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. 😁

@Idstillratherbepaddleboarding Lovely pictures of Rory swimming, on this emotional day.

You lost a dog very young - four. What did he die off? Extra cuddles for Rory from us all.

Our lab was a splasher in the sea and hardly swam and went out of his depth. That’s when he liked car travel…

Had mixed success with the car. We actually managed a short trip round the block a few days ago although Dog whimpered and was very alert throughout.However, today we seemed to have regressed. It seemed stressed again just being in the car, and kept turning towards the door
to escape. I could cry. Actually, I did. Feel like all my hard work has been undone, and those coastal walks, attending agility competitions etc which we were looking forward to seem like a far off dream again.

@Silverbirchleaf we lost Billy in a terrible freak accident in June last year. Losing a dog is always awful but especially so unexpectedly. I don’t think I’ll ever get over it. We only managed a month though until Roy popped into our lives just as unexpectedly and I like to think he was paw picked for us by Billy because he’s such an extraordinary dog 🥰.

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks K and N are fine. They've spent the past month bonding even more and are definitely best buddies now. They don't seem to notice P is in pain. K was very respectful of her at first. But today was boxing her in the face trying to get her to play. 😂

I went through a no treats in the house phase. I decided I would rather be fat.

@VanGoSunflowers What a good boy Pablo is, waiting at the front door to be let in.

K grew out of wanting to say hello to other dogs once scents became more exciting. It's a good thing until it isn't. 😂 Sometimes P and K find scents more interesting than me.

@Silverbirchleaf Sorry you are having trouble with car travel. P can't do more than half an hour, and that took months to build up to. I put her in a cage in the boot for today's journey to the vets, as she seems to be a little less stressed in there. At least she doesn't get tangled up in the seat belt strap.

It was me that made the Millionaire Shortbread. I'm afraid this week's offering is not as photogenic.

So the vet visit was interesting. Turns out that when P was jumping and twisting like a nutter, she partially dislocated her hip. Honestly! You couldn't make it up. A quick manipulation of her leg, one loud crack and it's back in place.
And we are stocked up on Trazadone for the next week.

@Idstillratherbepaddleboarding I hope yesterday was okay, it's so hard to lose a dog.

Rory looks incredibly pleased in both those photos. In the first one he has so much love in his eyes, it's so lovely so see 😍Clearly he's living his best life.

@VanGoSunflowers Pablo clearly thought he'd have a taste of freedom and then immediately thought 'oh no, where's my mum?'

That sounds quite like Pablo is growing up though if he's more interested in sniffing then moving on. I imagine he'll still do what mine do, which is play for the 'right' dog...although working out who that dog might be each walk is always a challenge as there's never any rhyme or reason to it 😂

@Silverbirchleaf sorry you're still having problems! Is he on the back seat with someone? Or in the boot? Dogs do get strange ideas into their heads when it comes to the car - Twatdog jumped into the boot after food the other day, and did an entire journey home happy as me in a cookie shop, and then I tried the same thing today and he tried to make a break for freedom as the tailgate was closing (and nearly decapitated himself).

@SpanielsGalore Honestly, I feel like at this stage P is just living with the sole purpose of causing you stress!! How on earth did she dislocate her hip? As you say, what a nutter 😳But such good news it was an 'easy' fix and she has some more drugs to keep here docile.

I'm glad K and N are friends❤ You've always mentioned how close K and P are, and that they walk together (and chase deer) and I guess as they're both younger it's just a more natural relationship isn't it? I have a very soft spot for older dogs being friendly with younger dogs who are respectful of them.

Hope you and your son have a lovely time today and he is grateful for the shortbread (and if he's not, you know where to find us all...)

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks I find it interesting observing the different relationships the dogs have with each other. I don't know if it's the same with yours, since they are all related.

P and K play together and usually stick together on walks. But P doesn't do sleeping together, so rarely allows bed sharing and cuddling.
N and K play and sleep together. But on walks, they do their own things.
P and N don't really interact at all. Unless one of them is in season, and then it's a licking, humping love fest. 😂

When N arrived in foster, I thought I had made a huge mistake. K was only 14 weeks old and N was stressed and in a lot of pain. The first 8 days were spent with K being annoying and N telling her off. Then on 9 day, it all clicked and they've been really good for each other ever since. When N was less mobile, K adapted her play style to suit N, which I thought was amazing for a puppy. It was all ground level, bitey face games. Now they charge around like hooligans.

I agree about P. I don't think I realised how stressed I was, until I felt a lot lighter driving home. I drove to the vets imagining all the worst case scenarios. Fuck knows how it dislocated. She jumped and twisted in the air, but still. You don't imagine that will make your bone dislocate. Pleased to say she is back to her post - op slightly stiff walk today.

I'm not seeing DS. He lives near the vets, so I drop off baked goods when I am over that way. As you know, it's what mothers do. 😁

Silly TD! Was this morning's food treat not as high value as a bacon and cheese toastie? Does your tailgate have a safety shut off type thing, so it will stop closing if it senses an obstacle?

In other news, I have booked K in on a 6 week gundog course, starting next month. I feel she needs extra stimulation. Especially since we've been limited in what we can do whilst P has been on crate rest. We have three weeks to practise retrieves, so we aren't the dunces of the class. Last time I tried, she wasn't remotely interested.

@SpanielsGalore Sounds like K is living her best life - she has a playmate and a cuddle-buddy. What more does a dog need!? Tbh she does sound incredibly 'switched on' in terms of how she deals with N and P. I know Cockers are meant to be smart, but emotional intelligence isn't always there in dogs...what a smart cookie.

Why do you think P and N don't interact that much? Just differing personalities or because they both get what they 'need' from K?

Ah! I hadn't realised it was just a cake drop-off. He's so lucky. I'm rather jealous. Wish someone would swing by my house with shortbread or cakes. 😩

Mine are all a bit odd when it comes to playing. Indoors/in the garden they are very particular - Clem is the worst. She'll only play with DWS, and only then to push her over (she uses her paw a bit like a cat would and jabs are her). She'll also only snuggle with Hen or Pen. None of the others. Twatdog will just take whoever will have him. He isn't fussy. Typical man😂

But out on walks, they all play and chase each other.

I may have made a bit of a rookie error with the car...in that Clem and Pen were already in the boot, so when I threw in his bit of bacon and cheese (because even though I said I wouldn't buy any again, I am weak), Clem ate it. But the boot was already closing. It does have a safety shut off, thankfully, and I managed to grab his lead before he bolted across the car park. He's a little oddball. He was so terrified of the car I had to carry him back to it in my arms like a giant baby. So I won't try it again.

Perhaps you need to get K to retrieve more interesting things...like Canada Geese or Deer 😃

After his bid for freedom earlier, Twatdog is being very snuggly and is current fast asleep with his head on my feet as I 'work' in the garden. Friday's are always so quiet. Not that I mind...

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks ahhh thank you 🥰 although I think the love in his eyes is for his beloved ball 🤣🤣.

@Idstillratherbepaddleboarding But who was holding the ball? YOU! 😁So really it was you.

It's due to rain here again next week, but I feel after two sunny days in a row (today/yesterday) that I am better placed to handle a bit of rain.

@SpanielsGalore That shortbread looks delicious! If you’re in the south east, please feel free to drop off some to Hungry and me .

Is the trazadone for the dog, or for you to help you get through all this stress?!

Hope the gundog course goes well. We have trainers doing this about three miles away from me, and if we can get Dog in the car, it’s on my ‘to do’ list.

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks Dog used to travel in the boot. When the stress started, he used to try and jump out, and I had a fear of trapping his tail or whatever as well.

@SpanielsGalore Wow a dislocated hip?! I bet you’d have never have thought that. It sounds awful but also I am so glad it wasn’t anything worse!! How is she now?

Gundog class will be great. V is so disinterested in retrieving so I wouldn’t worry about that. Apparently most spaniels find it boring and would rather hunt 😄

@Idstillratherbepaddleboarding ahh lovely photo of his first swim! Happy heavenly birthday to Billy 🩷

@Silverbirchleaf im sorry you feel like you’re going backwards with the car situation. I wish I had some advice! Does he bark in the car? V hates the car too but just completely freezes up and won’t relax but thankfully doesn’t bark or whine at all so we can muddle through with it. We got a Travall system for the boot which pens him into a smaller space which I think he prefers more than being completely loose. But I think he would still prefer no car full stop.

Vinny’s new thing now it’s spring is barking at the birds outside our bedroom window at the crack of dawn every morning. It is highly annoying! We have single glazed sash windows so they might as well be flying around tweeting in the bedroom.

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks K is quite confident and takes most things in her stride. She got pinned and snarled at in the woods last week (by a dog she has met multiple times with no issue) and she got up and carried on sniffing out scents. P would have needed picking up.

Don't really know why P and N don't interact much. They're happy enough sharing a space and will sleep on the same sofa. P sometimes gets jealous when K plays with N. She'll fetch a toy and entice K away with it. 😂

You might be on to something with K's retrieves. When she caught a live duck, she appeared sitting in front of me presenting it beautifully. 😂

I thought your DMum kept you in cake. Even though she ruined them by adding nuts.

Poor TD. I didn't realise he'd got that frightened of the car again.

@Silverbirchleaf I'm almost as far away from the SE as you can get unfortunately.

The Trazadone is for the dog. The wine is for me. 😂

@YorkshireFelix Glad to say P is back to her pre - dislocation state. Nicely sedated with a stiff legged walk.

I did this gundog trainer's classes before with P and they are very heavily retrieve based. P used to get bored, hanging around for her turn. I'm hoping K will be better.

That's bloody annoying about V barking at the morning chorus. I hope he gets used to them and stops it soon.

We have had one day of sunshine. My DD has received my first (of probably many) voice messages moaning about the 7 camper vans that have parked up in my dog walking car parking space down the sea front.
K tarted herself along the line, saying hello to everyone, getting lots of attention and sniffing all the dogs. Last year she managed to steal one poor dog's chew.

Once my sprocker jumped the sea wall and helped himself to another dog's dinner from the bowl outside the campervan. The other dog just stood there watching him. Fortunately the owners found it funny. I apologised profusely and then had to ask them what ingredients were in it. He was on a special diet, as he had IBD and multiple allergies, and I needed to know if he was going to be up all night shitting.

@SpanielsGalore I’m travelling to the other end of the country next week. Happy to pick it up… .

Wine works well as well.

@YorkshireFelix How annoying. Not quite sure how you solve that. Blackout curtains? A cat?

On our one brief car journey, it was a whimper/cry rather than a bark. I’ll have another attempt today but feel a bit dispirited, although I know I need to go with a positive attitude, else Dog will pickup
up on that.

Had a good agility lesson yesterday. Was with some much higher grade dogs (and owners). Our trainer is superb. We did the same course but she simplified it for me. Ie, I took the direct route. However, the last, deceptively-simple-looking-but-wasn’t-short course we nailed first time.

Just done another car training session and he hasn’t regressed as far as I feared. He quite happily jumped in the car to sit next to me. There was some stressy breathing and licking at times, but other times he sat or laid down nicely. He did turn towards the open door a few times, but an ‘argh’ sound by me made him turn around, or he self corrected himself. Encouraging.

@Silverbirchleaf If you are travelling this far north, I'll push the boat out and make Millionaire Shortbread. 😂

The car practice sounds positive today. Being happy to jump in is brilliant. That's all P did for weeks.
And well done on nailing the agility. I'd love to do that with K. The nearest one I have found is an hour away.

Had an interesting walk with K. We met a labrador that was enjoying a lovely run around with K. But her owner wasn't so keen and kept bellowing her. Needless to say, the dog ignored her totally. She'd have been better off letting her dog have a two minute play to burn off some energy.
Then we met an elderly staffie, who ran towards K whilst her owner shouted "Nice". The staffie growled at K as she reached her. K dodged out of the way and ran off with the disgusting carcass she was eating. I told the owner she was too busy eating to play. She said, "You're probably better off, because she can be a bitch. You never know what you're going to get." So why let her charge over to a dog half her size then?

@SpanielsGalore We’re going north of the border so I’m sure I can swing on by. Make double lots, and I can drop some of at Hungry’s on the way back. And I’m sure my dh won’t mind making a slight detour via Yorkshire either…

@Silverbirchleaf I'm north of the border. About 5 hours north. 😂

Mmm, not quite going that far. Off to add millionaires shortbread and chocolate chip shortbread to Ocado order…

@Silverbirchleaf I remember you saying that you'd had similar problems to me. Glad to hear your DDog isn't regressing as much as you feared. It's so stressful though isn't it? As @SpanielsGalore know! Just makes everything so much more stressful and a bit miserable.

@SpanielsGalore he never really got over it. He pants quite a lot the whole time although he still jumps in. The only time he doesn't pant is if the car is full of luggage (I.e. when we went to Norfolk or Crufts).

It was my mistake for trying to encourage him into the boot again after he jumped in the other day though. I'll stick to the back seat now.

See! K is just too much of a proper dog. It's the real-deal when it comes to retrievers or nothing, as far as she is concerned. You're going to have to invest in those Canada Geese for her.

DMum is apparently pre-diabetic (we had a hospital scare a few weeks ago where they ran all manner of tests). So the cakes are gone. That being said, I have 15% off for Cutter and Squidge...and their cakes have fantastic reviews. Only thing better than my mum delivering cakes is DPD delivering cakes.😂

So why let her charge over to a dog half her size then?
Story of my life (only not the size bit)!

I just can't believe how robust K is. Although most of my girls would act the same, they are a lot bigger. Twatdog would run back to me crying and hide behind me. He likes to put me between him and scary things...

A rather stressful day in my house yesterday. All is fine now but men are useless and lots of dogs do not help the situation where there is mass yelling - barking, yelping, jumping up...you name it, it happened.

Note to self: never allow DH to offer advice to teenage girls. Next time they want advice, shove him in the coat cupboard before he can do or say anything stupid. 😒

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks Sorry to hear about your DMum. Especially since it affects your cake supply. Never heard of Cutter and Sqidge, so I googled them. At £29 for a basic Victoria sponge, I bloody hope they're good.

Hope you've had a peaceful day today and DH has learnt his lesson.

I didn't realise TD was still stressed on the back seat of the car. That's pretty much like P if we drive for longer than 15 minutes. She'll pant and keep turning round in circles and getting her seat belt tangled. It's such a shame (and bloody annoying) when they were fine travelling and then developed a fear. I wonder why luggage makes a difference to TD. Perhaps you need to keep a suitcase in the car. 😂

A quiet day here. Took P for a lovely sunny walk round the village. Then took the others down the seafront and it was bloody freezing and blowing a hoolie.

Time for dinner and round two of walks. Then it's a pork and stuffing roast dinner, with hopefully lots of crackling.

Hope everyone else has had a good day. 😊

ETA - just when you think the world of dog training is moving on, some twat recommends spaying a reactive dog in the face with a water pistol. FFS

@SpanielsGalore Tbh I think she's more upset than me! Her will power (as with mine) is non-existant, so having any cake around is a no go as once she has a nibble she can't stop.

I did indeed order a cake to arrive today so I'll tell you if it's any good and post a photo. They are super expensive but I figured it could be a nice treat for DDs after realising they have such an idiot for a father (at least that's what I told myself when I ordered the flavour I wanted...). Although all is now forgiven and DH has learnt to be silent whenever boys are mentioned.😂

Twatdog is the same. I have a hammock in the backseat now and for short journeys I've taken to not strapping him in as he keeps strangling himself. I think the luggage makes him think he's going somewhere he loves (like Norfolk) so he's willing to suffer. He's smarter than he looks!

How is P's leg now? Assuming a bit better if she was able to have a walk around the village?

Sorry for your bad weather though. Meant to be 13/14 here today, but overcast. 😫

Where was this about spraying them in the face!? I did not see anything about spraying a dog in the face, although admittedly I try and avoid any training threads as I just get so annoyed.

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks I hope your cake is delicious. I did laugh at you ordering the flavour you wanted as a treat for DDs. 😂

I made the mistake of leaving P's lead attached once. She did so many turns, the lead kept twisting around the seat belt attachment like a bloody may pole. She ended up barely able to move as the leads got so short and tangled.
I stopped at Motorway services, unpacked the boot and set the dog cage up and she travelled the rest of the journey in there.

I also made the school boy error of leaving the dogs loose on the back seat whilst I did this. K took the opportunity to jump into the front and steal my sandwiches. Little git!

P's leg is getting better, I think. Her walk is more normal now. She's desperate to play and grabs a toy every time she gets out of the cage. She insisted on carrying the biggest one she could find on yesterday's walk. (It was a Kong Highland Cow. Fortunately not in TD's sexephant league.)
She's been allowed walks for a while. 'Round the village' probably makes it sound more than it is. It's a five minute walk round the block really. It just gives her a change of scenery and some different things to smell. We are avoiding the playing field and children now though.

My phone tells me we're having highs of 11°, but not until 11pm. How's that work? The rest of the day will be a cloudy 8°, with a possibility of rain.

The water pistol advice is on the 'How can I stop my young dog reacting to other dogs?' thread. It was advice from the OP's friend. She is debating it. I haven't commented, because I would have used very bad words.

@SpanielsGalore I know you're not a fan of nuts on cake...but the only real choices were Chocolate (which DH isn't a fan off) and Tiramisu (which DDs won't like), so I had to make a great sacrifice and order the Pistachio and Passionfruit one. 😁I'll take a photo once it arrives.

Perhaps P and Twatdog are related in some way - clearly both get very worried very easily and live to make us stressed! I must say I struggle to believe lovely, sweet, K would ever do something like steal sandwiches. She's such a sweetie! I'm surprised P didn't take some comfort in having the other dogs with her though, poor thing. She must really be so terrified 😔

Round the village definitely sounded like more than five minutes 😁So glad that P is improving every day and up to playing again ❤Fingers crossed she doesn't get into anymore mischief...

I shall stay clear of that thread as I would probably get myself banned! I already upset someone this morning by pointing out that a toddler who changes the story whether they suffered a 'bite/scratch' from a dog is not a reliable witness (and should really be told not to lie - yes I get toddlers 'lie', but ultimately in situations like this it can end terribly for the dog) and that is the grandmother says it was a scratch...surely you believe the grandmother over the toddler who has already proven their word isn't reliable!? So...probably best I stay quiet on all other threads today and just eat cake 😀

Just to clarify, the cake was portioned up and frozen so we don’t have to eat it all at once. I did not eat 3/4 of a 12 portion cake to myself. Even I’m not that piggy 😂😳

What remains in that photo are the slices we had today…