Beyond Adolescence - part 4

[SpanielsGalore]

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

27 in Norfolk. Absolute nightmare of a journey with the traffic - DH left with two dogs and one DD ten minutes before me and arrived 2.5 hours before me. 😂He avoided the accident that I was just behind, and then he avoided the horses on the motorway (which I was just caught in).

I forgot how bad motorway driving is anytime other than 5am in the morning - which is when I usually leave for/from holiday to avoid the traffic. Some absolute arseholes on the road. Poor DD2 has learnt some very colourful expressions today.

But we did book a dog walking field for three hours, which was a brilliant idea as it has a shelter. So we set up camp in there together (once me, DD2 and my trio of dogs arrived) and had lunch. Don't know what we'd have done otherwise - far too hot for the dogs to be in the car for too long, or to really walk them around shops.

@SpanielsGalore glad to hear K is okay. I'm sure she did it on purpose to say 'GOT YA!' the next day!!

Hope her second season passes quickly.❤

I love summer, but I don't like how hot it got literally overnight - makes it so hard for dogs to cope.

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks from what I know of Pablo so far, he does seem to be sensible in the heat. I haven’t walked him in above 20 degree heat but bang on 20 degrees he does seem to slow down and sniff a lot rather than running about the place thankfully! I actually suspect he is quite a lazy dog in general, when it’s just us in the house he mainly lies about all day or potters around the place, coming to ask for the occasional cuddle if I am working. It’s only when we have visitors that he can’t control himself and they all seem to think he’s like that all the time!
I hope you enjoy your holiday!

How is everyone coping in this heat, or at least, us southerners? I know Scotland is warm, but a more manageable temperature. Fortunately , we have woods nearby which are shady for early morning and late evening walks.

Also, Dog has had a whale of a time in his paddling pool, splashing about trying to get a ball out. Good mental and physical exercise, plus keeps him cool, and is comical to watch.

Wonder how soon it is before the hose pipe ban is back?

@SpanielsGalore How are K and P?

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks Hope you’re having a nice time.

@VanGoSunflowers Glad Pablo is sensible in the heat.

Hope everyone had a good weekend.

I'm fed up of people moaning about the 'heatwave'. (Not sure when one day became a wave. It's not like the summer of 1976.) It hasn't made it out of the teens up here. I'd love one day of sun.
DS popped up on Messenger. It's been 24° in Estonia. He says when they aren't fighting, they are sunbathing. So much for it being cold over there.

P has 4 days left of on lead walks. She is now cage free and sleeping in the bedroom with us.
K has fully recovered from the woods incident. Judging by how swollen her leg was, I think she was bitten by a horse fly. She reacted the same way as P did when she was bitten by one. Except P must have a higher pain threshold, but she didn't scream everytime she moved. Her season seems to be going alright so far, although we're only on day 3 or 4.
N is struggling with mobility. I might see if the physio can fit her in for a check up.

Today will be spent dog walking and grass cutting. If only I didn't eat so much chocolate, I could lose some weight.

I could enjoy this on my own, but Bill can't, poor bug. He's still waking up in the night needing to poo, and his second poo this morning was just liquid and grass. He's refused to walk since (I don't blame him) but as he hates going to the toilet in the back yard unless it's 3am and it's going to be hot till really late I'm not sure if we're going to manage.

Not that you'd think he's struggling to look at him. I spent a careful half hour stuffing horrible hooves and chews with food and treatos and freezing them to try to keep him cool in the shade. Bill:

Heatwave officially is only 3 days of consecutive high temps and has been met already in a few places. I think we will avoid an official heatwave here as it only reached 26 yesterday. Currently 29.8 in my garden - I had my heating on a week ago 😂

@Silverbirchleaf - I wish mine would use a paddling pool but they rarely did much more than put one foot in it.

As I wasn't a responsible dog owner getting up early to beat the heat yesterday we had to go for a drive to find a river to splash in.

On this morning's walk little pup had to take matters into her own hands when I told her it was already too hot for a ball, she promptly ran into the long grass and found one!

Hopefully get another walk in later.

Great pictures, @tizwozliz . Love the large ones with the ball.

Dog won’t get into the paddling pool until the water has warmed up abit.

He's being a pain at the moment, and keeps wanting to go out, but it’s too hot out there. He’s interrupting my afternoon snooze!

@tizwozliz Well for me, a heatwave is at least a week of 30+ degrees. 😂
According to Google, for Scotland it is three days of 25° or more. Isn't that just summer?
It's 18° but feels like17° here, with rain forecast tonight.

I didn’t get a pick of Rory in his trusty pink paddling pool but here he is trying to eat the water while it was filling up and being the best good boy waiting to be allowed to eat his giant Wotsits 🥰.

@Silverbirchleaf @VanGoSunflowers Norfolk is lovely but ridiculously hot.

@Silverbirchleaf I'm pretty sure we only came out of our hosepipe ban about 4 months ago...so I don't give it more than another month before we have one again!

@VanGoSunflowers glad to hear Pablo is sensible in the heat!!!

Sorry to hear @Bupster that Bill is as stupid as Twatdog and seems determined to make himself hot and bothered! Hope he copes a bit better over the coming days. ❤

@tizwozliz those photos of big and little pup are amazing!! Love the one of just the solo pup running through the water!

@Idstillratherbepaddleboarding such a handsome man! Is Rory smart enough not to lay in the sun when it gets hot?

@SpanielsGalore sorry to hear about N, fingers crossed it's nothing major. And glad to hear P s recovering well and K has recovered and that DS is doing well in Estonia! How much have you blown up his phone with texts?

Starting to wish we had gone on holiday to Scotland, even though it's probably an 11hr+ hour drive.

DH and I slept outside with the dogs last night which sounds dramatic, but the place we're staying in didn't get below 30 inside. That was with three fan's in our room to try and keep the temperature down. We didn't plan on it, but after the fourth time of Twatdog waking me up demanding cuddles and my resounding 'FUCK OFF YOU WANKY BASTARD' at about 1 in the morning that woke up the entire house it felt like the right decision. God I hate that dog sometimes.

He's currently going free to good home, only requirements are that you don't ever want to sleep, enjoy cuddles even when it's the middle of the night and like having him stare at you in the darkness with his face about 2 inches from yours.

However, in an attempt to make him sound more appealing, he has his plus side as because he's still waking me up before sunrise we've had beach walks for the dogs the last two days before it gets too hot. 😫

I am never having a boy dog again. Girl's all the way.

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks - 30 inside is rough. We opted for the sofa bed in the lounge last night as it's about 5 degrees cooler than upstairs - 24 instead of 29.

Up and out early today, I thought the woods would be shady and cool but actually was just very muggy.

@tizwozliz -24 sounds a bit chilly!

And here was me, thinking of giving my heating a blast last night, as it was only 18° in my living room. 😂

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks I hope you are having a nice holiday, despite the heat and TD. Come to Scotland next time and leave him behind with me. I'll soon break his body clock. We're only just going to bed as you're getting up. 😂

13° but feels like 12 here. With expected highs of 14°.
21° on Thursday though. 🥳🥳

@tizwozliz the worst part is I can see at home it's only 24 inside - presumably because the doors and windows are all shut with the curtains drawn!

I am a bit of an odd-ball about sleeping conditions though. I like it absolutely freezing inside - to the point where I am shivering. So anything above about 10 is not good 😂

@SpanielsGalore Ohh highs of 14 would be bliss. The closest weather station to us recorded 28 at 10:00 and 25 at 15:00, so I guess at least it's getting warmer...

You are definitely welcome to Twatdog. I do love him, but his lack of braincells drives me crackers. He's currently marauding around the garden looking pointless and stupid whilst everyone sits inside or in the shade.

We have 🌞🌞🌞🌞. 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

My phone app has insisted it's been 14° all day. But I put my indoor weather station outside, in direct sunlight and it went up to 34°! So I have sat outside for a couple of hours and now have slightly pink knees. 😂
I put the big parasol up so the dogs had shade and they all avoided it like the plague. K was the only sensible one and lay in the shadow of the washing. The other pair stayed in the sun and panted.

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks he’s been pretty good at finding a shady spot but he can’t understand why it’s too hot to play ball 🙁 so I’ve been throwing his ball into his paddling pool. It’s not much of a chase but it cools him down.

He actually asked me for his cooling collar today. I was looking in the fridge and he came over and did a little cry so I got his cooling collar out of the freezer and he put his neck out for me to put it on. I love how communicative dogs are with no words!

He has had some runny poos today which I think is either down to the heat or too much BBQ food over the weekend so I’m not worried. He’s not allowed to go to daycare tomorrow though because of it so it’s lucky DS is on half term!

We ended up going for a drive out in the air conditioned car for food as big pup was getting fractious. Lots of rain in the middle of Nottingham but we only got the thunder and lightning here, cooled down enough that we could take them for a quick walk on the way home.

Much cooler today so the walk can wait until after breakfast 🎉

Update on 1yr old teething Lavenderpup in case it helps anyone else!

We seem to be coming through this phase after 3 weeks or so. She has rejected many chewing options, including multiple dead animal pets and the Benebones, preferring to bite me instead.
The only option that works is Yak chews - and I have to be holding them so she can get exactly the right angle 🙄

Confess I don’t really like this as they seem so hard and I worry she will crack her teeth. But I am a desperate woman…

She does also let me rub puppy teething gel on her gums which is quite sweet really.

She has learnt to swim in the last couple of weeks which is exciting - just need the hot weather to go away so we can go to quieter places, given we are working on not leaping on every dog or human that she sees!

@Lavenderdog Did you know you can put small bits of yak bar in the microwave, and they balloon and puff up?

https://yakers.co.uk/blogs/news/yakers-guide-to-microwaving-your-chews?srsltid=AfmBOop2sUj4OgLrwvwQNk6sJ1dNHPoPZt57hAjnIwL3JnKQ-__Tj-vJ

@SpanielsGalore very excited to hear about your pink knees! Which sounds slightly creepy written down, but obviously is not meant too 😁

@Idstillratherbepaddleboarding what a smart boy! Don't suppose you fancy taking a Twatdog for a few weeks and having Rory teaching him some common sense (and perhaps @VanGoSunflowers could take him for a few weeks after as well?!).

Mine have all had looser stools as well. None of their food yet, but I think a retriever (of any sort) off their food is a serious business. As long as they're eating, I won't worry!

@tizwozliz very excited for your thunder and lightening! It's the best at making the muggyness lift.

@Lavenderdog glad to hear you're starting to see light at the end of the (horrible) teething/teenage tunnel! The not jumping up is a life-long thing - at least for me! One of mine has regressed slightly this week and is just launching at everyone. How old is Lavender pup now? Just over a year (or am I going bananas)?

We had some rain overnight, and it's not super warm today - about 18. Dogs are very happy as they did the walk from Salthouse to Blakeney with me and DDs which is about 5(ish) miles and all off the lead. It's perked me up completely%. I have no idea why, but only being able to take the dogs out once a day due to the heat makes me thoroughly miserable.

Back up to 26 tomorrow though and 23 the following day, so not too bad and hopefully the house will stay below 30! 😳

@Lavenderdog my main issues with Pablo are the leaping all over people and other dogs so I sympathise!

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks I think it would make more sense for both Pablo and TD to visit @Idstillratherbepaddleboarding so Rory can teach them both some common sense 😂

@VanGoSunflowers that sounds like a plan to me! Get rid of all the unruly pups do Rory can teach them some manners.

It's cooled down so much here and it's lovely. Just got back from walking around town with Twatdog who was such a remarkably good boy that several people stopped me to remark on 'how lovely' he was. Admittedly today he was doing a very good walk to heel on a loose lead and, more impressively, doing his proper 'show dog' walk around town. So it's not surprising people thought he was lovely.

But they wouldn't have been doing that a few days ago when he was tosspotting around. Remarkable really that one day he can be so good that people stop me to praise him, and other days people are commenting not very quietly under their breath about what a badly trained dog he was.

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks Hope you are having a good holiday. (Did you have asparagus and half an egg for dinner?)
Bless TD fooling people into thinking he's a good boy. 💖

We've had a few hot days up here, although I don't think we made it into official heatwave territory. I didn't walk the dogs for two days, for various reasons. But I have been tackling the garden, so they spent hours every day pottering about. And P and K have been chasing each other round like it's a Grand Prix circuit.

To make up for it, yesterday I booked the private field and took P and K out for a run. It was one day early for P to be off lead, but she's been running round the garden like a loon, so ... 🤷‍♀️
P wasn't as excited as I thought she'd be for her first off lead walk in 15 weeks. And K wasn't particularly bothered to have her back either. But they both enjoyed themselves anyway. It was 21° with a cool breeze and they both had a dip in the pond to cool off.

I tried to take photos to show this field is more interesting than the majority of freedom fields, but couldn't quite capture it.

@SpanielsGalore No, but I'd be absolutely furious!!!!!! Half an egg!!!!!!!!!

I haven't actually been there this holiday, mostly because I haven't wanted to leave the dogs in such hot weather. We usually go at least once as it's always been very good...but half an egg...

I'm quite surprised P & K didn't go bonkers but as you say, they've been able to run around in the garden so perhaps they have just worked it out of their system and are a bit bored of each other now😂. The photos make the field look huge!? How big is it? Got to be 3(ish) acres I'd have thought?

How did N cope with the heat? My older ones have been really struggling with it. 🙁