise, because of his poorly legs? Unless nothing else has changed I can’t think why it would have happened otherwise, unless he’s got a UTI or something?

@peachgreen Ahhh she’s turning into a big girlie now! How gorgeous with her new cut. Love it, that’s how I’d have her too. Glad she’s recovered from her spay OK.

@ComeTalkToMe If it’s any consolation at all, pupsy is perfect doing any exercise whatsoever with our trainer and looks like she’s worked full time all her life, and then parades horrendously with me at home, aged nearly two. I think sometimes they’re not in the mood – and also, as one of my friends often says, sometimes they just don’t deserve to be trained! Glad she’s having fun with it though. Are you enjoying it too?

@brushingboots I really am, it's just so obviously more suited to her than the puppy class we were at, where I constantly felt like a failure - and now we're doing more with her she seems more content at home, so a win all round really!