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. 😂

@SpanielsGalore I have an equafleece that M has grown out of which you are welcome to have but I’m sure it'll be too big!

They’re great. It can be pouring with rain and the equafleece will be soaking but M’s fur will be completely dry. For older dogs they will put a zip in to make them easier to get on and off.

@Nella68 That's so kind of you.Thank you. I shall have a look and see what size I would need for them both.

@SpanielsGalore ahem

@brushingboots Perfect. 💖 Thank you. I shall attack them with a tape measure tomorrow and try to work out what size they both need.

Good luck with that. I spent hours trying to get equafleece size guide to work. It just kept telling me I must have measured wrong! 😂

Here is little pup being unimpressed at wearing her big sisters equafleece

Hotter dog are worth looking at too, cheaper but without the range of styles and sizes. Ryedale do something similar too.

Having said all that, I don't really use mine at all. I bought with the idea that they might need something when mantrailing in the winter.

Picture of how wet he gets without the equafleece. My nephew has a german shepherd and she just has a good shake and she’s dry. Midge took hours to dry that day!

@tizwozliz I looked at the size/measuring guide and thought 😳.

I wouldn't usually bother either and just go for drying coats for after a walk. But P is restricted to half hour walks with most of it being on lead. And N has severe arthritis and can only manage short walks with the occasional jog. I worry that neither of them will be moving enough to keep warm through a Scottish winter. (My car said it was -4 down by the sea front this afternoon.) And the physiotherapist said whilst P's energy is going towards keeping her warm, it can't be going towards healing her leg. So it's got to be worth a try.
Little nutter K won't be getting one as she runs non stop.

The equafleeces look so cute but I think Vinny would go mad if I tried to put one on him. You should see him when I just try and put his drying towel on!

@Silverbirchleaf he is whistle trained (usually quite well!) but today he decided he was totally deaf. I think he just saw his opportunity and ran with it 😂 I saw a friend of mine the other day and told her I don’t walk him in the woods any more because he just runs about like crazy and she said ‘but that’s what spaniels do isn’t it?!’ and I told her that they aren’t supposed to really and I’m trying to train it out of him. I wouldn’t mind if he kept close but he runs in these huge circles and disappears for a few minutes at a time which isn’t ideal. I’d rather not take him to the field next to the woods for training but I’m not sure where else is suitable/quiet enough really…

@CoubousAndTourmaIet sorry you had a rubbish walk. It’s funny how they can be great for so long then have a very ‘off’ day!

Collies are the only dog I don’t really like (sorry if ant collie owners are lurking). It’s the stalking that freaks me out a bit!!

Sorry V had an off day too @YorkshireFelix , let's just call it an age thing with both him & Brie.

The problem with collies is that most people are ill equipped to cope with them as pets (we see that on a lot of threads here), so they develop problem behaviours like car chasing and sheep worrying. Being touted as a super intelligent wonderdog doesn't help because people expect far too much of them.

I have to admit though, most of the breeds I dislike are the really tiny toy/companion ones. Sorry 😬 The idea of having a dog that's significantly smaller than my cat is what freaks me out 😲

Loving the dog-coat modelling photos. Don’t think I’ve really thought about how long a dog coat takes to dry. We don’t use a coat, but just give Dog (a lab) a good rub down with a towel after rain, and then he usually dries off pretty quickly.

I love collies and would love one. However, having a working lab is hard enough. Must admit, didn’t realise there were different types of labs until I got him. Labs are always considered ‘good family pets’ etc, but they take alot of hard work as puppies, and working labs have that extra working mentality in them. We chose a litter whereby two we knew were becoming assistance dogs. We took that as a sign that it would be a good, calm gentle litter. Completely overlooked the fact that the dogs, would therefore, be intelligent!

I have had a lifelong dislike of Dalmatians. One attacked our GR when I was about 3 or 4 years old and I have been traumatised ever since. This was back in the days when kids and dogs roamed the streets, so there were no adults around. Even Disney couldn't help change my mind. 😂

Our breed takes hours to dry but also overheats too easily to wear a coat. We just have to rely on towels.

Our last 6 have all been from mixed European working/show lines. I would say the differences have been more down to the individual puppy. M was our most placid and bombproof from day 1. R was our most extraverted, both S & F were quiet and aloof. A definitely would not have been suited to a first time owner, he was very guardy. We were actually on a waiting list for a girl from his breeder but despite a bitch heavy litter she picked him out for us. He was very special ❤ B was described as the calm and clever one by her breeder, and she definitely is...

I've said this before here and I recognise that it's mad but I'd always choose the working strain of a breed given the choice because working dogs are often very clear about their expectations and about what they need. The trouble with show cockers, for example, is that people think they're chilled but they're still spaniels and they still need to fulfil their breed instincts. Gimme a working cocker any day because it does what it says on the tin. Obviously not everyone wants that lifestyle or that challenge which is perfectly fair but they seem much easier to me.

Saying that, I do not like collies and agree with @YorkshireFelix that the stalking is creepy. I can never understand why people have them if they're not working sheepdogs as they seem so much more intense than spaniels. You can 'work' a spaniel and never pick up a gun but I'm not sure whether any non-working sheepdog ever gets what it really needs without, as the one down the road from me displays, a horrific fixation on balls and ball chuckers.

@brushingboots I agree. I prefer the working strain of spaniels and retrievers. I don't know other breeds well enough to comment on those.

We went for working over show for the higher energy levels and shorter coats. I'd rather be walking than grooming. 😂
We used to spend weekends and school holidays dragging the kids out on hikes or spending the days at country parks. So thought a working cocker would be more suitable.
Unfortunately, the cocker we got didn't enjoy that sort of life. 😞

I agree about working dogs @brushingboots , we've gone for a succession of dogs from European lines with that in mind.

And you're spot on about Border Collies - the one next door and the two at the back of us are all completely, obsessively ball focused. It's another reason why I dispute that #1 intelligence rating because I've never seen any evidence of it despite being surrounded by collies both here and when I lived in Cumbria.

Really interesting to see the posts about working and show lines. I was a very naive prospective dog owner. Would probably make the experienced people shudder. I just thought I would rescue 'a dog'.
Thankfully, not least for Boo, we've had the time and resources to put into training and finding out more about 'bully' breeds. It's been a steep learning curve, I have made mistakes, and I suspect that he could have been returned by someone who wanted an easier dog. But on the other hand they might have been better prepared.

Anyway, we are where we are. We have the dog we have. Today will be mostly spent trying to explain to him why the weather is broken.

What does he think to the rain? I follow someone on TikTok who has a staffy and two working cockers and they post very funny videos about the differences between them. The cockers are out in all weathers splashing in the river and the staffy is always sat giving them the side eye because he hates the wet and being outdoors. My sister had a staffy and she hated the rain too and would refuse to go out in it!

Oh I feel you with the broken weather @BackToLurk , our lot have all hated walking on wet grass. Current girl is in full winter coat and gets completely waterlogged in even light rain so we have been missing a few walks, which is not great. We're in the Northwest.

Sometimes being a first time owner can go in your favour with a more "challenging" breed, because you have no preconceived notions about how a dog should behave. I was a dissenting voice on the 'Doberman as a first dog' thread for this reason. I don't see the logic in starting with a small "easy" dog if it is ultimately not what you want. You've been learning on the job with Boo, so of course you'll look back and see what you could have done better, but next time around it'll be easier. He looks pretty happy, which is what matters most.

Edited to add that this is possibly just about the only thing @TheHungryHungryLandsharks and I don't agree on 😁and it might be just as well that I did not participate in the famous @VanGoSunflowers GSD debate 😬 (although it did make entertaining reading 😏).

He hates the rain, but likes puddles. He has also perfected a hovering sit for when the ground is wet.

We do a regular social walk with a couple of trainers. One got hit with rain and all the muscly bully breeds ended up cuddled into their owners under trees, looking very miserable.

@CoubousAndTourmaIet The problem with the doberman thread was the poster didn't even like dogs. But they'd just watched videos of someone's well trained doberman and wanted a copy of those. I think that's why most people were negative about the breed.

@BackToLurk I think sometimes the right dog finds us. It may not be the dog we dreamed of, but it's the dog we need or that needs us.
With my first dog, we wanted a black working cocker and we had already chosen a name. The second litter we viewed had one black boy and his KC name included the name we had chosen. It was meant to be. 💖
He was the loveliest family dog, but had several issues and became fear aggressive after being attacked by other dogs on a walk. We spent a lot of money, time, blood, sweat and tears trying to help him live his best life. Many people said we should rehome him or have him PTS. But I learnt so much more about dog behaviour and body language because of him, than I ever would if I had owned a 'normal' dog.

@CoubousAndTourmaIet to be fair, I feel very strongly about that particular poster because anyone who equates child genital mutilation to castration of a dog shouldn't be within 50 miles of either in my eyes!

There will, once in a blue moon, be someone capable of having any dog breed as their first dog. But that person cannot be scared of dogs and have chosen their dog breed based on watching a few youtube videos...which was what that OP had done.

Really interesting to see the posts about working and show lines.

Just to say, @BackToLurk I think in some breeds it's more pronounced. My Goldies are all show line, yet they can easily out-work and out-perform the working lines when we go out with them. They look very different and even a very novice owner could almost certainly differentiate between the two, but in terms of ability there's not much difference. Lots of very good show Goldies have SGWC (Show GunDog Working Certificate) and work part of the time. Several of the most popular show studs at the moment are 'working' dogs even though they're not show line (including Twatdog's sire).

Every day of dog ownership is a learning day though - before talking to Spaniels/Brushing/Yorkshire I really knew very little about Cocker Spaniels other than what I had seen from Satan (who is more Lucifer than Spaniel).

Maybe that's exactly why I got it @SpanielsGalore - I came from a cat family and when we got our first PMD we didn't really like dogs. We just needed a guard dog for the business. So the Doberman thing didn't seem that weird to me really, not all dog people are dog people to start with.

Does that make any sense? I dunno.
If you said cat or dog, I'd still say cat.
Here is the honorary cat, all curled up asleep ❤

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks To be fair, I know nothing about the energy levels and personalities of working v show GR. I based my uneducated judgement purely on the fact I like the darker colour of the working lines.
And labradors is based on the working ones all look fit and healthy as opposed to the overweight show type.
I promise I did more research into show v working cockers. 🙈 😂

@SpanielsGalore my girls and Twatdog have taken offence that you like the darker colour of the working lines more. 😀

But I do 100% agree, the show line labs tend to look really fat!!

Based off Satan being a Show type, I'd say you did well to swerve them - she's a naked little mess these days because her fur is just shaved off as it's to faffy. Sometimes, when she sits on the sofa and her little pot belly juts out she looks a bit like the above gif.

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks 😂😂😂 Poor little Satan. P currently looks whippet shaped because her belly has been shaved.
I'm sure I've told you before I like the gold ones, because it's the colour I grew up with. And NDN had a white one that looked as thick as two short planks. But saying all that, there's a man in the village with a white one and she's lovely.
And I'd have TD any day. (Although I'm not sure TD and Eris in exchange for K is a fair swap.)

I just wrote an updated review of our dupe dry robes and lost it when K pressed back page. I shall try again.

I have found a fault with our dupe dry robes. 😱

I ordered XS/S because I am short. When I am standing still, it just about reaches the top of my wellies. When I am walking in the wind and rain, it rides up a little.
In the last downpour, the rain ran down the coat, dripped off the bottom and ran down my trousers into my wellies.
So my advice is 'Go long!'
I'm very tempted to buy another one for wet days and keep this for dry, cold ones.