Beyond Adolescence - part 4

[SpanielsGalore]

Didn't realise we were that close to the end of part 3. 😂

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks I went for shorts and t-shirt and was pleasantly chilly for most of it. Think I looked a bit of a knob wearing sunglasses when it all clouded over, but hey ho! 😂

And to prove you wrong, angelic face squeezed under a fence and ran amok in the farmer's field. Thank god he'd moved the sheep out of it. Although if the sheep had been there, I wouldn't have let her off lead.

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks maybe I should be fair to myself and say I was more ‘assertive’ than grumpy 😂 but I’m just at the point where I realise that it’s me that has to deal with him pulling again on the lead to get to other dogs after taking months to get him to a point where he was being more neutral around them. He’s back in his stride again now thankfully! DS’ concert went well and his dad managed to get me a video of him performing so that was nice to see.

@SpanielsGalore happy birthday P! Look at that adorable face!! I wear my sunglasses almost all the time, year round 😂

It is much cooler here today thankfully. Took the opportunity to take Pablo and DS to Dovedale for a few hours. It was lovely (until we got to the stepping stones which were far too busy!) and had some lunch and doggy ice cream at Ilam park afterwards. Here are these two, thick as thieves

Hotter than forecast, warm and sweaty before 7am on this morning's walk but we had swimming booked so all good. It should properly cool down tonight and I'm looking forward to a nice cool walk in the morning.

Funny moment at swimming where someone thought big pup was their dog. At first I thought she thought that big pup had her ball and she was trying to get it back, OH got the ball back and then she was trying to get big pup to come with her. It wasn't until I said our ball, our dog that she twigged. The funniest thing was her black lab was wearing a bright orange lifejacket 😂

@SpanielsGalore Sh was an adorable puppy. What sort of spaniel is she? Happy birthday!

@VanGoSunflowers Double trouble if ever i saw it. 💖

@tizwozliz That's so funny. 😂 Someone in the village has 6 black cockers and I often wonder if she can tell them apart.

@Silverbirchleaf P and K are working strain, cocker spaniels. Most people think P is a springer, because she's liver and white.

@SpanielsGalore I'm sure the angelic face did no such thing. Must have been a different dog that looked like P...she would never run amok in a field 😁

@VanGoSunflowers it's hard isn't it? Particularly when you have a big dog of a 'nice' breed like Pablo so people seem to think it's fine to encourage them...but you're the one who has to deal with the carnage they leave behind!

Pablo is nearly as big as your DS! 😁

@tizwozliz well big pup is lovely. Who can blame the woman for wanting to claim her as her own? 😂Where was her dog during all of this?

Hope everyone had a cooler start to their day! Was only 13 when I went out this morning. Bit of a nightmare as because it was so cool mine were all being a sodding nightmare running around like lunatics and causing chaos with the pheasant and rabbits that were out. And of course it meant they were all completely exhausted when it came to putting them in the car, so I had to lift all five of them in. Feeling a bit like Schwarzenegger right now with how strong I am😁

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks She was there with a partner and another dog and her lab was swimming back to them :-)

She was very embarrassed about it, she came up to us at the end. Her lab was very similar, it's just you'd have thought the life jacket was a bit of a giveaway. I think she was just a bit panicked that 'her dog' had stolen someone's ball and in the moment of trying to get it back completely missed the fact it wasn't her dog at all!

@SpanielsGalore - generally only struggle to tell mine apart when they're asleep in real life. Sometimes in photos I have to rely on the collar.

@SpanielsGalore they’re very sweet together. They often get up to mischief in the garden with one another and if I didn’t know better, I’d swear that Pablo will keep doing the same thing over and over again just because it makes DS laugh!

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks I also seem to attract lots of unsolicited advice when out on walks. Do you ever get that?!
I’m not sure if it’s a vibe I give off. If I had a pound for every time a complete stranger told me I shouldn’t be using a harness I could afford another puppy 😂 I find myself explaining why I am using one, that it works for us etc etc and I don’t know why I bother. It’s always worded the same way as well - they point and tell me, in no uncertain terms, “harness are the WORST thing you can use on a dog”. I think next time I won’t respond and just walk away. The last person who said that to me had a very overweight dog. I also get people telling me I should have had him castrated already.

The place I started walking him, a small nature reserve with a little stream and wooded area, I am having to avoid for now which is a shame. Every time we go over there, there is always at least one dog off lead that comes running over, always out of sight of their owner and while Pablo is on his training lead. I’m not overly fussed as he is obviously not nervous or reactive but I feel for anyone walking their dog over there that does have issues. I feel like a hypocrite saying it because given half the chance Pablo would do the same. But I am trying to train him out of it and to his credit, he never actually runs out of my sight to greet another dog. They usually have to be relatively close to us for him to decide to run over.

You’re doing well to be able to lift them all up! I don’t think I could manage that!

It's really funny - I don't think I've ever had anyone I don't know comment on what I should be doing with Bill. I have had the odd know-it-all offer unsolicited advice, but I've known them to talk to already, iyswim, so I can roll my eyes when I walk away (and in fairness they are usually offering good advice, just not directly relevant or asked for). Mind you, he's such a hooligan people probably can't get close enough to mansplain at me.

I've used harnesses for 20 years. I've never had someone tell me not to use them. I don't think I have had anyone give me unsolicited advice either. Maybe I have a permanent 'fuck off' expression, so they don't dare. 😂
Someone did try to explain to me once that P air snapped at their dog, because she was protecting me. No. She snapped at your dog because it's being fucking annoying and you're doing nothing to stop it. She'd already asked to be picked up by that point and they were still letting it jump up me to get to her.

I had a weird one this morning with P. We were walking along the old railway track and met a man with a dog walking towards us. He put his dog on lead, so I put P on lead too. I then moved to one side, so we could pass each other. He then let his dog pull and strain towards P and said, "She just wants to play all the time."
Now what was he expecting me to do? I'm not a fan of on lead greetings. They envariably end up with mine being bitten or flattened. I couldn't read his dog's intentions and it was over double P's size.
So I kept P on my far side, said "Oh right" and kept walking. His expression, I could read. 😂

@Bupster & @SpanielsGalore just me then 😂 I honestly don’t know why this happens so much! I’m wondering if it’s because Pablo goes from 0-100 sometimes. Most of the time he is fairly calm, and he appears so to others until they get too close and rile him up. Maybe they think he is too big for me or something. The funny thing is, it’s never other Lab owners, whenever I chat to those we wax lyrical about what knobs our dogs can be, maybe say “what worked for me is” in case it’s helpful, then say we think they’re wonderful and I’m sure they will “calm down soon” and then we go about our day.

I had to remove Pabs from a situation with an over exuberant spaniel who was trying to hump him and Pablo definitely will not stick up for himself bless him. The other owner said he doesn’t understand why he does it because he’s been ‘done’ 🙄

@SpanielsGalore what a strange thing for him to say, after he’s already put his dog on the lead. Funnily enough I said the same words you did today in a similar situation, small dog lunging barking and growling at Pablo, he was walking by my heel and the man shouted over “she doesn’t like black dogs!!” as I was giving them a wide birth. He then said it again as I had to stop to wait to cross the road 🤷‍♀️

You can tell I am in a quiet patch at work atm by all the essays I am posting - my apologies 😂

I used to get 'advice' when the big one was younger, always from males of a certain age. Normally when I'd walked pup off to one side and got her to sit as there was a period where I could just about get her to sit and stay whilst other dogs passed but no chance of walking her past sensibly. I think this was their invitation to dish out their words of wisdom, completely oblivious to the fact that stopping and talking with their dog close to me was completely the opposite of what we needed. Even had the harness conversations too, I used to ignore or argue depending on how the mood took me. They were always astonished by the concept that you train dogs to not pull, walk nicely etc. whether they're wearing a harness or a collar. I mean half the time these people would recommend a prong collar so I never took them seriously or doubted my own knowledge.

@tizwozliz that’s incredibly similar to the situation I find myself in often, even down to pulling Pablo to one side so he doesn’t pull towards the other dog. I still have to do this with him now sometimes, depending on the dog. I’ve often had the usually male dog walker walk his dog over to mine declaring ‘your dog needs to socialise’ - giving me no choice but to try and deal with an on lead greeting, this tips Pablo over his threshold and he starts pulling etc, it’s difficult to physically control him at that point and thats where the unwanted advice happens. While they’re completely oblivious to the fact that they caused that situation in the first place.
Also agree about training him to walk nicely regardless of using a collar or harness. I took a few videos of him once walking beautifully next to me wearing a harness and I’ve often thought I should just show them that 😂

I think the sometimes frustrating thing with Pablo is, he only ever appears to be a (semi) trained dog when there are no witnesses 😂

@VanGoSunflowers Yep! I get 'helpful' advice all the time if I go out at busier times of the day, which is why I typically go out so ridiculously early in the morning and as with @tizwozliz it's always men of a certain age😁

If I go out later in the day, particularly weekends, I take DH. No one offers any helpful advice when he's around. Wonder why!!!

But it is great that Pablo doesn't mind being bothered when he's on the lead. It's the one thing mine aren't 100% with. They'll put up with it, not snap etc, but I know they're not happy - their tails tend to freeze!

@Bupster perhaps Vango and I could borrow Bill for a few walks? 😁

I can remember when I was training DWS to walk to heel and was running along bent over with my hand by her mouth for a treat and someone called out 'that's not how you do it!' 😒Maybe it's not how you do it, but I've done this with my all my dogs, and they have always walked wonderfully to heal so I'll keep doing it despite the absolute agony of my back after a week. Thanks.

@SpanielsGalore I'd have done the same thing! I don't like on-lead greetings and I particularly don't like them with energetic dogs or those that look like a nightmare - last thing I want to be doing is detangling a lead!

Hope everyone had a slightly cooler day today! I put my fluffy pyjamas on this morning and it felt so good 😍Back in shorts now though. This weather is just so hard to predict!

Two more days until Twatdog goes in for his spot examination. I need to groom him as he had dead fur at the side of his neck that's sticking out. Makes it look like he's got little handle-bars

Hah. You do not want to borrow Bill. This morning we were pootling around in some long grass on the Common, Bill on his long line, when suddenly a deer ran past, pursued by two sighthounds. Imagine me as a Soviet hammer thrower, if the hammer was 28kg, hairy and ginger, and the handle was 10 metres long. I mean, thank God he was on the long line, but still.

The deer escaped, the sighthounds did not, and I gradually reeled Bill in and chucked him in the pond. In fairness that is the first time a deer has run past us pursued by two sight hounds, but it didn't really feel like a stand-out unusual morning - I mean, it felt like perhaps he should have tied me to a tree first, but otherwise.

I did have a crappy day at work and came home to this though so all is forgiven.

Beautiful Bill.

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks I hope everything goes well at the vets today. Let us know how TD gets on.

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks

Sending best wishes and a speedy recovery also.

Thanks @SpanielsGalore @Silverbirchleaf! Unfortunately, I forgot not to feed the wanky twat this morning. So he's now not going in for another hour 😂

Got him all the way to the vets and then got turned away. At least he didn't have to get out the car...although I am sure this'll make it even harder to get him in the car later. Sigh.

On the plus side, he is nicely groomed. So at least there's that - they won't be touching him and have whole clumps of fur fall out in their hands.

Hope everyone had lovely morning walks! 🙂

Lovely walk. Was cool for most of it, including a few drops of rain. Warm now though.

Dog living up to the old adage, mad dogs and Englishmen… .

Guess dog at the vets having an op is a good excuse to go and buy some lovely cake!

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks good luck today! I hope it’s not too much of a battle to get him back to the vets!

Lovely walk this morning. Pablo had gone off his previous lot of training treats, the past two walks he’s been refusing them so I ordered some new ones from Amazon that are arriving today. Offered him the old treats this morning and he took them this time! Also bumped in to a man who I haven’t seen in a while yesterday out with his two Spaniels so I did let Pablo off for a play. He was actually really good, when it all got a bit too boisterous I called him back to me and told him to sit, which he did for another ten minutes while I chatted to the owner. Even when the other spaniel came up to him again to ask him to play he stayed sitting where he was! I was gobsmacked 😂 for me, it’s not just ‘can he recall’ around dogs but can he disengage when I ask him to, can I stop him running over the in the first place etc.

He's back! Sample is off for a biopsy, and he's stressed himself out to the point of panic panting, but he should calm down soon. He bolted out of the vets like a racing horse - they wanted to keep him sedated until he was back in the car, but the car park was too full so I couldn't park there and they would have had to carry him down the road. 7-14 days to wait now, but I know if they were really worried they could get the results in 24-48 so that makes me less worried! 😊

@Silverbirchleaf no cake for me! I've put on so much weight during the heat as I haven't been exercising as much. I've developed a little belly - don't want people asking me when I'm due 😳

@VanGoSunflowers what a good boy Pablo is! You have been unfairly maligning him!!

How’s the wounded soldier?

@Silverbirchleaf A complete baby! He was high as a kite until about midnight. Fell off the sofa twice. He let me touch the bandage on his paw (where they had to sedate him) because it hurts and he his entire morning walk limping like he'd had an amputation rather than anesthetic. I'm not even sure he realises the operation was on his nose, not his leg. Managed to jump in the car at the end of the walk though...😂

Oh and he won't talk to me. He's smarming around DH and DDs but runs away if I even hold out my arms toward him. Wouldn't even eat his breakfast when I put it down - would only go to it when DH stood by it 😒

A typical man, suffering from the operation equivalent of ‘man ‘flu’!