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. 😁

@SpanielsGalore yeah ok I hate you. 😂
This is what I mean. That’s what dogs are supposed to do. But I totally know that I am being unreasonable because she is only 8 months old. I guess she will (I hope) find out how to chill as she gets older.
The woman in the video was saying that chasing taps into an instinct, so they get an endorphin rush which they get addicted to, and then you get a dog who is totally wired and can’t settle. Sounds like that’s what happened with your foster, as well as the arthritis. Poor old thing.

@SilverbirchleafSo I do mix up Merry’s play with chucking the ball or toy in the long grass and sending her to sniff it out. She found a rabbit fur lure one day, which we use a lot, she’s actually a great sniffer dog. I also make her stay and wait before throwing. I’ve also been using a soft ball and trying to teach herding type commands with that.
I do training too, lots of tricks which she has picked up really fast. We even learned the Vito game (internet is sometimes good stuff!). It was so interesting watching her figure that out, but I wasn’t sure where to go next with it, so those cones look great for extending that game, I’m going to do that. I’ll also get that book, because I definitely need some fresh ideas.

It just would be nice to have some chill times, especially first thing in the morning! Even when I'm
cooking or doing the ironing she is bringing me toys and dropping them at my feet to chuck. There are very few toys which she will go off and play with alone. She hasn’t even found the joys of disembowelling a toy yet.

@Struckbylightning To be fair, I have three dogs, so they do entertain each other. P was an only dog for a while, and she used to amuse herself with toys. K is a different kettle of fish. If she didn't have the other two, she'd be a complete pain in the arse and always up to mischief.

Does Merry relax at all? Or does she need teaching how to settle?

Well, I’m not getting another dog! I did settle training for nap times, when she was little. Thinking about it, she does chill nicely when we go to cafes. I think if dh or my son are in charge, they sometimes tell her to F off, and she does. She will go and nap, or gnaw on a chew. So maybe it’s just me.

https://ladiesworkingdoggroup.com/supercar-registration/

Just saw this advertised. You may find it useful. I plan to listen to it.

And this.

https://ladiesworkingdoggroup.com/calm-dog-blueprint/

@Silverbirchleaf ants in his pants because he was so excited? Or just being a little git?

@Struckbylightning I don't like excessive use of ball games (for reasons that Spaniels has set out) but I don't think the odd game of chase or fetch ever killed a dog.

I don't tend to use them with mine because, like Spaniels, mine get a bit manic and obsessive and it's not good for them.

Twatdog was manic first thing in the morning - it would be upwards of an hour of mania most days when he was Merrys age. I tried everything and in the end, I just resulted in ignoring him and he got the hint eventually 😂His sex toy also helps.

Separately (and rant of the day), I am never going to understand parents who let their children approach random dogs and try and pat them without checking. Eris nearly took off a child hands this morning (I exaggerate - although she is very much still in the piranha stage of mouthing, and does the lip curl that Twatdog does so it did look very vicious, I imagine) when the little twit came up to her and shoved a hand in her face. Thankfully, although she is a piranha, she's not vicious although she obviously did the lunge and open mouth chomp - but I hate to think what would have happened if it had been Satan c.4-5 years ago, for example.

Hi everyone!

@Struckbylightning Pablo is kind of similar to @SpanielsGalore’s girls - typical day for us would be wake up between 7 and 8, out for the toilet, breakfast, then he will either amuse himself with a toy or lay down begging for DS’ toast crusts. I usually bring him with me on the school run, then back - out for first walk, then he will sleep a while. While I am sat at my desk, I get interrupted a few times a day for cuddles (which I definitely don’t mind!) and he will bring a toy for me to throw once or twice a day but we don’t do it for long. Or he will watch out of the window. He’s pretty decent at entertaining himself. I don’t know if it did make a difference but right from when he was a pup I would ignore him for large portions of the day. Being a young dog he obviously gets himself into mischief sometimes too!

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks Agh I would have hated that. I remember having to politely tell a group of kids to fuck off and leave him alone when
we were sat outside a pub one afternoon because he was getting wound up!

In other news, against my earlier judgement I have started taking Pupper to join the local dog standers walkers occasionally and I have to say, it seems to be helping us massively! I don’t know if they’re more adept at teaching him manners than I am, or if it’s alllll the ‘ignore strange dogs when I tell you to’ training or if others dogs aren’t as much of a novelty to him now but his lead walking has been on point since, even with other dogs near him yapping at him. Maybe it’s a combination of all the above 🤷‍♀️

In the winter time mine are very lazy.

Get up around 7, breakfast, toilet, sit on me whilst I have coffee, sleep until 12 whilst I work.

They don't really pester at all during the day. Older one will start nudging my mouse hand making it impossible to work if she thinks I'm working too late!

@Struckbylightning I taught Vinny to settle when he was a pup and it’s one of the best things I did. He has been quite chilled at home throughout the day since he was small and I put it down to this. He does also entertain himself and run about with toys or will find a half eaten chew in his toy basket to have a go at. I was WFH but with a pretty intense job when he was a puppy and spent a lot of time just ignoring him at set times because I couldn’t keep entertaining him. That probably helped too!

We don’t do a lot of chasing things even though he loves it. More because we have wood floors throughout the house and it would be terrible for his joints, and we only have a small paved yard rather than a nice garden. I do try and do some retrieves on a walk but he doesn’t give a shit about it when we are outside 🙄 But I think building engagement and a bond through game play is a good thing so I wouldn’t let the video you watched put you off. I am bad for getting overwhelmed by information on social media from different trainers and stressing about doing the wrong thing, so I totally get it!

@VanGoSunflowers Pablo is an angel, it sounds like he is doing so well!!

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks sorry I didn’t reply to you a few days ago. I would love to book an enclosed field (@SpanielsGalore suggested this to me a few weeks back too) but I can’t justify the cost since im not working at the minute 😫

I need to decide on what to do re the kibble. He really likes the Jollyes life stage (although I think he would really like anything because he’s such a gannet) but I think it makes his poos a bit too soft. We got the salmon one and it makes his breath stink too 🤢 Not sure if it’s worth trying a different flavour. Either way I need to go out and buy something today.

Here is mr stinky breath himself!

@YorkshireFelix I'd try a different flavour first as it's such a good price. Mine are all on turkey.
This may not be relevant to anything and I didn't ask the reason why, but the nutritionist I spoke to for P told me to avoid chicken and salmon.

V looks as gorgeous as ever. 💖

ETA - mine won't retrieve on walks either. Fine in training classes or in the garden. But walks are far too exciting to waste time bringing something back that I've been silly enough to throw.

I did almost buy Turkey too! I think I'll go today and give that a try, since I can get a 2kg bag for a tenner so it's not a complete waste if it's not suitable for him in the long run. I do tend to avoid chicken in general and I know many dogs are intolerant to it, but haven't heard anything re salmon so that is interesting. I wonder why!

@YorkshireFelix Yes. I wish I'd asked at the time. But as I only give white fish, I didn't follow it up as it wasn't relevant.

@Struckbylightning Mine are out of the house from about 6am - 9am, and then they sleep from about 10am - 1pm, another walk and/or train, food, sleep from 2 - 6, another walk and then sleep again. But they have access to the garden all day every day, and each other. Although even when Twatdog was a baby (Merry's age) he would sleep from about 10-1 and 2-6 just because no one would play with him or entertain him, so he got used to being ignored!

@VanGoSunflowers I find it so frustrating as I know if the child was hurt, DWS would be at fault...even though it's not her fault at all. It also could be that Pablo is starting to grow up a bit, so isn't being quite such a nightmare on walks etc?

@YorkshireFelix I suppose the plus side of not working at the moment is that you can spend all day with Vinny (which I am sure is what I said before when you mentioned it...although I standby that thought!)

I don't feed my lot anything fishy at all if I can help it, the smell is just not worth it 😩

On the soft poos, you can get poo powder for dog food which is just a topper you sprinkle on that hardens their poo. I use it for Clem as she always has the shits (sorry, TMI I know), and it works wonders.

V really is stunning. 😍

@YorkshireFelix V is so handsome.
@SpanielsGalore Pablo isn’t remotely interested in retrieves on walks either.

Also he really doesn’t do well on Chicken or Salmon. I haven’t tried Turkey or White fish yet but think I need to mix it up a bit as he has actually started to become less enthusiastic about meal times recently! So he may be getting a bit bored? He will still eat it but I do get a look from him that I am interpreting as “this again?” 😂

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks I remember being on tenter hooks at that time with other people/children winding him up because he would get nippy. I guess with goldies they are ‘the’ ultimate puppy aren’t they? So they maybe draw even more attention than others? Although I guess most people want to say hi to a puppy but they’ll soon get arsey if the puppy gets bitey! It could be that he is growing up a bit. Could be a mix of all of it!

On a separate note, someone was telling me about Yumove supplements for Dog’s joints - worth looking in to for Pablo do we think?

@VanGoSunflowers I've heard Yumove is only worth it if you go for the plus one.

N was on it for a while, but I can't say I noticed any difference.
P has Kinetic Flex Ultra - hip and joint formula. Don't know if it works or not, but she is finally standing properly and weight bearing on her bad leg.
K has nothing.

@VanGoSunflowers I don't use Yumove for any of mine - mostly because I'm not convinced it'll work (I'm very much a sceptic about drugs that don't require a vet's prescription as I've seen too many people be taken advantage of and now I realise I sound like a complete conspiracy theorist...).

It's definitely a case of 'ultimate puppy' as you say - people see a Golden Retriever and lose their minds. There was a stage about 15 years ago after 'Marley and Me' where I used to see people mobbing yellow labs all the time. 😂I wouldn't even mind, but half the time they don't ask! I try not to get annoyed, but I just think it's such bad parenting to let a child blunder up to any dog without checking first.

Little pup will retrieve things I haven't thrown 😂

Today's find

Aww she’s so clever @tizwozliz 😄

Well in contrast to our awful walk a couple of days ago, we just had the most amazing walk ever. Dd asked to go down to the river so she could plodge in the water (in just a t-shirt, bottoms, bare feet and crocs mind!!). She’s not attending school at the moment and has only left the house once in the past week or so, so I jumped at the chance of her wanting to come out with me. We parked up at the woods but walked over the canal and down the river and he was a dream. Stayed close by, recalled every time, sat and stayed put every time I asked, saw a few other dogs and was polite and didn’t freak out.

No idea what the difference was apart from the location - I do suspect the field and woods we go to sends him loopy because of the rabbits etc. so maybe I just need to avoid it full stop.

Dd said she felt good for getting some fresh air and would like to come on more walks so I said I’d try and find some more places we can go, and hopefully he will behave next time too!!

@YorkshireFelix I am so glad you had a nice walk and your DD had a nice time. I don’t know about you, but Pablo is always so much better behaved when there is at least one other human with me (especially if that human is DS) if I walk with other people and dogs he’s even better behaved again. I can’t tell if it’s because I am more relaxed if I have other people with me, or that it’s more exciting than his environment if there are a few of us 🤷‍♀️

@tizwozliz what a beaut ❤️

@SpanielsGalore I’m glad her leg is improving! Maybe I will fall down a Google rabbit hole of joint supplements at some point rather than doing more DIY 😂

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks DS has never gone up to strange dogs but then he has never been too bothered about them in general before I got Pablo. When he was very little, a smallish dog bolted over to him and jumped up and scratched him so I think he was wary of them for a while!

Adults are no better than children a lot of the time. Other half was saying how someone came up from behind and patted big pup on the back when he was doing park run the other week.

Another damp and dismal day, much like yesterday. Made the woods very atmospheric.

Mine, younger one especially, would quickly become ball obsessed if I allowed it. I try and have at least a couple of ball free walks a week and they're limited to only parts of the walk at other times.

Probably about 50% of the time, little one will find a ball if I don't take one with me!

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks
”ants in his pants because he was so excited? Or just being a little git?”

A bit of both. He definantly barked a lot at times, (have I got the barkiest lab on earth?) and was pulling at times, especially if someone had a ball. However, he also just woujdn’t sit calmly. I hope the more sessions we do, the more chilled he’ll become.

@tizwozliz Another beautiful photograph.

@YorkshireFelix What a handsome chap.

@YorkshireFelix sorry to hear your DD still isn’t 100%, but so glad she got out with you and V and enjoyed herself 😊I’ve found the woods tend to drive mine batty as well, fields are a far safer bet for mine although clearly not for V!

Although I do avoid the fields in pheasant season - Twatdog gets his ‘inner working dog’ on, and it’s a pain in the arse trying to get him to move as he just sits there waiting and panting and won’t move until I tell him…and then tries to go find the still live pheasants 😂for a dog so smart, he really is a bit thick

@VanGoSunflowers what DIY are you doing?? Is it as exciting as Spaniels’ kitchen?

I remember you saying, when you were thinking about getting a puppy, about your DS and that dog! I imagine with Pablo around he’s a lot less worried now?

@Silverbirchleaf oh bless him! He was just excited then! Was it during witching hour (6-8)? I find that time in the evening is the time for the most manic behaviour and the worst time to do anything constructive - even when they’re adults!

@tizwozliz people really are silly aren’t they? I have less issues with adults as I just tell them to bugger off these days, but parents seem to dislike it if I say it to their children! Little pup looks gorgeous as always😍

I can’t remember if it was you @tizwozliz or @Silverbirchleaf…who was lamenting with me about civil service life, but I think you might appreciate the fact I have become indoctrinated as a civil servant. I said to DH, in all seriousness, this morning on our walk to the station, ‘going forward we need to calibrate our approach better’ (referring to not both being in London on the same day as it’s inconvenient) and then a few minutes later when discussing dinner followed up with, ‘in principle that sounds fine.’ Never have I uttered a more twaddly statements in my life. I blame the fact we had to catch the before 6 train…

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks probably not as exciting as @SpanielsGalore’s kitchen but it was half a kitchen 🙂 I will post some before and after pics - I think you’ll approve as I made myself a little coffee station!

He is definitely not afraid of dogs anymore but he’s still not too fussed about them unless they are Pablo! Although he did take a shine to my friend’s greyhound but I think that’s because she is so calm
and placid!

@tizwozliz beautiful picture! I was trying to get Pupper used to being calm in crowds the other day so brought him with me to collect DS from the local Panto - it was very busy outside. He was actually fairly calm but alert until someone came rushing over and said in an excited voice how good he was being and I then had to have both hands on his harness to try wrestle him in to submission 😂 so I agree adults are usually no better!

@Silverbirchleaf my lab goes in to full excitable bark mode when there are other dogs around and they won’t play with him 😂