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 😂

@LandSharksAnonymous Im glad Eris was ok on last night’s walk! I didn’t do the heel thing on yesterday evening’s walk as we went over to the closer fields - when we get there it’s a little easier as I can ask him to wait and then just release him as I can see the whole field and who is about etc.
He weirdly responds to me saying heel far better off lead than on lead! I love it when he’s off lead and I spot a dog and I can just say ‘Pablo, here’ and then immediately ‘heel’ and he just does it. It’s a nice feeling. Sometimes, when he is off lead he will
come and walk to heel without me even asking him to but I am 100% certain it’s because he wants treats 😂😂

We miss the little whirlwinds when we aren’t there, it’s funny. I hope your day goes quickly and I hope the coffee situation has resolved itself for you!!

Im going to bring P on the school run this morning I think and go straight to a walk afterwards. It’s quite a nice morning here!

@VanGoSunflowers but even if he is doing it because he wants a treat...he's still doing it, which means he's trained and learning! Do you reward him when he does it? How did the school run go?

I've started rewarding Eris more and more for 'checking-in' when she's away from me (even if it's just turning back toward me).

I have to say, I am missing Eris quite a bit. But DMum is doing her duty and spamming my phone with dog photos - so every time I manage to escape a meeting I am greeted with photos of the dogs which is rather nice😍

@Aubrielle whilst Brie does look quite striking she does look slightly Golden shaped? 😄

I agree @LandSharksAnonymous , that head shape is far more GR than PMD but it was the best Google Gemini could do.

@Aubrielle oh wow!! I love that!!! What an ace pic 😂🥰

@LandSharksAnonymous yes, if he chooses to come and walk to heel I still give him a treat. Same as if he is trotting ahead of me and he looks back to check where I am, at the least he will get an enthusiastic ‘good boy’ 😀
School run was good, I usually leave him at home for the morning one and bring him with me for the afternoon school club one as it’s quieter but I think it’s better the other way around to get him used to behaving in busy environments I suppose I need to expose him to them! And he was pretty well behaved - pulled a lot but he didn’t jump up at anyone so that’s a bonus!
Then I took him for a walk in a nature reserve just round the corner - it was absolutely glorious. Beautiful day and he was just in his element. I love watching him enjoying his walks, it’s one of my favourite parts of having him 🥰

Feel free to share the puppy spam with us 😉! And hopefully not too long for you until you get back to her!

That looks a lovely place for a walk @VanGoSunflowers

Sorry you are missing Eris @LandSharksAnonymous

@Aubriellethat is an epic photo 🤣
@VanGoSunflowerswe are out for about an hour in the morning, on a ‘nice walk’ either along the river or in the hills so she can have some off lead time, and then in the evening, about 40 mins. Not sure if I could fit in any more…is this long enough?? I already feel a bit of a rebel disobeying the ‘5 minutes per month of age rule, but that is just bonkers for a collie!

Re toys- she has a large bag full of toys which she can rummage through at will, but of course she has her favourites. One in particular, which is a Kong squeaky thing. It’s getting very tatty now so I have been looking for a replacement. I named it Owl, but it turns out that it’s actually a sloth 🦥 😂 and I can’t find it in stock anywhere. It has to be played with in a very particular way - she is a collie after all. First she rams it into your leg then drops it. You have to throw it down the hallway, she chases it, then you have to chase her, she hides on the sofa with it, she drops it, you throw it down the hallway. Rinse and repeat ad nauseam. I think she would do it till she drops. Collies are nuts. Anyway, she does sometimes pick something else out of the bag, but always returns to the ‘owl’.

@LandSharksAnonymousi’m glad my evil dog makes you laugh. If I didn’t laugh I would probably cry. I found another crime she committed yesterday. When we got up this morning, instead of heading downstairs, she went straight into dh’s office and did a wee on the floor. When I went to clean it up, I found another wee patch. I had been out for a couple of hours yesterday and ds was looking after her. He said she had gone and had a nap on my bed, which was sweet, but unusual. Clearly she also relieved herself in the office. Little terrorist!

I have tried to drum into my men-folk to close doors on room she shouldn’t be in, put precious things out of reach, stop leaving the loo roll on the loo roll hanger etc etc, but they don’t remember. They will be sorry when she finally gets her paws on the Xbox controller or their ear buds…

So, that was a bit weird @LandSharksAnonymous , because on our early evening walk, we were asked if Brie is a white retriever. Although they then said they had thought she was too big. Perhaps the confusion comes from the fact that there are two GR up this end of the village, both male, and both cream.

The 5 minute rule is nonsense really @Struckbylightning , but was probably more applicable to my pup than most of the others here. We really did err on the side of caution and even now, at 18 months, most of her walks are under an hour and it's all on lead. It probably doesn't seem much compared to what you need to do. It was only when I came here that I started to fully realise the difference between high energy breeds and sedentary plodders like mine, that spend much of their life loafing around.

Girl pups are little sods for sneaky wees. Quite often we only found them when one of us unwittingly stepped in a puddle and got a wet sock 😝

@Struckbylightning you have a way with words that makes me chuckle 😂
I’m totally with you on disobeying the 5 minute rule and as you say, I’d have thought for a Collie in particular it makes no sense! I’d say minimum P gets one half an hour and one 40 min walk but sometimes it’s more depending on the walk and the environment etc. if it’s a particularly good one (like yesterday morning) then I don’t want to go home!

That part about the certain way she had to play with her owl/sloth is cute but I can imagine tiring! It reminds me of when DS was a toddler and I was asked what his favourite game was and I said ‘repetition’

@Aubrielle how are you and Miss Brie this morning?

@LandSharksAnonymous did Eris miss you yesterday?

And a very good morning to everyone else!

Good Morning 😊
We're having a very soggy start here in East Lancs this morning, the room divider/playpen thingy is coming in handy for draping the wet dog towels over.
I think it might be a chew stick morning rather than the usual ball play.

How does everyone else get on when it's pouring?

I've been down the food rabbit hole again @VanGoSunflowers 🙄 Since the thread the other day with the heated debate about fresh v processed junk when I suddenly developed paranoia about calcium levels.
So last night I ended up ordering another bag of the Calibra Junior lamb. I keep thinking it's not the best food out there, but it suits her really well and the protein/calcium levels are right for her, unlike those of the "better" foods.
As I said the other day, information overload - I just used to chuck a bowl of James Wellbeloved and a chopped up Nature Diet at our previous pups, but now I'm tying myself in knots.
I hope Pablo has adjusted to his new diet.

@Aubrielle It might not be the best food out there, but it might also be the best food for Brie.
When I got K I switched her to Orijen puppy. It was around £85 for 11kg and scored 85% on the AADF website. Her poos were good, but she regularly had bouts of dandruff.
Switched her to Country Ķibble - £59 for 15kg. Rated 66%. Good poos and lovely shiney coat.
Incidently Orijen has now slipped down to 70%, so definitely not worth the extra money.
And growing up our GR was fed on Minced Morsals, a handful of Shapes biscuits and table scraps. He was a very healthy dog, never had a day's illness and lived to almost 14 years old.

That's it @SpanielsGalore . Country Kibble suited Algy too.
Some of the kibbles are a crazy price now - Eden is well over £100 for a 12kg bag, Canagan is £99, which is a lot if you have multiple dogs or a giant breed.

Same here - ironically, our first dog was our longest lived. There was no kibble then, it was canned food, Winalot biscuit mixer & Spillers Shapes. I'm not saying I'd do that now, but I'm still not convinced by the £100 foods and the protein and calcium in them is far too high for the larger breeds anyway.

@Aubrielle Blimey! I used to feed Eden to my sprocker. I had heard it had had a huge price hike, but that's ridiculous.
When I only had P, she was raw fed and it cost me around £3 a day. There's no way I could afford to maintain that when I jumped to three dogs. I sought advice from a sports dog nutritionist and Country Kibble was one of her recommendations. She's non judgemental and will advise for people's food choices and budgets. And she doesn't have her own products to push like the man linked the other day.
And my three don't equal your one. So your food bill will be higher than mine.

Things have changed so much @SpanielsGalore When we had 3 dogs we were in the James Wellbeloved breeder club, so we'd order 5 large sacks at a time. It costs more for food and insurance for Brie than it did for three adult giants back then in 2000 ish.

Before we got Brie I spoke to a couple of PMD breeders that we'd had previous pups from, they both said nobody has as many dogs or litters these days, because of the cost of food, insurance, entry to dog shows and petrol.

It's good to know that about Country Kibble. That other nutritionist is pretty scathing about most of the kibble brands but the cynic in me would call it pretty boy sensationalist twaddle and I'm not falling for the Instagram Influencer hype.

@Aubrielle He would be. From the brief look I took, he seems to be selling his own products. Which made me think he was a face for a company rather than someone who knows what he is talking about. I may be wrong, but I am old and cynical.

I would love a little liver girl in two years time. I think age wise, she would be my last puppy. But realistically I'm not sure I can afford to feed and insure a third dog.

Likewise @SpanielsGalore. I like to think we'll have one more boy while we still have Brie. Then after that, we should logically size down, but it's not proving easy to find a breed with comparable temperament that isn't a giant. I always used to say I'd have a Chow Chow when I was old, but now I can't see it happening. So it might just be more cats.

@VanGoSunflowers she was fast asleep by the time I got home. Tbf to her, I didn't get home until gone 10pm as I spent most of the afternoon yesterday waiting for people to send me things (they kept missing their deadlines) which then meant I ended up working ridiculously late to clear the things they sent me... And I shot off again this morning just as she was stirring, so I've not actually really had time to see her for two days now😞

But Twatdog and the rest gave me lovely kisses and cuddles and I walked them all to the station this morning (Eris stayed in bed with DD1) where DMum collected them and then returned them to my house. DDs did want to lay claim to this 'puppy' as theirs, so I am trying to be mature about the fact that one day of me not being around was enough for Eris to defect...although I am a (tiny) bit gutted.

Hopefully I'll be home at a reasonable time tonight. But I have to be in the office tomorrow as well...so it could be I don't actually get proper puppy time until Friday now! Apparently she was fine yesterday, and has been today - she's just been keeping DMum in her line of sight at all times. Bless her.

Pablo really is getting big isn't he? 😍That walk looks so idilic and peaceful!

@Struckbylightning It will be a dark day indeed when Merry gets hold of something they value 😁Do you think they are accidental wees? Or protest wees?

Hello I don’t feel like I’ve checked in for a few days, work and life have been hectic!

Rory has taken his love of relocating shoes round the house to the next level as he’s taken to bringing my pole dancing boots downstairs whenever I go out 😂. They’re 8in heals and heavy so I’d love to see him do it! He doesn’t chew them so it doesn’t seem worth the effort but they must be extra stinky or something 😭.

@LandSharksAnonymous isn’t it funny how you can feel a bit jealous. I was definitely ‘the human’ of our old girl for 14 years, but towards the end of her life she started going to my DH for evening cuddles. That stung a bit!!
I don’t know what’s going on with demon pups wees. She had just woken up from a nights sleep, went into the next door room and did it right in front of me. Maybe she was just too bursting to wait. I kinda know the feeling, but so far I have always made it to the right location!

@Struckbylightning quite! And even if you’re the one who does all the walks, and feeding and training it still doesn’t mean you’ll be that dogs top choice. It really does sting. I am pleased for DD1 though - she’s joined me on dog walks since she was very young and both DDs have always been so good and wanted their own dog and I’ve always been very cautious…but if Eris has chosen DD1, I won’t fight it (she chose DD1 again last night), although goodness knows what I’ll do about DD2.

To be fair to Merry she is very young still! Perhaps back ti basics is needed? Puppies do regress so easily for no apparent reason…

@Idstillratherbepaddleboarding it must be the smell (sorry) that he finds comforting! Which is quite sweet? 😍

@Aubrielle I try and walk in between rain showers if I can! One of the joys of working from home I suppose 😀

Pablo has adjusted well to the Calibra, I have been adding a bit of forthglade wet food on top too. I have noticed the occasional poo being slight runny at the ‘end’ (sorry for the graphic description 😂) but it’s not every time so I’m thinking perhaps I’m feeding slightly too much? Just adjusting to the different quantities!

It’s interesting to read your’s and @SpanielsGalore thoughts on how dog ownership has changed over the years! Especially how expensive it now is and the info overload. I sometimes wonder if it’s the same with human diets, there are lots of fad diets and ‘trendy’ health foods about when it feels like the quality of our actual staple foods in this country has declined, whilst the prices rise! I could waffle on all day about rising rates of mineral and vitamin deficiencies but I don’t want to bore you and I am absolutely not an expert 😂

@LandSharksAnonymous sound like you’re having a busy time of it! I sympathise with waiting around for others to do their bit so you can do yours! Happens all the time to me and my team! Hope it quietens down and you can get some puppy snuggles on Friday. I must admit I don’t know how I would react if Pablo chose a different human! He loves DS and DS loves him but I’m still his human 😂 one of the perks of being the only adult in the household (along with all the other upsides that are too numerous to list 😂)

@Idstillratherbepaddleboarding haha at Rory moving your shoes about the house 😂 what is it with dogs and shoe fascinations? And socks! I have to keep both out of Pablo’s reach at all times still 😂

@Struckbylightning Pablo did something similar the other morning! He usually gets off the bed and waits by the door when he wants to go out, but the other morning he just pissed on my rug instead. Wouldn’t mind but I had only cleaned it with the vax spot cleaner the day before so I had to do it again! I forget sometimes that he is still a baby. It’s so hard not to be complacent sometimes!

@VanGoSunflowers
We took Brie off the Forthglade trays because we found it made her poo bigger and softer. Not saying this is necessarily the case with Pablo, but we've switched to the Jollyes Lifestage ones (which we think are almost identical to Naturo trays) and she's better on those. But, as you know, all pups are different and it's trial and error until you find the right balance. I'm still fiddling around with her food; thought we'd cracked it but then the calcium levels issue came up 🙄

I agree regarding human food too. There is a lot of hype around superfoods, but the average person still consumes a huge amount of highly processed crap. We just need to find a middle ground and I think it's the same with our dogs.

@Aubrielle its certainly worth me keeping an eye on the poos in any case and seeing how we get on. I’m giving quite a small amount of wet food still, using one tray in 48 hours (as that’s apparently when they need to be consumed by once opened)
That calcium issue was certainly interesting! Do I recall you saying that it’s more of an issue with giant breeds? So perhaps not as relevant to a Lab? It seems the calcium level in that Calibra kibble is in the right range anyway for Pablo?

I agree with finding a middle ground! You can cook the healthiest meals or whatever but in my book, nothing wrong with a humble jacket potato or a nice pie, mash and veg dinner and I don’t think bread is the devil 😂 having said that, we humans are all different in what suits us food wise too. I’ve an intolerance to lactose so try and avoid it but I will
have some occasionally because I bloody love cream and I will just deal with the consequences 😂

Last night’s walk was a cool one, Pablo seemed much more sniffy than usual! Nose was to the ground for quite a large portion of the walk! I was finding it fascinating to watch 😂

@VanGoSunflowers and @Aubrielle It's funny. I met a man walking his collie last night. We ended up talking about food, as you do. 😂 We were laughing about how many hours we'd spent researching decent quality foods for the dogs, whilst shovelling cake and other crap down our own throats.