Adolescent Dog Survival Thread - for teenage dirtbags

[Bupster]

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

@CoubousAndTourmalet no sign of slowing down on food here but then, I have a Labrador 😂

It’s due to cool right down here tomorrow, hoping it will be the same where you are! And hope there hasn’t been anymore fire pits!

At least she is enjoying herself 😂

My ExH is going to fit my dog gate for me tomorrow when he drops my son back. I would do it myself (I have been known to be quite handy!) but trying to get anything done with a curious puppy is proving to be a challenge!

Im hoping he will then be ok in the kitchen (with the door open to the garden) for ten mins to give me a shower in peace 😂

Im absolutely not wishing his life away, I love having him - but I must admit it would be useful to be able to pop upstairs and get bits done knowing he will be fine. I suspect he’s still a little too young just yet but I will at least try

Gosh, there are a few grumpy people about on other threads today aren’t there 🤦‍♀️

Yes. Apparently I'm dangerous 😁Who knew?
I really should not let my inner child out to play. I'm bad. A 61 year old version of Wednesday Addams 😆

I hope the dog gate will be a success for you. I honestly couldn't manage without them. I could trust my boys to be left gated in the kitchen with the back door open, they'd generally just settle on the patio. But my girls, no - terrible diggers and escapologists. Just awful.

No firepits/stoves as yet tonight, but it is lightly raining and we can hear rumbles of thunder.

And, typically, after me asking about food, she has just eaten three handfuls of Millies Wolfheart kibble. So clearly she is just cutting herself down to adult rations.

No, you really should. I love the comparison with Wednesday Addams 😂
I don’t think views over there are always representative of the general normal population!

Can you remember what sort of age they would sleep without you in the room with them?? Pablo will nap fine now in his crate… or the sofa… or the rug… but if I try and creep out of the room, no matter how quiet I think I am being, he immediately wakes up and I walk back in to him sitting there looking at me as if he is most put out that I left him for about 45 seconds (and if it’s on the rug or sofa, he wakes up and follows me!) trying to balance him getting enough sleep with also being able to go for a wee whenever I need to 😂

Hopefully a storm might clear the thick air a bit. How does Brie react to loud noises? My friends rescue greyhound is a quivering mess every bonfire night bless her.

Glad she’s back to eating!

@VanGoSunflowers You will never be able to go for a wee alone again. 😂 My three can be in the garden, but will all be outside the bathroom door when I open it.

What have you been up to today @CoubousAndTourmalet ?
No changes in appetite here, but I do have spaniels. 😁

@LandSharksAnonymous What's the betting the day we swap will be the day it rains at yours? It's been warm here today. Might have even reached 20° at one point!

@VanGoSunflowers

Brie was sleeping in her own two rooms at night from the start, we got her at 8 weeks. I was the other side of the dog gate so she could hear me. The very first night she woke a few times, and I got up, went through and cuddled her, but after that it was fine. But, as I said yesterday, Pyrie boys are more clingy and girls more independent. I don't know if that is true of Labradors, we should possibly ask @tizwozliz

With regard to day sleeping, I got Brie used to me being in and out, sometimes she would get up and follow me but other times she'd stay put, snoozing under the table. I think some people now refer to it as 'flitting' in terms of puppy training, that is you flit in and out of their space so they get used to being left for short periods.

I'm not sure that I'm representative of what is normal for 8/10 weeks, though. I don't crate, I pretty much let them be who they are and do their own thing - but I do have an exceptionally independent minded breed. The working dogs are chucked in with the sheep at 6 weeks, so while they're babies, they do show adult behaviour quite early. I don't know if that is exactly the norm with gundog breeds or not.

So far Brie isn't too bad with fireworks or thunder. Algy was worse; he used to insist on going outside to bark, presumably thinking he could chase them away 😆

@SpanielsGalore
I have not been up to much apart from (to my shame) defending the honour of large dogs yet again. I really ought to grow out of it, I know.

I can have a wee on my own now I don't have my Maine Coon boy permanently glued to me. The dogs don't go upstairs in this house, because we're end of terrace with steep stairs up the centre. If a PMD goes up, it cannot get back down. Don't ask me how I know this 🙄

The humidity here is horrible, so I might cadge a lift with Landsharks when she comes to stay at yours...I don't mind kipping in the shed or I can bring a tent.

Bill is 14 months and still has to nap touching me.

Must be typical of all boys then, the big baby thing. I still want a boy.

25 degrees here, not cooling off at all🔥
We can't contemplate a walk. I can't even do my knitting because my hands are too hot. Can't paint, it dries too fast. Can only read and dream of winter.

My almost 9 month old has just started to abandon me in the evenings and sleep in a different room. She's with me all day though, unless she's outside.

Had a lovely cool walk in the woods earlier. Well. It was lovely until the 3 year old caught a bird. Then surprisingly, she didn't let puppy take it off her and proceeded to have a light lunch.

Puppy is becoming a bit bossy and air snapping at big sister to tell her she can't do things. Like scrumping apples off the tree in the garden. Poor P just sat there obediently, looking at the tree but not taking an apple. So I picked one for her.

I don't really remember what age my older one was when she chose to nap apart. Quite a bit older I think. I'm sure when I went back to work (from home) when she was 5 months initially she wanted to be right next to me, it took a while before she was happy to nap across the room. Younger one had older one to nap with so not quite the same.

So envious of your cool walk in the woods @SpanielsGalore and the apples too. It sounds as if your dogs have a lovely life.

Thanks @tizwozliz

I definitely don't think my puppy experiences are representative for most. My guys are from working LGD lines, but I don't think I really saw the differences until now, being on MN.

Sometimes she still looks puppyish. 15 months old next week.

My two are polar opposites of each other so I'm not sure which one is representative of a typical Labrador 🤣

The younger one probably, as it was stressful getting the older one to eat reliably for the first year of her life!

It's always a different dynamic when you have two though, isn't it?
Our two girls were half sisters, chalk and cheese, and there was always friction between them.

Mine are also half sisters, no friction at all though. I do sometimes wonder how younger one would have coped as an only dog, she is very sensitive and as a pup she definitely fed off the confidence of the older one.

I think that was true of ours to some extent. The older was very outgoing, very people orientated, the younger was an introvert and would walk off lead because she had no interest in people or dogs. But they used to scrap a lot. Our older male would run and hide when they kicked off with the growling.

That is very sweet! Although I’m amazed how you get anything done 😂

I even had the temerity to shift on the sofa earlier and that woke him up and I got the ‘stare’ 😂

She’s an absolute stunner 😍

Why are you dangerous this time @CoubousAndTourmalet?

And @VanGoSunflowers pupsy slept on her own downstairs from day one with us – she came home at 11.5 weeks, so she was a bit older. She got used to it super quick and I started leaving her for a few minutes on her own from about 14 weeks as it was just me (my partner works away during the week). As far as I know she slept the whole time I was out, likewise when I was in the shower/on the loo. Nowadays she is mostly wherever I am in the house and all the stair gates are gone, though she will take herself off to sleep upstairs or on a sofa if she deems my company too boring.

My plan is to build him up to it 😂
He doesn’t cry if I leave the room - he will either wake up and follow me (if he’s anywhere but the crate) or wake up and watch for me to come back in before settling back to sleep again if he’s in the crate. Then I end up worrying he’s not sleeping enough and stay rigidly on the sofa, desperate for a wee or starving because I don’t want him to wake up 😂
I will admit, I do love it in the evenings when he is curled up with me though.

I go in and out to the bins outside and he doesn’t bat an eyelid 😂

@brushingboots
I'm dangerous for saying that all dogs can be dangerous, not just big ones 😂