Adolescent Dog Survival Thread - for teenage dirtbags

[Bupster]

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

I'm half considering referring to my own breed as a Notta Spaniel when I'm hanging out here, just to try to help her fit in a bit more with her peers (Pyrs, ha, unintentional play on words there...) 😁

Spaniels are a bunch of dickheads so I most certainly can't think of a single reason why I have one 😡😡😡🤣

@CoubousAndTourmalet I know what you mean. Although if it makes you feel less alone, someone asked me today if twatdog was a Pyr...so maybe we can band together! He's a fluffy, hefty thing, but he 100% lacks the majesticness of a Pyr (she says, watching him as he lays on his back, exposing himself to the world whilst he chews off the head of his squeaky duck).

Aww she is lovely. I also have a black spaniel! Mine literally turned 6 months to the day and decided he was a teenager. He was exactly the same as yours, amazing recall etc then it all went to shit!

He’s now just turned 11 months and I will say over the past 2 weeks I have noticed a considerable difference in his behaviour. His recall has been brilliant 90% of the time and I feel much more confident letting him off lead again. We’ve just gone down the canal off lead for the first time since he was very small and every time someone approached he came back and walked to heel without me even prompting 🤯

Stick with it and she will definitely come back around. I spent months going back to basics and kept going with training recall etc, thinking none of it was sinking in but it was definitely worth the hard work.

I am sure after saying all of this he will revert back to being a teenage menace because that’s Sod’s Law 😂

😂😂😂

Handsome boy soaking up the sun 🌞

@SpanielsGalore Ah yes, the classic teenage spaniel rebellion. But they're gorgeous dogs – I am biased as mine is also black with a white bib!

At about the same age my girlie pegged a partridge right in front of me and I was mortified – she wouldn't listen, deliberately ran away, properly stuck her middle claw up at me, wouldn't give it up. Awful. I cried in the middle of a field. But then she learned to listen again and things all came well. Just keep doing what you're doing, be consistent, and watch out for when her season is on its way as she might go a bit loopy for a few weeks.

just a babyyyy!!

Milo really struggles with the sun.
He's quite happy with 2 short walks and in and out of the garden all day for wees.
He's always been on the lazy side and seems to get more tired from mental stimulation rather than full pelt physical excercise all day.
Don't get me wrong he loves a run but of course we have to be careful because of his legs so he does get the occasional off lead "run" for 5-10 minutes but straight back on.
We've always broken up his walls to short but frequent walks anyway then a longer one with my husband so maybe he's just become used to it?

Ah, that doesn't surprise me - we've been asked on numerous occasions if our PMD's are a Goldie, so there must be a definite resemblance. Some bloke once wisecracked that our Rosie looked like "a Retriever on steroids" and it became a running joke with us for a while 😆

Thanks everyone. She's my 4th puppy, so I knew what I was letting myself in for. Also had a rescue aged 7 months, so he arrived at peak annoying stage.

@Deanthebean Milo is gorgeous. Do you mind me asking what's wrong with his legs?
@YorkshireFelix She's my second black one. I actually wanted her liver brother, but the breeder told me the calm black bitch would be a better fit with my older dog. He was right in that they do get on really well, but not so much about the calm bit. That only lasted for the first half an hour of her being home. 😂
@brushingboots Mine is currently running around the garden with a baby blackbird in her mouth, being dive bombed by two very angry parents. 😳 Off to find a very high value treat to exchange for the bird.

@Deanthebean
Quite honestly, there's nothing wrong with frequent short walks. That's all we'll be doing for a good while. In Milo's case, with his leg issues pending treatment, it'll be the best option anyway.
Brie is a lazy arse compared to our previous dogs. She was quite a fat weighty pup, although we've now got her slimmed down nicely and she's looking good, but she's still quite lazy. I just think that if you know your own dog, and you have enough experience to be able to take into consideration the weather and their mood (because they have tired days too), you can trust your instincts. Yes, they all need exercise, but never let anyone else make the rules for your dog.

Ah brill, you’ll be a dab hand at the teenage stage then!! Have you only ever had spaniels or different breeds?

All spaniels and all working lines - 4 cockers from puppies and a sprocker and a springer rescues.

Urgh 😟Just had to shut all the doors and windows. There's a moorland fire near us again, and it stinks 😷I'm asthmatic and smoke is my main trigger so it's not much fun. Fortunately Brie is very calm and will just snooze.

@SpanielsGalore
Milo has luxating patella in bilateral hind knees. He's only 22 months old so quick a big blow.
We've had a whirlwind with the vets and diagnoses and bla blah.
He's doing quite well but can't do what spaniels do anymore which is sad but we do anything we can to make up for that and he's my best friend.
Then he out does himself and I feel like throttling him 🤣
He hasn't half put me through some shit this pup

@CoubousAndTourmalet
Which way is it blowing? Can smell it over here at my mums.... Is it on saddleworth???

Holcombe area I think. Unless there's another one nearer to you...?
It was so bad here the year that Saddleworth and Winter Hill both went up. We had weeks of smoke because the peat under the surface was burning. We really don't want a repeat of that.

Got to make sure the sun gets to all your bits!

@tizwozliz
Getting a tan 😎

I know I’m late to the party but re dogs in the back of the car or the boot, Im firmly in the boot camp. Otherwise doesn’t your car seat get all muddy in winter? And dog hairy all year round? Also I don’t use a screen to keep them in as we have 2 cars and the screens are v expensive and car specific. Instead we put the headrests up to make a bit of a barrier and train them to stay in the boot and not jump over, also train them to not jump out immediately when you open up. Of course this takes time and doesn’t always work out immediately. My youngest DDog felt sick one day and jumped over onto the back seat to vomit and keep her lovely boot den clean. That was before we realised to put the headrests up.

I have had a spectacularly stupid day, so much so that I just emailed my boss to say I was writing off today and was going to try again with Tuesday tomorrow.

Took himself up to a secure field today for 8am. Followed the signs down the track, missed the turnoff, tried to reverse back the few metres I thought it was, got stuck on the verge which turned out to be a short, steep bank. Absolutely immovable. Walked round to give Bill 20 minutes in the field, mostly ignored by me and chasing swallows, while I rang the RAC, who told me 12 noon and booked me a taxi back from the dog field for 9:30am (not their fault, no bloody taxis to be had round here). So we walked back 45 minutes home instead (luckily I had some water and the pavement was in the shade).

RAC booked us a cab back out at 2:30pm (I couldn't get a sitter and couldn't leave Bill for an unspecified length of time so he had to come) but they had another job and finally made it out at 3:30 - luckily the lovely people at dog field had noticed the abandoned car and rung to check on us (I told them if we couldn't move it, they could use it as a planter), and let us stay in their extremely hot portakabin with their very friendly retriever pup for five sweaty minutes before I decided to take Bill for a walk in the sunshine. He had a marvellous time exploring the overgrown lane between the two empty dog paddocks and is going to be very upset if I take him back and make him train.

The RAC eventually pulled us out and it seems no harm was done apart from to my pride and productivity. But Bill has been (a) too excited to poo and (b) convinced there's something living under our floorboards downstairs all day, and as the drains in the street were cleaned yesterday I'm worried he might be right.

So it's 4:30pm, I've done no work all day, and I'm in a darkened room upstairs with the fan on, trying to get him to nap and posting on Mumsnet. On balance I reckon today is a dead loss and I can faff around with a clear conscience.

Maximum sun exposure 😂

Bloody hell what an ORDEAL!!! I don’t really have much constructive to say apart from that. Sounds like Bill had a whale of a time though 😄

Oh @Bupster , what an awful day. Agree with YF above that it sounds as though Bill considered it fun though 🙄