I want to get a dog but I have to work, how does everyone on broadway market do it ?

Reggie regularly hangs out with a 15 year-old bull terrier. He’s very gentle around her but goes loopy with her owner’s one year old chihuahua rescue. Dogs are weird.

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I can definitely relate to this, you’re doing all the right things and it will get better with time and patience. I’d also second(or third) the muzzle suggestion. When our patterdale had a run in with a bigger dog and came out of it with 20 stitches he got very reactive with other dogs. The muzzle helped me relax and also made other dog owners more respectful so it was much easier to make progress.

@jono84

The lady who owns the dog walking company we use is a trainer/behavouralist although most of her experience is with rewilding captive wolves rather than dogs. 😂

Anyway, I digressed...just gave her a call and she is going to email me details of the three SE London based dog trainers she knows and can vouch for. Will PM them to you when I have them. No guarantees that they will be available but at least you'll know they're good ones.

Edit: I also know a dog trainer in Charlton who I have heard rave reviews about. Will throw her details into the mix too.

Dropped piri off ad a dog day care today. Not ashamed to admit he's a handful and a day off will be welcome respite. Also with the double benefit of him getting to socialise with a bunch of dogs and learn from them. I imagine it will become a weekly thing.

Also with the double benefit of him getting to socialise with a bunch of dogs and learn from them. I imagine it will become a weekly thing.

Doing this with Otto was by far the best decision we made when he was a puppy. In fact, he still goes out with his walker every week to keep it going. Its somewhat of a gamechanger.

Good to know!

The other benefit is that they come back knackered.

It’s a great place for dogs that build confidence. Our problem mutt mentioned up thread is much improved since we started sending him.

Same with us! No daycare had space when we first had Crumpet but going out once or twice a week with a dog walker has been hugely beneficial for her development.

Yeah and its only 20 eur for 8 till 8. I deemed that a bargain!

He's latched onto me very badly, so hopefully he will find an older dog there to look up to and ween off me.

I suppose meeting the occasional dog in the park is not the same as hanging out with a pack of dogs for a few hours.

really need to get Odie out with a dog walker even just once a week or something. He's used to playing with dogs we meet on walks, but I think spending extended time with other dogs would be really good for getting him used to being around other dogs without being in full-on play mode.

Some good friends of ours have just moved in round the corner, which is great for many reasons, but it's going to be useful for Odie as they have a young Lurcher/Staffie cross and we can go on walks together to get them both used to non-frantic hanging out (hopefully!)

Scotty fucking loves the dog walker more than any of us, goes absolutely mad when he hears her car, definitely a good thing for socialising.

Small stumbling block but Nori didn't take too well to wearing the muzzle on last night's walk (stayed on all of 5 minutes) so i'll need to do the positive association training with her again.

On the flipside she was a lot better this morning (without muzzle) so perhaps the threat of having to wear it prompted her to buck up! So good to see her looking happier again and she's now asleep at my side. A long way to go but fingers crossed we'll start getting back on track. Thanks all for the support, it's really picked us up.

What a beauty, great looking ragtag pack of dogs!

That's really awesome! Glad to hear it.

There's always good days and bad days. The important thing is that slowly, gradually, the balance starts to become more good than bad!

Think back to month one, month two and you'll realise how far you've actually come.

Our behaviourist (who is awesome!) says that most of the rescue dogs she sees with behavioural issues don't make real progress until 12 months after being rehomed. If you're making progress after 6 months, then you're on the right track!

Soon...
Expect a suitable bike related clearout to follow.

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Maximum cute

Oh boy, I would have one in a minute but wouldn't suit our lives... Absolutely beautiful!!

Flea/worm etc treatment: Apparently I need to make a vet appointment every three months to get her reweighed* and renew her prescription. Is this what every dog owner is doing? For life?

(* she stopped growing a year ago and there would have to be something very wrong with her to go above or below the current weight band)

We get the prescription every 6 mths, no need for weighing, someone's spinning you nonsense.

Is she right on the boundary or something? The treatments are given in doses based on their weight but the categories are pretty big, something like 10-20kg is one of the categories if I remember rightly. Our vets sometimes weigh our dog before reissuing the prescription, but you don't need to pay or make an appointment or anything, there is a scale right by the cash desk...

I go every 3 months to buy the flea and worm tablets. I forget which is which but one lasts 3 months and the other they give me 3 months worth. The weights are in bands but they usually just ask how much she weighs rather than wanting to check themselves.

furniture jumping:

we're trying to discourage the wee daschund from trying (and failing for the most part due to smollness) to jump up on the sofas. Mostly because constantly doing so is probably going to be bad for her back in the long term, and we'd like at least a few boundaries - sofa is for kitty.

tried a stern "NO" followed by a quick distraction with a chewychew and then a "good girl!" as per the internet pro tips but sofa(r) - nothing.

any pro tips?

So it didn't go like the staged YouTube video, ha!

Maybe just patience. I've given up with it. He can now jump from the floor onto my lap and climb over me before I've been able to realise im under attach.

Buy a higher sofa? Or put it on books...

I'd worry giving them a chewychew (this is a treat right?) just after you've said "no" is likely to confuse them as to what the "no" means. I.e., they just think - "awesome, when i jump on the sofa, he says something and gives me a treat, let's keep doing that then!".

Personally, I'd just go for the relentlessly boring approach of "no" and remove them from the sofa. Over and over and over again until they give up trying. Worked with our dog when we didn't want him to sleep on the bed. And by 'worked' I mean we had three sleepless nights removing him every two minutes until he got it.