What are you and your dogs up to today? Part 2

[jacksdad]

Owners of none reactive dogs look out at a rainy day and go 'oh what a horrible day'. Owners of reactive dogs look out and go 'it'll be a nice walk today!'.

ain't that the truth. some of my first peaceful walks was out in the rain. of course I had to help my get over being wet out in the rain first...he is a fair weather dog. not a fan of the rain.

[Lotsaquestions]

@Nettle 'Accidently'

@Jacksdad I've been lucky Merlin has always liked whatever weather except extreme sun, which I hate too so its a win-win. Though in the more torrential downpours he does come back to me every now and again and gives me his best unfortunate fox impression. Never caught it on camera, but it isn't far off this;

[Lotsaquestions]

Every bad thing that has happened to Merlin and I when out and about has happened on a Friday. Yet every Friday I tell myself 'oh its just a coincidence.' and take him out again... BIG MISTAKE.

We were at our local nature reserve and there were quite a few swans, which is unusual. It tends to just be a pair or one. Something was up with them, they were fighting each other constantly. So I put Merlin on a lead and walked around the streets to the other side of the nature reserve, bypassing all the swans. I checked for any of the birds around us, there was none, so I let him off.

Two of the fighting swans flew or charged up behind me (I didn't see)... But Merlin did. He bolted. He chased both the swans around the park, then the ducks, then the swans again, then said hello to a dog, then barked at the swans that were fighting each other on a patch of grass. This all happened in under 1min with me chasing him and fruitlessly blowing my recall whistle. I am now terrified of being reported, I know swans are protected. None of them were hurt (by Merlin), he didn't catch any and I don't think he was really trying, just enjoying the chase.

Moral of the story; don't go out on a friday and don't trust a Spitz with recall. Ever.

Edit: Just watched some videos of swan fights, and Merlin was barking as one swan was killing the other! They apparently stand on the other swan to suffocate them and bite their airways. What if one of those swans winds up dead someone thinks Merlin did it.

[ZaraD]

I'm no expert but I think a swan bite would be very different to a dog bite and they would have to have proof I would think.

I hate swans I use to love them when I was a kid but when I fed the ducks once the swans kept eating all the bread and then they came out of the water and started snatching the bread out of my hands and I screamed like anything , never fed the ducks since. I don't trust swans

[Lotsaquestions]

If a swan ends up dying there the foxes will make quick work of it. And if not the foxes, there are some HUGE birds of prey not far behind them. I just hope someone doesn't find the remains and think 'I saw a ginger dog chasing them.'

At least the two people who were there saw that I left with him on lead and all swans intact. Swans are really evil things. I think for now he's just going to have to go on a lead until we get to the woods, at least until the swans have stopped trying to murder each other.

[JudyN]

I wouldn't worry, LoQ - as they say, 'poo happens'. Dogs chase things (remember the Fenton video?), swans murder each other, and you had him back in a minute, even if it felt like six hours. And as ZaraD says, the injuries from a swan and a dog would look very different. Only an idiot would report you and even if you were contacted by the authorities, the evidence would be so on your side they wouldn't waste their time going further.

Plus in an altercation between a swan and a small dog, the swan is likely to be the victor - and if it really wanted to, it could fly away!

[Lotsaquestions]

Well whether or not I get reported we're going 'into hiding' anyway. Just got some horrible news - Merlin is back on bed rest for up to four weeks with the possibility of an operation in the future if no improvement is made. They still think it is just a sprain and not a tear, but since he's still skipping and now his other leg is hurting him he's on a 'no jump, no run, no twist, no fun' level of restriction.

Last time he gained 1kg of weight so I want to avoid that, but I don't know of any other way to keep him settled other than food. I wish the vet didn't give me the all clear to exercise him again, I would have rather erred on the side of caution and just kept him rested for another week or two.

[Nettle]

Give him lots of big raw green vegetables to rip up, and if he eats some, he won't put on weight because he can't digest the cellulose.

[Lotsaquestions]

Broccoli and Celery alright? I can imagine he'd have a field day destroying broccoli.

[ZaraD]

You could also try cucumber Sampson loves destroying cucumber

[Nettle]

Our love broccoli and cauliflower. But yours may have different preferences, so try a variety.

Be prepared for alarming smells that turn out to be a tiny bit of either buried in the furniture when you weren't looking!

[Lotsaquestions]

We've stocked up on broccoli, cucumber and celery. It turns out Merlin LOVES coconut, like alot. Going to see if there is a low fat thing I can do with it. At the moment I've frozen coconut milk into ice cubes and shoved it in a kong.

We need to compare how he walks pre painkillers to after painkillers for 5-7 days before taking him off them. This morning he skipped on his bad leg three times, but then walked perfectly normally pre painkillers (only 3min walk up the road and back). After painkillers you wouldn't know anything was wrong. Heres hoping we see a huge improvement in 5 days where he can walk without skipping pre painkillers. The whole house has been 'de-slipped' top to bottom, and all sofas are caged up. He still managed to hurt his leg leaping off his raised bed, he thought it was a good idea to leap off it from a laying start instead of stepping off like a normal dog so broke two rules (no twisting, no jumping). Raised bed has now gone.

[ZaraD]

It's been about tow weeks since I found out I'm going to an auntie and my sister has kept me in suspense for tow weeks wanting to know how she went on at her scan, then yesterday I saw her fiancé in Waitrose asked him how she's getting on and he said he can't she go mad as he said she going to tell you tomorrow when we come round ( the come round to ours for Sunday lunch) .

So this morning when she got here she sat me and mom down and said she's four months gone and she couldn't believe she didn't know, she said that she also found out she is having twins she said she nearly fainted when the midwife told them as there's tow heart beats she having a boy and a girl so that pleases both of them as she really wants a girl and he really wanted a boy. I'm so excited for her

I also gave Sampson a bath yesterday as he decided to roll in something not very pleasant and when I was giving him a bath he was fine until I was touching his head then he wanted to get out so I thought what if that why he hates the rain because he doesn't like anything touching his head? I'm going to pets at home later so I'll see if I can get a coat with a good for him so it doesn't touch his head. Being a rescue I don't know what he has been through that makes him not like being touched on his head but even some of the very socialized dogs I use to groom hated there heads being touched so I think it might be normal but am not an expert.

[ZaraD]

Forgot to mention that after talking with my mom iv decided to not sell my dog salon as mom said all you have to do is just put someone else in charge so you don't have to worry but still keep an eye on things, and then your u still have an income coming in while your studying which you'll need at university, so that's what I'm doing.

[Lotsaquestions]

Merlin, who has never been hit or shouted at or anything of the like, and has been heavily conditioned to having his head touched for vet checkups, still HATES his head being touched and dodges everyone but me who tries . Its perfectly normal.

Congratulations on the double auntie!

I am currently losing the will to live. The entire house has been proofed, but Merlin the idiotface decides to do a running leap over a toy into my lap. Everytime I think I've fixed a dangerous bit, he finds another reason to hurt his leg. I don't know what more I can do to stop him from jumping / running / twisting other than locking him in a cage, but that would just make him very, very angry. He's already back to biting my partner's legs for attention. Spend the entire day keeping him calm only for him to come up limping because he got excited by a noise twenty doors down and he just had to spin around.

We've got some Yucalm arriving tomorrow, my trainer said they worked wonders for her dog when he was on four weeks cage rest. Not holding my breath, since absolutely no calming aids have ever worked on Merlin. Even ACP didn't work on him, and he just ran around the house like he was drunk.