Beyond Adolescence and General Chit Chat - part 3

[SpanielsGalore]

Not tagging anyone. I'm sure you'll all find your way here if you want to join in. 😁

It’s been that gross fine rain that just saturates everything today. Grim! Of course V has wanted to go out for the toilet 400 million times.

I don’t trim his nails either. He gets enough pavement walks to keep them short. I once paid for a ‘puppy groom’ when he was about 6 months old and it cost me 60 quid 🤣 So stupid. I took advice from @brushingboots and bought some grooming scissors and occasionally trim under his belly when it gets too long. He has grinch feet but I kind of like it.

It's been a dreich day here and so misty my view disappeared. Beyond fed up of wet, muddy dogs.

@Struckbylightning No nail trimming or teeth cleaning here. (That's another thing that didn't exist 40 years ago.)

@SpanielsGalore I can’t remember exactly where you are but I was watching a video earlier which said Aberdeen haven’t recorded any sunlight since 21st Jan!!

😱 😱
I'm 60 miles from Aberdeen. It feels like it's been the same here. Can't remember the last time I saw any blue sky. It has been grey or white for ages and it's so dark all the time. Plus constant rain or drizzle.

Another one here who is so fed up of the grey sky and all the mud and having a muddy dog and a muddy floor and a muddy car 😂
Roll on spring!

Also feeling a bit better about the fact that I don’t brush Pablo’s teeth 😬 he’s had his nails cut a few times though. How often does everyone brush their dog’s coats? And what tools do you use? Pupper is shedding a lot atm. I read somewhere to start stroking him with a marigold to get the loose fur out. One thing I like about his fur is that, although there is a lot of it, it’s easy to clean up because it doesn’t stick to anything

Wishing you all blue sky and sunshine! At least the nights are getting noticeably longer!

At the risk of being reported for neglect 🙈, I never very rarely brush my dogs.

N's coat is quite wooly and grows long, so I shave her every couple of months and trim her paws.

P and K have fine, silky coats and have never needed them trimming.

I brush their ears every other day, as they get tangled and knotty. I use a human hair brush for that. And I have a pair of grooming scissors for trimming hairy paws as and when needed. I've probably done K's twice. P's don't seem to grow. K also gets a little tuft of dead hair on the top of her head, which a lot of people call a top knot and keep. But I think looks silly, so I either pull it out or cut it.

I recently bought a slicker brush and was amazed how much hair came off N after I had shaved her. So I did think I should use it more often and it might cut down on the amount of hair everywhere. DS visited yesterday and we had to 'tape' his black clothes before he left.

@SpanielsGalore I think the main reason for brushing Pablo is to try and stop so much hair around the house to be fair, I don’t think he particularly needs it although it’s a good way to lazily remove mud from him after I have dried him (if he’s particularly muddy I just get a bowl of warm water and dog shampoo in the garden and use a mitt to clean him) his fur doesn’t seem to cling to clothes, it just collects in piles on the floor/sofa 😂

Does anyone clean inside their ears regularly??

In other news, Pablo (much to my surprise) seemed to have gotten bored with his regular food (he’d kind of look at me unenthusiastically upon presenting it to him 😂 he’d still eat it) anyway I’ve tried him on some new kibble and this canned wet food and he’s back to loving meal times again. The canned wet food is a brand I hadn’t heard of before - Rocco junior but it actually looks pretty appetising! Cheaper than forthglade and looks far ‘meatier’ than forthglade.

Has anyone done one of those DNA allergy tests on their dogs and are they worth it? He does seem to
have a sensitive digestive system bless him!

OMG! Don't want to jinx it, but I can see a tiny bit of blue out of the kitchen window. 🎉

@VanGoSunflowers No to ear cleaning and DNA allergy tests. I did see a dermatologist with my sprocker and he did blood and skin patch allergy tests. They were accurate, but very expensive. My first appointment cost Petplan almost £3k.

The sun has been trying here today but mostly failing.

I do clean ears, not really often but from time to time if I notice them looking mucky.

Brushing I either do to brush dried mud off, or if I notice they're going through a shedding phase.

I've cleaned their teeth once a few weeks ago with some finger brushes for the first time, and they have also had plaque off bones from time to time.

Mine have typical lab cast iron stomachs.

The sun keeps peeking out for a few minutes at a time here too!! All my whinging must have worked.

Never cleaned ears, but I think that’s more ofva spaniel thing?

No blue sky here but the temperature did reach double figures, so mild, and there was no rain until our journey home after our walk along the coast.

@tizwozliz have yours always had cast iron stomachs? Were they a bit more sensitive when they were pups?

Pablo turned ten months old today!

@SpanielsGalore I don’t think the DNA ones are very accurate are they? My understanding is that they give foods they are more likely to be intolerant of though, so I guess it could help narrow it down a bit.

Bit of rain here earlier, but today was the first day this year when I felt spring in the air. Saw some daffodils as well which perked me up a bit. Feels like the world is on the cusp of waking up.

Apart from the first week before we changed food with little pup they've both always been fairly robust. Big pup stole and ate half a block of butter when she was still quite small and it had absolutely no effect (other then giving her a lifelong love of butter!)

Recently she stole a suet filled coconut and ate that and other than some seedy poo that also had no effect.

I remember I also put paw balm on after wiping their feet sometimes in the winter when we've been on gritted pavements. I'm not sure it's much use, I'm pretty vertain they lick most of it off.

We met two barky miniature schnauzers on today's mostly dry and warm walk. My two totally ignored them (I'm never sure if they actually even realise that the dogs are barking at them) and laughed when their owner told them to 'be a bit more lab'

I'm away tonight and pups are watching out the window waiting for me to get home :-( wish we could explain to them

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks Did you say you had five golden retrievers? Just seen an advert for the Southern Golden Retriever display team. They train at East Malling, so within touching distance of you? And not just display stuff, but puppy training etc as well.

@Silverbirchleaf yes! It's about 35 minutes away. I know a few of them! 😊

I'm wondering at what point I just give Twatdog a little knapsack, shove it full of treats and a blanket, and turf him out the house and tell him to find a new home... Little git got onto my bed this morning, post Advocat - which he knows not to do - and rubbed himself all over my pillows. He's a bad dog. And DH is useless for not stopping him.😤

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks I had a brain blip reading that, forgot what advocat is and googled it and the thick, yellow alcohol came up instead. Which I assumed TD didn’t have with his breakfast. Naughty boy 😀

@VanGoSunflowers It probably would have helped if I wasn't so sleep deprived I could spell properly! That being said, I could 100% do with some advocat - sugar and alcohol sounds delicious right about now 😃

Perhaps I could shove DH out the front door with a knapsack and tell him to find a new home. It feels more reasonable to re-home DH than Twatdog who does, after all, only have one braincell so it's not his fault he forgot. Or perhaps both. Then it would be a woman only house. 😁

We’re nearer than you, and when I saw them at Crufts a few years ago, didn’t realise they trained so near.

Waves at Hungry across the Medway.

Must be something in the air. Dog keeps wanting to sleep on our bed, which he hasn’t done so for a while.

Ruined V’s day by taking him to hydrotherapy earlier. Here he is mid-whine telling me off for taking him there, then traumatised in the car afterwards. Someone call the RSPCA! He did great though and they said he’s improved so much so we’re moving to alternating monthly sessions (so one month physio/laser one month hydro) instead of every 2 weeks 🥳

But I am cross with him because at the end I was trying to get his collar on, and he was doing his usual spaniel not-standing-still and the physio lady went to hold him still and he proper went for her. Really awful snarling nasty snap!! I was so shocked. She said it was fine and he was probably guarding me but it was not nice at all. Not sure if this is something I need to worry about or not?!

@Silverbirchleaf waves back and tosses Twatdog over the Medway

@YorkshireFelix Yikes! Poor Vinny. And poor you and the physio.

Honestly...I wouldn't be worried. Physio can be a bit painful for dogs and it's a stressful environment. He was almost certainly just very stressed, a bit worried, and overreacted. I'd keep an eye out for other triggers around you (i.e. him freezing when people go to you, barking at others, curling his lip), but honestly I wouldn't be worried - particularly if he has shown no such behaviour before.

It's horrible to see a dog who has never snapped before snap. Particularly with the noises they make. But from everything you've ever said, Vinny has never really shown any negative behaviour except being a bit of a turd at times - but he's a boy and he's young so it's to be expected so I'd really try not to worry. Although I know that's easier said than done.

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks thank you that’s made me feel a lot better!! You are right he will have been stressed as he’s not particularly fond of the hydrotherapy AND she had to shower him off afterwards which he hates and he was desperate to leave. Then I put his drying towel on which is also hates, so probably a build up of things. It was really awful though and not like my sweet boy at all 😭

@YorkshireFelix I agree with HHL. I'd try not to worry too much and definitely don't be cross with him. P hated the water treadmill and is always incredibly stressed at physio. (Which is weird because she drags me in the door.) No doubt V felt the same and had reached his limit. I know cockers can sound bad, but try to think of it as V making it clear he had had enough and was telling her to eff off. And take comfort from the fact that he showed great restraint and didn't actually bite. Because if he had wanted to, he would have.
Perhaps take your slip lead with you next time, so you don't have faff about with collars.

Actually been a nice day here today, so I took K to the woods. I was planning on taking the other pair out when I got home, but it started raining as I pulled up so they can wait a while.

@YorkshireFelix Oh bless him. It sounds like he was incredibly stressed.

I think it calls for his favourite dinner tonight, cuddles on the sofa and perhaps a cuddly toy to destroy?

It is terrifying when they snap though. Twatdog is the only one of mine (minus DWS - but she's too busy being a WS to snap at anyone) who has never snapped, but I know he will one day because he's only a dog. And it's the only way they can communicate. But Spaniels is right - if he wanted to bite he would have.

@SpanielsGalore hope K didn't get into too much mischief? Fingers crossed it stops raising for you soon and you can head back out.

Mine aren't getting an evening walk tonight as I'm having a pity party over my lack of sleep and plan on going to bed the minute I finish work 😴They'll be extra bouncy in the morning, but I just can't face exercise this evening. All I want is moussaka (Jaime Oliver's recipe which is actually delicious) and pistachio chocolate eggs which I impulse bought them this morning after the morning walk. They are currently hidden under the sink in the bathroom, waiting for me to have my evening bath.