Adolescent Dog Survival Thread - for teenage dirtbags

[Bupster]

I've buckled again, I can't take the pressure of being on page 40 😄

Will reply in more detail later to everyone. Just wanted to say 'snap' to @brushingboots . Although I am not at the vets. I've left puppy there.
She started heaving/coughing/hiccuping on Monday after our walk. Vet visits on Tuesday (probably an allergy or her harness is too tight) and Thursday (literally said no idea, they don't teach us everything at vet school) were a waste of time. Saw a senior vet today at another branch. They've just phoned to say they have removed two four inch long blades of grass from her nose and back of her throat. Poor girl. No wonder she was uncomfortable. She's been so quiet this week. I'm looking forward to getting my crazy, nutter back.
Hope our pups OK, @brushingboots

Oh my gosh your poor girl @SpanielsGalore!! I saw a post on one of the spaniel FB groups yesterday about a dog who was really poorly and it ended up being a long blade of grass which was the culprit too. I hope she’s back to herself and recovers quickly.

Oh the poor little girl @SpanielsGalore , that sounds nasty. I hope she'll make a speedy recovery.

PS @Bupster I like the idea of a cone as a pretend dog. I'll have to try that one, assuming that the Ezy Dog harness fits. I imagine recall could be a bit iffy, but of course I'm well used to that, so if it doesn't pull on the lead and try to jump up at people I'll be very happy 😁

Oh no @SpanielsGalore, so sorry to hear that you’re going through vet dramas too! Your poor girlie. When can you pick her up?

Our experience this week has been trying, to say the least. Went to the vets last Friday as she had been licking one of her front paws quite aggressively. Given ABs and pain meds and diagnosed as an infection, possibly deriving from something getting in there – grass seed, thorn etc. They didn’t know what it could be but gave her the cone of doom and she came home in a huff. Fine over the weekend, did some nice walks, no dramas, I just managed the licking with a firm ‘leave it’. Went back to the vets for a check up on Tuesday and they said that it hadn’t got any better and that she needed an operation and an X-ray. £500, a very sad girlie and an insurance claim later, she came through her op and has spent two days bandaged up, on lead walks only. I just sat in the car and cried after I left her there on Tuesday. She was fine when she went in and she came out looking like the world had ended. Worst of all, the vet said they didn’t even find anything in there so it was probably all for nothing.

Yesterday was horrific because it rained for 14 hours and she couldn’t get her bandage wet; I had to sit down on a sodden field to rearrange her wet weather bandage cover and nearly had a breakdown, tbh. And because she hadn’t had a proper walk since the weekend really it was like walking a kite in a gale. Luckily she has been a superstar at home and has managed on 40 minutes a day of very boring lead walks, and has still slept most of the day and all night – somewhat proving previous points from other threads about how spaniels don’t need walking for nine hours a day, ha.

Anyway we went back this morning for her post-op check and had the bandage removed, thank god, and she was released for off lead walks again (also thank god) but, bloody plot twist, got back in the car after her walk and couldn’t see the stitches, so they’ve obviously come out. Waiting to hear back from the vets about whether we need to go there yet again this afternoon to have them sorted. Just done with all vetting now.

A cat on a lead @YorkshireFelix!!!

Oh Lord, @brushingboots, that sounds absolutely exhausting. How is she with her paw now, is she leaving it be? Any idea what on earth it was?

What a nightmare @brushingboots ! Sods law that it would happen in a wet spell too, just to complicate matters. Poor Pupsy and poor you.
It's amazing how good they are in a crisis or after surgery though.
Fingers crossed that you don't have to go straight back...

We once met a Norwegian Forest Cat being walked on a harness at the local nature reserve. Fortunately it was the same colour as our Maine Coon, so the two dogs didn't bat an eyelid when they saw it.

Oh @brushingboots poor Pupsy and poor you!! I can’t believe she ended up having surgery! You must be so exhausted from all of that stress.

@CoubousAndTourmalet
Milos getting hairryy

@Deanthebean
Yay! His beautiful silky fur is coming back. How is he doing?

@brushingboots Oh that's way worse than our week. Sounds horrible for both of you. What a shame they operated for no real reason. I hope you don't have to go back and have her foot restitched. And that her paw now heals quickly.
Surely you should have been out carrying her on walks for 9 hours so she could get all the required mental stimulation! 😉 Mine have managed on short or missed walks for the last couple of weeks. I've not been well and could only walk for 20 minutes before needing to crawl home. 😂 Then puppy has been unwell and I didn't want to leave her home alone. Shit happens. They deal with it. 🤷‍♀️

@CoubousAndTourmalet That's nice of you to say. 😊 Please don't let faceless people on the Internet make you feel bad or guilty. You know your girl better than anyone and I am sure you do what is best for her.
Some comments on that thread were ridiculous. I love a slow ambling walk through the woods or a pleasant stroll along the beach. My dogs really don't care what speed I walk. They are far too busy running like lunatics. I always feel sorry for small dogs, having to constantly run to keep up with their striding owners.
Fancy the other dog being Brie's sister. How lovely for you to be able to have a catch up with them.
I used to give my sprocker Benebone chews. He was quite a hard chewer and couldn't have food type chews as he had multiple health issues.
I hope you migraine has cleared now.

@tizwozliz Happy Homecoming week. What a cute puppy.
Hope you have a lovely time in Scotland. The weather is very changeable at the moment, but the scenery is always stunning. Feel free to take as many ticks back with you as you like. We have plenty to go round.

@YorkshireFelix Very risky to walk a cat on a lead where there will be lots of off lead dogs. Funnily enough, my friend commented this week that she'd been to three different vets and there were people in each waiting room with cats on leads. Must be the in thing now.

Pleased to say puppy is home and back to terrorising her sisters. The vet thinks she ate grass which got stuck in the back of her throat and when she heaved to try to clear it, it went up her nose instead. It's annoying because I said on our first vet visit that she had something stuck in her throat and they all but fobbed me off. So it's been up there for three days longer than it should have been. She's on anti inflammatories for five days as her throat is red and sore. But she's got her spark back, so she must be as pleased as I am for it to finally be resolved.
Off to fill in an insurance claim form now. Getting to 8 months old without making a claim is a new record for us. 😂

We've met alpacas being walked on leads before, and we met a cat on a lead on the ferry.

Mine were both a bit confused about the alpacas, I think they were a bit confused about whether they were strange dogs or not

She's in moult 😱
(14" laptop for scale)

Any spinners out there who would like a bag of dog wool?

😱😱 And my black clothes wearing son complains about the amount of hair coming off my liver and white cocker. 😂

We daren't wear black jeans...😬
It's just everywhere. In our underwear, in every cup of tea...
I've just stood in the kitchen and plucked all this off in about 2 minutes. No brushing, no cutting, just pulling loose clumps out.

Oh my gosh the fur! @CoubousAndTourmalet

Vinny sheds a lot for cocker I think. It drives me mad in the bathroom as we have floor to ceiling white tiles and you try and wipe it off and it just moves around 😩

Birthday boy! He very gently opened his presents, ate the chew I bought him and then threw up. It’s not a birthday unless you throw up, imo.

I should have posted this one but he was so pissed off at me.

Happy birthday Vinny. 🥳

IME cockers shed loads. I only have to look at my eldest at the minute for a shower of white hair to fall off her. The black ones don't show up so much. But then I don't have a white room. 😁

Happy Birthday to gorgeous Vinny 🎉

Hope you have a lovely time in Scotland. The weather is very changeable at the moment, but the scenery is always stunning. Feel free to take as many ticks back with you as you like. We have plenty to go round.

We've come to a place we've been to a couple of times before but always much later in the year - didn't really think it through date wise - midges, ticks (we've brushed dozens off the dogs already) and ground nesting bird on lead restrictions...

Happy Belated Birthday Vinny, you're in good company, mine were both sick after chews on the older one's birthday

I'm off sick with a stomach bug and now can be absolutely sure that if I die alone, Bill would cheerfully feast on my body. So if anyone sees him running towards them like Lassie, making out I've fallen down a well, he's (a) pushed me in, and (b) needs help opening a jar of relish to have with my corpse.

In fairness, he did lick the cold sweat off my face as I was lying on the bathroom floor at 4am, but it definitely had the feel of an appetiser.

@YorkshireFelix a belated happy birthday to Vinnie. @CoubousAndTourmalet have you considered just making a second dog out of the fur you're grooming out of the first one? and @brushingboots how is Pupsy?

PS @Deanthebean very glad to see Milo's chest hair is rivalling Brie's.

Pictured: Soggy nobhead from Saturday

That sounds rough @Bupster ! I hope you feel better soon x