Beyond Adolescence - a thread to chat about grown up dogs, cake and anything else, excluding coffee.

[SpanielsGalore]

Not going to tag everyone as I don't know who wants to join. Welcome everyone. 😁

I have had two roofers here this morning. After the initial barking at heads appearing over the ridge, the dogs have been so good. They've sat in the garden and watched them working. Greeted them every time they came into the garden and didn't once try to bolt out of the gate. I heard one of the men telling them to 'stay' as he struggled through the gate with a bucket full of water, and then telling them they were 'good dogs'.
They've just finished and as they were leaving one commented on how calm my dogs are and not like 'normal spaniels'. See. Not all working cockers are 'high on crack' and 'manic'. 😇😇😇

Beautiful weather here today. 🌞 I unexpectedly got my car back yesterday. 🥳
Off to the woods to walk the adolescent nutter until she collapses in a heap. 😂

@LandSharksAnonymous oh good that is a result re the car!

Dd was at a friends house today so me and dh went up on the moor at Haworth and enjoyed a whinge-free walk. It was sooooo warm and sunny! V had a great time sticking his head in various nooks and crannies and frolicking through the heather.

We kept bumping into this woman with a massive chocolate lab that would not leave V alone and she didn’t give a shit. The third time he tried to have a go at poor Vinny and I was shouting no and trying block its path, and the woman was nowhere to be seen! Then thankfully it got distracted by another passing dog which was on lead and starting bothering them instead and the owner appeared and was meekly calling him back, which obviously he ignored. I was so annoyed. It bothers me so much that so many dog owners just don’t give two shits what their dogs are doing. And then because V is nervous and starts yelping and jumping up at me, then sometimes will snap at the dog to warn them off it makes me feel like we are in the wrong (even though I know we aren’t!). But apart from that we had a very very nice time and V was an angel so it cancels out the stupid woman.

Also my car is pristine but only because we have a man who comes and valets it every month 😂 otherwise it would be a disgrace!!

@brushingboots glad I’m not only one with a mossy car! It’s slightly embarrassing, but with so many dogs it seems pointless to clean it.

I’m sure the labs owner was delighted that pupsy taught her dog how to hunt for rabbit poo 😂but it is an essential life skill if you are a dog!!

@SpanielsGalore We have snot smears as well. I try and clean them - not the moss, I’ve given up with that - but nothing works. And as soon as I clean it one of the little bastards snots all over it again!

Poor P! Sounds like she was quite restrained though if she only snapped and lunged? I’m fairly sure Clem (in particular) would not react as politely if she was in a similar situation. How was K after? I imagine probably bounced back for quickly given it must be clear P isn’t herself?

@CoubousAndTourmaIet I wouldnt have minded the kiss if I hadn’t seen him lick Pens bum about two seconds before!!! Grotty animal.

As you say though, really hard to fathom what goes through their little (very little in Twatdogs case) brains.

@YorkshireFelix I am never going to understand people who let their dogs bother other dogs! Not only is it bad manners but you do run the risk of quite a nasty telling off one day!

V looks very happy in that photo though. Perhaps he always enjoyed the whinge free walk? 😃 every month for a car clean?! Does he come to you?! Every time I think about taking it to be cleaned the queue puts me off….

your dogs look particularly fixated on something? Did you have some chicken

More likely a ball I think. They will both choose a ball over chicken when out and about.

@LandSharksAnonymous yes he comes to us! It is a revelation. He comes in a van with its own water and power supply so I literally have to do nothing apart from give him the keys and bring out a cup of tea. And it literally looks brand new once he’s done. DH pays for it through his business as I think he can claim the VAT back or something along those lines but it’s £40 a pop - which personally I thought was expensive every month when we first started but now I think a tenner a week to avoid doing it myself (to a crap standard) is priceless now 😄

@LandSharksAnonymous K couldn't have cared less. She just carried on her merry little way.
I hope TD was still happy to get in your car today.

@YorkshireFelix Looks like a beautiful place to go for a walk. And V looks very happy. 💖
Shame about the lab. Was it a show type? Just asking because I don't think I've ever seen a chocolate working line lab and I was wondering the other day if they come in that colour.

P has a check up at the vets at 4pm. She seems fine, so it should go alright. I'm still going to try to keep her on crate rest for as long as possible though.

I honestly have no idea what the difference is between a show or working lab so I couldn’t tell you. It was massive/tall though (and very chunky!) and was pissing me off as it seemed to seek us out constantly despite me trying to avoid it!!

Hope the vets goes ok. I would do the same and rest her as much as possible. Lots of rest can’t be a bad thing.

You do get some chocolate working labs, I've never met one on the flesh

I nearly tagged you as I thought you might know. I was hoping the working lines had escaped the colour fad breeding. There was a time when I lived in England that everyone wanted a chocolate lab.

@YorkshireFelix A Google description says show lines are stockier build and heavier boned. Most of the ones I see are chunky or just out right fat.
There's a young male near me, who always bothered P on a walk. She was a bit frightened of him. Last time we saw him, he was so fat he couldn't bother anyone anymore. It was sad to see him struggling to waddle along really.

Yes I just googled too and I think he was a show. Our trainer has two gorgeous working labs and he looked very different to them. I didn’t realise a chocolate lab was a faddy colour! Every day is a school day 😄

Good morning all!
Chilly morning here in the midlands! Currently sat under my plug in heated blanket and Pablo is taking advantage of the heat and lying on top of it/me 😊

My understanding is that Show Labs are shorter and stockier but working lines are more athletic and lean looking. Having said that, I’ve never seen an overweight working line lab so I don’t know if you’d be able to tell the difference! I’ve also heard them referred to as American/English but I don’t know which is which 😂
Ive always thought that to me, working lines are far more visually appealing than the show lines. But does show line literally mean they’re bred for looks and temperament?
From what I can gather, ‘silver’ labs are quite controversial as well but I’m not sure why.

@SpanielsGalore hope all goes well at the vets!
@LandSharksAnonymous glad youre making progress with the car thing!

I pay the nice Romanian men to clean my car at £20 a pop. I like the sound of a mobile valet though @YorkshireFelix!

@VanGoSunflowers I would hazard a guess that it's because to get a silver lab, you have to have added some weimaraner genes into the mix.
And yes. Show lines are bred to a KC breed standard for showing. It's a shame that they don't look as fit as the working line ones.

@YorkshireFelix I'm going to say it and risk the backlash 🙈😂 - chocolate in any breed is a fad/marketing ploy.
Show cockers are classed as chocolate. Working cockers are called liver.

No such thing as silver labs really, the dilute gene presents in some lines that breed 'silver' or 'charcoal' is thought to come from Weimaraners. There's a test now that looks for presence of this gene as it's non-standard.

Locally, I'd say we see far more working labs than show types. It's not unusual to have dual purpose which are often a mix of show and field lines so I think the working/show distinction is not quite as clear cut as with some other breeds.

English labs are what Americans call show type labs. I'm not quite sure why. Instagram keeps showing me accounts of these 'English' type labs which all show overweight dogs that sometimes look nothing like labs to me with owners insisting that labs should be chunky or blocky. Ridiculous when you know that labs were originally bred to be working dogs.

The last time I took my car to be cleaned inside and out, they opened the door and looked inside. Then stuck a tenner on top of the advertised price. 😂

One thing that struck me about the labs our trainer has and the three in our gundog class was how light on their feet they are. I have had absolutely no experience with labs at all in my life and had the misconception that they were all stocky/heavier (which I now know isn’t the case), but seeing them in action and retrieving beautifully was lovely.

@SpanielsGaloreI didn’t know that re chocolate/liver either. My DH’s niece has a ‘cocker’ which is merle (🥴) which means it’s had dachshund or collie bred into the line at some point. It’s a cute dog but it causes so many issues, all in the name of having a trendy colour. I am not sure I’ve ever seen a silver lab before. I just googled and it they look photoshopped 😂

@tizwozliz yes, that’s what I remember reading now - it’s a non-standard colour and that they have been crossed to achieve it. There aren’t many labs about here at all but all the ones I have seen are show type ones.
It’s a shame that people insist they should be that chunky. Hopefully I will never have to come across anyone that thinks Pablo is too lean!

@SpanielsGalore I definitely think the working lines look so much better and healthier! I look at Pablo all the time and think what a handsome boy he is but then I am very biased 😂

@YorkshireFelix I love watching Labs doing their job, I’ve watched countless hours of them all lining up behind their handlers, marking retrieves calm and steady and then heading out when their name gets called. I have become a big Lab fan 😂

@YorkshireFelix Oh yes. Merle - that well known cocker colour. Probably came at a premium price too, because they are 'rare'. Sable was a very 'in' colour once. The puppies would be twice the price of their differently coloured litter mates.

It's ridiculous the amount people will pay for a certain colour.
I met a man with a black dog the other day. He said one parent was a collie; the other was a GSD x Malinois. He paid £500 for his dog. But the rest of the litter were 'turquoise' and sold for £1000s.

@SpanielsGalore I have never heard of turquoise dogs before! Black dogs don’t seem to be all that popular. When my friend rescued her greyhound years ago, they had loads of black ones available because all the other colours get snapped up very quickly.

Same with cats. Apparently people are superstitious about black cats and they're harder for rescue centres to find homes for.

I have heard this too. It is sad!

Hi, can I join you? I was on a very very helpful puppy thread a couple of years ago when we got our lab, Maggie. She’s now 2, she’s a delight. We have a LOT of red labs in our area now, they appear to be quite trendy, and I notice reds being more popular in lots of other breeds too, there’s a big gang of red spaniels in our locality too. A lot of people say she’s a working breed but I’m not sure, she’s not the sharpest knife in the box and is really quite lazy. We have not really had much adolescent bad behaviour to speak of either- hopefully we won’t get a terrible 3’s !

Nor me. But apparently stupid people paid stupid prices for them. I'd be interested to see what they really looked like.

@CoubousAndTourmaIet ah that’s really sad. I like black cats! Well, any cats really 😊

@thenewaveragebear1983 Hi! Your girl is beautiful. You’re giving me hope that I can get through the adolescence phase relatively unscathed! Your cat is cute, too. Do they get on with each other? Who came first, puppy or kitten?

@SpanielsGalore I just googled and the first pic was from a new article about a mishap that turned someone’s dog bright turquoise but I didn’t read what happened! Have you seen that people are buying fur dye for their dogs too?!

We've had three solid black cats @VanGoSunflowers , one of them, Wilf, lived to 17 despite being a big fatty. Our black Maine Coon Bram was a very clever one, and was very best pals with Algy dog. Our next kitten will hopefully be a black one.

@SpanielsGalore There are people in the States now breeding black Pyreneans, which is a complete con, it's just a crossbreed. All these fads are ridiculous but the idiots that fall for them even more so.

Beautiful cat @thenewaveragebear1983
Birman or Ragdoll? I can't quite tell from the photo.