Beyond Adolescence - V

[SpanielsGalore]

New topic for a new thread, inspired by a post about poo bags.

Does your dog's poo smell?

I was under the impression that dog poo only smells bad if the food doesn't suit the dog. Same goes for flatulence.

The only time my dogs' poo smells or they have windy bottoms is if they've eaten something rotten they've found on a walk.

@YorkshireFelix
The Dorwest tincture in the dropper bottle works immediately. I mean for Brie, within literally 10-15 minutes she is quietly dozing. I have to admit we are shocked how well it works. The tablets apparently yes, need to build up, but to be honest I don't bother with those because Brie doesn't need it often. The tincture is our quick fix if there are unexpected fireworks or other noise. We really rate it, and I only give Brie 2ml - for her size it says 7.5, so you'd probably only need 1ml for V. It's definitely worth a try. Dorwest also have an Amazon shop, so if you need it quickly that might be a good option.

It does have a strong smell, so we mix it into a good dollop of Greek yoghurt and she happily laps it up. Unlike treatment from the vets, it doesn't leave them groggy when they get up, so she ate her supper and went outside as normal once the fireworks had stopped on Friday night.

Thanks for the lovely comment about Odilon 😊

@CoubousAndTourmaIetFantastic, thank you so much. You’ve convinced me to buy it! I didn’t even think to look on Amazon and it will arrive tomorrow 🙏🏻 Will let you know how we get on. It will probably help for car journeys too as he gets super stressed.

Really hope it works for V as well as it has done for B, I will keep my fingers crossed. Please let us know how it goes.

@YorkshireFelix Bill does really well if he can see what the noise is - when we had a thunderstorm in the middle of the night I took him to look at the 'noisy sky' through the window, and he had a few borks to see it off then was fine. He can cope with fireworks if he's properly outdoors, and doesn't even blink at bird scarers or the Red Arrows, but he struggles if he's sleeping and loud noises wake him up, or if he's in our current tiny garden. So I get Alexa to play brown noise in the evenings - just loud enough so any fireworks (or general street noise) are sort of part of the pattern of the noise rather than waking him, if that makes any sense. Thought I'd share as V and Bill are so alike in some ways!

@Bupster Always happy to see lovely Bill! How is he doing generally? I will try brown noise - I usually put the radio on but it’s not consistent enough to cover the sounds so maybe that will work better. Weirdly he is also absolutely fine with fireworks and any other loud noises if he’s outside the house too, but inside the house/yard is completely different!!

I am still sick - and have in fact managed to infect everyone - so I'm not working and DDs didn't go back to school today. I spent the day looking at dogs up for foster and adoption...because when they suddenly go 'adopted' it gives me warm fuzzies. Plus it was better than joining DH and DDs in their pity party on the sofa, watching Eastenders episodes from 2012, and eating chocolate, pear & frangipane tart (they didn't even have plates, they ate it straight out of the tupperware having poured two large containers of double cream into it). Watching Eastenders is up there with waterboarding in my eyes.

But, I saw an absolute gem on Spaniel Aid in one dog's bio. ("The most clear incident being when a child in his previous home woke him up by running in lifting his ear and blowing down it.") Now I'm just wondering how the dog didn't bite because I'm pretty sure even mine would if someone did that! That is some incredibly impressive self control for an 11 month old dog...

On amore interesting note... @Bupster @YorkshireFelix @CoubousAndTourmaIet are your dogs summer born? I've always noted winter born dogs (those born in Oct-Nov) from my litters far more relaxed around fireworks and other noises than the ones born in summer...

@CoubousAndTourmaIet sorry to hear your boy is being difficult! Typical man, I say. I still maintain boy dogs are way harder than girls. The girls have been a dream compared to Twatdog.

Hope everyone had a good day and enjoyed their walks! DDogs went out with my mum, and Satan, again. Poor things. Pretty sure they're going to put their own photos on the local re-homing centre's website if I don't get better soon!😂

Sorry you're all poorly @TheHungryHungryLandsharks

I don't think I could look at dogs for foster and adoption without getting highly stressed and probably angry...

As regards the birth month/fireworks question; Brie is a late March baby and I think she, Bill and Vinny are all fairly close in age. But it's interesting what you've said, because our Mr Algernon loved to go outside and bark like mad to scare the fireworks away. He was bold and fearless and...he was a November born puppy 🤔

Oh, this pup is so exhausting, but also really funny. He was out on guard duty at 5.30am. He's officially the head guard dog now. Brie doesn't seem to care, she's happy to stay on the sofa and let him do the work. But he really is precocious.

Really hope you'll feel better soon and can resume your normal walk routine.

Bill was born in April - he's just a nobhead 😄I've just bought a house (yes, for the dog 🙄) across the road from where we're living and I'm attempting to prep - I know I can't decorate unless he's at daycare as he'll be into everything. He keeps stealing the bloody paint rollers. Every time I tried to remove a picture hook today he stole the hammer out of my hand. It's a good job he's cute.

Oh, how lovely, @Bupster !

Yes, I can imagine Bill being extremely helpful with the decorating...
I have a boy not unlike that now myself 🙄Odilon has serious FOMO.

Oh no sorry you’re all now ill @TheHungryHungryLandsharks - I do admit living in your house sounds like a dream. There’s always some sort of cake or dessert on the go (and then there’s the dogs of course!!). I would happily move in and endure 2012 Eastenders if I have to.

V was born in June so you might be onto something. He wasn’t bothered at all the first year but last year was a nightmare. I have always played fireworks noise videos in an attempt to desensitise him but I think the vibration they give off must be worse than the noise anyway so it’s probably pointless. The Dorwest stuff came today so fingers crossed we have a good result from that.

@Bupster Ah congratulations on the house! Do you think Bill will be confused as to why you now keep going into the house across the street instead when you move in 😄 They recommend using paint rollers as an introduction to retrieving for pups so he’s doing what he’s supposed to do. Not sure about the hammer though 🤣🤣🤣

I've got one who's always keen to 'help' too

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks Pablo is April born and doesn’t give a stuff about fireworks so he doesn’t fit your theory sorry 😂

DP has now pointed out that Rosie was terrified of fireworks, strong winds and anything that went bump in the night and she was a January baby, so clearly the theory is not watertight... Merlin was pretty bombproof and he was April too @VanGoSunflowers

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks Hope you are feeling a little better now. Very kind of you to share with the rest of the family.

How's TD? Is he still acting strangely? Wonder if it's because you are ill or because there's something up with him.

It's probably definitely best for that poor dog to be rehomed. But why have they given him up if he didn't bite?

I dropped one of N's Aktivait tablets on the floor this morning and K snuffled it. I'm now worrying I have overdosed her. I'm sure she'd have to eat the whole box really.
Does Satan have the smaller tablets?

@CoubousAndTourmaIet You're better off avoiding certain topics. They never go well.

Is the Dorwest tincture the Valerian one? I might try it for P. Although I am trying to have a month of not spending anything extra on the dogs.

@Struckbylightning I was impressed too. My email was about 3 sentences and they sent an A4 reply. I imagine all the bullet points linked to research were copied and pasted, but it's still time consuming.
K was very excited to go back to the woods yesterday, but disappointed to be made to stick to the more boring paths.

@YorkshireFelix How have you managed two years of spaniel ownership without finding dead things? That is truly shocking!
K picked up a dead crow yesterday. One saw her with it and started cawing to rally the troops. There was soon about 30 birds circling over her and swooping quite low. I thought they were going to start attacking her. They're nearly the same size as her, so I think she'd have lost the battle.

@Bupster Congratulations on the house purchase. I'm sure Bill appreciates it.
My lot have to be behind stair gates when I decorate. I let them in the room once when I was painting, thinking they couldn't get up to too much trouble. How wrong I was!

We didn't get any trick or treaters. I think they follow the rule of only going to houses with pumpkins. I think there is only one child in my street, so it was probably busier in other parts of the village.

Hopefully we won't have too many fireworks here. P will be petrified. Not sure about the other two. P and N are both June births and K is September. I'm not sure where that puts them in the scaredy categories.
The village used to do a big firework display, but it ended a few years ago. Someone is trying to get it back up and running. P will need knock out pills if they do.

I never learn not to do foot in mouth, do I @SpanielsGalore ? Sadly there are moments when I'm deluded enough to think my debating skills are on a par with those of @TheHungryHungryLandsharks , but truthfully I'm a lightweight and end up cowering in the corner with my ears down and my tail between my legs.

Yes, it is indeed the Skullcap & Valerian tincture. I'm singing its praises by virtue of the fact that it works for Brie, but I haven't pointed out that my weirdoes have a genetic mutation called MDR1 so they basically OD on nothing. It says 7.5 ml for giants but Brie is zonked out on 1.5 ml.
But anyway, it may be worth a try for P.

It sounds as if K interrupted a corvid wake with a bird watching over a fallen comrade. How fascinating. Thankfully we haven't had corpse collecting, but Brie shocked us the other day by chasing a squirrel that suddenly appeared on our patio. It hopped up and scampered over the kennel roof then shot down the garden with Brie in close pursuit, and my DP following behind to ensure that poor squirrel didn't go plop into the pond. Fortunately it escaped into the rowan tree, so no harm done, but I'm not sure who got the biggest fright out of the three of them 😆 Brie can really move when she wants to. The French/working line PMD are surprisingly quick and agile, they aren't the lumbering giants that people imagine.

@CoubousAndTourmaIet Thank you. I shall have a look.

I didn't mean it as a comment about your debating skills, by the way. I just think it's pointless engaging with some people. If someone asks for advice about a problem that I think I can help with, I'll post. But with topics like buy v rescue or crate v no crate, people are rarely persuaded to the other side. I might post my experience/thoughts on the topic if I can be arsed. But I wouldn't bother debating it with other people.
Unless it's about crap breeders. Then I'll argue all day long. 😂

It seems my theory has been debunked. 😞Bloody Pablo, Rosie & Merlin.

@SpanielsGalore I managed a decent-ish walk this morning, so that's progress, but still not working as I don't want to go back and deal with the stress and be sick again tomorrow. DDs and DH are even worse than yesterday probably because they ate a 10 person portion of bloody tart!

Twatdog is being very clingy. I went to the shops just now and when I came back he was barking at the door. Not like him. But I do think he gets quite worried when people are sick. He's quite an emotional thing.

Apparently they couldn't cope with him (reading the bio). Dog is on Spaniel Aid (Lincoln). Honestly he sound likes he's just been not well cared for. He has giardia as well. Poor mite. Really hope he gets snapped up quickly as he sounds like quite the dream. They returned him to the breeder...sounds like the breeder just shove him onto Spaniel Aid.🙄

Oh K will be fine, I'm sure! Satan has the smaller tablets and she's tiny and we've accidentally given her three in a day before - at Christmas last year, I gave her one with breakfast, my dad gave her one with lunch and DH gave her one with dinner 😂Communication is not a thing in my family, apparently.

@YorkshireFelix you'd really suffer through 2012 Eastenders for cake?! You must be very deprived of cake! There's a thread at the moment about how bad it is to give kids chocolate and sweets...everyone on the thread would have heart failure if they saw my household.

Will keep my fingers crossed on the Dorwest stuff for V. It's horrible to watch them suffer.

@Bupster congrats!!! What does Bill think of his new house?

@tizwozliz little pup? 😍I always say this, and you must be sick of hearing it...but your dogs have beautiful eyes.

@CoubousAndTourmaIet @SpanielsGalore speaking of debating skills, I did have a mini rant this morning about mini American shepherds. I really do try not to demonise all breeders of particular breeds...but this lot are awful. They do genuinely make Donna look like Breeder Of the Year.

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks I saw that post and thought you were confusing them with Aussie doodles, so I googled. Needless to say you were absolutely correct . They have practically identical breeding practises. Why on earth as the KC recognised them as a breed?
Honestly. I despair at times.

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks - little pup would like you to know that she has never stolen anything in her entire life! (I mean there is the kg of kibble she ate in one sitting, but that's not thieved from someone else).

Big pup on the other hand, is always just waiting for the opportunity. It's not normally a snatch and grab either, she'll saunter over all casual and just gently pick something up and walk off with it. It'll normally get taken to the garden where she'll helpfully bark to let you know she's stolen something if you've failed to notice. Particular favourites are crochet hooks, screwdrivers and tyre levers. The remote control did have a few trips out to the garden when she was younger but isn't of interest these days.

@CoubousAndTourmaIet I am also interested to hear about the Dorwest stuff, I’ve never thought about dosing her up for fireworks. Mind you, I am not sure whether Merry is scared of fireworks or just over-excited by them. She barks loudly and runs about the house. If the door is open she will race down the garden screaming at the sky. It doesn’t look like fear, though it is bloody annoying, and her bark is extremely loud. Funnily enough, my old dog had exactly the same reaction, it is one of the few ways in which they are similar. (Merry was born in May, and Pip in April)
@SpanielsGalore how mean of you not to let K go looking for the rotting deer corpse! The crow thing sounds interesting. My old dog was once dive bombed by nesting seagulls. It was very alarming!
I do not get involved in any threads about controversial
topics. Mainly because I don’t know what I’m talking about. Last night I did start reading a very weird thread about a certain rescue company, which got extremely tasty. I was several pages in before I realised it was a zombie thread.
Talking of ‘helpful’ dogs, there is a bit of a trend on TikTok called ‘jobs which require zero dogs’, lots of videos of goldies lying under sinks with the plumber and things like that. It’s very funny. I need to repaint our front door but I’m not sure how to go about it without Merry getting involved!

Sorry to debunk your theory further but Dog is summer born and is okay with fireworks (touch wood). Last year, he was desperate to go out and there were fireworks going off, so we took him for a short walk to a favourite ‘business spot’ then straight home. I did feel guilty though.

However, not sure we’re going to be so fortunate this year. So far he’s been okay, but he’s taken to looking outside and just randomly barking. Can’t see anything obvious. Sometimes a car going past will set him off, other times nothing. Must admit, it’s getting infuriating, especially as there’s no obvious trigger most of the times.

@Silverbirchleaf Pablo can be a spontaneous barker as well so I feel your pain!
Although sometimes someone actually knocks at the door and he doesn’t react 🤷‍♀️

@SpanielsGalore I have no idea. Lobbying pressure and/or financial incentive, perhaps. No one with any morals or ethics would have recognised them in the UK. I'm all for more breeds being recognised, but when the 'founder' of the breed club advocates for Merle/Merle breeding I think it warrants some serious questions.

@tizwozliz noooo, I unfairly maligned little pup? 😫Seems like big pup is a bit of a klepto and not only that, has a thing for dangers objects (crochet hooks, really?!). Give little pup my sincere apologies though. Oops!

@Struckbylightning you have a good policy of not getting involved! That thread was bonkers (I know which one you're talking about). Awful that people are still having terrible experiences years later though.

@Silverbirchleaf DDog can join Pablo, Rosie and Merlin on my 'bad dog' list for making me theory so easily debunked! 😞

Crochet hooks are the least of my worries! But yes, big pup is most definitely a Labrador rethiever

He’s posing with a knife in his mouth! Weren’t you having heart failure?