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. 😂

Welcome.

@Bupster

”Anyway, this is a typically long-winded way of saying there are some days when things are great and I can happily jump on and post some pictures of the squidgy-headed hooligan, and others where absolutely everything makes me feel a bit inadequate.”

Yes, I can resonate with that!

Me too. Still days of despair and feeling like a failure x

Lovely autumnal photo. Looks like the perfect walk. We've had rain all day again so I'm quite envious!

I do have a kindle, but I'm currently in a phase of reading paper books again.
What do you like to read? My tastes used to be quite varied but since Covid I seem to need escapism. I find contemporary stuff difficult.

Thanks, everyone - you're all lovely x

@SpanielsGalore , how did you know it was IBD rather than allergies? He does seem better today, more restful, but he's not eaten very much...

Just coming back now I am (finally) heading home.

Sorry to hear you're feeling so rotten @Bupster FWIW, I think Bill has an amazing life with you and you do all you can for him - a dog really can't ask for more.

He started vomiting and then had chronic diarrhoea. He lost 4kg, which was over 22% of his body weight. He had various blood tests (ruling other things out) and we saw an Internal Medicine Specialist for a final diagnosis. He had to have hypoallergenic food, as everything else made him ill.

I’m in a book club so read a variety of stuff. However, I like romances with a bit more substance than girl meets new boy - misunderstanding - make-up, in Cornish seaside village, after inheriting gran’s tea shop, after fleeing London and dastardly Sebastian etc.

Seven Sisters book - Lucinda Riley - loved this series and her stand alone books
Rhys Bowen - another favourite author
Steve Higgs - Patricia Fisher cozy mystery series - light, easy to read, humorous,
Maeve Binchy
etc

Think I've read all Maeve Binchy's books over the years @Silverbirchleaf , back when we still had a mobile library service. I've now gone into my second childhood and am back with my first love, fantasy.

@CoubousAndTourmaIet I know you saw that thread last night about the dead Goldie, but I really hope it wasn't true (it's now deleted for 'privacy') given the beating OP took! I would rather it was a troll than someone got so much abuse for posting something like that.

I know I can be a bit sharp - but the pile on of people saying OP was a shit owner was just awful! I've never seen anything like it in the other place...

I’m reading Steve Higgs ‘ Realms of False Gods’ which is fantasy. Not a genre I usually read, but I liked his other books so I thought I’d give it a go. Took me a while to get into it but now enjoying it and read the second book in the series (the set is cheap on kindle).

Dog has decided the best place to sleep is our bed and sneaked up again last night. Fortunately we now have a king size bed, but I ended up squashed to one side last night.

I still think it was probably genuine but I was glad it was taken down. It really unsettled me the number of people attacking her for her choice of dog. Presumably it was because she'd said the dog was "from working lines" so people make the assumption that a working dog can't also be a pet, which we know is bollocks, even with a guardian breed like mine. People are just ignorant of the facts but still feel their opinion is relevant.
There is so much feeling against larger dog breeds on mn lately and it's getting worse. There's also such a herd mentality on forums that it only takes one person to query something and it's a pile on.
If it was genuine I really feel for the owner and it gave me chills realising there is now probably not a single person I could ever trust not to let Brie off the lead 😔

I've never come across those books @Silverbirchleaf but they sound entertaining. I'll keep them in mind for when my current book pile reduces a bit.

Freija (our elderly cat) is the bed sleeper in our house. Brie is currently choosing to sleep in the kitchen.

Woken up with a fucking migraine yet again, three days after the last one finished 😩Urgh! No food until it passes. I had been doing okay for a few weeks but now in a bad phase with them again. Still need to try to get out with Brie.

Speaking of books, I am finally reading 'Cables from Kabul'. I tend not to read diplomatic memoirs, for obvious reasons, but this one is quite witty.

I'm still looking for book recommendations for DD1 if anyone has any 😀I'm tempted to buy a copy of the Twilight trilogy...although given she's now a teenager, not sure she'd find it as amusing as she once would have!

@CoubousAndTourmaIet 'People are just ignorant of the facts but still feel their opinion is relevant.' Very well put! I think people are just getting a bit ridiculous over dogs in general. I've had people cross the road - and nearly be hit by oncoming traffic because they haven't looked - to get away from mine recently. It's all getting a bit bonkers and so many are instilling their fears onto their kids as well, which is never going to end well!

I was, however, very unsurprised by how many Goldie owners reported similar issues/behavioural issues. So my only hope from that thread is people consider their dog breed of choice more carefully!

Sorry you're experiencing another migraine, I hope this one passes quickly!

@Silverbirchleaf I love the idea of 'sneak up.' What did this involve? I have images in my mind of DDog going all 'ninja' in the middle of the night.

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks
Is dd1 a younger or older teen? What sort of things does she like doing?

Definitely Ninja style. We wake to find him on our bed!

Here he is with a, ‘I know I’m not supposed to be here, but I’m not moving’ pose.

@Silverbirchleaf She's just turned 13. She loves books like LoTR and the Hobbit and absolutely adored 'Eragon'. YA fantasy fiction is great, but she hates the dystopic type work - think Hunger Games, Divergent etc. She also hates Percy Jackson and Twilight. I joked ages ago to @CoubousAndTourmaIet that I've raised a 'book snob' but it is true and makes it so hard to pick for her as typically the style she likes isn't necessarily appropriate for a 13 year old!

Her big presents have all been bought, so it's little 'book' type things I am after now. I've bought her a few books already - including the next two books of the Eragon series - but I don't think you can ever have too many books...

Oh he is such a handsome boy ❤I very much like how he's spread out sideways across the bed so he can take up as much space as possible 😀

Owl service - Alan Garner ? Not a new book but a classic of its time (but possibly aimed at slightly younger audience?)

I thought your daughter eyerolled at Twilight when her friend was reading it though @TheHungryHungryLandsharks , so maybe not 🤔
I'm not fond of dystopian either and I did start a thread on the book boards here a few weeks ago asking for recommendations so I'll revisit it and see if anything comes to mind for her.

Surprisingly, now Brie is very big and fluffy and a lot calmer, people don't seem to be fearful of her at all. We haven't had anyone cross the road, not even the ones with small children. There are a lot of big dogs around here though and everyone tends to know everyone else. The funniest thing is that in the last week alone we've had three familiar local dog people try to offer her a treat and she turned her head away as if it was something nasty 😂 My dog is a total snob! We've never been comfortable with them being given food treats, so I'm glad really but her reaction does shock people. She doesn't make a sound, just turns away then gives me a "let's go" look. Attagirl 😉

My dd is obsessed with Hunger Games at the minute. They are studying it at school and she has been watching the films and reading all the books on repeat. She spends a lot of time in the library at school and the librarian has recommended her loads of books to read, which is nice.

@Silverbirchleaf I also have a bed sleeper. He happily slept downstairs in his crate until earlier this year and got spooked by something and would no longer sleep on his own. We spent weeks and weeks trying to sort it and finally relented, and now he’s happy as a pig in shit. He starts on our bed then goes underneath and sleeps there most the night. I do think it can’t be that nice as we have hard wooden floors and it must be dusty under there 😄 It’s great at the weekend as he will happily lie in until 9.30-10am sometimes!! Here he is this morning not wanting to get up.

Jeez I spoke too soon about how well Vinny was doing. He just took off and was doing huge laps of the woods completely ignoring me without a care in the world! Little shit bag. I wasn’t even walking him in there either (I stopped taking him in there as it sends him loopy), we were in the adjacent field trying to do some training.

Sorry, loads to catch up on but just wanted to send love to @Bupster and @brushingboots ❤️

@Silverbirchleaf I'll give it a go for DD! Thank you 😊

@CoubousAndTourmaIet she did...and loathes the movie. I think if there's romance in it, it's fine. But romance as the main plot point is just a no.

It sounds like such a nice small village/town type life up there! I think the problem here is we're just that bit too close to London so people are very nervous. All ridiculous of course, but I can't say I blame them given how many people seem to revel in having an aggressive dog. Although I really don't think it helps their kids to see their parents flinching!

I'd forgotten we had a similar ethos about our dogs taking food from strangers! I always say to people 'they won't take it' and they insist on trying. I've given up trying to stop them, they can try and the dogs will just ignore them!

@YorkshireFelix They're studying it at school!? Gosh I can remember when it came out...now I feel really old.

And V might be a shitbag, but he's your shitbag! 😀Was he zoomie-ing or just on the scent of a sniff?

I took Satan out at lunch today, as a thanks to DMum for having the rabble yesterday, and she spent the entire walk nose down, bum up, on the scent of something clearly quite nasty. I've never seen her tail wag so much 😂It was such a reminder of how different she is to my lot. Mine just run and go manic and play and she's there, running along with her nose to the ground bouncing off trees.

Sorry but that did make me laugh. 😂😂
Little sods lull you into a false sense of security. Is it windy by you today? My pair were awful one day last week when the wind picked up. High as bloody kites! It's the same with children in school playgrounds.