Beyond Adolescence - part 4

[SpanielsGalore]

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

One of our favourites places to walk is a known place for naturists. Must emphasise that our liking of the place is unrelated to presence of naturists! I was a bit concerned initially that dogs might decide that naked men are fun to interact with but they pay them no notice.

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks Hope the Tiger Inn visit goes well. Please report back. We parked on the road, then discovered a big village carpark near the village hall. Hope they enjoy the airshow.

Hope the job is better now.

@SpanielsGalore So far, we’ve never found a tick.

@VanGoSunflowers has definitely up the photo stakes. I’m just relieved it’s a picture of Pablo and not the naked man! We went for a walk along Joss bay ( or was it Botany bay, can’t remember now) and came across some nudist swimmers, in an area we now know is a nudist beach.

Something in the woods is definantly of interest to Dog. Again today he wandered off piste and once out of sight, but came back quicker this time. His whole body changes from sniffing around , to being alert and almost fixated.

@SpanielsGalore sorry about your wallpapering woes. If only you lived a teeny bit closer, I would come and lend a hand!

@VanGoSunflowers I love the picture of Pablo on your knee! It’s so sweet that he is affectionate. Considering what a Velcro puppy Merry was, she is now too independent and rarely even sits next to me on the sofa. She even stays downstairs overnight these days, I feel mildly offended. I mean, what’s the point of having a dog if they don’t curl up next to you or lie on your feet of an evening. Humph.
I hope that naked rambler was using a good sunscreen, in this weather it could be really nasty…

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks how do you wrangle a holiday on your own?!? My family would be mortally offended if I buggered off for that long!

@Silverbirchleaf maybe Dog is smelling deer? Merry chased off after another one yesterday. It becoming a bit of a habit for her, one I am not very keen on!

Her extra-fat diet seems to be working! Took her to the vet, put her on the scale, then a massive, obviously NOT nuteured dog came out of the consulting room (she is in season) so I snapped a quick photo of the scales and fled the scene!! Anyway, she is now 17.45kg, up from 16. Apparently her ideal weight is 18 so she’s nearly there.

@tizwozliz clearly your girls have very good taste!

@Struckbylightning I've always done it, just instead of DH taking care of them it was my parents or PIL as DH was overseas! I need me time. 😀

I know extended grandparent care seems to be taboo on MN for some reason, but honestly DDs have the time of their life with my parents/in laws - they get meringue for breakfast, spend all day out and about visiting things, steak for dinner etc. I'm sure DH will equally spoil them (I'm the 'bad' parent...even though I often give them chocolate for breakfast), so they'll be thrilled. And DH gets two weeks without my nagging. Everyone's a winner.😂

Great news that she's putting on a bit of weight! Have you found the different food/more food is giving her more energy as well?

@Silverbirchleaf I will!! Tbh I'd quite like to go, but crowds are not my thing...

Thanks re. the job! It's still terrible, but holiday soon. That thought is keeping me going 😃

What a good boy DDog is! I do wonder if it's a bitch in heat being walked around there or similar...can't imagine what else it could be given you'd have thought DDog and you would have come across it before.

I know I sound like a broken record at this point, but I really miss rain. The grass in the garden is actually painful underfoot and it's horrible walking in the heat and getting so sweaty. 😫Wish @SpanielsGalore could send us some of hers!

Our lawn is so dead, but the girls love rolling in and getting covered in dead grass than shaking it off indoors. I'd say that I was forever sweeping up bits of dead grass up but I've given up at this stage!

It's lovely and cool here this morning, down to 12 overnight which makes the heat more bearable.

Stung by a wasp on today's walk and little pup has a squitty tum so home for antihistamines for me and pro kolin for the pup

@tizwozliz I agree with your dogs, naked men aren’t fun to interact with.

@Struckbylightning yay to Merry putting on some weight! Great news! Pablo has remained at 28 kgs for some time now. He is still very affectionate but when DS is here he chooses to sleep with him rather than me. I would be offended but I find it too adorable to see Pablo’s face when I got up to bed and he makes a beeline for DS’ bed and looks at me as if to say he’s staying there. That comment about the suncream made me laugh!

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks I absolutely agree that it’s not too much to ask for men to only strip off in public if they look like (or are) Henry Cavill. I also am with you on the holidaying alone thing!

@SpanielsGalore How is the wallpaper coming along? I’m thinking of putting some up myself but I’ve never done it before, will it push me over the edge and make me start vaping again?

@Silverbirchleaf I feel like you and others on this thread have far more interesting flora and fauna in your walking spots than I do if it is a deer!

Temperature is ramping up here again today so we went for an early one this morning. Highs of 34 tomorrow and I am not happy about it! Anyone else feel trapped by the hot weather? I find it so oppressive! I’ve bought a huge pack of ice lollies and plan to sit around eating those whilst expressing my grumpiness at the heat.

@tizwozliz ohh poor you and poor little pup! Can you send some of that cool weather my way, please? 25 at 09:00 here 🙁

@VanGoSunflowers if only it was Henry Cavill. I'd never walk anywhere else ever again 😂

I always get funny looked from work colleagues if I mentioned I'm taking annual leave during term time! But honestly, the 'me time' thing is needed. Although not sure it's really 'me' time if my bed is invaded by 5 fury interlopers.

But 100% feel you on being trapped by the hot weather. I'm just over it now. I want rain. And wind. What I want most of all is to do a food shop and to be able to buy fruit that hasn't already spoiled in the heat! Sick of buying bananas for them to be inedible two days later. 😂

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks OMG Is it that time of year again already?! I'm ditching Norfolk and heading to your parents' for daily steak and Eton Mess. Be interesting to see how K and Satan get along. K's never had anyone put her in her place before.

@Struckbylightning Glad Merry's diet is working.

P is an antisocial dog too. She's only affectionate when she's ill. And she's taken to sleeping on her own in the spare room over night.

@VanGoSunflowers My wallpapering advice would be to start with somewhere simple. A nice straight wall without too many obstacles.
It's not really difficult if you have all the right tools. I am just incredibly slow.

My day has not gone to plan. I was going to walk the dogs separately first thing, come home for breakfast and then decorate.
But the dustbin men arrived and P had a massive meltdown. Digging the carpet, hiding in a corner and asking to be picked up. It's all four bins and the glass box today, so the noise can be heard all round the village for hours. I couldn't walk K and leave P at home, so we have all stayed in and Prince has been blasting out of Alexa to drown out the noise.

The good news is this meant I could get on with wallpapering. I have finally finished the hallway and stairs. 🥳 So glad I decided against the patterned paper I like. It would have been a nightmare. (Five doorframes, five switches and sockets and an archway.) I still have to wallpaper the landing, but I need to paint the downstairs first so it's ready for the carpenter.

It's been a lovely day here, weather wise. Positively balmy when I went outside to hang out the washing. Shame I have spent it inside.

@SpanielsGalore to be fair that time of year happens twice a year! But yes, it is time again! I wouldn't skedaddle down here too fast - DDs are staying with DH at home this time and whilst he'll spoil them I'm not sure it'll be Eton mess and steak type of spoiling. Probably lots of steak though as it's pretty much the only thing he can cook. 😂

Oh I wouldn't want to inflict Satan on K - no dog deserves to suffer through Satan! (Speaking of which, Satan went to the groomers today and DMum sent me a photo of her...will upload it separately. She looks like a Highland Cow. Poor thing).

Are we going to get photos of the progress once it's all done?! Please say yes!

Poor P and the dustbin men. She's such a sensitive little soul ❤Does she take any anxiety medication? I know some people really swear by it (I am deeply sceptical, but then I am about most things tbf). How is N getting on?

It's not just me, is it? She's like a cross between a naked mole rat and a highland cow.

That’s a good mullet!

OMG what have they done to Satan?? Where are her eyes? Where are her ears?? She looks like a dish-mop. Poor Satan. (Not a sentence I ever thought I would type)

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks I wasn't planing on staying with your DH and DDs. I was making use of the free space at your parents.

I think P needs to go on medication to be honest. She's usually only this bad when she's in pain, but it's been going on for ages and she's getting worse. I can't tell anymore if she's in pain or a neurotic mess. I need to find a good vet behaviourist within a reasonable travelling distance. A behaviourist is no good, because they can't medicate.

N is limping along, but everything is becoming hard work and a bit of a struggle. She hasn't liked today's warmer weather.

It will be a while before the decorating is finished, but I will photograph it when it's done.

And WTF have they done to poor Satan?! I hate top knots with a passion, but that is a whole new level. How any professional groomer could do that to a cocker spaniel is beyond me. That's when you need to ignore the client and do a proper job.
(We see Highland Coos on one of our walks. The calves are very cute and can carry off that hair style.)

Satan looks like she should be presenting a 1980s kids game show

In Satan and the dog groomers defence, when Satan was given to Spaniel Aid her fur was a mess - completely knotted and tangled down to the skin, so they had to shave it all off. Since then it's never grown properly and instead grows in little tufts all over her body. The only place she has fur is on her head! And that's covered in warts now, so it's kept long to hide them 😂Otherwise she'd be shaved down all over.

@Struckbylightning @Silverbirchleaf she's a very cute dishmop though, right? 😁At least until you look into her eyes and see death there.

@SpanielsGalore Oh poor P! I really hope you can find someone who can help you/her figure out what's going on. She's clearly so resilient (given her injury and how she's coping after that) but also very sensitive.

And poor N. My older ones are the same in the heat. Lack of appetite for them as well which is of course worrying. But even my younger ones are really lethargic. Twatdog walked away from sexi-phant after 10 minutes yesterday because he was too hot.

@VanGoSunflowers I now can't unsee that! 😂

Had a really lovely morning walk today. Just super quiet and peaceful. And not a single one of the dogs did anything that can even be considered naughty (usually we have some deer poo/sheep poo consumption). We met an older man who was walking a very, elderly Vizsla which he said was 15. Made me laugh as he said he used to have collies but they were too energetic for him now he was older, so he got a Vizsla when he retired! After we finished talking, he went striding off up the hill I'd just come down and he made it up faster than I'd made it down. 😫

Not sure I could cope with a collie or a vizsla, even now, and to be honest, my lab can be too strong for me at times. Sometimes I play the ‘what’s my next dog?’ (good excuse to look at cute puppies). Because I’ll want a smaller dog, a Sheltie is in the running (I know a couple of people with them) , or even a Papillion as they meant to be intelligent despite small, but not sure if that’s too small (and toy-dog like). Others include westies, cairns , Scottie’s etc but not sure if I’m a terrier person.

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks Shaving the body I can cope with. But no warts are so big that her hair has to be left that long. I shall pack my grooming scissors when i come to stay. 😂
N had 'curtains' when she arrived in foster. I shaved them off on day 2.

I regularly see an older man and his collie out walking. I saw him to speak to the other day and he told me his walking route. I think it would take me all day. He said they walked over 17000 miles last year.

@Silverbirchleaf I can highly recommend cocker spaniels.

After yesterday's balmy 22°, we have rain today. Lucky me. Suppose it will save me from watering NDN's garden whilst she's away.

Rain is still a foreign concept here.

There’s an Instragram blog called ‘The Kentish Country Dog’ . Part of her hook is ‘Labs v spaniels’. I’m definantly team lab with the Spaniels being too ditsy, with apologies to all spaniels in this thread, who are obviously adorable.

@Silverbirchleaf I couldn't either! Not sure if it was you I said it to, but I like my dogs easy, biddable and a bit thick. Intelligent enough to train, but not intelligent enough to out-wit me.

Westies and Scotties are nice. I think they both have skin issues though which would put me off.

I have to say, I do love a cocker spaniel. I've said to @SpanielsGalore but if I was to get another breed it would 100% be a cocker. I wouldn't want anything much smaller as I worry I would just trip over them. I spend enough time tripping over my bigger dogs because I don't notice them, I hate to think what I'd be like with a terrier!

@SpanielsGalore you do remember willy-wart, right?! She has several that go up high enough they're almost as long as my pinky nail. So if you do bring your grooming scissors you might accidentally cut off one...or cut off willy-wart.

Goodness! That's a lot of walking. I thought I did loads but we average about 10 miles a day...which is only 3,650 a year. My feet would fall off if I did that much walking 🙁

Ah rain. What is that? It's been so long since I last saw it...

I realised the other day that the 'high' temperatures started in late May. Don't think we've had a day below 24 since then...

Maybe it’s because I am so soon in to having my first dog but I couldn’t imagine having anything other than a lab now! There are very few dogs breeds I don’t love for their own little idiosyncrasies but I think labs are the best 😂

I may be saying that though because Pablo is being a very good boy of late. He is 16 months old now and for most of the time I have had him I genuinely never thought I could get him to be calm or neutral around other dogs and kind of accepted that it’s just him but carried on trying to train it anyway and he’s actually been so much calmer around strange dogs and seems to find it much easier to listen to me and ignore them thank god! My left arm no longer hurts 😂

@Silverbirchleaf I always thought labs were more ditsy than spaniels 😂 I always see spaniels as being more ‘serious’ (maybe not the right word) in some ways like they’ve got a much bigger job description than labs and have to be getting on with it immediately whereas I have witnessed Pablo walking in to a lamppost before now because he wasn’t looking where he was going.

Don’t they say that labradors are born have trained, but spaniels leave the world half trained…!

@VanGoSunflowers Thats so true what you say. Dog is my first dog also. Everyone say, get a lab, a nice placid, family breed. What they forget to tell you is that there’s two types, and they take longer to mature! We got the intelligent, active one, and he only started calming down after he was one, if not two. Basically I’d like a small lab for my next dog (but hopefully that won’t be too soon).

And I walked into a tree this morning! Glanced down at my ‘phone to check the time and boom! Didn’t notice the overhanging branch!

Well I have heard cocker spaniels being called lots of things over the past 20 years, but ditsy is a new one.
I wouldn't have thought it was an adjective that could be applied to any gundog breed. Game shoots would be utter chaos.

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks If I could manage a larger dog, I'd have a GR. I quite like Tollers as being middle sized, but I worry it wouldn't be spaniel enough for me.

@SpanielsGalore I think the Toller scream would drive me potty! There are some quite small Goldens out there - like 20kg or so, although that's still more than twice the size of any of your girls!

To be fair, I look at Satan and I can see ditsy. Also Flat Coats...would definitely use that to describe them. Lovable idiots.

@VanGoSunflowers remember when you wanted that GSD? 😁I think I should screen shot what you just wrote and find your old thread!!!!

On a serious note, it is lovely though how well Pablo has fitted into your life and how he's managed to do everything you wanted, particularly now he's growing up!

@Silverbirchleaf hope you're okay after your tree-bump?!

It officially hit 35 here at 15:00, so my lunch was two miniature Jude's triple chocolate ice lollies. Back garden says it's 36. For dinner I am quite tempted to just have another two, but that's probably unreasonable.