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. 😁

Yes. Everything I have ever read says corn on the cob is really dangerous for dogs, so I'd be making him vomit too. It's not worth the risk and if you had waited until morning it might have passed through too far.
I hope you don't have to wait too long. Fortunately the injection is pretty fast acting. Going off P's two experiences - a foam Nerf bullet, aged 9 weeks and a rubber glove she found on the beach.

We are home! The vet said he threw up quite a sizeable chunk which she thinks would have gotten stuck along the way so I am glad I took him in. Apparently he sat on the nurses lap the whole time looking lovingly at her. So sounds like he’s had a lovely evening apart from the vomming 🤣

@YorkshireFelix Better out than in, as they say. Hope you have a peaceful night.

Mine has always been considerate enough to have eaten things that require inducing vomiting during normal vet opening hours - small mercies!

The vet has her noted as a dog that likes to eat things she shouldn't which I think is slightly unfair, 2 incidents in 5 years for a labrador doesn't strike me as excessive 😀

They tried to pin the 1kg of missing dog food on her as well until they x-rayed the little pup 😂

@YorkshireFelix glad he is ok! I think one or two episodes of induced vomiting is par for the course with all of our doggos - remembering not so fondly back to the rotting rat carcass incident 🤢

Well I am pleased to report Pablo is back to his usual self after a few days of being a bit clingy. I am wondering if it’s the same as with kids, as in they have a few days of being not themselves but then emerge out the other side with a software upgrade as he was the best behaved he has ever been on this morning’s walk!

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks can confirm he is still gangly 😂 I don’t think his height will change now but expect he will fill out a bit. Recently took him down to 2 meals a day as he doesn’t scoff too quickly anymore and it seems to have hugely improved his stools and farting issues 😂

@VanGoSunflowers Ohh bless Pablo, so glad to hear he's feeling a bit better❤

I wonder how hefty he'll get that. Twatdog didn't start filling out until he was about 18 months and tbh he's still pretty scrawny now. But Pablo definitely has more muscle mass than Twatdog...

Oh noooo! Is the farting worse when he gets on and off furniture? Mine do that - little tiny 'bloffs' as they get on and off. Retrievers really are a bit grotty if I am honest...😂

@YorkshireFelix Sorry V gave you such a scare - but at least it was over nothing! Hope he's looking suitably guilty today and has learnt not to scrounge again.

@SpanielsGalore That's what I said. He looked really upset 😂

I very much agree with N's take on people. She's a smart cookie. Although I wouldn't be going to anyone for a chuckit either, but given her history I suppose it's not surprising she's a bit obsessed

@tizwozliz definitely worse places to work remotely for three weeks 😍I am very jealous.

@Goldenspanners oh she is a stunning girl! She looks like a much younger (less evil) version of Satan (my mother's cocker). Glad to hear your walk went a bit better with you changing direction. Gundog training is definitely a useful way to entertain a high-intelligence dog.

Been in Scotland all week just catching up on comments. Although I’ve dipped into mn at times, haven’t had a proper read, and have three pages of this thread to catch up on, so here goes.

Scotland was beautiful. Sunny weather, freezing winds, and a bit of sleet. But mostly dry. Had a lovely few days

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks hopefully not much heftier! Although his lead walking is so much better than it was, he still has his moments and my left arm almost permanently aches as it is 😂
How old is TD now? Are goldens usually a muscular breed? They’re more floofy than labs so it’s hard to tell under their coats!
Yep, he tends to let out audible ones occasionally when he jumps up at something 😂😂 but it’s the smell that gets me! They’re pretty horrific!

@VanGoSunflowers Oh no! 😫But he's still just a baby, so he'll get there.

Mine don't make smells when they jump up. But the little noises make me giggle. When I changed Pen onto her raw food, she went through a stage of making little popping noises as she walked anywhere 😂It was so embarrassing walking down the road with her. I'd definitely take the noises over smell any day!

Golden's should be muscular, even the working line ones although with working lines it's more a lean strength. Typically all their power is in their front legs though, rather than their back legs - their back legs tend to look a bit spindly when you actually really look at them. The chest fur is fluffier and back-end fur tends to be courser, and so it gives the illusion of them being a bit slimmer as well (but only if they are slim). I think Labs and Goldens are probably about the same in terms of muscle, but I think labs have stronger jaws (although I might be imagining it).

He's 3 now so he's fully grown physically (and apparently mentally...), but he didn't stop filling out until about 2.5?

I took the below photo when he was about Pablo's age. It does a good job of showing just how slim he was, but also how slim his back legs were compared to his front ones. Their scrawny back legs are surprisingly fragile for the first 18 months or so. The fluff hides how weak they are - I got very lucky with the camera angle to be able to show it 😀Shame my skills are only in taking weird photos of my dogs and not like TizWoz's!

@Silverbirchleaf I hope you enjoyed Scotland! Did DDog go with you!? If not, I hope you plan on issuing some form of grovelling apology involving food...

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks I never knew that about the physiology of golden retrievers.

Scotland was lovely. One thing that surprised me were the daffodils. Down south, they’re just about finished, but up north, they were everywhere, and looking resplendent. Swathes of daffodils on roadside banks etc. Stunning.

Dog was at home with young adult son and I don’t think he missed us too much. He gave us that ‘I’m pleased to see you but you’ve been away’ aloof welcome home greeting.

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks I guess they build muscle by doing usual doggy things rather than there being any kind of game you would play like tug? I think I read playing tug isn’t recommended with retrievers but I might be making that up! TD looks a bit more filled out on that pic than Pablo does - I took this of him on his walk earlier, although he looks quite small on this pic his paws reach up to my collar bone when he jumps up and I am 5’7”

TD really is a handsome boy ❤️

I also wonder what effect neutering has on muscle development because of the testosterone?

Most of his muscle appears to be in his chest, you can see when he’s sitting. A bit like Rory @Idstillratherbepaddleboarding

He was very well behaved on his walk today. Much less pulling than usual, I do think he’s had a software upgrade! I was thinking the other day, if he never ‘improves’ more than this, I can say I’m happy with him if that makes sense. But he’s still got some more maturing to do! He will turn one on 8th April!

Here he is sat down in the kitchen - just took this one, he’s so tired bless him

@VanGoSunflowers Pablo looks like such a puppy in the perfect and such a man dog in the second! 🥰

This is how Rory builds his muscles 🤣🤣🤣 (not really, he’s just realised he can see down the whole street from this perch!). The towel is because he’s put little claw holes in the seat covering 🙈.

@Silverbirchleaf Ahhh sounds like you're in the doghouse a bit. Mine ignore me whenever I return if I go away for a day or so, but they usually come creeping back (mostly because I think they forget they're meant to be acting annoyed).

Glad you're enjoyed Scotland! You're right about the daff's though. We have them by the front hedge and they lasted about a week this year...literally popped up Monday and dead by Sunday 😫

@VanGoSunflowers It's not recommended because of the pressure it puts on their elbows when they're young! Honestly, retrievers are pretty wimpy. And neutering too early can damage joint and muscle growth/density. It's one of my pet peeves for large breeds 🙁

Pablo and Rory have such lovely shiny coats. Just like Silver' and Tiz's boys.

Dogs really are deceptively large and you only realise when they pounce and stand on their back legs.

Pablo goes from puppy to dapper gentleman type in the span of two photos 😂so @Idstillratherbepaddleboarding is definitely right!

Rory is so big as well now @Idstillratherbepaddleboarding !! And he's filling out as well.

So many tags there for everyone 😳sorry

Mumsnet is definitely my happy place for seeing healthy, happy, dogs. 😍

@Idstillratherbepaddleboarding he is so handsome! He looks so similar to Pablo, just in another colour! Do you know how much he weighs? If I remember correctly he’s only a tad younger than mine?

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks I am still not certain about whether to neuter Pablo at all or leave him intact. In all honesty, I haven’t done loads of research on it - only to read that it’s best to wait until 18months- 2 years so it feels like it’s a while away before I need to make a decision. Have you ever spayed any of your girls once they’ve had their last litter? I am still a bit dense on the whole neutering topic I have to admit!

There are so many happy healthy dogs on this thread, you’re right. It’s so nice to see.

Pablo has gotten so big @VanGoSunflowers!!

Well V didn’t learn his lesson and ate a whole slice of birthday cake (again!!!) and two egg sandwiches which he stole off the table at my mums yesterday 🙄 He is absolutely terrible around food, I’ve never known a dog like it! I don’t really know how to fix it either…

@YorkshireFelix oh no! At least he has a healthy appetite 😂 what a chancer! I naively believed that because Pablo won’t try and steal food from my plate, that he wouldn’t from anyone else’s - until he pinched a slice of pizza from DS once 🤦‍♀️

@VanGoSunflowers I don’t sorry, he used to be weighed at the vets for his flea and worm tablet but he doesn’t need to be anymore. He is still a skinny minny but Billy didn’t fill out fully til he was about 2. Pablo is identical to Billy 🥰💔. Rory is one on 5th May so less than a month younger!

Neither Billy or Rory would touch DH’s plate even if he left it with food on but they’d both have mine if I so much as turned away. They know I’m a soft touch!

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks I didn’t think Rory would be as shiny as Billy due to his lighter fur but he is and especially in the sunshine, he glows 🥰.

@VanGoSunflowers I haven't ever spayed mine, but that's more personal choice than anything else - although the recent research about spaying female golden retrievers was interesting and if I did spay mine i'd certainly be reconsidering it.

I won't castrate Twatdog. He's certainly old enough now, but he has no undesirable behaviours and tbh he's been gone for so many time at this point that I worry that neutering him might make him very nervous/timid. He's happy as he is.

When I sell puppies I did used to suggest females are spayed - although I might reconsider than by the time the next litter comes, research depending - but boys aren't castrated.

@YorkshireFelix well V does have to have some 'bad' point I guess. Otherwise he'd be too perfect and that would be boring 😂I hope whoever's birthday it was had a lovely day, even with the missing slice of cake.

@Idstillratherbepaddleboarding you know that now means you have to share a photo of Rory in the sunlight? 😀

Hope everyone had lovely morning walks! I didn't see a single soul on the walk - except near the end where I was viciously attacked by a low-flying Satanic rodent who appeared from down a side-path and lunged towards me demanding her right to cuddles. 😅

The girls and I are going to spend the day in the garden 'working' (I have no motivation at the moment) whilst Twatdog 'helps' DH do the weeding. Naturally his version of help involves carrying picking the weeds out of the bucket and then putting them back into the flowerbeds 😳But he's trying to help and it's very much the thought that counts.

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks I think I may have seen a link you shared on one of the threads about updated advice by breed and I did have a quick look, although I can’t remember exactly what it said, the guidance seemed to be slightly different for goldies than labs which I was surprised about.

As you say I suppose taking in to account research and then the dog you have and their personalities seems like a good approach.

I also wouldn’t say that Pablo has any ‘problem’ behaviours, just normal teenage selective hearing and lack of impulse control which I gather he will hopefully grow out of! I was reading something interesting that talked about a dog’s prefrontal cortex and how much it can change at certain points during adolescence. I think it said that even if you think you’re not seeing huge improvements with training when they’re about Pablo’s age, that you’re essentially installing the software and when the ‘hardware’ updates, I.e. their brain matures, that’s where you notice the biggest improvement.

Obviously I have no idea if that works in practice with him being my first dog. But it’s interesting that I have essentially been training him for months and months and months to not pull and lunge towards other dogs and he’s been so hit and miss, never seemed like it really ‘clicked’ but the last week after his clingy phase he seemed to get it all of a sudden.

Even managed to get him to walk to heel through a melee of several dogs on the path, one of which was an excitable puppy who was running up to him to say hello! I know he has a way to go yet before he is fully mature, but it feels so good after all these months to see these little glimpses of the adult dog he will (hopefully) become.

I must admit to finding it more stressful than I thought I would, not in an existential way but more in a ‘he is constantly on my mind’ type of way. Even to the point that I thought for a split second about putting DS back on a lead when another child wandered over in our direction in a cafe 😂😂 perhaps stressful and thought consuming is a more accurate way of putting it!

Wow that was an essay, my apologies! Hope you have a nice day in the garden and everyone else has a nice walk today with their doggos!

@VanGoSunflowers Yes, for Labs it was something like neuter around 12-18 months but for Golden's after two years. And not to spay bitches for Goldens, but labs are 12 months. That was about cancer in dogs though - and Golden's are well known for their tendency towards cancer 🙁

That sounds very right on the 'software' idea tbh. I know some of the posters with slightly old dogs (the Spaniel crew!) had 'issues' (for lack of a better word) with their dogs when they were Pablo's age, but then all their dogs have mostly grown up and moved past their slightly nobbyness. It's like oneday the computer just restarts and they get it.

It took ages for DWS to learn that 'if I chew on Clem's tail, I will get told off.' Not quite a training thing, but a wider point about just how thick puppies can be. Likewise, Twatdog didn't seem to realise that staring at Satan - and I mean staring, unblinkingly for HOURS - was not a way to encourage her to be her friend, and instead just pissed her off, for years.

Honestly, I do think unless you've had a puppy/young dog recently it's soooo easy to forget just how time consuming and mentally draining ownership is. Even small things take up so much time and space in your mind.

@Bupster speaking of castration...how is Bill?

@Goldenspanners How is your beautiful girl getting on? Have you do a bit more 'this way' with her?

@SpanielsGalore hope P is still recovering well and K hasn't been chasing anymore dear...

DH and Twatdog managed to coexist for 45 minutes happily before Twatdog came running my way, looking shifty, with an entire baby lavender bush in his mouth and DH running behind him 😁Needless to say, the lavender bush was not plantable after.

Hi @TheHungryHungryLandsharks - he's actually doing really well. The last few days he's been more of a nobber towards other entire males, or dogs that surprise him in a way that might be seen as confrontational, but he's been a nobhead so long that it's well within parameters.

He REELLY likes GURLS though which has been quite funny - he tried to get in a stranger's boot yesterday as they had three female Dachshunds in the car, and he's finally made friends with the girl Lab across the road who is a trainee assistance dog and the replacement pup when his bestie left last year.

He is also very barky and very whiny, and tired more than normal, and I feel like this is telling me a lot more about human male adolescence than it should 😄

Couple of ear pics for the connoisseurs, and one of him coming home the other day and stealing my wallet.

@Bupster well, you shouldn’t have left your wallet where he can find it then!

Those ears… .

The birdsong I heard on my woodland walk this morning was magical. I use the ‘Merlin’ app to identify them, and in a short space of time heard chiff chaffs, robins, thrushes, chaffinches, blue tits, wrens and a pigeon. It really was lovely.

Much better walks thanks @TheHungryHungryLandsharks

Hope everyone is doing ok...how nice are the lighter evenings

Hi everyone.

Lovely to see all the photos of everyone's gorgeous dogs. 💖

I'm well and truly fed up.

The weather is awful - gusting winds, rain, sleet and hail. And it's pissing freezing.

Cage rest is doing both mine and P's heads in. She's desperate to play and grabs a toy and starts bouncing around every time she's allowed out. K snatches it off her and then they jump around and on each other. Then we go outside and I stand there in the freezing cold, whilst she eats sticks and stones. And the squealing everytime she thinks she's missing out on something is doing my head in. And fuck knows what she does in her cage, but she keeps managing to get her leg through the chest strap of her harness. Only 24 days to go!

K was good for the first 45 minutes of our walk today and then fucked off. Same place as before when she came back with a cut tongue. I need to learn to avoid the areas of high temptation.
I have come to the conclusion that for an intelligent dog, K is pretty thick. She picks up things I teach her quickly, but she can't think for herself and problem solve. I've been trying to teach her to target my hand, but she hasn't got a clue. My new treat training dummy arrived today. I've shown her it has treats inside and fed them to her as soon as she sniffs it. But as soon as I drop it on the floor, she ignores it totally and sits staring at me.

N is very stiff on her hind, left leg and is getting more clingy, which I think is a symptom of her increasing dementia.

And to top it all - my car MOT is due in two weeks. The engine management light is on, which is an automatic fail. I had it checked last year and there is nothing wrong with the car. It's a faulty sensor. The garage I spoke to today says they would need to repeat the diagnostic test at a cost of £180! That's before the cost of the part, the MOT and the service.

Here endeth the pity party. 😁

Hope everyone else is having a better time.