Our Cosmic Autumn Rebellion (Adolescent Support Group)

[MonCoubousMonTourmalet]

Okay folks, let's head into late summer/autumn.

@YorkshireFelix That's great. It's brilliant when you can see the training paying off. 👏👏

@SpanielsGalore oh bless him! What a sweetie looking for you! I think mine would just find another family and never think of me again!

Yep. Filling them is a twice a day job and there’s water marks where they water has dripped off their jowls. Lovely creatures…

Twatdog started a fight this morning (by mistake). He was flirting with his goldie girlfriend and his other girlfriend appeared and took offence. So the girls had a bit of a spat (all resolved with no biting) whilst his royal pointlessness ran around in circles looking happy. Then the two girls ran off to play together leaving him alone. He looked so baffled. Now back out again with the girls and Eris (still in her sling), whilst Twatdog snoozes. I’m going to be walking as many steps as @Bupster at this rate!

Awww, poor Twatdog seems to spend his entire life surrounded by females and he sounds like such a patient, gentle soul ❤ I'm reminded of our sweet Merlin fleeing from the scrapping, hormonal Rose & Sylvie.

I have to say I'm surprised you're still able to carry Eris in a sling @LandSharksAnonymous . I never quite managed it with baby Brie and I'm sure Eris must be that size and weight by now. You're clearly stronger than I am! How long to go before she can go for walks? I've lost track of how old she is; 11 weeks? 12?

@Aubrielle 12! This Saturday so she’ll be going out on the ground then. I’m being extra cautious because I don’t need to worry too much about socialisation as she has adult dogs to learn from!

I’m surprisingly strong 😀BIL owns a pub so in peak season I spend a lot of time helping him fling barrels around!

I do think male dogs who live with lots of females seem to be the worst for fleeing whenever the girls scrap 😂

@Aubrielle fat thumbs! What is wrong with me. 11 not 12. Sigh.

Hope everyone and their pups are doing ok.

M has settled back after his holiday. He was very excited to see us and as soon as he got home it was like he’d never been away.

I’m here for a bit of a vent. We have neighbours who leave eggs out for the foxes who have a habit of burying them in our garden. I initially thought they had been stolen from a neighbour who keeps hens, but they’re lion marked!

M has found them in all sorts of places: flower pots, compost heap, patch of moss, the list goes on. If it was just the compost heap I could block that off, but it’s random. M has found 2 today. The first I threw some very high value treats (wild boar pate) and he scampered off after that. The second one stank to high heaven and M refused to go after the pate. It was his first incident of resource guarding and he growled at me. He let me hold his collar and I guided him and threw treats inside which he went for. When he finds just the one I can trade, but he must have remembered this morning’s egg and didn’t want to give it up.

I’m sure fresh eggs wouldn’t harm him, but I don’t want to take the risk with a rotten egg!

Hi @Nella68
I hope you had a lovely holiday.

Strangely quiet here at present, some have decamped to the puppy thread today. The others all seem to be too busy to post here at the moment.

It's great to hear that Midge has settled back into the routine at home and wasn't upset by your (and his) holiday. That must be a relief for you.

Not so good about the eggs though. Why on earth are your neighbours buying eggs to leave out for foxes? That sounds like a strange thing to do. It's really not safe for Midge, because dogs can get salmonella, just as we can. It's also not great if it's causing him to become possessive.

I don't know what to suggest other than either speaking to the neighbour about it or somehow stopping the foxes from getting in. If foxes can get in, surely that means Midge could get out though... Either way, I hope you can find a solution to the problem.

@Aubrielle I hadn’t thought about salmonella. Eek- it’s a good job they are lion marked, at least that means the hens have been vaccinated against salmonella.

I’m not too worried about M getting out. I’ve seen the foxes jump onto the shed roofs and travel between the gardens that way. Midge doesn’t even know he could easily jump the baby gate in the hall. He’s nice but dim!

I’ll check out the puppy thread. M is a big puppy stil!

Sorry @Nella68 I didn't know that about the lion mark because I don't eat eggs. Perhaps it's okay in that case, although if they're off I imagine they could still give him a bad tummy.

You're probably right about foxes being agile enough to get in and out of gardens, so there is possibly no simple answer to the problem of them bringing food in.

Brie is also still very much a puppy at 17 months

Hello all, I haven’t been on here in ages as life been busy, but just spent an enjoyable hour catching up on the thread before I take Belle out for our weekend run around the fields.

She is 1 this week, and has been particularly challenging! Trying to keep her engaged and recalling in more interesting environments takes all my best efforts. She’s also growled at, and even mouthed at me a couple of times when I won’t do what she wants immediately.

She is getting better at being alone for short periods, well up to an hour - which is a relief. But annoyingly not at night - so hubby and I have spent many nights on couch downstairs as we can’t have her waking kids and neighbours!

On the positive side, she loves her bits of gundog training we do - enthusiastic at bringing her dummy back, esp from long grass - and we had a fab holiday in Cornwall with her. Was a long drive from Scotland - and she was a dream in the car, then adored runnning about the beaches.

Anyway, long post but just always lovely to read about other young dogs and their quirks!

Hi @ComeTalkToMe
It's nice to see you again and catch up with Belle's progress. As with all of us here, it sounds as if it's very much taking the rough with the smooth at this stage. They all seem to excel in some areas but not others.

You might find the previous thread helpful, if you have time to look through it. I'll link it below. Brushingboots had a lot of gundog training info there that could be beneficial for you. I'm deliberately not tagging her, because I know she's crazy busy just now, but hopefully she'll catch up here when time allows.

Belle certainly sounds like a good traveller, and a few of us here have issues in that regard, so it is a massive plus point that you were able to take her on holiday with you.

I hope you enjoyed your morning walk.

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

@Aubrielle I did have a lovely morning walk, and a lovely old couple with two older spaniels were chatting with me, the man said it looks like you’re doing a great job - and I honestly nearly burst into tears 😂sometimes people don’t realise how timely their kindness is.

I am reading and reading, and I find it helpful here as the internet is awash with contradictory advice! Will get back in touch with my trainer too.

Think I am going to have a problem with K and her lack of an off switch.
After two days of perfect walks in different woods, we went back to the one where the deer chasing and disappearing took place.
We started at the place she disappeared and she was so good. I did three recalls and they were all instant. Then she buggered off. When she reappeared, she was absolutely knackered and lay down, doing massive heaving pants. So we aborted the walk and I carried her back to the car. We'd only been out for 25 minutes max.

Just checking in! We are just back from holiday - which was the first time we’d left her properly and it felt like we were missing something the whole time!

She was well behaved whilst we were away (she stayed with family) who were aware of all the problems we were having. Today has been a 5 hour car journey which went well and now I’m hoping she settles back in okay as the set up was very different.

Seeing the behaviouralist on Friday…

We haven’t restarted her meds yet but will talk to the vets and behaviouralist about it now we are back.

She’s certainly less anxious then when I initially posted (I do wonder if works next door upset her) so focusing on the positives!

Hi all - just giving you a link to the new puppy thread in case you wanted to place mark -

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/the_doghouse/5401577-puppy-survival-thread-all-welcome

@SpanielsGalore Is K alright after exhausting herself again? I really hope so.

@Flowerfusion It's nice to see you again. I'm glad that your little girl coped okay while you were away. It's good to hear that she seems less anxious now. Please let us know how things go with the behaviourist.

@VanGoSunflowers Thank you for the new puppy thread.

I will @Aubrielle. The behaviours we don’t want are still here but less all consuming now she’s less anxious.

waves from beneath a pile of newspapers

Just checking in to say to long timers that tonight on a very wet and windy walk I fell over having put my foot down a rabbit hole. Bog lady status was just averted due to the ground being so hard still.

On a brighter note, there is a review of my book in the Financial Times this weekend which is outrageously exciting!

Hi @brushingboots .
Hope you're okay and didn't suffer any injuries. Good that you stayed clean and dry this time at least.
How is Pupsy doing now? I hope she's fully healed.
Just went to look at the FT, but sadly there's a paywall. I hope they gave you a favourable review. Only a few days to publication, which is exciting but a bit nerve wracking I should imagine...

@Aubrielle K was fine after a drink and a good rest. My friend thinks she crashed after a massive adrenaline spike rather than exhausted herself. Which make total sense as we'd only been out for a short time. Not sure what I can do about it though. Walk in less interesting areas. 🤷‍♀️

@Flowerfusion Hope you had a lovely holiday. It's good that pup was well behaved whilst you were away and things have improved a bit. The work next door may well have upset her if it was noisy. I hope the meeting with the behaviourist goes well on Friday.

@brushingboots Hope you are alright after your fall. And good luck with your book launch.

I'm glad K is recovering quickly @SpanielsGalore

Adrenaline spikes has given me food for thought with regard to the aftereffects of Brie's lead biting. It hadn't even occurred to me until you mentioned it.

As you rightly say, what can you do aside from walk in different areas...?

@Aubrielle I hadn't thought if it either. Fortunately I have friends who are far more knowledgeable and experienced than me. 😁
It's warmer today and we've been out for over an hour. K has been fine. Ran practically non stop, but only did normal level panting as opposed to the great big body heaving panting of yesterday.
It makes me wonder what is in that part of the woods though, as she doesn't get that excited chasing deer and birds.

Hares?

Yes, your friends clearly know their dogs!

It's good to hear that K had an easier walk today at least. It would be all too easy to get spooked by wondering what lies deep in the woods... though perhaps I just read too much dark fantasy and folklore 😉 It's more likely badgers than anything creepy.
Edit to add, am not suggesting that she'd chase a badger but the smells could be enticing.

Could be. I think she's only met one furry before so I bet they'd be exciting. Unfortunately this part of the woods is very dense so I can't see what she's up too, nor follow her into it. P's not remotely interested though. She stayed on the path with me. And she likes furries as she's caught a fair few.
@Aubrielle I would not put it past her to chase a badger. I did wonder about foxes, but I don't know if they are appealing to dogs.