DOGS

damn my pets4homes account exposed on ILX!

I don't think you can overestimate that once you get past the troublesome puppy to vgb stage, a dog can be great for your mental health. There is a few times I've felt like I might go into a black hole of depression but Dougie always cheers me up. I wouldn't even sell him for a mill.

Dougs who have worked out how to live

douglas is a mood

Looks like we have a new member of Terrier Club:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ed8RR5wXoAUw8WO?format=png&name=small

This is Kit. He was found near a local rural carwash about six weeks ago. No chip, no collar, no body fat, plenty of parasites. He was a poor little sausage. But the local rescue fixed him up, and they were happy for him to come to us because we are a Good Home.

He's only been here a few days, so he might turn out to be a cheeky fecker, but so far he is a very good boy.

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh v.cute

poor lil vagabond. I can see mischief in them eyes!

oh man. dying of teh cuet.

We adopted a dog about 2 months ago. We had started the process of applying with a local shelter shortly before the time the lockdown started, and made it to one adoption event before they suspended them. When the initial shelter in place order came out, they suspended all adoptions, but after a few weeks they started doing "virtual" meetings where you would have a Zoom call with the dog and the foster, and then if you liked the dog you could go to their house and pick it up. The only problem was the demand for dogs was soaring. They would send out an email with new dogs available and by the time you emailed them back all the dogs would be spoken for (except for maybe one or two of the older ones or ones with health or behavioral issues). After several weeks of being too late on dogs, one of the people at the agency I think kind of took pity on us, and offered to pick out a dog they thought would be suitable for us, before it was sent out in the email. So they picked out a dog, and we adopted him. He's a black retriever mix originally from a shelter in Kentucky, about 3 years old, they estimate. In 2 months, he hasn't been left alone once yet. I imagine it will be a difficult transition once we have to go back to work, but that won't be for many more months.

Awww, good for him. I bet he's delighted with life at yours.

My parents’ oldest dog (18.5 yo) suddenly can barely stand on her own, has lost appetite, her breathing is shallower, and she has trouble controlling her bowels. This after a month or so of not having the strength to go on walks as long as she used to. My parents don’t want to take her to a vet because she hates going, but the thought about the discomfort she might be in makes me think we should put her to sleep. Does anyone have suggestions, either on how to decide whether it’s time or to convince a reluctant parent what we should do?

when my last dog was in that position and I knew his condition was terminal despite being slightly deluded about it and kidding myself he was in remission. I got the vets to do a home visit to first confirm he wasn't going to get any better and then it was time to put him sleep. It wasn't cheap and I had to leave the house I was that upset, but it was better than bringing him to a vets - which he also hated.

xp we had that with our dog, he started falling over and the vets couldn’t see anything wrong with him, and then he got worse. We all hoped it would get better, but it didn’t. My parents took him, because they knew he was in pain and they couldn’t put him through that. It’s a horrible call to make, but that’s how you have to see it.

Thanks, they're looking into a vet who can make house calls (her regular vet apparently retired).

Kenny was pts at home, by a vet who did house calls. There were two or three occasions where J booked a vet to come out but Ken would have a Miraculous Recovery of sorts (all of a sudden doing food dances at mealtimes, etc after a few days of difficulty with his legs). It was almost funny, because the vet would be like ‘nah, he’s tired but not that tired’ when treated to these performances. Finally, one morning Ken was sleeping so deeply he didn’t even raise his head at breakfast time or respond. That’s when J made the call.

I'm so sorry for your folks, Leee, and I'm glad they can get someone to come to the house. I can imagine that the usual not wanting to face the inevitable can be compounded this year with fear of going anywhere you'll be in close contact with other people.

My parents made the call on Sunday. My mom said that Juno was whining at the end and just typing that right now is making me choke up; the thought of how scared and confused she must've been is something that I won't be able to shake for a while, if ever.

I think my mom said it was kidney failure.

https://i.imgur.com/UhexQiD.jpg

She's the justifiably smug looking one.

it's a such terrible grief losing a best friend, sorry for your loss Lee

So sorry, Lee.

Our girl had a small mast cell tumor taken out last week and is doing better than ever...still waiting on biopsy results...fingers crossed.

Aww, Lee, that is an epic pic. Tllooks like a fantastic buddy. So sorry

Sorry about Juno, Lee. She looks like a proper pal.

the thought of how scared and confused she must've been is something that I won't be able to shake for a while, if ever

Thanks everyone for the kind words. Matthew, your advice actually helps! Naturally, we want to protect our pets from ANY anxiety, but maybe that's just an unavoidable part of life, and the best we can do is to reduce the suffering for our loved ones.

That does remind me: our family went out of town for a week, and we left Juno with an aunt to take care care of. Juno has a LOT of abandonment issues, so when we got back home, my aunt, who lives 15-20 miles away, told us that Juno had run away. I had given up on her as lost (at best) because of the distance and she wasn't chipped, but in a few days my mom was able to find her: a lady was able to corner her on an expressway (in California terms, 45-55 mph thoroughfares with traffic lights), and she did the bare minimum of finding the original owners by putting a very cropped picture of Juno on Craigslist (Juno had some recent scarring on her nose), and my mom somehow saw the post.

That was NINE years ago, so in a way, all the time that she spent with us since then was that much more special and kind of a miracle.

And yes, Juno was street tough and a total survivor. <3

💜

We got a Springer Spaniel puppy. We're calling him Woody. He's absolutely brilliant. However after reading what they're capable of I am slightly shitting it. Am fast familiarising myself with the building blocks of his training. 'Wormhole' doesn't even begin to cover it. Extremely motivated to get the basics rock solid. And it's fun! However it is slightly like teaching yourself to drive a Lamborghini by reading a book. I'm not a hunter and never will be. I have zero interest in competitions and field trials. I do have access to wetlands though, within walking distance, so I would love to take him out there. Just need to be sure he won't follow a bird for 20 miles as soon as I take him off the lead.

Sign up for puppy class, if they're still happening. The best thing you can do is get him out to meet lots of different people and dogs early on.

Yes lots of visits to the school gate, supermarket etc. We introduced him to his first real up-close dog encounter this weekend. Some friends came over with their tiny poodle/jack russell and he absolutely shited it. Tried to flatten himself on the floor. If he could have dug a hole and gone through it he would have. By the end, though, he was alright. Indifferent, even.

I see quite a few Springer Spaniels in my neck of the woods, they are beautiful dogs. Sadly one of them, Bernie, passed recently and I have only seen his elderly owner's son who says she's broken by his passing. I see this likeable idiot with one called Spaniel L Jackson (I know it's a fucking nauseatingly wacky name!) that is ridiculously fast and has insane energy levels, and is probably responsible for reducing the local squirrel population by at least 50 %! But the owner used to shit himself when he first let him off the lead because he ran out of sight at ridiculous speed and often didn't come back into sight for a 5 minutes sometimes. There was a few times I kept bumping into him he was often in a panicked state calling Jackson!! But he's more chill now and has obv developed a level of trust with his dog, and all young dogs/puppies are generally crazy.

Extremely motivated to get the basics rock solid. And it's fun! However it is slightly like teaching yourself to drive a Lamborghini by reading a book. I'm not a hunter and never will be. I have zero interest in competitions and field trials.

I know very few springers who actually go hunting or shooting. Almost all the springers I know are just pets. Admittedly pets in a semi-rural area with a large beach where they can burn off a lot of energy off the lead, but still just pets. The ones round here tend to carry round a Jesus-what-is-that-in-your-mouth-oh-it's-a-flap-of-old-tennis-ball PRECIOUS TOY and ask for it to somehow be thrown for them, but otherwise they're just the same as other dogs. We've had springer crosses over the years, and they did catch birds and rabbits and other animals, but they usually let them go again. That was our experience, anyway. I guess if you got Woody from some real gung-ho working breeder then he might be a bit more "come on, it's duck season!" but even then, their job is to bring the bird back to you, not to kill it, so you can usually persuade them to drop it relatively unharmed even if they do catch something. Could be a problem if your local wetlands are a bird sanctuary? Maybe look at muzzle-training the little chap so he can snuffle about but not pick anything up?

I used a muzzle to stop my dog eating unsavoury things (including other dogs doodoo!) and it was very effective and when I eased him off the muzzle there was no return to the bad old days!

That's very reassuring trishy! I'm not worried about him twatting wildlife I just don't want him running away, running out of control, etc.

I mean, he may very well do those things, but I don't know that he's any more likely to run away from you than another dog is. We've got a little terrier at the moment (Kitt, who I posted upthread) who just does NOT come back if he sees another dog in the distance. And now he's even got so smart that when you call him back, he assumes that there's something up ahead you're trying to keep him away from, so he looks around to see what it is, so you have to kind of sneak up on him while he's sniffing something and put the lead on him before he bolts. I assume he'll grow out of it when he realizes that the dogs over there aren't really any better than the ones he's already hanging out with.

I love it when I've just fed my dog and as I'm bending down to tie my shoelaces he bounces towards me amd licks my head and now it smells like tripe flavoured dog food.

lol tracer i had a dog of the same name growing up who was half springer!

whoa!

what was he like?

he was not very smart but a nice dog for kids. he loved to chase squirrels. sometimes across the road. he also had separation anxiety; my dad came home from work one day and could hear him inside crying to himself because he didn't hear that someone was home yet. also loved to steal bagels from the counter and knock over the kitchen garbage can. all kinds of schemes to steal human food.

part of the fun of bagels for him was just tossing them around so we'd find them under furniture

Sounds a lot like my Woody so far! :)

And now he's even got so smart that when you call him back, he assumes that there's something up ahead you're trying to keep him away from, so he looks around to see what it is

This is amazing! What a pup!

Our rescue dog is not a Springer Spaniel but some kind of black lab/hunting dog mix, but he has a lot of the same issues. We recently went to the country for a week, and the first night we were there, he slipped out of the front door when I was holding it open for a second and ran out and started sniffing around the yard. By the time I got there he had run off out of sight. I was pretty sure he was gone. I went the direction he had run off but then heard my wife calling from the yard, apparently he had run back that way. But he was too fast for us to catch him and he has zero inclination or training to come when he's called, especially when highly distracted by the presence of local wildlife (deer, rabbits, squirrels, etc. as we later discovered). The next time he ran back nearby, I held the front door open and called him inside, and luckily he ran in. Needless to say we didn't let him off the leash, except for about a minute when we were at the beach so he could swim out and fetch a stick.

Sheesh!

on the other hand a local Springer Spaniel called Bernie who just passed recently at the age of 15, he was hardly ever on the lead with his owner or her son. They just had a basic rope lead they used for crossing main roads, but most of the time he'd wander freely along the pavement and sit outside the shop and wait for them. If ever they stopped for a chat he'd start impatiently barking because his walk was being interrupted! I've got a video where I'm filming my kid playing on his skateboard and Bernie comes wandering around the corner into shot, seemingly on his own, but he often walked ahead of his owner off the lead. Although they both did say he was a bit unpredictable when he was young and sometimes would run off.

Yeah from what I've read it seems like the danger zone is kind of 8-12 months. They discover their love of the hunt and lose their instinctive need to be next to you.

Woody has done absolutely everything we've asked of him so far, he's been great overnight, he's pretty much entirely housetrained, sleeps in his crate, etc - EXCEPT for an addiction to biting - which we are trying to address.

Hopefully we can keep him onside once he turns into a surly wandering teenager

Obviously bitey puppy is connected to teething - give him frozen carrots and occasionally a frozen raw chicken wing on top of the usual ow! then turning away that trainers recommend.

yep frozen carrots is the best for teething bitey pups. My boy Douglas still eats carrots, although not frozen these days.

It also sounds like some play with dogs his own age would do Woody the world of good so he can learn that biting's not cool. Although, some dogs just lead with their mouths forever. Calzino will tell you that this is something labs love, in particular. They will just put your whole hand or your arm in their mouth and hold it there. Sometimes give it a little squeeze. Our terriers like to play biting games with us too. They don't do it to other people, just us.

What do you mean with the carrots? Like, when he starts biting you, give him a carrot? He would eat his weight in carrots in an hour!

I used frozen carrots as a regular in between meals thing to help with his teething + as a healthier, cheaper alternative to the processed chews. But perhaps not as a reward for biting!

yep Dougie loves a bit of arm in his huge mouth, but it's never a bite it's an expression of playful affection - he doesn't have a bite in him unless he's got a hambone. When he's got a hambone I don't interrupt him till he's finished, he gets a bit primal and edgy chewing on a hambone!

I wanted to get a good tug toy for Kitt, because he can be quite bitey, but decent rope toys seem to be hard to come by at the moment. I knotted up some lengths of old vest for him to yank about the place, but they don't last long.

Giving a bitey puppy a frozen carrot to bite is distraction/redirection and a totally normal part of training. Always do a yipe/no! and distract them with a toy or a permitted chewy thing. Also seconding any suggestion to socialise with other dogs who will tell Woody off the minute he annoys them with bitey face.