Adolescent Dog Survival Thread - welcome to the teenage wasteland

[Bupster]

Buckled (under instruction 😄)

It sounds like my parents house in Westmorland @SpanielsGalore , we used to call it The Play School House. They had a stairgate to stop Magnus going up - he was a heffalump!
We can't fit a gate on our stairs because they're open onto the hall at one side, with no supporting wall, so we have to stop the dogs from accessing the hall with a high gate on that side of the kitchen. This corresponds with a second high gate from kitchen to living room. The small gate from kitchen to the bigger sitting room at the back, could easily be jumped by a Pyrie, but it's rarely closed now anyway. We only used that one when Brie was tiny and I didn't want her underfoot when I was cooking. With Finn & Algy we only had the two tall gates but with Brie we need all five. She's been our wild child 🙄

@MonCoubousMonTourmalet Every family has to have at least one wild child. I think mine's K. 😂
I can't fit a gate at the bottom of my stairs either, because they curve round. Hence the barrier and gate at the top.

@VanGoSunflowers Possibly not very helpful advice on the bugging you when you eat...but I found Twatdog was particularly bad for scrounging at the table. In the end, I would always ensure I left a little bit of food at the very end for him - just a small bit of carrot, or some meat etc. Within a day or so he realised that he'd get a bit of leftover at the end of the meal and so stopped pestering me during...and eventually I phased it out completely.

And 100% agree with what @MonCoubousMonTourmalet says. We're all proud of our pups, even when we've had dogs for years - because it's the small wins that feel the best.

@SpanielsGalore Im not sure on the fox poo front, I have seen him dropping and rolling on poo but who knows what animal it was expelled from 😂 very much enjoying washing his harness and sponging him down after walks now 😂

@LandSharksAnonymous no, it is helpful advice and something I will probably try once I no longer view meal times as wanting to decompress from thinking about everything 😂 I find the fact that I’m thinking so hard about everything the most tiring part of it, but I also quite like it because it’s a challenge if that makes any sense.

On the advice front, I worry about giving it out on the puppy thread or on some of other threads too because I’m so aware that I’m incredibly new to this - only two months in. I just hope people receive it how I mean it - that I am a total novice but this thing worked for us and it may work for you too kind of sentiment. I’m sure they do as that’s how I would receive it 😊

@VanGoSunflowers That's the same as the rest of us. It's all anecdotal of what worked for us or what trainers have advised. I've had dogs for 20 years, but can't advise on some things that you are giving advice on as I haven't experienced it.
And believe me, you'll know when it's fox poo. There's no smell quite like it. 😁

You shouldn't be scared to give advice or help @VanGoSunflowers , sometimes the tiniest things can be helpful to someone starting out with a new pup. I've learnt loads from others here, some of whom technically have far less experience than I do, but who are way ahead of me when it comes to training.

Conversely, I've given what I thought was helpful/useful advice elsewhere on The Doghouse and received a real bashing for it, so sometimes you do need a thick skin!
In the end, it's all about doing our best for our pups and even where we don't see eye to eye we should at least realise that the comments are meant well. It's always useful to compare notes, whether it's your first puppy or your 10th; there's always more to learn and always areas where we can improve.

I like as much advice as possible - I probably ignore 80%, but hearing that advice helps me to see the advice that I want if that makes sense.

As for boasting, I don't see that at all- we all have our highs and lows. This pup has been really easy at recall, but a bloody pain with the mouthing, I feel like I have a teething puppy nit an adolescent.

@VanGoSunflowers as @CoubousAndTourmalet says, don't worry about giving advice out. Your advice will always be useful to someone - that I guarantee.

Both @CoubousAndTourmalet and I have been told we've given terrible advice at times (it was about hand-feeding/taking food from dogs bowels/resource guarding - we literally said the same thing and both basically got told we're awful people😄) and you do have to have a thick skin as there will always be someone - as with everything tbh - who disagrees with you.

Every dog is different, so as PPs said, even if you've had dogs before there's a high chance the issues you face with one dog will be so different to another.

I've found some of the spaniel specific conversations on this thread (and it's predecessor threads) incredibly helpful in helping me understand Satan a bit more because there are definitely things I recognise in Satan behaviours that are just so different to Goldies. I mean I am still convinced the dog is not, in fact, a cocker spaniel but is instead Satan given dog form...but that's by the by.😄

@LandSharksAnonymous Is taking food from dogs bowels the same as lending a helping hand when they've had a grassy poo? 😂

Agree with not taking things personally if people have a different opinion or way of doing things. Unless it is using aversive methods - then they are clearly in the wrong.
Someone made a comment on another thread that is at the top of my list of hated comments. I've had it said to me in real life about me and my dogs and that person didn't like my reply. But I've managed to ignore it on here.

I'm sort of trying to ignore a lot of things on the puppy thread at the moment @SpanielsGalore Just popped in, saw anti bark collars and extending leads and crates that afford too much space for toileting... might have to jump off lest I say something stupid 🤐 Which I know I have done, many times 🙄

Well I disagreed with all of those things. 😁

@SpanielsGalore possibly helping them with poo problems even worse! 😁

A mark of how tired I am; DMum asked me last night whether I’d given any consideration to my next stud choice for when Eris has a litter (just making conversation) and I just said ‘I might use the same one again, depending on how she turns out. They’re a lovely litter.’

Errr yeah. Stud the dog with her father. Great idea! I’m going to sleep all day once the last of the puppies are gone. Then have a nice big glass of wine.

@LandSharksAnonymous You wouldn't be the first, I bet. Just use Twatdog - can keep it in the family for free then. 😁 And puppy buyers can get to meet both parents. We all know that's a good selling point.
Be nice to be able to sleep in your own bed tonight.

@SpanielsGalore oh god. No one should ever be bred with him. The thought makes me shudder. His one brain wouldn’t know what to do anyway tbf 😂

Cannot wait for my bed. Pretty sure I’ll have to fight my way back into it Hunger Games style - the other dogs are too used to me not being there now!

Is it hot where you are today?! It’s already 22 here…think tomorrow is due to be even worse at 28!

Morning all! Thanks for the kind comments on advice giving etc. it’s actually not that I mind people disagreeing with me as such, I worry about either giving the wrong advice and it being detrimental towards someone’s dog. Please don’t ever worry about disagreeing with me as I don’t mind that at all 😂

I personally would rather people disagreed with me so I can get a balanced opinion on things - especially with a topic as complex as puppy raising 😂 like if I came along and said “I tried playing tennis with my puppy and that seemed to calm him down” and someone came and said “I don’t want to alarm you but playing tennis is really not good for your dog and here’s why” I would grateful of that IYSWIM. We do the best we can until we know better, then we do better.
@SpanielsGalore I am kind of intrigued as to what the hated comment was 😂
@MonCoubousMonTourmalet I obviously can’t speak for anyone else on the puppy thread but if I ever say anything about puppy raising that you would disagree with, I would be grateful if you told me so (and that goes for rest of you) it’s clear to me that your intentions are good ones - that you care about animal welfare and I think those on the puppy thread in some instances (and I include myself in that 😂) have seen and heard the same advice peddled around by the same people. It’s such a minefield! I personally would rather be told I was wrong and to try a different way if it meant my dog was happier, than worry about my ego being bruised 😊

Sorry I am waffling a bit now 😂

@LandSharksAnonymous I hope you enjoy your evening wine and being back in your own bed!

@LandSharksAnonymous My phone says it is 15° with expected highs of 17°. So no. 😂 But at least the wind has dropped today. I took the dogs out at 8pm last night and it was like winter. I had to zip the fleece layer into my coat and wear a wooly hat.

Sorry @LandSharksAnonymous , somehow I missed the name announcement of puppy Eris ❤
I hope all goes well with the pups that are leaving today.

Thanks @VanGoSunflowers It's always about puppy wellbeing with me and things bother me, like the example you give of vigorous sporting activities being inflicted on young, growing pups. I really need to bite my tongue just now 😨

I'm definitely entering grumpy old woman territory lately 😩

@VanGoSunflowers Let's just say sometimes people make sweeping judgemental statements when they have never had the misfortune to walk in other people's shoes.

I hope it wasn't me with my husband carrying comment @SpanielsGalore 😨

No it wasn't. But I am now having a chuckle at an image of you carrying your husband. 😂 So thank you for that. 💐

@SpanielsGalore I hope it wasn't anything I've said either!

@LandSharksAnonymous congrats on making it to P-Day! Wine and bed await!

@SpanielsGalore yes me, too 😂 I don’t think I’ve said anything judgemental to anyone but if I ever have, I definitely didn’t mean it to be 😂🤦‍♀️

@brushingboots how’s pupsy??

@MonCoubousMonTourmalet I entered grumpy woman territory this year at the age of 41 😂
I prefer to think of it as less putting up with other people’s crap 😝

And they are are gone!

@VanGoSunflowers who said it was evening wine? Midday wine is the best sort of wine (only one glass though as I do need to dog walk this PM and collect DDs). Currently sipping it in the garden, light-weight blanket on my lap, dogs snoozing in the grass (including Eris) and enjoying the peace and quiet that comes with having shipped DDs off onto my in-laws for the day 😃

@MonCoubousMonTourmalet no apology needed, I mentioned it in passing in the Puppy thread! I ended up with Eris as she's the goddess of strife and discord which, being honest, is a very good name for this puppy. Plus it allows me to usher in a new era of puppy names...

@SpanielsGalore I am so jealous of the colder weather. We had a spell here a last week where I had a fluffy duvet over me and woke up one morning shivering and it was soo nice - somehow don't think I'll be doing that tonight! 15-17 is about perfect morning dog walking weather.

@brushingboots thank you! Echoing PPs, how is pupsy doing?