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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!

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brushingboots · 02/04/2025 15:12

@ComeTalkToMe This is what we like to hear!! Delighted for you both.

YorkshireFelix · 05/04/2025 15:24

@ComeTalkToMethat is fab, it sounds like she’s doing really well. I am hoping we can start a beginner gundog class before the summer as I think it would be good for us too.

Weather is gorgeous today. We have just been for a nice walk and run about on the playing field, then I sat and had a coffee outside our restaurant and we practiced some sitting and doing nothing which he did so well at. We were sat for about half an hour and he was very settled. I think it helped that he was tired!! It was so warm, I felt like I was on holiday 😄

Adolescent Dog Survival Thread - get teenage licks right through the night!
Adolescent Dog Survival Thread - get teenage licks right through the night!
Nella68 · 05/04/2025 20:00

@YorkshireFelix it looks like you are on holiday!

It’s so nice not to wear wellies every day. My feet didn’t get muddy going round the woods that are usually a quagmire, and more importantly neither did Midge!

YorkshireFelix · 05/04/2025 20:34

Nella68 · 05/04/2025 20:00

@YorkshireFelix it looks like you are on holiday!

It’s so nice not to wear wellies every day. My feet didn’t get muddy going round the woods that are usually a quagmire, and more importantly neither did Midge!

Yes I love it! And not having to hose poor Vinny down in the back yard after every walk 😄

ComeTalkToMe · 08/04/2025 09:13

Isn't it so much nicer walking them in the sun? Belle was doing very well with her stays this morning, and her retrieves which put me in a good mood - but I do wonder if I will ever be able to have her off her long line in an area where there are other dogs about. Even if the other dog is quite a bit away she will not pay attention to me - far too concerned about trying to play. I'm glad it's play and she's not scared or aggressive at all, but just not sure if this will eventually tail off and become less exciting!

brushingboots · 08/04/2025 10:49

@ComeTalkToMe in my experience it definitely becomes less exciting but you do have to also condition it to be. So you either make yourself more exciting, or you give polite signs that you don't want them playing with dogs they don't know – or both.

I recall pupsy away from any dogs we don't already know and only let her approach dog friends if it's clear it's OK to, ie they're not actively doing training. Now she ignores most dogs and doesn't approach unless approved. We got to that point via a combination of offlead heel work and reinforcing that being near me was good, just general recall work, having her off the lead most of the time so she understood that being offlead didn't mean running away, and also being a bit standoffish to other unknown dogs and never encouraging them. Maybe the last bit is my imagination but when she was harassed while in heat I got quite tiger mum-ish about things and one day physically removed someone else's dog from our vicinity, telling it 'no, go away' and I guess giving pupsy a clear signal that I didn't want that other dog there.

All of that said, a lot of it also comes down to age and maturity. When she was B's age she was much keener on other dogs than she is now but she's two next month and it's made a whole world of difference. She is far more interested in her environment, much to most dogs' surprise.

Just keep at it, encouraging her to want to be with you and it will come. I did use my longline but in truth more often than not she learned by doing, ie being offlead and listening to my corrections if she got it wrong. I'm of the view that they can't learn to do something until they get a chance to try but I know that isn't everyone's philosophy.

brushingboots · 08/04/2025 10:50

And yes, walking in the sun is transformational! A genuine tonic.

Bupster · 08/04/2025 12:01

I'm having to give Bill a complete break from playing with other dogs at the moment - it's so sunny and lovely that the dog park gets very busy and he gets really over-aroused and his thinky brain leaves the building. Several times in the last few weeks he's ended up in a chasing game that's got out of hand. So we're going to avoid the place unless the weather is miserable and hardly anyone will be out to play. I feel bad for taking away his social life, and I'm worried about getting more isolated, but it's really unfair on the dogs that get picked on, and he's always part of the gang that ends up chasing and never on the receiving end, the hooligan. It'll be interesting to see if there are still moments where everything gets out of hand when he's not there...

Part of me is quite relieved as I was finding it hard to make this decision and now it's done. And we will have more time one-on-one for training and focus. I'm also trying to buy a new car in the hope that I'll be able to take him on adventures - we've become dependent on that little park because he can't travel. Adventure to us at the moment is getting to a park across town 🙄

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Nella68 · 08/04/2025 14:10

@ComeTalkToMe I hear you! Midge has been back on the longline for the last couple of months as his recall is patchy and I don’t want him becoming a pest.
I have noticed that he is much better at disengaging from other dogs. I take him for walks in areas that aren’t too busy and if I see another dog coming our way I’ll pick up the longline and reel him in. It’s helped with my confidence that I can prevent him from following another dog but he also gets the freedom to scamper around when there’s no dogs in sight. I’m not keen on him greeting every dog so I try and limit it to every 3rd dog (doesn’t work if the other dog is off lead!).

Nella68 · 08/04/2025 14:15

@Bupster it sounds like a good idea to avoid the park. I went through a stage a few months ago when I didn’t go to our nearest park as Midge would get far too excited and all he wanted to do was hump other dogs. I did a lot of pavement walking and looking at dogs from a distance. I think it helped break the humping habit. He used to hump his bed A Lot, but hasn’t for a few weeks now.

ComeTalkToMe · 08/04/2025 21:41

Just had a good long off lead walk/ training session at a country park near us, and there was not another dog in sight - bliss 😂

Great to read your tips and feel reassured I am not alone in trying to discourage unlimited play despite they fact I’m sure their dog is ‘friendly’!!

brushingboots · 09/04/2025 01:01

@ComeTalkToMe my general, possibly slightly unforgiving rule, is that if someone shouts 's/he's friendly' as their dog runs over then that's not a dog I want pupsy to play with, as it usually means they don't have any recall!

YorkshireFelix · 16/04/2025 13:59

Hello, how is everyone doing? I hope all the pups are behaving and that’s why it’s been so quiet here!!

We are doing ok. Enjoying off lead walks again and had some nice walks back in the woods, and he’s not pissing off out of sight for minutes at a time and staying close again 🤞🏻The only thing we are struggling with at the minute is the mad moments he has where he gets over aroused and will lunge at you ‘play’ biting and then zoom around and repeat. It drives me insane but I know it’s just a teenage thing and he will stop eventually…

Vinny is 10 months now! I am kind of wishing the months away as I know he will be less of a pain in the arse with time. Sometimes I think it was an awful decision getting a dog but then I do like him really.

We were trying to get a nice photo with the bluebells earlier 😄

Adolescent Dog Survival Thread - get teenage licks right through the night!
tizwozliz · 16/04/2025 16:32

This one is 2 now so graduated from the adolescence threading think

Adolescent Dog Survival Thread - get teenage licks right through the night!
Adolescent Dog Survival Thread - get teenage licks right through the night!
brushingboots · 16/04/2025 16:38

Hello! @YorkshireFelix

I am – can you believe!! – still faintly ill but pupsy is well. Think I cracked a rib with my cough but it’s almost over now. We had a lovely few days in London last week where she was thoroughly spoilt while I went to some meetings and got to dig on the beach by the Thames for the first time which she loved. She remains unconvinced by the ‘sea’, however.

I was thinking the other day that V must be nearly a year old now, and Bill too, @Bupster Pupsy is two a month today, which I can’t quite believe. We have also graduated from here but will gladly stick around for moral support.

If it’s any consolation, @YorkshireFelix, the other night she was overtired and needing a sleep but I was faffing around tidying and she was nipping at me a bit like a sheepdog on a sheep saying, come on, go and sit down so I can collapse on you. But in general I am noticing more and more how she’s happy to be without me in another room which is nice – she takes herself away to sleep.

How’s V’s sleeping? Still good?

YorkshireFelix · 16/04/2025 19:12

Aww I am sad at the graduations but equally it gives us hope that our younger ones will come out sparkling on the other side! @tizwozliz those are lovely photos. Kind of what I was hoping to achieve but he wouldn’t sit still for 2 seconds 😆

@brushingboots jeeeez I can’t believe you’re still ill. It’s been lingering for so long! It sounds like you had a lovely time in London though. This sounds stupid but I never considered that the Thames would have any beachy bits?!!

V will be 1 on 8th June. It’s came around quickly but also somehow been the longest 10 months of my life at the same time. When does Bill turn 1 @Bupster? He’s just a bit older than Vinny isn’t he?

YorkshireFelix · 16/04/2025 19:14

@brushingbootssorry forgot to say sleeping is ok. He’s still in our room but I can live with that (my allergies say otherwise). He has the occasional extremely early wake-up where he pisses about chewing things, like the wire to our lamp which he fully chewed through this morning!!! But I sleep with ear plugs in so I just ignore him now 😂

Bupster · 16/04/2025 19:36

Hi everyone - we're still here 😄

Bill is a year old on the 22nd - I've so far bought him a giant squeaky banana, a squeaky doughnut, a squeaky raspberry (handed over already), a new stuffed starfish - the last one is still okay but he is pulling the stuffing out of the hole where he ate the fabric eyeball 🙄- and I have grand plans to make liver cake. Odds of this happening v slim. Going to see a trainer one-to-one this Friday to help with managing his arousal, and (ahem) I may have also sort of bought him a new car. So broadly we're doing well 😄

In the meantime, I've been reading Control Unleashed and that's been brilliant for thinking about getting him engaged outdoors, and hopefully now I can drive him marginally further before he barks my eardrums off I can get him out to more places and work through some basic gundog stuff - must pick your brains, @brushingboots - can't believe you're still feeling rubbish, that's awful x

@YorkshireFelix congratulations on sleeeeep!!

Adolescent Dog Survival Thread - get teenage licks right through the night!
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YorkshireFelix · 17/04/2025 09:55

@Bupster love his squishy face!! Can you believe we’ve almost made it to first birthdays. My dd has been planning a birthday celebration since we first brought him home 😂

Good news on the new car! I hope it means you can go a bit further afield now. V has started whining in the car occasionally but I think it’s because his crate in the boot is a a bit too small for him now, so we’re going to swap to grill thing behind the back seats and have him just in the boot. He’s still occasionally a bit of a chewer though so I’m worried he might destroy something! Our car is leased otherwise I wouldn’t care so much. I can’t find another crate which will fit the dimensions of the boot without costing hundreds of £££ which is annoying. It’s a Nissan Qashqai so it’s not like it’s tiny either…

@CaptainBeanThief@ComeTalkToMe@Nella68@peachgreen Hope your pups are doing well! I think I’ve tagged everyone who has posted recently but sorry if I’ve missed anyone 🙏🏻

Bupster · 22/04/2025 11:53

Happy first birthday to this absolute idiot. I made him liver cake. It looked like I'd dismembered a corpse in the kitchen.

Adolescent Dog Survival Thread - get teenage licks right through the night!
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Nella68 · 22/04/2025 15:15

@Bupster Happy Birthday Bill! He looks ever so serious on this photo. Maybe he’s realised he can’t get away with puppy behaviour for much longer!
How did the 1-1 session go?

@YorkshireFelix we’re still here!

It seems like it’s Groundhog Day for me and midge. Recall is still iffy so he’s on the longline for the foreseeable future! He’s taken to coming within about a metre of me and stopping. It’s most frustrating.
However it is so nice to be able to go out and not be covered in mud. Long may this nice weather last!

Pavement walking is generally ok until we come across cats. There were 3 today in a stand off with each other and us. They all sat on the pavement refusing to move whilst I was trying to wrangle a kangaroo. Most embarrassing

Bupster · 22/04/2025 19:12

Oh God, kangaroo wrangling - I know exactly what you mean!

1-1 was fab, we're starting some really basic gundog stuff and she made me feel loads better about some of the things he struggles with. And he's already having more good days than awful ones too so I'm hoping we're on the steady slope out of adolescence, even if there's still a long way to go. His progress isn't anything like linear - one day he's trotting like a pony all the way to wherever we're going and the next day it's kangaroos all the way down, but I feel like there's light at the end of the tunnel (please God).

Pictured: himself with one of the birthday presents our lovely dog park friends got him.

Adolescent Dog Survival Thread - get teenage licks right through the night!
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tizwozliz · 22/04/2025 20:15

Happy Birthday Bill!

YorkshireFelix · 23/04/2025 09:41

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BILL!

@Nella68there are SO many cats in our village it is unreal. We walk along a cobbled street down the side of the train line and they all hang out in the bushes there, and Vinny pops his head through the fence at regular intervals and is often greeted with a hissing cat!

@Bupsterwe are the same re non-linear progress. I’ve thought the past few days that his lead walking has been getting marginally better. He still pulls a lot for the first 5 minutes or so until he’s done all his (many) poos but then chills out a bit after that. I will probably curse myself for saying that out loud and we will have an awful walk today 😄

On the flipside, I was telling @brushingbootsabout our horrendous outing on bank holiday Monday. DH had a very rare day off so we went to a nice market town near us for a mooch around, thinking we would take Vinny and see how he got on. It was SO AWFUL. He pulled constantly, couldn’t cope with the fact both me and DH were there at the same time so he was whinging and jumping up at us both, or if one of us walked ahead or behind he would keep rushing ahead or turning back. It was busy despite the rain (kind of glad it wasn’t sunny or it would have been heaving!) and it was just embarrassing having to deal with him.

Now DH understands why I can’t take him anywhere new on my own. He’s fine the places we usually go but it’s so boring doing the same walks etc all the time. I know the only way to tackle it is to be brave and keep doing it but my nervous system was shot on the way home. I actually emailed a place about residential training on the journey back because I was so stressed, and I do think it would be very good for him but it would have to be later on in the year because of the cost.

Bupster · 23/04/2025 10:53

I took him out for a two hour walk this morning as the cleaner was in. We got back at 10am and he's been having the barky zoomies ever since. Seriously. I've retreated to my bedroom in the hope that he'll nap with me as that's usually the only way at the moment that he will and he's lying on the carpet whimpering. Would anyone like a dog? Never mind selling him for kebabs, I'll throw a free kebab in with him 🙄

@YorkshireFelix that's what Bill's like in busy places as well - one of so many reasons I've not pushed my luck with him and don't really take him into town or to cafés and pubs. I know it's daft as the only way he'll get used to it is by getting used to it, but it's exhausting and embarrassing. I did start taking him through town in the early mornings on the way to our normal walk spot, which seemed to be more manageable, but he's pulling a lot at the moment and sometimes you just don't have the energy.

@Nella68 we had a three cat morning the other day - I thought we were going to be stuck on the same two-metre bit of pavement for the rest of our lives. Today he spotted his first rabbit on the path back from the Common. I'll leave that to your imagination as I bet you know exactly what the reaction was like.

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