I love Dogs me...
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Wishing all our pet lovers a very merry Christmas and a happy and healthyNew Year.
Andrea Kerry and Jen
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Ta mate
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From Cassie and myself, and to all pet owners past and present, good health
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Just a catch up for anybody interested in Alfies progress.
Alfie turned three on or about January 1st 2019, actual date unknown as he was part of an unwanted litter.
We picked him up from Many Tears Animal Rescue on March 16th 2016, approx 14 weeks old.
As he had not seen anything but concrete in his short life, the first thing I had to do was to train him NOT to poo on the pathways, this was soon accomplished with lots of patience and rewards, as was his house training, no shouting, no losing it with him, just a firm NO, then pick him up and show him what you want him to do and where, plus rewards when he did it.
The first time out on a lead, it took me nearly an hour to walk him two hundred yards, he was petrified, again, gentle, positive enforcement, with lots of patience soon gave him the confidence to trust me and walk with me.
Being such an intelligent puppy he soon mastered the Sit, Stay, Here, basic commands, mixed with plenty of play and treats he soon progressed to Fetch, leave, Drop.
His first off lead experience was in a large expanse of fields that were fenced in and used by many dog walkers, we call this place Alfies field. After making him sit and taking off his slip lead then giving him quite a few of his favorite treats(hot dog sausages thinly sliced) I told him to "go Play", off he went like a shot, he loves running, I called him back, waving my arms and his bag of treats and he came to me to receive more treats and lots of praise. I put his lead back on and walked a bit further noticing two dogs ahead, dare I try it, yes, I took his lead off again and gave him lots of treats then told him to "go play" again, off he went to meet the dogs, after getting close, he stopped and turned to look at me, I said again "go play" and off he went with his bum in the air and his head down, just like a collie. he met the two dogs and had a play, I called him back, but he took no notice, I called again, still the same, so I turned around and walked away from him, after a while I heard him pounding behind me, I stopped and praised him again giving him more treats and putting on his slip lead...Result.
Throughout the next two and a half years we have continued with our bonding and Alfie has blossomed from an awkward over enthusiastic puppy, always slipping and sliding, turning somersaults and back flips in his endeavour to be the first past the post, to now an athletic, sure footed, extremely confident, adult dog. Along the way we have had a few hurdles to overcome, like jumping in front of a car, thankfully, no broken bones, and sliding along the M1 on our side in the motorhome, after being hit by a car, fortunately, he was strapped in, as he always is where ever we go, in car or motorhome.
His biggest fear was fireworks, but I think he's getting better, I don't fuss him or say "good boy", simply ignore them and I think that helps him. He was also spooked by gunshots when out walking the fields, again, calmness and recognising his distress, I call him back and put his lead on keeping him close to me. It seems to help and he isn't half as skittish as he used to be.
He loves swimming and is a devil to keep out of the water, thankfully he does as he is told and walks on when I don't want him to go in.
The latest trial is clipping his nails, as he lets me do anything to him I thought that this would be easy..... wrong, after three nails he took off and wouldn't come near me as long as I had the clippers in my hand. what followed was a lot more patience and treats, daily giving him treats and showing him the clippers, gradually gaining his confidence so that now he lets me clip a nail a day, I don't try any more, just give him plenty of treats and praise so that he associates the clippers with good times. We will get there in the end and he won't be spooked by the process.
To sum up, the last two and three quarter years have been the most rewarding and demanding years, watching a frightened young puppy mature into a confident and obedient, good natured, well socialised dog, loved by all my family young and old. He has given two of my grandchildren the confidence and knowledge to be able to put their trust in Alfie and overcome their fear of dogs. He's not perfect by any means, he does suffer selective hearing at times, but he always gets there in the end and we are proud of him. We love him to bits and wouldn't be without him.
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Thanks for the tale, BT. That’s a heart warming story.
Happy Birthday to Alfie and a round of applause for you for getting him to where he is today. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
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Thanks for the update, Happy Birthday to Alfie. We have similar antics with our collie when it comes to nail clipping, even after 6 years he still isn't keen and will only let my OH do iI under protest.
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Thanks for the update BT, Alfie is a lucky lad to have such an undrrstanding owner. You could also say that you are also lucky to have such a wonderful best friend, it's a win win all round.
Happy birthday to Alfie.
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Does anyone know how Alfie is getting on? Not seen BT posting lately.
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He’s posted once or twice but not for several months.
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I tried to contact him a few weeks ago by pm but didn't get a response. Wonder if he's ok or if someone has happened to him or his family, or if he has just changed his email address.?
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I don't think he visits that site any more, Nellie.
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Just thought I'd introduce Bramble as I have mentioned him in other posts, he is a bit camera shy so very difficult to get a decent picture of him!
He is our third Boarder Collie, our first lived a great and long life and died of old age our second was very sadly killed in a car crash which was absolutely devastating, he was only 5 years old and left a great gap in our lives, and so we decided to get another, Bramble was 3 months old when we brought him home, he is very intelligent, but can be a bit obstinate at times. although not aggressive in any way, he loves other animals but is very defensive where humans are concerned he wears a nervous dog lead and collar as well as his HIVIS coat as he doesn't like being touched or being left without an escape route. Although he is growing out of it now, to begin with, we were quite worried, so approached our vets and behaviourists, even had his eyesight checked for short sightedness. but in the end all said it was just his personality. Now at 3 years old he loves the car, loves the Motorhome and the travelling, loves the campsites and loves meeting other animals, but, we are always aware of others trying to stroke him. children seem to understand the collar and HIVIS, but sadly adults don't!
BRAMBLE WAITING FOR THE OFF
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Thanks for that, RJ. Bramble looks a great dog.
Our last dog was the opposite as he loved people but hated other dogs which made it very difficult to take him out. People couldn't grasp the fact that he was on a lead for a reason and would let their dogs come too close despite shouted warnings. "Mine's alright, he won’t hurt" they would say. Yeah, well, mine wasn’t!
We're dogless now since he died 4 years ago - I can’t believe it’s been that long - and think we're too old now to take on another and give it the life it deserves. Instead, we enjoy other people's dogs.
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Good post RJ and nice to see that picture of Bramble.
We're on our 5th and 6th Irish Setters now, Lady and Ralph, and they're anything but camera shy!
All ours have loved camping and later caravanning - it's a great way of holidaying with dogs.Keep posting about life with Bramble, especially when you get back to trips away with him.
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Will do.
Setters are lovely and yours are beautiful, don't fancy the hoovering up though!
Some people are just stupid, you tell them not to touch and you get the 'dogs love me' or 'I know what I am doing' etc
just as they get a mouthful of very sharp teeth wrapped around their fingers which then becomes my fault and puts Bramble at risk.
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Absolutely right - I lost count of the number of times on site that we'd got ours settled down only for passers by to come across and want to fuss them.
We get a lot of complaints (on this forum) about "irresponsible" dog owners which, IMHO, is a very small minority. But it's a two way thing - "let sleeping dogs (and their owners!) lie" - dogs love to be fussed but sometimes they need to be ignored, thank you!
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Exactly. It was always seen as our fault if our boy snapped at another dog even though he was on a lead and the other dog came running up🥺.
He was a lurcher - greyhound x collie. The speed of one with the intelligence of the other.
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Came across this in the paper this morning. Thought others might be interested.
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Good morning to every one of the wonderful Dog owners that care for & share their lives with 1(or more) devoted Dogs. It’s been over 2years since I last posted & in that time lives have changed so much & not all for the better. My Dogs 2 cockapoos-Mum & Daughter are both well but are now not so lively being 10yrs & 8yrs old. Their lives are way more quiet than the last time I posted. No more Forest work or Tree felling. I miss it in one way but I now have young Grandchildren to train(joke) & share nature’s joys with. I guess my life has taken the same path as others in that we’ve lost friends, neighbours & dearly loved family too. Throughout this pandemic I’ve been helped by my Dogs, when times & the walls have closed in, I’ve still got both ‘young un(not so now) & her mum’ to walk & ramble with-sometimes 4+ times a day to keep body & soul together. I still have my Log burner so I still need a fuel source(logs) which I get from a local farm that I finish off when they’re delivered. No more landscape work either. That has had a knock on effect on the diversity I used to see in the glorious woods & forests. A hunting Goshawk was the most astounding of my sightings, goosebump stuff. Stay safe & enjoy your life. May your four legged family prosper too.
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Good morning to you and your dogs, Rocky. It's good to see you back in the thread with tales of your rambles, dogs and coping with life during these strange times.
It's nearly 5 years since we lost our Boy and there's still a gap that can't be filled. I enjoy meeting neighbours' dogs and those we meet on our strolls so it's some compensation.
Thanks for the catch up. May you and your dogs have a good day.👍
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Five years Tinny, seems like yesterday.🥲 They never leave you. Little ghosts that catch you unaware every so often.
Our old lad is now 11, there are still traces of the mad chocolate super athlete lurking in there, and he’s as loving as ever. We lost our Golden Lab Millie three years ago, so now only the one dog. We’ed love another, but the old lad needs a lot of care and attention. He still loves a walk, has an internal body clock to the minute when it comes to dinner time and walkies. Still full of fun, still giving us unconditional love.👍
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When we moved south some 12 years ago we had 2 Westies that were quite old, we had had them since they were pups when we lived in Scotland. We soon realised that they were not long for this world, so we took on a Heinz 57 rescue pup, remarkably he gave the Westies an extra lease of life but alas time was not on their side, but they had a good innings and died peacefully.
Now we just have the Heinz 57, but so glad we took him on, when the first lockdown came, my OH decided to decamp and move 100 miles away to look after her mum, was I glad we had pooch, 8 weeks OH was away, pooch got me out of bed every morning, gave me a reason to walk twice a day, we even sat in the caravan and pretended we were away in Spain, should have been, now we have a dilema, pouch is 10 years old, fit and well, but do we now start thinking about his successor ?, difficult, we are both mid seventies so taking on a new dog is a difficult decision, at 80+ will we still be fit enough to walk a dog, will we still be here?, children say we should go for a handbag dog, not sure about that
, we also have to consider the expense of getting 2 dogs overthere should we wish to continue visiting France/Spain, maybe wait a couple more years and see how things pan out, pooch is still good at chasing rabbits so still life in the old dog 1 -
Hi to all, it has been many months since I looked in on CT but this is one of the threads I miss the most. I’m so glad to see my old friends are still posting and keeping well.
Our Lurcher Tess is now 10 and has slowed down quite a bit but is more tolerant of other dogs than she used to be. We did have a scare last year when a large lump grew on the elbow of her right leg and she had to have it removed. Sadly a subsequent biopsy showed that it was cancerous and there are no guarantees that it has all been removed but so far all is well and Tess is doing well.
Great to hear from you all.
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It is a difficult decision, Rufs, and the priority has to be the dog.
We decided our advancing years meant we wouldn't be able to give another dog the life it deserved and, with no family to share the care or take on the responsibility come the day, it was better for us to forego the pleasure of having a dog rather than rely on charity or make a dog unhappy.
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Rufs-handbag or no they all give more than they take👍🏻. I’d have any Dog than no Dog.
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We shall get another, never been without at least one dog all our courting and married life. As Rufs says, they get you up, get you walking, brilliant company. Such fun.
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