Puppy survival thread! All welcome!

[VanGoSunflowers]

Running on from our last one…

I won’t tag people because I will forget someone and then feel awful 😂

I have summer SAD from May to September. That's a struggle in a different way because most people love summer and find it hard to understand. It wasn't as bad this year as it normally is.

Re accents? I'm scouse but it's very toned down now, because I've spent so many years living in Cumbria and East Lancs. So I get described as "posh scouse" mostly. I still cringe when I hear myself on video though and if I get excited or angry it still comes out strong 😂

@VanGoSunflowers I'm not sure what I would describe my accent as. I would say it's my home town, but when I lived there people always asked me where I was from. When I lived down south, I was called a Brummie. Now I'm in Scotland, I'm just English. 😂 I find accents fascinating. It amazes me that we speak the same language, but can sound so different. I struggle to understand some of the Scottish accents.
Unfortunately leaping around only means P is an idiot with a high pain threshold. The only sign of her knee hurting is she stands with her right paw either slightly in front or behind her left one, instead of inline. And she's only putting the front half of her paw down. You could slide a piece of paper under the back half of it. It is very subtle and I think a lot of people wouldn't notice. Last time it happened the vet even told me it was her normal stance. 🙄

I’m exactly the same as you @Aubrielle regarding summer SAD. As you say, most people love summer so don’t get it. I get overwhelmed by the brightness, heat, noise and busyness of summer, and physically feel like I’ve overdosed on too much caffeine and sugar by late August. As soon as the nights start drawing in, I relax and feel immediate relief. People are like ants in summer too, absolutely everywhere in huge numbers being loud!! 😂

@SpanielsGalore so hard getting a dog to take it easy. My last girl jumped off a low wall and hurt her back once. We had to keep her crated for a day or two, but trying to get her to take it easy afterwards was a nightmare, and I have a low energy breed.

@Houndymumma I have working cockers. I need say no more. 😂 Without crating her, it's impossible to make her rest. After her operation, she was on crate rest for nearly three months and coped well. But she was quite drugged up then. I don't think she'd cope quite so well now.

@SpanielsGalore can’t imagine trying to get a working cocker to rest! That must have been hard.

@VanGoSunflowers don't fear, I will not leave the puppy thread - I need people to whinge at whenever Eris is particularly irksome. Did you make cake in the end!?

@Houndymumma I am the same as you and @SpanielsGalore and @Aubrielle. I dislike summer and spend from about April onwards just wishing for winter. I also don't really sleep in summer for some reason and I tend to only get 4/5 hours a night which doesn't help, but in winter I can easily get 12hrs a night every night if I let myself!

@Houndymumma It's definitely not being cowardly at all in avoiding the news! When I take annual leave, I don't even watch the news. My colleagues think I'm bonkers as I'll drive away for a week or so and only take my phone (no laptop, nothing) and only use my phone to keep in touch with family or occasionally mumsnet/check in on the business. That's it. I come back from annual leave having had no idea what's going on. It's incredibly satisfying to just get away from it all.

'Bassett Waddle' sounds like a great day out! Will it last all day, or will you only take her for a short part of it?

Good mix of accents then. Love it! @Aubrielle I sound far more midlands when I am excited or annoyed 😂
I can’t even say that there is an accent that I don’t like, I really do love them all!

@SpanielsGalore she is very lucky you know her so well that you can tell the difference better than that vet could! I really hope she heels quickly and won’t need more surgery. We will keep everything crossed!

On the topic of seasons, I tend to just enjoy the change from one to another - so I’m always ready for autumn by the end of summer for example. But I do feel my most miserable around Feb when it’s been winter for ages and I’m desperate for signs of spring. I celebrate when the daffodils bloom and then again when the clocks go forward!

@LandSharksAnonymous glad to hear you won’t be leaving us! And yes!! I baked a chocolate fudge cake in the end and I was very pleased with the results! Shameless pic of it for you!

That looks yummy @VanGoSunflowers 😋

@VanGoSunflowers That cake looks delicious. ❤️ So glad you haven't spoilt it by adding nuts.

@LandSharksAnonymous I love the summer. We just don't get one up here. 😂

@VanGoSunflowers that cake looks so tasty. I'm due a cake delivery tomorrow, so I'll send a photo if it arrives 😃

@SpanielsGalore Want to do a swap next summer? I'll take the highlands and you can have sweaty 30 degrees in the south?

Thank you @Aubrielle @SpanielsGalore & @LandSharksAnonymous - I was quite pleased with how it turned out!
@SpanielsGalore I also have nobody to share it with other than DS (who goes back to his dad’s tomorrow for the rest of the week) and seeing as it doesn’t have nuts in it, I will send you some 😂

@LandSharksAnonymous It's a deal. And we'll do a stopover at @Aubrielle 's to break the journey up. 😁
@VanGoSunflowers That's very kind of you. I made myself a red velvet cake for my birthday and ate the lot. 🐷

@VanGoSunflowers that cake looks amazing! I might have to leave the thread with all this talk of loving winter 😂. How?? Any other southerners looking for a swap to Lancashire??

Yup, Lancashire's good, it's half way for you folks @LandSharksAnonymous and @SpanielsGalore . Though @Idstillratherbepaddleboarding has the coast, whereas I'm inland on the moors so take your pick.

@SpanielsGalore We get lovely lovely sunshine all the time here, if you'd like ummm, say, a 10 months of the year swap, I'm up for it....🤔

It sounds like you’re all going on a Doghouse thread puppy road show and I want to come too 😇
I will bring cake! Sans nuts!

But no coffee....😂

I have spent two hours on work calls so far this morning whilst Eris sucks on my toes. She's getting right between the individual toes and really going for it 😫Every time I tell her no, or gently offer her a cover or a toy, she just suckles harder. I wouldn't even mind if she was teething and therefore biting...she just appears to be some sort of creepy toe sucker.

Hope everyone else is having better mornings with their puppies than I am with the toe-sucking-chub-monster!

@LandSharksAnonymous You'll be buying Eris her own special toy soon. 😂

Our very first dog was a hand and foot cleaner; I used to go barefoot a lot as a teen and she was extremely thorough in keeping me clean yup, right between the toes and fingers😝 Obsessive. Girl puppies are weird.
How big is she now? Will she rival Twatdog for size, do you think?

Not sure where i'd find one with the appropriate appendages for her.

I suppose whilst she's occupied with my toes she can't be sexually harassing Twatdog, so that's a bonus. 😂

Sometimes I do look at puppies and I wonder why anyone wants them. Horrible little things

@Aubrielle she's still about the same as before. I don't think she'll get as big as Twatdog, but she might be as big as Clem who is about 38KG. Chunky little thing.

I'm sorry you've experienced the joy of puppy licks as well! One or two is fine, but I would say this is bordering on harassment and/or obsession now!

@LandSharksAnonymous You can buy feet for ..... errmmmm certain needs. 😳

Hi all

As usual following the discussion with interest but not had much chance to post/reply.

Sorry to hear that some of you have been finding things a bit tough. The world is a scary place right now isn’t it, and there’s a lot of hate and intolerance around. I was travelling with a colleague to a work event yesterday and we were daydreaming plans to escape to remote rural locations with our families and dogs and go completely off grid to escape it all……sigh. Hope everyone is doing ok today.

Talk of cake and puppies sucking toes has cheered me up though 😂😂

To catch up with some of the points covered….we are in Hertfordshire so have also suffered the 30 degree heat this summer - but I lived Lancashire way until I was 12 and even nearly 30 years later my accent still goes slightly northern in certain situations….🤣

I usually love summer but I’m actually enjoying dog walks more in the cooler autumn weather so maybe this will change for me this year with the arrival of W.

We are making progress off lead in the field. I’m managing to call him back when we see others in the distance. He half chased a man on his way to his allotment with a wheelbarrow this morning but ultimately decided to come back to me and wait where we usually exit the field. I was bursting with pride 😂😂😂

@LandSharksAnonymous it does feel like cheating when they are so food motivated though. He would do anything for a cube of cheese or cocktail sausage I think…..

Hope you all have a glorious day ❤️

@Idstillratherbepaddleboarding I’m a summer girl at heart!!! I want to wear a t shirt and flip flops all year round ideally ☀️ ❤️

Just not ideal for dog walks 😂

@LandSharksAnonymous Billy wasn’t a toe licker and I always wear socks anyway but he used to lick my hands, palm first, then between the fingers in order, then he’d turn my hand over with his nose and do the back 😂🥰. Sometimes you just have to let them get on with it if it makes them happy and it stopped him licking my face!

@GoodBones85 definitely, I already miss being able to throw my crocs on and leave the house 😭.

Also catching up with the thread. Am I the most Southern dweller? I’m in Somerset, but I don’t have an accent as I moved around quite a lot as a child. I do have a Northern twang though, as my Mum is a Geordie. I am largely a Summer child, I love the heat, though this Summer did take the biscuit rather. We lived in the Middle East a while back, and took our old dog with us. She was a long-haired Collie so she used to lie directly under the A/C unit on the marble floor.

Someone mentioned crochet/ knitting. I have also had to suspend my main evening hobby of knitting and eating chocolate as the demon puppy attacks it. She also attacks my knitted and crocheted blankets so they have all had to be hidden away. The chocolate-eating has to be done when she’s asleep!

Could have been me that mentioned knitting @Struckbylightning I'm not sure. I stopped knitting when our pup was tiny but then once she was about 8 or 9 months I was able to resume it and she doesn't bother me now. Ditto watercolour, though I still have to be careful that she doesn't tip the water jars over. But hobbies have resumed here.