Adolescent Dog Survival Thread - for teenage dirtbags

[Bupster]

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

@YorkshireFelix was it an evening class? Whenever I’ve taken mine to any sort of ‘training’ or ‘event’ I’ve found they behave far worse in the evening - often because they’re over tired! Could it have been that?

I’m sorry though! You’re not alone (as others have said). It’s crap. But everyone else there will have had their dog be a nob at least once!

Good Morning all,

I hope everyone slept well last night... or better than us, at least...

The hedgehog woke Brie at 1.30 am, so we went out to say hi, and I persuaded her to have a wee (Brie that is, not Mrs Tiggywinkle). Bribed her in with a Biscrok and 3 MW fishy treats (again, that's the canine not prickly critter).
Back to sleep eventually, only for next door's dog to be having complete apoplexy at 3am. This is a regular occurrence - it could be withdrawal symptoms after three hours spent without a tennis ball being flung 🙄 Fortunately Brie doesn't respond to him. If we still had Algy, the whole street would have been awake 😬

Don't know whether to think of it as training for more puppy nights, or if my body is telling me I'm just too old for more babies...😫

@CoubousAndTourmalet I'd be having to rehome the hedgehog some distance away, so it stopped disturbing my sleep. Brie is so good. The times any of mine have met hedgehogs, it has ended in a blood bath. Theirs, not the hedgehogs.
Re puppies - Your next puppy might be like K. She has slept through the night since day 2 and is happy to lie in until 8 a.m..

It's raining!!! I could do a dance. And might do now on the walk I'm about to go on, delightedly, in the rain!

The hedgehog is a neighbourhood favourite @SpanielsGalore It lives in the garden behind ours, and everyone leaves food out for it. I don't think we'd be popular if we relocated it.

Brie has always been a good sleeper, like your K. We never had any disturbed nights until her first season, when she turned nocturnal. But after that she settled again to sleep through until 6.30 when my partner gets up for work. It's only this last week or so that she's become obsessed with her new little prickly friend, who, naturally, is not impressed with her.

She seems to be on chickwatch again this morning, with a quartet of blackbird, sparrow, coal tit and blue tit. It keeps her happy, but she never makes a move to chase them. Prey drive is very low in LGD for obvious reasons. The stalking/ambushing is reserved for me, usually when I'm hanging the washing out and unable to fend her off. That's when her giddy side comes out, she is a mischievous scamp when she gets started.

Enjoy your walk @brushingboots I'm sure the rain will feel blissful after the heat you've had there.

Enjoy @brushingboots!! It is a wet and chilly 15 degrees here today and I am thrilled.

@SpanielsGalore ha thank you! I was chatting to @brushingbootsabout it all and questioned why the hell I got a spaniel 😂

@LandSharksAnonymous yes it was 6-7pm! And he was probably a bit over excited anyway as he’s still only had boring on lead walks because it’s been too hot and the physio said I’m not allowed to walk him in the woods just yet as it’s quite hilly. So he will have been going ‘YES FINALLY I AM SOMEWHERE EXCITING!!’ which I’d not really considered at the time.

Thank you all though I feel much better about it after posting here!!

@CoubousAndTourmalet love that her new bestie is a hedgehog. She’s like a fairytale creature. Obviously don’t love that she keeps waking you up though!!

Welcome to my world of cold and rain. 😁
I'm down in Yorkshire on Friday and was hoping for a turn with the sun. Forecast says it is not to be.

@YorkshireFelix Glad you are feeling better about it all this morning.

Good morning all! I’ve had a very busy week so far.

Sorry to hear that your class didn’t go well @YorkshireFelix - hope the 1:1 session is ok!

@CoubousAndTourmalet and hope you get a decent nights’ sleep tonight!

@LandSharksAnonymous how are the pups doing?

And how is everyone else’s? I will not be lazy and have a read back but just wanted to say - it’s Pablo’s first walk day today! Yay! And it’s 16 degrees and cloudy!

@LandSharksAnonymous such a good point about the evening element!

Truly I have never been gladder to be wearing a rain coat. The farmer has cut the grass in the fields we're in so it's all short with piles of loose almost-hay perfect for pupsy to dive on like an arctic fox. Not doing any training, just letting her be silly.

Love chickwatch, @CoubousAndTourmalet! What a gorgeous image.

Wahoo!!! Finally! I hope you enjoy it.

@YorkshireFelix Thank you, that's sweet and sums Brie up nicely. I don't really think of her as a dog, in my head she's a sort of wolf/bear/faerie thing 😆 I read far too much YA fantasy 🙄

Sorry I have no constructive comments about the training class, except to say that I think you're really brave to even go to a class. The whole idea would terrify me! As everyone says, the combination of Vinny having to rest up because of his leg, and then the weather being so hot, has been against you this past week. Things will fall into place, I'm sure x

Hi @VanGoSunflowers Oh wow! First walks are exciting but scary. You're going to have lots of fun and many challenges. Enjoy every precious moment ❤Pablo will be a big dog in no time at all.

@brushingboots I'm loving the chickwatch too, that tiny baby coal tit is just exquisite.

@YorkshireFelix DMum used to call 6-8pm ‘puppy witching hour’ as it was when all training vanished and they turned into little goblins.

@VanGoSunflowers puppies all lovely! Pen like twatdog into the whelping box (well, his head) the other night, which was nice as I could tell it made his evening. Still dreading the 5+week stage when they’re evil! How did the first walk go?!?!

We seem to be getting along much better with the Essentials than we did with MW @tizwozliz so thank you for the code.
She's had two hands of the Estate (lamb & venison) again for lunch, with a quarter tray of Forthglade lamb. She is back to 2 x poo a day, from 4 on MW, reduced volume, less pong. Looking good so far.
Getting the Essentials as Working Dog because she is a working guard of cats, hedgepigs and garden birds, after all 😉 It's great that they do a puppy recipe too, and if we do get the hoped for boy I'll be ordering a bag of the large breed one.

(please don't let me be the threadkiller...😬)

Thanks all! It went really well! So lovely to see him having a good sniff around and he enjoyed it so much! He crashed for a sleep when we got back.

He’s got a play date with my friend’s really sweet greyhound later. She is an older lady and has a lovely temperament.

@LandSharksAnonymous we definitely get that witching hour here as well 😂 no way he would listen to anything at that time of the day! So glad the puppies are doing well!

I know this is very soppy of me, but I am so happy I decided to take the plunge and get a puppy. It’s been 4 weeks since I got him and it’s been full on and tough at times but he’s given me such a sense of purpose that I didn’t know I needed. It’s like I’ve become a better version of myself - having to think on my feet all the time! Is that crazy?!

@VanGoSunflowers What lovely news! You have so much fun to come.

I don't think it's crazy at all! I think having a puppy made me focus on work better, weirdly, especially when she was little because when she was asleep I had to be super efficient so that when she woke and needed something I could jump to it and not feel that work was too badly compromised. I still feel that way now – when she's asleep I try and work like crazy and not even get up for the loo sometimes if I have loads to do so I don't disturb her and then she thinks it's time for fun when it so isn't. As they say, the more you do, the more you can do.

(I haven't forgotten to dig out the training guides by the way – I've been ploughing through the old threads looking for them. Will add them to the new thread when it opens/when this one is full so they don't get lost!)

The only thing I have against the large breed essentials is it's just one flavour. The kibble pieces also seemed massive compared to my tiny pup at the time but it didn't seem to be an issue for her, and I guess even less of an issue for a larger breed.

You've reminded me I need to stock up on forthglade

I noticed there's only one puppy/junior, but then MW don't do one at all...
I'd probably feed Essentials puppy alongside something else, but we'll see. Obviously large breed is better for us, but we generally have them on lamb, because that's what they seem to do best on. Brie doesn't like fish so I need to consider that as well. But so far, the lamb & venison seems good.

@brushingboots thats exactly what has happened to me - I seem to be more ‘on it’ with work and with everything else. I think I need a healthy amount of pressure/sense of purpose to function optimally 😂

And no worries at all! I gather you must be busy 😊

@VanGoSunflowers any regrets over the breed? Or glad you went for something a bit softer to get you ‘trained up’ (for lack of a better expression) for a GSD? 😃

@Bupster only four posts left until the threads full…

@LandSharksAnonymous definitely no regrets over the breed at all 😊 I was even thinking - it’s early days yet, but if I ever get another dog I may go for the same breed again! I’m very glad I was talked out of getting a GSD 😂

BOOM - new thread, just in time for @CoubousAndTourmalet to happily kill this one, completely guilt-free 😊

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/the_doghouse/5366296-adolescent-dog-survival-thread-welcome-to-the-teenage-wasteland

My fifteen minutes of Fame at last! Threadkiller Extraordinaire. Lord knows I don't have any other superpowers or useful skills so it may as well be this one.

See you on the other side.

BTW - my dog is being rehomed tomorrow, on account of the fact that she was such a little shit on this evening's walk.
Know anyone that's looking for a silent guard dog? Good condition, still a few miles left on the clock, one careful lady owner....😏