Our Cosmic Autumn Rebellion (Adolescent Support Group)

[MonCoubousMonTourmalet]

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

😂😂😂
That is not the answer I was looking for. 😫

The toilet roll thing is the bane of my life. The amount of new toilet rolls that have been stolen and shredded, and then having to clear it all up from under and on top of my bed. I always put it on the windowsill but dd forgets and always leaves it on the holder. It must be costing me a fortune 😄

@YorkshireFelix It's amazing how much paper even a half roll can produce!
I looked out of the kitchen window once to see one strewn all over the lawn. Usually she takes them to one of the dog beds and shreds them.

Pupsy has never stolen loo rolls but she does still 'help' me put my socks on by holding the other one while I battle with the first. I've been clearing out my study gradually over the last couple of months and cutting up newspapers and magazines to archive and bin – suffice to say she has gone to town shredding the wastepaper, which is absolutely fine as it hurts no one! Just a bit annoying to clear up all the bits.

@brushingboots Socks and my slippers are the only things P has ever stolen. If I'm getting dressed and she suddenly dashes out of the bedroom, I know she has one or the other. Fortunately she doesn't chew them. She just likes to throw them around and play.
I've tried giving mine paper or Amazon packaging to shred, but they eat the bits they rip off.

Bill's largely stopped shredding things unless I've actually given him a box of recycling and treats for the purposes of shredding. He will still pinch loo rolls if I'm in the shower and he wants me to come out and play, and he'll run off with socks and shoes, but for the most part he then brings them back if I don't follow him, as if to say where the hell are my treats, woman? Similarly if I don't put the remote control away before going to bed, I'll find him under the table with it between his paws (or, memorably, in the doorway when I'm on the loo). Having said that, when he gets very excited (e.g. I've left him with a sitter and just got back) he'll raid my bag and nick the car keys.

We don’t have a toilet roll holder so the roll is kept by the side of the loo. Midge has never shown any interest in the toilet paper itself but loves the cardboard inner tube. Every day he’ll go and check to see how much paper is left. He’s not interested in it until every sheet of paper has gone. He then eats it. I have to keep an eye on it as the children tend to leave them in the toilet and I’m not sure consuming cardboard is very good?

Big pup likes stealing

• hats
• swimming goggles
• shoes
• tupperware
• pegs
• plastic bag clips
• a particular vegetable knife
• screwdriver/pliers/secateurs or any sort of hand tool
• hairbrushes
• crochet hooks
• balls of wool/string

She's not fussed about toilet rolls!

It's mostly attention thievery, she generally barks if we've not noticed her post theft trot to let us know she's stolen something.

@tizwozliz Big Pup sounds like my sprocker. He used to steal anything he could get his mouth on. Then he'd take it outside and sit and watch the door, waiting for me to bring him a treat in exchange for said stolen goods.

Ah, there's plenty more that she could steal (we are not a tidy, minimalist household!) that she isn't too interested in.

The funny thing is, if the door to the garden isn't open, she'll go and knock on the patio door, with the stolen goods in her mouth with the expectation you're going to open it for her!

Brie eats loo roll or kitchen roll tubes too @Nella68 , so I've stopped letting her have them. Other cardboard just gets shredded into a thousand tiny pieces like confetti, but the roll ones become actual food 😝

Vinny looks lovely in his new walking gear @YorkshireFelix . Sorry that the paw is giving him problems again.

Loving Bill with his teeny weeny twig @Bupster 😆

Thank you @Aubrielle, he has walked lovely on it today!

V will literally steal anything he can get his hands on. He is terrible for it. I wouldn’t mind so much if he just carried things around but he likes to destroy everything!

DH had a rare day off today and dd was at a friends house for a few hours so we walked him down the canal to a coffee shop and he did some great walking on his lead. He wasn’t brilliant in the coffee shop but it was good practice for him. We were the only people in there which helped. He was so overstimulated when we got home and went a bit wild but then settled and slept for hours, so it must have tired him out.

I spoke to our trainer about the issues we have with him going to new places and she said we just need to take it really slowly. She said it’s a lot of work but we literally need to go somewhere, spend 5 minutes then leave. And do it in different places, then extend the time slowly. So that’s the thing I’m going to focus on and see how we go.

It’s been dry here today but insanely windy. Hope everyone is keeping dry and warm!

Insanely windy here too. We went up to the moor rather than going down to walk beneath the trees and risk fallen branches. The weather must have kept people indoors, because we didn't see a soul! First time I've worn my wax jacket since about April but that wind was really biting today.

Funny photo of gigantic fluffy headed puppy - this is what happens to her hair when it gets wet 😂Tongue was out for a gigantic yawn; she was so tired after our visitors yesterday, that she had a lie in until 8.15 this morning!

@Aubrielle the weather has calmed down here and it’s been a lovely sunny day.
Was it your vet relatives that have visited? Do they have any advice about calcium and protein levels? I don’t know if it’s something that’s taught at vet school.

I'm glad it's been calmer for you. Hopefully the wind will die down here overnight

Yes, it was my cousins family with the vet and student vet daughters (plus a student vet boyfriend). They all admitted to not having a clue about calcium levels, so seemingly you are right to think that nutrition is an entirely different field. We did have a good talk about behaviour, training and spaying (for that she recommends waiting until after the third heat cycle).

It's always really interesting having their perspective, because they first met Brie when she was 10 weeks old, but they're cat & rodent people primarily, and have never lived with a dog. They do love Brie but they all say they find it quite difficult to actually think of her as a dog, so clearly she must be somewhat like your Midge in appearing to be a human inside a big furry body.

She has such a lovely face.

@YorkshireFelix
Thank you. She's particularly expressive, somehow. More than our others were.

@Aubrielle That's interesting about spaying after their third season. Did they explain why?
P has just had her third season and I have her booked in to be spayed next month, but I think I am going to cancel it. What with the bad leg that needs investigating and the pancreatitis, I think she's been through enough lately.

I think K might be in season. The neighbour messaged me to say she was leaving blood spots as she walked. No sign of any injury, but I haven't seen any blood since. She is licking herself a bit more though. 🤷‍♀️

Brie is due in season imminently; we thought she had started a couple of weeks ago but there is no spotting yet. Cousin vet, H, feels that because she's a giant, spaying after this season would be a bit young, so we wait until after the following one, which will be Brie's third.
I did not mean to imply that she would recommend after 3 for all bitches because obviously age of onset, time and duration is individual. Sorry if it seemed it was after 3 per se, it is not, that would just be her specific recommendation for Brie. As in age 2.5 - 3 years and fully grown for a giant.

Sorry if that is clear as mud.

Definitely take your own vets advice re K & P.

@Aubrielle My bad. I misunderstood. My vets advise at 6 months old or 3 months after first season. Needless to say, I haven't followed their advice.

No, I do think it was me not making it clear that was the recommendation for Brie specifically, not for all bitches. But H reckons that early spaying increases the risk of urinary incontinence, so that was interesting. We also discussed full surgical spay compared to keyhole.

We're still unsure if we'll spay Brie at all. Obviously it eliminates the pyo risk but that would be the only plus point for us, weight management would be a big minus, and it's looking less and less likely we'll be getting a boy now.

@Aubrielle I don't have a choice - my vets only offer full surgical spay, which is another thing putting me off. It is a three hour round trip to the nearest place offering key hole surgery. And since he was the one who operated on the wrong leg, I don't have much faith in him either.

I can't remember what size your girl's are @SpanielsGalore - but they might be on the small side for a keyhole spay. All the spaniels I know have had a standard surgical spay. There might be specialist vets that do it, but the ones I spoke to when I was making enquiries wouldn't perform a laprascopic on dogs less than 18kg.

Well it's interesting, because she said we'd be better off with a full surgical spay and having a gastropexy done at the same time. She said a surgical with an experienced vet is preferable to a keyhole for us. She wouldn't do it, but can try to find us some recommendations when the time comes.