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. 😁

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks The vet had said 'no news is good news', but I caved at 5:15 and phoned to see what was happening, because if she was coming home, I needed to set off. P was in surgery when I rang, so it's been a long day for her too. Hopefully this will be the end of most of the knee problems. The vet said she'd have been in a lot of pain and the Arthrocam and Paracetamol wouldn't have touched it. Poor girl. The arthritis pain should be much more manageable.
I think I will have to mildly sedate her like we did after the patella surgery. She'll be alright for the first two weeks, I imagine, but not for two months.

I'm not a top knot/mullet fan, I'm afraid. N had curtains when she arrived. They went within hours.

I gave nearly all of the Millionaire Shortbread to DS and only kept that slice. The army broke him with an exercise this week, so he needed a boost. I had a small piece earlier though and am regretting giving it away now. 😂

The vets just sent me a photo of the patient. 💖

She’s so pretty, and is possibly wondering why she didn’t get any of the Millionaires shortbread. It looked delicious.

Bill looks sweet…. He’s such a beautiful colour.

Satan - that is definitely a ‘why am I dressed like this?’ Look on his face.

@Bupster I always thought you were a youngster, in your early 20s.

My DB said getting a diagnosis was like a weight being lifted off his shoulders and explained so much. I just don't understand why it means he can read my Happy Christmas message, but no longer reply.

Bill is a lovely boy. 💖 He's the only gold cockador I've 'met'. All the rest are black.

@SpanielsGalore awwww 😭😭😭😭

@SpanielsGalore hope your girl is ok this morning and the journey home isn’t too bad!

@SpanielsGalore in defence of Satan, her mullet is to try and hide her warts which can be seen from the ISS. She's got one on her snout as well. So maybe I should call her witchy instead of Satan.

Oh poo P - no wonder she was acting up so much and taking herself off. Fingers crossed it's 100% sorted now and she perks up. Although two weeks crate rest does sound horrible. She's got beautifully soulfull eyes.

Ahh okay, if DS had a rough week I suppose millionaires shortbread is the least you could do. Just means you have to make more.

@Bupster I don't think you could pull off the look as well as Satan does 😂Plus Bill might disown you in shame (he already looks like he's considering it in the latest photo - I assume you were trying to stop his fun). And don't take this the wrong way, but I (like Spaniels) thought you were younger as well!

@Silverbirchleaf Satan loves her outfits (allegedly). Although I think it's more a case of DMum has just turned into one of those owners..

Hope everyone had a lovely morning dog walk! Dogs and I went to Knole with DH and then supermarket shopping afterwards. I love Valentines Day because the supermarkets always overstock and there's loads of goodies marked down. I got three packs of coquilles st jacques for £12 that are usually £8 each, and two packs of chocolate ganache tortes for £3 each instead of £5. 😍It's like the better version of Christmas because Christmas is just sprouts and turkeys marked down after, unless you get really lucky

P is home. 💖 She looks like a plucked chicken, bless her. The operation went well, but it's going to be a long recovery. It's 6 weeks of strict crate rest. She's allowed a toilet break every 4 hours, but has to be carried in and out as she's not allowed to do the two steps at the back door. And it's a quick wee/poo and back inside again. No pottering allowed. She's trying not to put her foot down at the minute, but it's very early days. Fortunately (for now) she quite likes the crate. She seems to know it's been setup for her and went straight in without being told.

Gosh, ive missed ao much! @SpanielsGalorei hope your girl is OK?
@Bupster- nah - bill will just keep luring you into a false sense of security. Milo is 3 in July and hes still doing it to me - hes still a massive arse but bill has got big now hasn't he?

@YorkshireFelix- milo pulls like a train!! The only time ive seen a spaniel walk nicely is when they have a restrictive head collar on.

@SpanielsGalore Poor P. Sending lots of gentle hugs.

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks Had a lovely walk today. Despite putting on clean jeans this morning, had a last minute change of decision regarding my walk route this morning, and headed into the muddy woods, which actually weren’t too bad today. Nice to let Dog off the lead for most of the walk, and nice not to be walking around the streets, or in the rain. Also, saw blue sky!

@SpanielsGalore - good luck with the recovery.

My top tip for getting a dog to walk nicely on a lead is to not get a spaniel 😜

Stunning day here today, so good to see the sun again

We’ve also had a lovely, sunny walk on the beach. I can’t believe I didn’t get any photos though! There were loads of other dogs out, all labs and spaniels and Rory impressed DH by not going over to any of them when I don’t put him on his lead. If he walked him every day, he’d know to trust him!

There were 3 people out doing some sort of gun dog training with 2 labs, 2 spaniels and an enormous, floppy grey dog. I wish we could have joined in!

@SpanielsGalore ohhh look at P's little exposed leg! She does plucked chicken very well, I must say! Were N & K happy to see her? Was P happy to see you?

@Silverbirchleaf that doesn't look muddy at all!!! I'm very jealous, but glad you had a decent walk 😊

@Idstillratherbepaddleboarding I didn't realise you were the major dog walker! Poor form of your DH to not know what a good boy Rory is though.

@tizwozliz beautiful photo, as always!

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks That was a dry patch. Haven’t got pictures of the really muddy patches, as I was concentrating on not slipping and sliding. You can see in this picture where the mud had dried up. I say had, because the rain is back with vengeance today.

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks to be fair DH works away most Mon-Thurs but when he is here, he picks and chooses which walks he comes on 🙄. I think he lost his confidence a bit too as when he do walk Rory a few weeks back while I was in the office, a lady with a Rottweiler in a muzzle shouted at him just for having Rory off lead, despite Rory making no attempts to approach the other dog 😡.

@Bupster I am definitely not against getting diagnosed in the future if I think I need it - have heard perimenopause can worsen symptoms to a point but luckily, haven’t experienced anything like that so far. I think putting guardrails in place for now works! I’m very glad the diagnosis and medication works for you.

@SpanielsGalore bless her shaven leg and knowing to go in to the crate! Hope the 6 weeks goes fast and the operation was a full success!

@Idstillratherbepaddleboarding I am so jealous you have a lab that ignores other dogs!! Although I feel like I am making a little progress with him on his extendable. He has started ‘checking in’ with me when he first sees another dog which I praise him for heavily and then he chooses to return to me rather than try and bolt to them. He’ll wait for most dogs to pass us now, some take his fancy though and others come right up to him which I can’t help and then have to try wrestle with him 😂 definitely still can’t walk him past other dogs without kangaroo like behaviour!

It was lovely and sunny here yesterday. I sat in my sun trap garden without a coat on, listening to a podcast and giving Pablo a good brush. I was very surprised at what came out of him!!

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks did you enjoy your Valentine’s treats?

@Silverbirchleaf @tizwozliz @Idstillratherbepaddleboarding @VanGoSunflowers I thought of you four earlier (because your dogs are in such incredible condition - lovely and slim) when I saw a morbidly obese lab. I thought it was a sheep at first it was so fat and then immediately felt so sorry for the poor bastard and couldn't help but compare it to the photos of your lovely boys (DH was probably sick of me by the time I finally shut up).

@Idstillratherbepaddleboarding I'm surprised your DH didn't tell the woman to nob off! Some people are just a bit bonkers, but I suppose at least her dog was muzzled which is more than most people do when their dog isn't friendly

@Silverbirchleaf It's raining here as well! Due to be sunny tomorrow - Wednesday though so I shall be taking full advantage of it.

@VanGoSunflowers They were lovely. The chocolate ganache tortes were incredible but the biscuit base was a bit too slim for me - I like a chunky biscuit base for my tortes. But I still went back this morning and bought more 😂

@SpanielsGalore hope P is doing okay today ❤

@VanGoSunflowers Billy was exactly the same as Pablo, good but never 100% trustworthy! He got there though. Rory does love to play with other dogs, especially boxing in the way that only labs so, but he will always wait to be allowed, which makes for such calm walks!

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks so am I TBH, he’s not usually so reserved 🤣. I think the woman was probably taking her own anxieties out on DH as her dog must have been aggressive to be wearing a muzzle, and yes at least she did muzzle it!

@Idstillratherbepaddleboarding He was probably taken by surprise that someone was so shouty over a non-issue!

It is pretty remarkable that he completely ignores other dogs as his age! Even Twatdog (who is probably my best trained out of the bunch, even if I am mean to him) still does a half-twitch sometimes. Rory is such a good boy 😍

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks he is a certified best good boy 🥰. It just makes walks so much less stressful tbh as when Billy was Rory’s age (and a pretty typical adolescent) I’d have to be hyper aware of dogs in the vicinity to make sure he didn’t run over.

@SpanielsGalore How is P doing?

We are at MIL for a few days now. It was chaos when we first arrived with him plus 10 month old pup, springer and very old man cocker. V was panicked howling for ages because he’s such a nervous nelly but then he settled down and has been fine since. I think he’s actually enjoying hanging out with some other dogs! Almost makes me want a second…

Good afternoon everyone. Hope you all had good weekends. It was nice to see some blue sky yesterday, even if the sun didn't manage to break through. Back to raining today.

P is alright. She's eating, drinking and weeing as normal. And has finally managed a poo too. She's tolerating the ice pack and physio treatment with the help of Primula cheese. She's still reluctant to put her foot down, so alternates between three legged walking and four legged hobbling. She's mostly settled in the crate, but did squeal the place down in protest yesterday when I walked K without her.

The other pair are mostly leaving her alone. K occasionally goes over and taps on the cage to try to get P to play. But when they are all in the garden together, she just does a bit of gentle sniffing.

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks P was so happy to see me when I collected her from the vets that they suggested sedating her before we left the building. 😳

@YorkshireFelix Hope you have a good time at your MIL's. Poor V nervous howling. I can highly recommend having two cockers. There's 3 years between P and K, which I think is a nice gap.

@SpanielsGalore oh bless her, it sounds like she’s faring ok considering. I bet K is wondering what’s happened to her! My DH said to MIL last night ‘oh if YorkshireFelix gets a new job soon then we will probably get another dog in a few months time’ and I was like that’s news to me!!!

@SpanielsGalore Ohhh bless P. What a sweetheart - I bet you were over the moon that she was so happy to see you ❤So glad to hear that P is okay and doing a bit better. Bless K for wanting a game with her. I bet their first off-lead walk in the woods is a total nightmare - although I know it's a long time away!

@YorkshireFelix You did only just say 'almost makes me want a second.' So clearly you and DH are on the same page. Would it be another cocker? Has V made friends with the resident dogs?

@Idstillratherbepaddleboarding oh bless him 😍I suffer the same with DWS as you suffered with Billy. She's improving, but it's incredibly stressful trying to make sure she's not mobbing poor passer-bys.

Speaking of DWS. She has found herself a 'boyfriend' (as DH called it). It's a Bernese called....Frank. Who calls their dog FRANK!? Poor bugger. I think it must be true love though - she boops his nose, doesn't go near his winky, and is the picture of innocence. I think she's trying to trick him into thinking she's a little angel

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks Ha yes I did but I was thinking more next year or the year after! Maybe when DH isn’t working two full time jobs 😵‍💫 They are getting on ok. I have been trying to get a photo of them all but it’s pretty much impossible because V is the only one who listens to me!

Aww Frank the Bernese sounds ace. My friend who has a dog pretty much identical to V named him Colin which cracks me up every time.

Here is V and the youngest one. I think he’s got a bit of Collie in him but his coat is a bit wiry and curly on his back. I’d be interested to do a DNA test on him!