Beyond Adolescence - part 4

[SpanielsGalore]

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

@Struckbylightning @SpanielsGalore would goats milk work for either of your dogs? Sorry if that’s a stupid suggestion, just thinking it could help get extra calories in but appreciate it may not help you @SpanielsGalore if the fat content is still too high!

Im not happy about the weather getting warmer again! At least it’s staying around 20 degrees until 11ish before a steep climb so I didn’t have to walk Pablo stupidly early. Hope everyone’s having a nice day!

@Silverbirchleaf Thanks on that other thread! I sometimes feel like I'm always the one saying 'this is a terrible idea' so it's nice to know I'm not completely miserable!

@VanGoSunflowers I don't want to make you jealous...but it's only 25 here (meant to be 27)! 😃I was still up stupidly early as I've decided just to not bother trying to go after about 6 anymore as there are just too many people out.

Twatdog had ripped open his stiches below his nose, so he has a whopping great crater in the middle of his snout. And he keeps jabbing it with his paw. 🙄In a positive turn of events, I got his bandage off from his paws...only took two people pinning him down and DD1 coming at him from behind with scissors. Honestly, for a dog who used to get dragged around the country for shows and would let strangers touch his balls without so much as flinching, he's surprisingly touch sensitive when it comes to his paws...

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks That’s okay. The reasons for getting dogs were pretty, well unreasonable - they had dogs growing up - so never have been the main carer, reason to get active - they have a park opposite, nothing stopping them going for walks now, and the (possibly autistic) child wants one - never a good reason!

Dog was four yesterday! Where has the time gone. We got him a birthday box of treats and a new ‘mega-ball’ (huge tennis ball). What more could a lab want.

Currently 28 here. Due to reach 30.

Has anyone tried the non-gel cooling mats?

@Silverbirchleaf Oh that sounds like the perfect gift for a lab! How long do you think the mega tennis ball will last? I've always found the bigger the toy the easier it dies

We have them and they never get used by the dogs. They just try and rip them up instead but Satan has one and uses it though. Or rather she lays on it to stop any other dogs laying on it.😁

Probably less than an hour. However, even when squashed he loves it and carries it around, or we play fetch.

Have you got a Boomer ball? Dogs not managed to destroy it. He loves playing with it in the garden, pushing it with his muse or playing fetch. However be warned, wear shoes as the hard plastic hurts your bare feet.

Not recent photo of squashed mega ball.

boomer ball link

https://www.viovet.co.uk/Company-of-Animals-Boomer-Ball-Dog-Toy/c4504/?quick_find=116597&utm_source=sag&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=surfaces_UK&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22021713047&gbraid=0AAAAAD-IHB2Czj7XrAtyWru3ZFznMNVlH&gclid=CjwKCAjwx7LSBhB3EiwAjcodxBAtjQiG2FhFsVUSP8yp6DkypTULPtXd2fSIAu4xkwvYRkdKcqO5RhoCuqgQAvD_BwE

Lots to catch up on here

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks @SpanielsGalore Differences between labs and golden retrievers:
I don't really know many goldens well at all, I've definitely seen a few out and about with a stubborn streak where they've planted themselves and won't shift which I've never seen a lab do. Equally, the ones I have passing knowledge of are keen to sit down in a puddle and I've yet to see a lab do that. Happy to go in stinky water, retrieve etc. but not just sit in it because it's there. Sensitive stomachs and allergies seem to be more of a thing with goldens too.

But then my girls are a world away from your stereotypical show labs too. And mine are both very different from each other.

I think I'm basically saying, I don't have enough data to reach any sort of statistically safe conclusion 😂

My days of agonizing over food are over thank goodness. Mine definitely have the lab cast iron constitution, not so much the insatiable, eat anything appetite which has both it's advantages and disadvantages. Definitely good news for my allotment.

@Silverbirchleaf - there's nothing American about working line labs in the UK. Labradors are a breed that were developed in Britain, and the working/show line split came later. It didn't involve America at all. Sorry, it's a bug bear of mine, even worse they call the blocky, overweight things they try and pass as labs over there "English"

@Struckbylightning - did they give a reason for swapping food instead of just increasing what you're feeding? Interesting that they talk about higher fat food and then recommend things with quite different fat contents.

@VanGoSunflowers - I had to haul little pup out of the canal/river at the weekend, thank goodness she had a harness on. We then got to smell of dirty ditch water during brunch with my parents and my aunt and uncle. She was on a lead at the time and normally not keen on leaping into water!

Currently 26 here, one of our local walking spots is on fire 😢

5 years since we picked big pup up a couple of days ago, enjoy a now and then photo

Is that the same toy? If so, impressive. Dog has always been a destroyer of all things cuddly. That would last five minutes with him.

Happy gotcha day.

Just catching up as I haven’t been on in ages! It’s been a bit of a rough time with the anniversary of losing Billy and work has been beyond crazy.

Rory is still doing great but he has become absolutely ball obsessed. He’d play from morning to night if you let him and I think his extra exuberance is making him a bit too skinny. He’s not complaining about getting extra food though! The other day I was having a shower and a ball rolled into the bathroom ready to be thrown 🤣🤣.

@Idstillratherbepaddleboarding i’vr forgotten but I’m guessing Rory is a Labrador. Dog is the same, and wants to constantly play ball. I can picture the exact, hopeful expression on his face, inviting you to come and play.

Dog was a very proud boy on the walk this evening as he found a very muddy Chuck-it ball in the undergrowth. Also saw a badger who turned and scuttled away on seeing us.

@Idstillratherbepaddleboarding Pablo would spend all day running after balls or any other throwable objects if I let him 😂

Does anyone else’s lab get this wild look on their face when you produce a ball or dummy? It’s kind of like ‘work mode activated’, everything else ceases to exist. It is only they and the ball in the whole universe. If they could talk, they’d say “ohhhh it’s happening, it’s finally happening”

It’s a level of concentration that I wish I could cultivate at work.

@Silverbirchleaf DDog looks very happy with that squashed ball! But no 'boomer balls' here as mine get a bit manic around them. We have one that I'll bring out on days I absolutely cannot walk them for whatever reason, but that's once in a blue moon.

@tizwozliz I know I've said it before, but bigpup (and little pup) is beautiful and was so adorable as a puppy! Is it the same toy!? Or just a new version?

@Idstillratherbepaddleboarding sorry you've had a bit of a rough time recently ❤

It's very sweet that he just rolled the ball into the bathroom and didn't barge in and force you to throw it! What a polite little man he is 😃

@VanGoSunflowers yes. But even worse with the sex-toys! If I had the strength and will I'd take one with me on a walk, but they're a bit big and thankfully mine will return for treats as well...

It was so hot here this morning that we only did 2miles, so v. short walk for us. Twatdog appears to have forgiven me for all my sins (taking him to the vet and leaving him) as he stuck to me like glue. He's a bit like one of those GSDs/Mali's you see videos of on youtube that prance along next to their human waiting for an order. Only he's waiting for food. 😂

The one in the 'now' photo is actually the original I'd made pre puppy. It had plastic eyes though so I made a new one with embroidered eyes. That lasted reasonably well, until it got left to fester in the garden for a bit. Subsequently, big pup has got hold of the original and removed it's plastic eyes (she is an expert at this 😂)

This was the the one in the puppy photo at a year old. Longevity of toys here is greatly improved if there are no squeakers to be removed. Little pup doesn't sit and destroy toys at all.

Mine always like to do what I call an obedience heel on the narrowest section of path when I'd really prefer they just walk in front or behind. Normally leave some slobber on me as an added bonus.

@tizwozliz ’the obedience heel’ otherwise known as the ‘gimme food heel’ as demonstrated by Pablo 😂 (this is a still of a video so not a great pic!)

@tizwozliz no, they didn’t give a reason for swapping food and I didn’t think to ask. I now realise that she didn’t ask about what other food she gets either. She often has a frozen licky mat with yogurt and tuna, at least one ear a day to chew, a handful of biscuits at bedtime as well as cheese or hotdogs as training treats. And all the human food the boys slip her.
I have now started adding an egg or sardines to her food. She LOVED the raw egg!

@Idstillratherbepaddleboarding don’t talk to me about ball obsessed! I get a ball flung at me when I’m having a wee, hoovering, cooking; any time and anywhere. Tiresome beast.

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks I’m glad TwatDog has forgiven you! I have a friend whose cat sulks for a week after it’s been in the cattery, but I’ve never known a dog to do that, they tend to be more forgiving! I hope his snozz is healing.

@VanGoSunflowers Merry also has that exact ‘obedience heel’ face. She will even bop me with her nose if she’s been doing it for a few paces and haven’t rewarded her. Damn bossy collie.

@tizwozliz Wait. You made them!? You make dog toys!?

@VanGoSunflowers that's the face mine give me. Cute isn't it? 😀

@Struckbylightning it's because he's a spoilt little prince! 😫

The thread about the woman who kicked the dog is so interesting. Quite startling just how many dog owners, trainers etc seem to know so little about dog behaviour and advocate picking up your dog if it's scared or being attacked. Although probably not a surprise given how much bad ownership we all seem to come across on MN!

@Struckbylightning if Pablo doesn’t get his treat for walking nicely, he will go forward a few paces ahead and then drop back and give me the same face

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks I do find it absolutely adorable. I always think he looks like he’s living his best life!

He did something exceptionally cute the other day. I was in the shower and he took up his usual spot, lying on the landing outside the bathroom door, but he had amassed a small pile of some of my ‘things’ and was lying amongst them. There was a single flip flop, a hair band and the T-shirt I had slept in the night before that was in the washing basket 😂

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks Sorry. I'm firmly in the 'pick my dog up' camp. P will run and launch herself into my arms if she's worried or being hassled by another dog. She looks to me for protection, so why wouldn't I give it her?
I'd also kick/swing my leg at any dog that jumped up me trying to get to her.

Perhaps it's a small dog thing. I've dragged K out from underneath a staffie and carried her away. I'm not risking an 8kg (as she was then) dog against an 18kg one.

@SpanielsGalore but P asks for it, and is friendly, which I think is slightly different. And I completely get the swinging kick.

The issue with that thread is OPs dogs aren't friendly, which adds an entirely different dimension...particularly if her dogs had turned nasty, which from what she's said about them, sounds entirely possible! One thing to pick up a friendly nervous dog, quite another to pick up two that aren't friendly.

We picked up Satan when we first got her when dogs came at her because we didn't want to risk her. Eventually she wiggled free because trying to push off another dog and handle her wasn't feasible. OP had two dogs, not friendly, in her arms and was trying to find off the Greyhound with just her legs - she put herself and her dogs at risk, I think. Would have been completely different if it was one dog that was nervous, but two not friendly ones?

I skim read the thread and all I ever think when I read threads like that is that my current approach of trying to avoid as many dogs and people as possible on every walk is probably worth sticking to. And I always cringe a little bit because Pablo would be the greyhound in that scenario if I let him 😩

Having said that, avoiding people is kind of what I try to do all the time anyway 😂

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks - more accurate to say, I crochet toys which sometimes end up as dog toys. Big pup got a duckie, little pup got a pterodactyl.

I think if you want to sell crochet toys you have to do some destructive tests and my dogs certainly put them through their paces 😂

I did a lot for crochet during COVID, I don't do so much now, partly because big pup has a penchant for stealing crochet hooks. One of her favourite items to thieve in fact. She seems to have grown out of stealing the wool itself.

Little pup would quite like to be picked up if a dog is bothering her, all 21kg of her! She normally settles for a middle.

@VanGoSunflowers The key phrase there being if I let him. Which you don't, because you are a responsible dog owner. By the sound of it, the greyhound owner made no attempt to control or recall his dog.

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks That's a fair point. P does like being picked up. She'll also ask to be picked up so she can see out of the window or over the garden wall. She's like a toddler and sits on my hip with her front legs round my neck.

I don't know if the OP's dogs like being picked up. But I can understand why she did it if they were being trampled on. I'm assuming they are tiny dogs, as I couldn't pick P and K up together.

I didn't pick my fear reactive dog up, because he wouldn't have liked it and would have struggled until I dropped him. With him, I'd stand in front of him to block approaching dogs and try to shoo them away from him.

So I guess it depends on the dog and what they need you to do to advocate for them.

@tizwozliz Perhaps I should train a middle. It would be preferable to being body slammed by a 12kg dog, as you were looking in the wrong direction and didn't notice her hurtling towards you.

@Struckbylightning Glad Merry is enjoying her food additions. I've decided to go with soaked oats and pasta for P, as low fat options.

@VanGoSunflowers agree with @SpanielsGalore you don't 'let him' - that's the key difference! And every time Pablo has been naughty, you've dug back in and tried again!

@SpanielsGalore 100% agree. For some dogs it probably does work. But with two in her arms, OP did leave herself completely defenceless which possibly put her dogs more at risk...

@tizwozliz do you think your crochet toys would survive a Golden Retriever? Asking for a friend! 😁

Mine rotate around me if they get attacked as they know to go behind my back and stick behind me. So if I move, they follow. But that's mostly their cowardly instinct speaking - they're very much of the 'flight' mindset - and I trained them based on that instinct 😂

Twatdog earlier today. He says he fears he might forever have patchy fur on his leg and a spot under his nose. But he’s still beautiful.

Actually he looks a bit skinny in that photo now I look at it properly…