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. 😁

Oh noooo I am sorry @SpanielsGalore, you have all really been through it recently! I am hoping for some glorious sunny weather to make it over your way and solve all your problems 🌞

@Bupster that seems to be a common side-effect. All the dogs that have ever gone for Twatdog have been neutered males...not sure he minds though, the little twit just bounces off after with the air of a dog saying, "I still have my Balls. Haha!"

I remember reading somewhere they can be clingier for a few days, which I guess is to be expected. Poor Bill. Fingers crossed he doesn't get too familiar though with all his girl-friends, chemically neutered or not - once they start they're impossible to stop (probably TMI, but it's why so many breeders use AI).

I wonder if you could sell cuttings of Bill's ear fur as I feel like stroking it would be really therapeutic as they look so much softer than any other ears. That probably sounds very weird, but I don't mean it in a weird way...

@Goldenspanners brilliant news😊I remember someone saying once 'a retriever is born half-trained, and a spaniel dies half-trained' which based on the Spaniels I know sort of seems the case...but honestly, I think it's just because spaniels are far more intelligent (in a savvy/smart way, except perhaps @SpanielsGalore K based on her latest post) than most retrievers.

The lighter evenings really are so lovely. They make everything a bit more bearable even when the weather isn't super warm yet. @Silverbirchleaf you're making me very jealous of your peaceful walk, although mine is usually because the dogs are causing chaos than because of any road noises...so I guess I bring it on myself.

@SpanielsGalore Honestly, owning P sounds a a bit like having a toddler that a grandparent has shoved full of sugar and then deposited at your front-door at 10pm on a Sunday night...only cuter. Poor P though, and poor you for not only having her being a bit of a pest but also crying - must be equal parts irritating and heartbreaking.

K does make me smile. She's definitely lulling you into a false sense of security every walk and then reverting to her usual self. But at least she always comes back.

And poor N. Have you tried Aktivait? Have I mentioned it before? I feel like I might have? We use them for Satan as she was getting a bit 'demented' and it noticeably helped - usually I don't go for the supplement 'fads', but these are definitely a game-changer for Satan. DMum forgot them when we were in Norfolk over Christmas and it was a definite reminder of how good they are - Satan got very clingy, but also quite snappy, as well as staring at walls, then as soon as she was home and medicated again she was fine.

Sounds like a rotten run of bad luck! Fingers crossed your car MOT isn't too bad even with the extras you know about.

No major news here. DWS has yet to revert to her nefarious winky-sucking ways, Twatdog is still a pest, Clem is still pretending I don't exist and Pen is just a very good girl.

Although Hen, after worrying me with her slowing down, appears to have had some sort of booster the last few weeks. I was worried it was the 'improvement before a decline' situation that some dogs have, but I'm now thinking it's just the warm weather. She's managed 6-8 miles every day for 4 days now, isn't stiff, isn't slow and is keeping up with the others easily. She doesn't display any signs of arthritis, at all normally - she had just slowed down...but I wonder now if perhaps she gets a bit of SAD in winter and that's why she had slowed down and wasn't as energetic. She's spent most of this morning digging holes in the garden where DH weeded yesterday.

Gahhhh typo! DH did not wee in the garden, he weeded. What a typo...

I walked V through the woods for the first time in months this morning. I started avoiding it because he would go feral and not listen to me but he was really good! He did his usual running crazy in big circles but his recall was decent, and he stuck close to me when other dogs/people were passing. We went down the canal and he came and sat nicely when bikes passed and was just generally very well behaved. I am sure next time it will be a different story but I am taking it for now 😄

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks I bet it is the warmer weather. When V’s back end was really stiff a few months ago it coincided with it getting colder out and the physio said that was likely the cause.

My DH did actually wee in the garden recently as an attempt to get V to go to the toilet there but obviously it didn’t work because he’s not a dog 🤣🤣🤣

@Goldenspanners @TheHungryHungryLandsharks
There’s an Instragram account I’ve started following called ‘The Kentish Country Dog, and one of the themes is ‘Lab V Spaniel’, and the differences between them. The person has two lab and one spaniel.

@Bupster
Dog was very clingy after his big op. He cried and was, for a non-huggy dog, quite huggy. For about 48 hours, he wanted dh or me around.

Heard a woodpecker pecking on my walk today, or I assume it was, because I was walking down a country lane, and there were no buildings around where they could have been doing work.

Hope the car passes its MOT without costing an arm and a leg (which, if you think about it, is a very strange saying).

@YorkshireFelix V looks as pleased as you are with his walk this morning.

Borrowed an agility jump so have been practising getting Dog to jump on the highest rung. He can do the intermediate quite happily, but we need to him up to the next height.

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks one of the reasons the behaviourists I've been working with have been leary of encouraging neutering is that, for anxious dogs, it can make them much worse around other dogs. I saw one paper that surveyed a huge range of owners and by all accounts neutering is more likely to make dogs behave aggressively towards other dogs - largely because the absence of testosterone can make worried dogs more worried. That's one of the reasons I went for the implant, although to be honest I don't think Bill is a worried dog at all; I think he's a nobhead 😄.

Having found some instructions for vets, the way it works is it overloads their brain receptors with testosterone until the receptors become desensitised. So this first few weeks of nobheadery is a feature, not a bug; it is meant to make him into an absolute tosspot for a while, and I'll only start to see the neutering effects in 4-6 weeks (3-5 now as the first week is nearly up). I'm hoping the fact that the effects of the testosterone flare are actually quite familiar rather than being out of character means that some of them at least will be dialled down considerably when the testosterone disappears...

@Bupsteroh wow I didn’t realise that’s how it works?!

Just seen V’s breeder has confirmed successful mating of his Mum and Dad again!! Not the right time for us but I sooooooo wish we could have one 😭

@YorkshireFelix I wonder if you are feeling the same way some of my previous buyers feel when I have another litter and it's just the wrong timing 😂Although two Vinny's would be pretty perfect.

I have a great image of this unnamed blank-faced man weeing in the garden in front of V and V just staring at him, walking away, and tiddling inside.

He has a particularly happy expression on his face in that photo - he rather looks like a dog saying 'aren't I a good boy?' I refuse to believe after that that he could regress in any way...but then he's a teenage dog so you're right, he'll probably be a nob by tonight 😂

@Bupster I hadn't realised it worked like that! Poor Bill is probably going crackers. Have you thought about providing him with an elephant for some release? Twatdog can't recommend them highly enough...

And I refuse to hear anymore about Bill being a nobhead. His silkyness could never be nobby 😂

@Silverbirchleaf Ohh I might have to give that a watch! I enjoy watching Satan outwit my bunch of idiots at every turn. If one of them is on the sofa next to my mum, she'll set off the 'woofs' in the garden to get them off and outside and then she'll run back in and get up. Savvy little bird. I definitely don't think my dogs have that level of critical thinking.

Are you going to do agility with your boy? Or is this more just fun/training than definitely heading towards agility? I'm always fascinated by it at Crufts, but the idea of running with the dog does not fill me with joy.

I have regular lessons, but not entered any competitions yet, partly due to the car situation. It’s good fun, but harder than it looks. Just running short, or dropping your arm , or being out of place can make a huge difference. When watching Crufts, I no longer watch the dogs, but watch what the handlers are doing!

I have a couple of videos of me and didn’t know I ran (waddled!) so funnily. There’s a superb clip of a German lady who directs her dog and hardly moves.

@Silverbirchleaf that is interesting and makes perfect sense as I’ve realised how receptive V is to my body language/signals way more than words. I always think the dogs look like they are having the time of their lives!!

Big pup doing her best smile on the beach 😂

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks - Hoopers might be more your thing, the idea there is not to run with them. You get extra points for standing still and handling at distance.

We've done one proper competition, a whole day out for less than a minute of competing (and that was 3 events) and I decided it's not my thing. We've done some fun comps with our trainer but that's enough for me.

@YorkshireFelix We had one nice weather day. I managed 6 dog walks without getting wet. Today it's back to pissing it down.
Glad V is being a good boy on his walks.
It's exciting about puppies being on the horizon. I felt like that when I heard P's breeder had puppies available before I was ready for a second. And then I ended up with K. 😂

@Bupster I didn't know the injection worked like that either. I hope it helps Bill be less of a nobhead.

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks N is on Activait. I think it has helped a little, I think. But I can't know for sure without stopping it, which is a bit mean.

K is only gone for a couple of minutes at a time, so it's not too bad really. Plus she's cute, which means she gets away with murder. 😂

Glad your gang are all well and Hen has a new Spring in her step. (See what I did there? 😁)

I have probably maligned K again. She picks up things I teach her really quickly. She learnt whistle recall in four goes. And walking to heel in two days.
But she can't problem solve, so to speak. I tried her with a Nina Ottoson type puzzle. P took about a minute and a half to solve it the first time, and can now do it in 15 seconds flat. K couldn't do it. She sniffed it for about a minute, then gave up and curled up on my lap instead.

So trying to backchain a retrieve is proving difficult, as she can't work out I want her to touch the dummy.
I've gone back to the beginning now. Yesterday I sat on the floor and fed her treats out of the dummy whilst I held it, so she will associate it with food. Next step is to put it on the floor.

@SpanielsGalore I didn’t put the dummy on the floor at all when backchaining. Our trainer told me to hold it, and as soon as his nose touched the dummy to show interest he would get a treat. Then we progressed onto waiting for him to touch it with his mouth, then put his mouth around it and so on. I think if I put it on the floor he would have just wandered off 😄 So might be worth a try doing it this way?

Also I sooooooo would have snapped up a pup if I had decided to carry on freelancing rather than take my new job. Although I do keep thinking about how much I loathed having a puppy and teenage dog so why would I go back there again!! And I don’t really have 2k to spend and all the associated monthly dog costs would double too so it’s probably for the best…

The owner of Vinny’s brother who is training to be a mountain rescue dog commented on the breeders post and added a photo and he is sooooooo cute. Weirdly looks quite different to V facially even though they are both brothers and the exact same colour. He sounds amazingly well trained compared to my feral idiot!

I started with that, but she did everything possible to avoid it. I got frustrated/fed up of waiting and attempted to shove it in her face and she dodged to avoid it. 🤦‍♀️ 😂

My friend suggested starting with something she does like holding, like a toy or a sock.

I remember teaching my gold boy to settle on a mat. The trainer was very keen on dogs thinking for themselves. So we started by putting the mat in the middle of the room and clicking and treating when he accidentally stepped on it. He stepped on it and got treats twice. Then you could see the light bulb moment where he realised what was happening. After the second treat, he went straight back to the mat and stamped on it. K can't work things out like that.

The timing probably isn't right for you just yet, with the new job and the pizza place. Maybe next year when V is all fully grown and mature. There's a 3 year gap between P and K and I think that's worked well. In some ways, two dogs are easier than one, as they do keep each other entertained. It's not so good when they hunt deer together though.

@SpanielsGalore ah I see what you mean! Does she get frustrated? I remember trying to teach V something a while ago which involved shaping (I can’t remember what it was!) and he got sooooo pissed off and was just digging the floor in frustration. I do think patience is not in most spaniels vocabulary.

Gorgeous 😄😄😄

It's certainly not in this spaniel owner's vocabulary. 😂

I sat holding the dummy in front of K and she looked up, down and round, but never at it. She barely gave it a glance when I tapped it and said "What's this?" in my most exciting voice.
I don't think she gets frustrated. More bored and wanders off.

What’s up with this weather?! Yesterday I was baking at the end of the walk. Today, that biting wind is back.

Spaniels really are dizzy little creatures.

You've swapped with me. 😁

Freezing wind, torrential rain and a sprinkling of snow here yesterday. Beautiful blue sky and sunshine today. Although it's still only 5°.

@Silverbirchleaf I am sure you don't waddle 😁I definitely couldn't even get to the skill of that woman you've mentioned on agility, although I am very proud of myself I can flick my fingers at Twatdog and he does as I wish. But that's because he loves chicken so much.

Mine pretty much respond equally to words and gestures but that's probably because they're just 'easy' and not intelligent enough to really be disobedient.

I think @tizwozliz is right, Hoopers is far more up my street 😀I am very good at standing still. I must say though I agree with you re.competitions. I love showing but once you've done your 2 minutes on stage you're done for the day so most of the rest of the day is waiting around for food and gossiping. Big Pup is so photogenic - even when making awful faces, still beautiful!

@SpanielsGalore at least you're finally admitting you are unfairly aligning K. She is a sweetie. Perhaps K just doesn't see the need to perform or engage as she knows that she'll get what she wants (food) without having to anything? 😁

Glad to hear that N is a bit better. It's so hard as they get older as they decline naturally so it's hard to know what's natural aging and what's illness.

@YorkshireFelix your feral idiot is a lovely and handsome idiot though 😍And I bet his brother, even if he's better trained, is not as handsome as Vinny.

I agree with @SpanielsGalore though, a three year gap is about perfect (hence why my litters tend to be every three years, if 2.5 if I breed twice). I definitely couldn't have coped with Twatdog at 18 months, or even 2, and DWS.

No major updates here. Weather is awful (typically for a Bank Holiday🙄). Hope everyone has lovely bank holiday plans - even if they include ignoring the world and snuggling with dogs. DDogs and the family and I have absolutely no plans other than eating, walking and watching rubbish TV.

I hate shaping, partly because I'm rubbish at it, and partly because both Bill and I get frustrated. He doesn't understand why the thing that got him treatos before now doesn't, so why should he keep bothering? It's annoying because the little bollocks does learn insanely fast (even if he doesn't tell me - e.g. my trainer had him doing down at a distance and sitting to a whistle at a distance two weeks ago and I would swear blind nobody had taught him to do that).

@Bupster I've been eyeing up Spaniel Aid recently (must add, not because I want a Spaniel - delightful as they are - but because I'm comparing the behavioural issues their dogs tend to have with the Goldens we're getting in), and one of the things I noticed about all the Cockadors and Springadors they get in is that every single one of them appears to be some sort of doggy genius!!

The problem with dogs that learn that quickly and are so savvy is they tend to be little buggers 😁Makes me quick glad that mine, whilst intelligent, don't have the savvyness to be difficult - life for them is nice and simple 'i'll do anything for food.' Very much my own take on life as well. Give me food and I am yours to command 😀

I think this is my problem @Bupster . I don't know what I'm doing. 😂
I can teach set commands and K picks them up quickly. But I have no idea how to get her to put her mouth on a dummy that I am holding, short of smearing it in peanut butter. Hopefully the gundog trainer will have more of a clue, or I have just wasted £120.

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks K has me well and truly wrapped around her little paw and she knows it. 💖

My sprocker was too clever for his own good. He knew I exchanged stolen items for treats. So he'd steal a cushion and take it outside. And then he'd sit and stare at the door, waiting for food to appear. 😂

Good and bad news on the car front. The garage I used last year still has the diagnostic test results from last year, so that has saved me £180. Unfortunately they can't fit me in until 10 days after my MOT runs out, which is why I was looking elsewhere. I can mostly manage without it, but I will have to take P to Aberdeen for her 10 week post op check.

It's going to be busy here over Easter. DD and GC are visiting for a week. They are staying at Ex's house as the GC are scared of dogs. We've met up for a two hour walk on the beach this morning and by the end of it, K had won the eldest over and he wanted to take her home. 😂
DS2 breaks up for the Easter holidays today too. He'll be staying with me next week so he can spend time with them whilst they are here. Eldest GC absolutely hero worships him.