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 the closest we have been to rabbits is rabbit poo. That’s bad enough!

@YorkshireFelix Midge is a pain in new places too. They are just too exciting. He’s pretty good in cafes as long as I can put his blanket in the corner and drip feed him kibble. I would like to take him to more (boring) shops as the pet shop tips him right over the edge. He’s worse than my twins were as toddlers in toy shops.

We had our first beginner agility group session yesterday. M didn’t entirely disgrace himself but he has completely forgotten how to sit. It was a bit embarrassing seeing all the other dogs sitting on command. He knows perfectly well how to sit but it’s all on his terms not mine. He was also more interested in the other dogs’ toys and treats!

Vinny just played with another dog for the first time!!! I am thrilled!

im not sure if anyone remembers my post a couple of weeks ago about how he gets really nervy and panics around dogs that are a bit in your face but just want to play. Well we saw a lovely young lab in the woods just now and they had a very polite and calm sniff to start off with, then the lab wanted to play. I was like SHIT he’s going to freak out, but they chased each other for a few seconds then moved on and he was so happy. I think starting with the calm introduction is the thing that made a difference. Hopefully it has given him a bit of a confidence boost with other dogs.

@Nella68 sounds like your group session went pretty well! V also will sit on his own terms a lot of the time and it’s bloody annoying. I find it frustrating that you KNOW they can do certain things but they just choose not to. But that’s adolescence I guess 😄

@Nella68 @YorkshireFelix Bill is like this too! When we're at the dog park and someone is giving out treatos, all the other dogs are neatly sitting with their best winsome face, and Bill noses up on the offchance and half the time the little bollocks gets away with it. He does not want to sit when we're training, either - he'll just ignore me half the time, unless he wants to train. I'm so glad it's not just me. You see all these dogs with their perfect default sit and there's Bill with his head down a rabbit hole or licking his arse 🙄

@YorkshireFelix Best news!!! I am so proud from a distance.

Vinny played with another dog again!! I think his confidence has come on so much recently. We saw one of my DD’s school friends on the field we usually walk on yesterday evening, and they have a golden/collie cross who is VERY cute. He’s 4.5 months old and very bouncy. V was a bit unsure at first but then they had a long game of chase and he loved it. I wasn’t sure how he would react so I’m really happy.

He's doing brilliantly at the minute. I don’t want to jinx myself but I feel like we are (very) slowly turning a corner on the adolescence nightmare. I’ve been walking him through the woods again and a bit further now the physio has said it’s ok, and he no longer buggers off into the bushes for ages like he used to a few months ago. He stays close and checks back in with me a lot. Don’t get me wrong, he does still occasionally catch a scent and scurry around for a bit but he’s not half as ignorant as he used to be. He still pulls on his lead for the first 5/10 minutes of a walk until he’s got all his poops out but then he walks great after that. He comes and sits when someone is approaching, and he will sit politely if someone wants to give him a fuss too. He doesn’t bark as much in the house now (he went through a period of going crazy at every little noise outside) and is generally very chilled. Also I’ve been working on getting him to drop his ball when we do some retrieves and he’s finally started to do it over the past few days. I’m hoping we will keep improving and he’s not lulling me into a false sense of security 😂

I guess our only issues are that he’s still mouthy when he gets over excited/tired, but I know he will grow out of that. And I really need to be brave and work on taking him out and about new places. We have a couple of nice towns I can access via train from here so I might give that a go and see how we get on.

Anyway just wanted to share a positive update as I’ve been thrilled with him over the past week or so. Hope everyone else is doing good!

Ah that's wonderful, @YorkshireFelix !

Bill is having good weeks and bad weeks. This week he's getting spooked by: tall men, people in hats, people wearing headphones, a horse looking at him the wrong way from 200 yards away.

On the other hand, this week he has also learned how to do a short marked retrieve (though he can't be arsed with the bringing it back bit); how to do sit, stand, down (we could never get stand before); and how to open the back window of the car so he can stick his head out when I'm driving (I think I made that cartoon face where your eyes actually pop out and your hair stands on end as you screech).

He is a joy and a delight and a monumental pain in the arse 😍

@YorkshireFelix that sounds like V is doing really well!

I’m finding walks a lot less stressful and am now brave enough to venture to places with lots of dogs that I had been avoiding. I don’t go into a panic when I see a strange dog, so that’s great progress for me! Midge is still on the long line so I can stick my foot on it if I need to, but he’s not going too far and I’ve found that if I am holding the line it’s slack most of the time and he’s not pulling me off in different directions.

He’s also getting much better at disengaging from dogs and also if the other dog ignores him, he’ll walk past. It still really annoys me when off lead dogs bound up to us as it really razzes him up and he turns into a kangaroo, and it takes him ages to re engage with me.

I got cross today when an off lead dog charged up to him and started growling and jumping at M (the dog had just clashed with another on lead dog and the owner had to pull it away). The owner’s excuse was that it was ok as it was wearing a muzzle (it had become reactive after being attacked as a puppy) and it was ‘under control’. We disagreed on the meaning of being ‘under control’ and I said thanks for potentially making my dog reactive too. Some people are idiots.

I’ve found myself in the position that we have 3 different classes over the next few weeks- agility, an adolescent class and the KC bronze award class. I was on waiting lists for all 3 and got places all at the same time. I’m hoping that between the 3 different approaches we’ll find one that suits us!

Here’s my handsome boy and bluebells

Hello All
Hope everyone is well.
Happy Belated Birthday to Bill from another one year old hooligan 😁

Ahh lovely Bill looking so handsome. The back window thing is so funny 😂 How is he doing now you’ve got a new car? I’ve literally just bought a seat cover and a restraint thing for the car tonight, as he’s now too big for his boot crate and I can’t get another to fit without spending hundreds of pounds. So going to try him on the back seat instead. I am worried he might chew something as it’s a lease car but we will have to try it and see!

He is so gorgeous!!! Just a big teddy bear. I’m sorry about the idiot man with the muzzled dog. I would be fuming too! But glad to hear you’re able to venture to some different places now. Let us know how your classes go.

Hellooooo!!! How are you and Brie? I think about you often!

Hello to you and the lovely Vinny.

Brie is amazing, she is absolutely huge and totally hilarious.
(And still a lead biting demon 🙄)

He's so much better, @YorkshireFelix - and I am too, because I know he's not overheating or associating the car with horrible journeys, so when he's making a noise I know it's (a) he wants to be up front with me, preferably driving the car (he likes me to unzip the seat cover so he can rest his front paws on the console and his head on my shoulder, which is distracting, but not as much as when he used to try to eat my seatbelt and bark in my ear); or (b) he's excited and wants to get out of the car. He can still be a monumental pain in the arse, but we're able to get to training and back fairly comfortably now, which is 20 minutes each way, and we simply couldn't do that before.

and hello @CoubousAndTourmalet - so lovely to see you back! Pictures of Brie please 😍

Thanks @Bupster 😊

Brie is still totally car phobic, so to read about Bill's progress in that regard is quite amazing. Well done to both of you.

The girl on her first birthday.

Okay, it did post. I think...

She is sooooo gorgeous. When did she turn 1? Vinny will be 1 next month, I can’t believe it!!

@Bupsteramazing progress with the car. I’m genuinely so pleased for you as I know how hard it has been!

She turned one at the end of March. So hard to believe Vinny is almost a year old too! I still think of him as the baby of the thread, but I'm guessing that some of the younger pups have moved up here now...

So, here's our Baby Bear. She is very big and deliciously squishy 🤗
She celebrated her first birthday by properly coming into season, and turning completely nocturnal for a week, so that was fun 😬Normal loafing about has now been resumed, as you can see.

@CoubousAndTourmalet so lovely to see pictures of the beautiful Brie- she’s such a good loafer.
At what age do you think she’ll stop growing?

@YorkshireFelix we had the 1st of the 6 week adolescent class today. 5 dogs in total. 2 very reactive dogs that barked constantly and lunged in a growly way; 1 very strong staffie that lunged and got excited; 1 young very excited cocker; and us.
The other dogs made Midge look very laid back. I was very pleased that he was able to focus on me and not get too distracted by the other dogs. I think it’s partly his age and also his temperament. I’m quite glad that he’s in a group with reactive/ excitable dogs as it’ll help me with getting his focus in very distracting environments.

@Bupster - glad to hear that you’re making progress with car journeys.
M sits on the back seat but it’s a bit of a squeeze when the children are in the car too. We bought a boot guard ages ago but not fitted it yet. That’s the next challenge getting him into the boot for trips.

Thanks, Nella68.
We thought she was more or less full sized (height wise, at least) by 8 or 9 months, but then she surprised us with a sudden growth spurt. She's quite a tall girl. I would imagine now it is just going to be about gaining muscle more than anything else. Our previous 3 girls were not this big though, Brie is closer to the size of the males, which we did not expect.

Your adolescent class sounds very overwhelming! Midge did well to stay calm. He's looking in really good shape on your bluebell photo.

She's such a gorgeous chonk!

Bill is starting to get feathers on his bum - his cocker coming out. I'll try to get a picture if I can. Can't remember who it was said their spaniel didn't get properly feathery till he was a year old - was it Milo? @CaptainBeanThief