Summer 25 pups

[Lavenderdog]

Any other new puppy owners around this summer? Have been looking back at some of the old puppy support threads and can see how helpful it was for those posters to share their experiences.

9 week old mini schnauzer here - so toilet training and avoiding those needle sharp teeth are the current main activities here!

(And being tolerant of her determination to rid my garden of lavender plants. Hence my user name 😂)

@SpanielsGalore I need to know how on earth you encountered more than one human poo in the wild!

@CoubousAndTourmaIet oh no! We’re lucky he didn’t go far, he was just looking for me 🥰.

@VanGoSunflowers Yes, it’s out in 18 days! Scream! Very exciting but I have a lot to do before that point. I am so still touched that you pre-ordered – can’t wait to hear what you think, even just of the pix inside. So much care has been taken over all of it.

On talking to dogs – my best friend likes to say to her dog ‘good choices’ and I always think it makes her sound like a Montessori teacher! Love it. I think they understand more than we know. I think pupsy has about 100 names, genuinely. Have never once called her by her actual real name, only ever by the inbuilt nickname it has and all of those that have come after it. I’m often surprised at the vets when they use her ‘formal’ name.

@Idstillratherbepaddleboarding What can I say? There are some disgusting people round here. Think we've come across it four or five times. Often accompanied by a pile of tissues the offender has used to wipe themselves. Honestly. The dogs think it's their birthday when they find a pile. The smell is unbelievable. 🤮🤮🤮
I am not alone though. Someone has just started a thread about it.

@SpanielsGalore 🤢 that’s horrible! Do you live somewhere touristy with no access to public toilets?

@brushingboots DS and I only go by shortened versions of our name and we are also surprised when our full name is called out, which led to a difficult situation coming back on the Eurostar in a minibus with a group of friends when DS, aged 5 at the time, didn’t respond to his name as read out on his passport 😂🙈.

I agree that dogs understand more than we know. It makes me laugh when people try to say that you shouldn’t say no to dogs. I stand by that if they can understand “do you want cheesies?” They can understand a simple “no”.

The most surprising incident I had with Billy understanding was when he was heading to the left to go to the field and I (talking to myself really) casually said something like, “ not this way, we’re going to the shop (pet shop) today” and he immediately stated walking to the right, which is the way to the pet shop 😵.

In the summer, I'd say the dogs find human poo on average about once a week. In a whole variety of places. They find it on holidays too, so it's not just local to this area.

I can stop them if I spot them quickly enough but often by the time I've noticed what they're doing it's too late 🤢

Especially lovely when they vomit it up in the car on the way home

We occasionally used to come across human waste when we lived in Cumbria, near Appleby. Here in East Lancashire I can't say we ever have done, although I daresay if we had sporting dogs they might sniff out things we're unaware of. We're primarily lead walking but the dogs still manage to snaffle up horse or sheep shit if we aren't paying attention, Brie also enjoys hoovering up rabbit currants on the meadow. They've all been poo eaters to some extent, most dogs are I think, but we've never had a roller; even the one that was always off lead never rolled in anything stinky, so I count myself lucky in that regard.

@Idstillratherbepaddleboarding I do live somewhere touristy, but I can't blame tourists for it. It's been in two different woods, so no toilets available. The first occasion there was the remains of a fire, barbecue food and beer cans lying around. So in one end and out the other. The dog had a field day that day. Didn't know whether to eat the burnt sausage or the digested one first.
The other occasions were just randomly placed. But half of them came prepared with a supply of toilet paper.
P found a pile a few weeks ago that I ranted about. It was at the base of a tree, just to the side of the path. Didn't even have the decency to step a few metres into the wood.
@tizwozliz Fortunately, I haven't had a dog sick it back up yet. Just suffered stinky panting breath in the car. But I've had to clean it out of the holes of my dog's Baskerville muzzle, which he wore to prevent him eating stuff. 🙄
This is a charming breakfast topic. 😂

Changing tack slightly, from poo as food to kibble as food.

Where is the sense in a bag of kibble labelled "working dog" being so much cheaper. I know it's about it being VAT free, but what I mean is, why bother selling a normal version and a working version? Isn't everyone going to just opt for the one that's cheaper? Can't get my head around it.

My dog is definitely a working dog, despite being a defective silent guard dog, so I'm taking the bag that's £10 cheaper 😁

@CoubousAndTourmaIet I think working dog food has to have a certain percentage of protein to qualify as such. So perhaps some people don't want the higher levels. Or are just put off by the name. 🤷‍♀️
I'm just guessing though. I always went for the cheaper option. 😁

The working dog food I buy and probably also the one @CoubousAndTourmaIet is referring to is identical, just different packaging and price!

Oh. That blows my theory out of the water then. 😂 I'm sure that's what I read on the Eden dog food website, but that was 4 years ago. Their working dog food used to have 1 or 2 % more protein in, but it appears to be the same now.

Yup, same food @tizwozliz , Essential Estate (she loves it btw, so thanks for introducing us to it). And it's all in the word "working" apparently, same protein and fat. So my girl is a working LGD, she is a hedgehog, blackbird and cat protection dog.

@SpanielsGalore
One of my biggest ‘fails’ with previous dog was losing my temper after she tucked in to something of human origin that she thought was delicious and I found beyond repulsive! 🤢

Dragged her home and essentially water boarded her with the hose to clean her up.

I felt very ashamed after and she sulked with me for ages - but didn’t stop her taking delight in any further 💩 she found. 🤦🏻

@Paws4thought25 I find it difficult not to react to it. Every time I drag them away, whilst lecturing them about how disgusting they are. I know they are just being dogs and it's a me problem. But I still don't want them anywhere near my face for the rest of the day. I have wondered if you can get breath mints for dogs to mask the smell.

We kept emergency minty mouth foam in the car for situations like this 😂

I can’t remember the exact one but it was a definitely for dogs and you squirted in and it gave a temporary relief - she quite liked it too.

Might get in preparation for pup going on stinky adventures once he’s a bit braver off lead. 🤦🏻

similar to this i think…
https://www.amazon.co.uk/BUGALUGS-Breath-Freshener-Dental-Healthy/

Buddy has lost his first tooth! Which could be why he's not been interested in his food all day so I'll stop worrying about that now haha!

@widewomanofthevillage oh bless him! They all fall out quite quickly after the first one I found! Not like human children.

Rory’s discovered digging and loved digging in mole hills on his walk this evening 😂🙈. Those ears though 🥰.

Oh that's good to know, I'll keep a close eye out for the rest starting now then. He turned 5 months this week and I was wondering if they'd ever fall out!

I've started closing the back door as B has also discovered digging and there are ankle breaking holes all over the garden as well as his very dirty paws and muzzle launched at me when he comes bounding in! Now he has to learn to ring the bells or bark to go out for a wee cos just sitting silently by the door doesn't help when I'm on zoom...

Hah the pic turned up as I posted that and oh such gorgeous flappy velvety ears!

Hi all! I’ve had a manic week and am now on a short break in a shepherds hut with my son and Pablo! Need to catch up on the thread but after our first night in the hut, I’m starting to wonder if I should just ditch the crate when we get home and let Pablo sleep with me. Opinions from all sides welcome!

So this is what I am thinking - at home, he doesn’t hate his crate but I wouldn’t say he loves it either as he never chooses to go in there (apart from maybe on a couple of occasions). He will go in at 11pm after a last wee and then will wake me up at 6am ish when I go down and let him out/give him breakfast. Now I assumed this is because he is a puppy and can’t hold his bladder longer than 7 hours overnight (which is still pretty decent I think for a 4 month old pup!)
Anyway, last night I tried to get him out for a wee at 10pm but he wouldn’t go. I gave up and we all went to bed and I resigned to hoping he would alert me if he needed to go in the night.
Anyway, fast forward to all of us getting over 9 solid hours of sleep (bliss!) and Pablo being happy as anything this morning at 7.30am being in bed with his humans. No accidents at all, and I let him out for a wee when we all woke up.

So now I am thinking when we are at home, he’s not waking me up at 6am because he needs a wee but because he doesn’t want to be on his own anymore?? Do I bite the bullet, do away with the crate (well, leave it there with the door open at all times and he can sleep in there if he wants to) and just start bringing him to bed with me? I’ve a king size bed with only little old me to sleep in it. I was against this for various reasons originally but now I’m not so sure.

Really happy to hear opinions on both sides!

Slightly jealous of you staying in a shepherds hut @VanGoSunflowers , I must admit.

You already know what I'll say about crating. I've done 9 free ranging and that's what I always recommend.
But, your pup your choice. Trust your own instincts on this because they've been brilliant so far 😘

Edited to add that mine don't sleep on the bed for fairly obvious reasons. Plus the cats have always been given that privilege in our house.

Edit wouldn't let me tag you @VanGoSunflowers . 🙄Sorry, but see above.

@VanGoSunflowers Hope you have a lovely time.
I did similar to you with the crate. K started off in one in my bedroom, mainly to give P some peace. When she was about 4.5 months old, I went away for a few nights and she slept on my bed. And that's where she has stayed.

Our older one ended up in our bed after we realized she'd happily sleep all night through until 8.30 that way 😁

One of my regrets is persevering for so long with trying to get her to sleep alone downstairs which just led to months of broken sleep.

@VanGoSunflowers Vinny was the same with his crate. I did loads of crate training with him but he only ever tolerated it to sleep in at night. He’d also wake up really early because he didn’t want to be alone, then I’d let him out and he’d go back to sleep on the sofa 😄

Randomly at 7 months old he decided he no longer liked to be alone at night and we went through weeks of hell trying to get him to sleep either in the crate or outside of it on his own downstairs. In the end we relented and now he sleeps in our bedroom. Mainly on the floor or under the bed but he does hop on the bed sometimes, then gets too hot after 5 minutes and goes back to the hard floor. He now sleeps until 8.30 or sometimes 9 if we’re not getting up for work!