Adolescent Dog Survival Thread - welcome to the teenage wasteland

[Bupster]

Buckled (under instruction 😄)

Why did I ever think this was going to be a good idea? I've just been sent a big long list of rules for tomorrow's training session 😱Should have listened to my partner. I don't think this is going to be good because Brie does not know commands, aside from the ones I made up 😬

@CoubousAndTourmalet You can't say that and not share the rules. What are they? She can't assume your dog knows a list of commands before you start training. Mine certainly don't. They know the ones I need them to know.

Rules for me, about exercise, food, confining dog, but then Brie has to do activities, exercises and games... I don't know, maybe it's just how these people work. I'm just not very good at rules, they make me anxious.

We've done lots of different training classes and I don't think I've ever seen rules beyond 'no extending leads, no prong/shock collars and no harsh handling'

Fuck that! No one is telling me what I can and can't do with my own dog. Fair enough if they have seen us in person and say something like "You're holding your lead wrong. It would be better to hold it like this." But not if it's bollocks about eating first or making my dog work for all of her food. Confining where, when and how?

Sorry for delayed response @SpanielsGalore , we went out for a second walk. It was lovely and quiet out because of football.

It was restrict exercise for 24 hours, no food after breakfast, weigh the rest of the food, contain the dog in the house so it isn't a distraction while we talk... that one I haven't a clue what it means. Will we be talking in the street? The garden? While the dog is confined in the house...? Clear as mud to me, that 🤔

Ah well. We shall see what happens and whether my own attitude will also be "fuck that!"

That makes sense @tizwozliz . The thing is that all of Brie's issues occur away from home, so that's where any training help needs to be.

Hopefully it's just general info and will fall into place. It was £165 for one session so I can't afford to opt out, I'll have to grin and bear it.

I can't see the point in restricting exercise. The no food after breakfast and weighing the rest out is presumably so you can use it as training treats. As for containing the dog so she isn't a distraction - that's as clear as mud.
I hope things go better tomorrow and she's actually useful.
That's the thing with behaviourists. They're a lot of money and unless they come personally recommended, you don't know what you are getting. P has issues around food, but the nearest person to me was charging about £500 for a home visit. I can't afford to risk that amount of money.

You're right @SpanielsGalore . It is a considered expense, so I was hoping to use the time wisely and address the lead walking issues. I don't see that games and exercises are going to help that much. But then, I'm not a trainer...
I still haven't a clue regarding the other unless "contained in the house" actually means crated.... In which case it's a no anyway.

@CoubousAndTourmalet oh her neck really is far less fluffy/much smaller than it looks in other photos! I can completely see the issue you had! Isn’t she a handsome lady thought 😍

A list of commands for you?! Confining her? It seems very odd to have those sorts of instructions for a dog they haven’t met yet. I mean if I didn’t exercise twatdog before a training class, particularly when he was younger, or confined him…I’d come back inside to no house.

Do they even do crates big enough for Brie? LSGs aren’t made to be crated (physically or mentally, I’d have thought - that’s literally against everything in the breeds purpose I’d have thought?! I don’t know much about LSGs but I’d imagine trying to get one in a crate is like trying to get a Collie to stop hearding.

Speaking of which, I took twatdog on a v. short walk late last night to give him some 1-2-1 mummy time, and I thought I was alone in the woods. So I called sang out ‘twatdog, come!’ And an elderly gentleman emerged from the bushes with a Collie.😬

I'm trying to work out if you refer to him as "Twatdog" in real life or if the collie man coincidentally had the same name as your dog.... @LandSharksAnonymous 😆
When we had our first pup and were (stupidly) attempting to train recall, my Mum shouted "Nicky, here..." on the park and a little girl of about 4 or 5 ran up to mum and stood beside her for a few moments then looked up and asked "how did you know my name?".

Yes, Brie is very handsome indeed. So much so, that out and about, most people do think she's a boy 😏

I suppose thinking about it this morning, I'll assume it's a generic instruction. The average dog for a behaviourist is probably smallish to medium and a lot nowadays will be crated. Her webpages specifically mention LGD breeds, so I'm just going to take it as read that she won't expect a dog of this type or size to be crated. The working dogs are living with the flocks by the time they're 6 or 8 weeks old, that's how they're "trained" so no bed or crate or toys.

I'm going to stop panicking and play it by ear. The appointment is 5pm so I'll still feed Brie lunch at 12 otherwise she'll be sick hungry by then. I'll probably have her outside when the trainer comes and we'll see how it goes. There's no point me dwelling on her lack of obedience, I asked for help with two specific areas; anxiety of noisy vehicles and the lead ragging, so realistically the work needs to be done off home turf anyway.

@CoubousAndTourmalet he’s twatdog in real life! I have mean nicknames for all of them (but it comes from a place of love). One of my old girls was ‘wee rodent paws’ because she had tiny little paws. And of course we have ‘Satan’ for DMums dog!

I love the idea of a small child recalling to a random person!

I’ll keep my fingers crossed it goes well for you & Brie❤

I think it’s generic instruction too. It would make sense if she was coming to my house - you wouldn’t be able to have a conversation as Vinny would be vying for her attention the whole time 😄 So I really wouldn’t worry about it at all.

That's hilarious @LandSharksAnonymous !
All ours have had nicknames too, the cats included.
Of the dogs - Rosie was Tart Features because she was anyone's for a cuddle. Algy was The Wall of Noise, for obvious reasons 🙄Merlin was always referred to as Puff 😂

Thanks. I'll report back this evening, assuming that I survive the embarrassment 😳

@CoubousAndTourmalet How did it go? I hope it was a positive experience for you and you got to address the issues you wanted help with.

I'm pretty sure Bill would answer to Nobhead now. At home he goes by sweetheart, little bug, and You Squidgy Headed Numpty.

Picture of said squidgy head for @LandSharksAnonymous as I know you like his silky ears. I gave him an ostrich wing bone today and he ran out to the garden with it, then rushed back to fetch me so I could hold it while the mighty hunter chewed it 🙄

@CoubousAndTourmalet I'm waiting for news on the trainer too! I hope it went well x

Thanks @SpanielsGalore @Bupster @YorkshireFelix
It was very odd and I'm not quite sure what to make of it.
The behaviourist/trainer was perfectly nice but she didn't get to see Brie, she got a very aloof, cold, disinterested dog that couldn't be bothered with play. A dog that gave the impression of being quite stressed, bored and not very happy, but which is now rolling around on the sofa, kicking its legs and chewing on a cushion.
She saw none of the jumping up, grabbing the lead and mouthing of hands or the nervy issues on our walk. It was as if a different dog took Brie's place. A dog that said "right let's just get this over with" and walked beautifully with no arsing about.
As to whether I sign up for more sessions with the imposter dog that is not loony tunes Brie, I don't know.

That's what I had expected, because on Saturday with my cousins, Brie was a sodding pain. Mouthing hands, sitting on laps, wanting attention the whole time.
Today, no. Wary. No attention seeking, just came to me, leaned on me, lay down beside the table. No interaction, just behaved like a bored teenager.

@Bupster I love the way you describe your Squidgy Headed Numpty ❤ The bond you have is quite incredible, and very wonderful. He is a lucky boy to be so adored and so well understood. It's a rare and precious thing.

@CoubousAndTourmalet I'm not sure what to say. It's good that the trainer was alright. But a shame she didn't get to see the true Brie. Wonder why she acted so out of character.

Took the dogs down to the sea front tonight for a short walk. Everything was going well and we were heading back to the car. P and K were to the right of me in the field. I turned to look at N, who was on my left walking along the edge of the beach and when I looked back, K was gone. Totally disappeared. Whistled her a few times, but no response. I was pretty sure she had gone back to the estuary to chase ducks. N couldn't walk back that far, so I decided to put her in the car and go back for K. We were nearly back to the car when K reappeared. She started running in our direction, but panicked when she couldn't see us and turned and ran the other way again. I blew my whistle and she came running to me. I don't know which of us was most pleased to see the other.
Just so you don't all think I am totally irresponsible, the estuary was only about 150 yards from my car and I could see from one end of the field to the other, so I wasn't totally abandoning K. And she was only gone for a few very very long minutes.
She's 10 months old today. Isn't adolescence fun? 😁

@Bupster i think it’s so lovely that Bill comes back for you. No resource guarding issues here - just a baby who loves and trusts his human! 😍he’s a handsome chap though. I always forget how small he is until I see a hand next to him.

@CoubousAndTourmalet thats just so typical! Like when I’ve taken twatdog to the vets for a limp, and when we get there…he’s not limping! Are you going to try another session? It’s expensive if Brie is going to do her good girl impression the entire time !

In other news, purple girl is definitely being kept. Hen finally deigned to spend proper time with the puppies yesterday (as opposed to coming into the room, sniffing them and waddling off again) and purple attached herself to Hen and wouldn’t let go and more importantly, Hen seemed to like her. So that’s that sorted - unless Hen changes her mind

Only ten more to match and 12 days to do it. No pressure for me…

@CoubousAndTourmalet did the trainer/ behaviourist give any suggestions? Can you film Brie when she’s going loopy?

I know what you mean about having a different dog when the trainer is there. M was like this- I had a couple of ‘emergency’ sessions when he was being a complete terror attacking me on walks. Of course he walked like a dog at crufts when the trainer was there. It was reassuring in a way that M did know how to walk/ recall etc; just frustrating that it was me that was taking the brunt of his youthful shenanigans!

@LandSharksAnonymous - I guess you’ll need to find a name for purple girl!
How are the rest of your tribe with her?

Well, that was a hell of a night. No sleep.
Incandescent is the word 😡

I have an Instagram account. I occasionally post photos of Brie but never ever mention her name, her age or our location.
Dog training woman posted two photos of Brie on her Instagram last night, with her name, age, the name of our village and a full write up of our consultation. So, I saw it an hour later and told her to delete it, which she did.
Suddenly realised at midnight that she had also put it on her facebook. With all the details and a link to our village fb page. So now our whole fucking village knows all our business. We had NOT given consent. For FB we never would. The post was up all bloody night - the woman says it is now deleted but gave no apology. I'm not on fb so no way to check.

How unprofessional can somebody be? When I told my cousin she was horrified, she said her daughter would have lost her job if she did anything like that (she works for one of the large multi practice vet groups). So, I was beyond furious. We feel that Brie's safety is compromised - it's a rare breed these days. I have no idea what to do. I have no idea how to keep her safe. I'm looking to get a "reactive dog" sleeve and vest to keep people away, and a bike lock chain to fasten her to my body.

Brie didn't even like the woman and our house now stinks of horrible perfume. She gave her twenty zillion goat treats flung on the floor and Brie threw up for only the second time since we got her. It was not a good experience.

So, as far as dog trainers goes, I'm finished. And the words of our old Anatolian breeder friend are haunting me "beware the instant experts". Never a truer word.

@CoubousAndTourmalet That's awful. She really should have asked permission first. And there's absolutely no need to include all of those personal details. And WTF did she link it to the village page?! I'd be fuming.
My foster dog sees a pain specialist and he asked for permission to post about N on his FB page.

@Nella68 - All very good! The only one I am a bit concerned about is Twatdog, but that's because he's not used to having to share Pen with another dog and now he's going to have to. But the older ones are used to this by now and honestly, no matter what Purple throws at me, she can never be as nutty as Twatdog. He won't do anything aggressive or naughty, but he's already tried to shove the puppies out the way once, in his quest to get attention from Pen, but Pen told him off (air snap and grumble).

I'm thinking Gwen or Wen for names (just to keep with the ease of yelling '-EN' and having them all coming) 😃

@CoubousAndTourmalet that's awful. I hope you got screen shots - because I think you could sue for this. Personal details like that are protected under GDPR (depending on what exactly she gave out). I have to be really careful given I have so many details about who I sell puppies to!