Beyond Adolescence - part 4

[SpanielsGalore]

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

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks I hope you're not moaning about rain after wishing for it for months. Although if it's anything like it is here, I understand. We've had lashing, horizontal rain most of the day. The dogs are reluctant to go outside for a wee.

It's a good job Donna is so devoted to her dogs, with all these puppies she keeps breeding. I wonder how many dogs she has and how many litters a year. She must be raking it in.

How is DWS today? Mine are always eating rank, rotting things.

P is all stitched up. Because it's in an awkward spot, she has to be on complete rest for 10 days whilst the stitches heal. So she's back in the cage and on Trazadone again. And it only cost £650. 😳

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks We had the wet stuff for most if the day as well.

Poor P. Sending (very gentle) hugs. The wound looks very sore.

Oh poor P bless her!! I think we have fared extremely well as I’ve only had to do three trips to the vets so far. One for a UTI when he was quite small, again for a sore paw and that time we did the emergency vets when he snaffled a corn on the cob. Good going really for a mad spaniel.

Has anyone ever had a problem with midge bites? We were up on the moor last month and he got bitten by something all around his neck and came up in scabby bumps. I kept an eye on it and they got better, but we walked somewhere else on Friday which was thick with midges and he’s got loads of bites again! I was worried he had fleas but there’s absolutely no sign of them so I’m sure it’s the midges.

@SpanielsGalore me, moan? Never 😂 I was quite enjoying it, it was the pointless wonders that were suffering. They’ll be suffering even more today and tomorrow - both DH and I have to go into the office, so they’re off to spend time with Satan (or as DD1 called her last night the ‘supreme leader’…which makes her sound a bit like Kim Jon Un, but I see the resemblance).

DWS better yesterday evening and this morning. She’s currently partaking of her favourite activity: creeping around DH because he is the bacon fairy. So I think safe to say she’s back to normal!

Agree with @Silverbirchleaf that looks very painful! Poor P. Hope she’s okay on bed rest, poor thing. How are K and N doing? K must be missing her playmate (again!)

@YorkshireFelix no problem with midge bites here! Sorry 🙁poor V though!

@TheHungryHungryLandsharksit’s weird, we’ve never had it happen before and walk all sorts of places!

also I realised I didn’t reply to you before, I’m so sorry!! Thank you for asking about dd, it’s very kind of you to think of her. The placement at medical needs school broke down through their own sheer incompetence so she’s currently school-less, but we did hear back yesterday that the school we want her to go to have said yes so she will be starting there soon 😃 It’s 80% in mainstream classes and 20% of time in their provision working on any extra support she needs, which should suit her well. And it’s one of the best state schools in the North which we definitely could never afford a house in the catchment of, so that’s a bonus!! Waiting to hear about transition plan/start date but she’s super happy. I am apprehensive but we can only give it a try and see what happens.

@YorkshireFelix 3 vet visits in 2 years sounds about right to me. My first two dogs hardly ever went to the vets in 14 years.
K has been 5 times, but it should have only been twice. It took three appointments for a vet to agree to look down her throat for the grass blade. And two visits to diagnose a phantom pregnancy.
God knows how many times P has been, but she's had 15 sedations and GAs now.

I hope your DD's new school works out for her. I didn't like to ask how it was going.

Poor V. I wonder if he's allergic to midges. Is that even a thing? P and K have had bad reactions to horsefly and deer fly bites, but not midges.

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks Glad DWS is feeling better. Although she may not be after two days with the Supreme Leader. 😂 I love the fact the smallest one rules the roost. Thinking about it, it's the same here.

P is not doing well this morning. She's had breakfast, but hasn't had a drink since Monday. She's refusing to walk, so I had to carry her outside for a wee. I wouldn't say she is happy in the cage, but she's not whining. I know she hated the cone last time, so if she doesn't improve, I'll take it off and put the babygro back on.

K is still very up and down. We went to the woods yesterday and she stuck to the path again. She hasn't played with P for so long now, that I don't think she misses her. She's having a good sniff everytime P comes out of the cage though.

N is doing her own thing. Her mobility is good at the minute, but I think her dementia is getting worse. Fortunately it's giving her a second puppy hood rather than anything really negative. She's spending a lot of time pottering around outside on her own.

The vet has just phoned me to ask how K and P are doing. That was nice of him. Don't think I have had a follow up phone call before. He's another locum though, so unfortunately probably won't be sticking around.

@YorkshireFelix oh that’s great news that you’ll be able to get her into the school you want, I’m so pleased for you/her! Fingers crossed they are more competent than the last (although seems like a rather low bar to beat…). Sounds more like the set up DN school have where they get time just to themselves/with support.

Maybe V is deliberately going out to catch them/get them on him to get more fusses. Wouldn’t be the first smart doggy to figure out stings or bites get him love and fusses 😂 (looking at my own band of misfits).

@SpanielsGalore I’m sure it’s because smaller dogs have to be fierce to stick up for themselves. But she does rather well in terrifying them into submission. I honestly dread to think what Twatdog would have been like if Satan hadn’t been involved in raising him.

Oh Poor P. Mine all hate the cone as well so we try not to use it. Clem gets particularly feisty in it although that’s usually cos the wanky tosser sticks his head in it. That’s a bit sad that P and K got used to not playing together! I know I’m anthropomorphising them, but it feels sad. Good to hear N is doing that bit better. I know she’s technically a ‘foster’ (I think?) but she’s been with you so long now, hasn’t she? She’s basically yours at this point.

Any way you can bribe the vet into staying? Sounds like he’s doing a great job, and always so hard to get competent vets in and for them to stick around. It’s why I am dreading the day mine retires.

Apparently one of my dogs has spent the day in the garden staring at their reflection in the patio doors. Not sure anyone needs three guesses to work out who that is…

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks If I was as good looking as TD, I'd spend all day looking at my reflection too. I'm assuming it was him.

I'll have to ask the vet if he's sticking around next time I see him. He apologised for not remembering me from K's appointment when I brought P in. But I wouldn't have expected him to. The regular staff know me, because I'm a frequent flyer.

I find it sad that P and K haven't played together for ages. They used to make me smile, tearing around the house.

P has finally had a drink and has eaten all her food today. She's had three trips out to the garden, which haven't gone well. I was going to swap the collar and cone for her harness, but she started bouncing around at the sight of it. So I didn't.
I think the problem is she's in pain. She walked outside on the third trip and squatted to have a wee. But instantly stood up again. Then she stood there trembling and refused to move. I had to carry her back inside.
We have a check up appointment tomorrow, so I'll ask if she can have something stronger.

@SpanielsGalore it was, of course, him.

He did the 'very good' boy this morning. Small child came toddling up to him a coffee shop and he just back away from the child to put me between him and the child. I do whinge about him because he's a Twat but he is really a good dog.

Do you recon P & K might get back to it once they're both 'better'? Could just be that they're taking cues from each other and not doing it?

Let us know how P gets on at her check-up. Fingers crossed it's nothing 😊

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks I always knew TD was a good boy really.

I hope P and K will play together once they are both well. They definitely are leaving each other alone, because they know the other one isn't well.

P's not doing well. She point blank refused to come out of the cage after the attempted dinner time toilet trip yesterday.
I have decided to split her food into four meals today to bribe her out of the cage. I'm also soaking her kibble, as she practically inhaled it yesterday and seemed to get some stuck.
She managed a trip into the garden this morning and finally managed to have a wee and a small poo.
The vet check went alright. The wound looks good. They could see she was reluctant to move and sit, so they've added Pardale-V 3 times a day for a week. I'm hoping that will help her. She seems to be suffering more from this than she did after the TPLO surgery.

Sending P lots of love.

Hhmmph I typed a really long message with lots of replies but it disappeared and now I don’t have the head-space to redo it. Anyway, sending lots of love to the doggos who have pains and injuries, from bug bites to gashes!

Merry and I had a crazy walk the other day. Went to one of my favourite woods, but decided to take a path I hadn’t used before. Of course it dwindled away to almost nothing, then plunged steeply downhill and was full of brambles. Being a stubborn idiot I didn’t want to go all the way back uphill so I ploughed on until even Merry was overwhelmed. I picked her up to tackle the last bit as I was worried about her getting scratched and tangled, especially her weird dew claws. Finally plunged into the open at the bottom only to find myself in somebody’s garden! Oops. 😅

Yesterday ds and I met the tiniest dog in the universe. Apparently it is a ‘shit-poo’ would you believe. Cross between a Shih Tzu and a miniature poodle. It was basically a mouse on a lead… I hate to say it, but it was rather cute, and incredibly soft and fluffy. Ds fell in love. (Yes I had to google how to spell Shih Tzu. Apparently it’s not shitzoo.)

@Struckbylightning I can’t believe you ended up in someone’s garden, that is incredibly funny (and the exact reason why I have anxiety around walking new routes!!). Shit poo also very funny, not sure I’ve even heard of that cross before 😂😂😂

@SpanielsGalore oh poor P, I wish I had some advice but sending her lots of snuggles 😢😢😢

Had a terrible time at the vets this morning. Gone in for yearly vax top up. He’s anxious but usually gets on ok there. No idea what was up with him but he growled and snapped at the nurse when she checked his teeth, then he was so on edge and wouldn’t let me hold him still because she was behind him and he tried again to bite her a few times. She had to get a muzzle to put on him in the end and I feel absolutely awful 😭 He was so stressed out by the whole thing!

@YorkshireFelix I love trying out new routes, but it doesn’t always end well!
So sorry to hear about your stressful vet visit, you have my sympathy. We had exactly the same recently (I did a post about it), only Merry snapped me, not the vet 😂. They also resorted to a muzzle in order to squirt the kennel cough vaccine up her nose, and I feel like that was even more stressful. But as @TheHungryHungryLandsharks said to me, why do we expect dogs to not respond when painful or scary things are done to them. Vet staff should be aware that such reactions are completely normal. One thing they recommended to me was to keep dropping into the surgery just for treats and a fuss from the reception staff to desensitise her and make sure the fear doesn’t get too embedded. Sorry for you though, it’s horrible.

@SpanielsGalore Ohhh poor P. How is she doing now? Two days later, so hopefully a bit of improvement?

@Struckbylightning oh dear! 😂Were they in their garden? I bet Merry was very perplexed about being picked up 😁I know what you mean though, sometimes I know it would be easier/make more sense to turn around but by that poinbt I have committed and I am too pig-headed to turn back.

Imagine naming a dog breed 'shit poo' 😱Poor thing. Although I still sometimes wonder why the Golden Retriever/Cocker cross isn't called the Golden Cock Retriever.

@YorkshireFelix hope V is feeling a bit better now!? Maybe he was in pain somewhere or just very nervous? All dogs do it occasionally - the vets can be incredibly overwhelming for them (Twatdog needs a sedative these days before I can even get him in the door...)

Only one week until holiday. I did a quick test today and I can just fit all five dogs in the car with me, although it's a bit of a squeeze. Just means I have to put my 'luggage' on the passenger seat and on the floor behind the front seats. But that's fine. I only have a small wheelie case. I'm not even taking the coffee machine this time...the things I do for dogs!

@YorkshireFelix Sorry you and V had a stressful time at the vets. Both my first two dogs had to be muzzled at the vets as they were a bite risk. One would still take treats to keep him distracted; the other was too stressed to eat.
I hope you have both recovered from the ordeal now. You can understand a dog reacting to a complete stranger manhandling them. One vet was so heavy handed with one of my dogs, he was lucky I didn't bite him. 😂

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks P has perked up a little today. I've divided her food up into four meals, which she has at 8, 12, 4 and 8. She comes out of the cage for food and then has a short potter in the garden. She sqealed yesterday, so it must still hurt her to move. So far, she has refused to come out of the cage for a bedtime wee. I daren't try dragging or lifting her out, so she's going 12 hours without a wee. But then, she isn't drinking so she probably doesn't need one. I've been soaking her food to get fluids into her.

K is becoming a bit guardie. That's probably not the right word. She's not guarding things as such. But twice recently N has gone near something and K has flown at her to get there first.
Hopefully it's down to hormones and change in routine. Can't wait for them all to be back to full health and life can get back to normal.

My brother has one of those, he's the size of a squirrel. He completely ignores Bill, who seems to accept these days that occasionally there's a small black squirrel on the sofa.